Tom Herman (Head Coach FAU Owls)

[Buckeye513]

100% agree - Herman outsmarted himself multiple times. At the end of the day we have the best OL in the conference and arguably the best in the country, we also have the toughest RB in the country. 2 tries to run 3 yards and he doesn't touch it once is flat out wrong.

Herman is a solid OC but to be great he has to understand sometimes the best plays are the most basic plays.

That was my impression as well, especially with the Hyde-as-flanker play that was never going to work. You could just tell he was thinking "No way a DB is going to tackle Carlos in the open field. I know, let's throw him passes on the edge!"

During the SECCG, they mentioned that the Auburn OC said that 3 plays made up 80% of their rushing calls against Alabama. They did the same shit yesterday and still ran for a billion yards. Sparty might have the best D in the country, but do what got you there until it breaks. It's not like they were stopping it.

 

[Mariotwins]

I still love him as OC even after that game. But this loss hurt a lot. To make it up to me he needs to make having Hyde, Braxton, Wilson, and Hall all on the field work for the bowl game, so I can see it before Hyde leaves.

 

[buckeye4ever21]

Crazy to think that I'd ever say this but the walrus out called Herman in the game. Bollman had the advantage of being in our system for many years. Hard to throw blame at Herman when we were taken out of our game plan due to a shakey start. The play calling was one of the bright spots all year until this game. The intermediate passing game was abandoned for the most part but honestly Braxton hasn't been spinning it well lately. When you're down 10 to 17 points, you're not going to call the same game as when you're closer or ahead. We were down 17 for the start of our 4th possession. Their run defense didn't allow us to explode like we usually do but we still had a lot of success. The physicality of their corners was felt along with their blitzing pressure. This was the first real defense we've played to this point and they forced us out of our comfort zone.

 

[TooTall]

Crazy to think that I'd ever say this but the walrus out called Herman in the game. Bollman had the advantage of being in our system for many years. Hard to throw blame at Herman when we were taken out of our game plan due to a shakey start. The play calling was one of the bright spots all year until this game. The intermediate passing game was abandoned for the most part but honestly Braxton hasn't been spinning it well lately. When you're down 10 to 17 points, you're not going to call the same game as when you're closer or ahead. We were down 17 for the start of our 4th possession. Their run defense didn't allow us to explode like we usually do but we still had a lot of success. The physicality of their corners was felt along with their blitzing pressure. This was the first real defense we've played to this point and they forced us out of our comfort zone.

We were leading by 7 with a chance to put all the pressure on Sparty, and simply failed to do so.

Once again, I disagree with you. When you are gashing teams for almost 7 a carry and BOTH your QB and HB have 100 yards thru 3 1/2 quarters, what exactly do you consider the offense's comfort zone?

The power run game and the read option punished the nation's #1 defense, and for whatever reason we abandoned it.

We desperately need a deep threat at WR more than anything. We've struck out the last two or three years on getting someone to fill that role. Cause for concern?

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Crazy to think that I'd ever say this but the walrus out called Herman in the game.

It was more defensive breakdowns than Bollman's playcalling...

 

[WaitingforKickoff]

Just as bad if not worse during last year's UM game. Was fortunate to be bailed out by the defense in that contest....

 

[bukIpower]

We were leading by 7 with a chance to put all the pressure on Sparty, and simply failed to do so.

Once again, I disagree with you. When you are gashing teams for almost 7 a carry and BOTH your QB and HB have 100 yards thru 3 1/2 quarters, what exactly do you consider the offense's comfort zone?

The power run game and the read option punished the nation's #1 defense, and for whatever reason we abandoned it.

We desperately need a deep threat at WR more than anything. We've struck out the last two or three years on getting someone to fill that role. Cause for concern?

We have a deep threat but we are missing a playmaker out wide. A guy like Hopkins from Clemson or like Julio jones was at Alabama. Someone you knew was reliable and dangerous on every play and that's something that so far we don't have.

Btw remember next year we get jalin Marshall and Curtis Samuel.

 

[NastyNatiBuck]

For those of you commenting on Bollman, he doesn't call the plays for MSU.

 

[kujirakira]

WR Screen = TH's Dave

1st Down - Deep ball incompletion
2nd Down - WR screen for 2 yards
3rd Down - QB Draw

It wasn't like that earlier in the season, though. At some point the pass game was limited to deep balls and screens... what happened to the efficient offense that passed and ran down the field against Iowa all day? Did Herman stop trusting Braxton to read routes? Did Braxton stop trusting his receivers to catch the ball? Did the offensive staff just mind-screw themselves into that rut after the Illinois (wind) and Indiana (snow) games?

 

[Tlangs]

The defense got us the ball back with a lead twice in the second half. They also got it back twice with less than a 7 point deficit. I'm not sure how much more you could ask of them based on how bad they have been this year. Should they be better? Yes. But they aren't. The offense just didn't get it done.

 

[C-busBuck]

Just as bad if not worse during last year's UM game. Was fortunate to be bailed out by the defense in that contest....

There were two players that really made that game.. Shazier and Boren. Zack really made a ton of plays in that game. Especially at the end. I would not have heaped the praise on the defensive play calling as much as a few players imposing their will on the other team.

 

[Jagdaddy]

We desperately need a deep threat at WR more than anything. We've struck out the last two or three years on getting someone to fill that role. Cause for concern?

I'd be even a bit more specific and say a big, strong WR who can win some deep jump balls against good physical corners in press coverage. The WR's on this team play hard and block well, but are pedestrian (not bad, just not impact players) as pass-catchers/playmakers.

 

[Poe McKnoe]

I'd be even a bit more specific and say a big, strong WR who can win some deep jump balls against good physical corners in press coverage. The WR's on this team play hard and block well, but are pedestrian (not bad, just not impact players) as pass-catchers/playmakers.

I think there's a reason why Urban's been loading up on WRs...and this is it. Philly Brown is the probably the best. Disappointed by Devin Smith, as he's fallen off as each of the past 2 seasons progressed. Spencer is the top blocker, but doesn't even qualify as a possession receiver.

Urban missed out on a playmaker his first season and it showed this year. We'll see next year if we got one in his 2nd class.

 

[BuckTwenty]

For those of you commenting on Bollman, he doesn't call the plays for MSU.

This. He's their offensive coordinator, but he does not call the plays for them. During the game, the commentators mentioned who calls their plays, and it was not the walrus.

 

[buckeye4ever21]

We were leading by 7 with a chance to put all the pressure on Sparty, and simply failed to do so.

Once again, I disagree with you. When you are gashing teams for almost 7 a carry and BOTH your QB and HB have 100 yards thru 3 1/2 quarters, what exactly do you consider the offense's comfort zone?

The power run game and the read option punished the nation's #1 defense, and for whatever reason we abandoned it.

We desperately need a deep threat at WR more than anything. We've struck out the last two or three years on getting someone to fill that role. Cause for concern?

We were talking about different points in the game, our comfort zone being down 10-17 points in the first half. The way we started the game we couldn't get out of our own way. Sorry I wasn't real clear, we were sloppy and got down quick and couldn't feed Hyde as much early. Once we got back into it, we could maintain our normal play calling. It wasn't a great called game, but it didn't hold us back. We had another subpar passing performance out of Braxton. We were running the ball 70 % of the time and the only reason it wasn't a higher percentage was because we were forced into a situation we hadn't faced at any point in the season. We didn't deviate from our typical gameplay at all other than tipping our hand toward Braxton running more than Hyde. The only thing I didn't agree with was so many empty sets with Braxton taking off. Don't really understand what you're arguing about. We only passed 7 times in the second half until we had to pass at the end. 21 runs compared to 7 passes in the second half when it matters is not abandoning what's been working all year. Agree with the fact that we need a field stretcher at receiver but we also need a QB to step us and make some throws and be around 60% completion percentage. Cook came ready and confident spinning the ball around the yard.