I want to preface this post by saying I know that this won't happen. I say that up front because I don't want this thread to turn into the usual suspects (you know who you Verbal Kints are out there) hopping in to tell me this is a pipe dream and unrealistic and blah blah blah. Yeah, I know. But this is a message board, not a rational prognostication board. Alright, now that that's out of the way, here's what I'd like to see.
This offense is broken. Completely, totally, irrevocably broken. And it's not just broken because the OL is bad, because the offense was broken when we've had good OL play too. It's been broken with QBs who get a shot in the NFL and with QBs who the league would never touch with a 10-foot pole. It's been broken with NFL-level RBs and with MAC-level RBs. It's been broken with all-time TEs and with TEs whose names we forget the second they're gone. It's been broken with McNutt and DJK as the 1 and 2 and with Dominique Douglas and Andy Brodell as the 1 and 2. The offense is broken because it can't work. At least, it can't work at the level you need it to work to win the Big Ten or win the Rose Bowl. I said in another thread, we're good enough to get a seat at the table, but not good enough to eat.
Fixing this offense isn't a quick proposition. It's not as simple as throwing the ball downfield more often or having the RB hit the hole more aggressively. The whole thing needs to be redone from the ground up. So what I'd like to see is for us to bring in Carson May and make him the starter. I'm 100% certain he's not going to be ready to start and play at a high level in week 1. No way. But the offense is horrible no matter who we have at QB, anyway. Start May at QB and just understand that the offense is going to be bad for a couple of years while we build a new philosophy and system. Ditch the zone run scheme and beef the OL up to do more straight-line man blocking. Force-feed the ball to Keagan Johnson and Arland Bruce. If Goodson comes back, really put in a two-back system. I like Goodson a lot, but he's not a bell cow. Treat him and Gavin Williams like Akrum and LeShun in 2015. Give them both about equal carries that play to their individual strengths. We're TEU, so try to make that 3TE formation we used in 2013 at OSU work. Hell, you can even make that your base formation if you want to; why not?
My point is, this offense is bad and it's going to be bad no matter what our personnel is and how well they execute. It's bad because it's not built to be good. It's built to control the clock, control the field position, and minimize mistakes. And that's just not good enough to win the Big Ten in the modern era. The top teams in this conference are high-powered offenses. You can't realistically expect to hold them to a 17-14 final score with any amount of regularity. Our current offense is built to get us 8 or 9 wins a year. And it does that. But this is a program that really can take the next step. I'm not expecting us to suddenly be 12-0 every year and scoring 60 on OSU in the Horseshoe. But I think we've really maxed out our success level with elite defense and special teams and bad offense. And if we want to be a legitimate Big Ten title contender, the entire offense needs to be remade from scratch. Do it with May, and by the time he's a junior we should start to see it pay dividends. He may not be here when it fully comes together, but if we recruit a mobile run threat QB (not just a guy who can escape the pocket, but a guy who opposing defenses genuinely need to dedicate a spy to), then after he's gone we can be in a position to not just make it to the Big Ten Championship, but get there and be favored to win it.
This offense is broken. Completely, totally, irrevocably broken. And it's not just broken because the OL is bad, because the offense was broken when we've had good OL play too. It's been broken with QBs who get a shot in the NFL and with QBs who the league would never touch with a 10-foot pole. It's been broken with NFL-level RBs and with MAC-level RBs. It's been broken with all-time TEs and with TEs whose names we forget the second they're gone. It's been broken with McNutt and DJK as the 1 and 2 and with Dominique Douglas and Andy Brodell as the 1 and 2. The offense is broken because it can't work. At least, it can't work at the level you need it to work to win the Big Ten or win the Rose Bowl. I said in another thread, we're good enough to get a seat at the table, but not good enough to eat.
Fixing this offense isn't a quick proposition. It's not as simple as throwing the ball downfield more often or having the RB hit the hole more aggressively. The whole thing needs to be redone from the ground up. So what I'd like to see is for us to bring in Carson May and make him the starter. I'm 100% certain he's not going to be ready to start and play at a high level in week 1. No way. But the offense is horrible no matter who we have at QB, anyway. Start May at QB and just understand that the offense is going to be bad for a couple of years while we build a new philosophy and system. Ditch the zone run scheme and beef the OL up to do more straight-line man blocking. Force-feed the ball to Keagan Johnson and Arland Bruce. If Goodson comes back, really put in a two-back system. I like Goodson a lot, but he's not a bell cow. Treat him and Gavin Williams like Akrum and LeShun in 2015. Give them both about equal carries that play to their individual strengths. We're TEU, so try to make that 3TE formation we used in 2013 at OSU work. Hell, you can even make that your base formation if you want to; why not?
My point is, this offense is bad and it's going to be bad no matter what our personnel is and how well they execute. It's bad because it's not built to be good. It's built to control the clock, control the field position, and minimize mistakes. And that's just not good enough to win the Big Ten in the modern era. The top teams in this conference are high-powered offenses. You can't realistically expect to hold them to a 17-14 final score with any amount of regularity. Our current offense is built to get us 8 or 9 wins a year. And it does that. But this is a program that really can take the next step. I'm not expecting us to suddenly be 12-0 every year and scoring 60 on OSU in the Horseshoe. But I think we've really maxed out our success level with elite defense and special teams and bad offense. And if we want to be a legitimate Big Ten title contender, the entire offense needs to be remade from scratch. Do it with May, and by the time he's a junior we should start to see it pay dividends. He may not be here when it fully comes together, but if we recruit a mobile run threat QB (not just a guy who can escape the pocket, but a guy who opposing defenses genuinely need to dedicate a spy to), then after he's gone we can be in a position to not just make it to the Big Ten Championship, but get there and be favored to win it.
