I think in order for us to win the south, we need to hit a couple of benchmarks:

1 – we need to average 34 points per game. Reality: 22. Status: Failing.
2 – we need to average 225 yards passing per game. Reality: 246 yards. Status: Achieving.
3 – we need to average <1 TO per game. Reality: 3.5. Status: FAILING.
4 – we need to force >2 TO per game. Reality: 2.5. Status: Achieving.
5 – we need to average 175 yards rushing per game. Reality: 153. Status: Failing.
6 – we need to average >4.8 yards per carry. Reality: 3.9. Status: FAILING.
7 – we need to hold opponents to less than 120 yards rushing per game. Reality: 129. Status: Failing.

So far: 2/7. Yikes.
Previous Weeks: No previous weeks.

How do we sit?

1 – Goal: 34 points. Reality: 22 points. Yikes. We would need to get 58 points vs SJSU. The crazy thing? Now that Moss is healthy, if we can not friggin turn the ball over, we could get close to that. It would be nice to end the preseason with a great offensive performance. We’ve seen glimpses, it would be nice for the offense to put it all together.

2 – Goal: 225 yards passing. Reality: 246 yards. Not too bad. We had 194 yards passing vs BYU. Not too bad. Their defense is very solid.

3 – Goal: <1. Reality: 3.5 YIKES. This is our BIGGEST issue. We need to fix this big time. IF we can have zero vs SJSU, then our average would drop to 2.3. Better. This will be a tough whole to dig out of. If we can get under one TO per game on average for the season at this point…we will have won the south.

4 – Goal: Force >2 TO’s. Reality. 2.5. We are doing ok here. We’d like to be higher. Not bad though.

5 – Goal: >175 yards rushing per game. Reality: 153.5. This is our second biggest problem. Our OL needs to get better. We had 169 yards rushing vs BYU. 138 vs SUU. So, at least we are getting better and I like the 169 vs BYU. We are improving. I’d expect us to have close to 300 yards this weekend after looking at what SJSU has done in the rush game defense so far this year. We need 300 to get to 218 to get our average where it should be. This is TOTALLY doable.

6 – Goal: >4.8 yards per carry. Reality: 3.9. OUCH. That sucks. The SUU game killed us. We averaged 3.7 yards/carry that game. That is terrible. 4 yards per carry vs BYU. Honestly, with how bad SJSU’s run defense is, our goal should be over 5 yards per carry. Our goal should be 100 yards for Moss, McCormick AND Williams.

7 – Goal: <120 yards/game for opponents. Reality: 129 yards per game. I’m a little disappointed in this number. This number does not include sacks. SUU averaged 3.6 yards per carry. BYU averaged 5.3 yards per carry. That sucks.

Honestly, as of right now, we look like a 7 win team.

Here is how I break down a season: 6-7 wins = good year.
8 wins = very good year
9 wins and ranked = great year
10 wins and ranked = fantastic year
Win the south = amazingly fantastic year
Win the PAC-12 = dream year.

If we want to get more than 7 wins, we need to clean up a lot, namely our run game and turnovers. If we can’t run the ball better and stop turning the ball over, we will struggle big time vs teams like California, Colorado, ASU (pass heavy teams, where we need to run the ball to burn time and shorten the game) and will struggle big time vs Oregon, Washington, UCLA, USC.

We have potential, but we shouldn’t be dreaming of winning the south at this point.