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Not a fan of Steve Marshall
- Thread starter Duff Man
- Start date
Hi.O
Well-Known Member
I totally agree with this. At the beginning of the year I thought that unit was the worst unit on our team, but since game 4 or 5 they've put it together. They've improved dramatically (mostly because the depths were so low). I saw holes opening up and at least decent protection in each of the past 3 games, even against the opponent's starters. If we keep anybody on staff next year, I'd like to keep Marshall. This is total 180 from where I was in the first games of the season.
I still am completely not sold, think he needs to be gone even if Embree stays.
The OL was supposed to be the strength of our team this year. We had a LT who was being mentioned for NFL draft status, a center who was mention more than one place for pre-season PAC honors. We had a whole group that included in general higher rated recruits and more actual experience than any other unit. The result, they laid an egg and the egg was rotten.
We have seen improvement, it would have been hard to get any worse after being dominated by the mighty CSU Rams, the Sacramento State whatever they ares, and the Fresno Bulldogs. Pass blocking has gotten marginally better. I don't know how much of that is improvement and how much is teams laying back knowing that 80% of our passing game is screens and 3 yard routes.
The running game is still pathetic. We are getting no push and backs are still fighting through traffic before they get to the LOS. Powell has had some big runs but virtually all of those have been running through traffic, not taking advantage of big holes.
I may be a sunshine pumper at times but this is to obvious to ignore, our OL has not performed close to the level it should be and I put the blame squarely on Marshall. This isn't much different than what he did at Cal having an inconsistent and less than effective line even when having a number of players who got drafted.
Cal wasn't sad to see him go and I won't be either.
The OL was supposed to be the strength of our team this year. We had a LT who was being mentioned for NFL draft status, a center who was mention more than one place for pre-season PAC honors. We had a whole group that included in general higher rated recruits and more actual experience than any other unit. The result, they laid an egg and the egg was rotten.
We have seen improvement, it would have been hard to get any worse after being dominated by the mighty CSU Rams, the Sacramento State whatever they ares, and the Fresno Bulldogs. Pass blocking has gotten marginally better. I don't know how much of that is improvement and how much is teams laying back knowing that 80% of our passing game is screens and 3 yard routes.
The running game is still pathetic. We are getting no push and backs are still fighting through traffic before they get to the LOS. Powell has had some big runs but virtually all of those have been running through traffic, not taking advantage of big holes.
I may be a sunshine pumper at times but this is to obvious to ignore, our OL has not performed close to the level it should be and I put the blame squarely on Marshall. This isn't much different than what he did at Cal having an inconsistent and less than effective line even when having a number of players who got drafted.
Cal wasn't sad to see him go and I won't be either.
This is the little glimmer of hope I have for the offense next year. Offensive line continues to improve, bench Webb for better QB talent, and the WR position goes from simply bad to average.
The defense...I have no idea. If Chizik gets the axe at Auburn, I'd love to see him in Boulder. I give it a 1% chance of happening though.
The defense...I have no idea. If Chizik gets the axe at Auburn, I'd love to see him in Boulder. I give it a 1% chance of happening though.
Certainly Powell gets a lot of yardage after contact, but I think you are off base saying the holes are not there in the running game. There were several instances yesterday where he did not have to engage a defender until he 3-4 yards past the LOS.
The pass protection is really hard to gauge because Webb looks so bad, even when he does have time to throw the ball.
I am not even advocating that Marshall has done enough to keep his job, I am merely pointing out the OL is allowing us to move the ball on offense some.
The pass protection is really hard to gauge because Webb looks so bad, even when he does have time to throw the ball.
I am not even advocating that Marshall has done enough to keep his job, I am merely pointing out the OL is allowing us to move the ball on offense some.
CVilleBuff
Well-Known Member
I can already see it now, the spring/summer hype of "this year the OL is for real" "this year will be smashmouth, power running" "we've really gelled and are going to impose our will" :lol:
I wouldn't say several instances, I might say a few.
There is incremental improvement, granted, but the level of impovement falls far short of what it should be. It's a little harder to rip a guy like Kennedy who is dealing with a group of WRs that is of limited talent, very little experience, and is missing a bunch of guys due to injury like PRich or other issues like Thomas not being here. Doesn't make their performance acceptable either but a little easier to understand. Marshall's group hasn't come close to playing up to their expectations, getting better just means that they are not as far behind as they were.
Add to that his abject failure to connect with recruits resulting in a miserable recruiting record on the OL and firing him this morning would be to late.
There is incremental improvement, granted, but the level of impovement falls far short of what it should be. It's a little harder to rip a guy like Kennedy who is dealing with a group of WRs that is of limited talent, very little experience, and is missing a bunch of guys due to injury like PRich or other issues like Thomas not being here. Doesn't make their performance acceptable either but a little easier to understand. Marshall's group hasn't come close to playing up to their expectations, getting better just means that they are not as far behind as they were.
Add to that his abject failure to connect with recruits resulting in a miserable recruiting record on the OL and firing him this morning would be to late.
Nailed it right on the head. Rep sent.
Marshall is one of those guys who will alway look and sound better than what he delivers.
Hi.O
Well-Known Member
I think getting rid of Marshall would be the worst decision Embree could make. The O-line is our best unit. Their play the past 3 games has been above average and their opponents have gotten better in each of those three games. This isn't wishful, wait for next year thinking. These are tangible results. I'll say it now, this is the best I've seen our O-line play in YEARS. I don't want to get rid of that now, especially if Bakhtiari returns.
I could go to prison for selling what you are on. Our OL absolutely sucks. We have been bad for years but this bunch is no better. We are close to the worst team in the country in the red zone, we can't pass block, we can't run block. If not for Powell running over guys and us spending most of the game playing against teams guys who aren't even on the two deep we couldn't run at all.
No problem with looking for positives, I am busy doing that myself. Marshall and the OL aren't one of them.
Absolutely, that's a new tradition now that was started about 5 years ago.
Red zone offense is a direct result of poor QB play and no playmaking threats. That is the area of the field where those deficiencies show up the most.
Red zone offense is also where a lack of push on the offensive line is most obvious. When you can't run the ball 3 yards when you need to you are forced to play into the defenses hands. Our QB play has been terrible, we don't have playmakers. None of that matters if you don't block and we don't block.
Hi.O
Well-Known Member
Our O-line was terrible for the first three games for sure. Ever since then they've been opening up holes in the run game and providing good protection in the passing game. At first I thought it might've been a mirage because it was just against WSU, but nope, we've kept improving. I don't know what else to say other than I see good push up front and linemen getting up to the second level occasionally and an actual pocket that a QB can actually step into. I haven't seen that from our team in a long time. If they revert back to games 1-3 status, then okay, fire him.
Right now, I think Marshall is our best position coach. Cville can mock me if he wants, but I'm no kool-aid drinker. Look at my posts these past years, I don't make outlandish claims. I didn't buy into the spring/summer reports the previous years because I didn't see anything to lead me to believe those reports were true. I'm seeing it now.
BTW, I believe they're about to legal what I'm on. Wait a few months and you might be able to open up your own shop. :canabis:
It could be argued that it took him way too long to find a way for them to show their talent.
Brookhart's also done a ****** job with special teams.
It's pretty easy to come up with a strong argument about how every coach on the staff sucks and needs to go.
We also have to take any and all "improvement" we have seen in the past three weeks with a giant grain of salt. Much of it has occurred against other teams playing their base defenses, vanilla offenses, and a bunch of guys not on the two deep depth charts. Does anyone think we got the full effort and attention of Oregon after they went up 14-0 before the fans knew the game had started, or USC up 35 on us.
BlackNGold
Club Member
The line play has been improving. I have been going back and watching when Webb gets sacked in the past few games, most of the time he has 4 or 5 seconds which is enough time he is just slow on his reads.
Thanks for taking one for the team and enduring the punishment of re-watching CU football.
BlackNGold
Club Member
The fast forward and backward make it easy to not have to spend too much time watching each play.
My gut has been telling me the same thing. Nice to see I'm not alone. It is also clear the OL had no idea what they were doing in our no-huddle sets. Their improvement coincided with moving to huddling after every play. Something was clearly wrong there.
You may be right. Unfortunate, actually, given how much better they are playing.
i dont get that mentality, though.
just seems stupid to me. all we have been talking about is seeing tangible improvement in the team. we see one area where we can point to it and say, yeah! that kinda has improved over what we have seen not just over last year but the last few years.
and yet, we want to **** can him anyway?
i am not saying that i have made a judgement either way yet on M. however, after reading the op, i think there is a good point to be made.
and to add on to his point, some continuity with the coaching on the OL is finally starting to pay some dividends. small as they may be. as of now.
he is one guy that i would say that we need to see how his unit finishes out the season and then go from there to see if he should be kept around.
i have gone from a 100% must get rid of to a meh... lets see.
we want improvement, right? someone is starting to give it to us. perhaps we should pay some attention to it.
You're not getting it 4DB. It's not about improvement, it's about a scapegoat for EB/Embree.
Or perhaps the WR's are slow to get open. When nobody is open, the reads can get really slow (like never). I really think the whole offense has come around pretty well. The complete and total lack of playmakers and skill level talent had me worried in July and it was justified. We do not have a BCS receiver on this team and I think you need at least 3 healthy at all times.
Possibly...especially since he was clearly the worst position coach at the beginning of the year.
Neither Coordinator has made any progress with the O or D...both must go.
