Baylor Offense

[Class of 61]

Hambb,
Only thing I disagree with you on is re: Matt Johnson...Don't know why you feel he can't throw the "deep ball", which I think you've said before...and alleged on more recent post. How many guys throw the ball downfield 60+ yards, even with today's high powered O's..? He's proven he CAN and HAS thrown 40+ yrds accurately, given enough time... Thought Baylor's QB had a basically awful game, and they still put up 42 pts. without him throwing 60+ bombs.
That said, I had to be impressed with CFU's QB....big and strong...my son said he reminded him of Rothliesberger, in terms of height and size.

[mscarn]

I agree.......between the penalties and their defense, I was NOT impressed with Baylor. I certainly hope we don't try and copy too much of their program.

Their defense is dreadful and is done no favors by the offense's feast or famine approach. They either score in a minute and a half or go three and out; either way, the defense stays on the field.

I was struck by the lack of execution of their line and how such a weakness can ruin the best laid plans of any system. If the line loses one-on-one blocking matchups it's nearly impossible to do anything. That QB (Petty) was wildy inaccurate and couldn't/didn't run much save that touchdown leap. Johnson's better and Knapke might be, too.

[kdog27]

Hambb,
Only thing I disagree with you on is re: Matt Johnson...Don't know why you feel he can't throw the "deep ball", which I think you've said before...and alleged on more recent post. How many guys throw the ball downfield 60+ yards, even with today's high powered O's..? He's proven he CAN and HAS thrown 40+ yrds accurately, given enough time... Thought Baylor's QB had a basically awful game, and they still put up 42 pts. without him throwing 60+ bombs.
That said, I had to be impressed with CFU's QB....big and strong...my son said he reminded him of Rothliesberger, in terms of height and size.

I agree and I don't think his arm as nearly as weak as you portray it. Strong arm is not needed against MAC and most college defenses anyway I think.

[MarkL]

Johnson has a good strong arm but there were three missed plays in the deep passing game against Pitt. One was Joplin's drop that would have been a TD and could have changed the game completely. One was our first offensive snap when Johnson badly overshot a receiver, don't remember who. He had two open guys and missed by five yards. And then early in the second half he had Joplin open about 25 yards out and again overshot. I have no qualms with his arm strength but he often misses with the deep ball. He sure was accurate with the deep ball against NIU though.

[hammb]

Johnson's arm strength is good enough, but it's not even average by Division 1A standards, IMO.

Can he get the ball downfield? Sure. You said it yourself "WHEN HE HAS TIME". Unfortunately Johnson's definition of time is not only needing the time for the WR to get downfield, but he also has to have enough time to step up into the throw and heave it. Anytime he's trying to push the ball deep he needs to put his entire body into the throw.

I'm not saying that he cannot be successful with that level of arm strength, he certainly was this year. Hell Manziel is pretty similar at A&M and he's one of the best QBs in college football. But for Baylor's system to work the QB must be able to stretch the field. In Johnson's case that means the OL has to be good enough to let him step up and heave it. A stronger armed QB wouldn't need the same level of protection to get the ball deep.

Just comparing it to the QBs we've had here, outside of maybe Turner, I think he's probably got the weakest arm we've seen of a starting QB in the past 15 years. Obviously, he made up for it in other areas, and could continue to do so. I'm merely stating it's his biggest weakness by far, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the new coach thinks Knapke could be a better fit for what he wants to do on offense.

[Flipper]

Johnson got better with the deep throw as the season wore on and he got more comfortable...but...he does have a pretty long wind up. Knapke's a bigger guy who's supposed to have a cannon. It will be interesting to see how things play out this spring.

My biggest concern with this offense is off the top of my head...I can't really think of an uptempo, spread the field and push the ball team that had a good defense...the two don't seem to go hand in hand in most cases.

[kdog27]

Johnson got better with the deep throw as the season wore on and he got more comfortable...but...he does have a pretty long wind up. Knapke's a bigger guy who's supposed to have a cannon. It will be interesting to see how things play out this spring.

My biggest concern with this offense is off the top of my head...I can't really think of an uptempo, spread the field and push the ball team that had a good defense...the two don't seem to go hand in hand in most cases.

After watching a lot of these bowls I don't think anyone has a good D anymore.

[Flipper]

Michigan State is the last bastion of punch you in the mouth and laugh while you bleed defense....

[Flipper]

hammb...Johnson's on twitter wondering who you are....

[BGFalconfromCincy]

hammb...Johnson's on twitter wondering who you are....

Glad I'm not the only one who caught that

[lookimrory]

Well now that I know Johnson and potentially other bg players read this forum...I should be careful what I say. But I've seen Johnson throw a couple deep balls perfectly that were dropped. I hate to throw it on Joplin but the two biggest game changers were deep balls that landed right in jops hands and dropped by him. In the Pitt game, I was right there watching it...and anyone remember the Toledo game? The final drive? Ugh. Heartbreaker. Sorry jop. Next beer at the casinos on me, buddy.

[Globetrotter]

If reading this message board was the first time MattyJ realized his arm wasn't as strong as others he has problems.

[hammb]

Haha...that's awesome. I don't use Twitter at all, so didn't see that.

My apologies to Matt if he thinks I'm being overly critical of one aspect of his play; especially one that is far from the most important thing a QB needs to be able to do. I have stated several times that I agree with Flipper in that he improved his deep passes dramatically as the season went on. And he also provided the best all around QB play we've seen in years at BG. I'd say without a doubt that we aren't the reigning MAC champs without him coming in and playing so well as a first year starter.

He has one major weakness, and it's pure arm strength.

[mmisbg]

Matt should have an easy time finding hammb...his picture is right there next to his name.

[kdog27]

Hammb, you remember years back you were saying a WR I'll leave nameless did not half NFL talent and he was blowing up our in boxes wanting to meet us and fight? I didn't even say anything bad. Needless to say he never sniffed the NFL haha.

I loved our QB play this year, the best since 2004. Johnson got so much better as the year progressed. I would be shocked if Knapke was the starter next year.