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Stanford looked and played like an FCS team last night. When all areas of the team are so comprehensively awful, after playing well enough to beat three solid to good teams, it's kind of hard to draw conclusions.
I will try...
Washington's DL is gigantic, every one of them as big/heavy as any Stanford OL, and their LBs are small. The DL is able to hold its position and the LBs easily fill the gaps. I assumed that since Stanford handled UCLA, with Vanderdoes and company, they would be able to move the ball on the ground, but only with a balanced attack.Â
I actually feel this game was lost before it was played. It turns out those of us who were concerned about too many touches for CMac, and too little from the passing game, were validated. After leaning so heavily on CMac running for the first three games, UW knew Stanford would break its tendencies, and they were absolutely ready. I'm not going to say that if Stanford started with 7 OL and running, that would have been more effective, but what I am saying is that UW knew to rush Burns and worry about the run after, and Stanford played right into their hands.
But what is the most galling is how conventional Stanford's offense is. Where are the bootlegs with easy throws to a TE or FB in the flat? Where are the rollouts? Why not do something to move the QB around, when you know the defense is expecting you to pass early? The play that epitomizes the Stanford offensive mindset was the ridiculous play in the second half when they lined up 3 OL in the middle of the field and split three out wide, with Love lined up behind. Everyone in the stadium knew that was going to be a pass to Love. But the thing that makes it foolish is you're asking OL to make blocks on quicker guys in space. You'd be far, far better off keeping your 5 OL in the middle, and then bunching up say Irwin and JJAW with Love behind, so they would be blockers, and there would be fewer defenders in the area.
Burns just doesn't have the quick reactions necessary. Like the Stanford offense in general, he is slow and deliberate. There were times he could have thrown balls to open receivers before being sacked, but he just couldn't react fast enough. He needed to get more work before this game, to get more actual reps, but he never got them. Given Chryst threw the best pass of the night, dropped by JJAW, I don't know what to do. It just baffles me how different this team looks from the one I saw last March. They threw the ball a lot, and looked good doing it. Speaking of JJAW, how many drops by him? He caught everything last week, and had a lot of drops, save for the nice TD grab.Â
The defense wasn't aggressive either. The thing that was most awful about their performance was they took away the big plays, but they were beaten all over the field, 5-7 yards per play, without fail. They did a pretty decent job on the inside runs, but the outside contain was pathetic, and the cushions they gave the receivers were just way too soft. I would have played press man-to-man more often just to interrupt the routes a little bit, and mix the looks Browning was given.
Event the ST, that had been so good this year, was awful. So it was a comprehensive team implosion for sure. That makes me feel better about the hopes for improvement than say if the offense moved the ball well, but couldn't score in the red zone, and they stopped up the run, but gave up 500 yards passing. It wasn't just one or two areas that failed because they are severe weaknesses. It was a total failure everywhere.
