stbone

I still wake up in a cold sweat screaming at Devaughn to throw the ball away.

The worst was the reverse/QB pass at the start of the 2nd half in the Penn State Rose Bowl. Everything went sideways after that call.

My experience is that if you are training right, the bulk adds speed and athleticism. I can’t imagine they aren’t being trained right.

If I had to guess, a foot injury probably cost him his entire off season of lower body training. On top of that, he probably continued his upper body training. (Not being able to train lower body could give rise…[Read more]

I disagree with this at many levels.

First, the majority of championship teams are among the most physical in college football. For example, Michaigan, Georgia, and Alabama are among the most physical teams I can remember over the past couple of years. I think lack of physicality is one of the reasons why PAC12 teams (ORE) didn’t win the…[Read more]

I hope we do. I have dreams at night about Wilson occasionally running the option with Micah or Money as the pitch man. That would go a long way towards keeping the defense from teeing off on our interior run game.

I don’t think speed is an issue, and generally, I think speed is overrated. To clarify, by this I mean nearly everybody has top end speed, and so pure speed isn’t a differentiator. As an example of this Devaughn Vele ran a 4.47 at the combine, Marvin Harrison Jr. ran a 4.46, Jackson Smith Njigba ran an unofficial 4.53 at the combine. I am sure…[Read more]

I agree that Lander doesn’t look like he did in the past, but the sample size with Karene back is so small I don’t feel like I can say one way or the other. The LBs looked significantly better yesterday than they have for a while, and I hope that the improvement continues.

The WR wildcat (at least for the first down) was a very similar formation and play to what Penn St. used to score two touchdowns in the Rose Bowl. We aren’t very physical off of the LOS, and we struggle when there is a lead block. Both of these pays (and most of AZ’s running lays) exploited that.

(TCU) (PSU)…[Read more]

I agree that we are missing the lockdown CB, and that safety play in the box is not at the level of last year. I am out on LB play because of the injuries (the LB play seemed significantly improved yesterday with the return of Karene). For the first time this season, we started getting to a QB yesterday. Pressure will make our secondary healthy.

Based on the D’s turnaround after the Utah score, I think the D is likely better than their statistics indicate and would improve if the O started doing their part. (It seems like a case of the D being completely disheartened).

I have been fascinated over the years (the past ten years) with how unable we are to attack the edge of a defense. This has remained the same regardless of personal and OC. Given our players and team personality, I can’t understand why we don’t run stretch and a healthy dose of option.

As a positive, we aren’t having red-zone issues.

I fantasize about an OC either from the Shanahan tree or familiar with the Shanahan offense. A steady diet of stretch, bootleg, and play action would be a fabulous addition to what the team already does well.

In recent history, most of our success with RB has been via the transfer portal.

Devonte Booker – Transfer
Joe Williams – Transfer
Tavion Thomas – Transfer
JJ – Transfer

Ty Jordan – Recruit
Zack Moss – Recruit
Micah Bernard – Recruit

Thanks for clarifying – that makes more sense.

I saw a post earlier today with the theory that plays will be made, and that the quality of player on the field just changes the distribution of those plays. While there may be some truth to that, the drop-off between the plays made by a top-player and a mid-player isn’t linear. Looking at CPIII’s…[Read more]

This (“team built around one player”) is a bad take that I have seen often over the past several days. Every football team offense is built around the quarterback. And, what you are calling “building around one player” is typically called adding weapons to the offense.

Yes, the team was anticipating a healthy Rising, and they were delivering on…[Read more]

At a high-level, we all expected a WTF loss, and here we are.

As a side rant, I hate the way Utah LB’s are coached and play, and this game exposed that technique. (The last LB that I enjoyed watching from a technique standpoint was Cody Barton). The LB’s seem to be coached to avoid blocks and quickly flow. That works IF your DL eats the vast…[Read more]

NJ had some of the worst accuracy I have ever seen from a QB, combined with incredible athleticism. But, his accuracy was so bad, I don’t believe he could have been a starting QB for an AFA team in the 90’s (because occasionally they needed the QB to hit a throw). I don’t think there is a system that would fit him and work in the college game. (I…[Read more]

I agree he held the ball too long.

To me, BB at the Rose Bowl was a different QB than what we saw last year. I think as the hits and the INTs added up, he started second guessing himself and was probably trying too hard to do the right thing. Since you can’t “think” fast enough to throw on time, once he got trapped in his head, his game just…[Read more]