[Roberton3]

It came up in a discussion of  whether Shaw was a "conservative" in offensive philosophy,  but on the Booty a former Stanford offensive lineman did a wonderful primer on how a "Power" running play works.  His thesis was --despite its macho name "Power"-- that an actual "power ' running play is complex and risky.  Lots of things have to happen and happen at exactly at the right time.  Power depends on moving guys to the point of attack,  almost by definition a pulling guard from the opposite side from where the play is designed to go and a fullback/blocking back to be engaging defenders in the same area, both leading the ball carrier.  He also detailed what happens if specific things don't happen at the right time.    I'd bet significant money that was what we were seeing, and not just when we tried classic "Power". 

We seldom could achieve a man advantage at any point of attack because SJSU was selling out to stop the run.  Filling the gaps, bringing up the safeties in run support.  And we didn't have the pass protection or passing game to make them pay. Link that to the fact that apparently we weren't decisively winning many of the individual battles and...well, we saw the result.  Given those OL deficits Taylor was heroic.

Todd Husak,  former Stanford QB and broadcast man, pointed out a couple of times how Wilkes just wasn't fast enough on power and his opponent had already achieved position at the planned point of attack before Wilkes arrived.  I don't think Wilkes alone was the problem, but it's the one that stood out as the announcing team tried to describe why the run game wasn't working.  Maybe moving Yankey back to OG is the part of the answer...which means that Peat or Murphy or Austin at LT.  Maybe Garnett coming in at the other OG.  Or,  maybe it's all gonna work out.  Just first game discombobulation.

There also were a number of times that SJSU had two defenders -- a linebacker and a safety -- heading for the hole, and the pulling guard blocked the wrong one.  In those situations, you want the pulling guard to take out the linebacker, and let Taylor bull his way through the safety.  DeCastro was really good at that.  Instead, the pulling guard took out the safety, and Taylor wasn't able to run through the linebacker the same way he could run through a safety.

[Roberton3]

It came up in a discussion of  whether Shaw was a "conservative" in offensive philosophy,  but on the Booty a former Stanford offensive lineman did a wonderful primer on how a "Power" running play works.  His thesis was --despite its macho name "Power"-- that an actual "power ' running play is complex and risky.  Lots of things have to happen and happen at exactly at the right time.  Power depends on moving guys to the point of attack,  almost by definition a pulling guard from the opposite side from where the play is designed to go and a fullback/blocking back to be engaging defenders in the same area, both leading the ball carrier.  He also detailed what happens if specific things don't happen at the right time.    I'd bet significant money that was what we were seeing, and not just when we tried classic "Power". 

We seldom could achieve a man advantage at any point of attack because SJSU was selling out to stop the run.  Filling the gaps, bringing up the safeties in run support.  And we didn't have the pass protection or passing game to make them pay. Link that to the fact that apparently we weren't decisively winning many of the individual battles and...well, we saw the result.  Given those OL deficits Taylor was heroic.

Todd Husak,  former Stanford QB and broadcast man, pointed out a couple of times how Wilkes just wasn't fast enough on power and his opponent had already achieved position at the planned point of attack before Wilkes arrived.  I don't think Wilkes alone was the problem, but it's the one that stood out as the announcing team tried to describe why the run game wasn't working.  Maybe moving Yankey back to OG is the part of the answer...which means that Peat or Murphy or Austin at LT.  Maybe Garnett coming in at the other OG.  Or,  maybe it's all gonna work out.  Just first game discombobulation.

There also were a number of times that SJSU had two defenders -- a linebacker and a safety -- heading for the hole, and the pulling guard blocked the wrong one.  In those situations, you want the pulling guard to take out the linebacker, and let Taylor bull his way through the safety.  DeCastro was really good at that.  Instead, the pulling guard took out the safety, and Taylor wasn't able to run through the linebacker the same way he could run through a safety.