[JPR36]

I'm the eternal pessimist around here, and yet I am mildly encouraged after yesterday's game.  All season long we have criticized Shaw for playing to the weaknesses of our offense instead of to its strengths, and last night he took our advice as if he had been sitting in on the Cardboard and taking notes.  And what happens?  We score 38 points in a very fun-to-watch game.  This was SO much better than the loss to Utah, for example.

Now everyone is railing on our defense even though it has, up until now, been a pleasant surprise.   Yes, I do agree that our defense's weaknesses were exposed by the  nation's #1 passing team.  Our defensive line, our safeties, etc. are not as good as they have sometimes been.  But our style of defense has often had this kind of problem against this kind of offense.  I'm reminded of a lot of losses to the old Oregon--2010 52-31 in which there was more than 1100 yards of offense, or 2014 45-16 with not quite 1000 yards of offense, or 2015 38-36 with 900 yards of offense.  (There was about 950 yards of offense last night.)  Having great defensive linemen did not always help us shut down teams that passed so easily and quickly from sideline to sideline. 

In short, we have been here before--many times--and while I wish we could consistently stop this kind of offense, we have never been able to say that. 

So why the optimism?  Because none of the next 4 teams have that kind of offense.  Now that Shaw has allowed our offense to emerge from its self-imposed shackles, I see no reason why we shouldn't score something like 38 points a game from here on out, and running the table is not out-of-the-question.

Meanwhile, WSU could also run the table.  Question:  If we both run the table, where do we wind up?

The defense was a pleasant surprise for the first three games. To say it has been after that is, IMO, a bit of a stretch.
I do give Shaw some props for realizing that much as he would like us to be, we are not a running team this year but a passing team and trying to play to those strengths.
Of course, had we been a running team we would have scored that last touchdown without the giving the Cougs time to come back and win with a FG.

[JPR36]

I'm the eternal pessimist around here, and yet I am mildly encouraged after yesterday's game.  All season long we have criticized Shaw for playing to the weaknesses of our offense instead of to its strengths, and last night he took our advice as if he had been sitting in on the Cardboard and taking notes.  And what happens?  We score 38 points in a very fun-to-watch game.  This was SO much better than the loss to Utah, for example.

Now everyone is railing on our defense even though it has, up until now, been a pleasant surprise.   Yes, I do agree that our defense's weaknesses were exposed by the  nation's #1 passing team.  Our defensive line, our safeties, etc. are not as good as they have sometimes been.  But our style of defense has often had this kind of problem against this kind of offense.  I'm reminded of a lot of losses to the old Oregon--2010 52-31 in which there was more than 1100 yards of offense, or 2014 45-16 with not quite 1000 yards of offense, or 2015 38-36 with 900 yards of offense.  (There was about 950 yards of offense last night.)  Having great defensive linemen did not always help us shut down teams that passed so easily and quickly from sideline to sideline. 

In short, we have been here before--many times--and while I wish we could consistently stop this kind of offense, we have never been able to say that. 

So why the optimism?  Because none of the next 4 teams have that kind of offense.  Now that Shaw has allowed our offense to emerge from its self-imposed shackles, I see no reason why we shouldn't score something like 38 points a game from here on out, and running the table is not out-of-the-question.

Meanwhile, WSU could also run the table.  Question:  If we both run the table, where do we wind up?

The defense was a pleasant surprise for the first three games. To say it has been after that is, IMO, a bit of a stretch.
I do give Shaw some props for realizing that much as he would like us to be, we are not a running team this year but a passing team and trying to play to those strengths.
Of course, had we been a running team we would have scored that last touchdown without the giving the Cougs time to come back and win with a FG.