Let’s talk about the offense

With everything we had to deal with, I think Coach Ensminger did about as good as anyone could have. I know he gets a lot of heat on here but let’s look at it in depth.

1. The first 3 games the O line couldn’t block Ville Platte Middle School. Missouri dominated us with 3rd string D Linemen. You can attribute about 10% to play calling and 10% to scheme but the other 80% is on Cregg.
2. Myles Brennan going down was a lot bigger deal than we all realized. The play calling started to click by the Mizzou game and even though we didn’t have a running game, the passing game was on point. Brennan threw some high level throws, particularly one to Gilbert and one to Tory Carter down the seam that he dropped for a TD. One of the best passes I saw anyone throw all season.
3. Play Calling completely changes when you go to a freshman QB. You have to get them in situations to succeed, which includes a running game usually that we didn’t have because the O Line couldn’t block said Middle School. Starting the South Carolina game, we had to Max protect almost every down. Finley struggled with progressions and he simplified it to a 2-3 WR route set. As the next few games went along and Coach E tried to open the playbook up, Finley struggled to not only complete open passes but also figuring out where the blitzes were coming from.
4. Max Johnson was Coach E’s 2nd option from Day One but was overridden by O after Brennan went down. Several people I’ve talked to have said that Coach E wanted Johnson to play starting the South Carolina game. Finally after Finley struggled to move the ball, insert Max Johnson and by the Ole Miss game he’s running last years offense.

I think there are some things we could have done differently, but for the most part, Coach E did about as well as you could have asked having to play 3 different QB’s with 3 different skill sets. In my opinion, getting rid of him would be a mistake. Inserting a young guy to come in and be the passing game coordinator like Joe Brady was would be the move to make. Linehan sucked in Dallas and he sucked on 3rd down and Red Zone play calling for LSU.