The Official Go-Hard-Go-Fast-Offense Critique Thread

[Katy Lied]

Does it work? What's good about it? What's bad about it? Does it fit BYU's personnel? Does it work against BYU's opponents? Is it hard to implement? Does it confuse everyone- offensively and defensively? Does BYU have the defensive horses to allow the offense to GHGF? Is it just new wine in old bottles?

Inquiring Minds want to know.

[Goatnapper'96]

Does it work? What's good about it? What's bad about it? Does it fit BYU's personnel? Does it work against BYU's opponents? Is it hard to implement? Does it confuse everyone- offensively and defensively? Does BYU have the defensive horses to allow the offense to GHGF? Is it just new wine in old bottles?

Inquiring Minds want to know.

I think it will be like Utah in 2003. Lots of talk about "Who you going to cover?" Only to modify because the program wasn't ready for what the HC imagined the offense to be. IIRC it was also signifcantly more successful than the previous regime. I don't expect it to go fast, I do expect it to go hard and I imagine it will be the best offense BYU has had since 2009.

[Katy Lied]

This is only remotely related to the thread, but here is the video of Taysom getting rocked in High School as he is kicking off to start the game. Will he be able to withstand the hits?

Good Lord how is this even legal in Idaho?

[SoCalCoug]

This is only remotely related to the thread, but here is the video of Taysom getting rocked in High School as he is kicking off to start the game. Will he be able to withstand the hits?

Good Lord how is this even legal in Idaho?

I don't think it is. I remember some discussion about that play, and I think they got flagged for it.

I think if they don't have him kick off, he won't have to worry about that sort of thing.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Fast. Hard. Finish.

Just so you know KL, there is already an Oregon thread.

[Sizzle]

Does it work? What's good about it? What's bad about it? Does it fit BYU's personnel? Does it work against BYU's opponents? Is it hard to implement? Does it confuse everyone- offensively and defensively? Does BYU have the defensive horses to allow the offense to GHGF? Is it just new wine in old bottles?

Inquiring Minds want to know.

My thoughts:

Pros:
Doesn't allow for the defense to adjust/adapt as quickly. Less substitutions, play calling needs to be done quicker, which means the offense can dictate a little easier what they're trying to accomplish. The thought is it is sort of a controlled panic by going fast. You force the defense to not think, and should create some mismatches that way because they get caught out of position.

It works well when you have a smart, disciplined team, who can read and react quickly. I think in a lot of ways, that does fit our personnel, speaking generally and not specifically to this year.

This is sort of both a pro and a con, but by going quicker, you're adding additional plays, which means more yards, more points, but potentially more turnovers. The downside of going fast and creating essentially controlled confusion is that you open yourself up for mistakes on your end as well. The hope is that because you are more adapted, you're less likely to make mistakes than the opposition.

On one hand, I'm glad that at least with Hard/Fast, BYU is establishing an identity, and one that does give them somewhat of a schematic advantage, but one that also relies heavily on execution, which is something that I think BYU can do well. (IE they can out execute teams but count out-athlete teams)

My biggest issue with this style of play is that I think there is a high risk for a lot of 3 and outs, and potentially turnovers, creating a short field. When you have a defense as good as BYU has had, you win a lot of games playing field position.

BYU isn't the innovative offensive powerhouse they were in the 80s, but they've evolved to a really, really good defensive team. I don't need is to score 40 points a game to be happy. I'd rather take a 6-3 win than a 45-42 loss everyday of the week. But I know I'm in the minority with most needing some offensive firepower to get into the game. Maybe the odds end up playing out in BYUs favor if their D really is better, in that BYUs O can score on 6/10 possessions, and the opponents are held to 4/10, then that's likely a net win. But you're also giving the opponent more time with the ball, more time on the field for your defense, and I'm not sure those are great things.

I personally think they'll struggle early offensively, which if the defense can carry them, watch out by the end of the year. If not, I hope there isn't a division between the O and D because the D has to carry the team (again). In summation, I'm cautiously optimistic that things will work out. I have my concerns but I think Bronco knows that if he wants to win games against bigger name opponents, the O has to do something to get back to the level if the D. And while this might not be my step, I think it's at least a step and better than nothing.

[Surfah]

This is only remotely related to the thread, but here is the video of Taysom getting rocked in High School as he is kicking off to start the game. Will he be able to withstand the hits?

Good Lord how is this even legal in Idaho?

That is a dirty ass play.

[Pheidippides]

That is a dirty ass play.

You better believe that guy got punched in the balls every play for the rest of the game.

[Goatnapper'96]

This is only remotely related to the thread, but here is the video of Taysom getting rocked in High School as he is kicking off to start the game. Will he be able to withstand the hits?

Good Lord how is this even legal in Idaho?

I think it is actually legal, at least here in Idaho but suffice it say that we harvest a hell of a lot of grit in these parts!

Saying that, the Pocatello HC is a dick. He was the HC at Snake River High and had a winning streak of like 80 games or something like that. He then took the HC at Pokey and imagines himself some type of Texas HS coaching legend. He hasn't won nearly that much at Pokey and that shot against Taysom was pure lack of class. FTR, Taysom got the last laugh as he and Highland shredded Pokey that night.

ARISE YE NOBLE SONS OF THE 208!

[Commando]

^ I just read that article that says the coach was suspended for that hit...

[YOhio]

I think it is actually legal, at least here in Idaho but suffice it say that we harvest a hell of a lot of grit in these parts!

Saying that, the Pocatello HC is a dick. He was the HC at Snake River High and had a winning streak of like 80 games or something like that. He then took the HC at Pokey and imagines himself some type of Texas HS coaching legend. He hasn't won nearly that much at Pokey and that shot against Taysom was pure lack of class. FTR, Taysom got the last laugh as he and Highland shredded Pokey that night.

ARISE YE NOBLE SONS OF THE 208!

The players on the other team and the coach you hate so much are also sons of the 208. Kind of a Catch-22.

[Goatnapper'96]

You better believe that guy got punched in the balls every play for the rest of the game.

Highland had a head hunting safety protect Tayson on future kick-offs. Somewhere out there in Youtube land should be the 2nd KO where he clocked the kid coming to cheap shot Tayson.

[Sizzle]

Since it relates, Bronco discusses some of these issues on his post-practice interview. He said the increased tempo will result in an additional 16-20 plays, which, compared to last year is like adding a little bit more than another quarter of defensive time to the game. He mentioned that statistically things may not line up when comparing year over year, but that they felt the rewards outweighed the risks.

Should be interesting.

[jay santos]

The thing I'm curious about is the wide splits. I rewatched and as far as I can tell, we were never in wide splits, even when we were in shotgun formation. Sometimes it is hard to tell on TV if the angle is not right, but I paused and looked on a few plays and it seems we were never in them.

IMO, this is a HUGE departure from the Anae offense that was so successful in the Beck-Hall era. During this time period, our pass protection was incredible. I remember seeing some stats that were jaw dropping related to 1) sacks allowed and 2) holding penalities, as compared to former BYU offenses. We had cut these down so much it was truly remarkable. And the wide splits was what was primarily cited as the reason for that success.

Our O-line are usually big huge strong guys that take up a lot of space but not particularly gifted with footwork. We line up our tackle five yards from the ball, and they line up a fast DE on his shoulder. The tackle takes one step back, requiring the DE to make a circle around him. By the time he gets back to the QB, the ball is in the air. If we line up in tight formation, that DE gets to the QB pretty fast. This in my opinion could be the biggest reason our line looked so poor.

Chow-Leach offense: wide splits, shotgun, rarely pass from under center, linemen can be huge, run blocking types
GFGH offense: tighter formations, more passing from under center, requires more athletic linemen

[Indy Coug]

If we're going to break in a new offense and if we're going to schedule a 1-AA team, then we damn well better schedule the 1-AA team on week 1 and work out the kinks against a team that can't beat us to begin with. What a waste of Idaho State.