He is calling a great game. We now pass in the red zone, flea flickers and deep balls on first down.

Why do we keep running up the middle every time? We can run a toss or read option at any point

Didn't they say on last night's broadcast that Ohio's per game scoring average for a season was the highest it's ever been? Maybe I misheard that.

Excellent point. Those first down pass plays and 3rd-and-12 QB draws look a lot smarter when they actually work. But credit to Albin for putting the confidence in Rourke to execute. 

The only head-scratcher was Ohio's possession when it stopped Miami on 4th down the first time. Got the ball at the Miami 46 with 9:42 left, ran 3 plays (sideline pass to Marhefka where he went out of bounds and 2 incompletions) and only took 40 seconds off the clock before a 22-yard net punt. It was 42-28 and Miami still had a pulse. Would have been good to take a couple minutes off the clock there.

Someone else mentioned on another thread, and I agree, that it's different for fans to be critical of Ohio's offense for being too aggressive.

I do hate it when teams get too passive with the lead. It's tough to decide just how much to focus on running the clock vs. trying to score more points.

It's one thing to be passive, it's another thing to be smart. IMO, the smart play call there would have been to run the ball on 1st down. Get the clock moving. I'm not saying run the ball three times in a row - a play-action pass on 2nd down would have been aggressive enough. But you have to ensure you're running at least a full minute off the clock there before giving the ball back to Miami.

Very glad it all worked out in the end though.

What game were you watching? Yes we won and had a lot of points thanks to our QB, and ten passing plays how many of those were successful? Im not talking about points it's about being better than the last game every time and we don't do that. Why would you run up the middle when their stacking the box? The goal is to get yards and more first downs what I'm saying is there were a lot of opportunities we had to keep our offense on the field but bad play calling took us off and that leaves it up to our defense and I'm telling you if we face a good passing team our defensive backs will get burnt. So you can talk about points all you want but if we face a team that stacks the box and has good corners we're done unless we start doing different things. I mean I've been watching for 3 years now and I can tell you the plays

The announcers did call a few of the plays that we were going to do.

That said, Rourke is helping make that offense go. The guy is sneaky in the pocket and when he can jailbreak, he opens up the field. Simply put, Albin needs a dynamic triggerman. It is not a game manager he needs as much as someone who can make plays.

That said as well, I'm willing to eat my words. Beat Akron and Buffalo and we'll see ya in Motown

This year doesn't change my view Albin ain't that good. He's blessed with a more than capable QB this year ... something he hasn't had in a few years ... and that helps a lot of his inefficiencies.

What happens when good teams have tape on Rourke? Will Albin make proper adjustments? We'll see ... Toledo isn't a punching bag like Kent & UMass.

Same goes for bowl opponent.

And next year.

I'm not sold Albin suddenly woke up and figured it out one morning.

But the numbers are impressive this year ... funny how talent makes you better, especially at QB?

Remember ... this coaching staff had Quinton Maxwell as starter to begin season.

They still have their warts, no matter how much Rourke covers them

As a good example of plays that are working this year which haven't always worked is the option to the short side. It's worth pointing out that two of Rourke's scores came on options to the short side.

I agree that part of the credit goes to Rourke, and part to the blocking. On options to the short side you have one good thing, a man advantage (the defense normally has an extra person on the wide side), but you also have a bad thing, you have much less room to work with.

Rourke seems to understand instinctively that on options to the short side, time is not on his side, and that he has to attack aggressively, before the defense can flow to the short side, or the sideline can come into play. On his first TD, Rourke sees the man advantage, and attacks the first small seam, scoring easily, and leaving no chance for the defense to string it out until the sideline becomes an extra defender. On the second option run, late in the game, Miami isn't overshifted to the strong side, so I'm surprised the play worked, and the credit for the TD goes to perfect execution. On that play, Anderson and Lowery both blocked perfectly, and Mangen tied up not one, but two Miami defenders, while Rourke managed to squirt by and barely into the endzone.

It's nice seeing them able to run that play successfully. That is a huge boost to redzone effectiveness. If the defense has to fear that play, they can't overshift to the wide side, and have to play straight. That gives the playcaller plenty of alternatives, options to either side, runs up the middle, or passes, and the defense can't stack up against one particular thing.