New QB, 3 new OLM so how many PPG do we average on Offense

[nwahogfan1]

Ok,  I had a defensive PPG Poll up and I got good responses so now what do you guys think we will do Offensively? 

I have mixed feelings here.  I am not real sure about AA at QB.  We have very little to go on here. I am worried about RB depth.  How will RW come back from his neck injury?  How will Whaley do as a Freshman?  I like Walker as a short yardage back but who will be our break away back?  Plus who will start on the OL and at what positions?   Will we have depth behind Sprinkle at TE?   The only position I am not worried about is WR. We are good and depth there.

With so many question marks the best I could go was 27+ ppg this year and leave it up to the defense to win some of those tight games.

So lets voice our opinions, hopes and fears.

[Cinco de Hogo]

I think we have the potential to be explosive.  That said we have questions we can't answer without playing some games(as does every team).  I hope we don't have to score 50 points to win ANY game this year but baring injuries we could be capable again in the latter half of the season or against our cupcakes.

Avg-31

OOC-45
SEC-23

[AugustaHog]

I expect that we will thump the teams that we are supposed to pretty handily, i.e. the 3 non-conf teams other than TCU.  We're going to struggle against the better defenses we will face like Bama, UF, and LSU though which will bring the number down.  Even though the weapons around Allen are pretty awesome, I suspect that we'll be a little better than average this year due to the learning curve of a new QB and a ton of flux on the OL.

[GuvHog]

I expect that we will thump the teams that we are supposed to pretty handily, i.e. the 3 non-conf teams other than TCU.  We're going to struggle against the better defenses we will face like Bama, UF, and LSU though which will bring the number down.  Even though the weapons around Allen are pretty awesome, I suspect that we'll be a little better than average this year due to the learning curve of a new QB and a ton of flux on the OL.

Once again, we are talking about a veteran 4th year Junior QB, not a green true Freshmen QB so the "new" really doesn't apply. The addition of Raulerson will really help the offensive line experience wise so I believe they'll be better than some think.

[Boardon Hamsay]

Good question and really hard to answer until we see the product on the field. For me, it will really depend on how cohesive and effective the OL is coming out of the gate in the first game or game two. Secondarily, I'm interested in seeing how our play calling on offense aligns to the strengths of our OL. That kind of establishes a stick in the sand, so to speak. From there, it becomes a matter of how quickly we adapt, correct, improve, etc. opportunity areas. We have the potential to be really good on offense but it starts with the OL creating holes for our younger RB stable and giving the younger Allen protection. Just really hard to tell until we hit the field.

[gawntrail]

<15ppg

[pigture perfect]

I think our defense will be the strength of our team, which will give our offense more time to score, so I'm expecting about the same results as last year offensively.

[thebignasty]

I think our defense will be the strength of our team, which will give our offense more time to score, so I'm expecting about the same results as last year offensively.

So... You expect one of the most efficient passing offenses in the country on a team that's strength will be its D?



I guess it time to get hyped.

[bennyl08]

I think our offense will be very potent due to a high level of talent, but also very prone to mistakes to a low level of experience. I think we will see our team march 70+ yards down the field and punch it in for a td on one drive, then get a false start and a holding penalty on the next to put us in a hole. I think it will be rare that our OL gets beat 1 on 1 vs a DL, but I think there will be several times where they miss assignments and a DL player or LB easily comes in untouched into our backfield. Further, these mistakes will be most prevalent early on in the season and be less so as the game goes on.

On a third an 12 after some penalties, I think a big difference we see b/w Brandon and Austin is that Austin won't be thinking, throw it away and punt, he'll want to push the ball and get that conversion. This will lead to some amazing plays and throws especially with our talented WR group, but will also lead to a few more interceptions.

One advantage our offense will have this year IMO that it lacked last season is a defense it can lean on. BA in several games knew that it was completely on him to win the game. I think the coaches switching back towards a disruptive defensive grouping rather than a prevent grouping like we saw last year will show great dividends. We'll give up a few big plays being aggressive, but we'll make more plays on defense than we give up.

[MuskogeeHogFan]

Ok,  I had a defensive PPG Poll up and I got good responses so now what do you guys think we will do Offensively? 

I have mixed feelings here.  I am not real sure about AA at QB.  We have very little to go on here. I am worried about RB depth.  How will RW come back from his neck injury?  How will Whaley do as a Freshman?  I like Walker as a short yardage back but who will be our break away back?  Plus who will start on the OL and at what positions?   Will we have depth behind Sprinkle at TE?   The only position I am not worried about is WR. We are good and depth there.

With so many question marks the best I could go was 27+ ppg this year and leave it up to the defense to win some of those tight games.

So lets voice our opinions, hopes and fears.

I'm not sure that we can have any kind of semi-accurate discussion about this without discussing the defense as well. We all know that a good defense is going to create some T/O's and even in the absence of a lot of T/O's present you with better field position than you might have otherwise. And usually, that results in more scoring opportunities, or at the very least, more opportunities for more scoring opportunities, if you can move the ball at all.

I think it was Biggus who posted some information about how many times our offense started from less than desirable field position last season, and it is a good point. Same could be said for 2013. In 2014 the defense was more productive and despite BA not having emerged and realized his potential as a QB (that wouldn't come for another season when Enos showed up and Chaney had departed), the offense did score more points in 2014 (12.7 more than we allowed), though having J-Will and AC in the backfield helped greatly.

So this year we are all left to speculate. We lose an experienced QB, 3 from our O-Line, an elite TE and both RB's that have thrilled us over the last 3 years. But Austin Allen isn't chopped liver, he is capable and I believe that though he may not have an All Star season in the first year that he starts, he will be good, but he will also make the typical mistakes of a first year starter.

We have at least 2-3 TE's that will perform very well, lead by Sprinkle. The WR's will give up their bodies to make a catch, just as they did last year and we will have more speed on the field at one time than maybe we had last year at that position. Personally, I think they are a gutsy bunch who will smack you in the mouth on a run and then run right by you the next play on a run fake. I'm looking forward to watching them.

The O-Line will be good but not great, at least early on, but they will gel. We need to get more of the 2nd team more reps when possible this year which may produce closer games against weaker teams, but we need to bite the bullet there to insure that we are building experienced depth for the future.

We have to hope that Rawleigh and Kody return to previous form and that we find new stars in Whaley and Hammond and with the departure of Denzell Evans, it would be nice if Juan Day and DuWop stepped up and provided more than just journeyman level carries. Will we see performances similar to J-Will and a true Freshman AC? Maybe, we will see, but the jury is still out.

The defense really has to step it up this year and I will cite Phil Steele's projections for our defense again, #2 in the nation in rush defense, #14 in total defense. If we see significant progress in our pass defense and we cure our special teams breakdowns, I think that the offense has the ability to average 30 points per game. If we can do that as an average across 12 games and the defense can limit opponents to 21 or fewer points, we will win a lot of games.

Obviously part of the key is that when the offense reaches the RZ we need to score at a rate of 80% or better and average more than 5.3 points per attempt. Conversely, the defense has to limit RZ attempts (we allowed more than any other West team last year with 270 opportunities to opposing offense) and even more so, RZ scoring by allowing an average of less than 5 points when they do reach our RZ.

We'll see. This is one of those transitional years where it could go either way based on T/O's, opportunities seized and missed and how quickly the offensive and defensive sides of the ball grow up and show up. We could win 9 or only 6. It's just so difficult to project at this time. JMO