Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State Football Forum

Ohio State football fan talk.

Better Execution in the Passing Game Has to Come First

+4 HS
buckeye phi's picture
January 23, 2017 at 5:48pm
47 Comments

One of my favorite writers here at 11W, Kyle Jones, recently did an article about Kevin Wilson's scheme - and how the sequence of play-calling may be one of the things that will be most different from last season.  As Kyle noted, we've undoubtedly had very similar versions of his actual plays in our playbook all along. 

I would like to add to Kyle's observations some thoughts on execution.  During Wilson's tenure at Indiana, he was able to give very good defenses (like ours) absolute fits - and he was able to do it with not-so-blue-chip talent, for the most part.. 

Certainly, scheme played a major role it that - but it seems we may be overlooking his ability to get tremendous execution from his players, as well. 

I imagine Ed Warinner might have also wanted to do some things differently from a play-calling aspect.  But if he felt his players would not have been able to properly execute those plays - it's understandable that he wouldn't have called those plays as frequently as some other, more reliable plays. 

Of course, his players' ability to execute was his responsibility, too.  However, for this exercise, the point is, Warinner's play calling may well have been affected by a lack of faith in his offense's ability to execute certain types of plays. 

We could get all tangled up in which phases of the '16 offense were most responsible for our struggles in the passing game.  Was it poor pass protection?  Less than stellar play by our wide receivers?  A lack of accuracy from our QB?  Or - all of the above - to at least some degree?

It almost doesn't matter now.  Everyone's starting with a clean slate this year.  I'm looking forward to seeing better execution in our passing game every bit as much as I am in an improvement in play-calling.  

After all, it really doesn't matter how masterful a play-caller may be if his players aren't able to execute those plays effectively.  And in an up-tempo offense, three-and-outs just happen more quickly if the offense is not executing well. 

Wilson has a proven ability to get his offense executing at a high level - even when he was out-manned.  Being out-manned won't be a problem at Ohio State, obviously.  He must be lickin' his chops at the prospect of working with the talent he'll have at his disposal under UFM. 

It's going to be a very interesting Spring -

This is a forum post from a site member. It does not represent the views of Eleven Warriors unless otherwise noted.

View 47 Comments