Happy Sunday Cougs, as we awaken to a beautiful sunny early fall day in the great NW. As I did last Sunday, I’m back to write about some thoughts on what we saw last night, plus a bunch of other stuff, post-jog-style as we continue training for the half-marathon. So let’s get started…..
1) Disappointed with last night? Sure. I mean hardly anyone thought the Cougs would be within shouting distance of the Quack Attack, and in fact I saw several tweets before the game where people were questioning the all-time worst WSU has had in points allowed in the game, and whether or not the Cougs could “hold” Oregon to under 70. Well, the first half of the first quarter it looked ugly, and you could see why people thought this would be over by halftime.
And there were more breakdowns on D, where guys were running wide open with busted coverages and whatever else was going on, plus the usual personal foul by a safety or inconsistency in tackling. And on O, it was spotty again with more drops, generally poor pass protection and a running game that was “running” in name only (negative rushing yards with all the sacks, but still there wasn’t much there on the ground). And even when it did look like the tide was turning, a wave of three straight sacks knocked the Cougs back near midfield towards the end of the half and that was the turning point of the entire game if you want to know the truth. Granted Oregon probably puts on a display anyway in the third quarter and wins comfortably, even if the Cougs do convert to points on that key late 2nd quarter possession. But that series of three consecutive sacks just sent the Coug O into a tailspin for the next quarter or so, and by the time you checked the scoreboard again it went from 23-19 to 51-19, just like that! Amazing how quickly in can turn vs. those guys. Oregon is THAT explosive.
2) Encouraged with last night? Absolutely. I know, I know, the weird thing is that we’ve been here before. 2010 saw the Cougs lose 43-23, but at the start of the fourth quarter WSU was down just 14 points and had the ball near the Duck 10-yd line before a costly INT ended a scoring drive and Oregon would cruise from there. And even last year, the Ducks got a couple of special teams TD’s and wound up winning 43-28, but Marshall Lobbestael and the Coug O actually outgained the Ducks in Autzen stadium if you can believe it! So we have been here before in that eternal feeling of “Aw shucks, we played them tough for a while….” only to realize you once again lost by double digits.
But last night felt different because of the way things went in that first half, and that we really saw the team RESPOND TO ADVERSITY IN A POSITIVE FASHION! Down 20-3, you felt like they could have just taken a knee and felt sorry for themselves the rest of the night, thinking of excuses as to why they are in the situation they are in at the moment. But instead they responded, bounced back, fought their way off the carpet and closed the gap. And especially the way the defense responded after Oregon made it look “too easy”, per our favorite UW guy in Brock Huard. After that beautifully executed wheel route TD pass that had Chester Su’a thoroughly confused, the D started to bring some noise for a change. I was particularly impressed by how hard the D-line was firing off and getting decent penetration in that second quarter, and even had Marcus Mariota looking a little flustered at times with a few poor throws? It was obviously short lived and Oregon just did what superior teams do, putting the pedal to the medal and blowing it open as the game went on. But still, I felt good by the way they bounced back.
3) Connor Halliday = Ryan Leaf, circa 1996 sophomore year? I think I finally saw something last night that had my mind frame Connor Halliday as who he most reminds me of right now. I have heard some compare him to Phillip Rivers in how he looks on the field, you know, kinda tall and lean and with the visor and delivery and all that? But to me, I’m starting to get visions of Ryan Leaf, but not the GREAT Leaf from the 1997 season where he finished third in Heisman voting. No, instead I am seeing Ryan Leaf, circa 1996.
Some of you might not remember, but Leaf’s 1996 season was “sorta OK”, but not great. Certainly there were flashes of greatness, with a big 6-5 frame and big-time arm. But he was inconsistent at best and even then had some maturity issues here and there that would come out. Not that he was the total jackass that we saw once he hit the NFL, but there were some emotional outbursts here and there when things weren’t going so well, some “hound dog” moments where he hung his head or looked awfully discouraged as the team struggled around him. And Leaf’s numbers were solid, but not exactly all-everything, at least not yet:
1996:
Games: 11
Completions: 194
Attempts: 373
Comp %: 52
Yards: 2811
TD’s: 21
INT’s: 12
Yards per game: 255.5
Yards per attempt: 7.5
Passer rating: 127.5
This is all in his sophomore year, his first full season as the starter. He did get a “taste” late in the 1995 season, but he attempted just 97 passes his redshirt freshman season.
Anyway, the team in ’96 would show flashes, but came up short with a 5-6 record. Leaf’s 2811 passing yards would place him second in the conference in that category, but he wasn’t there yet. The 1996 season overall was promising, as the team started 5-2 including wins over Oregon and Cal. But they collapsed late and lost their last four games, including some heartbreakers vs. USC and UW.
Now look at Halliday for a moment – a good sized kid with a big arm, who had a “taste” late in his redshirt freshman season. Some real flashes of brilliance, like for example Halliday’s TD pass to Gabe Marks in the end zone last night, thrown on a ROPE from the 35-yard line across the field in the corner of the endzone. There just aren’t a ton of QB’s out there who can make that throw, or let alone would even attempt it! But Halliday just don’t care! That’s who he is and what he is going to do, and that’s attack down the field.
But he’s also massively inconsistent, where some of the throws you can see that guys are open, but the accuracy just isn’t there yet. And there’s also an issue with his velocity at times? There were a few last night where he had some floaters where some extra zip would have helped, and even a couple where it looked like it was tipped or something at the line of scrimmage, only to see the replay and find that it just didn’t come out of there cleanly I guess? I don’t know, maybe a QB guru can look at his mechanics and see where he’s inconsistent. Maybe he’s dropping down and flinging it a little too much, instead of that nice over the top delivery where it just explodes out of his hand? Mechanics are a big deal for QB’s and even more so of an issue for the bigger, taller types where they sometimes have a hard time controlling the long arms and legs and all that!? But perhaps he’s trying to be too fine or too perfect instead of cutting it loose, and these are the issues that all young QB’s go through at various stages of development.
Anyway, Halliday’s numbers look like they are trending somewhat similar to Leaf from his sophomore year. Halliday through four games looks like this:
Games: 4
Completions: 96
Attempts: 176
Comp %: 54.5
Yards: 1203
TD’s: 9
INT’s: 6
Yards per game: 300.75
Yards per attempt: 6.84
Passer rating: 122.0
It’s hard to see it all as Halliday has only three starts this year in four total games played. Who knows how the numbers will change as the conference season rolls on, I mean we are still seven games from a full season. But you can see some similarities in the completion percentage, the yards per attempt, even the TD passes are on the same kind of path. Halliday is on pace to throw for more yards and TD’s overall compared to Leaf’s sophomore year, but there is still a LOOOONNNNGGGG way to go here!
Anyway, after the last couple of games in the non-statistical category, I can also see some “Leaf’isms” from Halliday. Some of the body language hasn’t been great, you can see he gets visibly frustrated. Last night for example when Isiah Myers dropped a pass on a deep in route in the fourth quarter that would have given them a first down, the ESPN camera stayed on Halliday and you could see some F-bombs and discouragement coming from him. He shot Myers a look that was, well, not good. After the Cougs failed to convert on fourth down on that possession, the ESPN camera went back to Halliday as he came off the field, and I saw a coach run up to him and get in his face. It was hard to tell what was being said at the time, but while the ESPN guys thought maybe they were words of encouragement? I’m not so sure! It looked like it was a little encouragement, but some ass-chewing as well.
So as much as we want things to hurry up and get better, it’s pretty clear now that it is going to take a while. More than ever this looks like Halliday’s team, and they are going to ebb and flow as Halliday goes along in 2012. Maybe they’ll figure it out later this season, or maybe not until next year when it really starts clicking. But that’s where we are right now.
But whatever the case may be, it’s time to turn the page. Last night is gone, and it needs to be left where it belongs as they move forward to the Oregon State game.
All for now. GO COUGS!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
