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Wake Football Offseason Thread

Ball State Deac said:
I think the offense was among the worst in the country, so I'm not overly concerned that we are now just bad at offense.
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The talent level has improved, especially at the skilled positions, now we need to see an offensive scheme that can utilize that talent effectively. At this point, I am concerned about our offensive philosophy and tactics more than the talent level. But, with greater strength and experience in the offensive line, I am hopeful that substantial improvement will appear this season (particularly with a weaker schedule).
 
I was disheartened by what the opposing DL coach said meant about our OL or our OL coaching. With decent linemen, and with decent coaching, we should be a decent blocking team this year with the experience we've gained over the past two seasons. If not, there's something amiss in players or coach.
 
I put it on the coaches. WE DON'T DRIVE BLOCK! We catch and shove. That might work in the MAC with LBs running 4.8 and DLs running 5.2, but it's not working here. The anonymous DL coach has us pegged. Tabbacca is asking our players to do thing that they don't do well. It's like when LOBO had 6'7" lineman trying to cut block. We are doomed as long as this is our blocking philosophy.
 
Lohengrin said:
I was disheartened by what the opposing DL coach said meant about our OL or our OL coaching. With decent linemen, and with decent coaching, we should be a decent blocking team this year with the experience we've gained over the past two seasons. If not, there's something amiss in players or coach.
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I don't know that it is fair to call it OL "coaching". To me, it is really the scheme that is the issue, and the OL coach ultimately has to work within the scheme that he is told to work with. I have no idea if Tabacca is a good coach or not. Certainly, the OL has sucked under his tutelage, but I don't think Ruggiero and Clawson have done him any favors with the scheme and play calling they have installed relative to the talent/skills set of the players. I don't doubt that the talent has elevated over year one, and history shows that Clawson's teams start getting better in year 3. The one thing that has really worried me is the offensive creativity. It just seems like they are constantly trying to put a square peg into a round hole, and the results have really been poor.
 
Bubble Boy said:
I don't know that it is fair to call it OL "coaching". To me, it is really the scheme that is the issue, and the OL coach ultimately has to work within the scheme that he is told to work with. I have no idea if Tabacca is a good coach or not. Certainly, the OL has sucked under his tutelage, but I don't think Ruggiero and Clawson have done him any favors with the scheme and play calling they have installed relative to the talent/skills set of the players. I don't doubt that the talent has elevated over year one, and history shows that Clawson's teams start getting better in year 3. The one thing that has really worried me is the offensive creativity. It just seems like they are constantly trying to put a square peg into a round hole, and the results have really been poor.
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ala Grobe and Lobo having Price run the option. :wtftard:
 
mebanedeac said:
The talent level has improved, especially at the skilled positions, now we need to see an offensive scheme that can utilize that talent effectively. At this point, I am concerned about our offensive philosophy and tactics more than the talent level. But, with greater strength and experience in the offensive line, I am hopeful that substantial improvement will appear this season (particularly with a weaker schedule).
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Lohengrin said:
I was disheartened by what the opposing DL coach said meant about our OL or our OL coaching. With decent linemen, and with decent coaching, we should be a decent blocking team this year with the experience we've gained over the past two seasons. If not, there's something amiss in players or coach.
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Fair points. Got to put our people in the best position possible, and it sounds like we may not be doing that.
 
Bubble Boy is on it. This isn't an OL issue. Tabacca is a young OL coach and is taking his marching orders from the head coach. I remember reading Clawson coached the OL in his final season at Bowling Green when one of his assistants got a DUI, so there is a really good chance Clawson is driving the technique and scheme. It just seems we are vanilla and doing what everyone else is trying to do with players who aren't as good as who we play against. No worries at all on defense. We are aggressive blitzing, do a lot of things on 3rd down and make it tough on offenses. Biggest worry I have is we get 5-6 wins this year against this schedule, but when the schedule returns to normal next year and beyond it masks the need for an innovative offensive scheme.
 
Seems like a team that lacks talent needs a running game in which all 11 players are focused on getting the RB to a specific hole as quickly as possible. I feel like delaying the handoff and zone blocking gives up some of the element of surprise that gives an offense an advantage. An uber talented team can sacrifice some upfront advantage to gain more advantage by tricking the defense after the snap. A less talented team can't do that.
 
Wake is -17 vs Tulane. Good grief how bad is Tulane? When was the last time we were that big of a favorite against anyone excluding FCS opponents?
 
Tulane is in the bottom 5 of most FBS rankings. They should be quite bad.
 
cheeseheads12 said:
Wake is -17 vs Tulane. Good grief how bad is Tulane? When was the last time we were that big of a favorite against anyone excluding FCS opponents?
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Here is the deal with the Tulane/WF line:

- Last year, the Green Wave played 2 ACC teams: Duke at home (Tulane lost by 30); GT on the road (lost by 55).
- Tulane lost 9 games last year: 7 were by 17 or more.
- They fired their coach, and are changing their offensive system (which usually takes time to implement); they hired the coach from GA Southern, Willie Fritz, who runs the triple option (this will be like playing Army; Army's coach Jeff Monken preceded Fritz at GA Southern). So, they will be running an offense without the personnel recruited to play that offense.
- Realize it's hard to believe, but WF has some respect in Vegas as WF is in the top 10% in college football in returning players; plus, this is Clawson's 3rd year, a year when most programs often show the most improvement after a coaching change.
- They know what they are doing in Vegas; WF should pound Tulane.

WF football is like Charlie Brown with Lucy pulling the ball away from him before each kick, but this year really should be a positive one for WF.
 
Definitely think this line has more to do with Vegas confidence that Tulane will be that bad rather than their confidence in Wake being any good.
 
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