3rd and 4th and short formations

[ccmoney8]

In South Dakota's loss 7-3 loss to Iowa, a game in which Iowa's 7 points came off of a FG and two safeties, the first safety was when South Dakota State had a 1st and 10 from their own 1 yardline, and the qb lines up in the shotgun, handoff up the middle rb gets tackled in the endzone.

In Chadron State's loss to Angelo, Chadron had a 3rd and 1 around midfield, early in the game when the score was close, lined up in the shotgun, handoff up the middle for a short loss, and a punt.

Against Nebraska, North Dakota had a 3rd and 1 around midfield, lines up under center qb sneak for 2 yards and a first down.

I have nothing against spread offenses, but I do think it's absolutely terrible that the simple idea of lining up under center in key situations is a lost art.

I'm usually with you on the shotgun, but when you have a QB that can run, like they do now, it leaves the field open so they can use their vision better. It's also a good way to hide deficiencies in your OL, which might be the case this year for Chadron.

I didn't watch the game, not wanting to spend money on Angelo's pay per view. But I listened to most of it on Double Q's radio live stream. So I didn't get a really good look at individual players.

The mobile QB trick seemed to work great. They seem to have a guy who can pull it off. It's just that it's all that seemed to work.

Chadron has had a pretty great passing game for the past few years, but one of the biggest asterisks to that is their completion percentage. Any incompletion is a potential drive killer. I'd rather average 3.8 yards per carry (which is what the running backs averaged last week, by themselves) and move the ball slowly but consistently on the ground, than lose multiple downs per possession to incomplete passes. The difference between 55% and low-60s doesn't seem like much, but it's probably cost them a couple games each year since Jonn McLain graduated with a 64% career completion rate.

I know they have outstanding running backs, but they didn't seem to want to use them much. I'm guessing that goes back again to the OL. They had about a third of their handoffs running out the clock in garbage time.

Defensively Chadron looked okay. I didn't expect them to give up so many big first down plays, but they basically held Angelo to 21 offensive points, same as last year. Angelo scored one touchdown last year on a short field after a fumble, and they scored two this year after interceptions.

[sportsvine]

I'm usually with you on the shotgun, but when you have a QB that can run, like they do now, it leaves the field open so they can use their vision better. It's also a good way to hide deficiencies in your OL, which might be the case this year for Chadron.

I didn't watch the game, not wanting to spend money on Angelo's pay per view. But I listened to most of it on Double Q's radio live stream. So I didn't get a really good look at individual players.

The mobile QB trick seemed to work great. They seem to have a guy who can pull it off. It's just that it's all that seemed to work.

Chadron has had a pretty great passing game for the past few years, but one of the biggest asterisks to that is their completion percentage. Any incompletion is a potential drive killer. I'd rather average 3.8 yards per carry (which is what the running backs averaged last week, by themselves) and move the ball slowly but consistently on the ground, than lose multiple downs per possession to incomplete passes. The difference between 55% and low-60s doesn't seem like much, but it's probably cost them a couple games each year since Jonn McLain graduated with a 64% career completion rate.

I know they have outstanding running backs, but they didn't seem to want to use them much. I'm guessing that goes back again to the OL. They had about a third of their handoffs running out the clock in garbage time.

Defensively Chadron looked okay. I didn't expect them to give up so many big first down plays, but they basically held Angelo to 21 offensive points, same as last year. Angelo scored one touchdown last year on a short field after a fumble, and they scored two this year after interceptions.

I agree with you about the offensive struggles related to qb completion percentage, although I'll add my own thoughts. 3.8 yards per rush is not going to get you anywhere consistently. It's not like you can just get 4 yards every play and never see a 4th down. With such a piddly average per carry, one negative play or penalty is pretty much a drive killer. I would compare the difference between 64% and 55% completion to be similar as 3.8 ypc and 5.6 ydc. One is a bad number that will be extremely difficult to overcome any negative plays and penalties. As for Chadron's offensive line, they were not good, but I am guessing that might be due to the competition. Against the likes of Adams and Fort Lewis, the offensive line will probably be better, but that would be good enough to get you no more than 4 or 5 wins.

Just curious... who is your team?

[ccmoney8]

I agree with you about the offensive struggles related to qb completion percentage, although I'll add my own thoughts. 3.8 yards per rush is not going to get you anywhere consistently. It's not like you can just get 4 yards every play and never see a 4th down. With such a piddly average per carry, one negative play or penalty is pretty much a drive killer. I would compare the difference between 64% and 55% completion to be similar as 3.8 ypc and 5.6 ydc. One is a bad number that will be extremely difficult to overcome any negative plays and penalties. As for Chadron's offensive line, they were not good, but I am guessing that might be due to the competition. Against the likes of Adams and Fort Lewis, the offensive line will probably be better, but that would be good enough to get you no more than 4 or 5 wins.

Just curious... who is your team?

I don't really have a team, necessarily. I live in Scottsbluff, and I went to a D2 school back east that I don't really connect with so much anymore, so I like to follow CSC. It helps that I moved here when they were still putting up 8 & 9 win seasons.

I get to visit many/most RMAC schools for work though, so I try to keep up with all of them as much as possible.