Out of curiosity, do you have some statistical measure to back this up?
Laquon Treadwell was our primary slot/screen receiver last year. He had a YPC of 8.4. Adeboyjo and Core are splitting that role this year. Their YPC numbers are 14.2 and 15.7 respectively.
Also, our top 6 pass catchers this year all average over 13 YPC. Last year, 3 of our Top 6 receivers were averaging less than 13 YPC. In both years, Jaylen Walton, our top receiving back out of the backfield, is included in those Top 6 numbers. His average is up over 2 YPC from last year, because he's catching more wheel routes this year than screens or dump offs.
Bo's average yards/completion are up right at 2 yards as well. He's at 13.9 this year, and he was at 11.8 last year.
Those are the stats, but most of my validation for the statement just comes simply from watching us. We haven't thrown the bubble screen much at all this year. Part of that is because Treadwell was such a good runner in the slot last year that it was a fairly successful play for us, but the other part of that is that Bo's arm is fully healthy, and he's throwing down field much better and with a lot of accuracy this year. Another factor could be that we aren't running the hurry up much this year. The bubble screen we use is largely an extension of the run game in a lot of our hurry up combination plays, but since we haven't been running hurry up, we've been running fewer combination plays and thus fewer bubble screen type routes. We throw a lot more slants, posts, fades, fade stops, and seam routes this year than we did last year.
Last year, our offense was easy to stop by the end of the year, because we were so weak on the interior OL and couldn't get any between the tackles run game going. Plus, the combination of losing Engram and Bo losing his arm strength severely limited our down field passing game. Therefore, you could scheme us just by playing press coverage and bringing your safeties up to play the outside run or the screen passing game.
This year, we still don't run consistently between the tackles, though we've managed just enough to keep teams honest, but the real key has been that we've been able to make teams pay when they've committed to stopping the run. When we've had one on ones or had limited safety help, we've been able to hit receivers for big gains. We won't sustain many 15-16 play drives with 5-6 yard plays, but we have consistently hit chunk plays, and that's why our offense has been successful.
I've noticed a pattern lately where it seems we're often feeling out a defense early. Then, based on what the coaching staff sees from the looks the defense gives, we find a way to hit a team in the passing game, and we start putting points on the board. I'll bet we see the same Saturday night, unless LSU comes out in predictable looks that we're well-prepared to attack, in which case we'll get off to a faster start.
