Remember the Titans

Been hearing a lot about Anae's play calling lately. That it's weak and not getting it done. I agree that the offensive problems are Anae's fault and responsibility, but I'm not sure that his play calling is the problem this year.



You see, when Crowton was here, a major complaint was that his play calling was TOO aggressive, was TOO creative, was TOO hard for the team to pull off consistently. And since our team thus far has shown a complete inability to execute even simple pass plays, I'm really not surprised Anae hasn't "opened the playbook" at this point. What would be the point? If you can't do simple addition, why would you do any better with algebra? (My girlfriend is a math major, not me. I hope what I just said made sense ;) )



No, I don't think weak play calling is our problem THIS year. In PAST years? Yes. Weak play-calling is what lost it to Utah in 2008 and what killed us against TCU the last three games in a row. So I'm not saying that's not a weakness of Anae's. I still think he needs to learn to open it up more.



What I'm saying is I think THIS year the problem is that he hasn't given our offense enough of the "Remember the Titans" treatment. Remember the words of Coach Boone in that game? "We run five plays. Works like novacaine; just give it time." Or something like that. The idea was that you don't go out and run a play that you JUST got right in practice; you WAIT until you have gotten it right AN HUNDRED TIMES IN A ROW FIRST.



Our offense lacks confidence in themselves. That is easily remedied through six straight hours a day of perfecting a few basic plays until they want to kill themselves. Worked for our "Miracle" USA Hockey team. It always was the method I saw winners use in taekwondo too. You didn't feel confident after doing a form (kata) perfectly ONCE. You felt confident once you COULDN'T make a mistake EVER.



Seems to me that what this team THIS year needs (other than for Anae to grow a pair and open up the play book, which is what this team ALWAYS needs) is a good old fashioned butt whipping in practice. Make them run the same three plays over and over till two A.M. if you have to. Don't let them stop till they could score touchdowns in their sleep.

What you are saying is right if the plays were the right ones. You really think not running out the power I is a good idea? You really think throwing out of your own endzone at the end of the half is a good idea? Reminds when Anae called for a run at the end of half in the bowl game against UCLA. I was screaming at the TV for Anae to take a knee and we all know now well that went.



The problem isn't the number of plays the problem is the plays that are being called.



[ Post made via Mobile Device ] http://cougarcorner.com/images/mobile.png" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

taekwondave wrote:
Been hearing a lot about Anae's play calling lately. That it's weak and not getting it done. I agree that the offensive problems are Anae's fault and responsibility, but I'm not sure that his play calling is the problem this year.



You see, when Crowton was here, a major complaint was that his play calling was TOO aggressive, was TOO creative, was TOO hard for the team to pull off consistently. And since our team thus far has shown a complete inability to execute even simple pass plays, I'm really not surprised Anae hasn't "opened the playbook" at this point. What would be the point? If you can't do simple addition, why would you do any better with algebra? (My girlfriend is a math major, not me. I hope what I just said made sense ;) )



No, I don't think weak play calling is our problem THIS year. In PAST years? Yes. Weak play-calling is what lost it to Utah in 2008 and what killed us against TCU the last three games in a row. So I'm not saying that's not a weakness of Anae's. I still think he needs to learn to open it up more.



What I'm saying is I think THIS year the problem is that he hasn't given our offense enough of the "Remember the Titans" treatment. Remember the words of Coach Boone in that game? "We run five plays. Works like novacaine; just give it time." Or something like that. The idea was that you don't go out and run a play that you JUST got right in practice; you WAIT until you have gotten it right AN HUNDRED TIMES IN A ROW FIRST.



Our offense lacks confidence in themselves. That is easily remedied through six straight hours a day of perfecting a few basic plays until they want to kill themselves. Worked for our "Miracle" USA Hockey team. It always was the method I saw winners use in taekwondo too. You didn't feel confident after doing a form (kata) perfectly ONCE. You felt confident once you COULDN'T make a mistake EVER.



Seems to me that what this team THIS year needs (other than for Anae to grow a pair and open up the play book, which is what this team ALWAYS needs) is a good old fashioned butt whipping in practice. Make them run the same three plays over and over till two A.M. if you have to. Don't let them stop till they could score touchdowns in their sleep.

This is a good post. IMO I don't think that Anae is going to be let go until after the season. Having said that, this teams offense needs a lesson in toughness. The entire offense is soft, with the exception of Kariya the last couple of weeks. The offensive line is soft, the recievers are marshmallows. We need someone to do with the offense what Bronco did with the defense and that is light a fire of intensity under them. When your talent level is low, you compensate with effort and toughness and that is what Bronco did with the defense and look at the results. I don't know who would do it, but it needs to be done or we are going lose 1 or 2 of the next 4 games and end up with a horrible season.

And your point is? Crotwon's offenses were better than this one, so why are you acting like we have it much better now? I'd much rather prefer Crowton (as OC, controlled by Bronco) to Anae at this point.



Under Crowton, we were better. This offense is much worse than any of his offenses. We're young, but much more talented. This comes down to coaching, to offensive coaching and to offensive play calling. The man responsible for that is Robert Anae. He needs to be gone.

I think the game planning is the problem. We just came off a game with SDSU where the I-formation power running game was successful. Why do they think that a speed game with JJ on the edge would work against TCU? Why didn't we see the I-formation more? Kariya gained 5 yards each time he ran it up the middle.

byutx wrote:
And your point is? Crotwon's offenses were better than this one, so why are you acting like we have it much better now? I'd much rather prefer Crowton (as OC, controlled by Bronco) to Anae at this point.



Under Crowton, we were better. This offense is much worse than any of his offenses. We're young, but much more talented. This comes down to coaching, to offensive coaching and to offensive play calling. The man responsible for that is Robert Anae. He needs to be gone.

Not sure who you were directing that first statement to, but MY point was simply that even when Crowton was here (btw, I was a big fan of Crowton. I missed the bad years on my mission so I never had it out for him like others did) what I was told was a problem was that Crowton would call some GENIUS play and the defense would get TOTALLY confused, and then the ball would be thrown RIGHT into the receivers' hands...and they'd drop it. On fourth down. From our twenty. When it would have gone for a touchdown. Or something like that. So basically, the problem wasn't that Crowton couldn't get creative enough or was a weak play-caller or game-planner (few people I've ever seen made half-time offensive adjustments as well as Crowton) but that the team wasn't making the catches. Many people seemed to think that HIS weakness in the area of offensive coaching, wasn't his ability to draw up and call effective plays, but was the time he spent with the offense getting them to PERFECT those plays through repetition, repetition, repetition. Thus the lack of confidence on the field that translated into drops, fumbles, low energy, etc. (sound familiar?)



So, where I agree that Anae is weak in the area of creativity and just plain WISE play calling, RIGHT NOW it doesn't seem like it even matters, since our players don't seem to have the self-confidence to even pitch and catch. You know what I mean?



But don't think that I am blaming the players for that lack of self-confidence. That is STILL Anae's fault. I really just don't think he's got them working hard enough or putting enough faith in them, as evidenced by the fact that Jake is only making two yard throws. Maybe that's his confidence. Maybe that's the play call. Maybe a little of both. Either way, Anae is to blame in my opinion.

I'm not a fan of the "Remember the Titans" references. IMO, it isn't relevant or helpful. I think Bronco fully buys into, just like he fully buys into the techniques and philosphies that John Wooden espouses.



Football has progressed so far from high school ball in the 1970s that it is an entirely different game. You can't run only five plays and expect in any way, shape or form to be successful as a football team. In 2010, if you only make a team prepare for five plays, you will be utterly killed.



Focusing solely on your team works only if you are Wooden in the 1960s and have the absolute best young talent in the world.



BYU because of its recruiting limitations must be innovative and cutting edge when it comes to coaching. We cannot be stagnant or simply another offense that will rely on execution to make up our athletic gap.

I'm not advocating that we run only five plays. It's the principle I'm advocating. What our team lacks is confidence, plain and simple. In other words, they play afraid. No matter what play is called, they aren't sure they can run it effectively. Fear comes from a lack of preparation ("If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.") Our offense doesn't look prepared. Now, I think that has something to do with the fact they didn't pick a starting quarterback months ago, but those mistakes already having been made, the solution doesn't appear to be to call more creative and cutting edge-type plays. Our offense doesn't even feel comfortable yet running quick slants up the middle. They aren't going to do any better with more advanced plays until they build up that self-confidence. As an athlete there is only one way I know how to do that: Repetition.



So maybe Monday they take five plays and run them into the ground (thereby running them deep into their sub-conscience until something clicks that says, "We got this one.") and then tuesday you take five more and do the same thing, and so on. By game time you've got 20-30 plays the offense could run in their sleep. They have muscle memory for each of those plays so they really COULD run them in their sleep.



Doing something like that would get their confidence level up because they would KNOW they can run any play called to perfection and they can see what they do wrong more clearly. THEN you can build on that confidence and start getting innovative.



However, just let me say, that even if Anae were to do what was necessary to get his offenses confidence level up, our team the last few years had a high confidence level but he STILL didn't get creative, and since such is the case, I still think he should go.

Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

Lawboy wrote:
Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

Well, he isn't going anywhere for the rest of the year so maybe we should just let him run practice and prepare the players and turn the play calling over to someone else right away. I still think that Lance Reynolds would be a perfect person to call plays since Brandon Doman has never called a game before.

kitic77 wrote:

BYU because of its recruiting limitations must be innovative and cutting edge when it comes to coaching. We cannot be stagnant or simply another offense that will rely on execution to make up our athletic gap.

Best thing I've heard all day. Essentially, we need Boise State style coaching.

runbyu1 wrote:

BYU because of its recruiting limitations must be innovative and cutting edge when it comes to coaching. We cannot be stagnant or simply another offense that will rely on execution to make up our athletic gap.

Best thing I've heard all day. Essentially, we need Boise State style coaching.

Really? Umm--NO. Tell me how many offensive TD's BSU has scored v. TCU in the last 2 bowl games they played??? That would be 1. Yep--1. Let's not make BSU out to be something they are not here. Many teams struggle with TCU, but the last 3 years for BYU have been unacceptable. I could live with averaging 17-20 v. TCU, but not 6. But not like the BSU offense has done any better.

CAFB_04-12 wrote:
I think the game planning is the problem. We just came off a game with SDSU where the I-formation power running game was successful. Why do they think that a speed game with JJ on the edge would work against TCU? Why didn't we see the I-formation more? Kariya gained 5 yards each time he ran it up the middle.

Especially when JJ is slower this year.

runbyu1 wrote:

BYU because of its recruiting limitations must be innovative and cutting edge when it comes to coaching. We cannot be stagnant or simply another offense that will rely on execution to make up our athletic gap.

Best thing I've heard all day. Essentially, we need Boise State style coaching.

Yep!

Lawboy wrote:
Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

I don't think I'm defending his play calling. Like I said, even when Max, Dennis, and Unga were in there (guys with enough confidence to maybe move a small mountain) the play calling was atrocious. I'm just saying that for some reason our offense has lost their mental edge and they need to get it back. Basically they aren't even showing that they are able to do the most basic things that they were originally recruited for; throwing and catching a football. That needs to be addressed.

Lawboy wrote:
Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

No you are wrong, you beat speed defenses with slow developing plays and lots of running to the edge.

Lawboy wrote:
Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

Bravo. Amen, and Amen.

Lawboy wrote:
I could live with averaging 17-20 v. TCU, but not 6. But not like the BSU offense has done any better.

We're actually averaging 5.7 against TCU the last three years.

jonnylingo wrote:

Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

No you are wrong, you beat speed defenses with slow developing plays and lots of running to the edge.

:crazy:

jonnylingo wrote:

Sorry, but defending Anae's play calling after the TCU game is a joke. You beat speed with power. TCU is a smaller D, built for speed. Go watch Wisconsin run it down tOSU's throat Saturday for a example. tOSU has much better overall skill, but Wisconsin blew them up all game long. I think it really fits the tone of our program right now too--effort. Let the O-line power it from the I, then once we establish a run, play action them. It is a formula to success for the 2010 BYU team, and even Bronco said so himself. Sadly, Anae fails to see it.

No you are wrong, you beat speed defenses with slow developing plays and lots of running to the edge.

lol. :D