College Football 2014: The crowning of Mariota

[S John]

Question for SJohn and the other local WVU folks: What can I expect from new Kentucky Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson?

I don't know honestly. I think it is pretty widely believed by WVU people that Holgs controls the offense and that probably extends to calling most of the plays. Maybe Dawson wanted to go somewhere where he'd have more autonomy and I don't blame him if he did.

However, assuming that's not the case then I would say that WVU's offense has a reputation as an air raid from Geno's Sr. year when we threw all the time and Dana's pedigree. But the last couple of years has brought a less than ideal QB situation that has made WVU realize that a running game is important too. The O has steadily morphed into a more balanced offense. I'd go as far as to guess that WVU ran the ball well over 50% of the time in 2014 and will continue to emphasize running in the future. Despite this I would say that WVU's passing game is still better than the running game. We've got 5 decent backs, but no standouts, imo. Too many turnovers and for every nice run there's one that gets stuffed at the line. I guess maybe you could lay the blame for some of that on the run blocking as well.

If it isn't a run it's going to be a screen play or a deep ball. WVU throws deep a lot. I like that we take a lot of deep shots, but I actually wish we'd take slightly less of them. When it works, and it does sometimes, its fantastic. When it doesn't work it's a waste of a down, and with a hot and cold RB crew I don't like 3rd and long. And it also does not work much more than it works. And there are of course times when the staff just makes the most boneheaded play calls. See the 4th quarter vs. TCU for an example of play-calling / time management meltdown that likely cost us a game. This could be either Dana's fault or Dawson's fault, maybe both.

In any case, having just thoroughly criticized it, WVU's offense is pretty good. When its clicking it is fun to watch and I really like the style that it has morphed into. They are unpredictable in good ways. You never know if they are going to go into the shotgun with 5 wide or go under center and run right at the D. They are also much better than they were last year when there they were depleted and without a reliable QB for almost the entire year. Improvement is always a good sign for a coaching staff. Assuming that WVU continues to play the same way in the absence of Dawson, I think we are just one good QB and better than average RB away from being a very good offense. So if Dawson is able to replicate what WVU has been able to do on the offensive side of the ball then UK should be in good hands.

[Rhom]

Thanks. Our personnel is improving, but likely still has a ways to go to be SEC level. We do have a good stable of backs, so it will be interesting to see how it shakes out.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Question for SJohn and the other local WVU folks: What can I expect from new Kentucky Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson?

Well he's been with the eer's once before with Rodriguez. I think he will be very knowledgeable of both the Air-Raid and Read-option, which if he can combine the two into something of his own, I think he could possibly be a excellent OC.

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Assuming that WVU continues to play the same way in the absence of Dawson, I think we are just one good QB and better than average RB away from being a very good offense.

SJohn, I believe we just redshirted the QB, in which you ache for. I think William Crest is the real deal, no doubt in my mind. As far as RB go, well I believe we have a stable of them. And like you (I assume), I want to see one separate themselves from the pack. Or maybe there is a recruit that will blow us away. It seems as if we get a stud RB every 4 or 5 years. I'm just not so sure that Holgs will go with just one feature back.

[Greywolf2375]

and the bowl season is off! New Orleans Bowl is underway!

[Switchback the Second]

I subscribe to the idea that there are way too many bowl games. I subscribe to that each year but then always am really excited when bowl season starts. There will be a shitload of terrible games between mediocre teams over the next few weeks, but there will be football damn near every day over the next few weeks too. I've purchased my annual 3 week cable subscription to be able to catch most of it.

Also get a nice bonus this year with the first day having a meaningful game (for me at least). Interested to watch CSU to see a glimpse of what kind of offense we'll be getting.

[D_P]

i've just been lurking this year mostly...mainly because of being sick to my stomach losing my dornish prince handle. all of that aside, i'm sadly okay with what went down with auburn this year. the miss state and aggie games seem to be payback for the good luck we had last year but we did squeak one out against ole miss.

for a D that seemed to, at least, be improving, we sure did screw the pooch from the miss state game on. anywho, any blame that can be tossed around lands at the feet of either ellis johnson or the players. not having carl lawson certainly hurt but an underacheiving montravius adams and elijah daniel did us no favors. even gabe wright seemed lost most of the season. it is easy to pick on a secondary but when no one tackles and no one gets to the qb...shit, you can take your pick of the best secondary in history and if the same thing happens then they get burned.

offensively, we were mostly fine...still plagued a bit by the drops but CAP ran with authority and nick was, without question, a better passer. corey grant was a non-participant for much of the season, which surprised me; although the all important H-back did not find an adequate replacement.

lots of things to be negative about, to be sure, but i am optimistic going forward as long as refs will give me a fucking break from the 115 flags for 1007 yards in penalties that we seemed to get every game...melvin gordon aside, i don't think that we'll have much trouble with wisconsin. they are super one dimensional and we were middle of the pack in run defense. even if he has a great game i don't believe that they can slow our offense down enough to win.

sorry to get off subject, i just had to get some of that off my chest. i'm glad to be rejoining the conversation.

[Greywolf2375]

sorry to get off subject, i just had to get some of that off my chest. i'm glad to be rejoining the conversation.

glad to have you back DP!

[Michael Seswatha Jordan]

Terrible news about IEO. Him v. Greene in the Rose Bowl was a matchup to watch for sure, and it's even more depressing news given that he could easily have gone pro last year but elected to come back. I repeat myself on this, but I absolutely love football and absolutely hate the injuries.

If anyone watched a lot of Big 10 in the last few years, I'd love to get some feedback on this Wisconsin coach that is coming to Oregon State. I used to know Wisconsin's program pretty well, but I didn't watch them much the last few years. I found Mike Riley to Nebraska to be quite surprising, but I found this guy coming to Oregon State also quite surprising. Oregon State is not a great job. It's in a very good conference, but it's one of the weaker programs in said conference in one of the towns that is harder to recruit to. That move seems like at best a lateral move for that coach, and that's probably going too far.

Heh, one rumor I heard somewhere was that maybe Barry Alverez was too annoying.

Triskan, I'm glad you asked this. Nothing at all against Oregon St., I just couldn't understand why a guy would leave a perennial CFB bowl/playoff team (potentially), and go there. There has to be more, but I think its a great hire for Oregon St. Wisconsin hasn't fell off at all since losing Bilema to Arkansas. There has to be something going on in Wisconsin, such as a former coach who is looking over your shoulder the entire time. Id like to know what going on there that is causing coach's to leave so frequently, it seems to be a pretty decent job.

[D_P]

glad to have you back DP!

thanks, sir...i've posted here and there but my old handle is like the mountain v. oberyn fight; i just can't seem to get over it ;)

on topic, does anyone on the board give tOSU a chance against bama? baylor's OOC aside, wouldn't baylor/bama be a better game?

[lokisnow]

What did Michigan state do to draw a miserable team like Texas state for their.... oh, that's some other sport on, not a bowl game :p sneaky direct TV guide

[D_P]

That's what I'm getting at. It was a move that doesn't really follow the natural order of things, so one suspects that there's something else going on.

Heh, it's funny that you mention BB though because I remember being a little confused when he left Wiscy to go to Arkansas. Nothing against Arkansas, and they've had their teams, but Wiscy is a remarkably consistent and pesky high-achieving program and Arkansas often has to be second fiddle to the elites in the SEC West, and that was before the Mississippi schools became ascendant.

I guess I just thought that, while there's nothing wrong with the Arkansas job, BB was poised to sit at Wisconsin for a few more years and then pounce on a truly big opportunity had he wanted

maybe it is that a position at a school like arkansas, one that is occassionally successful but not always, gives someone a chance to put a more personal stamp on things. what i mean is that BB almost certainly could be successful anywhere but if he does it at a school like arkansas it would be more of a testament to his abilities as an HC and not something inherent in the program. also, arkansas isn't a perennial stinker, they pretty much own the state and they are in the SEC. there are a lot of built in bonuses in a job like that. it is certainly not anything like the mountain to climb that stoops inherited at kentucky.

i guess i'm trying to say that it seems more difficult to succeed there than it actually is. petrino went there and after a middle of the road year suddenly started winning like no one's business. we all know that petrino is a decent head coach but he isn't nick saban.

ETA: contracts in the SEC are inflated as well even at the entry level.

i realize that this has nothing to do with someone taking a job in the PAC12 but i believe a lot of the same rules apply.

[Ixodes]

thanks, sir...i've posted here and there but my old handle is like the mountain v. oberyn fight; i just can't seem to get over it ;)

on topic, does anyone on the board give tOSU a chance against bama? baylor's OOC aside, wouldn't baylor/bama be a better game?

If Ole Miss can beat Alabama, Ohio State can beat Alabama. I don't think it is likely but they have a swinging chance, especially if they play as tight as they played against Wisconsin. Consistency has been a problem but the coaching and talent is there. I don't really see Baylor being a better choice for an opponent, more like an equivalent choice.

I was hoping the post season would see Baylor and Ohio State play each other, which would have been a better match up, IMO.

[Kalbear]

I don't see how ole miss and ohio state are remotely comparable. In style, in strengths, in coaching. Very different.

[Mike]

i've just been lurking this year mostly...mainly because of being sick to my stomach losing my dornish prince handle. all of that aside, i'm sadly okay with what went down with auburn this year. the miss state and aggie games seem to be payback for the good luck we had last year but we did squeak one out against ole miss.

for a D that seemed to, at least, be improving, we sure did screw the pooch from the miss state game on. anywho, any blame that can be tossed around lands at the feet of either ellis johnson or the players. not having carl lawson certainly hurt but an underacheiving montravius adams and elijah daniel did us no favors. even gabe wright seemed lost most of the season. it is easy to pick on a secondary but when no one tackles and no one gets to the qb...shit, you can take your pick of the best secondary in history and if the same thing happens then they get burned.

offensively, we were mostly fine...still plagued a bit by the drops but CAP ran with authority and nick was, without question, a better passer. corey grant was a non-participant for much of the season, which surprised me; although the all important H-back did not find an adequate replacement.

lots of things to be negative about, to be sure, but i am optimistic going forward as long as refs will give me a fucking break from the 115 flags for 1007 yards in penalties that we seemed to get every game...melvin gordon aside, i don't think that we'll have much trouble with wisconsin. they are super one dimensional and we were middle of the pack in run defense. even if he has a great game i don't believe that they can slow our offense down enough to win.

sorry to get off subject, i just had to get some of that off my chest. i'm glad to be rejoining the conversation.

War Eagle, brother.

I'm super excited to get Coach Boom back. Anxious to see who he brings with him. I'm hoping to pull former AU player Travaris Robinson off his Florida staff.

As for the bowl game, I'm halfway convinced that Gordon catches Barry Sanders against us, forever making us an answer to an AFLAC trivia question.

[Ixodes]

Speaking for Ixodes for a moment - I took his point not to be that they are so comparable but simply that Alabama can be beaten and that tOSU is probably better than Ole Miss.

Yeah. Trisk said it for me perfectly. The skillset that Ole Miss brought to the field on a day where the conditions were perfect led to Alabama's defeat. I think Ohio State can bring the talent and coaching to the field that can hand Alabama a defeat, given the right situation. Will that situation happen on Jan 1st? Probably not, but we'll see :)

[Kalbear]

It's basically saying that if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.

OSU is definitely better on offense. The teams that Bama has struggled against are not the ones that were good offensively. They were the ones that were great on defense (LSU, Ole Miss). OSU did great against a very one-dimensional Wisconsin team. I don't see them doing nearly as well against a team that can run and pass so effectively.

And I don't know how a third string QB gets it done against that Alabama defense, especially when they're predicated so much on running the ball.

[Ixodes]

I agree.

DP's opinion is that a Baylor vs Alabama match-up is superior to OSU vs Alabama. I disagree. I'm not convinced that Baylor would give a better game than OSU. I think OSU will give a better defensive battle than Baylor and defense is a more important factor. Can OSU's defense stop Alabama? Probably not, but I'll be watching and cheering every minute. Hell, my wife bought our little dachschund an OSU cheerleader outfit to wear for this game. Yeah, that's right. Our dog will be dressed as an OSU cheerleader for this game. You want to see that shit?? Look up Lakeland Veterinary Hospital on facebook and you'll see the depths of our depravity.

[Ixodes]

Two pooches, Trisk. Two pooches. My little boy dachshund has a jersey and his team number is "00." My little girl dachshund has a skirt. You can't appreciate it in the pictures but when she is wearing such a get up and starts jumping up on my legs, begging to be fed or demanding attention, that skirt looks pretty darned cute. I promised myself I would never be one who would dress my dogs but I guess this has changed. My staff loves the outfits and cheers when they parade through the treatment room, all dresed up in their Buckeye's gear.

College football is worse than crack cocaine, I'll tell you...

[Kalbear]

No wonder Wisconsin lost so bad. How could the badgers deal with two badger dogs?