Battleship football

Davis vs. Witherspoon

When John Mackovic/offensive coordinator Gene Dahlquist coached at Illinois....first 15 scripted plays they would include certain formations/personnel groups to see how the 'D' would react/adjust to that 'look'....film study gave the pair some idea what the 'D' would do so during the week at practice in anticipation....Illinois would practice different plays in the playbook to run out of those same formation/personnel groups defense saw in first 15 later when they needed to sustain an important drive/take control of a contest...would run a different play out of same formation/personnel group fooling the ‘D’....definition of situational football what Mackovic was doing...understanding time and place, how some play calls more important than others.

When Bret Bielema became head coach at Illinois he spent time talking about how much better he had become at 'situational football' when working for Bill Belichick in New England.....well....last two years too many times Bielema's Illini have not been good at situational football leading to close losses....this fall vs. Indiana...Michigan....Monday vs. Mississippi State....Illini winning on the scoreboard but not 'controlling' the game one drive/one play away from taking control.

Head coach has understand 'time and place' of a game better tell his offensive coordinator, 'hey let's go with our best plays to put these guys away'(that had been practiced that week in prep for the 'D' they were facing)....instead too many times Illinois would just 'run their stuff' critical point not finishing drives....losing their edge/the game.

First year Illini offensive coordinator Barry Lunney Jr. performance?......Lunney's scripted first drives majority of fall successful 2022...rest of the game? Muddled.....at his best setting up the wheel route call which was successful handful of times.....2nd down play-calling all season was questionable at best.....Lunney a play picker, all about matchups....what is a play picker?

Real 'legacy' of the Mike Leach/Hal Mumme Air Raid was it spawned a generation of play pickers....play pickers some call it 'Battleship Football'...if you remember the old game Battleship 'C-11' 'Miss' 'B-19' 'Hit' calling out letters and numbers trying to find your opponents ships in the ocean..that's play pickers....offensive coordinator/play caller figures in down and distance/hash ball is on/'D' personnel on the field looks at his play menu, picks a play based on what he thinks the best matchup on the field....old school play calling west coast offense for example, huddle/sequenced plays/one play setting up the next....play pickers insist no huddle/up-tempo offense puts more pressure on the 'D' to adjust/react quickly to matchups.....why so many now playing 'Battleship football'.....all about the matchups…..criticism of play pickers/up tempo too many times doesn't get your QB/offense into a rhythm/pace....pick plays/matchup advantage and hope QB/offense executes.

Know the game of football has changed since Mackovic era...now it's all about offense having more plays than their opponent...beat the defense with your up-tempo pace of play....usually teams that lose a lot of close games, it's a discipline issue dumb plays/penalties poor organization...too many times Illini losing close games cause of game management/failing at situational football....off-season Bielema/offensive staff need to go back under the learning tree subject to study?...get better at....game management/situational football.

Most disappointing about the 19-10 loss to Mississippi State in the Outback Bowl whatever they call it now....offensive staff's inability to recognize State had a quicker/more athletic d-line in prep/game 'adjustments'...Illini just ran the their stuff....guess the adjustment was keeping a back to help pass block...that back was 5-foot-9 Reggie Love....not picking on Love cause he isn't built for that...but man tiny back going high trying to block a 240-pound blitzing linebacker? Who teaches that technique? Love pass blocking reminds of an old Buddy Ryan quote (paraphrase), 'There is a place for the little man in football, it's just not standing in front of a big man trying to block him'....so true.

*Vontae Davis vs. Devon Witherspoon

Vontae Davis last Illini cornerback picked in the first round of the NFL draft 2009 (25th pick overall by the Dolphins)....Illini cornerback Devon Witherspoon likely first round pick in this spring's draft....two Illini corners positives and negatives below.

Advantage Vontae Davis: Davis athletic freak....could play zone or man coverage....zone coverage need a bigger, more physical corner to jam/control the wide receiver off line of scrimmage before dropping back at 5-foot-11, 205-pounds Davis could play that role...When motivated he could turn and burn in man coverage with the best of them...once in a lifetime type of talent Vontae.

Advantage Devon Witherspoon: perfected the 'grab and trail' man coverage technique at Illinois that is so popular in the NFL now....at 180 pounds with a thin frame, pure man corner doubt could get big, strong enough to be what an NFL team is looking for in a zone player....junkyard dog that is ready to fight every play....Vontae Davis played football cause he was good at it....Devon Witherspoon plays football cause he needs it to improve his life.

Davis and Witherspoon both cocky, trash talkers plenty of confidence in their ability on the field.....Witherspoon plays with that edge and many times gets too emotional loses his temper leading to un-sportsmanlike penalties...maturity/coaching hopefully takes that out of him.

Davis at Illinois 'entitled' Zook/staff tried to coach him hard but Vontae knew that he could get away with that behavior cause he was so good....Davis a top ten talent that lasted to the 25th pick in the first round cause of that 'attitude' that turned many teams off...wasn't until he got traded to the Colts/embarrassed that the light went on for him...for a few years one of the best if not best man cover cornerback in the NFL.....being around the Illini program when Vontae was in Champaign...when Davis playing for the Bills retired at halftime of a game....wasn't surprised...'Vontae doing Vontae things'

Talent-wise you take Davis....intangibles/toughness/motivation you take Witherspoon.....man cover corner's so hard to find...expect Witherspoon to be a top 20 pick for some NFL team come the draft.