Doman vs. Anae's offensive plan

[Blueintheface]

CUF - WHERE FANS GO TO EAT THEIR OWN!

[Sizzle]

When detmer was OC/QB, he used a more risky, attacking, type offense, and fans didn't seem to mind.

I think this is a big part of it. When BYU has its once-in-a-generation type talent at QB (McMahon/Detmer/Heaps) I can see the offense being more aggressive and looking to maximize the strengths of their QB. Hall was not a downfield passer, but he was very accurate and Anae's offense maximized that. Heaps has the arm, and BYU appears to have the weapons to capitalize on that as well. I don't have issues being more aggressive when we're built to do so.

Here is my opinion on Anae. He relied too heavily on the executional side of things, not beating teams by out scheming them but by doing what BYU was going to do, and doing it better. Against most of the teams on our schedule (UNLV, SDSU, UNM, CSU, etc.) BYU had more talent and was able to get away with it. When BYU executed, BYU won. The trouble came when you played against teams comparable in talent and could beat you to your spots and take away the things that BYU wanted to do. Look at Florida State, TCU, and even Utah. Yes, BYU should put itself in a position to win some of those games, but not all of those games. That should result in 8-9 win seasons given BYU's schedule in previous years, but I honestly believe that for Bronco and the staff as currently constituted, that isn't enough anymore. I think that is where Anae's issues philosophically were at BYU, though I think "personality conflicts" were a larger reason for his departure. I don't think that there will be any less emphasis on execution, but I do think that the need to be more aggressive in game planing and (hopefully) dictating desirable match-ups will be improved. I think Anae did this to a degree, but not at the level that needs to be done to move BYU up to the next level.

As for Cougar fans, I don't give Cougar fans (in general) any credit. The majority (many here excluded) are bumbling idiots who think Edwards invented the forward pass and don't grasp simple concepts of the game of football, like field position, defense, etc. There are definitely fans who would rather lose games 51-50 than win them 7-3. I've sat in three different sections the last three years, and I always hear some of the most moronic comments from fans around me whose football knowledge seems to come from their late night sessions with Madden and not actually having been involved with the game at any level, including little league. I don't give a rats ass about what BYU fans think in general.

[SoCalCoug]

On the personality conflict / philosophical (strategic) differences, I'm assuming (don't call me out - this is an assumption I'm making based on my knowledge of human nature, and not because I have any inside knowledge of this) that there wasn't a single cause that led to Anae being let go.

I suspect that the philosophical or strategic differences on the coaching staff contributed to the effect of the personality conflicts, or vice versa.

In other words, you can tolerate a disagreeable personality a lot better if you have similar outlook on football strategy and philosophy. Likewise, even if you disagree with someone strategy-wise, but you get along with them personality-wise, you have a lot more patience for their football philosophy.

But if you don't agree with someone on their football philosophy, AND they have a disagreeable personality, it's easy to send them on their way.

[KillerDog]

I agree that most fans are vastly uninformed about the real nuances of high-level team football (I believe I fall in that category). But isn't there any middle ground? Or is Anae as good as BYU can hope to expect?

I don't know any of the nuances of high level football. What I do know is this: 23, 6, 43, 19, 12, 83. Those are the national rankings of the ppg output of Anae's offenses. I think they indicate that Anae was a very good offensive coordinator and there is a possibility that he is as good as BYU can get. Recall that he has now only been an OC for 6 years. Pretty heady numbers.

Yes, Doman is untested and unknown as an OC. But does that mean we shouldn't be optimistic? By all accounts, he has a great football mind and is a budding star as a coach.

I agree we should be optimistic but I also believe that fan bases tend to pick an area of the coaching staff and regularly criticize that person for every loss or error. At BYU that position is OC. Go to other programs and look at their area. Sometimes it is DC and sometimes it is HC but I would say most often it is OC because the reason for a failed play appears obvious to the average fan. As a long time BYU fan, I've observed unjust criticism of every offensive coordinator since I've been watching.

Is it really an either/or - a conservative, predictable, but generally successful but not innovative offense that is "good enough" vs. an unpredictable, but turnover-prone offense that's going to result in three-and-outs more than sustained drives? Is there not some middle ground? Do Boise State fans constantly complain about their OC? Nevada fans? Oregon fans? Oklahoma fans?

I dispute your statement that Anae was predictable. Evidence doesn't support that. I think conservative is accurate but predictable is not. I also dispute your position that his offense was not innovative. Everything from the offensive line splits to the "Power Spread" concepts that no one else runs indicate that he ran an innovative offense. I also am not alleging that Doman will run an unpredictable but turnover-prone offense. I'm simply saying that there are two schools of offensive thought. One school says you focus on protecting the ball and sustaining drives. the other school says you take risks that may result in turnovers but you also get high return plays. Offensive coordinators generally subscribe to one or the other. Whichever Brandon subscribes to (so far it sounds like more aggressive) the fans will complain.

Do we even know exactly what type of offense Doman wants to run? Could it be that your comparison to Crowton isn't appropriate because he isn't going to run Crowton's offense? I just can't believe it's so black and white - it's either a boring, conservative offense or a wild, out-of-control, turnover prone offense.

I don't believe he is runing Crowton's offense but recall that everyone loved Crowton's offense until they realized that running that offense was high risk and high reward. It put pressure on the D and resulted in brutal down years. The philosophy resulted in problems for Crowton and criticism. My point in bringing up Crowton is that we've criticized aggressive and we've criticized conservative. We criticize and soon it will be Brandon that we are critical of.

[Hazzard]

I am of the belief that BYU has elite teams when it has either an elite QB or an elite defense or both. There are enough good LDS coaches out there that we will likely be sufficient schematically/strategically to be above average. We will also be able to recruit enough good QB's, TE's, OL's, DL's, and LB's to be above average. We will generally struggle to recruit elite RB's, WR's, DB's.

I also believe that where there's smoke there's fire. Anae was Holmoe's guy. Anae probably didn't play nice with the other coaches. Doman was probably a bit of an underminer, but Bronco thought it was very important to keep Doman (how many times did he call Doman "the best QB coach in America?") to become his replacement head coach one day. The offense struggled last year, so it was a good time politically to put Doman in Anae's place.

That said, I think there may be some growing pains for Doman. Fortunately, he has a really good QB and two of the most physically gifted WR's BYU has ever had. That's a huge head start. We will be fine.

[LA Ute]

Why is Anae's plan offensive?

[pellegrino]

I bought a nice rope last night and I'm in the process of tying the perfect knot that will allow me to hang Doman when the time is right.

[Joe Public]

I read a while ago, that Doman's version of the offense will be more stretched, that he will go deeper more often and that it will be more risk/reward type offense. Less emphasis on the wide splits of the offensive line. Pro set, etc.

The article also suggested that Anae's offense was more calculated, controlled and that led to one of the highest 3rd down conversions in the country.

So...I wonder how Coug fans are going to react when we don't have as many sustained drives, more 3 and outs, etc? Will the fans have tolerance and patience for the offense to adjust to the new offense...and, will they like the change knowing that it may not be as successful?

If BYU's TE position reverts to the average level of production of recent years/decades, then I don't think the 3rd-down-conversion percentage drops as much as might otherwise be expected.

[jay santos]

Another thing to consider about Anae's remarkable third down conversion is the wide splits and how we rarely gave up sacks and offensive holding (compared to in the past).

[oxcoug]

Another thing to consider about Anae's remarkable third down conversion is the wide splits and how we rarely gave up sacks and offensive holding (compared to in the past).

First let me reiterate - I think Anae was a very good, more than competent OC. And I don't bear him any personal animus.

But some other factors to keep in mind w/ Anae when you look at the overall numbers:

*Back to back NFL caliber QBs (and he wasn't responsible for recruiting either). The first one was an upperclassmen with most of his growing pains past when he arrived. The second was a guy who had negligible growing pains because he kind of came ready.
*The two best years of the greatest WR in BYU history (as measured both by college and NFL performance) and one year of the guy who was probably the next best in terms of pure ability (Watkins)
*Two NFL TEs and a total of four excellent college TEs.
*Four NFL caliber running backs / fullbacks (Tahi, Fui, Unga, Tonga) to go with the top two rushers in BYU history which provided 5 years of continuity in the running game.
*The longest run of depth and continuity on the OL in recent memory - from 2006-2011 it's been an embarrassment of quality OL riches compared to what it was in the five years before that, w/o a single truly down year in OL depth or performance.

Of course it's fair to wonder how many of those positive aspects of the Anae years were his own doing. I'd argue that most of them weren't. Collie wasn't. Beck and Hall weren't. Pitta and Coates weren't. The O line was enabled by two great O line coaches and recruits who committed before he was there. I also don't buy the argument (I've heard it a few times) that the NFL guys being NFL guys can be traced to Anae - all the guys who made the show made it because of what they did in workouts and the combine.

Bottom line - in Anae's first five years BYU had an almost unheard continuity (a) at QB, (b) on the OL, (c) in the pass catching department with NFL WR and TE talent, (d) with quality reliable RBs to put behind those big, physical reliable lines.

In other words they had perfect conditions to beat 80% of BYU's opponents soundly simply by outexecuting them with a simple offense.

[Shaka]

I think the difference will be variation. Jake will take far more snaps under center although the shotgun will still figure significantly into the offense. I think the vast majority of passes will be short and medium range throws and look a lot like what Anae was doing. Play action will be a great new twist.

I doubt Heaps will throw deep nearly as much as most BYU fans think. I see Jake stretching the field with a bomb maybe two or three times a game. The deep ball is exciting but it's also low percentage. I think our receivers have shown promise against their fellow players in practice but remain unproven (with the possible exception of Jacobson if he gets his legs back) as deep threats.

JJ will be dependable but Q will have a coming out party.I'd love to see BYU run off tackle a bit more. I'm also interested to see how much if any the I formation will appear.

I have no idea if they will use Nelson as a wrinkle and would not be surprised if he rides the pine until garbage time or receives significant reps. Most likely he will see spot duty in a wildcat type scheme. Personally I think if they are going to use Nelson he'd probably be most effective in the red zone. It might be interesting to see Jake and Nelson in the game at the same time. I wonder if Riley can catch the ball. Might be interesting to hit him with a screen or a swing pass and see what he can do with his feet.

[Moliere]

I saw a great analysis by DarkCoug over on TBS last year where he broke down the BYU-Wyoming game play by play. Even though BYU won, it was despite the fact that the vast majority of the time, Wyoming was set up perfectly for the play that was run - it was the superior athleticism of the OL that often made the play successful despite the defense apparently knowing exactly what was coming.

And so you believe that no sportswriters or scouts EVER commented on how predictable the offense was?

After watching 3 years of Anae's offense, even MJ knew which one of his 6 plays would be run after seeing the formation and knowing the down and distance. If she knows, it was predictable.

[jay santos]

After watching 3 years of Anae's offense, even MJ knew which one of his 6 plays would be run after seeing the formation and knowing the down and distance. If she knows, it was predictable.

Bullshit.

[byu71]

Bullshit.

Don't be so sure. I could call it about 70% of the time.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Don't be so sure. I could call it about 70% of the time.

Bullshit.