While it was a nice win, we need to keep things in perspective. I refer you to the TD pass to Fehoko at 4:42 remaining in the first half. Arizona is showing us what we saw against UCLA, almost. They are set up in a press man pass defense. They have six men on the LOS, a single deep safety. There is one LB lined up five yards behind the LOS.
At the snap, the six men on the LOS rush. The linebacker five yards deep rushes also. He comes through the LOS clean clean, but is "blocked" by the running back. The back is Austin Jones, I think. He does the right thing, engages the blitzer, but is pushed rapidly back into KJ Costello. KJ can't really step up, but unleashes a great pass to Fehoko. Fehoko is behind 37 who was defending him, but not by a lot. The ball has to go over the top and just drop in to the receiver. It needs to be a good throw. 37 never sees the ball, which really helps. Touchdown Stanford.
KJ had about three seconds to throw the ball. That was just a hair more than West usually got against UCLA. What's different? First of all, the OL actually blocks most of the six man rush. There is some pressure from the right, but Arizona rushes too wide and wouldn't get there in time. That buys us about a half a second that we didn't get against UCLA. More importantly, the blitz up the middle started five yards behind the LOS. UCLA, when doing the same thing, walked up/lined up three or less yards from the LOS. A small thing, but critical. That's the half second between sack/no throw and TD.
The other critical difference is that Fehoko was down the field and open. Why? The Arizona defender neither turned to run with him nor attempted to impede him at the snap. Both the defenders on that side of the field just stood there for a count. Fehoko got a clean release and was behind his defender from the get-go. UCLA didn't do that. They attempted to prevent our receivers from getting a clean release, which they usually were successful in doing. If Fehoko isn't open, KJ goes down or has to run to his left to avoid a sack.
The play had a great result, but if Arizona plays it just a bit better, we are back to UCLA mode. We were a bit better, and Arizona was somewhat worse. Now, if you substitute Jack West into the Arizona game, what happens? Is he decisive enough to make the throw KJ did? I doubt it. It is not a trivial pass to throw, Fehoko wasn't wide wide open, and deciding may cost West time he doesn't have. Inexperienced QBs often like to see the receivers numbers to believe the receiver is open. This was not that kind of play. Could West make the throw? From what little we know, he has the tools to do so. If he tries and underthrows the pass, it should get picked, but it may have just hit 37 in the back of the helmet, because 37 never saw the ball.
The point I am trying to make here is that we didn't exactly correct all our deficiencies and win because of that. The OL played quite a bit better, KJ is more experienced and more decisive, AND Arizona played significantly worse than UCLA did.
FWIW, they played on October 5 in Colorado, and Arizona won. Granted, how Colorado and Arizona are playing today may be different than it was then, but the result doesn't support your hypothesis.
At the snap, the six men on the LOS rush. The linebacker five yards deep rushes also. He comes through the LOS clean clean, but is "blocked" by the running back. The back is Austin Jones, I think. He does the right thing, engages the blitzer, but is pushed rapidly back into KJ Costello. KJ can't really step up, but unleashes a great pass to Fehoko. Fehoko is behind 37 who was defending him, but not by a lot. The ball has to go over the top and just drop in to the receiver. It needs to be a good throw. 37 never sees the ball, which really helps. Touchdown Stanford.
KJ had about three seconds to throw the ball. That was just a hair more than West usually got against UCLA. What's different? First of all, the OL actually blocks most of the six man rush. There is some pressure from the right, but Arizona rushes too wide and wouldn't get there in time. That buys us about a half a second that we didn't get against UCLA. More importantly, the blitz up the middle started five yards behind the LOS. UCLA, when doing the same thing, walked up/lined up three or less yards from the LOS. A small thing, but critical. That's the half second between sack/no throw and TD.
The other critical difference is that Fehoko was down the field and open. Why? The Arizona defender neither turned to run with him nor attempted to impede him at the snap. Both the defenders on that side of the field just stood there for a count. Fehoko got a clean release and was behind his defender from the get-go. UCLA didn't do that. They attempted to prevent our receivers from getting a clean release, which they usually were successful in doing. If Fehoko isn't open, KJ goes down or has to run to his left to avoid a sack.
The play had a great result, but if Arizona plays it just a bit better, we are back to UCLA mode. We were a bit better, and Arizona was somewhat worse. Now, if you substitute Jack West into the Arizona game, what happens? Is he decisive enough to make the throw KJ did? I doubt it. It is not a trivial pass to throw, Fehoko wasn't wide wide open, and deciding may cost West time he doesn't have. Inexperienced QBs often like to see the receivers numbers to believe the receiver is open. This was not that kind of play. Could West make the throw? From what little we know, he has the tools to do so. If he tries and underthrows the pass, it should get picked, but it may have just hit 37 in the back of the helmet, because 37 never saw the ball.
The point I am trying to make here is that we didn't exactly correct all our deficiencies and win because of that. The OL played quite a bit better, KJ is more experienced and more decisive, AND Arizona played significantly worse than UCLA did.
(10-27-2019, 11:19 AM)needle Wrote: I feel like I've seen just enough of Colorado (first half against Oregon, fourth quarter against Nebraska) to have an ill-informed opinion. And I think they're a lot better than Arizona, fwiw. It's going to be a tough road game.
FWIW, they played on October 5 in Colorado, and Arizona won. Granted, how Colorado and Arizona are playing today may be different than it was then, but the result doesn't support your hypothesis.