Hey, when you line up five wide on fourth down or third and short as we have most of the time this year and ended up with squat, then we have a problem. Either its the coaches or the players themselves, we think we are owed the points/yards and instead of earning them we dance around.
Instead of being insulting, just look at what you see on the field. Only two times this year have we been consistent for four quarters on offense. Baylor and Wyoming. Other than that, it has been a struggle. We get our points, but a lot of that has to do with the quality of the opposition and the fact that our talent comes out on top. I am not confident in our offense's ability to get it done or help out our defense when it matters. I say this especially knowing how we have struggled against AFA in the past and with Utah in Salt Lake looming on the horizon.
"Explosive"? Probably not. Yet, to address your specific criticisms the facts are as follows: TCU is #4 in the country in first downs and # 11 in the country in third down conversions. They are down in 4th down conversions a ways, but with such small numbers, stats and rankings aren't reliable. Therefore, I don't see great problems here with respect to consistency and third down production compared to the rest of the universe of college teams. It's a game where the other side really does try to affect "perfection". The Frogs are doing quite well.
That said, many of what most think of as "top" offenses are
much lower on both measures as these are, to my mind, both measures of ball control and not "explosivity". CGP is quite clearly in the ball control camp and not the explosives camp. That's just what we're gonna get as long as he's around, I think.
This above arguments are, I think, apparent when you look at the top teams on these measures...
The top 15 in first down production are:
Nevada
Oregon
Tulsa
TCU
Wisconsin
Stanford
North Carolina State
Northwestern
USC
Hawaii
Arizona State
Auburn
Air Force
UTEP
Alabama
The top 15 in third down conversions are:
Nevada
Stanford
USC
Air Force
South Carolina
Utah
Wisconsin
UTEP
TCU
Houston
Mississippi State
Florida State
Northwestern
Northern Illinois
Kansas
Oregon, BTW is 22nd on the 2nd measure and so seems to be statistically at least trying the same sort of strategy as the Frogs as they are high on both. Wisconsin too though hopefully they, at least, are no threat to us. Nevada against Boise might be interesting if they can keep Moore on the bench.
