ADVERTISEMENT

FC: James Franklin presser....

What differentiates the design of an "explosive" play from a normal one? It sounds about as obvious as saying "we can win if we score more points than our opponent

"Explosive plays" are defined, for whatever reason, as a running play that gains more than 12 yards and a passing play that gains more than 16. I like to keep it simple and leave it as any play that gains more than 20. It gets further qualified by down and distance considerations. A TD pass of 15 yards would be considered to be explosive. A run of 13 on third and 16 might be considered to be explosive, but kind of defeats the purpose of the designation.

Hard to identify a running play that is designed to go for more than 12 (or 20). Pass is easier.

Frankly, it's a semi-bullshit metric. But keep in mind we're dealing with a group in which the guy with the National Geographic subscription is considered to be an intellectual.
 
"Explosive plays" are defined, for whatever reason, as a running play that gains more than 12 yards and a passing play that gains more than 16. I like to keep it simple and leave it as any play that gains more than 20. It gets further qualified by down and distance considerations. A TD pass of 15 yards would be considered to be explosive. A run of 13 on third and 16 might be considered to be explosive, but kind of defeats the purpose of the designation.

Hard to identify a running play that is designed to go for more than 12 (or 20). Pass is easier.

Frankly, it's a semi-bullshit metric. But keep in mind we're dealing with a group in which the guy with the National Geographic subscription is considered to be an intellectual.
Thanks for the clarification. I could see a long pass play being considered "explosive" but a running play?

Pretty much what I figured, "we might win if we score more points". Absolutely brilliant.
 
CJF said he's still looking for DBs and DEs in the portal. He was a asked if he was seeking a QB and CJF said they're always looking to upgrade wherever they can.
 
Thanks for the clarification. I could see a long pass play being considered "explosive" but a running play?

Pretty much what I figured, "we might win if we score more points". Absolutely brilliant.

The idea behind "explosive plays" is to score and score rapidly. Lombardi would be appalled. As I said, semi-bullshit. It's the favored flavor until supplanted by the next one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: crm114psu
We don’t recruit players like Justin Fields? You may want to rethink that.
My thought exactly - when you try to rip someone for not recruiting a specific player and the player was a one time commit it kind of makes you seem dumb.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ILLINOISLION
I would really like to hear JF’s plans for improving the defense. Maybe KC wasn’t a good fit for the offense but the D this year was nothing to write home about until we got to the dregs of the schedule. I know him and Pry are really close so I hope that’s not clouding his judgment.
 
"I would really like to hear JF’s plans for improving the defense"

How about a couple of big, fat, stalwart DTs for starters? Sometimes you need these too.
 
All well and good, but a team has to have players capable of executing explosive plays. Otherwise it's just shooting blanks.

True. I don't think we have a WR that runs a sub 4.4, I don't believe we have one coming in with 2021 recruiting class. KC did his best with the cards he was dealt. KC put a bunch of explosive play on us when he was at Minny so his scheme has that potential. It's the same old, same old Franklin, someone has to be blames for this seasons collapse.
 
How many games did you win and how many did you lose.
Just that simple.
 
What differentiates the design of an "explosive" play from a normal one? It sounds about as obvious as saying "we can win if we score more points than our opponent

Difference beteen a normal play and an explosive play??? You hand the ball of the the RB on an inside zone play, the normal play is most RBs who plow a head for a yard or two when there is nothing there, the explosive play is Saquon Barkley who sees there is nothing there, jump cuts to the outside making two guys miss, plant his foot and cuts across the grain making several more players miss on his the way to the end zone for a 70yrd+ TD, this execution was shown on our Rose Bowl game against USC.
 
Last edited:
True. I don't think we have a WR that runs a sub 4.4, I don't believe we have one coming in with 2021 recruiting class. KC did his best with the cards he was dealt. KC put a bunch of explosive play on us when he was at Minny so his scheme has that potential. It's the same old, same old Franklin, someone has to be blames for this seasons collapse.

Were you Captain of the Drama Team in hs?
 
  • Like
Reactions: PearlandLion
Difference beteen a normal play and an explosive play??? You hand the ball of the the RB, the normal play is most RBs, the explosive play is Saquon Barkley.
That should make it easy to game plan for, just dial it up as needed.
 
I don't have a problem with Franklins preoccupation with "explosive" plays. You need to be able to score 35-40 points a game to truly be an elite team in my mind. You have to be multiple, game breaking RB's, WR's that stretch the defense, QB's that can sort of do it all. Not to be good....plenty of programs can sort of just line up and mash, but they win 9-10 games a year against lesser competition. If we are going to beat OSU, we are going to have to outscore them(of course, but I mean beat them on offense more than defense). We just are not going to ever be able to devise offenses that hold teams like OSU and Bama from scoring 30-35-40 points a game. You know what else having an explosive offense does for your team outside of the scoreboard? You can start recruiting explosive players, explosive receivers......and then, maybe some elite QB's that think they can pad stats, make big plays, and win big games.

Isn’t what Bama did the past couple of years. Much talk before the game that even Saban realizes you win with offense in today’s game. They sure had enough explosive plays in the playoffs.
 
Sorry if you can't handle the truth. Obviously you user name tells it all. Maybe one of these days a couple of guys will be able to pull you out of CJF's a$$.

Touchy touchy. And whose you know what should we pull you out of oh wise one?
 
Sorry if you can't handle the truth.

Really? You determine the truth? You're entitled to your own OPINIONS, but not your own facts. Pretty obvious from the facts available that Franklin wanted to hire Yurcich last year, but was likely turned down... then hired KC. It would appear that it came to Franklin's attention that Yurcich had a change of heart regarding the PSU Job. CJF then hired what was his 1st Choice at OC all-along (i.e., nothing whatsoever to do with "blaming" KC and everything to do with hiring what was his clear 1st Choice all along.).
 
Play design & tempo alone can make a HUGE difference.

I am SO tired of 30-40 yard fly patterns with our receivers one step in from the sidelines.

I am SO tired that our only misdirection play consists of one of our linemen accidentally going in the wrong direction.

I am SO tired of our O not being able to get a play off with more than 5 seconds left on the play clock.

I am SO tired that our O can’t snap the ball when an opponent’s D is racing players off the field.

I am SO tired that our O can’t snap the ball until there’s a staredown with our sideline.

I am SO tired.....I’m gonna go take a nap.
 
Isn’t what Bama did the past couple of years. Much talk before the game that even Saban realizes you win with offense in today’s game. They sure had enough explosive plays in the playoffs.

Wanting to have explosive plays and doing them are different things. Takes a little more than a coach who can design them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: BW Lion
Really? You determine the truth? You're entitled to your own OPINIONS, but not your own facts. Pretty obvious from the facts available that Franklin wanted to hire Yurcich last year, but was likely turned down... then hired KC. It would appear that it came to Franklin's attention that Yurcich had a change of heart regarding the PSU Job. CJF then hired what was his 1st Choice at OC all-along (i.e., nothing whatsoever to do with "blaming" KC and everything to do with hiring what was his clear 1st Choice all along.).

Yurcich's "change of heart" resulted from not having a job and having Texas pay most of his salary for the next two years.
 
Really? You determine the truth? You're entitled to your own OPINIONS, but not your own facts. Pretty obvious from the facts available that Franklin wanted to hire Yurcich last year, but was likely turned down... then hired KC. It would appear that it came to Franklin's attention that Yurcich had a change of heart regarding the PSU Job. CJF then hired what was his 1st Choice at OC all-along (i.e., nothing whatsoever to do with "blaming" KC and everything to do with hiring what was his clear 1st Choice all along.).

Facts available??? LOL that is a good one. Please show me those facts.
 
Speed kills. Period.
Sure helps and many are neglecting our lack of strength and conditioning this past year and how it's helped our players in the past. I loved the vids we'd see of players competing in Galt's weight room and enjoying it immensely, as was Galt. A big part of our development was missing this past season and the results reflected it
 
  • Like
Reactions: indynittany
We had it with Trace and some very, very good WR's and exceptional RB's in Barkley and Sanders.
I don't think you have to have those transcendent QB's to pull it off. Just ones that aren't throwing it to the other team.

Yep, can't be throwing it squarely to the other team's players.

Can't hold onto the ball until you are about to get sacked so that the QB is being hit as he throws and his throw ends up being a duck that get's picked off. i.e. the QB has to have good pocket awareness.

Can't just star down one receiver until the pocket collapses and panic mode sets in.

Have to get rid of the ball, throw it out of bounds over a receiver, when the pocket is collapsing instead of taking sacks when there is no escaping to a QB run. See above on pocket awareness....

In short, your QB just has to play smart and with poise, and Clifford didn't look like he was playing smart and with poise all that much the first 5 games last season. Sure, a better OL will make a QB look better and smarter. But part of being a smart QB is realizing the time your OL is realistically going to give you and then doing the best you can with the time you get.

Another frustrating part of Clifford's play last season was his less than stellar decision making with the read option. It seemed that in some games, during the first half, Clifford was pretty much programmed to just hand the ball off to the RB, not really reacting to any "read" that was available, with the RB's just getting crushed whereas it looked like Clifford could have kept the ball for a nice gain. And then at half time either the coaches told him to be more aggressive in keeping the ball and running, or he made better decisions. I'm guessing the former rather than the later. Whoever is the reason (coaches telling Clifford to hand off more in first half, or Clifford's lack of ability to read the read option), if that does not improve then that offense won't excel.

Sorry I put all this crying into my response to your post.....

Here's a link to the whole PC....

 
Last edited:
We had it with Trace and some very, very good WR's and exceptional RB's in Barkley and Sanders.
I don't think you have to have those transcendent QB's to pull it off. Just ones that aren't throwing it to the other team.
While I understand your sentiments, and the quality of three players and their consistent effort, we depended on Trace's running and big play too much (remember the three consecutive plays in the bowl game against USC, long YAC TD by Godwin, one of the most incredible runs by Barkley, and Trace's short TD run after a turnover-very exciting and gave the illusion we were in the game. Few of us will never see 2 in consecutive series, let alone plays) and underutilized the other two in the run game.
I have concerns about OL's inability to consistently pass block long enough for the explosive plays.
Is screen pass in the new OC's playbook. That had been a staple explosive play pre-Franklin and BOB.
By the way, I wouldn't discount Clifford for this offense. He has the arm strength and size. I would spend considerably more time on pocket footwork and composure-maybe he jumpy back there.
 
I don't have a problem with Franklins preoccupation with "explosive" plays. You need to be able to score 35-40 points a game to truly be an elite team in my mind. You have to be multiple, game breaking RB's, WR's that stretch the defense, QB's that can sort of do it all. Not to be good....plenty of programs can sort of just line up and mash, but they win 9-10 games a year against lesser competition. If we are going to beat OSU, we are going to have to outscore them(of course, but I mean beat them on offense more than defense). We just are not going to ever be able to devise offenses that hold teams like OSU and Bama from scoring 30-35-40 points a game. You know what else having an explosive offense does for your team outside of the scoreboard? You can start recruiting explosive players, explosive receivers......and then, maybe some elite QB's that think they can pad stats, make big plays, and win big games.

You also need a QB that can execute explosive plays.

We don't have a starting QB that can do that now.

We just don't.
 
I'd like to see the B10 rankings for explosive plays the last 2 or 3 years.
Someone post these for me thanks in advance
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
Can we add explosive plays to the beat it to death dictionary? Jim Brown made the dive an explosive play.
 
  • Like
Reactions: TheGLOV
"Explosive plays" are defined, for whatever reason, as a running play that gains more than 12 yards and a passing play that gains more than 16. I like to keep it simple and leave it as any play that gains more than 20. It gets further qualified by down and distance considerations. A TD pass of 15 yards would be considered to be explosive. A run of 13 on third and 16 might be considered to be explosive, but kind of defeats the purpose of the designation.

Hard to identify a running play that is designed to go for more than 12 (or 20). Pass is easier.

Frankly, it's a semi-bullshit metric. But keep in mind we're dealing with a group in which the guy with the National Geographic subscription is considered to be an intellectual.
What happened to chunk plays....? Asking for a friend?
 
  • Like
Reactions: BFPSU and TheGLOV
ADVERTISEMENT