just a thought, i wonder if we will pull out of consideration for playoffs and just get ready for fall. with gilliam and king out, and other teams seemingly not taking spring seriously... i wonder if we just call it a season after this game. players will have been practicing basically year round if we go to playoffs through mid april / may. gotta turn right around and start summer ball in june. this has to be on Hawks mind.

i was at the game. eaton was active and played snaps. Cloyd was just the preferred option today.

at this point, looks like it’s between Hastings and Rodriguez. From spring game, Hastings was with the starters.

i was told hawk wanted to take a look at the whole staff and see where we could change direction after last season. sure, we can all say that losing Doss and a few defensive starters were the reasons, but with coaching changes, i believe it suggests that we just didn’t have the right people for the group we had last season. offensively, i’m told it is uncertain that Plough will be back. don’t know if that means he gets another job or another parting of ways. Offensively last season our playcalling was baffling is some critical games and situations. i can think of about 4/5 games where we had critical playcalling blunders that really costs us. half of that is execution by players, but half is gameplan as well. all in all i don’t mean to ruffle any feathers and i certainly do not know everything. just relating information that i’ve heard/seen/believe.

as for the dense last year, we played really well, but we were on the field so much that the lack of depth showed a lot and we couldn’t keep teams out of the end zone.

i don’t want to reveal sources, but i have a connection to the team. you don’t have to believe me, i’m not here to change any opinions. tuck and hawk didn’t see eye to eye this last season on a lot of schemes, personnel, and final decision making on the defensive side. those were all decisions that hawk wanted to make. i think it was a mutual parting.

Tuck left. He wasn’t fired. Wanted to go back to being a head coach at JC, i’m told. Big changes for the Ags coaching staff in coming weeks under Hawk. Just wait and see. This past year was an eye opener. We got outcoached in a lot of games.

not to mention last years top LB Airey. Secondary will be solid. DE hopefully can get some pressure this season!

that’s what i’m kind of also getting at. I don’t know how much this has to do with Hawk not stepping in and taking some responsibility away from Plough if he thought it was going downhill. I don’t think Speck/ Hawk Jr have much to do with the playcalling, not sure how many RB coaches do.

As for Maier, man, it was a tough year at times. I think some of the decision making is definitely on him.

Last year, i feel like we just knew who we were with our offense. This year we had no gameplan or identity of who we were. We tried to make UG the bell cow, but still wanted Jake to get numbers which led to some interesting scheme and timing of play calls in my opinion.

I think with Plough for me is just the terrible tendencies this season. I do agree the Doss opened up stuff last year because he would always be doubled. but this year for me just showed what a terrible play caller he is. Too many times did we get into 3rd and long situations and have no play to convert. Too many times did we not spread the field and attempt big plays. Too many times did we put Jake in terrible spots to make plays by way of just being in predictable play calls. 2nd half offensive adjustments were non existent. Teams had us figured out after half. I just had enough of him and the lack of aggression.

fire plough. terrible play calls have led to 2-3 losses this season

Plough play calling is so bad. Play action / pass on first down, run up the middle second down, screen pass / dump off on third. punt. repeat. no down the field threats. you gotta throw them, even if incomplete. eventually we get 7-8 in the box, can’t run and Jake has no time for plays to develop. terrible terrible play calling.

defensively, no QB pressure. we have great DBs and LBs do their job. No defense in the country can play defense consistently while the opposing QB has 5+ seconds to pass and the DLine gets pushed back 3 yards on every play.

I really don’t see how things change. Coaches have to make changes, not even with personnel. the players are doing fine. it’s simply the coaching and the schemes. for example, Montana QB recognized man-to-man defense by motioning receivers, once he knew it was man, he checked to a pass and threaded the needle. we never adjusted to zone defense. it’s really simple X and Os.

seems like it was a good gameplan by USD to get the ball out quick. i think Ags coaches played it safe and we did do a good job of keeping everything in front of us and not allowing any big plays. SD just played disciplined and took what we gave them. The concern for me is not causing enough defensive pressure. If we play safe against NDSU, EWU.... doesn’t look good.

i think the run d problems and overall problems of the defense came from poor D Line play. Zero pressure, zero penetration on the run. forces linebackers Airey and Flowers to have to really hit the holes hard and fill the gaps. Really tough from a second level standpoint. Tough to play when the line gets pushed back 2 yards off the ball immediately.

Cam Trimble tore his ACL in spring. Out for the season. Montell Bland academically ineligible. ILB is Flowers and Airey. both experienced! Got a couple transfers from juco as well. Nas Anesi moves to OLB to play in the role that Bumgart (#6) played last season.

Airey is still LB. Will likely be a player that rarely misses a snap. Montell Bland is also off the team because of academic ineligibility. That article is trash. haha.

dan hawkins is head coach. my brother is on the team. meeting tonight in an hour to tell them apparently.