Could someone please ask Dave if they will now officially toss the wildcat out of the playbook since can’t get 2 yards on 3 plays against Vandy! It has never worked and everyone knows it except our coaches as it is their Achilles in an otherwise awesome O. We will lose yards against better ACC Ds with that mess and everyone packing 11 in the box.
Wake Forest at Vanderbilt - 12 Noon - SECN
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You think that won't be a test either? I mean, we'll see. Tend to think they're healthier and DJU is more comfortable this season.
It has worked ... repeatedly.
It didn't work ... for 3 plays in a row. Wake's OL got stood up on 2nd and 4th down plays and Quinton Cooley missed his assignment on 3rd down.
You're going to see it again. It might fail again. But Clawson and Ruggiero aren't scrapping something that's been successful more times than not for about 3 years just because it didn't work in one game.
I've got the word "mystified" in the film review on this one.
If I had to guess, it was "Sam's last throw was almost picked, we're up 11 and getting the ball to start the second half, we don't need to force the issue here, let's just get to halftime and regroup."
Are you sure? I don’t have receipts, but it certainly does not feel this way to me. So others feel that it has worked more often than it has not?
I don't have the stats to argue for/against its long-term success/failure. What I do have are eyeballs and it appears we half-assed it in the Vanderbilt game. Like something where we just went through the motions and do not emphasize in practice.
jamesda3
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I'd like to know the actual success % I'm sure Clawson knows being who he is. But it sure doesn't seem like its worked more times than not.
Don’t believe this and especially against good Ds. i remember many times it not working and never against a great D. Just give me one example and I will drop it….
We went through the same shit last year. Wake's short-yardage stuff sucked ass against ODU in the opener and I talked to Warren the next week.
Here's part of what I wrote:
“Yeah, that was a little bit of a mess,” said Ruggiero, in his eighth season as the Deacons’ offensive coordinator.
Keeping in mind that Ruggiero doesn’t sugarcoat things, the next part is equally as important.
“I mean, we have plenty of things that we can do on short yardage and in a game like that, we really were just trying to practice those things, if that makes sense,” Ruggiero told Deacons Illustrated. “If that was … Florida State and the game wasn’t in control at any point, we might have done some different things and so forth, for sure.”
Here were Clawson quotes:
“Early in the year (in 2020), Kenneth Walker would maybe bounce things or do things and get away with it, or not get away with it,” Clawson said. “Eventually he learned to just trust it and hammer it, and Christian is new to that role.
“He’ll get better at it. It was the first time he’d done it in a game. I thought he did a good job with it in practice. … That stuff was fairly successful against our defense. We’ve got to get better at it, we’ve got to get more reps at it and I have confidence he’ll get better at it.”
Here's part of what I wrote:
“Yeah, that was a little bit of a mess,” said Ruggiero, in his eighth season as the Deacons’ offensive coordinator.
Keeping in mind that Ruggiero doesn’t sugarcoat things, the next part is equally as important.
“I mean, we have plenty of things that we can do on short yardage and in a game like that, we really were just trying to practice those things, if that makes sense,” Ruggiero told Deacons Illustrated. “If that was … Florida State and the game wasn’t in control at any point, we might have done some different things and so forth, for sure.”
Here were Clawson quotes:
“Early in the year (in 2020), Kenneth Walker would maybe bounce things or do things and get away with it, or not get away with it,” Clawson said. “Eventually he learned to just trust it and hammer it, and Christian is new to that role.
“He’ll get better at it. It was the first time he’d done it in a game. I thought he did a good job with it in practice. … That stuff was fairly successful against our defense. We’ve got to get better at it, we’ve got to get more reps at it and I have confidence he’ll get better at it.”
This seems to support what we are saying?? We are doing good in practice but not seeing results in games? Again you can make all kinds of reasons why we didn’t get in on 3 tries vs Vandy, but think we all agree the room for error is even less vs Clemson, fsu, ncsu, etc. why limit your options to only a run when our whole offense the rest of the game that is so successful is about keeping Ds uncertain and guessing. The great boot and pass to Turner is one such example.
seems obvious.
WFU Lurker
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I get running it once. Maybe even twice. But three fucking times?
And concluding that it works would mean evaluating against a wide variety of goal line packages. Not just itself.
And concluding that it works would mean evaluating against a wide variety of goal line packages. Not just itself.
DeaconCav06
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I think the point is that you run that against Vandy 3 times so that it works against Clemson, FSU, NCA, etc.
It was the first quarter of a game in which you’re a heavy favorite.
thatguy2016
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WF scored one touchdown in the first 42 minutes of the game at Clemson last year. It was Turner running the Wildcat
I hate it too, but you asked for one example against a great defense, so there you go
Complacent Deac
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Wildcat worked with Walker.
Probably would have worked with Barclay.
Probably would have worked with Barclay.
Yeah the Wildcat probably would have worked in 2006 with the ACC POTY.
The timeout is the only real mystifying part of it. Sam had turned to the sideline on the 2nd to last drive of the half and motioned he couldn't hold onto the football. That was probably the hardest it was raining all day.
I think the timeout was trying to save time if Vandy muffed the punt in those conditions and Wake picked it up.
Deaconblue
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If Sam couldn't get a good grip on the ball, that's a strong reason not to try throwing. No sense giving Vandy an opportunity for a pick 6 and some life and hope just before half. Better to take a double digit lead into the locker room.
I charted this exact thing by hand this summer: https://247sports.com/college/wake-...Wake-Forest-and-short-yardage-runs-187693832/
Wake scored 3/8 times in goal-to-go scenarios from the wildcat(37.5%), which seems like a low number, but the FBS average conversion rate for goal-to-go run plays in 2021 was 35.7%. So they're fairly above water there when solely looking at wild cat packages. 2020 they went 7/8(87.5%) when the average was 36.6%. Running plays on the goalline results in much lower successful numbers than people realize.
It feels like the easy thing to say for the last couple of years is that Wake hasn't been good at the goalline or short yardage positions. Wake on goal-to-go plays in 2021: 35.6% conversion rate(average was 35.7%), 2020: 50%(average was 36.6%)
Designed runs needing three or fewer yards: in 2021 Wake converted 70%(FBS average was 54.9%), in 2020 Wake converted 62.16%
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