Tuesday, November 01, 2005
UA Debacle
Haven’t stopped thinking about this one since it ended.
Well I was correct on the number of Picks to be thrown (6), just way off on my distribution. Matt Moore dominated the true Freshman out-picking him 6-0. Moore had more picks than balls that hit the turf (5). So many things went wrong in his game yet the Beavs had two chances in the last 5 minutes to secure the lead with a FG. One ended in a Moore fumble on a scramble while carelessly wielding the ball at his hip. The other on a deep ball from the UA 40 with still over a minute to go. In both cases bad decisions were made, both in the play call and by the QB. You're not going to win every play.
The defense is going to win some and that's OK. The key is to minimize both the number of plays they win and the significance of the impact. A run for no gain, fine. An incomplete pass, OK. A sack, not great, but sometimes not disastrous. A turnover, the worst case scenario. 7 times on Saturday Matt Moore let the defense win a play and aided in the worst case scenario happening. Often when the Beavs were in or near scoring range. IT'S ABOUT THE SITUATION. I appreciate Moore's ability to keep plays alive trying to make something happen, a skill lacked by his predecessor. But he doesn’t always make the best decisions in these cases and sometimes I wish he would admit defeat and live for another down. Don’t judge success one play at a time, but as a whole over the entire game. 654 yards of total offense wasted due to some ill advised decisions.
The coaching staff is not off the hook on this one. Some "interesting: play calls that put MM in a position to fail. Already having thrown 5 picks how about letting YB (190+ yards and 2 scores) continue to pound it. Let’s see 1st and goal at the 3 = 3 runs. Instead incomplete on first down, predictable run on second leads to a hold and we settle for 3. 1st and 10 at the 19 trailing by two. Routes in the end zone + pressure = scrambling QB who fumbles. The game should have been in the O-lines and YB's hands not MM. It wasn't necessary. Look, there is no bigger fan of a high powered passing game then me, but in this case it wasn't necessary. Sometimes I wonder if we are too infatuated with the pass. What if one game we actually ran for more yards than we passed for. Ball control, time management, less opportunities to abuse our D. Sounds like a fair plan to me. They have proven in the last 3 games that out running game is good and getting better. Now if Riley will only choose to use it correctly.
We'll see.
