Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic = Lessons Learned ?
I found this quote by Stanford coach, David Shaw, following the 2014 football season in which the Cardinal lost five games, after winning back to back PAC titles the previous two seasons, that obviously reminded me of our past Sun Devil season, after we had back to back 10 win seasons and were favored to do well this season but didn't, just like the Cardinal the year before...
Shaw said this..."I'll try to look back on the season and learn some lessons...schematically there were some things we could've done better"...this is from an article done by Nick Dempsey in SB Nation entitled "Altering the Offensive Scheme: Shaw's offense tried jamming a square pet into a round hole" dated 1-8-15...
The gist for the author and Shaw critics at the time was that Stanford had too much talent to finish with five losses and that Shaw and his staff didn't utilize what they had very well...that is they didn't play to the talent's strengths but rather too much against what they did best in schematic ways...
Something must have resonated with the Cardinal this season, as with the same core personnel, they returned to championship form and won the PAC again...I wonder what schematic changes, if any, Shaw and his staff made to turn things back around..??
Of course, I bring this all up because there has been a lot of questioning regarding both the Sun Devil offensive and defensive schemes this past season and, even though I'm a huge proponent of the Talent Is Destiny school of athletic success, I did wonder about some schematic issues on both sides of the ball this year...
Offensively, I think we all know that Berco is not another Taylor Kelly read option QB, which makes me wonder if we were playing to his strengths, as well as we could've have, given the circumstances or were we trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by having the scheme trump the QBs talent to one degree or another...I am not savvy enough to answer that question but would love to sit down with Graham and the new OC to see what they had to say about it...
Defensively, Graham said following the Cal loss that if the Sun Devils hadn't blitzed the way they did they would've lost by a much wider margin than what they did, which seemed pretty incredible to me as Cal was able to completely dismantle the Devils secondary all game long, plus that happened in many other games as well and, although we led or almost led the nation in TFL and sacks, we also gave up more explosive plays than any other team in the country, losing six games in the process, so what gives exactly..??
Was it a lack of talent, keeping in mind that there were some key injuries in the secondary, or was it just as much the result of the blitzing scheme that did not fit the personnel well this season..??
Again, I'm not savvy enough to answer that defensive scheme question but do think it is worth asking...
Returning to Shaw and Stanford last season, the article referenced above concluded that "the season was an indictment not of the talent level in the program but of the coaching staff's inability to use the talent (properly) when it does not immediately fit the scheme"...
Can the same be said of the 2015 Sun Devil coaching staff..??
If so, what were the flaws and how could they have been corrected during the course of the season..??
Will better personnel and depth solve most of the issues or do the schemes need to be tweaked to enhance efficiency on both sides of the ball..??
I await your feedback...
G'day Mates...Championships or Bust...Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic = Lessons Learned ?
I found this quote by Stanford coach, David Shaw, following the 2014 football season in which the Cardinal lost five games, after winning back to back PAC titles the previous two seasons, that obviously reminded me of our past Sun Devil season, after we had back to back 10 win seasons and were favored to do well this season but didn't, just like the Cardinal the year before...
Shaw said this..."I'll try to look back on the season and learn some lessons...schematically there were some things we could've done better"...this is from an article done by Nick Dempsey in SB Nation entitled "Altering the Offensive Scheme: Shaw's offense tried jamming a square pet into a round hole" dated 1-8-15...
The gist for the author and Shaw critics at the time was that Stanford had too much talent to finish with five losses and that Shaw and his staff didn't utilize what they had very well...that is they didn't play to the talent's strengths but rather too much against what they did best in schematic ways...
Something must have resonated with the Cardinal this season, as with the same core personnel, they returned to championship form and won the PAC again...I wonder what schematic changes, if any, Shaw and his staff made to turn things back around..??
Of course, I bring this all up because there has been a lot of questioning regarding both the Sun Devil offensive and defensive schemes this past season and, even though I'm a huge proponent of the Talent Is Destiny school of athletic success, I did wonder about some schematic issues on both sides of the ball this year...
Offensively, I think we all know that Berco is not another Taylor Kelly read option QB, which makes me wonder if we were playing to his strengths, as well as we could've have, given the circumstances or were we trying to fit a square peg into a round hole by having the scheme trump the QBs talent to one degree or another...I am not savvy enough to answer that question but would love to sit down with Graham and the new OC to see what they had to say about it...
Defensively, Graham said following the Cal loss that if the Sun Devils hadn't blitzed the way they did they would've lost by a much wider margin than what they did, which seemed pretty incredible to me as Cal was able to completely dismantle the Devils secondary all game long, plus that happened in many other games as well and, although we led or almost led the nation in TFL and sacks, we also gave up more explosive plays than any other team in the country, losing six games in the process, so what gives exactly..??
Was it a lack of talent, keeping in mind that there were some key injuries in the secondary, or was it just as much the result of the blitzing scheme that did not fit the personnel well this season..??
Again, I'm not savvy enough to answer that defensive scheme question but do think it is worth asking...
Returning to Shaw and Stanford last season, the article referenced above concluded that "the season was an indictment not of the talent level in the program but of the coaching staff's inability to use the talent (properly) when it does not immediately fit the scheme"...
Can the same be said of the 2015 Sun Devil coaching staff..??
If so, what were the flaws and how could they have been corrected during the course of the season..??
Will better personnel and depth solve most of the issues or do the schemes need to be tweaked to enhance efficiency on both sides of the ball..??
I await your feedback...
G'day Mates...Championships or Bust...Go Devils!!!
