Thoughts on the offense

I find it interesting that a lot of people are concerned about our "boom or bust" offense and the lack of throwing over the middle of the field.

For one, I think the college game is predicated on big plays more so than the NFL. The inexperience of players can lead to drive killer penalties, so the explosive play helps keep drives short and the likelihood of mistakes down. Sure, you want to see your team control the ball when they need to do it. This is why the 2020 offense was the best in school history: they could score in a minute or in seven minutes if the game dictated it; they could switch gears mid-game if need be. However, if I had to choose between a ball control offense or explosive offense in college ball...I'm choosing the explosive one if my life depended on it.

I said this in the game thread but wanted to reiterate that it is harder to throw over the middle of the field when teams often deploy spies or shallow zone coverage with their linebackers to keep an eye on your athletic quarterback. I don't think Milroe is the best short to medium range passer we've had in the last decade but there are some extenuating factors that lead to him throwing those quick slants and crossers more infrequently than Young, Jones, or Tagovailoa. Especially since Milroe is such a great deep ball thrower, opponents are going to keep bodies around the LOS to bottle him up but use their backend to keep the over the top throws contained too. That means most of your possession passing opportunities are going to be short and outside the hashes. As long as Milroe is throwing them such that the receiver has an opportunity to quickly get up field and make a man miss then it will be effective enough to force the defense to respect those throws then hit them up the seam like on the Cuevas touchdown.

Frankly, if the Wisconsin game with our "real" OL is an indication of what our offense suppose to look like then I'd say our staff has crafted an approach that suits Milroe's talents and causes the most constraints on the typical approaches to frustrating Milroe. He's never going to be our last three quarterbacks but at least he's working with an offensive staff that knows how to scheme around his abilities to get everyone else involved. I don't think Hollywood is going to be shopping for a better deal this offseason like Isiah Bond was this past offseason. The WRs are going to get opportunities in this offense that helps add value to their draft stock.