What Fisch needs to do to cure the offense!

[gold04]

We all know if the offensive line does better or if Weber throws the ball better that will help the offense. Those are the standard answers and good points but here are some things I'd do if I were Fisch beside those standards answers to get the offense going.

1. Play Gray - He is way too dangerous to keep him on the sidelines. I'm not saying that we bench Weber or have quarterbacks alternate possessions. At the sametime if I were Fisch I'd look for ways to get Gray in there. Maybe Gray leds the Gophers on an offensive series once each half. Maybe he takes snaps 8 to 10 times a game at different times. I do not know all the answers but Fisch must get Gray's hands on the ball and not use him just as a decoy.

2. Use people other then running backs to run the ball - Fisch has talented kids who can run that are not running backs (Hayo, Stoud., Gray, Weber). Quarterback draws, end arounds, wildcat, whatever, find ways to get those guys part of the running game.

3. Scrap the pound the rock idea - Like I said before in other posts, I really do not think Eskridge is the answer and I do not know if the other running backs can stay healthy. Our running backs resemble a Mash unit and they hardly play. Maybe it's time to realize we don't have the running backs to pound the rock.

4. Use our talent - Our talent on this offense is still by far in our quarterbacks, recievers, and tight ends. I'm not saying going back to the Dunbar spread but we can't run for the sake of running when don't have the running backs. If Bennet and Whaley cannot stay healthy, we will not be a good running team. So why not just play to our strength? We have some talented ball catchers and we need to find ways to get them the ball.

 

[RussellT22]

Sounds an awful lot like a "spread" offense to me. Say what you will about Dunbar, but I loved how he played the if/then game. I could always see what the plan was even if it wasn't always entirely successful.

 

[gold04]

Russell,

I hand concerns when people said we should switch back to Mason ball and run 60 percent of the time or 50 times a game. This team is just not built that way. We need to run better but no one else besides Eskridge can stay healthy at running back. Eskridge is a good guy but to be honest with you, if we want to have this good running attack, you need to have better running backs. It might work with Bennett and Whaley in the mix but those guys can never stay healthy. So there are not many options left.

 

[mkAz]

Hasan Lipscomb would look really nice in that backfield.

 

[gold04]

No kidding!

 

[cduff]

After letting the emotion of Saturday wear off, I think everyone is overreacting a bit. For better or worse, we have a new offense. There were several big plays yesterday. The problem was that for the majority of the game, we could not string together enough good plays in a row to sustain drives, and in a few cases we could not get any good plays and went 3 and out. You know what though? It's a new offense, and that kind of thing is probably to be expected. Give the team a few more games, and I guarantee you by the Wisconsin game it will look much better.

 

[gold04]

I agree cduff, we'll get better on offense, I'm just giving Fisch extra insight on what he needs to do to improve the offense. Fisch reads this message board regularly for insight on how to run his offense better!

 

[oleboy41]

You do realize that Bennett carried the load as a true frosh before a semi freak injury to his ACL. I think its kind of silly to give a guy who's had 1 injury and come back very fast from that the 'can't stay healthy' label. He stayed healthy longer than Eskridge has so far in his career

 

[DarrenTheGreek]

Fisch just needs to tweak the game plan. Look, our OLine is what it is. Average at best, poor at worst. We still had 150 rushing yards and a 4.5 avg per carry which isn't awful. The problem was that it was impossible to tell what the offense was trying to do. Create a game plan that either establishes the run or looks for some quick hitting short passes.

 

[gold04]

You are correct Greek

Fisch just needs to tweak the game plan. Look, our OLine is what it is. Average at best, poor at worst. We still had 150 rushing yards and a 4.5 avg per carry which isn't awful. The problem was that it was impossible to tell what the offense was trying to do. Create a game plan that either establishes the run or looks for some quick hitting short passes.

You are correct Greek. It was hard trying to figue out what Fisch was trying to accomplish.

 

[paulser21]

1. Play Gray - He is way too dangerous to keep him on the sidelines. I'm not saying that we bench Weber or have quarterbacks alternate possessions. At the sametime if I were Fisch I'd look for ways to get Gray in there. Maybe Gray leds the Gophers on an offensive series once each half. Maybe he takes snaps 8 to 10 times a game at different times. I do not know all the answers but Fisch must get Gray's hands on the ball and not use him just as a decoy.

As long as I don't see Gray lined up at WR. It infuriates me to see a QB out there. There is nothing good from it (i.e. Brett Favre crack back block). I know he is old not mobile and Gray is a young speedster but please no.

 

[grunkiejr]

I agree cduff, we'll get better on offense, I'm just giving Fisch extra insight on what he needs to do to improve the offense. Fisch reads this message board regularly for insight on how to run his offense better!

 

[Gopher Nation]

1. Play Gray - He is way too dangerous to keep him on the sidelines. I'm not saying that we bench Weber or have quarterbacks alternate possessions. At the sametime if I were Fisch I'd look for ways to get Gray in there. Maybe Gray leds the Gophers on an offensive series once each half. Maybe he takes snaps 8 to 10 times a game at different times. I do not know all the answers but Fisch must get Gray's hands on the ball and not use him just as a decoy.

I agree with this the most. Weber's struggles are nothing new. He is what he is: a slightly above average Big Ten QB. All the hype that he gets is mostly unjustified in my opinion.

In fact, Weber reminds me a lot of Glen Mason. Both are steady, middle-of-the-road guys that won't get you anywhere above mediocre. But I thought Brewster had higher goals.

I don't think you can just turn the whole offense over to Gray right away, but you have to get him much more involved ASAP and give him a chance to see if he has what it takes to get us to a higher level. His physical tools are obvious. You can't find out if he has the mental aspect of the game unless you throw him in there.