Belated and perhaps a bit belabored I bring you a few thoughts from the OSU game. I finally had a chance to rematch the game in full and record some thoughts on offense.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulS3Y0XpGh8
With the bye week I've had a chance to think a little bit about the progression of the offense up to this point in the season. The big story is obviously our handicap at the Quarterback position at this stage. The Oklahoma State game revealed some important progress from Ash in terms of getting the offense out of bad calls at the line and a much more extensive showing in the quick game both of which give us crucial counter measures to the weaknesses that the Sooners exposed. The important and often overshadowed subplot is that our power running game with outside constraints is proving to be the most lethal section of our offense. Against Oklahoma State we saw the inclusion of the vertical passing game and draw game to complement that strength but we were unable to convert on a lot of opportunities.
In this second half of the season I'm looking for us to develop more consistency on first downs and rely more heavily on our core strengths. It looks like Cody Johnson has started to turn the corner as a blocker and with Barrett Mathews getting promoted to a starting position at tight end it seems like we are going to emphasize our power running game this week and continue to successfully pair it with horizontal concepts. I do think Mathews is our best tight end at setting the edge and that's central to what we are doing right now so I'm in favor of developing his role in the offense more. I'm hoping that we continue to mix in draws and vertical passing on first downs and hopefully also look for opportunities to our backs in the flats (which our QBs haven't shown an awareness of up to this point).
I think the most important things to look for in the Kansas game on the offensive line are mental consistency from our blockers a bounce back physical effort from Trey Hopkins and Mason Walters. Hope everyone enjoys.