Never mistake activity for achievement.
— John Wooden
Ah, yes, John Wooden. Pages and pages of quotes, the all-time great coach with such an amazing perspective on life and achievement. I remember reading a bunch of his quotes after he passed away earlier in the year, and while some were kind of roll-your-eyes-ish, some were “wow”.
I know a lot of people out there were holding out hope that there would be a change at the top. The losing, the apathy in the form of empty seats in a down economy, it was just becoming too much to take. Some people who had fallen off the bandwagon after the struggles would like to come back, but they were ready for change. And I also believe there was a much larger faction out there that were OK with the idea of having Paul Wulff continue this thing, but at the same time, if an absolute HOME RUN hire were ready to jump in and “move the base”, then they would probably be OK with a move like that. But really, as John Wooden himself said, making a change just for the sake of change isn’t the best move. Activity does not always mean achievement, period.
But that’s all behind us now. Live in the past, stay in the past. After all the hand-wringing and debate, and the cone of silence that enveloped Bill Moos in regards to the future, they finally showed the elephant in the room the door and gave it some lovely parting gifts. Paul Wulff is back for 2011. But now that we know the elephant is out of the way, well, what does it mean exactly? Is Wulff out of the woods here? How about the assistants? What about some instant help in some serious areas of need? Yes, believe it or not there are still a bushel full of questions to sift through now that “THE DECISION 2010” is out of the way. Here’s a few thoughts on what’s to come, so feel free to read on for more!
First, two major areas of concern:
1) DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE – Might as well start with the biggest issue of all, and that’s the defense. And unfortunately, it isn’t a one-year issue either. Three straight seasons in the Wulff era, the defense has to be categorized as a failure, doesn’t it? Consider that for the third straight year, the defense was last in the Pac-10 in rushing defense, sacks, and total defense, and either ninth or last in several other key categories. Sure, many of the problems can be blamed on several factors, such as poor talent and lack of depth/injuries in 2008 and 2009, and they were simply too young in 2010 in several key areas.
The HOPE here is that the failures of 2010 can be mainly attributed to said youth, and that they will improve with strength, experience, etc. When you consider that five of the defensive starters on Saturday were underclassmen, and that overall eight of the starting 11 are set to return next year, well, you can see there is some reason for optimism.
However, is there a larger problem here? There really are a few big issues when you think about it.
First, the defensive line. There was promise in the fall with the talk of Brandon Rankin as a playmaking defensive tackle, but it really didn’t pan out in 2010. The guy has talent and is strong, but more often than not he looked like exactly who he is – a defensive end playing out of position. With the graduation of Kevin Kooyman as well as backup defensive end Casey Hamlett, you wonder if the door is open for Rankin to return to defensive end. Not to lay all the defensive line problems at his feet, but just the fact that a JC All-American defensive end was trying to play defensive tackle in the Pac-10 right out of the chute, well, it didn’t really bode well for the kind of depth you need to compete at a respectable level. They might be “OK” inside next year, as Anthony Laurenzi and Steven Hoffart are both back as juniors next year, and maybe some hope with the likes of Dan Spitz or Justin Clayton, or even Toni Pole will emerge inside after redshirting. So perhaps they could slide Rankin back outside. And they just added a 6-6 JC defensive end commit over the weekend. But we’ll see how it all shakes out after signing day and into spring ball.
The other problem was tackling. The tackling problem was there in the beginning of the year, kinda/sorta got better as the season progressed, but then completely fell off the map in the Apple Cup. But why is the issue of missed tackles an ongoing problem with the defense? Is it simply youth, and that they aren’t yet strong enough to bring someone down consistently? Or with youth, did they just forget their technique that they work on so much in practice once the bright lights go on and they are in the heat of the battle? I know not every tackle attempt is as “clean” as you can get in tackling drills in practice. You can work and work and work on it in hitting a ball carrier in standard tackling drills, but in the moment of an actual game, often times technique goes out the window in favor of either going for the Sportscenter-type hit or just doing whatever you can to get the damn guy down! But it is a problem that hasn’t fully gone away, no matter how much they work on it in practice (and remember, Wulff had these guys hitting late into the week later in the season this year in an attempt to work on the tackling and “physicality”). Here’s hoping that another year of experience and hard work in the offseason will see a much better tackling team next year, but there is very little doubt that even to the most uneducated eye, there needs to be improvement in making tackles!
Finally, you wonder if scheme is an issue as well. Maybe the 4-3 is just not the way to go, for a program that has so much trouble finding quality defensive linemen? The trend around college football in the last year or so has been to get away from the 4-3 and go to more 3-man fronts with different combinations of linebackers and defensive backs, depending on the situation. But part of the reason for the 3-4 shifts have been to combat the spread offenses where you have four receivers out in space every down, and you need to have athletes who can match up by what they see across the line. But the other big issue is that outside of the SEC, it’s very difficult to find high-quality, and high-quantity, defensive linemen. The best Coug defenses around the turn of the century, or even back to the special 1994 Palouse Posse defense, always had superior play out of the defensive tackle position. But as we’ve seen the defense struggle the last several years, all the while rolling with the traditional 4-3, maybe it’s time to seriously examine a scheme change? Wulff said as much during one of his radio shows, where he admitted that they will look at different things this offseason. So maybe a new defensive approach will make a difference. No matter what they do, something has to change.
2) OFFENSIVE LINE – Another area that needs work, and if you have watched this team for much of the year, you know exactly what I mean. Jeff Tuel was sacked 51 times this year, by far the worst in the conference (Oregon State was 9th with 37 sacks allowed). But pass protection was a major problem last year as well, as the Cougs gave up 53 sacks! That’s 104 sacks in two seasons. Ouch.
To be fair, part of these sack problems were due to dealing with inexperienced QB’s in Tuel and sometimes Lobbestael last year, and with inexperience comes issues with holding on to the ball too long, pocket awareness, things like that.
But it isn’t just the pass protection that was a problem. The rushing offense? It’s been simply awful. For the third straight year, WSU averaged less than 100 yards rushing (91 yards per game), and averaged just 2.6 yards per carry, 1.4 yards less than the ninth place team in the conference (Oregon State was 9th with 4.0 ypc). But also for the third straight year, WSU failed to get above 3.0 yards per carry! Three straight years into the Wulff regime, and this is hands down the worst rushing offense in the Pac-10.
While WSU hasn’t been loaded with NFL-quality running backs, and some of the offensive schemes we’ve seen of late have been pass heavy anyway…..but I think we can most likely agree that the issues have been up front? The good news is that three starters are projected to be back next year, plus add in David Gonzales, who should be back after his broken arm in the Arizona game. So technically that could be more like four starters are back in 2011, from guys who started a good chunk of 2010. We’ll continue to hope for improvement with another year of eating right, lifting, spring ball, etc. But it’s a disturbing three year trend, and even with a new offensive line coach in Steve Morton for 2010, the performance was the same as it ever was under Wulff.
Now some good stuff:
1) JEFF TUEL – The sophomore exceeded expectations, no doubt about it. Tuel finished 4th in the Pac-10 in passing offense, averaging 231.7 yards per game. He threw for 2,780 yards with 18 TD’s and 12 INT’s, all excellent numbers for a true sophomore. He did a good job spreading the ball around too, with Jared Karstetter and Marquess Wilson both finishing in the top 10 in the Pac-10 in catches per game. When you consider that he was sacked 51 times, and had a running game averaging 2.6 yards per carry, it’s that much MORE impressive that he was able to what he did as a 2nd-year player! Tuel is THE beacon of hope for the program, and for a very good reason.
2) YOUTH, SERVED – Not just Jeff Tuel’s impressive first full season as the starting QB, but there is talented youth up and down the roster right now. Marquess Wilson of course, with over 1,000 receiving yards as a true frosh, one of the top frosh wideouts in the country. But there are flashes of hope all over the place. Frosh LB CJ Mizell finished the year with 57 tackles and a couple of sacks, but he really was just a part-time starter, just six starts in 2010. He showed some serious talent and a smashmouth mentality that you crave out of your middle linebacker. You really wonder what kind of player he can become with another year of seasoning.
Deone Bucannon came out of nowhere at safety to log 84 tackles, this from another true frosh. Bucannon not only made all those tackles, but like Mizell, shows an extra level of hard-hitting physical play. While we’re excited about Mizell, the future could be even brighter for Bucannon!
And with that, there are others who are coming, players who redshirted that we didn’t even see this year. WR Kristoff Williams had the turf toe injury, but pre-season buzz was that he was absolutely dazzling people in fall camp. There were many who thought he would have a bigger impact that Marquess Wilson! So the idea of adding Williams to the experienced crop of WR’s for next year is very exciting. Rickey Galvin was lost with a broken arm on his first NCAA carry, but the smallish speed back is another who turned a lot of heads in fall camp. He will definitely be in the mix for a lot of carries, especially if James Montgomery doesn’t get another year of eligibility. And you still have guys like Aaron Dunn, Jake Rodgers, Toni Pole, etc, all guys who have been impressive behind the scenes who should step into the fire in 2011.
So I guess in trying to sum it all up, as the Tuel pic suggests, there is hope. While it’s been an extremely bumpy ride in three years on the Wulff express, I mean hell, 32 losses in three years is anything but smooth, the worst should be behind this program. And the next month or so will be very interesting. The assistants will be evaluated, but Wulff will have final say if anyone is let go or not. We should know by the end of the year what’s up there. As of right now, he has said he doesn’t anticipate changes there, but we’ll see.
And will they be a bowl team next year? Who knows. With improvement on defense, and a bit of a light non-conference schedule, yes, they certainly can be. Many will argue that this is a “bowl team offense” right now, and even with an average defense, things should look good. But whatever happens, Wulff has already set the bar high for 2011, saying last week in interviews that “this is a bowl team next year, no question.”
For his sake, and the sake of the program, that is the goal and there is nothing else. We’ve seen enough glimpses of hope, but year four is all about turning the corner. The administration likely agrees, as there was no mention of a lead-pipe guarantee of a fifth year with Wulff in the statement released by Moos yesterday. Postseason or bust seems about right for 2011!
That’s it for now. If you get a chance, tune into the Cougar Calls with Bill Moos radio show at 10 AM PST. Enjoy your Monday, and GO COUGS!
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