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Post by wildcat on Sept 2, 2007 12:02:59 GMT -6
Why do they happen?
We got spanked 42-7 Friday night by a big Catholic powerhouse that had 70 juniors and seniors (we have 40) and will cruise to a 9-0 regular season record. We could have played these guys 10 times and they would have beat us every time.
With that being said, there is NO WAY these guys we played were 6 TDs better than us...they were big, fast, well-coached, and didn't make mistakes...we made a TON!
* running inside seam, outside hitch against CIII, our QB throws deep to the seam almost every time even though the seam route was double or triple covered. Hitch was WIDE OPEN! On a couple of plays, there wasn't a defender withing 10 yards of the hitch. This happened at least 5 times during the game. If we would have completed those 5 hitches instead of throwing deep, we would have got a couple of more first downs and killed some clock.
SCORE: 35-7
* Running Rocket pass and Jailbreak screen. Slot receivers either don't block the right guy or they block poorly and the play gets blown up for negative yardage. Running quick game stuff (curl/shoot, slant, flare, all hitch, etc, etc...) and receivers drop many catchable balls. Result is that the clock stops and we have to give the ball back.
Score: 28-7
* Defense was awful...LBs didn't stay home against counters, DL was blown 7 yards off the ball, CBs and DBs didn't come up to help on run support, OLBs didn't get jams on TEs and let them free release. Also, several stupid penalties (late hits, unsportsmanlike conduct,etc, etc) gave the other team multiple opportunities.
Score: 21-7
So, I think that we would have lost anyway, but there was no way we should have lost 42-7. I think, simply by executing better and not making dumb mistakes, that the game should have been much closer than it was. I don't think we would have scored much on them (our lone TD came against their backups with less than a second on the clock), but it could have been much more respectable.
So...what do you guys think? What are the most important factors that lead to a blowout?
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Post by coachd5085 on Sept 2, 2007 12:44:39 GMT -6
Not to cut into you..but to the fan in the stands, what you just described was being flat out- coached. They got their guys to do what they wanted them to do much better than your staff did with your guys. So I would say bad coaching leads to blowouts more than anything. Not having your kids do what you tell them to do.
Just a side note--I have never understood why someone says "they weren't ____ points better than us" . I think I understand what you mean...that physically, they weren't that much bigger, stronger, faster, or more dominant. But if they were jamming the TE, blocking the correct assignments, making the correct reads, avoiding needless penalties....then YES, they WERE ____ points better than you.
Another thing is "hype". I now that coaches that rely a lot on gut instinct, and hype tend to get blown out more than coaches who hang their hat on meticulous preparation, and rational thinking. Coaches who have a reason for what they do. (Obviously I am not suggesting that this is the case with you guys. I just have noticed that over my years in the coaching business, that the coaches who are HYPE and INSTINCT oriented, tend to get blown out more than those who are more cerebral in their approach.
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Post by brophy on Sept 2, 2007 12:56:20 GMT -6
If we would have completed those 5 hitches....don't block the right guy or they block poorly ....LBs didn't stay home against counters, DL was blown 7 yards off the ball, CBs and DBs didn't come up to help on run support, simply by executing better and not making dumb mistakes like you said, execution is what it boils down to, right? Execution what allows us to compete.......KIDS out-performing the other kids is how plays are made. Some would say COACHES can control everything. I think coaches CAN teach technique and fundamentals an dplays....but the 'intangibles' that really matter are work-ethic, heart, discipline, toughness, and attitude.....coaches are lucky if they can influence kids quickly in this respect. And in my opinion, makes the biggest difference on Friday night. Those 'intangibles' also can dictate how good your coaching really is. If a kid has no heart, discipline, or toughness......you could coach your pants off and still come up short. It is what it is. |
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Post by CoachDaniel on Sept 2, 2007 19:47:59 GMT -6
Brophy, you mention coaches are lucky if they can influence kids quickly in those respects. From winter until the season (or even June, if its a late hire), how much of an influence can you have on those aspects?
This may be a seperate thread, but how much did the offseason influence/indicate what you see on the field now? When you asked them to do it in the summer, was it done? If so, when you asked them do it on the field, was it done?
Not aiming this at your team, Wildcat, just wondering at this early stage how everyone feels the offseason has translated/does translate to the regular season.
Are there kids who are just not off season performers, but once the pads come on, they are as coachable and full of fire as anyone?
Are those two completely different things - offseason heart; and full pads, friday night, the opponents are studs heart?
Does the fact that no one ever gets "beat" in the weight room make it not translate? Last season I felt we had loads of confidence coming from the off season, but once someone really took it to us, the old mentality (traditionally losing program) set right back in.
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Post by brophy on Sept 2, 2007 20:15:29 GMT -6
Brophy, you mention coaches are lucky if they can influence kids quickly in those respects. From winter until the season (or even June, if its a late hire), how much of an influence can you have on those aspects? you can preach, set expectations, push, mentor.........but none of it matters until each player grows up on his own and turns that light on. New program, only had the kids since May.....if I (or anyone else) could get 14 - 18 year old kids to grow up and mature after a decades of babying and coddling, I'll kick Dr.Phil's {censored} and write a book. |
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Post by groundchuck on Sept 2, 2007 20:19:12 GMT -6
Sometimes it is the luck of the draw too. If you play them week 6 when your players are more comfortable with eachother and the offense than maybe you execute better and the game is closer. I know the school you played Wildacat and how many times have you guys beaten them in the last 10 years? Maybe 3 times during the streak? But that is it, they expect to win every time they step on the field.
We made the same mistakes under pressure too. Our QB would throw the slant instead of the out etc when it was plainly obvious to everyone. Mental errors are the hardest to take.
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Post by phantom on Sept 2, 2007 20:40:41 GMT -6
They happen sometimes. Bad luck at times. They're on when you're off. There are other reasons. The most prevalant is that the other team is a lot better than yours. Sometimes you have a bad game plan, often caused by trying to outcoach them.
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Post by wildcat on Sept 2, 2007 21:54:09 GMT -6
Not to cut into you..but to the fan in the stands, what you just described was being flat out- coached. They got their guys to do what they wanted them to do much better than your staff did with your guys. So I would say bad coaching leads to blowouts more than anything. Not having your kids do what you tell them to do. That is my point. I WAS outcoached. The other team's kids were ready to play and the kids on my team were not. I think that, too often, when we are on the business end of a blowout like this, we have a tendency to chalk it up as the other team having more guys, bigger players, more money for facilities, better community support...etc, etc when in reality, those things may not be the reason for getting embarrassed. |
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coachf
Freshmen Member
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Post by coachf on Sept 2, 2007 23:17:11 GMT -6
Blowouts- Why they happen?
Well, for me last year it was a real lack of talent. We were really young and really bad. With that said, it was still MY fault. I can think of lots of excuses ( I was hired late, I only had 1 varsity assistant, I only had 2 starting seniors, 1 returning starter on each side), but the bottom line is, I didn't bring out the best in the kids. I settled, I rationalized, I accepted the fact that we would stink. I didn't get my players or my staff prepared. Granted, that is very difficult when the staff is small and only 1 of them was guaranteed to be at everything. But, I should have forced the issue.
I also should have prepared my kids better, mentally. I think we threw all of our eggs into one basket early in the year. And I am not sure if the kids ever recovered.
I know as the year went on we got better. We started to become competitive, but that is only because I got out of the way. I stopped trying to run what I wanted to run. Instead, I ran what would keep us in the game. I stopped going for the homerun and concentrated on singles (that is probably a stupid analogy, but hey, who cares?)
I know one thing I did, wildcat. You talked about the QB making the bad throw against Cover 3. I just started telling my QB who to throw to. Told him, make that throw to him or throw it out of bounds. I just took out his decision making. I knew one team was going to be in Cover 2, so I just made all calls to our QB based on being in Cover 2. Did it work everytime? No, sometimes the team would roll into a different coverage. But, I didn't care. Our QB would have made the wrong throw, most likely. So, in that case, the blame was on me. It really made our QB more comfortable. This year, he is back on his own, but that is because I spent more time with him this summer. Last year, it was just too late.
The only thing that ever discouraged me during a blowout, was when we were very prepared. I know we played on game last year, where we called nearly every one of the other teams plays from the sideline. The kids knew what was coming...and they couldn't do a thing to stop it. It was frustrating. I don't know where the blame goes there.
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Post by coachcb on Sept 3, 2007 9:14:15 GMT -6
If we would have completed those 5 hitches....don't block the right guy or they block poorly ....LBs didn't stay home against counters, DL was blown 7 yards off the ball, CBs and DBs didn't come up to help on run support, simply by executing better and not making dumb mistakes like you said, execution is what it boils down to, right? Execution what allows us to compete.......KIDS out-performing the other kids is how plays are made. Some would say COACHES can control everything. I think coaches CAN teach technique and fundamentals an dplays....but the 'intangibles' that really matter are work-ethic, heart, discipline, toughness, and attitude.....coaches are lucky if they can influence kids quickly in this respect. And in my opinion, makes the biggest difference on Friday night. Those 'intangibles' also can dictate how good your coaching really is. If a kid has no heart, discipline, or toughness......you could coach your pants off and still come up short. It is what it is. Thats a great summation, brophy; I agree 100%. You can coach your butt off; teach technique, get the kids fired up, and have a perfect game plan. But it's up to the kids to go out and get the job done. For example, our most effective PA is our "25 Counter Boot Pass"; fake TB counter left, QB boots right, FB is generally wide open in the flats. We rep and refine this play constantly in practice; each and every day. We're only running it to the right for now; easy for the QB. This weekend, we called this play in the red zone early in the game; dumped it off to the FB and scored. In the fourth quarter, we go to it again on their 5 yard line; OUR QB BOOTS THE WRONG WAY AND THROWS AND INTERCEPTION. Would've been the kill-shot for us too; would've put us up by 2 scores. Thankfully we still won... We run the heck out of the counter and this PA play in practice, we score with it earlier in the game, and then our QB hands the ball back over. And it's not like we've overloaded the kid either; we have a VERY limited package this game. 7 running plays, 2 PAs, 1 screen, and a 3 step package that consists of of 5 routes. The kids just screwed the proverbial pooch. |
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Post by Coach Huey on Sept 3, 2007 12:21:18 GMT -6
"If you want to plow, you better have some horses." lol |
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Post by gunandrun on Sept 4, 2007 8:14:58 GMT -6
blown out last week. Our mistakes, lack of focus, and effort made a middle of the pack team look great. Beating ourselves is my problem. Yes, my problem, the coaching needs to improve.
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