Welcome to the week 7 breakdown of the 2015 Fightin' Texas Aggie offense.
Data from Week 7
It's going to be short this week. Every aspect of our offense has been discussed ad nauseam so I don't have much else to offer.
You don't need much data to realize the offense was awful. I put asterisks up for the 2nd and 3rd down distance averages because of our 2nd and 31 / 3rd and 29 situation in the first quarter. I took those out to give a truer look at the averages.
Our 3rd down conversions sucked. We failed on both 4th down attempts. More on that later.
We had a whopping 2 splash plays because our quarterback couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. I think that saying applies...
Personnel Groups
I didn't notice any glaring trends from the data other than nothing worked. We tried lining Kirk up as a RB and him being a decoy led to our biggest play of the game. That was about the only bright spot all night.
Targets
Ole Miss did a great job shutting Kirk down. It was the first time since Ball State where he didn't see the most targets. Ricky was the only receiver to gain 10+ yards on a reception all night. Tra saw the second most targets. That's never good.
Passing Charts
You guys watched the game. Lot's of X's on the chart this week. Man that was painful to watch. There were a few passes I had trouble figuring out who the target was because the passes were so bad. I agree with the majority that Kyle needed to be replaced way before that call was made. Shoulder injury or not, he was dreadful and I actually started to feel bad for him in the 3rd quarter. His blank stare after jogging to the sidelines after every 3 and out didn't do him any favors. He looked like he needed a hug.
Conclusions
I mentioned 4th downs earlier, and I took this screen shot because to me it felt like the theme of our night and our season. Yes, it's 4th and 1 with under 7 minutes left and we are down by 20. I realize that converting this play wasn't going to win us the game, but it displayed what I think is wrong with our offense. If you can't tell, Ole Miss lined up in cover zero. They had 8 men in the box, meaning our three wide receivers were all lined up man to man with no safety help. Ole Miss knew damn well we weren't going to pass the ball in that situation and they didn't care if they showed their hand. One quick move from Kirk and it's a footrace to the end zone.
When I started this breakdown last year I had high hopes for Spavital. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and like a few other posters, I thought he was going to do well. I still think his play designs (I can't say scheme without being ridiculed) are smart and can work in the right situation. It's clear the plays can get guys open, and wide open. See the first series where Kyle overthrew Ricky. I'm not saying Spavital's plays are the only ones in the NCAA that get guys wide open. I'm just saying they can work.
Unfortunately, in my opinion Spavital is falling below expectations in every other job duty of the offensive coordinator position. His in-game play calling is at times very questionable and his in-game adjustments seem to never happen. I thought we were a team that saw what a defense was showing and we adjusted the call. I never see adjustments when the opponent stacks the box (like above) and vice versa. We seem to play right into what the defense wants. Predictable is a word I see on nearly every thread discussing our offense. It's also been discussed parts of our scheme don't match our personnel, like running the zone read with Kyle and Tra.
Another issue I have is execution. After a while when a coach repeatedly speaks on poor execution it's probably time he start looking in the mirror and getting to the root cause of the lack of execution. Could it be Lack of proper coaching? Just a guess.
There are also small details that seem to cause big issues. Details like no longer (or very rarely) running run-pass option plays, where a run and a pass are built into the same play. That was a staple of our offense last year, but I guess Kyle either can't read a defense or Spavital took that aspect of the offense out this year. Now our wide receivers block on runs which leads to defensive backs playing run first. It's now a guarantee that if it's a run situation there will be a defensive back blitzing. Also discussed is the pulling guard and moving the pocket. Watching Kyle run that stupid play-action on 2nd and long while Cheek pulls to the left made me want stab my eyes with a rusty pair of scissors. It literally made me cringe a few times when Kyle moved to his left because I knew the pass was going to go anywhere but into the receiver's hands.
It's now two years in a row our quarterbacks have completely crashed and burned halfway into the season. I see poor mechanics with Kyle, and I know I remember people complaining about Kenny's mechanics after his poor performance against Mississippi State last season. Highly touted quarterbacks aren't supposed to have those types of issues after two years in the program, at least not as often as they seem to happen each game.
I think the idea that gets me the most upset is failing under the bright lights two years in a row. I feel like the frustration of knowing a chance at a dream season is over before November 1st caused a lot of the uproar on the message boards after the game. The frustration of another offensive collapse was the tipping point of benching another quarterback and reevaluating the offense from top to bottom. The thought of another mediocre 8-9 win season drives me crazy considering the talent we have on the roster. I understand circumstances are partially to blame for the current state of our running back position but that's why you get paid the big bucks, to figure out how to make what you have work.
There's so much more I could type but I'm tired of typing and you're probably tired of reading my rant.
Once again, thanks for reading and I will see you all next week I guess.
Data from Week 7
It's going to be short this week. Every aspect of our offense has been discussed ad nauseam so I don't have much else to offer.
You don't need much data to realize the offense was awful. I put asterisks up for the 2nd and 3rd down distance averages because of our 2nd and 31 / 3rd and 29 situation in the first quarter. I took those out to give a truer look at the averages.
Our 3rd down conversions sucked. We failed on both 4th down attempts. More on that later.
We had a whopping 2 splash plays because our quarterback couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. I think that saying applies...
Personnel Groups
I didn't notice any glaring trends from the data other than nothing worked. We tried lining Kirk up as a RB and him being a decoy led to our biggest play of the game. That was about the only bright spot all night.
Targets
Ole Miss did a great job shutting Kirk down. It was the first time since Ball State where he didn't see the most targets. Ricky was the only receiver to gain 10+ yards on a reception all night. Tra saw the second most targets. That's never good.
Passing Charts
You guys watched the game. Lot's of X's on the chart this week. Man that was painful to watch. There were a few passes I had trouble figuring out who the target was because the passes were so bad. I agree with the majority that Kyle needed to be replaced way before that call was made. Shoulder injury or not, he was dreadful and I actually started to feel bad for him in the 3rd quarter. His blank stare after jogging to the sidelines after every 3 and out didn't do him any favors. He looked like he needed a hug.
Conclusions
I mentioned 4th downs earlier, and I took this screen shot because to me it felt like the theme of our night and our season. Yes, it's 4th and 1 with under 7 minutes left and we are down by 20. I realize that converting this play wasn't going to win us the game, but it displayed what I think is wrong with our offense. If you can't tell, Ole Miss lined up in cover zero. They had 8 men in the box, meaning our three wide receivers were all lined up man to man with no safety help. Ole Miss knew damn well we weren't going to pass the ball in that situation and they didn't care if they showed their hand. One quick move from Kirk and it's a footrace to the end zone.
When I started this breakdown last year I had high hopes for Spavital. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and like a few other posters, I thought he was going to do well. I still think his play designs (I can't say scheme without being ridiculed) are smart and can work in the right situation. It's clear the plays can get guys open, and wide open. See the first series where Kyle overthrew Ricky. I'm not saying Spavital's plays are the only ones in the NCAA that get guys wide open. I'm just saying they can work.
Unfortunately, in my opinion Spavital is falling below expectations in every other job duty of the offensive coordinator position. His in-game play calling is at times very questionable and his in-game adjustments seem to never happen. I thought we were a team that saw what a defense was showing and we adjusted the call. I never see adjustments when the opponent stacks the box (like above) and vice versa. We seem to play right into what the defense wants. Predictable is a word I see on nearly every thread discussing our offense. It's also been discussed parts of our scheme don't match our personnel, like running the zone read with Kyle and Tra.
Another issue I have is execution. After a while when a coach repeatedly speaks on poor execution it's probably time he start looking in the mirror and getting to the root cause of the lack of execution. Could it be Lack of proper coaching? Just a guess.
There are also small details that seem to cause big issues. Details like no longer (or very rarely) running run-pass option plays, where a run and a pass are built into the same play. That was a staple of our offense last year, but I guess Kyle either can't read a defense or Spavital took that aspect of the offense out this year. Now our wide receivers block on runs which leads to defensive backs playing run first. It's now a guarantee that if it's a run situation there will be a defensive back blitzing. Also discussed is the pulling guard and moving the pocket. Watching Kyle run that stupid play-action on 2nd and long while Cheek pulls to the left made me want stab my eyes with a rusty pair of scissors. It literally made me cringe a few times when Kyle moved to his left because I knew the pass was going to go anywhere but into the receiver's hands.
It's now two years in a row our quarterbacks have completely crashed and burned halfway into the season. I see poor mechanics with Kyle, and I know I remember people complaining about Kenny's mechanics after his poor performance against Mississippi State last season. Highly touted quarterbacks aren't supposed to have those types of issues after two years in the program, at least not as often as they seem to happen each game.
I think the idea that gets me the most upset is failing under the bright lights two years in a row. I feel like the frustration of knowing a chance at a dream season is over before November 1st caused a lot of the uproar on the message boards after the game. The frustration of another offensive collapse was the tipping point of benching another quarterback and reevaluating the offense from top to bottom. The thought of another mediocre 8-9 win season drives me crazy considering the talent we have on the roster. I understand circumstances are partially to blame for the current state of our running back position but that's why you get paid the big bucks, to figure out how to make what you have work.
There's so much more I could type but I'm tired of typing and you're probably tired of reading my rant.
Once again, thanks for reading and I will see you all next week I guess.
