Dreams and Nightmares

[Ghost of the HEB]

Jk it’s not that serious and there’s a lot more important shi* in the world to worry about. But I did find myself hoping I’d wake up and realize that game was a sh**** dream. IMO that was the most painful loss since the 2019 Pac12 championship. You just entered the top 10, fans and national media have crowned you as the flag bearers and big dogs of the new XII, it’s a blackout at night, the crowd is packed and raucous and fully engaged, tons of recruits in the house, you’re playing an unranked team that you’re very familiar with and are using “payback” as one of the themes of the game, yet you end up falling flat on your face on your way to a double digit loss. That CANNOT happen in this era where every non-P2 team is building their resume to prove they deserve a seat in the future super conference world. But it did happen, and here’s my observations:

• We were playing with fire by rolling with a true freshman QB against P5 conf opponents, and it finally burned us. That’s not saying it’s Isaac’s fault – it’s tough to be an 18-year-old kid and be tasked with leading a top 10 team and fulfilling its CFP aspirations. If your championship-proven QB is medically cleared and healthy enough to be a “gametime decision” for three straight weeks, you cannot convince me any “lack of zip” justifies going with the very green freshman.
• Offensive gameplan was head scratching and deviated from what we saw in prior games. Where were the end arounds to WRs and Stanley? Where was the Kuithe wildcat in short yardage in the RZ? Why give so many snaps to an RB (Vincent) who is simply a signal to the defense that you are passing? Why wasn’t Bernard involved more? Although we were playing catchup, there was never a deficit that justified 40 attempts from your true freshman QB. Why have a 4th and goal passing play that only features a single route and it’s your least experienced pass catcher?
• Although the defense did get gashed at times, I hold them low on the blame list. 23 points is not a lot in today’s CFB. It’s unrealistic to assume they can go God-mode against every offense. The Cam-led offenses in 2021 & 2022 were top 15 in the nation in PPG. This helped the defense immensely. We were ranked 93rd in 2023 and currently sit at 78th (would be worse without the 3 ½ quarters Cam has played). Two seasons in a row we haven’t figured out how to score points without Cam, and it’s cost us greatly.

Gonna be a long two weeks, but all is not lost. Just gotta go all in on getting Cam back and going on a 2021-esque run through the schedule. In the words of Confucius – “Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in Rising every time we fall”.

[Yergensen]

No humble brag intended here, just want to second your comment with this. I told my son before the game we would have to score more than 24 to beat Zona.

Overall Defense did its part.

Burning 20 minutes and 3 precious possessions with 3 points to show for it, that’s where we lost this game. It’s how we got behind in the score and imbalanced and desperate the rest of the game.

[highlandute7]

Totally agree on the offensive game plan. It should have been almost a repeat of Ok St in leaning on the run, especially given how well Bernard was running. Seems we went away from it much too soon which puts even more pressure on IW to perform and true freshman qbs are going to make mistakes, no matter how good they are. We should have been running the clock which would have led to limited opportunities for Fifita and co. We all have heard about the red zone issues. Hopefully Whitt will really put more time and effort there.

I do like the rapport IW is gaining with Singer but Kuthie does need to be involved more. And what about some screens and swing passes to Bernard?

As far as the D, I thought they held up ok given some big plays. Can’t let a TE get behind you in man-coverage. That was sloppy. I had a hard time with not seeing any sacks. I know Fifita is more mobile but we had at least 4-5 chances to record a sack and just couldn’t do it. A few times (mainly on blitzes) the player blitzing was trying for a kill shot instead of coming in on balance and just trying to make a tackle.

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