This .gif should be the lead for the rest of the year……..
Hello Followers. Hope you had a tremendous weekend.
Today, we take a quick look back at the weekend and the Idaho game that was. Continue reading for a few thoughts, game balls, as well as my weekly Pac-12 rankings…
++++
Followers, yesterday, SeanHawk offered a really great review of Saturday’s game. I encourage you to check it out!
But in addition to his take, I wanted to offer a few of my own “insights” about the play of our offense, specifically the play of Mr. Connor Halliday. And, as part of that take, I’ll be asking you to review a few key pieces of video—so get your headphones handy!
For starters, one of the BIG gripes that we all have about Connor relates to his decision making, and within, the consistent mistakes that we’ve seen him make in the turnover department. And while I sure find myself in knots when I watch him play, whenever I have a chance to step back a little, I find myself becoming more and more and more confident in Connor’s ability to get this done.
And the reason for my optimism is this: I have come to better understand the complexity of this offense as well as the fact that we were all misinformed about how quick this would all come together in Swing Your Sword.
And truly, there are a couple of reasons for why it has taken a bit longer for this thing to mesh than it did for Leach’s other teams at Valdosta, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Tech. First, last year’s team struggled with buy-in. Second, last year’s team was so bad along the line that no one had the time to learn on the job—and so what we saw was a big rats nest that Leach would later describe as “street ball.” And third, relative to Leach’s history, the Pac-12 overall was much more prepared for passing offenses than the places that Leach had previously debuted. So, when you put all that together, we can begin to understand why things just didn’t “click” at all in that first year and why this year should be considered the true baseline.
But in addition to that, we also are seeing how complex and nuanced this offense is. And to get a sense of how complicated the reads are for every pass play, I ask that you take another look at this 60 Minutes Video and listen to how Graham Harrell describes how he’s reading the defense. Then, I ask you to take a quick listen to the post-game presser where Connor describes both the positives and the negatives of his performance on Saturday night…
Anyhow, I don’t know about you all, but I found myself listening to a Connor Halliday that is much more cerebral and much more “dialed” in regarding how to get into the right plays and make the right reads than he was even earlier this year. What’s more, as we have found with a couple of his other “awful mistakes” once again we hear in this presser that there are still some gaffes with respect to the reads and routes that our receivers are supposed to make in certain situations.
Ultimately, my conclusion from all of this is that these guys are just starting to figure it out. And when you think about the quality of lines that we played in the first two weeks, are really are having the first real opportunity to practice against opponents that aren’t immediately poised to knock our quarterback’s head off. So, even though I am not altogether confident that we’re progressing fast enough to knock off (or maybe even play with) Stanford this weekend, my sense is that our boys are not that far off from really putting it together. Meaning, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see us put 50 on either CAL or Oregon State in the few weeks—assuming that we can emerge from this weekend’s game in good health.
Now to the Gameballs:
Gabe Marks. Nearly 150 yards receiving and showed the competitive flash that this team needs in tight games. He’ll need to play his best and most physical game if we’re going to stand a chance this weekend.
Vince Mayle. If you want to beat Stanford, you have to be uber physical on the edge. And so, it really should not have surprised anyone to see Vince getting touches early and often against Idaho. And again, if we want to be in the game Saturday night, both Mayle and Kristoff Williams are going to have to play a lot, touch the ball a lot, be physical as all hell, AND not turn the ball over (Yes, Kristoff, I am talking to YOU!)
Xavier Cooper. At the start of the year, I thought that Coop stood the best chance to make the all-conference team. Since that time, Guanta and Pole have largely stolen the show on the D-Line. But on Saturday night, Coop was all-world. He’ll need to play at that type of level (against NFL caliber competition) if we’re going to be there at the end against the Trees.
Darryl Monroe. Lots of talk after the game about the importance of his leadership for our defense. I was particularly struck by his leadership on Idaho’s last drive, where I watched him help the D-Line get into the correct position on at least two occasions. Like Connor on offense, Monroe seems to have figured out our schemes on Defense. And so, if our offense can learn to put it altogether against better competition, this team has a shot at an upper division North finish a la the Beavers last year.
Pac-12 Rankings (Post Week IV):
1. Oregon. Their vertical passing game keeps them in the #1 slot, but Stanford’s speed on D—especially their improved speed in the defensive backfield—was not lost on these eyes.
2. Stanford. ASU showed in the second half that the only way to beat Stanford is through the air—which is why I think that we’re one of the few that has any chance at knocking them off. That said, the questions that I had about their ability to make another BCS game were erased on Saturday night. They are really, really good.
3. UCLA—After watching ASU get eaten up on the ground for the second straight week, the Bruins look like rulers of the South. The problem for the Bruins is that schedule—playing Oregon AND Stanford on a back-to-back roadie in mid-October. That gives their foes at least a 2 loss cushion to play with.
4. Washington—Still several questions about this team. But they won’t be answered this week, as I expect the Puppies to eat AZ alive.
5. Arizona State—Although it’s tempting to drop the Sun Devils after getting smashed (remember it was 39-7 before Stanford took their foot off the gas). But, here’s to thinking that they are going to stay relevant for a while—that underachieving defense is going to improve. I just hope its November when they do!
6. Utah—Have to put the Utes here after beating a BYU team that just destroyed Texas in Provo a few weeks prior. That said, I hope the Utes enjoy this bye-week because after this Saturday, the losses are going to start mounting in a hurry. That said, the two quality wins over BYU and Utah State merit the 6 spot for this week.
7. Washington State—As long as the Cougs continue to improve each week, they’ll hang around the top 5 through season’s end. If they win this weekend, they’ll be sitting squarely at #3, and if USC beats ASU, ranked 20th in the country. Imagine that!
8. USC—Hard to find a team that is more like the 1994 Palouse Posse squad than this group. Hard to imagine them winning more than 7 games, but its also hard to imagine any game being much different than the 17-14 type score we saw last week. The fact that ASU has a hard time stopping the run—and has slower DB’s—gives the Trojans a bit of hope for the weekend.
9. Oregon State—As I will note tomorrow, the most important game for WSU this season is next week’s game at CAL. For OSU, their most important game is their contest in three weeks against us. Coming off a bye week, the Beavs are going to have to win that game. Their problem is that their defense—particularly their defensive backfield—looks slow. So, while I expect them to eek out a shoot-out this weekend against Colorado, as of now, the Beavs don’t go bowling if they don’t beat us. Should be one helluva game on Dad's weekend.
10. Arizona—Undefeated an in the 10th spot? Here’s the deal, after three games, I don’t think that Arizona can throw the ball. What’s more, I don’t think that their D is anything to write home about. So, if I give you USC without the dominant defense, where should they be slotted right now. The good news for the Mildcats? In contrast to UCLA, their schedule is VERY forgiving.
11. Colorado—Undefeated and ranked 11th. Good news for Buffs fans, Oregon State can’t defend the pass against low-levels—and Paul Richardson is anything but low-level. This might be a game that coaching can win, and Mike McIntyre is already one of the best in the South, IMO.
12. CAL—The bad news for CAL is that they're playing Oregon. Even worse: The reason why they used to play with Oregon (at least for a half) is now the DC at Southern California. This is going to be UGLY, setting up the inventible sentiment that we are going to pound CAL into oblivion next week on the road. I can’t begin to express how much I fear that fricking game.
Okay, that’s all I have for today. I will be back in the next few days with a couple of thoughts about how the Pac-12 North race is shaping up.
All for now. Go Cougs.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
