Some Thoughts on the Offensive MSU Football Offense

I'm not a journalist. I'm not paid to share thoughts towards or away from a school because I cover their program. I'm not paid at all. People listen to our show because it's for the educated fan. I'm not a football expert, nowhere near the level of hoops. But I'm able to access football experts quickly and their thinking impacts a lot of mine. Well, here is my fan take as a 40 year fan of MSU football.

1. Player development vs. Play calling

If I'm Coach D and sit down to evaluate the coaching staff as I'm sure happens each year, I certainly wouldn't start with play-calling. Play-calling happens on 13 games each year. You can call a good play and it can fail and you can also call a bad play and it can be successful. Player development is what happens the other 300 days. I think too much focus is being made on the play-calling and not enough on the player development. A few of the questions I think are fair to ask and assess; 1. Are the players on the offensive side of the ball improving? At what rate? Better at some positions than others? Let's just look at this year. Make a list of offensive players who appear to be clearly better than last year and the same for defense. If your list looks like mine, we have a big discrepancy. 2. Is the rate of improvement similar or different to the defensive side of the ball? Why or why not? A few of my thoughts; * List the individual players who showed improvement the last couple years on offense and on defense. It certainly seems like the defensive side is much longer. Is that because we recruited much better defensive players or is that because they are being developed better? * The pre-snap penalties and mental errors seem to be happening much more on one side of the ball than the other. Those are things that can be coached and corrected. That's not an injury issue. I think the discussion needs to be around player development, not play-calling. I understand how injuries impacted that to some extent this year, but this isn't a one-year discussion.

2. But speaking of the play calling

There are many pieces of yesterday we could try to break down. I'll just go with the second to last possession where MSU had the football around the 30 of Oregon, first and ten, down 7-6. The series of play calls there was tunnel screen to White, power to LJ, then QB draw. You needed a first down. The game was on the line. I can live with the second down play call as there was success in the run game yesterday. I don't buy the tunnel screen for a few reasons. First, our WR's showed an inability to create space or break tackles vs. their CB's yesterday. Their CB's dominated our WR's. Even with Stewart there to block, I don't think White is making much of a play vs. whatever DB is out there. In addition, because we couldn't complete a ball further than 10 yards down the field, everyone was tighter to the line. On third down, we ran QB draw for -3 yards. Some people couldn't even tell it was QB draw until they saw how the line and WR's were blocking. I believe it was the first called QB draw of the day. With the game on the line, we ran 2/3 plays that had no success in this game and had no success now. That is a play calling issue, IMO.

3. Why just Dave Warner? Calling on Jim Bollman...

There are fire Dave Warner tweets, posts, handles, messages, you name it. How does co-offensive coordinator Jim Bollman go without mention? With a similar salary and title, anything going at Warner should go at Bollman. Sure, Warner calls the plays in. But Bollman is on that headset with a lot of say. He has a major impact on the game plan. I think it's 1A and 1B and that's not how it's being displayed out there. That's not even to mention the minimal impact Bollman has in recruiting or how our tight ends have looked with him as tight ends coach.

4. This is not a one year issue

MSU offensive efficiency ranks the last 3 years: 71 (2018), 43, 95. I prefer that efficiency rating over points per game or total offense due to the variables that go into the other ratings. I don't think consistently having a top 50 offense is too much to ask. You have top 50 resources, top 50 recruiting, top 50 talent. It's a fair expectation and now hasn't been anywhere near met in 2 of 3 years. Injuries can't be the excuse every year.

5. What I think will happen

I think the loyalty Mark Dantonio shows to everything in his life is what makes him what he is as a person and as a coach. I also know how what happened to Dan Roushar and Mark Snyder, so he's capable of moves. Having said that, I put it at 10% that Warner and Bollman are fired. I'll go with another 10% they resign. Let's say 30% they are reassigned. So, I actually leave it at 50% they are both back in the same capacity next year. Which is a terrifying thought.