Sark conservative play calling

[Rhodeslaw]

I believe Sark was intentionally conservative with his play-calling against Ohio State. He has mentioned that opposing defenses often play differently than what is seen on tape when they face Texas. It seems he is cautious about revealing his strategies too early, which allows opposing coaches to better prepare against Texas. I’m not implying that Sark didn't call plays with the intention to win; Texas had several opportunities to secure a victory but failed to capitalize on them.

[Bobby Burton]

It was a conservative game plan IMO. The reason for it can be debated. 

[Hashtag]

How is it that every team plays something different than they see on film? If that’s the case then why hasn’t he adjusted. It just seems like he doesn’t know how to coach against it and they it’s an excuse at this point. Especially if it happens as much as he says it does. 

[awashbump]

He probably saw that his QB could not hit wide open receivers and decided he needed to scrap his game plan

[TexasMDcoach]

It was a conservative game plan but despite this his offense poorly executed it, which argues that they would have done worse had it not been a conservative approach.  His QB1 will progress these next few weeks and we should now have a chip on our shoulder to provide that extra motivation.

[HookemTexas]

3 hours ago, Hashtag said:

How is it that every team plays something different than they see on film? If that’s the case then why hasn’t he adjusted. It just seems like he doesn’t know how to coach against it and they it’s an excuse at this point. Especially if it happens as much as he says it does. 

This is the concern for me, as great as Sark is as scripting plays, it seems he has trouble making adjustments during the game.

This was something Saban was a master at.  If I recall correctly, Saban explained coverage vs. ATM in a game, and he pulled the same play that ATM ran up twice and the first time it was successful and then Saban talked about the adjustments they made and the second time it was ran the Bama defense handled it because of the adjustments.

[harveycmd]

Must admit I don't understand the criticism. Given that the offense (primarily Arch) had trouble executing basic pass plays that were clearly schemed well enough to work, what exactly should Sark have done to "adjust"? Sark adjusted by running more, which was successful, and eventually working Arch into connecting on some shots. It's not the end of the world. Arch will play much better.

[awashbump]

11 minutes ago, HookemTexas said:

This is the concern for me, as great as Sark is as scripting plays, it seems he has trouble making adjustments during the game.

This was something Saban was a master at.  If I recall correctly, Saban explained coverage vs. ATM in a game, and he pulled the same play that ATM ran up twice and the first time it was successful and then Saban talked about the adjustments they made and the second time it was ran the Bama defense handled it because of the adjustments.

I think he did fine in this game at making adjustments. In the 2nd half Sark figured out that Ohio St was almost always ending up in cover 3, so he started attacking the seams and flats. There were guys open. unfortunately our qb had the worst game of his life

[harveycmd]

I'm sure some are thinking red zone calls weren't "creative" enough. First red zone opportunity was fine. Arch actually made a good throw to Livingstone. It was good coverage and you can't really blame Livingstone for not making the catch. Don't like the way the goal line QB sneak unfolded. Not necessarily a bad call, but when they got to line of scrimmage and saw how OSU was stacked for the sneak. I would say there should have been a timeout or audible option. These were both individual plays that aren't indicative of systemic problems. If it keeps happening this season, then you can get worried.