Can the Cajuns' offense ever get its groove back?

[CajunNation]

It would help many coaches tremendously if they would just heed my words.

You start with a competent passer as your QB. Then, if you choose to spread the field, you do that and infuse as much QB running plays as the QB's talent allows, if at all.

If you don't start with a competent passing QB, you are committing to an option offense whether you realize it or not.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I think the athletes are in place. Talent development is the issue. Again, every coach that gets interviewed references UL's talent. They can't all be wrong.

I've never heard a coach denigrate opposition coaches or players. They all comment on how talented and well coached the opposition is.

[CajunSaint08]

Then you need to go back and read my post in this thread. Again, how do you account for his performances against McNeese State and South Alabama when he did execute well and was functional in the offense? Did you and others ever consider that defensive coordinators have enough film on him to scheme against what his and our offensive weaknesses are now? Haven't you noticed that we were shut down completely on the edges offensively the last three games and exposed our weaknesses at tackle? I agree Jennings hasn't adjusted well, but nor has the football staff either. Did we not go through this last year as well? The answer to that question tells me where we begin to answer the questions of the offensive's ineffectiveness and difficulty in making adjustments or changes. That's where I begin before I get to Jennings.

Great. So you are basing Jennings above average performance for two games against a high school team with a losing record and a sunbelt opponent (whom we face just about every year and should know their game plan) who is 3-3 on the year (0-3 in conference). Granted that high school team beat us soundly last time we played them years ago, but really? That is what you are basing Jennings execution soundness on and grasp of the offense? You can't make adjustments or changes if the starting QB only knows about a handful of plays. What are you going to adjust to? If you call a play from page two of the playbook, he wouldn't know what you are talking about.

[ManAboutTown]

I've never heard a coach denigrate opposition coaches or players. They all comment on how talented and well coached the opposition is.

It's one thing to make obligatory statements; it's quite another to back up the comments with actual examples. I don't here SBC coaches constantly saying how talented NMSU or Texas St teams are. Another example is how App St is always referred to as a well coached team. It's said all the time among SBC interviews.

[CajunEXPRESS]

I've never heard a team not extolled by It's opponent including NMSU. Hud said as much publicly.

[CajunT]

Great. So you are basing Jennings above average performance for two games against a high school team with a losing record and a sunbelt opponent (whom we face just about every year and should know their game plan) who is 3-3 on the year (0-3 in conference). Granted that high school team beat us soundly last time we played them years ago, but really? That is what you are basing Jennings execution soundness on and grasp of the offense? You can't make adjustments or changes if the starting QB only knows about a handful of plays. What are you going to adjust to? If you call a play from page two of the playbook, he wouldn't know what you are talking about.

Yes, I'm basing Jennings performance on his games against McNeese State which is no better or worse than the New Mexico St. team we lost to and South Alabama which has beaten Miss. St. and San Diego St. He was perfectly adequate in both performances and managed the play book with no problems.

Where did you hear the starting QB didn't know the plays? Coach Hudspeth said he was simplifying the play book because we were not executing well. That contradicts everything I've heard from this staff when I was told Jennings knew more of the play book than Davis after the first week of fall practice. That is what I was told when I attended practice the first few weeks of fall and it came straight from them. So if that is what someone has said or what you have heard, it completely contradicts what the staff has stated since Jennings arrived on campus and what Hudspeth has stated about his preparations for games to the media.

BTW, do you actually believe that UL's playbook is more difficult than LSU's with a former Pro-Offensive Coordinator?

[MetryCajun]

Isn't talent evaluation and acquisition part of the head coaches job? If he's not getting talent AND not doing anything with what he gets, he is by definition not a good coach. Or at the very least not coaching well now.

ALL teams in our conference will have holes at positions from a talent standpoint. As Basinbear points out, it's hard to tell with us where the talent is off or the technique (coaching). Which means we are doing both badly. Which all goes to the coach. And he makes 1 million a year to do it.

Have you read my other post? Yes he is responsible for the players recruited. Imho, he has done a poor job and should be criticized. I would assume if we had a bunch of athletes they would at least get sniffs from the NFL. How many NFL players do we have even counting practice squads? How many future NFL players are on the team now? McGuire. Maybe 2-3 others? The way I see it we have a fair amount of solid players but very few difference makers. Anyway, we are a bad football team and it does not look like HUD has any answers to turn it around this year.

[CharlieK]

Have you read my other post? Yes he is responsible for the players recruited. Imho, he has done a poor job and should be criticized. I would assume if we had a bunch of athletes they would at least get sniffs from the NFL. How many NFL players do we have even counting practice squads? How many future NFL players are on the team now? McGuire. Maybe 2-3 others? The way I see it we have a fair amount of solid players but very few difference makers. Anyway, we are a bad football team and it does not look like HUD has any answers to turn it around this year.

It was more a comment on those (including he high school coaches you quoted) who said "he is a good coach". In high school, you coach who shows up (mostly, I'm looking at you Evangel).....but in college it takes more. Picked yours to quote as it was the last one I saw that implied it was a talent problem and not a coaching problem. I think the talent problem is why we don't compete with P5s. The fundamental and schematic coaching problem is why we don't compete with our peers. Both are on the head coach.

Your last sentence is 100% correct.

[zephyr]

I think the athletes are in place. Talent development is the issue. Again, every coach that gets interviewed references UL's talent. They can't all be wrong.

He was referencing the OL and QB which I agree with him on. We don't have the proper makeup for our OL to deal with a lot of the smaller and quicker defenses we've been playing. Our OL need to drop 20-30 pounds each to make them more agile for a zone blocking scheme. God forbid, our tackles need to lose that much just to handle the outside pass rush.

We have some athletes at QB but do we have talented QB's? I'm not so sure.

[Boomer]

Not at all Boomer. Just about every team, especially losing teams, can point to players that didn't QUALIFY and dream about what might have been.

If this happens, if that happens, bla,bla,bla. Another thing to remember recruiting analysis is at best an educated guess. Maybe none of these guys ever make a difference even if they did QUALIFY.

Maybe I'm missing your obvious point. Why don't you spell it out. I thought your point was we'd be much better with players who never QUALIFIED.

Finally, it was Hud who gambled on non QUALIFIERS, he needed a back up plan.

---Instead of going into the obvious--I'll from now on for your continued following of me just post the obvious---You're wrong again!!!