WSU Friday Roundup

And with that, a Friday morning post, round-up style, to wind down the week.  There’s actually a lot of stuff to link to today, so let’s get started.

• Bud Withers at the Times has an interesting read on something we are going to see a LOT of this Saturday – the pistol offense.  Funny how Withers mentions the first time he saw it, it was a mess of an offense as the Cougs pummeled Nevada on ESPN, 55-21 back in ’05.  I remember that game, and totally remember seeing that funny shotgun formation that didn’t really seem to make any difference in how Nevada did their thing.  But today, it’s a whole different animal. 
  

  As you can see, the offense is designed with the running back directly behind the QB.  The idea is to keep defenses honest, of course, not tipping your hand so they can’t overload a specific side of the formation.  But it also is something that the running backs like, in how that in the right running system, they may have more freedom as to which hole is the best.  For example, say it’s a run to the right side.  The running back gets the ball deep in the backfield, and then can pick, say, the 2, 4, 6 or even bust it outside to the 8 hole.  Or, if that side is completely shut down, say the defense has brought a linebacker and maybe a safety deep down into the box, and/or decided to send them on a blitz?  The running back may have the freedom to just cut it back to the left, and pick an odd-numbered hole to hit. 

  The beauty to what Nevada is doing with it though is how they have a really good running QB to go with it.  QB Colin Kaepernick has quietly run for over 1,000 yards out of the formation the last two seasons, clearly one of the best dual-threat QB’s in the country.  This year he is already over 400 yards rushing (451), but he averages a fantastic 8.1 yards per carry and has EIGHT TD’s!  Check out his numbers here, they are pretty impressive.  Nevada now has the #6 rushing attack in the country, averaging 286.3 yards per game, and they are 5th in the country in points scored, 44.8.  Yeah, it’s working, wouldn’t you say??  Oh, and for you Boise State haters?  There is still hope.  The Broncs visit Nevada in late November! 

  So the pistol is kinda/sorta “hot” right now, much in the way the Rich Rodriguez read-option spread offense was the rage a few years ago.  Defenses will adjust, of course, the more it pops up, and especially now that a BCS program like UCLA has their arms around it.  We’ll see how much of it we see at WSU, but hey, no matter what it’s encouraging to see it working in other places.  UCLA is awfully run-heavy with it right now, but Nevada has shown you can do multiple things out of it.  Kaepernick has 67 career TD passes to his credit, so it doesn’t have the one-dimensional attack that UCLA is rolling with right now.  And we saw a lot of throws out of it last week for the Cougs, with four wide receiver sets and the pistol. 

  

  If anything, at least it’s something new and an extra wrinkle for defenses to at least pay attention to on a weekly basis?  I personally hope we see more of it, and who knows, maybe they are on to something in Pullman?

• Cougcenter takes a look at the poor tackling from last week, and digs a little deeper than simply technique.  And not just the written word to back up their position, but they also include a “lowlight” video from the USC game.  It’s actually a USC highlight video on Youtube, basically showing everything SC did right last Saturday.  It’s painful to watch, and quite different from the sunshine-and-rainbows highlight video that we put together….but check it out (and thanks to Cougcenter for finding this thing!): [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-DJSKb79V8&w=425&h=344]

  Ouch. 

  But not all is lost.  While the tackling was poor and there were 30+ missed tackles?  They were missed but a lot of young guys.  Guys that you better get used to seeing on the field every week, now and for the future.  Maybe with some experience and growth, they will learn how to do this thing called tackling, so vital in the success of the defense.  Maybe this video will be something they look at, time and again, to hammer home to the youngsters how NOT to play defense!?!

• WSU has another new verbal!  And it’s a familiar last name too – Pritchard, as in Tana Pritchard.  Per Cougfan, the bloodlines are deep:
  
  Father, David, played on Washington State’s 1981 Holiday Bowl team. Cousin is legendary WSU quarterback Jack Thompson. Brother of former Stanford QB Tavita Pritchard. A standout in football and basketball.

  Pritchard has been playing some QB in high school, but the word is he likely projects as a linebacker.  Good size at 6-4, 203, and athletic, he listed Oregon, Stanford and UCLA among schools of interest, however only UNLV and WSU were the schools known to give him an offer. 

• Finally, Grippi’s PM post from yesterday is chalk full of Coug stuff.  He’s also got a good read on Jared Karstetter, and what could be a possible NFL future for the tall wideout.  Will he make it in the NFL?  It’s hard to say now, he’s still got time to get better, but he’s doing well so far.  The NFL though, I don’t need to point this out to you, but it’s a whole different world!  You can see the pluses with his size and strength, and he has good hands, but does he have the ability to get separation against the best of the best?  Time will tell, but at the NFL level it’s an absolute requirement that you can create space between you and the best cover guys walking the earth!  But I hope he makes it, as I’m sure all of you do as well.

That’s it for now.  ENJOY your Friday, and as always, GO COUGS!