10-23-2022, 01:02 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-23-2022, 01:22 PM by BostonCard.)
At 27.4 ppg, we have the seventh best (or fifth worst) scoring defense in the PAC-12, but considering we’ve played the best offense (Oregon), and three of the top four (Washington and USC are tied for third), and that ASU is the only below the median offense we’ve faced, that’s not too bad.
On the other hand, at 25.1 ppg, we have the eighth best scoring offense in the pac-12, but of our conference opponents,only two (USC and OSU) have been better than the median, while Oregon, ASU, and Washington rank 8th through 10th respectively.
Bottom line is that the defense is about as good as we could have reasonably hoped for going into the season and the offense is as bad as we could have feared.
BC
I don’t know that I would qualify yesterdays game as “bend but don’t break”. We had four sacks and 10 TFL’s, but gave up a bunch of chunk plays (four 30 yard plays). ASU completed 14/26 passes, which is just over 50%, but they got 227 yards out of the completions (16.2 yards per catch). To me, bend but don’t break avoids those big plays but let’s the opponent methodically advance down the field. What we saw yesterday was the opposite. ASU either struck it big on offense or struck out. To wit, 355 yards yielded only 19 first downs (one first down for every 19 yards), while Stanford got 28 first downs on 398 yards (14.2 yards per first down). That’s how ASU easily got more yards per play, while Stanford got more total yards.
When I think of “bend but don’t break” defense, I envision what ASU did to Stanford. ASU had two 75 yard touchdown drives, which it got in 6 and 7 plays. Stanford had seven(!) drives with more than 7 plays; we only got 15 points out of them.
BC
On the other hand, at 25.1 ppg, we have the eighth best scoring offense in the pac-12, but of our conference opponents,only two (USC and OSU) have been better than the median, while Oregon, ASU, and Washington rank 8th through 10th respectively.
Bottom line is that the defense is about as good as we could have reasonably hoped for going into the season and the offense is as bad as we could have feared.
BC
I don’t know that I would qualify yesterdays game as “bend but don’t break”. We had four sacks and 10 TFL’s, but gave up a bunch of chunk plays (four 30 yard plays). ASU completed 14/26 passes, which is just over 50%, but they got 227 yards out of the completions (16.2 yards per catch). To me, bend but don’t break avoids those big plays but let’s the opponent methodically advance down the field. What we saw yesterday was the opposite. ASU either struck it big on offense or struck out. To wit, 355 yards yielded only 19 first downs (one first down for every 19 yards), while Stanford got 28 first downs on 398 yards (14.2 yards per first down). That’s how ASU easily got more yards per play, while Stanford got more total yards.
When I think of “bend but don’t break” defense, I envision what ASU did to Stanford. ASU had two 75 yard touchdown drives, which it got in 6 and 7 plays. Stanford had seven(!) drives with more than 7 plays; we only got 15 points out of them.
BC