We were averaging 30 points per game after the Bama game. Still our problems were all about "our offense????" I understand we have a group of offensive geniuses here at VN that make their living at offenses in college football and could install a better system than was averaging 30 points per game. I so get it. But could it be after this weekend's debacle, this was more about personnel on the field and chemistry than it was offensive formations and game plans?
Chemistry may be a problem. I personally don't know, and I doubt I'm going to unless someone goes and bugs the locker room. But I will say that if chemistry is affecting production then that's questioning whether the team is playing with heart, and I'm not about to make that call when I have no place to say how hard anyone is pushing themselves. What I do know is what I can see with my own eyes.
I bleed as orange as they come but this next paragraph is a simple, facts are facts paragraph. There, disclaimer done hah.
As of right now, we're 75th in the country in rushing offense (165.4 ypg). We're 81st in the country in passing offense (216.1 ypg). We're 92nd in the country in total offense (382 ypg). We have won the time of possession battle in I think 2 of 8 games. An average offense, as in 64th place out of 128 FBS teams, this year is putting up 412 yards a game. We've surpassed that in 2 games, and oddly enough we did it against Florida and A&M, and not App State or Ohio or South Carolina. Something is out of kilter. That first big outburst against Florida happened, I want to say, when we got Chance Hall back. You can see production change depending on whether we have Dylan Wiesman, or where Coleman Thomas is lining up (and how he's coming back from injury). We see production differences with Jack Jones in there.
These are things that you don't have to be a keyboard genius to figure out. They're simple stats and the offense is on display in every game. You don't have to have a solution or be an offensive genius keyboard coach to be able to identify that there is potentially a problem or area for growth. Or - in coach speak - to say that improvement is apparently "an ongoing process".
I don't have answers. But I support my team and don't have a problem with facing a tough question sometimes. Win or lose though I want to see a bunch of 18-22 year old kids in orange out there giving their all, and I'll support an 0-12 team every bit as much as a 12-0 one so long as they're leaving it all out there. Put in the right situation, they'll grow and they'll improve. UT shells out millions for a handful of coaches to put them in those situations, and whether it's chemistry or scheme or technique, it all comes back to those coaches. Right now, I think the OP has a very valid point: line play is one huge hinge for this season to be pivoting on.
