Let's just simplify this situation of what this 2017 team is

The RBs, combined, had only 18 or so carries while Hurts had 17. Hurts had the ball far more than any other player on offense. The entire offense went through him.

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Hurts had the ball far more than any other player on offense.

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Well, he is the QB. He had his worst game, no doubt.

Lane is the only OC who won us games on offense. 2014 Auburn and 2015 Clemson come to mind.

Maybe 2013 A&M under Nuss the offense won us the game, but there were several A&M turnovers if I remember correctly. A&M was also just a horrible defensive team.

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quote: And the plays are called by the OC. This entire conversation needs to be this. Brian run RPO with Jalen because that's his strength not 1 foot in RPO and 1 in Pro style. He can't run a pro style team, god and everyone knows it. I do agree, we should have run an RPO system completely, but we didn't. That is what you get with a guy that has no OC experience of any kind. He tried to do his best, they all did.

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If we could just run that 1st series of the 2nd half all the time we would beat everyone.

I know Daboll doesn't have much experience with it but damn watch the film and he will see.

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Unless our defense is 2015 elite, we will need outstanding QB play. Period.

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I totally agree with you but the stats say that we are elite on defense . We have the #2 defense in the country, and .02 yards per play away from being #1. That says all you need to know about the offensive performance and specifically the lack of a passing game and QB play.

Statistically we even have one of the best special teams units in the country (fumbles aside). #1 Punt return defense, ranked #32 in kick return defense. Only four yards off the leader with about 15 more attempts.

Our passing offense ranking - #85. We're not a sling it around team; I get that but here are some teams that would be a decent comparison and their ranking.
Penn State #25
Nebraska #28
Miami #41
Northwestern #51
Clemson #54
Virginia Tech #59
Auburn #64
Pitt #74
South Carolina #79

Jalen didn't need to be Vince Young he only needed to be as about as good as Northwesterns or Miamis QB. I don't think that top 40 or 50 QB play is too much to ask.

On top of it we struggled with 3rd downs, specifically because a lot of times 3rd down becomes a passing down. If you can't be balanced play action doesn't work, none of the things you set up work, because the defense knows that your only gonna give them 10-12 serious passing looks a game.

Long and short of it, solid teams will make you pay for your deficiencies and make you one dimensional. On average we only complete around 11 passes per game. We had one where Jalen complete 14. In our three biggest games the completion percentage was in the 50's. Basically zero offensive balance and no real threat in the passing game also nullifying play action as well. If you take half of your offensive threat away, you have to execute perfectly to win.

We've been bad on 3rd down for years. I guess that has been the worst result of the offense we've ran the last few years. We're so inconsistent it's tough to watch at times

Yep. I agree without an elite defense Jalen has to play far better than he did or we need to switch QB. I have FULLY supported Jalen all year but we aren't good enough this year to not consistently pass the ball.

Which is strange because it didn't seem like we made Auburn stop our running backs. It looks like the staff saw what they did to UGA's backs and gameplanned around not running the ball much.

I think the plan is okay in theory, moderate carries with the running backs and make Jalen multidimensional. Just didn't execute it well.

We don’t even need “outstanding” QB play this year. We just need QB play that requires a defense to respect the pass. It’s crazy to me that with the talent we have, defenses like AU’s consider us to be a two man show on offense but it’s true. You lock down Ridley while containing Hurts and you’re all set. We have enough horsepower on the OL and at RB to take advantage of a defense that has to respect both. Additionally, we have enough talent at WR that we should have an effective passing game.