[81alum]

Well, the Ugly Holiday Bowl situation just became the Ugly Holiday Bowl.

The Minnesota strategy (according to the announcers) was to rush only 2-3 players on downs they thought WSU would throw the short pass,  keeping extra players back to stuff the short pass.  Minnesota wanted  to force Falk to run or throw deep but to take away the short passes that he relies upon to keep his "rhythm."  Besides, a large pass rush is useless against the short passes that Falk relies upon, so why not devote more players to guarding receivers?

An interesting theory.  It seemed to work.  Not sure why WSU did not adjust and start going deep more or running more.

While I am sad that a Pac 12 team lost, the silver lining is that Mike Leach lost.

[81alum]

Well, the Ugly Holiday Bowl situation just became the Ugly Holiday Bowl.

The Minnesota strategy (according to the announcers) was to rush only 2-3 players on downs they thought WSU would throw the short pass,  keeping extra players back to stuff the short pass.  Minnesota wanted  to force Falk to run or throw deep but to take away the short passes that he relies upon to keep his "rhythm."  Besides, a large pass rush is useless against the short passes that Falk relies upon, so why not devote more players to guarding receivers?

An interesting theory.  It seemed to work.  Not sure why WSU did not adjust and start going deep more or running more.

While I am sad that a Pac 12 team lost, the silver lining is that Mike Leach lost.