A&M

Originally Posted by KSig RC

Yeah . . . dunno dude, "shoddy playcalling" sounds like a classic die-hard copout from the stands. Does Fran even do the playcalling? (I honestly don't know)

Did the playcalling allow the other team to score, too? If he throws, does he get saddled with the "bad game/clock management" tag? There's a lot going on here - I'll trust you because you watch the games and follow them closely, and I'm asking in earnest.

Ok, this was in the first edition of my post that I couldln't get to post and was left out in the subsequent draft.

Fran is responsible for 75% of the offensive play calling. He has continuely stressed from his own website that he has final veto authority and say on each offensive play call. I'm going into the profession and have spent the last 2 years working with a staff of one of the upper-level DII programs in the country. This is my beef. I understand the need to be mulitiple and be able to present different looks and packages to run the same play. Make the defense prepare for as much different contingencies as possible. But there comes a point when you have to have your fall-back, staple philosophy.

If you had told me going into that game that we would hold OU to 17 total points, I'd have taken it and liked our chances to outscore them. I think in the 4th quarter of the game Fran chose to abandon what had been working for us, running the ball with Goodson and Lane, in an attempt to catch OU off balance. I may just be a different coach, but when it comes to nut-cutting time, I'm going to stick with what's working. If they can't stop the option with McGee and Goodson, I'm going to run it at them. If they can't stop our 275 lb running back Lane, I'm going to pound him. OU didn't score in the 4th quarter. They fumbled once and had 2 3 and outs. We dominated that quarter and settled for 2 FGs. When I've been running the ball with success and get a 1st and GL at the 7 with 7 minutes to go, down by 7, I'm not going to throw 2 incomplete passes. Especially not on 3rd and GL from the 2.

Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but that 4th quarter is a perfect example of how I believe that Fran has a tendency to outthink himself and get too 'cute' instead of saying, "this is what we're doing, prove to us that you can stop it".

Kitso
KS 361