[CTcard]

Steering this thread back on course for a moment and living in the here & now, if that's allowed.......

As I see it, right now what ASU did is a recipe to beat us.

Maybe...but just because the recipe is there doesn't mean that everyone has the ingredients to pull it off. You really need to trust your corners, and you really need to have a front 7 that's quick, active, and physical enough to disrupt the QB. Not all defenses fit that bill. They can certainly try it, though.

(this offense really misses E.J. Smith, by the way...he gives the offense more looks and the defenses more things to think about...the sooner he's back on the field & effective, the better)

And I think you've got it right...there's no question to me that this offensive line is better at pass pro than run blocking right now (maybe much better). That's not a sentence I necessarily expected to be typing this season. With this receiving corps (though those ranks seem to be thinning) and this QB, that means big plays...but it also means it's tough to get the little plays you need to stay on schedule & move the chains. As much as I've come to love watching McKee sling the rock, this offense won't be at its full potential until that turns around.

Appreciate you listening!

Troy C

(now, back to the thread drift and throwbacks.....)

ASU's recipe for beating Stanford was beating us up on both lines. That's not particularly deep or insightful, but is devastatingly effective. In fact, it kind of reminded me of 2013 in the inverse. Going into the conference championship game there was all sorts of talk about how ASU had switched up schemes and had clever plays to get Stanford the second go-round. Didn't matter. Stanford just mauled them again along both lines and fancy plans were irrelevant.

Stanford's OL does appear to be better at pass blocking than run blocking, though mostly because run blocking is so bad. That has pretty much been the case since 2018, maybe 2017. Cause and effect is impossible to disentangle, but abandoning the run has gone along with that development. Stanford has the fewest run attempts per game in the conference, and the gap between 11 and 12 is bigger than any of the other gaps between adjacently ranked teams. Stanford hasn't ranked in the top half of the conference in run attempts per game since 2016, hasn't been above 10th since 2017. Stanford was also 10th or worse in yds/att in 2018-2020. Now all the way up to 8th, only because several teams cannot run. There is a brobdingnagian gap to 7th.

Stanford's pass blocking is only okay. They're 7th in the conference in sacks given up per game, and have on balance played a tougher schedule than anyone else. Gave up 5 sacks to ASU and McKee was constantly under pressure. ASU's defensive backfield did play pretty well. McKee was often trying to connect with closely covered receivers. However, part of that was that McKee had little time - so sometimes he chose the wrong target, other times another second would have allowed the receiver to come open.

[CTcard]

Steering this thread back on course for a moment and living in the here & now, if that's allowed.......

As I see it, right now what ASU did is a recipe to beat us.

Maybe...but just because the recipe is there doesn't mean that everyone has the ingredients to pull it off. You really need to trust your corners, and you really need to have a front 7 that's quick, active, and physical enough to disrupt the QB. Not all defenses fit that bill. They can certainly try it, though.

(this offense really misses E.J. Smith, by the way...he gives the offense more looks and the defenses more things to think about...the sooner he's back on the field & effective, the better)

And I think you've got it right...there's no question to me that this offensive line is better at pass pro than run blocking right now (maybe much better). That's not a sentence I necessarily expected to be typing this season. With this receiving corps (though those ranks seem to be thinning) and this QB, that means big plays...but it also means it's tough to get the little plays you need to stay on schedule & move the chains. As much as I've come to love watching McKee sling the rock, this offense won't be at its full potential until that turns around.

Appreciate you listening!

Troy C

(now, back to the thread drift and throwbacks.....)

ASU's recipe for beating Stanford was beating us up on both lines. That's not particularly deep or insightful, but is devastatingly effective. In fact, it kind of reminded me of 2013 in the inverse. Going into the conference championship game there was all sorts of talk about how ASU had switched up schemes and had clever plays to get Stanford the second go-round. Didn't matter. Stanford just mauled them again along both lines and fancy plans were irrelevant.

Stanford's OL does appear to be better at pass blocking than run blocking, though mostly because run blocking is so bad. That has pretty much been the case since 2018, maybe 2017. Cause and effect is impossible to disentangle, but abandoning the run has gone along with that development. Stanford has the fewest run attempts per game in the conference, and the gap between 11 and 12 is bigger than any of the other gaps between adjacently ranked teams. Stanford hasn't ranked in the top half of the conference in run attempts per game since 2016, hasn't been above 10th since 2017. Stanford was also 10th or worse in yds/att in 2018-2020. Now all the way up to 8th, only because several teams cannot run. There is a brobdingnagian gap to 7th.

Stanford's pass blocking is only okay. They're 7th in the conference in sacks given up per game, and have on balance played a tougher schedule than anyone else. Gave up 5 sacks to ASU and McKee was constantly under pressure. ASU's defensive backfield did play pretty well. McKee was often trying to connect with closely covered receivers. However, part of that was that McKee had little time - so sometimes he chose the wrong target, other times another second would have allowed the receiver to come open.