Personnel Decisions are part of the problem

First off, Ridley has been awful so far, and was a mess vs. Utah. The kid is a team captain, and he can not make a play. I think he had 4 drops vs Utah, all with good throws. Plus has had drops at Virginia as well. The fact such a marginally talented player, who now is also not performing at all, and he is a captain is an issue. He was supposed to be so sure handed, but he is not reliable. And no, he is not NFL worthy. Not based upon his 2013 play.



Next, Thornton is slow, small and can not make a play. How he was the target for the last 2 pass plays of on crucial 3rd and 4th downs is beyond me. The coaches failed at getting the right personnel on the field in a crucial situation. I don't care if the kid is gritty and makes plays against the scout team full of walk-ons. He can't get separation, and can't hold on to balls thrown to him. We should have had Hoff, Mathews, JD and even Apo(slot) on the field when we needed a pass play. But the wrong guys are getting the reps.



Wilson and Friel need to see more reps in the slot. Mahina has drops, Thornton drops, Thompson drops. The only slot guy that performs so far is JD. Perhaps BYU should move Apo to the slot and see what he can do there. Sit guys who drop it. And let's see who can make plays.



Taysom has been bad. But drops are hurting us again. Guys are not making tough contested catches to help him. His passing is an issue for sure and his accuracy does need to improve, but guys gotta make plays regardless,andWR/TE just aren't. And some of them are missing on routine plays.



Also, more Hine please. I get it that Lasike is tough, and Alisa is a senior, but Hine is has earned touches. HE can make plays with the ball in his hands. Give him some of Jamal's reps since he will probably rest vs. MTSU to be ready for USU.



As to the Oline, Wesley and Kearsley need more reps as well.

Apo is a huge problem too. The kid couldn't make a catch if his life depended on it. Forget about it if there's a defender within 5 yards of him, he'll politely step out of the play and allow the defender the first crack at it.

Haha. I literally just posted this on the other thread. Are you sure you weren't copying me?



Reposting it here because it fits nicely: :)

http://www.cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15483

I disagree with the personnel he has in the game. Not just his playcalling.



The read option cannot, and will not work with Alisa and Lasike as your every down backs.



Hine should have played after Williams went down. And Hine should be starting in lieu of Williams (if he can't go) against Mid Tennessee State. The defense doesn't need to respect Alisa or Lasike on an edge around, they will target THill for the keep, and if he gives up the ball they are only a step or two behind a very slow (for running backs) Alisa and Lasike. I bet both 40 times are at or near 5.0 . Maybe even over in Alisa's case. A lot of defensive ends clock close to that, and almost all linebackers do. So at most you are getting a yard or two if they prevent against the big play with Hill, and if they play the option straight up then Lasike and Alisa are getting eaten up in the backfield for 2 yard losses on the end around.



Also, doing anything other than end arounds against Utah is an exercise in futility. We want them to spread the line out, so that the middle is open... not keep sending guys in there to get 2 yards in a cloud of dust. You had to know that Utah had the superior line coming into the game.



The bottom line: Anae is garbage, and not the answer. We found that out 2 years ago. THolmoe should have vetoed the "Anae coming back to BYU" scenario. Anae hasn't yet figured out that a lot of gimmicky offense doesn't equal points, and he doesn't have Max Hall here anymore to audible over his playcalling and thread the needle to Collie or Pitta.

Lawboy wrote:
Taysom has been bad. But drops are hurting us again. Guys are not making tough contested catches to help him. His passing is an issue for sure and his accuracy does need to improve, but guys gotta make plays regardless,andWR/TE just aren't. And some of them are missing on routine plays.

I question how we define drops, or perhaps more accurately, catchable balls. If there is such a thing as a measure that captures YAC as it correlates to qb accuracy I think it would apply here. What I want to know is how much YAC we do not get because the throw required an adjustment to make the catch. Taysom just doesn't have it and shouldn't be allowed to play winnable games while completing 35% of his passes.

Growing pains are part of the problem too. I think most, myself included, forgot before the UVA game and again after the Texas game that there are a number of reasons to temper expectations for our offense at this point:



1) The OL cupboard was nearly bare, and has been only partially restocked with middlin JC talent

2) Yes, Anae was here three years ago, but he has never coached over half of the players, and he has never run the offense he is trying to build.

3) None of these players, other than the JC guys and true freshman, were recruited for this offense.

4) None of the players have actually played a game in this offense other than against Virginia.



Anyone remember 2005? Anae's first season? We opened up looking like the whitest kids you know against BC and only scored 3 points in the opening loss, and everyone was grumbling, wondering where the Air Raid offense he was bringing went to. Then we ran over patsy EIU with 45, and then hung 50 on TCU in a loss and people started getting excited about it and Anae was a genius. Enter SDSU and another 10 point outing and loss to the lowly SuckDogs. And then the calls starting raining down for Bronco and Anae to go.



I see this season as falling out largely the same way. With any new offense, I believe the OC should have at the very least one full season, and really should get two before you make a final call on him and his offense. Give him time to see how this philosophy matches with his personnel in game and make adjustments to optimize the fit of the two. After SDSU in 2005, Anae came back with narrowed OL gaps and a more balanced running attack--deviating from the plan he brought from TTech, and with Bronco produced a 37-10 record over the next few seasons and gave us John Beck, Max Hall, Dennis Pitta, Jonny Harline, Austin Collie, Harvey Unga, and Curtis Brown among others.



I think it's entirely too early, and entirely unreasonable to be calling for Anae's or Mendenhall's head at this point. For all the labels of "too predictable," one thing Anae has a history of doing is adjusting his offense over time to match the personnel. Yes, it does take a loss many times to push him to that point, but he's done well when he gives up on the ideal and adjusts to compensate personnel shortcomings.



Here's what I know:

1) The OLine will not be able to fully pass protect this season. They simply don't have the personnel.

2) Hill was much improved accuracy-wise from Texas to Utah, and I believe he will continue to improve. As I posted elsewhere, he has one "glitch" in his mechanics that was not there last season that is causing his long balls to sail high and long, and his "touch" passes to be rifled. It's been identified, and he's working to correct it. Hill gets at least 3 more starts before the coaches even have a conversation about a change.

3) I said it late Saturday night, and it's still true. Without Williams or Hine in the backfield, the read-option is not a viable play, which means the threat Hill presents is drastically reduced.

4) Anae and Bronco are still trying to put a leash on Hill and have him avoid contact and limit read-option calls to take the decision out of his hands. That has lead to slow offensive starts for us in both the Texas and Utah games. They need to let him do his thing as a vote of confidence.

5) Putting out an APB for tight-ends---your quarterback needs you.

6) I don't know what is going on with our receiving corps. Hoffman is Hoffman, but unfortunately Apo is still Apo, and Ridley has, as lawboy points out, gotten the yips. The problem is that everyone behind in seems to have the yips as well. I would like to see Ridley get demoted to second-string and benched a quarter too see if that underdog-mentality he played with last season can be revived. Our receiving corps could be scary-bad next season when Hoffman takes his double-coverage with him to the NFL.



I think Anae will work things out. I don't think it will come as fast as it did in 2005, but only because the back half of our schedule is so stiff and you simply can't do much with the OL and receiver issues--you got what you got there. I have faith in the guy to make the changes he needs to make in order to put points on the board.