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Player fit and philosophy

Started by razorbackfaninar, September 29, 2017, 12:37:58 pm

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razorbackfaninar

Time will tell how this year is going to turn out, but in my opinion it looks like we learned some things in the Texas A&M game about how to improve going forward. We made some changes prior to and during that game that were positive and Bielema, if you put stock in it, says that there are more changes coming to special teams.  We shuffled the O-line around again and seemed to find some things that work and identified some things that weren't working.  Despite the loss I at least saw some positives coming out of the game.

My question is, what is the reason that we seem to come out every year with a misunderstanding of our personnel, what they can and can't do, and what is or isn't going to work.  It seems like under Bielema we always come out to start the season flatfooted and have to adjust, correct and move players around. What are we missing in the off-season that is giving us a false sense that we have the right plan in place only to find out once the season starts that it was wrong again? 

In my opinion coaches that tailor their game-plan to fit the personnel on hand and not the other way around fare better in the long run. My concern is that we have a scheme, game-plan etc in place and we try to fit players into it instead of adjusting to what our players can reasonably execute to a high level. I think that coach Bielema is set on a specific philosophy and he is so overly confident in that philosophy that he doesn't modify it when he doesn't have personnel to make it work. Instead of adjusting the plan to fit the personnel that he does have, he tries to recruit players to fit his particular system, but we can't pick and choose exactly who we want.  Then we try to run his system with the players we do have. I think that this is the reason for the perception that he plays favorites and explains some of the more head scratching decisions about what players are going to play and which ones aren't. Sometimes when his hand is forced he ends up playing people that he might not have otherwise, either because they don't fit the plan or the prototype. Sometimes that works to our benefit to our benefit, like with Drew Morgan.


This could be way off, but I think that Bielema came here supremely confident that what he had always done at Wisconsin would work here, and I think he has continued to believe in that system even when shown that it wasn't working at Arkansas. What gave me confidence that that might be starting to change was the "Steamboat" package.  I think it showed innovation and a willingness to break from his traditional ways in order to win that we woudln't have seen from Bielema 3 years ago. It may be wishful thinking, but it seems to me like he has finally been humbled enough to realize that what he thought was going to work, needs to be changed, if it's no too late.   

           

bphi11ips

Quote from: razorbackfaninar on September 29, 2017, 12:37:58 pm
Time will tell how this year is going to turn out, but in my opinion it looks like we learned some things in the Texas A&M game about how to improve going forward. We made some changes prior to and during that game that were positive and Bielema, if you put stock in it, says that there are more changes coming to special teams.  We shuffled the O-line around again and seemed to find some things that work and identified some things that weren't working.  Despite the loss I at least saw some positives coming out of the game.

My question is, what is the reason that we seem to come out every year with a misunderustanding of our personnel, what they can and can't do, and what is or isn't going to work.  It seems like under Bielema we always come out to start the season flatfooted and have to adjust, correct and move players around. What are we missing in the off-season that is giving us a false sense that we have the right plan in place only to find out once the season starts that it was wrong again? 

In my opinion coaches that tailor their game-plan to fit the personnel on hand and not the other way around fare better in the long run. My concern is that we have a scheme, game-plan etc in place and we try to fit players into it instead of adjusting to what our players can reasonably execute to a high level. I think that coach Bielema is set on a specific philosophy and he is so overly confident in that philosophy that he doesn't modify it when he doesn't have personnel to make it work. Instead of adjusting the plan to fit the personnel that he does have, he tries to recruit players to fit his particular system, but we can't pick and choose exactly who we want.  Then we try to run his system with the players we do have. I think that this is the reason for the perception that he plays favorites and explains some of the more head scratching decisions about what players are going to play and which ones aren't. Sometimes when his hand is forced he ends up playing people that he might not have otherwise, either because they don't fit the plan or the prototype. Sometimes that works to our benefit to our benefit, like with Drew Morgan.


This could be way off, but I think that Bielema came here supremely confident that what he had always done at Wisconsin would work here, and I think he has continued to believe in that system even when shown that it wasn't working at Arkansas. What gave me confidence that that might be starting to change was the "Steamboat" package.  I think it showed innovation and a willingness to break from his traditional ways in order to win that we woudln't have seen from Bielema 3 years ago. It may be wishful thinking, but it seems to me like he has finally been humbled enough to realize that what he thought was going to work, needs to be changed, if it's no too late.   

           

I've spent a lot of time over the years since Bret Bielema has been Arkansas's coach studying Wisconsin's offensive stats while he coached there.  The one thing that sticks out is consistent balance between passing yards and rushing yards.  I've never understood those who insist he is a run only guy.  Barry Alvarez said the other day in Little Rock that you can't swing a dead cat in Wisconsin without hitting a 300 lb. lineman and that CBB needs more speed in the SEC.  Many here have said that and I don't think it just dawned on Bret Bielema.

If you look at 2011, Russell Wilson ran for 338 yards and 4.3 yards per carry.  I don't think CBB favors running QBs, but he isn't so entrenched in his philosophy that he won't use one when he has one.  Every team is different.  CBB knows that. Case in point is the Steamboat package.

I have a different theory working on your point, though.  I've always been amused by these scripted practices where athletes run from station to station and almost never line up as full units and tackle to the ground.  CBB isn't the only one.  That seems to be the norm these days.  I was encouraged to read that we went ones vs. ones after TCU.  I think one of the effects of practicing the way we do is that we really don't know what works until we go live.  In the NFL you have four games to find out.  In college you don't have that luxury.  Our schedule this year required us to play two very good teams early.  We may see another one this weekend.  It's fix on the fly.  Maybe if football teams scrimmaged more in preseason with the best against the best teams would know earlier what works and what doesn't. 
Life is too short for grudges and feuds.

 

31to6

Quote from: razorbackfaninar on September 29, 2017, 12:37:58 pm
My question is, what is the reason that we seem to come out every year with a misunderstanding of our personnel, what they can and can't do, and what is or isn't going to work.  It seems like under Bielema we always come out to start the season flatfooted and have to adjust, correct and move players around. What are we missing in the off-season that is giving us a false sense that we have the right plan in place only to find out once the season starts that it was wrong again? 
Because CBB has a formula he believes in. He is not particularly smart or creative.

Since he has not been able to recruit the players he needs for his formula, he is at a loss for what to do.

So they don't even entertain creative ideas until the first head-scratching loss.

LJHOG

yeah we learned from the aTm game.  We learned we ain't worth a damn.