STRINGS POST SEASON THOUGHTS: Looking back and looking forward

The past two years are the first that I havent been dialed into the post game on a week by week basis and that’s been good for me but I also recognize that the 10+ years I had before that of doing it resulted in me processing my post game emotions through words or phrases or whatever. Given the thud of the ending we had yesterday I had to get some stuff down today just to feel better about myself so here we go!

Before I get started, shout out to Alex Caruso for stepping up into the Gameday picker spot. I admire and appreciate his dedication to his school. That’s all I want to say about that.

IN DEFENSE OF COMPLEX EMOTIONS

I am really still pretty fucking angry and it’s weird to be angry after a home playoff loss by 7 in an 11 win season. But to that point it’s possible for two contradictory sets of emotions to exist within the same space and for us to have to wrestle with the back and forth of either. So for example

• We had a really good year. 11 wins is nothing to be disappointed about given that we havent been able to do so in a while. But this really good year ended on a really bad note.
• Before you get onto me about the schedule, yes that really good year was aided by the schedule. But we have all seen Texas A&M teams with this kind of schedule go 8-4 or worse. So the 11 wins means something given what we know about how our program has operated in the past.
• We started out the year #17 in the country with an over/under of around 8 wins. We finished with 11 after having been top 5 for a lot of the season. But we did so by pissing down our leg in the back stretch.
• The Marcel of LSU and Mizzou is the same Marcel of Texas and Miami
• Elko repeatedly talks about how he is not culpable for BAS or whatever in our fanbase. That whatever issues we have had in years past have nothing to do with this team. But this is two years in a row where his team has lost steam down the stretch in the last few games and lost the end of the season in the same way giving fans dejavu.

Contradictory emotions can exist. They dont make sense and they leave me losing sleep. We can appreciate the year while still being angry and frustrated about how the year went. It not either/or it’s both/and

MARCEL

The book is out on Marcel. The story is that if you load the box and make him play QB he will struggle, and he’s struggled pretty mightily against both the Horns and the Canes. There are enough tweets going around about how he’s performed in the last few games of the year the past two years and it’s grim.

Marcel is a running QB who we are trying to turn into a pocket QB for whatever reason. His yards have come mostly on YAC from a group of dynamic WRs and when you take away his comfort those WRs and that YAC disappear.

Elko wants to be a power spread program but we do not treat Marcel like a power spread QB. The power, I guess, comes from the RB but this makes two years in a row where our power RB has been injured and we lacked a comparable back up to carry the load and we put more on Marcel to get the job done and we end up where we are. Moss is gone next year and you’re going into the season presumably with Moss and then 3 talented people with limited experience and a variety of skillsets.

If you are going to commit to Marcel you have to commit to who he is, not who you want him to be and you have to be comfortable with the risk associated with committing to him using his legs play in and play out. You have to figure out that RB situation.

OFFENSIVE COACHES

That brings me to my next point. When Klein took the kstate job we should have let him walk and if Wiggins is the guy he’s the guy immediately. Klein could not do two jobs at once. It showed on Saturday. Third and 5 from the 5 yards line and your WRs are bunched up in the middle. You didnt try a single run. You had so many options on the table. Run that TE option that we have. Fuck run any of those 2 point conversion plays we had against Auburn. Instead ever WR is in the middle of the field and you ask Marcel to go through his progressions. Come on man.

Given the issues with the offense, it is fair to be concerned about Wiggins taking over. Maybe the scheme is fine and maybe a different play caller is all we need. But it is ok to be concerned about that indeed it is crazy to not be concerned about it moving forward given what we saw Saturday.

The single most important hire that Elko has ever been in position to make is this QB coach. Klein had a reputation for not being able to develop QBs and maybe we’re seeing that in Marcel being the same dude he was last year. If Marcel is the guy to lead the program into the future, Elko has to hire someone to make him better. Moreover, with an internal play calling OC hire, Elko has to hire an external person who can come in and say “folks the book is out on your offense and your QB and we need to fix it”. Biggest hire of Elko’s career right here.

DEFENSIVE COACHES

Continuity matters. The word is that Hemphill called the game this weekend and I thought he did a good job. We still have run fits issues. That play that busted for the big run against Miami is the same fucking play that we had a big run against us against UTSA. When things like that happen over and over again it comes down to 1) are you asking people to do things they arent capable of doing and 2) are you asking them in the right way. A change at LB coach and how we teach LBs to fit gaps is needed. And we did that. So good. Fucking fix it because I’m tired of seeing our LBs hit the wrong fucking gaps over and over and over again.

ELKO

Elko has taken a team from 8-5 to 11-2 in a year which is fantastic. This program has gone from 12-13 in Jimbos last two years to 19-7 in Elko’s first year which is great. 11 wins is thes most I’ve seen since 2012 (and that schedule was pretty easy too but we didnt give a shit because it was fun) None of that shit matters anymore. Work towards next season starts today and we’ve got things to fix and get better.

The trend of back half of the season lapses is concerning and it’s not just about the tougher opponents because our starters looked bad in that first quarter against Samford. Two years running where our high point has been in October with a slow gradual demise afterwards. Two years running where we have gone into the last few weeks in November with every goal of ours still in front of us only to be left standing empty—again contradictory emotions: it’s fantastic that we’re in some sort of convo this late in the year. But when your only accomplishment is to have “been in the convo” is what your left with then something needs to change and get fixed. I am confident that Elko feels the same.

OVERALL

Solid year. Lots of ups lots of downs. I dont give a fuck about the schedule being easy or whatever because you play who is on your schedule and that’s that.

There is no dooom and gloom. There is only work to be done. If you are upset, no one cares, work harder. This year did not end how we intended for it to end. Go get better over the next 8 months.

There is an opportunity to address glaring areas of deficiency to continue moving forward as a program and I feel confident Elko is up to the task going into year 3.