I posted this a few days ago in response to a thread about getting a West Coast offense OC to come in and change things, but in a less radical way. It applies here because it had to do with this issues of combining Cam's offense with Miles' conservative philosophy.

The biggest issue with Miles/Crowton and Miles/Cam is that their philosophies are incongruent. It was obvious with Crowton. All the damn schizophrenic shifting from spread and pistol to I was insane. It was obvious that those two were oil and water once Miles lost faith in 08 and started meddling more.

On the surface, it looks like Miles and Cam's systems would fit well together. It worked in year one because we had an offense littered with NFL staters. We could run I with 2 WRs and still pass effectively because those 2 WRs were just better than everyone except Bama's defenders.

Without that level of talent, this current system becomes a complete mess. Our refusal to throw over the middle doesn't keep LBs and Safties honest. They can cheat up to stop the run knowing that, even if we play action pass, we are likely either going downfield, or lately, to LF out of the backfield. Even on the rare occasion we throw over the middle to a TE, Smith is the only one capable of breaking a big play, and he rarely gets a chance. Also, if we don't run, they are free to continue on and rush the passer with little risk, because we are usually trying to go downfield.

We've all discussed the downfield throws. It takes a very good to great college QB with touch and accuracy to make those throws. Harris and Jennings just aren't there. Even with play action, we rarely see big play opportunities anymore because, even with 8 in the box, you can double 1 WR, single the other, and still have a safety that can get back into the play if one of the routes is short to medium range. Miles and Cam's philosophies actually focus attention on the weaknesses of each. If you don't have amazing talent and execution (remember the 2013 OM game?), you will struggle.