How did we get to this place?

[iowa_wildcat]

The problem is not giving a ten yard cushion on 3rd and 8. The problem is doing the same thing defensively in the same situation time after time. Offenses love to know exactly what they are facing.

[ksustars754]

There are so many good points on this thread. The major thing I’m excited about offensively too is the lack of predictability. There were so many times when we’d (my friends and I - average fans) would see a check at the line and immediately know the new play. Or we’d see a formation and know what the play and/or direction it was going.

In general, I don’t think the offense will look a ton different bc some of the principles really are the same. Obviously different personnel packages and more under-center work for ST10 but it’s still not a massive change. However, I think we will see Messingham really keep the defense on their toes with his playcalling and variety of looks.

[tmcats]

isu fans loathe messingham after his days there under paul rhoades. probably, a judgment made by association. so, i'm anxious to see how he runs the offense as well. it will depend on the o'line's capabilities.

[ksustars754]

Dang I didn’t realize he was OC at ISU in 2013. Pretty sure that was the only blowout in KState vs ISU in past 10 years.

[Tbonespop]

The problem is not giving a ten yard cushion on 3rd and 8. The problem is doing the same thing defensively in the same situation time after time. Offenses love to know exactly what they are facing.

There are many a successful (some very successful) football coaches out there that would argue there are a lot of problems with giving a 10 yard cushion on 3rd and 8. The whole premise of defense is to stop the opposing team from moving the ball down the field for starters. Ya, doing it all the time makes it even that much worse. The only thing worse than all of that, is playing 10 yards off the LOS on 3rd and 8 and still giving up the deep ball. Lol... great strategy

Would you rather have a bullet to the head or a shotgun to the heart? Both choices are bad. I'd rather go down swinging than ball up in the corner and just take the beating. I think our players are going to love being able to go play a real defense again. We will make some mistakes, but at least they are being put in a position to force a stop as opposed to "hoping" the other team makes a mistake. Hope isn't a strategy.

[epicsnyder]

There are so many good points on this thread. The major thing I’m excited about offensively too is the lack of predictability. There were so many times when we’d (my friends and I - average fans) would see a check at the line and immediately know the new play. Or we’d see a formation and know what the play and/or direction it was going.

In general, I don’t think the offense will look a ton different bc some of the principles really are the same. Obviously different personnel packages and more under-center work for ST10 but it’s still not a massive change. However, I think we will see Messingham really keep the defense on their toes with his playcalling and variety of looks.

Looking forward to the actual USAGE of the TE position, instead of them just being another lineman!

[spot2180]

I don't like the corners being 10 yards off the ball unless it is 3rd and 15-20 or more. Safties maybe, flat foot reading, but not the corners.
Knowing down and distance in the secondary is a must, and lining up accordingly is extremely important. Hopefully, the Cats' secondary will have a bit of a difference in philosophy. Quarters coverage is fine in a lot of situations, but keeping the offense guessing is a great way to help yourself out. It makes me think that the Cats may have had a few guys that were easily confused by the offense so they had to keep it simple, too simple as it turns out.

Then you can get into that debate about which is better, a 4-3, a 4-2-5, or a 3-4. Spread offenses create a 4-2-5 out of a 4-3 anyway, so that argument is kind of moot. And you need some athletes up front to be a killer 3-4. It will be fun to watch. I hope the new DC is a good schemer and the guys on the field know their jobs and do it well.

Offenses in the Big12 are as good as any in the country. The Cats will give up some yards. I don't mind giving up the yards, but limiting the big play has to happen. I don't think HCCK's offense is really designed to come back from 21 down. I'll be happy if I am wrong.

[Tbonespop]

When Snyder came back in 2.0, he brought the quarters coverage with him. It seemed to be more effective earlier on in the process, especially when we had true ground and pound offenses - DTrain at RB/QB, then Klein at QB/Hubert at RB. That was 4 years of offense that really kept the defense off the field. Plus it was new. But offenses in the B12 evolved after Snyder won the B12 again. The opposing OCs said, "ok, we concede you aren't willing to give up the deep ball (even though we still did), we will take what you give us and march our ass down the field and get points every possession". Strategically, we did nothing to counter that change in strategy from our opponents. and to those thinking we didn't have any talent, go back now and look at all the players in the secondary that got drafted. Yes, they weren't T New, but if you got guys getting to the NFL in your secondary, there's enough talent there to do more than play a 4 deep coverage 95% of the time.

I'm so excited to see what 2019 brings. There's going to be ups and downs, but I expect more ups than downs. Lots to look forward to.

[Gorhoops]

That was the thing that just drove me crazy, was that even though we would give that huge cushion on the outside, we still seemed to get beat over the top quite a bit as well. That to me was ridiculous. If you are going to play the Cover 4, ok fine, but you should NEVER get beat over the top at that point.

The other thing is, and I am no football expert, but I would watch our LB's from the stands, and they would just seem hesitant to react to the play. They would not come down hill, they would just either get caught up in the wash or they would wait until the ball was headed to the edge and then they would try to run the guy down going side to side, and that was simply not going to happen. Everyone would gripe that we were too slow, but to me it wasn't that we were slow, it was that we were taught to wait and then react, and at that point we were screwed, no way would we run down Big 12 backs when they had a step.

I don't know crap, but what I hope to see is that our defense is allowed to be much more aggressive, play faster, and if that leads to some big plays, so be it, but it will also lead to some big plays our way as well.

On offense, I would love to see a lot more pre-snap action to try and confuse the defense, even if it is just eye-candy. I also want to see every single one of the 7 guys on our offense actually be a threat that has to be accounted for by the defense. The last few years, it seemed we had little to know per-snap movement, which allowed the defense to be completely comfortable in their assignments, and we generally only had 3 of our 7 eligible guys that might actually get the ball. That makes it pretty easy to defend, and it makes it very tough on your QB.

I think Skylar would thrive in a system where most of his work was pre-determined, move him around, create quick decisions for him. Use motions, etc. to move the defense around, and then get the ball to the easiest place. I don't want to see him standing at the line trying to read the defense for 15 seconds, then standing in the pocket trying to hit 20-30 yard patterns, with only 2 or 3 guys running a route. That is not what he does best in my opinion.

[wild@nite]

"Pre snap action".

This! Please!

I remember being in the stands at Vandy when we continually ran the side shuffle QB runs. Vandy started crashing their backside D end every damn time and we did nothing to slow him down. Nothing. They would clog the middle and the D end would disrupt the backfield for a loss or minimal gain. It was maddening.

How about a jet sweep pre snap to freeze him? A good P5 coordinator and offensive staff would recognize it. Hell, the Vandy fans around me were calling our play before we ran it and were amazed we didn't do something different.

I said to my son, just wait, there will be an apology to the fans that made the drive to watch that poop show. Sure enough.... Bill was not in charge. No way, no how.

Some more motion, jet sweeps, H back shifts, something to make the defense adjust and perhaps tip their hand. Nope. You would have to get to the LOS before 5 on the play clock for this to happen though. That's another chapter.

I love Bill, but anyone who wanted to keep Sean should really evaluate how uncreative and predictable our offense had become. That wasn't going to change under him and the wizard of offense wasn't innovating as he once was. For God's sake, that is to be expected. The man was getting old, had cancer. He couldn't possibly be involved as he once was. His staff was exposed, imo.

This staff brings new energy and ideas. I believe it will work well enough to keep us at least in the hunt for bowls, with an occasional title run. I don't think the former staff, as it was being ran, was ever going to sniff a title again. Bill wasn't involved enough, the recruiting was stagnant, our scheme was stagnant, and our fanbase was becoming stagnant.