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Tom Herman (Former Head Coach FAU Owls)

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NFBuck said:
I don't think anybody here is "rainbows and unicorns" about the current team. There are clearly issues, but I think there are very valid reasons for those issues, i.e. a brand new offensive line, the loss of a Senior, Heisman Trophy candidate QB, the implementation of a brand new scheme on defense. Speaking personally, I just think people need to take a step back and look at the big picture. tOSU was clearly overranked based on reputation. This is a very young team that had to adapt significantly on the fly offensively when they lost their best player mere weeks before the season. The defense, despite their 3rd down struggles, showed signs of improvement, and I think we are legitimately heading in the right direction.

Bottom line, VT was a perfect storm. They have one of the best DCs in football, and he devised the perfect gameplan to shut down our young offense. Despite that, the offense still managed to move the ball, and was a few dropped passes from probably winning that game. Given where/when those drops occurred, momentum swung. If those catches are made, it may have even been a comfortable win. Defensively, the 3rd down woes sucked, but a lot of those came down to fantastic execution by the VT QB/receivers. How many of those conversions were on just perfectly placed passes, or diving catches by VT receivers? Add onto that the fact that VT was able to prepare for tOSU all fall camp, while tOSU had to concern themselves with a triple-option team, and you have another advantage to the Hokies.

I'm not saying Herman is free of blame. Some of the playcalling was questionable. Every OC in the country gets questioned by his fanbase at times. But given the amount of pressure they were throwing at a young QB, the lack of execution by the receivers, and the current lack of cohesion of a young OL, I can't hold it too much against him now that I look back on it. I think the offensive body of work over 28 games speaks for itself. Even in the struggles over the last 4 games, Ohio State was in a position to win each time. If we had even an average Ohio State defense, I think we beat both MSU and Clemson comfortably. It's not like we're getting blasted 37-0 in those losses. We're very close. And I think as the last couple of recruiting classes continue to bare fruit we'll get there. I still expect some lumps this season, because it's still a very young team. However, it's going to be exciting watching these young pups grow towards what should be a special 2015 season.
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I agree with most what you are saying here. Where I differ somewhat is the part I bolded. The body of work does speak for itself, but it also has been a two man show offensively. Those two men are not playing this season and the first two games without them have been subpar offensively. Was the success of Hyde and Miller a product of the system or the system a product of them? It remains to be seen. I also have full confidence that the coaches will adapt. Where I worry is when I have read and heard so much about how Herman is this great offensive mind, who cut his teeth building powerful offenses at Iowa State. He was known for spreading the ball around and getting the tight end involved. I have yet to see this consistently from him, and also have yet to see him adapt when his game plan is shut down early by coaching that is out ahead of him. Like someone said previously, people seem to have started to read him and his playcalling. Will he adapt to that?
 
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OHSportsFan said:
He's young, he's improved the team and offense, and I'm obviously not in a position to do anything about it, so I'm not asking for his job. But we've seen shades of this before when Wisconsin keyed in on Braxton and dared anyone else to beat the Buckeyes, so this wasn't new territory. As some others have said, he strikes me as a guy that spends the week conjuring up a visionary gameplan, and I'm continually reminded of the famous quote from Mike Tyson - "Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth."
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Mike Tyson also worried that he was going to "fade into Bolivian."
 
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daddyphatsacs said:
I agree with most what you are saying here. Where I differ somewhat is the part I bolded. The body of work does speak for itself, but it also has been a two man show offensively. Those two men are not playing this season and the first two games without them have been subpar offensively. Was the success of Hyde and Miller a product of the system or the system a product of them? It remains to be seen. I also have full confidence that the coaches will adapt. Where I worry is when I have read and heard so much about how Herman is this great offensive mind, who cut his teeth building powerful offenses at Iowa State. He was known for spreading the ball around and getting the tight end involved. I have yet to see this consistently from him, and also have yet to see him adapt when his game plan is shut down early by coaching that is out ahead of him. Like someone said previously, people seem to have started to read him and his playcalling. Will he adapt to that?
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Fair point, but I'd argue the fact that a big reason those two were as good as they were was a result of having a tremendous OL in front of them. I think most of this seasons issues are largely OL related.

I fully agree with your "adapting" point, though. I mentioned somewhere here, maybe the game thread, that one of Herman's major problems in a game environment is that he gets locked in his own head, gets tunnel vision, and refuses to get away from what he thinks should work.
 
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Woody1968 said:
I tend to agree that the OL is a more obvious problem. The QB and RBs are not scrubs. Am a little concerned with the WR stable.
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The RBs looked really good in week 1. And JT looked really good once the OL gave him some time in the 2nd half. Granted it was just Navy (who is out-athleted badly on D). Both struggled in week 2 as the OL was overwhelmed by an extremely aggressive VT defense. That's to be expected with a young OL who have barely played together. I think JT will be very good once the OL starts to iron out their issues and learn to play together. Same with the RBs. I also have concerns about the WRs. Like I've said numerous times, they're getting open...so that's one positive. They just have to learn to catch the damn ball. When JT was getting time, he was putting the ball in very catchable positions. I can't remember many bad throws when he wasn't under siege.
 
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The thing I didn't like about the passing game was the bombs away approach. There was little to no intermediate passing. I recall one series where I swear that Ohio State threw the exact same deep pass down the left sideline three times in a row. Where are the 7, 10 and 15 yard routes? You know, the quicker throws so the blitz and defensive line can be nullified. That's what they did to our pass rush for the most part. Throw it before they can get to you.
 
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From what I watched of the game, V/T really put an amazing pass rush on us and the offensive line was pressed. If it wasn't for a dropped TD pass and 2 missed field goals, we could have been in the hunt earlier in the game. I think Tom, Urban and the O/L coach discarded their script plan and called certain plays as the game went on. The 2 long catches by Dontrell Wilson and Smith were a bit risky but they worked. Sometimes you have to go out on the limb, to see if the play will, or can work in future games.
 
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Bill Lucas said:
The thing I didn't like about the passing game was the bombs away approach. There was little to no intermediate passing. I recall one series where I swear that Ohio State threw the exact same deep pass down the left sideline three times in a row. Where are the 7, 10 and 15 yard routes? You know, the quicker throws so the blitz and defensive line can be nullified. That's what they did to our pass rush for the most part. Throw it before they can get to you.
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This has been largely absent from Ohio State football for 100 years. Something in the water in Columbus I think.
 
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that the last two times Iowa State had a 'powerful' offense
1) they had Troy Davis, a freak. and
2) they had Seneca Wallace, a freak. AND
Tom Herman coached neither.

i can think of about 11 OTHER teams in the Big XII that have had, and continue to have more powerful offenses than Iowa State.
 
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lvbuckeye said:
that the last two times Iowa State had a 'powerful' offense
1) they had Troy Davis, a freak. and
2) they had Seneca Wallace, a freak. AND
Tom Herman coached neither.

i can think of about 11 OTHER teams in the Big XII that have had, and continue to have more powerful offenses than Iowa State.
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Yeah that's pretty much just as I thought.
My point was that maybe Urban looked thru the available oc's and took the guy he thought was the best fit to run what Urban wanted to run. I mean it's not like he was gonna get some brilliant ground breaking oc. Those guys are not oc's for long.
 
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he doesn't need to be brilliant and ground breaking.
he just needs to know how to recognize when someone is throwing a Playstation defense at him, and how to beat it.
there's a reason that crap (usually) only works on Playstation: because people are smarter than the AI.
 
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