Now that the strong emotions from our disappointing finish have receded from a roiling boil to more of a seething simmer, let's take a look back at the offense. Taking the season as a whole, how did we do? Was this what you expected to see with Tedford resuming hands-on control? Did he really use "less complexity, more creativity" in adapting his hybrid pro-style/spread attack? What went wrong? What went right? Relative to expectations for the offense, would you consider this past season to be a success?
Berkelium97: Schematically, I was pleased with what Tedford had done to the offense by the end of the season. It took the triumvirate of offensive coordinators several games to tailor the offense to the skills and deficiencies of our players, mainly by transitioning Zach from playmaker to game-manager.
Berkelium97: At Pac-12 Media Day Tedford described his ideal offense as one that is diverse and efficient. While our efficiency varied from game to game, our offense was clearly diverse. Opposing coaches emphasized how difficult it was to plan for this offense. Tedford threw the kitchen sink and then some at opponents this year. Our running game used traditional I-(or offset I) formations and occasionally zone read to run up the middle. Or we could bounce outside with a variety of sweeps, more zone reads, and a few reverses per game. By the time our running game was at full strength, it took an exceptional front seven to slow it down (as we saw against Texas and, to a lesser extent, in the Big Game).
The passing offense was just as diverse. At times we would split Jones and Allen on either side of the line and use playaction to get the defense to bite on the run. Other times we would line up five receivers in a spread formation. We didn't just pass to Allen and Jones (though it felt like it at times). While our RBs were less involved in the passing offense than they had been when we had Vereen, TEs were much more involved--a welcome change. Our TEs caught 36 passes this season, the most since 2004 when they also had 36 receptions.
While our offense was exceptionally diverse, it was not always efficient. The ASU game was the only time we saw both the passing offense and running offense executing well and we put up a season-high (not counting Presbyterian) 47 points. Often we were stuck with the passing game stalling while the running game picked up the slack, or vice versa. Then there was the Texas game, when neither was able to do anything on offense.
Though we lose some valuable pieces of the offense, I am pleased with the foundation Tedford has laid. We have the makings of an excellent offense; we simply need to improve our execution in both facets of the game.
Kodiak: Going into the season, the big questions marks on offense were quarterback, Oline, playcalling/scheme, and some were worried about our tailback.
Yes, that is the hard hitting analysis, you've come to expect from CGB!
