Lots of opinions stated that the WSU game was going to be telling about this year’s team. So, what did we learn from WSU? Here is my two cents, but more interested in yours.
Looking down the road, I think what we saw from WSU offensively is where we want be. The way they spread the ball around was a thing of beauty. I hope our offense develops to the level of their efficiency. I hope we can keep recruiting some big offensive linemen and have the same type of protection up front.
I was impressed with WSU WRs. I don’t think those guys had one unforced drop.
I think that was the Defense for Wash State but not every team we face
I honestly didn’t expect to win and could hardly believe we were up at half, and they had only scored 7 points. We are getting better, and that is great to see. I was frustrated by the defense rushing three, but I was told WSU did not allow one sack off a blitz last year. That’s amazing and probably had a lot to do with how we played them. Had we taken care of business offensively in the 2nd half, we would have won. I see a team that’s lost to a top 5 and top 20 team, both of which will very likely be CFP or NY6 bowl participants, and a team that with a number of newcomers and new systems is improving each time out. I really feel that we can still have a good year and contend for the divisional title, especially if King can come out of his passing slump and the offensive line can do a better job of protecting him.
I learned the offense still has a ton of work to do, I just feel we are too talented at QB, WR. & TE to struggle so much after halftime. DH is obviously a great offensive mind and I think eventually we’ll get the offense going. Defensively I like where we are at for the most part, like some people on here I was not a fan of how many times we rushed 3 and dropped 8 into coverage. Their QB was a 5th year senior, but he hadn’t played very much live game experience other than one season in JUCO. I think there was maybe a missed opportunity there to speed up his thought process and force him into more mistakes. But who knows maybe the staff saw something on film and thats why we did not blitz more. I’ve just always thought if you have a questionable secondary, you send more pressure his way and force him to speed up his progressions so that your DB’s don’t have to cover so long. Obviously the counter arguments are 1. you can get shredded if they pick up blitzes & 2. We don’t have the corners to blitz and that’s why we dropped 8. But overall I feel good and I like the direction the team is headed
And I guess the key game is always the next one, but I really see Tulane having a huge bearing on the rest of the season. Our fans are going to underestimate them, but they are a solid AAC team, very well-coached, playing at home for a big conference game, and they’ll be loaded for Cougar after we embarrassed them last year. IMO, if we can get out of New Orleans with a W, it’s going to be a fun season, and we’ll have a shot at getting to the conference championship game. If we lose it’ll probably be a rebuilding year where we’ll look to improve each week, lay the foundation for the future, win 6-7, and find ourselves playing the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina in front of 20 thousand at the Frisco Bowl.
But they did against Anenih, I was hoping they would do that more.
No pressure defense as promised by our new DC
It wouldn’t have worked against Washington State
I wouldn’t read much into our defensive strategy or Cauthen from the WSU game. CDH said on the coaches show (paraphrasing) he specifically met with the defensive staff and told them what he wanted to do since he knows Leach so well. For better or worse that was 3 rush 8 coverage for most of the game and for a half it pretty much worked to perfection. Holding wsu to 7 points in a half is insane.
I look at he defense and see the only true weakness is at CB. Defensive line may not be pass rushers (although Turner is surely becoming one), but they don’t get moved off of the ball, and we have some very, VERY, athletic linebackers. Run defense next year will be crazy!
I liked seeing the D tackle well for the most part. Some nice hits and sprewell’s hit on the WR was awesome. Hopefully with some the DBs coming back from injury or suspension our coaches won’t have to ask too much of certain players in coverage.
I agree with this 
. It looks like we have some inexperience and are not working as a team yet. We have to give the defense some credit here y’all. We held a Leach offense to 7 points in a half. And the other TD’s came off Turnovers in our side of the field. What more could you ask from the defense.
There was clearly improvement this week.
First off, the tackling was much, much better. Considering the “swinging door” defense we had last year, that issue alone bodes well for the remainder of the year.
Next, the O-line play was also improved. I mean, we actually ran the ball with our RBs, not just King. Again, that’s a positive development.
Third, King is starting to feel more comfortable with his knee, and Holgo seems somewhat willing to let his QB play to his strengths.
Now, was everything wine and roses? Of course not. There’s still problems assimilating to a new offensive scheme. There are still problems with penalties. There are still dumb mistakes, and the D is still a work in progress. But there is progress, and presuming we get more than a year and one-half out of a coaching staff, I fully expect next year’s squad to be quite salty.
So, to all the chicken littles out there, I’m sorry, but the sky is not actually falling. It’s just a small rain shower, and that will soon pass.
I saw a team defensively that stepped up, and offensively made some good plays. We need them to put a complete full game together. This team in flashes show it is capable, but they are not complete just yet. By season’s end, they will be clicking…just hope that no one loses any eligibility by then.
We out rushed St 239 to 49.
The only chance we had was to slow the game down and control the clock. The defensive scheme contributed to do that and we had a chance to win.
The FSU coach has already complained about brikes so I am happy with where we are.
Honestly I think the play calling by leach helped us tremendously and the dumb throw away at the end when they could have run the clock down nearly gave us the ball back with a real chance.
We held a high-scoring top 20 team to 7 points in a half.
They won anyway. Thats what really, really good teams do.
Sometimes losing just means they were better. I’m willing to concede that.
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