How about it's everything? People act like one element is the sole reason for breakdown. That's just not the case.
The offensive line has had their problems, but later in the year, they started to jell some and could effectively pass protect IMO. Their run blocking was a little iffy, but they were generating enough room for running backs to have chances to make plays.
Which brings me to the RB core. They need better vision, plain and simple. Whaley seemed to be the best at this, but there were too many times when they would just flat out miss opportunities for big gains. Most lines don't create gaping holes for their RBs every play, so the RB needs to have vision to find that hole and get through there. They don't "suck" as some like to throw out, physically the tools are there, but their lack of good RB vision is hurting their production as much as the run blocking is.
QB play has been rough in stretches. But most people probably don't know half of what goes into all of playing that spot (not to say I do either). But when I hear things like "Weber needs to throw it to the spot, not wait for the WR to get open!", there's a lot of assumptions taking place there, as has already been noted earlier. There's a lot of work that goes into a QB-WR connection. It's not simply, receiver run the route, QB throw to him. If it were that simple, you'd see more good QBs than there are. The fact is, it's obvious that Weber has struggled to connect with his young receivers, for whatever reason. They clicked on one night, but besides that, it's been obviously difficult for him. That can lead to times where he may force a ball or lack confidence throwing the ball leading to an errant pass. I hesistate to think that just putting Gray in would have changed very much, as he probably had even less of a connection with his receivers.
So, playcalling. I guess this is one of those things where, if the plays work, then he's brilliant. If they fail, then he sucks. Stuff like play action at the 1 are born from a lack of confidence in the line to pound out a yard. Or trying trickery on a 3rd and 5 or whatever instead of a regular play cause of fears of a dropped pass or errant throw. Jedd Fisch isn't working with a full deck here, there is a transition period going on. Did he lay it on too thick off the bat? Probably. We can only hope he learned from this and will figure out a way to streamline his system to work at the college level more successfully. Give the man a chance to get his stuff situated before we go calling for his head. If the offense doesn't improve this year, don't worry, he, along with Brewster will probably be gone.
So yeah, the offensive struggles are born from piece of every aspect not being up to scruff yet. When the O-line matures, and the RBs mature, and WRs mature, you will see a more "mature" offense.
