Brian Lindgren & Play Calling

[Buffnik]

There's a rhythm to it. Lots of guys can be good at designing an offense, teaching the team its concepts, and game planning for an opponent. Pretty much every football coach in the nation working at a decent high school and up can do that.

But there's a difference between that aspect of the job and the in-game aspect of being an Offensive Coordinator.

I witnessed that first-hand in college. One year, we had a guy who had the feel for playcalling as the OC. Offense was nearly unstoppable. The next year, he moved on and the QB coach (who was actually smarter and designed more of the plays) took over and the offense suffered.

Yesterday, I was watching the Western Kentucky - Kentucky game and was reminded of how Bobby Petrino is a savant when it comes to feeling the rhythm of the game and quickly calling the right play. Spurrier is another guy who is like that. Probably the greatest of all-time is Bill Walsh.

Which brings us to CU and OC Brian Lindgren. Does he have that feel? At only 32 years old, could he be one of those savants at play calling?

Earlier this week, SJSU's David Fales completed 50% of his passes at 7.0 YPA and a QBR of 129,7 for the game (Sac State - FCS opponent). Last season with Lindgren as his OC, Fales completed 72.5% of his passes at 9.3 YPA and a QBR of 170.8 for the year (3rd in the nation in QBR - he's 56th for 2013 so far). In 2012, Fales worst completion % for a game was 65.4% at UTSA (where he had over 10 YPA and no picks to go with that "low" %).

Conner Wood seems to have all the physical tools to be great - feet, size, arm strength, speed.

Paul Richardson is an elite target at WR with some good complementary options.

Christian Powell is an absolute load for defenses to deal with from the RB spot with some good complementary options.

If Lindgren can be what I think he is, then this CU offense will become special as the year goes on. And, as Washington showed last night, it is possible for a new offense to click immediately when you've got a good offensive mind at the top (Sark) and players to work with.

Get your popcorn out. The Buffs are going to shock some people with how good they are this year.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

opcorn:

 

[Duff Man]

I expect to see a huge improvement from the offense this year. We have players there.

 

[J.R. Ewing]

I expect to see a huge improvement from the offense this year. We have players there.

I just wish our offensive line was more of a sure thing. With average play from out O-line we could be in for a surprise.

 

[TimmyDUBs]

:drink:Glug glug glug glug glug...

 

[dio]

That is part of the reason I was surprised that the Denver Post gave CSU so many advantages in their head to head matchups. Our offensive line is atrocious, but I think Lindgren is going to be smart about limiting the ability of our opponent to exploit our weakness. I'm excited to see what we can do with the weapons we have there. Hopefully Baer can work some miracles on the defensive side of the ball

 

[Duff Man]

I just wish our offensive line was more of a sure thing. With average play from out O-line we could be in for a surprise.

I think we can stay reasonably healthy on the OL for about 8/12 games. That should be enough to showcase a new, improved offense.

 

[Buffnik]

Regarding OL, there are some misconceptions.

The starting 5 are actually very good:

Harris is an NFL prospect and is the best OL playing in the game today.
Nembot is going to be an elite player. Right now he will make some mistakes, but he can also dominate plays.
Munyer is probably the 2nd best OL in the game behind Harris.
Crabb would have started over Lewis last year if he'd been healthy. Played a lot the year before. Much better than people think.
Handler is a good athlete with a lot of experience at center. Solid college OL who won't be asked to move 330 lb guys in this offense.

Maximus went into better detail than that on the Rivals board, but the summary point is that we have a solid starting 5 that is about average for a BCS team. Good talent and good level of game experience. The concern with this group is that it's going to take all season to develop our depth because it's just not there right now.

 

[Rando]

Man I almost thought you meant best OL in the nation for college and that's what caused me (an avid Stanford fan and sports gambler) to sign up to this forum. Then I realized you meant best OL in the game tonight. Haha

Good luck Buff fans. I think you have a good shot with 2012 SJSU coaching staff. I didn't realize you guys had McIntyre as your HC or I wouldn't have bet on CSU to cover.

 

[MtnBuff]

Nik is on to a very important issue here that could be huge and not specifically for what he mentions.

This is a team that earned it's 1-11 record last year but has more talent than it showed last year. It is also a mentally fragile team that also happens to be playing another team that lost a bunch last year and could be on the fragile side as well. Mistakes and failure are going to have a lot to do with who wins this game and how each team looks at itself going into the rest of the year.

One of the biggest complaints about Hawkins is that he didn't have a cohesive plan. Everything changed at unpredictable moments and the players were never comfortable on offense. Embo had a plan but unfortunately it wasn't designed to be something that the players could master and be comfortable with.

For Lindgren to be successful he not only has to call the plays that will work but also avoid those plays that we are not going to be successful on. It is critical that this team doesn't fall back into the same pattern of failure that we have become accustomed to and more importantly they have become accustomed to in losing over the past few years.

Offensively it is important that our steps are steps forward, even if they are babysteps and we aren't dynamic. The coaches have to make sure we don't go backwards and slip back into our hole. This applies to the entire offense but especially a QB who has had his confidence beat up for the past 3 years and another QB who is a true Fr.

 

[OUBuff]

Man I almost thought you meant best OL in the nation for college and that's what caused me (an avid Stanford fan and sports gambler) to sign up to this forum. Then I realized you meant best OL in the game tonight. Haha

Good luck Buff fans. I think you have a good shot with 2012 SJSU coaching staff. I didn't realize you guys had McIntyre as your HC or I wouldn't have bet on CSU to cover.

 

[OrangeBowl]

Not perfect,but I'd say he was dialed in

 

[MtnBuff]

CSU defense looked confused much of the night, we had recievers open when we needed them, the plays we ran got the yardage we needed on 3rd down.

Only bad thing was that we kept using Tony Jones when it was clear he wasn't effective. We also had a stretch in the second half where we got predictable but he got us back out of it.

 

[White_Rabbit]

The call to pass to PRich was ****ing awesome. Dio said it in chat perfectly, that's a call to win the ****ing game.

 

[TedBuff]

That is part of the reason I was surprised that the Denver Post gave CSU so many advantages in their head to head matchups. Our offensive line is atrocious, but I think Lindgren is going to be smart about limiting the ability of our opponent to exploit our weakness. I'm excited to see what we can do with the weapons we have there. Hopefully Baer can work some miracles on the defensive side of the ball

Excellent point. The whole line will need some time to gel before competing with the big P-12 boys. I like those 3 step drops as well as up-tempo offense that keeps the defense on their heels. Running game will get better as season goes on.

 

[Eggon]

:cheers: What can ya say.... From point A last year, to point B now.... Wow. Mac 2 and staff made that much progress and at so many levels! I though the play calling by Lindgren was "nerve rattling" for CSU. Impressive! Now do it again next week fellas!

Seems to me the mistakes (which were so much fewer) are addressable.... This team will be more competitive. Can't wait to see how far they can go.... Now I must lay off the Kool Aid before I am drunk on it....
Oh, and Gman 44... wait till he grows up! DAMN! Awesome game!

 

[BuffUp]

First game with new QB and team, great start. Will improve. Impressive

 

[BuffClass90]

I agree about Lindgren. I watched some SJSU offense from last year and he does a GREAT job of getting the ball into a bunch of different hands and spreading it around. It doesn't hurt the DC for CSU sucked...leaving PRich in single coverage...really??? Idiot.

I think the execution lacked in the run game, and some of the Powell calls on 1st down confounded me, but Lindgren is the real deal. George better get the checkbook out if he wants to keep these guys.

 

[Jaximus]

After last night, I think we've learned how much coaching can have an effect on a team.

THIS STAFF would have beat CSU last year.

With a couple exceptions, it appeared that our offense was calling the perfect plays for situations they were in. Last year, I could personally call out each failure of a play before they ran it.

Connor Wood appeared cool and confident all game long. That touch pass to DD in the corner of the endzone was the best pass I've seen a CU QB make in at least 4 years. While that is a testament to him, I believe it is equally a testament to our coaching success.

Just like Buffnik pointed out, we have something special in Lindgren.

 

[Yellow Shirt]

Great post. Spot on opinion It's a lot like poker. You can learn the math and hand range groupings, but you have to have a feel for the rythm of the table.

 

[sackman]

It's hard to argue against 35 offensive points. That will win you most games.

 

[TDbuff]

CSU defense looked confused much of the night, we had recievers open when we needed them, the plays we ran got the yardage we needed on 3rd down.

Not to excuse their DC, but I wonder how the addition of Joey Porter is affecting whatever staff chemistry they had. He seemed to be in everyone's ear, including Grayson's at one point. I just wonder if he's too big of a personality to function within a college staff, or if anybody there can tell him to stay in his lane.

 

[Buffenuf]

I agree about Lindgren. I watched some SJSU offense from last year and he does a GREAT job of getting the ball into a bunch of different hands and spreading it around. It doesn't hurt the DC for CSU sucked...leaving PRich in single coverage...really??? Idiot.

I think the execution lacked in the run game, and some of the Powell calls on 1st down confounded me, but Lindgren is the real deal. George better get the checkbook out if he wants to keep these guys.

Uh......PRich was never in single coverage. On that first pass, that was much more Wood taking off to avoid the blitz, which caused the DBs to come up for the tackle, abandoning coverage on PRich. The second was just a blown coverage, where the corner got no help from the safety; he put his hands out as if to ask, "Where's my help?" Blown coverage is the best thing you can hope for; just ask the Baltimore Ravens!

As for the run game, CSU made it their goal to stuff the run, but took away somehting from their pass "D" to do so. Lindgren obviously spotted that and did what was necessary to take full advantage. Wood hung 400 passing yds on a team that was ranked in the Top 30 statistically last season in pass defense.

 

[DrunkPanda]

You can't argue with the amount of points we put up yesterday, did we score that many in a single game last season? I hope Lindgren doesn't get stolen away from us

 

[MtnBuff]

Uh......PRich was never in single coverage. On that first pass, that was much more Wood taking off to avoid the blitz, which caused the DBs to come up for the tackle, abandoning coverage on PRich. The second was just a blown coverage, where the corner got no help from the safety; he put his hands out as if to ask, "Where's my help?" Blown coverage is the best thing you can hope for; just ask the Baltimore Ravens!

As for the run game, CSU made it their goal to stuff the run, but took away somehting from their pass "D" to do so. Lindgren obviously spotted that and did what was necessary to take full advantage. Wood hung 400 passing yds on a team that was ranked in the Top 30 statistically last season in pass defense.

Granted most of their opponents were in kill the clock mode by the middle of the third quarter.:lol:


You may be right on their priority in stopping the run. Based on last year it would be hard to convince anyone that we were a threat to put up 400 yards in the air like we did.

 

[nolabuff]

I think this will be the most important thing that comes out of this game. For once, we ran an effective no huddle. Will it hold up against more talented teams? I don't know. Getting the plays in correctly and adding to the playbook will surely help us in the future though. Finally, we should be able to use the altitude advantage. As Nik mentioned, building that rhythm or groove is just as important. We love big plays and we made a few and missed a few against CSU. Those 20 play drives though should be where we gain our advantage, barring crippling mistakes. I'm too young to remember Walsh, but Spurrier, Petrino, Richrod, and a few others are great at calling the right play at the right time. While not perfect, Lidgren showed me that he could be an up and coming name in that department.

 

[slider]

So who else was pulling their hair out when we kept passing it with like 4 mins left? Then got stuck in a 3 and 12 or something.

 

[MtnBuff]

Up until the last drive we had nothing resembling a running game so there was no option.

If we had CAU's tailback we would have cruised easily (former sooner commit, kid has some quicks and shiftyness.)

ToJo was just to slow to the hole or unable to make the cuts when the hole were there, which they weren't always. Pow doesn't look like the same guy as last year and the OL is shaky at best running the ball.