Fire Kendal Briles

[Frog Brother]

We clearly needed more short-side option mixed with the smoke draw, especially during that last drive.

 

[tyler durden]

I’ve never heard the hiring of a D1 coordinator being all that loud, except in rare cases. It’s usually a pretty low key deal. It’s like some of you expected a press conference or something.

Clemson made a meal of it when they hired ours.

 

[HG73]

I was at the game and just watched the replay. The second interception was the QBs fault. Very conservative play call, any trouble can only come from the corner leaving his man and jumping the route. Which he did from the snap.

Yes we had been running the ball easily all day. A run would have worked just fine. But that ball should have never been thrown, lucky it wasn't a pick 6.

Now Colorado has some excellent receivers and a great QB. But no running game and no defense. Honestly we could have called all running plays and won the game. Literally.

 

[frogetaboutit]

Honestly we could have called all running plays and won the game. Literally.

How many years have we mocked him? And here we go and pull a Bielema.

 

[Rabidfrog]

Who is going to be the judge? There are people here who most put the blame for yesterdays loss on the offense.

If that’s the bar for each unit, I’m gonna disagree with you on who gets the blame.

I do blame the offense. You got 4 min. to go down and win the game, and you can't figure out a way to get another first down--that's on the offense.

 

[Rabidfrog]

We clearly needed more short-side option mixed with the smoke draw, especially during that last drive.

hell, that might have worked as over against what we did do on that last series.

 

[CardFrog]

How much latitude does Morris have to change the play? Thinking the 2nd INT could he have pump faked and tucked or would he have gotten his ass chewed out? I mean this sincerely...something tells me that is what Max would have done. I truly feel bad for Chandler as I think he has talent but it was not his best display for sure.

 

[Limey Frog]

I was at the game and just watched the replay. The second interception was the QBs fault. Very conservative play call, any trouble can only come from the corner leaving his man and jumping the route. Which he did from the snap.

Yes we had been running the ball easily all day. A run would have worked just fine. But that ball should have never been thrown, lucky it wasn't a pick 6.

Now Colorado has some excellent receivers and a great QB. But no running game and no defense. Honestly we could have called all running plays and won the game. Literally.

We'll see how things go from here. Chandler was only in his third start, and I'm sure there are lots of reasons he was a four star recruit that Lincoln Riley wanted in Norman. But there were also probably reasons why he transferred out. Sometimes transfers get a fresh start and reach new heights in an environment that's better for them, sometimes they prove why they didn't win the job in their last place. I hope Chandler is a case of the former, but maybe he won't be.

 

[Wexahu]

I do blame the offense. You got 4 min. to go down and win the game, and you can't figure out a way to get another first down--that's on the offense.

Colorado's last 4 drives.....TD, TD, TD, Victory Formation.

Blaming the offense is like losing a baseball game 15-13 and saying it was the hitting and not the pitching that cost you the game. We couldn't stop them. We even had to kind of very carefully manage the clock on our last drive (at least the coaches thought we had to) because we knew we couldn't give the ball back to them with time on the clock. I do think that at least had some effect on our offense on that drive, it's kind of hard when you are in a position where you absolutely have to score but you also have to worry about doing it too quickly.

 

[Wexahu]

How much latitude does Morris have to change the play? Thinking the 2nd INT could he have pump faked and tucked or would he have gotten his ass chewed out? I mean this sincerely...something tells me that is what Max would have done. I truly feel bad for Chandler as I think he has talent but it was not his best display for sure.

I don't think a particular play where he could have pump faked and tucked. It wasn't really any kind of read option with a QB run being an option if I recall. Most likely if he pump faked and tucked he'd have been tackled for a loss on 3rd and 1 from the 3-yard line. Not ideal at all.

It should have been a running play. Or even a QB sneak. They hadn't stuffed us for no gain all day long. That's the one time during the game where I truly wanted to throw something at my TV, it was a what in the absolute hell are we thinking moment.

 

[Limey Frog]

Colorado's last 4 drives.....TD, TD, TD, Victory Formation.

Blaming the offense is like losing a baseball game 15-13 and saying it was the hitting and not the pitching that cost you the game. We couldn't stop them. We even had to kind of very carefully manage the clock on our last drive (at least the coaches thought we had to) because we knew we couldn't give the ball back to them with time on the clock. I do think that at least had some effect on our offense on that drive, it's kind of hard when you are in a position where you absolutely have to score but you also have to worry about doing it too quickly.

This is more a fan philosophy take here than an Xs & Os analysis, but I've been think about this axiomatically:

1. Transitions from a legendary head coach to "the guy after the guy" are almost always a disaster.
2. Those transitions are often the most difficult when the next guy tries to replicate his predecessor, i.e., to win in the exact same way.
3. Some programs can be good at offense and defense, but most tend to be better at one than the other.
4. Over long periods of time, fanbases take on a collective identity shaped by the way in which their team wins (e.g., a preference for "hard-nosed defense" at "linebacker U").
5. Fans who are accustomed to winning one way are likely to be especially upset by losing in a way that unfavorably mirrors the way they are accustomed to winning (e.g., witness Florida fans right now: Graham Mertz and Billy Napier aren't Spurrier's "fun & gun," and the locals are very restless).

TCU made a change from a defensive-minded head coach to an offensive-minded guy, from an amped-up sideline screamer to one who is always calm unless he's yelling at a referee, etc. Sonny isn't GP, and now TCU is playing like a Mike Leach team at Texas Tech. It's not my preferred style; I'd rather win 17-3 every week. Losing the way we lost on Saturday sucks, but losing the way Nebraska lost to Minnesota is still a loss, too. This Mike Leach type program DNA doesn't really suit Frog fans after two decades of GP. But the transition from a legend to the next guy hasn't been a disaster: it went rather well last year, as everyone may recall. We could be much worse off, like what K-State looked like under Ron Prince. Sometimes the best way to move on is to find someone who does it exactly the opposite way it has been done. I wonder if we're all just struggling to cope with what that looks like on the weeks when it doesn't work. Maybe the pressure of ingrained program/fan culture is making this feel worse than it is.

I'm not saying the defense doesn't need to more be tackle-y, that the pass rush situation isn't courting catastrophe, or that Johnny Tape-fingers isn't still a little poop on a stick. I'm just saying we might be overreacting here, and it may help to remember that things could be a lot worse. We haven't lost to Texas State or Wyoming, yet.

 

[Wexahu]

This is more a fan philosophy take here than an Xs & Os analysis, but I've been think about this axiomatically:

1. Transitions from a legendary head coach to "the guy after the guy" are almost always a disaster.
2. Those transitions are often the most difficult when the next guy tries to replicate his predecessor, i.e., to win in the exact same way.
3. Some programs can be good at offense and defense, but most tend to be better at one than the other.
4. Over long periods of time, fanbases take on a collective identity shaped by the way in which their team wins (e.g., a preference for "hard-nosed defense" at "linebacker U").
5. Fans who are accustomed to winning one way are likely to be especially upset by losing in a way that unfavorably mirrors the way they are accustomed to winning (e.g., witness Florida fans right now: Graham Mertz and Billy Napier aren't Spurrier's "fun & gun," and the locals are very restless).

TCU made a change from a defensive-minded head coach to an offensive-minded guy, from an amped-up sideline screamer to one who is always calm unless he's yelling at a referee, etc. Sonny isn't GP, and now TCU is playing like a Mike Leach team at Texas Tech. It's not my preferred style; I'd rather win 17-3 every week. Losing the way we lost on Saturday sucks, but losing the way Nebraska lost to Minnesota is still a loss, too. This Mike Leach type program DNA doesn't really suit Frog fans after two decades of GP. But the transition from a legend to the next guy hasn't been a disaster: it went rather well last year, as everyone may recall. We could be much worse off, like what K-State looked like under Ron Prince. Sometimes the best way to move on is to find someone who does it exactly the opposite way it has been done. I wonder if we're all just struggling to cope with what that looks like on the weeks when it doesn't work. Maybe the pressure of ingrained program/fan culture is making this feel worse than it is.

I'm not saying the defense doesn't need to more be tackle-y, that the pass rush situation isn't courting catastrophe, or that Johnny Tape-fingers isn't still a little poop on a stick. I'm just saying we might be overreacting here, and it may help to remember that things could be a lot worse. We haven't lost to Texas State or Wyoming, yet.

I don't think there is much resemblance here at all to a Mike Leach Texas Tech team, or even a Mike Leach WSU or MSU team. Chandler Morris threw 42 passes and he handed the ball off 32 times (and ran 5 times himself, although I'm not sure any of those were designed runs). A Mike Leach team never did that. His QB would have thrown the ball 60+ times Saturday.

I guess I kind of get what you're saying re "offense or defensive" minded philosophy, but you've got to be good at both, and I think almost every head coach knows this. I don't see us doing things like going for it on 4th and 4 from our own territory on a regular basis and stuff like that. I don't think we're overemphasizing offense at the expense of defense per se, I just think right now the defense is a mess and needs to figure some stuff out.

 

[Limey Frog]

I don't think there is much resemblance here at all to a Mike Leach Texas Tech team, or even a Mike Leach WSU or MSU team. Chandler Morris threw 42 passes and he handed the ball off 32 times (and ran 5 times himself, although I'm not sure any of those were designed runs). A Mike Leach team never did that. His QB would have thrown the ball 60+ times Saturday.

Like I said, not an Xs & Os analysis. I meant a Mike Leach team DNA in that we lost 45-42; liveth by the offense, dieth by the lack of defense.

 

[Jefffrog1993]

Can we just have a dominant defense and offense? That is all I want for Christmas! Defense lost this game you score 42 you should win.

 

[Diehard]

How much latitude does Morris have to change the play? Thinking the 2nd INT could he have pump faked and tucked or would he have gotten his ass chewed out? I mean this sincerely...something tells me that is what Max would have done. I truly feel bad for Chandler as I think he has talent but it was not his best display for sure.

I "think" he has been told to avoid contact if at all possible. If so, it seems they may be taking his best skill, the run pass option, away from him.

 

[Ron Swanson]

There are clearly some posters who are too emotional to look at the facts. Obviously there were some questionable play calls and some things I disagreed with on the offensive game plan, but in general the offense was pretty damn good.

Certainly much better than Garrett Riley did with better weapons against a much weaker CU team last year in his first game. And certainly much better than Coach Gillespie did on Saturday. We didn’t stop CU’s offense once in the 2nd half.

This loss was 90% on the defense, 6% on the offense, and 4% on Griffin Kell.

If you want to fire Kendal after Saturday, you were very clearly against the hire to begin with and you’re not looking at things rationally. You were waiting for anything to go wrong so you could get up on your dumba$$ soapbox and say I told you so, and you look stupid.

 

[tyler durden]

Just wondering if this guy’s character issues don’t somehow translate into the offensive weakness lingering around this team.

 

[Deep Purple]

For the past three games, the Houston, SMU, and WVU defenses have simply blitzed almost every down in the 2nd half. There are plays you can call to exploit the blitz and make the D pay if they do not back off and defend the whole field. Last night, Briles never adjusted his play-calling to do that. He continued to call downfield passes, and Morris continued to to hang indecisively in the pocket considering his options until his options ran out.

Briles strikes me as tunnel-visioned -- inflexible in his game plan and unable to make required in-game adjustments based on what the defense is giving.

 

[Cfrog1985]

I've been open as anyone to Briles being successful and hard as hell on the defensive coordinator for that dumpster fire first game and National Championship last year.

That said, defense is improving each week yet offense getting destroyed in the 2nd half was just pathetic.

Briles needs to modify his offense or needs to move on. Being inflexible is stupid. Kudos to WVU for their 2nd half changes, very impressive. Sonny and the OC should be very disappointed. Our defense made a hell of an effort being on the field the entire 2nd half. Special teams.........sweet christmas.

 

[namollec]

Is Briles doing this on purpose? Is he scuttling the offense in some twisted payback scheme for all the vitriol launched at him, his dad, "that" school during "that time"? Perhaps he will think it is enough to get to 6 wins and a bowl game but won't do his utmost every week?