You Can't Teach an Old Dog (Anae) New Tricks

I'm not asking for anything too extreme for a coach to do, but can you at least make changes to correct problems with your plays before they cost us a game?



If you were wondering if Anae actually watches film and makes adjustments based on how we execute our plays, you might be surprised to find out that he doesn't! (TIC for those who don't recognize the obvious...)



Look back at the Florida State game on one of our few good plays in the game. Heaps' first career TD pass to Hoffman. Hoffman ran a deep in-route. Di Luigi was running an out-route on the goal line. Di Luigi reached out to try to catch the ball (not intended for him) and missed it by a couple of inches and Hoffman caught the ball for the TD. Right after that play I mentioned that it was a good thing Di Luigi didn't touch the ball because he would have broken up the pass...



Last game against Wyoming. We need the 2 point conversion to put us up by 14 so they would need two TD's to tie. We run the same play. Hoffman is wide open in the back of the end zone. This time Di Luigi reaches out again and this time he gets one hand on the ball and breaks up the pass not intended for him. We lucked out that Wyoming couldn't score on the final drive because this play would have been the difference.



So why can an armchair quarterback hack such as myself diagnose immediately following the play against FSU that you probably shouldn't have the RB run that route when they will get in the way of your primary target, yet Anae can't see that and make the change?



This kind of stuff leads in to other route calls such as not spacing your routes out against Air Force and allowing a DB to cover your underneath receiver and still be in position to take a couple of steps back and intercept the pass thrown to the deeper receiver on a shallow corner route... We could go on and on...

If Anae would just frequent Cougar Corner more he would have know this was a problem right after the FSU game:



http://www.cougarcorner.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5031

Wickchad84087 wrote:
I'm not asking for anything too extreme for a coach to do, but can you at least make changes to correct problems with your plays before they cost us a game?



If you were wondering if Anae actually watches film and makes adjustments based on how we execute our plays, you might be surprised to find out that he doesn't! (TIC for those who don't recognize the obvious...)



Look back at the Florida State game on one of our few good plays in the game. Heaps' first career TD pass to Hoffman. Hoffman ran a deep in-route. Di Luigi was running an out-route on the goal line. Di Luigi reached out to try to catch the ball (not intended for him) and missed it by a couple of inches and Hoffman caught the ball for the TD. Right after that play I mentioned that it was a good thing Di Luigi didn't touch the ball because he would have broken up the pass...



Last game against Wyoming. We need the 2 point conversion to put us up by 14 so they would need two TD's to tie. We run the same play. Hoffman is wide open in the back of the end zone. This time Di Luigi reaches out again and this time he gets one hand on the ball and breaks up the pass not intended for him. We lucked out that Wyoming couldn't score on the final drive because this play would have been the difference.



So why can an armchair quarterback hack such as myself diagnose immediately following the play against FSU that you probably shouldn't have the RB run that route when they will get in the way of your primary target, yet Anae can't see that and make the change?



This kind of stuff leads in to other route calls such as not spacing your routes out against Air Force and allowing a DB to cover your underneath receiver and still be in position to take a couple of steps back and intercept the pass thrown to the deeper receiver on a shallow corner route... We could go on and on...

I think the ball was going to JJ in the Wyoming game and was overthrown if it wasn't for JJ, it did not have the trajectory to make it to the back of the end zone. As far as the AF game is concerned, who is to say that our recievers didn't run the wrong route causing them both to be close together. Was it play calling or bad route running. Since we are not in the offensive film sessions when they break down their play after the game, we will never know.

Wickchad84087 wrote:
I'm not asking for anything too extreme for a coach to do, but can you at least make changes to correct problems with your plays before they cost us a game?

Um, you're way too late for that. See 2005 through 2010.

frdbtr wrote:



I think the ball was going to JJ in the Wyoming game and was overthrown if it wasn't for JJ, it did not have the trajectory to make it to the back of the end zone. As far as the AF game is concerned, who is to say that our recievers didn't run the wrong route causing them both to be close together. Was it play calling or bad route running. Since we are not in the offensive film sessions when they break down their play after the game, we will never know.

Without the benefit of being able to ask Heaps all I have to go on is my observation from my seat in the north end zone.



If this pass was intended for JJ it was even worse than the throw Heaps made to Wilson in the end zone against Washington.



I don't know what you mean by the pass being over thrown, yet not having the trajectory to make it to the back of the end zone?



Here is what I do know:



1. It was the same play that they ran against FSU in which the pass went to Hoffman.

2. JJ almost knocked down the same pass against FSU when it was not thrown to him.

3. Hoffman was wide open and the ball was coming right to him.

4. JJ had to stretch out with his right hand and barely made contact with one hand. It would have been impossible for him to catch the ball with two hands.

5. It is not a good idea to run two routes that intersect where the quarterback could be throwing the ball to either receiver and the closer receiver has no idea which one they are throwing to.



I guess the point of my thread isn't to say that Heaps made a good or bad throw or that JJ made a good or bad play. The point is that the play was destined to fail unless JJ is the intended received and that we were lucky to have better results in the FSU game, yet Anae didn't change the play after the FSU game.

Wickchad84087 wrote:

I think the ball was going to JJ in the Wyoming game and was overthrown if it wasn't for JJ, it did not have the trajectory to make it to the back of the end zone. As far as the AF game is concerned, who is to say that our recievers didn't run the wrong route causing them both to be close together. Was it play calling or bad route running. Since we are not in the offensive film sessions when they break down their play after the game, we will never know.

Without the benefit of being able to ask Heaps all I have to go on is my observation from my seat in the north end zone.



If this pass was intended for JJ it was even worse than the throw Heaps made to Wilson in the end zone against Washington.



I don't know what you mean by the pass being over thrown, yet not having the trajectory to make it to the back of the end zone?



Here is what I do know:



1. It was the same play that they ran against FSU in which the pass went to Hoffman.

2. JJ almost knocked down the same pass against FSU when it was not thrown to him.

3. Hoffman was wide open and the ball was coming right to him.

4. JJ had to stretch out with his right hand and barely made contact with one hand. It would have been impossible for him to catch the ball with two hands.

5. It is not a good idea to run two routes that intersect where the quarterback could be throwing the ball to either receiver and the closer receiver has no idea which one they are throwing to.



I guess the point of my thread isn't to say that Heaps made a good or bad throw or that JJ made a good or bad play. The point is that the play was destined to fail unless JJ is the intended received and that we were lucky to have better results in the FSU game, yet Anae didn't change the play after the FSU game.

I wasn't trying to make it an indictment on Heaps either. I was going off what I saw on TV, I didn't see Hoffman in the back of the end zone, the ball landed in the middle of the end zone, just out of the reach of JJ who barely got his hand on it. People on this site have been talking about JJ dropping the pass in the end zone and blaming the non conversion on him. I don't see how that throw would have made it to the back of the end zone so I assumed it was intended for JJ and was over thrown. If it was the same play, either Heaps didn't see Hoffman open and didn't throw it to him, or he badly underthrew Hoffman and JJ tried to get it anyway, or he badly overthrew JJ. And yes, if the play is designed to have 2 recievers too close together then it is a poorly designed play.

Anae told me that he has noticed Heaps tendency to get big eyed when someone is open and over throw, under throw, throw behind, or throw short of them, so he designs plays to have a 2nd receiver in the area - sometimes 3 or 4 so that whether the ball is above, behind, on target or short, someone can get at least one hand on it so they can be accused of dropping the ball instead of being accused of letting it go by and quitting on it.



TIC