as someone on the run the ball train, I agree with the earlier post. Both Pitt and Duke sold out on run downs then backed off on 2nd and 3rd and long. They are daring us to beat them down the field, and that necessitates more passing.
My problem with Patenaude comes on some of his situational calls. The third and 14 comeback pass that even if all goes right, is a 7 yard gain, if it goes wrong it is picked. Not a good risk/reward.The draw on 3rd and long. The 3rd/4th and 3 power run when we have been getting stuffed. It’s easy to have hindsight and second guess, but even within the flow of the game, these are bad calls.
Just like we had the rocket toss, I think we would be better served to have some de facto running plays by getting Gibbs/Dante the ball in space. He is calling those, but I think they need to be more central to the calling than they have been. Instead of running Gibbs into the gut 15-20 times, how about subbing 5-10 swings, screens, arrow routes to get him the ball in space. I thought he called a decent game against Duke, and those were big plays. The screen on the last drive was setting up to be a huge play but the Duke DE made a great hustle play and knocked the ball loose. If we can hit those consistently, that will stop teams from bringing the heat every 1/2 and medium to long.
