How in the hell did he ever get to be a B1G OC in the first place. He doesn't call a vertical pass when Ute-Ugh D lines-up 8 in the box. Then when the 'Cats have a 4th & goal at the half yard line, calls an over-the-top pass to a blanketed, well-covered TE. This Hoe-Joe hasn't a clue regarding what play to call given the situation at hand. Dave B... Time to start calling your own plays - NOW!!!
bajakian sucks eggs...
- Thread starter The_Waterboy
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Announcers just said Bajakian told them he expects this will be his last game as OC.
We knew this, but still positive confirmation.
We knew this, but still positive confirmation.
Credit Bajakian with the call of a first down pass from the 18 yard line for the TD. Thought for sure they would call a conservative run play. I wish Bajakian all the best at his next stop. He didn't mail it in for his last game.
The offense has to step up the tempo to compete in the New B1G. Unfortunately, Bajakian isn't the man who can get that job done. A new scheme that is more pass oriented will bring in better talent. The mark of a really good program is one that isn't in dire need all the time of turning to the portal to find talent. The NU brand should be enough to get that talent to come to Evanston. I wish we could find a young Mike Leach type, but without the controversy.
Excellent call on this red zone stutter and go. Jake had a few great calls in key moments this year, such as the game winner against Minnesota.
I believe we can improve from Bajakian.
Although, I will credit him him with a lot of the positive changes to the Offense. I hope that he wasn't as impactful as many of us casual fans perceive to know. He appeared to have a strong bond with Bryant and that's hard to quantify. I wish him success because he seems like a good person.
Although, I will credit him him with a lot of the positive changes to the Offense. I hope that he wasn't as impactful as many of us casual fans perceive to know. He appeared to have a strong bond with Bryant and that's hard to quantify. I wish him success because he seems like a good person.
Do you have ANY confirmation, remote as it might be, that Jake-the-Fake called that TD pass play. IMHO, I believe deep down in my athletic soul that David B. told Jake-the-Fake... no he DEMANDED... that his deer-in-the-headlights OC shelve his typical milquetoast play-it-safe play calling and go for the over-the-top kill-shot pass attempt. Jake-the-Fake never delivered anything approaching a scoring attempt play call on ANY similar previous game-critical passing situation. Period... End of story. This had to be a dictate from David B. Noone can convince me otherwise! Jake-the-Fake should take his bowl win bonus money and in the words of E. Scrooge, "retire to Bedlam." The offensive game has passed him by.
Yeah, to his credit the offense did seem to make a lot of big plays at just the right time this year, especially when their backs were against the wall. Including almost coming back against Iowa.
Jake had plenty of terrible calls in this game. So I'm willing to give him credit for the good ones, too. Coming out of a TO, I think it's a safe bet he had that one dialed up. Before the TO it looked like they were still trying to run the hurry-up.
Yeah, it’s clearly a time for a change. However, give Jake some credit for sticking to the task ( even though it was not up to par much) when he clearly was a dead man walking after his FU to Gragg/Schill.
I would imagine he wants to coach football again. It would behoove him to try to do a good job.
Bad calls are calls that dont succeed,,,good calls are plays that do succeed and usually execution vs the actual call determines that, as most plays are designed to work. Sometimes you can call the wrong play or you dont have the talent or skills to run the correct play and then there are situations for which there are no calls like all the 3rd and forever situations that we have had many of due to sacks and penalties. I dont believe he ever had the personnel to perform his scheme and wasnt successful. I wish him luck.
You know, I just plan to enjoy this win and celebrate this season tonight. I can wait until tomorrow to go after all of the underperforming Coach’s and players!
Me too! Just sayin, I think him trying to score points is the absolute bare min for a coach.
I do appreciate that one of his best “back against the wall” job was in a 7-point, 170-yard performance.
Pretty awesome that two touchdowns were enough.
Go Cats Go Cats Go!
Jake was part of a winning team. OCs take a lot of heat and the Oline was the team weakness.. The Receivers and RBS were very good. With a decent O LINE NU would have been really tough I felt a little bad after the win but Coordinators do very well for themselves. He will be fine. The program lives on.
Coach Jake we apologize, but due to weight restrictions we must off-load some luggage and a passenger or two from the aircraft so the trophy can go back to Chicago.
It's all a crapshoot these days. With the transfer portal and NIL, you might get some good talent, but can you hang on to it for 3-4 years? Have an off year and watch your top players go elsewhere. It's happening at all levels of college football. My Division II alma mater had a bad three-win year and has already had an all-conference defensive tackler, and starting o-lineman, and a QB enter the portal. You just have to try to get good coaches, create a strong culture, and hope for the best.
That is a big if. Fitz blew it with his conduct in terms of being a HC and I am not talking about the hazing crap. It is almost like he phoned it in after he won the 2018 Holiday Bowl. Going first to last in the division back to back, followed by another disastrous season, while folks thought that the program hit a higher new plateau, building up to something really special, only to tank it.
Bajakian did a decent job this year, especially given the circumstances.
Remarkable how some here can't tell the difference and refuse to acknowledge.
(Not you PPD)
Undoubtedly a longer leash for the offensive coordinator with a rookie head coach - the play calling was definitely more creative this year after the shock wore off But Bryant is a lot better than Sullivan and Hilinski.
If Bryant had played against Iowa and Nebraska, NU would have stomped them both, just like Wisconsin.
We could have scored 50 in Madison if we needed to. Instead we sat on the ball the entire 2nd half and played defense. Braun's decision, I have to believe. Wisconsin's secondary couldn't cover our receivers and Bryant destroyed them.
We gave away the game against Penn State by going for a first down twice inside our own 35 in the 3rd quarter, initially trailing 17-10. Presumably Braun's worst decisions of the season - hopefully the worst he will ever make. On the next series, Bryant got a concussion and missed several games, costing us 2 wins.
All water under the bridge soon.
At least Bajakian gets to leave with middle finger extended. He has my respect for that. But to win you need a quarterback.
If baj wants to display his numerical value as an OC or perhaps a numerical rating out of ten of his work at NU on his way out - I’ll take it and look forward to his replacement. Maybe baj can team up with PF and JON and take over OSU or Michigan…
At the end of the day, the OC is responsible for the performance of the offense. Clearly our defense played one of its best, if not best, games of the year, holding Utah to 7 points, 138 yds rushing and 73 yds passing. On the flip side, our offense scored only 14 points, could not score from 1st and goal after the second Jaheem interception, and put up 65 rushing yds on 2.1 ypc. Jake gets credit for dialing up a few good passing plays thanks to the heroics of Bryant and the Kirtz-Henning-Johnson trio, but overall the offense was stagnant. Time to move on, and best of luck to Coach Bajakian at his next stop.
It was a great win - a team win.
Utah had the 2nd best defense in the Pac 12.
They had the 2nd worst offense.
And a couple Utah guys didnt play on both sides of the ball.
Our defense played very well against a team that couldn't pass (worst passing team in Pac-12 by a mile).
Of course NU's decision to throw a pass on 4th and goal from a foot away was dumb. Thats presumably Bajakian.
But when you're sitting on a lead, running the ball, throwing short passes and running the clock against an opponent that can't move the ball, its not really legit to blame the offense. When the game was eventually tied, NU went right down the field in 3 passes. I'm going to say Braun removed the shackles.
Team win against a strong defensive team with a bad offense.
@PurpleWhiteBoy The quarterback situation is on Bajakian. The quarterback situation is not good. Nobody wants to play for him.