Stubbornness

[lamont7906]

 Is Coach B stubbornness going to cost us games? Coach B willingness to run the ball by any means necessary I believe it's going to cost us more games. Looking at the aTm game our recievers was better than their db's. Hatcher had his db overwhelmed. I understand running the ball is necessary but I believe Enos is willing to take what the defense gives him but believe he is handcuffed by Coach B on running the ball when we are not suited to run like he wants to.

[BrickTwnHog]

Is Coach B stubbornness going to cost us games? Coach B willingness to run the ball by any means necessary I believe it's going to cost us more games. Looking at the aTm game our recievers was better than their db's. Hatcher had his db overwhelmed. I understand running the ball is necessary but I believe Enos is willing to take what the defense gives him but believe he is handcuffed by Coach B on running the ball when we are not suited to run like he wants to.

Exactly...just look at last year's passing yardage and BA's stats and you'll realize that's must be true.

[Oklahawg]

Not bagging on the OP - but I suspect that there is a third option we don't fully have a handle on just yet.

[pigroots]

Every program has an identity. Ours has been one to pound the ball. It's what we do. We just are not doing it as well this year due to the oline being down. I don't have a problem trying to run the ball. They dang near killed AA the other night and if we try and become a throwing team AA won't finish the season in one piece. Our defense is not exactly stellar either so controlling the clock is important to our success. We have to mix it up with a heavy emphasis on the run. It's how we are built and how we have recruited

[lamont7906]

I understand what you saying our identity is a running team. I just feel we should be true to our best assets or weapons instead of bing true to our identity. AA got hurt because he was put in third and long situations and aTm defense didn't hold nothing back, knowing what he had to do. With our best weapon being the passing attack I believe we should mix up throwing on first down. We are to set in our offense right now. First down run, we get 3 plus yards we run again and pass on third or its first down run for no gain or two yards we pass second down hopefully to get to 3rd and 3 so we can run. It's predictable. A good passing team can lead to a good run game, BP showed us that. If we don't have the boars to power our way up front we should open the doors other ways. That's all I'm saying

[factchecker]

Where was this "stubbornness" during the final moments of the TCU game?

It's funny to me that some people think that when we fail Coach Bielema is making the play calls but when we win it's Coach Enos.

It's even more funny when you consider that 80% of Hogville wanted Enos fired after the Toledo game for "passing too much" and "abandoning the run".  Brandon threw the ball 53 times for 412 yards in the Toledo game.  I guess we could have used some of that selective stubbornness then.

[factchecker]

"Dat der berlema is so stubbern that we run the ball at least 90% of the time."

2016 season Run vs. Pass Breakdown:

Ran the ball 160 times (minus sacks).

Pass the ball 129 times (counting sacks).

289 total plays this season.

55% of our plays have been runs.

45% of our plays have been passes.

Against AnM we passed the ball more than we ran (42 passing attempts vs. 40 rushing).

Sure we could pass the ball more and use more spread sets but our play calling is pretty darn balanced.  If we to pass the ball more then we need to ensure Austin isn't going to end up in the ER as a result.

[factchecker]

The truth is this:  You do what works.

Passing the ball more does not guarantee a win- see Toledo last year.

Running the ball more does not guarantee a win.

Executing the run and pass plays better gives you a better chance to win.

Bielema has shown that he is willing to do what works.  Look at Brandon's passing numbers and our overall improvement in the passing game last season.

Austin is on pace to throw for around 3000 yards and 25 TDs this season.  That doesn't happen by being a stubborn "run only" coach.

[factchecker]

Final post:

Our offense is built around the play action.  We have to run to set up the pass.  Why?

Our line struggles to pass block out of a spread set.  We have to use misdirection, play action roll outs, and max protections to buy Austin time.  These concepts do not work without the threat of running the ball.

Hopefully the line will improve and we will fill more comfortable in spread sets instead of having to use max protect.  In the meantime, be prepared to see plenty of compact sets and play action passes.

[hawgwash]

I remember under Nutt we measured offensive balance by how many runs went to the right vs to the left. And starting QB was determined by who was best at handing off.

[kaki]

Is Coach B stubbornness going to cost us games? Coach B willingness to run the ball by any means necessary I believe it's going to cost us more games. Looking at the aTm game our recievers was better than their db's. Hatcher had his db overwhelmed. I understand running the ball is necessary but I believe Enos is willing to take what the defense gives him but believe he is handcuffed by Coach B on running the ball when we are not suited to run like he wants to.

Guess I have been watching a different Razorback team than you.  Last year Brandon had near record passing yardage and this year Austin is racking up stats at a pretty decent pace as well.  So I fail to see the point you are making.  I do not consider myself a football expert, but even I know that without some run threat that Austin would have been battered worse than he was.  Did you not see the way the Aggies relentlessly rushed the passer, when the Hogs had no choice but to pass?

I think Bret likes a power run approach in his pro style offense, but to say he is too stubborn in trying to establish the run seems a stretch to me. 

[pigroots]

I do think the Aggies should get credit. They rush the passer extremely well and you have to run to slow the rush down. Where we lost the game was we were not the more physical team and thus able to run the ball. They whipped us on the line of scrimmage. We have not said that much lately. This line has a ways to go to measure up to the last couple of years. A&M is good and my guess is they only lose 1-2 games this year. We probably struggle again against Alabama but are at least 50/50 to win every other game the rest of the way.

[DiamondHogFan]

Do I think our playbook got condensed within the 2 yard line? Yes.  But everyone's playbook does that when you get there.  We just didn't execute.

Our passing game was working well because A&M knew we were still dedicated to the run.  If we would have completely stopped running the ball, the passing game probably wouldn't have been as effective.  They were determined to make us beat them with AA's arm.  And he did plenty us to have a chance to win.  Our offensive play calling was not the reason we lost the game.  We did not need to get into a track meet shootout with A&M and we were successful at avoiding that until the 4th quarter when the flood gates opened.  We all saw what happened in the 4th quarter.  That would have happened a lot earlier if we would have abandoned the run.

We need to execute inside the 2 yard line and we win.  It almost cost us the game at TCU, and it did cost us the game against A&M.

[a0ashle]

Do I think our playbook got condensed within the 2 yard line? Yes.  But everyone's playbook does that when you get there.  We just didn't execute.

Our passing game was working well because A&M knew we were still dedicated to the run. If we would have completely stopped running the ball, the passing game probably wouldn't have been as effective.  They were determined to make us beat them with AA's arm.  And he did plenty us to have a chance to win.  Our offensive play calling was not the reason we lost the game.  We did not need to get into a track meet shootout with A&M and we were successful at avoiding that until the 4th quarter when the flood gates opened.  We all saw what happened in the 4th quarter.  That would have happened a lot earlier if we would have abandoned the run.

We need to execute inside the 2 yard line and we win.  It almost cost us the game at TCU, and it did cost us the game against A&M.

This, a 0-yard run still has the effect of reminding the defense that we will run.