Don't blame the kicker. Blame the play calling.
by uofafanatic on Dec 3, 2010 12:59 PM PST
in Arizona Wildcats Football
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PrintI was so frustrated last night, that I made the decision to sleep on it for a night before sitting down to go over the game again in my head. My initial rage at K Alex Zendejas missing two critical PAT's has subsided, a bit. While I am firm in my belief that the coaching staff should be looking for a new kicker for next season, it never should have come down to those kicks. They shouldn't have mattered. It wasn't Zendejas' fault. He was a known element. Anybody that has watched him over the last two years could tell you that he is good, but not consistent or reliable. Perhaps we'll see one of the two freshmen, (John Mora or Jesse Ortiz), take over next season.
Nor was it the fault of the numerous dropped interceptions. As frustrating as those were, it was a sign that the defense had regained its teeth somewhat. This would be great to see, in week 6 or 8. Not so much in the last game of the regular season.
No, the fault lies with the play calling. While I continue to be impressed with the position coaching, and the development of unranked recruits into top level players, I was completely livid with the play calling last night. You're facing a rookie QB, that has never started on the road. Where were the blitzes? How the heck are you not able to contain that giant, lumbering, 6'8" QB on third down?
On offense, the greatest success came when the offense took stabs down field. So why constantly call passing plays with routs running so far under the first down line? Also, when Matt Scott was subbed in, why not call some plays with more deep routs? He proved that he can handle that earlier this season.
This is still a rebuilding team. But this is the first year where we are left questioning if we'll finish with a better team than the last year. Some problems will solve themselves. I, for one, believe that the QB controversy will end with Nick Foles declaring for the draft shortly after Arizona's bowl game. Some of the running game woes will be solved with greater experience, and an injection of talent in the form of incoming freshman Ka'Deem Carey. (If you haven't heard of him, he's the future of Arizona's running game.) Look to see DT Kirifi Taula make his presence known next season, as well.
My humble suggestion? Pull in the co-coordinators, and tell them you're going to go hire two new guys to call plays. And ask them if they're ok being position coaches. If not, thanks and best of luck to you. Just watch the games, and the progression of the players. There is no way Stoops hasn't seen what I'm describing here. Great development of players, with poor and sometimes horrendous play calling. None of the co-coordinators are hot prospects for other jobs at the moment, so I don't see any short term problems with them moving to being position coaches only.
It's easy to blame coach Stoops here, but it isn't his coaching that is at fault. It's his decision making. He clearly trusts the play calling of his coordinators too much. He is a leader, not a play caller, and that's fine. But it is time for him to consider that the dink and dunk offense is holding his team back, and it is time to look for a new play caller on both sides of the ball. Arizona has the players and the talent to be more aggressive in every phase of the game. Let's take that next step, and get some coordinators that know how to use them properly.
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COME ON PEOPLE!!
In the poll 33% of the people who voted voted to fire Stoops and start over!! ARE YOU STUPID?!?! Look at what he has done for the school and the football team.. The thing we should fix is the get rid is the co-coordinators crap and get one good cordinators for each spot.. and UOFA needs to stop playing Zone on D! The DB’s go stupid everytime they go in to zone..
Zendejas is by far the best of the 3 kickers on special teams, and that is scary
Have watched the adventure called Arizona kicking all year. It is by far the worst kicking I have seen at Arizona, and maybe in all of college football. Bonanno can kick as far as the 10 yard, if he can keep it inbound. Crier seems to be able to find his kicking foot maybe 2 out o3 times, and Alex, he can’t block and kick both.
The exhibition against Arizona State was an all out effort, in all phases of the kicking game, to totally stink up the place.
But this has been true of this team all year. The kicking started bad and got worse. maybe a special teams coach might be in order?
Two things...
In one sense you can always blame the playcalling and always be kinda right. I haven’t seen much of the last four, so I’ll cede to your expertise somewhat. But…
1. Orweiler’s game is a classic case where a defense faces a talented kid without the benefit of much game film. That often makes you somewhat vanilla defensively. I don’t blame the coaches for not blitzing more when they have ends like Elmore and Reed and a ballhawking secondary. The rule of thumb about blitzing a rookie is just a rule of thumb. It depends on lots of things—not just the QB’s experience. Sometimes you do a kid a favor by reducing his reads down to just one.
For the record, I thought Orweiller had a very nice game. I would not call him any kind of “lumbering.” That guy had impressive escapability and overall athleticism. He’s going to be a problem for a long time.
2. I think you give the defensive backfield too easy of a pass on the dropped picks. The decision NOT to blitz was to confuse the QB and make him throw into coverage. He did that and we didn’t make him pay. Eventually, he found a rhythm. Our secondary had at least three EASY picks in hand (and multiple others that would have been nice plays). You have to convert at least one those to win a big game.
"Those who fear disorder more than injustice inevitably produce more of both." -- Rev. William Coffin
I agree DC
I’m all for the type of offense that AZ runs, the problem is, everyone has seen it, so you have to do something different once in a while. I appreciated the shots downfield, I just thought more of an attempt should have been made down the field instead of the usual quick passing attack that we’ve seen endlessly around the LOS. Obviously they were ready for it and naturally it took us a while to get the O in gear. I would like to see the staff (for once) give the other guy some credit for a change and believe that just perhaps, maybe the other side ha seen some game film and has an idea on what is coming and perhaps, show them something different.
I thought the secondary sucked ass (imho), multiple opportunities to take the game in hand, rattle the Devils, change field position drastically and we end up allowing their QB to get into a rhythm and move the ball on us after a bit. Also the open field tackling left a LOT to be desired from just about everyone, be it our DL to our secondary, either we are fast and light in the ass and can’t compete or these guys need to learn some fundamentals about how you tackle someone, anyone, regardless of size.
I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused....
Stoops Stays
Coach Stoops has taken the Wildcats to new heights. You should all be thanking and supporting him. If you think you can do a better job why don’t you put down the beer and haul your butt up off your chair and give it a shot! As far as the kickers are concerned…same thing. If you think you can do better then by all means, GO FOR IT!
Great comment.
I hope to read more from you in the future. That was funny, and pretty darn accurate.
Patrick Evans (uofafanatic)
by uofafanatic on Dec 4, 2010 9:54 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
New heights?
Where were you in the 90s?
Are you Mike Stoops’ mom or something?
And suggesting that players and coaches should never be criticized is childish. This isn’t Pop Warner. Calm down.
UH, the coaches weren't the ones who dropped 4 gimme interceptions Patrick
Execution was poor in the defensive secondary all game. Great positioning (I.E., they were put in the right schemes and coverages to create turnovers and limit the effectiveness of the ASu passing game) Sadly, they just didn’t get the picks. Additionally tackling was HORRENDOUS for the entire defense outside of Elmore and Vasallo.
So, if anything, the position coaching needs help. I realize that’s a harder thing to argue because coordinators make for easy targets but at defense the play calling was stellar for 90 percent of the snaps.
While I would’ve appreciated a little more downfield aggressiveness on offense, I also know longer developing routs require that the D-line plays honest. We couldn’t run the ball well against the VERY good ASU LB’s so the Ends and DT’s got to cheat and focus on pass rushing. The way you combat that is with quick underneath passes.
I guess ultimately, it comes down to this. When you lose by one-point after several really flukey plays don’t go your way, you don’t go looking to monkey around with staff or roster and simply acknowledge that it wasn’t your night. Tough Breaks Man. Let’s lick our wounds, go win a bowl game, and hope we can find another stud receiver to replace Juron after he goes in the first round of the draft. Oh, and we need a bunch of O-linemen too.
I ain't got time fer nonna' yer ding-dang terr' -Charlie Prides Ghost
by ZombieJackTatum on Dec 4, 2010 10:22 PM PST reply actions
We lost both Coordinators last year!
I think everyone should keep in mind that we lost both of our coordinators last year. Give the new guys a chance (though I think we should decide on 1 OC and 1 DC at this point) to implement/develop their slightly different schemes. Hopefully offensively that will include some more deep balls and more hurry up offense (everyone on the offense seems to play much better when running the 2 minute drill). At the beginning of this year we knew it was going to be a rebuilding year (though we thought it was going to be all defensive problems), we just assumed the OCs would keep up the 40 point avg games. Unfortunately everyone has seen what we did effectively last year and compensated for it and I think the OCs didn’t account for that, they thought it would continue to just work (that and we assumed the O-line would give us some ability to run the ball). That being said get us a new kicker, I know that we shouldn’t put ourselves into position to lose by one or two points but when it happens we should be able to rely on our kicker instead of dreading the moment he steps onto the field.
We got excited and forgot all of the above when we won 7 of our first 8 games, then we got our hearts broken when this team performed much as was expected at the beginning of the year (with the exception of the loss to ASU, I don’t think anybody expected them to improve as much as they have, ARGHH!!!!). Lets rally the troops and get behind what Stoops has done with this program and what I’m sure he’ll accomplish once he gets everything on solid footing again. BEAR DOWN WILDCATS!
My two cents
Dick Tomey was pushed out of town for less. He had two of the greatest seasons UA has seen under Tomey and he slipped a couple seasons to mediocre and was pushed out. Stoops has done a tremendous job, but I don’t think he has what it takes to get us past this hump of mediocrity. He has had plenty of time to get the right players and the right coahces in place. He does not have the excuse of rebuilding years anymore. We are blinded due to the fact that Mackovic made any coach a saint in Tucson. We lost our pride as a football school, I saw it every home game. The fans were just not that into it, I was yelled at by another so called UA fan for standing up and cheering for my team, WTF!!! We have grown to expect mediocre and live with it. I for one am not ok with it and expect better from the coaches and coordinators. I could stomach one more year of Stoops, if there is no drastic improvement it should be time for a regime change.
Fair point.
I would agree with your overall assessment. If there were no improvement by the end of next season, and a big name coach that could immediately recruit top players were available and interested, I’d say thanks and best of luck to coach Stoops.
That said, he’s managed to get this team to be a little better each year. With a win at the Alamo Bowl, (please Lord), and an improved season next year, I’d say he stays. And to be clear, I’d expect not less than 9 wins and competing for the Rose Bowl next season.
Patrick Evans (uofafanatic)
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