I would kill to have K-State O and D lines. Lucky to be in the Top 50 in recruiting rankings every year but seem to have consistently good lines, and they lost every O-line starter after last season. 
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This likely wont be a popular takeā¦but I dont blame guys like Ollie for maybe taking the rest of the year off. I hate it, but it is what it is
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Gundy holds the college football record for the longest running for the worst offensive line for consecutive years. Itās not even close. This record will never be broken. Pathetic
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Our O-line isnt the problem. Its just that that we donāt play to their strengths. Our egotistical coaches are so set on running their schemes, even when the players donāt fit it and have shown consistently that they canāt run it. Just look at the first series of the last game. 1st down was a gap block scheme where we double teamed the nose tackle and ran it for 8 yards right up the gut. Then we run 4 straight zone blocking schemes where the tackleās first step is backwards instead of forward which gives all the power and leverage to the defensive line. And to nooneās surprise (except the coaches) we manage 1 yard per play until the 4th one where the tackle gets beat across his face (due to stepping backwards) and has to hold to prevent a tackle for loss. Thatās not on the players. Thatās 110% on the coaching staff.
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Iāve been saying this for a while now. We try to run QB draw with a QB that canāt run. In fact, running is probably his biggest weakness, right next to his weakness of consistently throwing off his back foot. I watched him throw up some awful passes against Tulsa that were luckily caught because the defender wasnāt paying attention. I said to myself āif thatās a better team itās an interception on the spotā. Sure enough, as soon as he lobs those up they get picked right off over these last three games.
Our OL is built for a power running game. Not sure if anyone has checked the size of our OL. Our OL is not fast enough to execute what the coaches want. Our OL used to be slightly smaller, more athletic, and more agile than our latest ones have been. The scheme just does not coincide with what theyāre wanting to do. So they think itās better to lose than to change.
You canāt win in this offense without a mobile QB or more agile OL. The sad thing is that the opposing coaching staff probably doesnāt even bother watching film. Because they know our coaching staff is so stubborn and stupid theyāll try the same thing 500 times in a row.
āItās not about how many wins you have as long as the team is having funā
Mike Gundy
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Thereās truth in there. The thing people donāt get with Bowman and why the coaches love him, is that he throws to the right read in the offense most times. Now that guy isnāt always open, and his balls are all moonshots, but its always to the guy that the playcall was called for. Its like a running back who always hits the right hole even when its not there vs. the rb who tries to read the play and will bounce something outside even if the playcall was inside. Which again, sends me back to coaching being the problem. Thatās the problem with the RPO offense. You make a read and you throw to a target. But that playbook has been out there for 10 years, so if Bowman can make that read, the defense can too. Which means they know exactly where the ball will go. In fact, they get to dictate where the ball will go just by their own actions, as Gundy admitted post-KSU when he said āKSU kept sending its safety charging the line of scrimmage every playā. By doing so, they knew exactly how OSU would respond to such a defensive play and thus KSU was fully prepared to counter it.
Whatās sad is this team is talented enough to win the conference (even at QB). Yet we are so disadvantaged on the sidelines that we are literally LAST in the league.
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I donāt disagree with the take, but I wonder what the rules are for NIL monies? Thatās the one wrinkle in this. If Ollie were to choose to sit the rest of the season, how many NIL checks would he miss? If you followed the UNLVās QB NIL story. The coaches talked about how their NIL money is distributed on a per game basis. Without any other knowledge, I would assume OSUās NIL collective does something similar.
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Iād say bring him back during the bye week on an interim basis. The offense here hasnāt changed much since he left so he could probably get back up to speed quick. Couldnāt be worse than what we currently have.
I wouldnāt blame him either. RBs have a short shelf life so why take anymore wear and tear for a team thatās not going anywhere. Of course, it depends on what kind of NIL deal he has as @aix_xpert pointed out.
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The gut feeling that he is wrong about is the one that thinks the current offensive schemes are fine.
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The 3-3-5 is basically just a 3-4 nickel package. Especially if you look at how we play it where we use one of the linebackers as a 4th rusher (like an OLB in a 3-4). But generally with a 3-4 you need stout DEs and a Big NT and then use speed guys as your OLB rushers. But our D-line is just mediocre. Its the most important part of a 3-4 and its easily our least talented position group. Ask yourself. Who is our best D-lineman? Whose names do you hear on the broadcast?
As for why Bama and Georgia donāt run it? Iād call it defensive coordinator preference. Just look at the NFL. About 2/3rds of the teams run a 4-3 base defense, including the SB champion Chiefs. So you can win with a 4-3. But Tampa won its Super Bowl with Todd Bowlesā 3-4 defense. But if I was coaching, I think Iād run a 4-3. Better gap alignment for run fits, and Iād think it would be easier to recruit. 280-300 pound DTs are available in almost every Texas high school, but athletic 350 pounders are hard to find (think Vita Vea). And you need that kind of NT to make a 3man front hum.
Forget about NIL!!! My concern is why this incompetent coaching staff continues to get top 15 pay.
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No idea. One thing that should be thrown in the trash though is the 5 year revolving contract. You could argue it makes sense in the era when transfers were few and players were assumed to be committing to a school for their entire 5 year career. But even Gundy has said you have to rerecruit kids every year. So thereās no point in that contract structure.
As for current salary, I can only suppose that Weiberg has the cohones to actually rein in Gundy so he and Jimmy Sexton got to call their contract shot. Iām actually all for the assistant salaries. They need to be that high if you want to recruit the best proven coaching talent available. Too bad proven coaching talent isnāt what weāve hired.
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The way I understand it, there is zero correlation between playing time or performance and NIL pay. The structure cant be focused on anything performance-based, which is why its so hard to keep these guys locked in and playing onced the season tanks. The ālosers limpā starts to kick in pretty heavy once Hometeam University loses a few more games than expected. Thats the biggest issue I have with the NIL stuff is that its not allowed to be performance based, but it should be! It would at least require these guys to stick it out for the duration of a year before they get the bulk of the NIL contract
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Oh really, are they opening up holes in the run game at least 25% of the plays designed for a run? Now I donāt put all the blame on the O-linemen, but they certainly deserve at least half the ācreditā.
You said it, thatās why in todayās game, you HAVE to have a QB who is mobile, but better yet is dual threat. Only way youāre gonna be able to get away w/ that and have a guy like Bowman who probably canāt run a 5-flat 40 is if you have a dominant O-line that keeps the QB clean on passing situations and can effectively run it w/ RBs, otherwise have a LB or two (or a DE drops and a LB rushes) dropping back into coverage almost every down. But I donāt think Gumby is a huge fan of dual threatā¦
RE watching film, they probably donāt need to do a whole lot for a while now, cause itās not as if the scheme and plays have changed much at all the past 10+ seasons. How big is our playbook, 10 pages???
I get what youāre saying and I was clear that I have no idea how it works. I simply know that in the article I read about UNLV, the UNLV coach said that players receive their NIL stipend on a per game basis. In their case specifically it was $1000/game.
Now I can agree with you on all this Ketchup !!
I read where a backup backer at South Carolina told Beamer he wanted to redshirt, Beamer told him thatās not quite how it works. Itās for the best for the team. Kid didnāt agree so he basically kicked his arse off. Good seeing that
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Yeah I love seeing stuff like that. Unfortunately, thats likely the exception instead of the rule. You and I can sit here and say how wed rule with a heavy hand as it pertains to NIL stuff. But the layers to this thing are awfully hard to handle. Take the OU QB situation right now. Jackson Arnold (a young 5 star who has tons of upside, but has played poorly enough to get benched) has played in 4 games. Hes got 3 years of eligibility left if he redshirts this year. And the word āeligibilityā in the NIL era translates to āearning potentialā. The player likely would prefer to preserve his redshirt, but the odds of him never being needed for the rest of the year are pretty slim. If youre the playerā¦you dont really āwantā to come in as a backup. If youre the OU staff, you need a solid backup option so therefore you want that kid to stick around. What do you do? The kid/player has the leverage (and the NIL cash). If you stick to your guns and give the kid an ultimatum, he leaves. Thats fine. But you also run the risk of running a 3rd teamer out there that gets you beat and you fall to 5-7/6-6 on the year and now youre in danger of being fired because your NIL fund is paying BIGTIME dollars to a backup who isnt any good and has left the program. Its a mess. Im all for players getting rewarded/paidā¦but man there have got to be guardrails put in place. The problem with that is the big name programs are the ones that are benefitting the most from this NIL stuff, and theyre the ones that are the loudest voices that can get it changed. BUt why would they want a slary cap? Why would Ohio St or Bama or Georgia want a cap that levels the playing field?
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Right now, networks are the oneās writing the biggest checks in exchange for eyeballs on screen. The bluebloods get more eyeballs on screen. So, you would theoretically need a governing body (not the NCAA) that tells the networks, āYouāll pay each conference member regardless of conference affiliation, the same amount per televised game.ā If you do that, then you have a situation where itās not tied to success of bluebloods and can level out NIL.
I could be way off base. Feel free to correct me.
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