The Andy Ludwig Bowl - oh he's so dead
by JazzyUte on Dec 6, 2009 10:44 PM MST
in Poinsettia Bowl '09
17 comments
Remember Mr. Ludwig? I do. He was Utah's offensive coordinator from 2005 to 2008. Then he bolted for Kansas State and now, in a weird twist, finds himself coaching a struggling Cal offense (who'd guess we'd ever see the words struggling offense and Ludwig lumped together again...).
lol, i'z in your stadium killin' yer offenses!
How bad is Cal's offense? Well they only managed ten points against Washington. Sure, the Huskies are improved over last year - but that ten was the second fewest they've allowed all season. The only team to do worse than Cal? Washington State. And they're like the Gil of college football.
This is Gil, BTW. If you don't know who he is, well that's the point.
That doesn't mean Cal can't score. It's just that they're extremely inconsistent. This is a team that put up 52 on Maryland and then managed only six points total in a two-week stretch against Oregon and SC. So, what should we expect from them this go around? Well...who knows.
Can Ludwig take advantage of the fact he's familiar with the coaches and players? Maybe. He never did coach Jordan Wynn, though. That's got to be a plus.
So, basically, this game might come down to whose offense is the least inept. If that turns out to be the case, do you bet on Ludwig to screw it all up or his offensive disciples here at Utah? That, my friends, will be the ultimate question heading into the Ludwig Bowl.
Stay tuned.
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Shows how mystifying Ludwig's move was
At the time it seemed like a lateral move. Now we’re playing in the same bowl. No one has satisfactorily explained Ludwig’s departure. There must have been some bad blood between Whittingham and Ludwig.
Yeah, I don't understand it either.
I had heard he took the KSU job because there were talks about him taking over the program when Synder re-retired. However, that probably wasn’t true because he left so easily.
Cal can’t be paying him that much more and I doubt he’s even looking to move up to a head position. So, I’m wondering if there was some issues between the two. We’ll never know, though.
I'd guess a pay raise and comfort level.
He has a relationship with Tedford, and the system/players already in place are probably a lot closer to Ludwig’s “ideal” offense than what Utah has.
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As much as Ludwig knows our Offense, or even any of our D, Schramm and Rod were brought up in the system Ludwig captained, and Kyle was the head coach of that O…the sword cuts both ways.
Would be interested to know Best’s status for this game, as well as Eliapo’s…I thought it was said he was hoping to be good to go for a bowl game (speaking of…did he play at all in the BYU game? I am wondering if I remember seeing him…).
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - George Washington
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Dec 7, 2009 12:41 AM MST reply actions
Maybe the most inconsistent team in all of college football. You beat Arizona and Stanford back to back only to lose 42-10 to Washington the next week? wow.. and when they lost they lost BIG – 32 pt loss to Washington, 27 point loss to USC, 39 pt loss to Oregon, 17 pt loss to Oregon State.
Didn't he have some tricks in store for the Sugar Bowl in 2008?
Just saying…
BCS Evolution -- Punctuating the Equilibrium - twitter
I don't think we had many tricks in the Sugar.
We just ran a no-huddle and a typical pass-first spread offense without much of the option.
We did not have "tricks" per say
But we exploited the fact that we usually had 50/50 run/pass production and relied entirely on our passing game. our offense slowed own after they rpelaced their meaty D line with a faster one, and then we tried more running plays—which netted little except the game killing drive with Asiata taking the Wildcat snap. To Alabama’s credit, tey adjust quickly but we’d already score three and even after adjusting you had a defense that was tained to look run first all year long—hard habit to break in a few minutes for anyone.
Johnson did not have a pro QB arm, but his had about 50%more depth than Cain’s does. if Cain could hit throws that deep (fast intermediate routes, slants, etc.), and was more fired up, we’d likely be 11-1, I think had Wynn played all year we’d be 11-1 as well.
Last year we thre for about 100 more yards a game but our running plays moved the ball. This year we seem to be about 50/50, run and pass but we have no consistency.
Best will be the key
He is the best back Utes will have faced all year
by Jeremy Mauss on Dec 7, 2009 11:12 AM MST via mobile reply actions
i hope coach whitt starts t. cain. he can scramble and the cal qb is 1 dimensional
yes i am obsessive, obnoxious, in your face and all about covering the spread. those are my good qualities.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Dec 8, 2009 1:12 PM MST reply actions
I’m interested to know why you think Cain over Wynn is the better choice against Cal? I was under the impression that Cal doesn’t have a very good Pass D.
Besides, we haven’t really utilized a mobile quarterback since Johnson’s first year starting…and he got injured.
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - George Washington
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Dec 8, 2009 11:28 PM MST up reply actions
a dual threat qb is always better than a 1 dimensional guy
what made utah special last year were the slants they ran vs bama and other teams. t. cain has proven he can throw 5 – 15 routes. if utah uses the ron mcbride / jim fassel way of doing things they will lose the game. i hope coach whitt is smarter than that. cal lost to the huskies and they have jake locker. he can run and he did run all over them. yes cain can’t throw like locker but utah’s defense is better than the huskies. i just don’t like wynn’s immobility. it killed at least two drives vs byu.
yes i am obsessive, obnoxious, in your face and all about covering the spread. those are my good qualities.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Dec 9, 2009 4:26 PM MST up reply actions
Good luck, Utes!
In Ludwig’s defense, the reason why the offense has been boom or bust this year is mostly because of the OL being boom or bust as well (new position coach and young-ish players)… Not too many gripes with his play-calling from most fans
Like cocaine straight from Bolivia.
It will be interesting to see how they handle Utah’s front 7 then. My guess is that Sitake will be throwing a bunch of stunts and blitzes at your OL to see if we can get pressure on the QB early and often.
I think the D is now at the point where we can open up the throttle a bit and leave the corners on true islands. It seems like for the better part of the year we were trying to help our corners adjust to D-1 and starter’s minutes by having the LBs drop into zones and stuff. Now I see Sitake being confident enough in Stanford and Burton to leave them alone with Rojo ghosting in the deep.
I can’t believe it is still 2 1/2 weeks away…boo regular time speed – hooray fast forward!
"Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action." - George Washington
by Hockey Beard in SLC on Dec 8, 2009 11:27 PM MST up reply actions
Play calling seems to be one of those luxurious items to complain about. Meaning, if your O-line can’t block, it doesn’t really matter what play you call. When the O-line has been blocking, I think Cal fans have been pretty excited/content about the play calling. We also have two other coordinators (DC & ST) to worry about.
"We lose to Stanford in many sports, but if you want to make a Cal team quit, bring a weapon."
--Coach Clark
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