Monday dot-dot-dot….

Quick update for you, dot-dot-dot style……Grippi’s latest:  o-line looking healthier/better?  Sure hope so.  One has to wonder what young #10 can do with, you know, time to throw the ball?….Speaking of time to throw the ball, Troy Aikman mentioned something during yesterday’s Atl-Dallas TV broadcast that had me wondering about our own young Tuel.  Aikman said, in reference to Matt Ryan, “one of the most impressive things about Ryan is his ability to look down the field, even when things are collapsing around him.  That is one of the hardest things as a young QB, where you fight your natural instinct of “flight” when there are pass-rushers in your face.  The best young QB’s are the ones that can maintain their eye level and make plays in the face of adversity.” 

Now let’s harken back one more time to the Jeff Tuel video, from yesterday:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuU8N5TJGQE&w=425&h=344]

Check out the TD pass to Forzani.  What do you see?  Pre-snap, Cal is showing a possible blitz with their 3-4 look, the strongside linebacker straight up over the tight-end…at the snap, the linebackers all drop back into coverage, and Cal rushes just 3 down linemen….Tuel takes his drop off the playaction in the shotgun, just a 3-step drop (but given how deep he is, it’s much more like a 5-7 step drop)…..Tuel makes his read, sees that there isn’t a blitz, so he has a little more time than usual….however, the right-defensive end, #97 Cameron Jordan, has a little bit of a bull-rush going on, and he’s beating the tackle to the QB…..instead of looking at the rush and running for his life?  Tuel instead KEEPS HIS EYES DOWN THE FIELD, STEPS UP INTO THE POCKET and delivers a beauty of a deep ball, reading it perfectly by hitting the one-on-one match-up…..even when Cal dropped eight into coverage…..phenomenal play by an 18-year old babe in the woods.

Not to get ahead of ourselves here, but…..well, we are a blog, it’s what we do, right?……you start to think about the talent level of the QB’s that have come through Pullman, in terms of size, arm strength, and feet….could Jeff Tuel have the best set of tools since, well, Ryan Leaf??….It’s early, it’s a stretch, etc, but still…..yes, we are impressed with the young man! 

Read on for more, including our weekly blog ballot….

Enough of the dot-dot-dots, it’s too much.

Anyway, our weekly blog ballot:

Texas and ‘Bama swap, while TCU moves up.  Good week for the state of Texas?  Still hanging with the ‘Horns after whoopin’ Mizzou, and ‘Bama’s unimpressive 12-10 win over the Vols on a pair of blocked FG’s?  The same Vols who LOST AT HOME TO UCLA!?  Wow.

That’s all for now.  Enjoy the rest of your day, and of course, GO COUGS!