If Gus wants to see Harvey throw the ball sooo badly that he keeps calling those gimmick plays (I'm convinced its Gus calling those and not DH). Why not use him in the wild knight formation? He is a more experienced runner than JM, so I trust him more to run to the right hole and he actually has experience throwing a football. It just seems like a better wild knight play to me? It would force the defense not to just hard core collapse like I feel like they have been doing. Am I crazy? Am I missing some obvious issue with this?
Wild knight question?
- Thread starter Dream Killer
- Start date
Unfortunately, too obvious for Gus' liking....he's in love with the unorthodox with trick plays and the trickier the better. They're his most obvious flaw as a HC.
Been wondering the same thing. Here's a guy who knows how to take direct snaps and throw a football as a former QB. Is our best running back. Is actually pretty effective running between the tackles despite being a "smaller" back. I guess maybe he wants to limit the wear and tear on Harvey.
Would be nice also to be able to transition in a hurry up situation where you could split Timmy out wide and have Harvey take the direct snap in a short yardage situation without substituting in a completely new wild knight package and slowing the game down for the defense.
Would be nice also to be able to transition in a hurry up situation where you could split Timmy out wide and have Harvey take the direct snap in a short yardage situation without substituting in a completely new wild knight package and slowing the game down for the defense.
Bingo....unfortunately it's disappointing the way Gus talks about "playing fast" and then, usually after the first series, he starts with his substitutions that slow down the game. He seems to game plan a series and then call the rest of the game play by play....
It's got to be the wear and tear on Harvey. He's the bell cow and has a long season ahead of him. I have to think there's a moment where JM will actually pitch to Bowman on that play. Gus likes to call these plays 20 times the same exact way, just to set up for the one time he calls it the other way.
I like to think that he is giving the conference games film to make them think the wildcat is going to be a gap run every time. He setting them up. Go ahead and stack the box K-State.
I hate doing it at all. Leave the QB that can run in. Don’t put a RB that can’t throw in. It’s dumb.
Takes momentum away from QB. Saints do it too. I couldn’t stand watching them do it to Carr.
Maybe McDonald CAN throw and we are saving it for an important conference game. I think using a bigger back is a distinct advantage at the goal line.
The thing I don’t like is the jet sweep guy on every play, which I don’t remember seeing with Bowser. I would rather see Pittman line up as an H back and go get a block than wasting a player on the jet sweep all the time.
It's called the Brandon Jacobs imitation using the wildcat formation which uses bigger and stronger RBs that know how to read a hole and power into the endzone behind the OL blocking.
It's not pretty but gets the job done. If Gus wanted to pass he wouldn't be using the formation he has and he is daring the opposing defense to stop them from getting the short yardage.
It's not pretty but gets the job done. If Gus wanted to pass he wouldn't be using the formation he has and he is daring the opposing defense to stop them from getting the short yardage.
I think you run the Jet sweep to keep the defense honest. If the edge rusher commits to the receiver on the sweep, it opens up a running lane. If he crashes inside the blocker the sweep make sense.
Pittman was on the edge rusher for a few plays. So depending on the gap, he would be a lead blocker or he could slip out for a pass. He also pulled and was the actual lead blocker on another play.
Most players that run the wildcat formation don’t give up the ball, so I always wonder how effective these formations can really be. They look good from strategic standpoint, but play out pretty lame. I would imagine that a team playing their normal offense is statistically more effective, especially if you have a mobile QB.
You didn’t read Brent Key’s book about the wild Knight. It’s on Amazon.
I haven’t read it either, but one of the jet sweeps on Saturday cause the edge rusher to commit to the outside and opened up a running lane, which was then filled by another player because no one was worried about a pass.
I don’t like any wildcat formations where there is no threat of a pass. A wildcat formation with the threat of a pass is just an RPO. I don’t understand the use of a wildcat anymore. If you want an offensive change, have McDonald take the ball under center with a FB and a RB. College players will have no idea what is up.
Can’t imagine the over/under on fumbles by a RB taking snaps under center…..horrible idea.
Will agree to disagree on the rest. And I bet McDonald throws the ball at some point this year like Bowser did.
Will agree to disagree on the rest. And I bet McDonald throws the ball at some point this year like Bowser did.
Same exact jet sweep as last year when Bowser ran it. If you go back and watch, it was Trillion Coles who was the motion guy.
I guess one of my biggest issues with it is the special substitutions you have to do to run. It let's the defense know what is happening and substitute accordingly as well. With having our main HB being the high school QB, why not just keep the same basic personal, send our QB out wide, have Xavier be the sweep player coming across the formation and have all of the same threats as the JM formation without letting the defense sub in thier goal-line defense? Hell when JRP is back he could run some damn good routes probably.
I'm equally concerned about the plays we run when we are at about the 12-15 yard line in the red zone. We keep wasting downs on a two yard dive play followed by a sideline fade pass, which are totally predictable, and mostly unsuccessful, as we run them every time.
Why not at least mix in a pass play to our new tight end Pittman since he is heralded as an athletic receiver who can go up and get it over LBs or DBs? And please, forget the red zone gadget plays.
Why not at least mix in a pass play to our new tight end Pittman since he is heralded as an athletic receiver who can go up and get it over LBs or DBs? And please, forget the red zone gadget plays.
Last edited:
Bumping this up because I am now officially a Wild Knight hater. It's killing our offensive growth and potential IMO.
I don’t like Gus offense. It’s boring, 1980 football. Then switches to Pop Warner with Direct snaps.
From his first year at UCF…the offense would be driving without issues and Malzahn would bring the wildcat and kill all of the offensive rhythm and momentum.
Look there’s a reason why GM only makes $2.3M a year and he has not been extended or hired away.
I like it in very short-yardage situations. I think right now we need better OL personnel for us to really make it work. I also think we use it too often.
FYI, RJ Harvey threw an incomplete pass out of the wildcat. Late 3rd quarter.
Well you can't start the wild knight with Harvey 5 yards back in redzone etc. The QB push seems to very popular these days. Blake Bortles got us 1 yard any time we needed it. Just have 3 guys push the qb for a yard or 2
If we don't have enough line to hold do we have enough line to push?
But seriously, our Oline was pretty good really. The running lanes were good enough, but KSt LBs played really well filling the gaps. Johnny Richardson should have gotten the ball way more with how he was playing. The OL allowed a ton of time for Timmy also, I couldn’t believe how much time he had most drives. Credit to him too for stepping up, sliding and leaving the pocket when he was pressured.
Scott Frost is the only coach who left UCF for another job in less than 3 full seasons.
But by all means troll on.
Ha, Ha! I meant a different kind of holding. I don't want to see the kind of holding you teasing me about.
Not for nothing but Blake Bortles was 6'4" and 230lbs and GOL always ran a pro-style offense, so it made perfect sense. Maybe if we had retained Lee we could get away with it but we just don't have the meat, or the style, to do it now.
The defense knows what's coming. Too easy. We don't have big running backs. They're tiny. Not working.
