[CTcard]

Thanks for this Goose.

It confirms the latest word on Washington State: Their OL is vastly overrated and their defense is vulnerable to the run. 

And we'll be their tenth consecutive game without a break, another plus for us.

"their defense is vulnerable to the run."

Well, that seems likely, particularly a power-type run game, given that their front seven is relatively small. However, we shouldn't oversell the point. All those great strategies and advantages for ןɐɔ against WSU yielded them 106 total rushing yards at 3.3 yds/carry.
Overall, WSU is #4 in the conference in rush defense both yds/gm (125) and yds/carry (3.69). That appears to be a credible run defense.


"Their OL is vastly overrated"

This I think is more true, as is their offense overall - at least with respect to their own defense.
If you look at the YPP in the OP, WSU is #2 on the list in defensive YPP, but only #9 on offense.

WSU has given up a lot of sacks, 32, which is worst in the conference by 5. It's also tied with UMass for dead last in the country. Now WSU passes a lot, so per attempt this wouldn't be quite as bad, but it is still pretty bad.
Another issue for WSU is efficiency of their run game when they do use it. Last year it took a tick upwards, this year it is back down. WSU is dead last in the country in yds/gm rushing. More relevant is that they aren't very good on a per attempt basis either: at 2.84 yds/attempt they are #11 in the Pac 12 and #127 (out o 130) in the country.

All told, WSU has actually been winning more by defense this year than by offense.


"And we'll be their tenth consecutive game without a break, another plus for us."

Yep, I think that will be a notable advantage.
We'll be coming off our split-bye because of the Thursday night game in Corvallis (though at 6:00 pacific it's earlier in the evening than many of our Saturday games have been). It'll be two road games in a row, but the spacing should help out on the travel issue.

WSU will be coming back from Tucson where they will have just faced the one team in the Pac 12 ahead of us in rushing yds/game, and who is second to us nationally in rushing yds/carry. Of course Arizona does this in a very different manner than does Stanford, but it will be an interesting preview of their run defense.

[CTcard]

Thanks for this Goose.

It confirms the latest word on Washington State: Their OL is vastly overrated and their defense is vulnerable to the run. 

And we'll be their tenth consecutive game without a break, another plus for us.

"their defense is vulnerable to the run."

Well, that seems likely, particularly a power-type run game, given that their front seven is relatively small. However, we shouldn't oversell the point. All those great strategies and advantages for ןɐɔ against WSU yielded them 106 total rushing yards at 3.3 yds/carry.
Overall, WSU is #4 in the conference in rush defense both yds/gm (125) and yds/carry (3.69). That appears to be a credible run defense.


"Their OL is vastly overrated"

This I think is more true, as is their offense overall - at least with respect to their own defense.
If you look at the YPP in the OP, WSU is #2 on the list in defensive YPP, but only #9 on offense.

WSU has given up a lot of sacks, 32, which is worst in the conference by 5. It's also tied with UMass for dead last in the country. Now WSU passes a lot, so per attempt this wouldn't be quite as bad, but it is still pretty bad.
Another issue for WSU is efficiency of their run game when they do use it. Last year it took a tick upwards, this year it is back down. WSU is dead last in the country in yds/gm rushing. More relevant is that they aren't very good on a per attempt basis either: at 2.84 yds/attempt they are #11 in the Pac 12 and #127 (out o 130) in the country.

All told, WSU has actually been winning more by defense this year than by offense.


"And we'll be their tenth consecutive game without a break, another plus for us."

Yep, I think that will be a notable advantage.
We'll be coming off our split-bye because of the Thursday night game in Corvallis (though at 6:00 pacific it's earlier in the evening than many of our Saturday games have been). It'll be two road games in a row, but the spacing should help out on the travel issue.

WSU will be coming back from Tucson where they will have just faced the one team in the Pac 12 ahead of us in rushing yds/game, and who is second to us nationally in rushing yds/carry. Of course Arizona does this in a very different manner than does Stanford, but it will be an interesting preview of their run defense.