A reason why the nitpicking happens with position groups and coaching is rooted in the hope that our average players can pull off a victory "if these plays are called," or "this scheme is used."
Superior athletes can make plays in spite of unit deficiencies, poor play calling, or bad scheme. Fact is, we need more dudes. And in the NIL era as a casual fan, I'm not donating to get the dudes.
When was the last time we had a large group of dudes? I would say Pelini era. Those coaches, schemes or full units (aside from the 2009 Defense) weren't world beaters, but they had dudes. Sh## pass play? No problem. TMart turns it into a 48 yard scramble. Defense out of position? Doesn't matter. Suh blew up two OL's and everybody else is in the backfield.
After we ran out of dudes, we started to get "creased" in the run game, and coverage busts were obvious because we used to get home before they mattered.
Anyhow, we need dudes. We've really maybe got two each on offense and defense. I would argue that to get over the hump, we've got to have 60% of the guys out there on each unit be star or elite caliber to be a 9+ win team in this league. Recruited dudes, bought dudes, whatever. And most of us would like to see that for nothing more than the face value of a ticket.
Superior athletes can make plays in spite of unit deficiencies, poor play calling, or bad scheme. Fact is, we need more dudes. And in the NIL era as a casual fan, I'm not donating to get the dudes.
When was the last time we had a large group of dudes? I would say Pelini era. Those coaches, schemes or full units (aside from the 2009 Defense) weren't world beaters, but they had dudes. Sh## pass play? No problem. TMart turns it into a 48 yard scramble. Defense out of position? Doesn't matter. Suh blew up two OL's and everybody else is in the backfield.
After we ran out of dudes, we started to get "creased" in the run game, and coverage busts were obvious because we used to get home before they mattered.
Anyhow, we need dudes. We've really maybe got two each on offense and defense. I would argue that to get over the hump, we've got to have 60% of the guys out there on each unit be star or elite caliber to be a 9+ win team in this league. Recruited dudes, bought dudes, whatever. And most of us would like to see that for nothing more than the face value of a ticket.