Great write up, and as well documented in that write up, in the Palouse, our O was epically bad and our D was epically (to a slight degree more) great.
Looking at our season games so far, and lumping them into crude assessment buckets, my take is:
Win
Beatdown Loss
Competitive Loss
Competitive Loss
Beatdown Loss
(bye)
Win
Beatdown Loss
Competitive Loss
Win
So my assessment is a seemingly contradictory conclusion: Yes team is improved. No they are not on a discernable upward trend.
And this from someone who is so appreciative of the heart and character and commitment of both the players and coaching staff.
To explain:
The team is improved because they have shown, for both Offense like in Colorado game, and Defense in Wash State game, that they can play really well at a highly competitive level.
The problem with declaring a trend, is that a trend seems to imply a predictability of the next event, in this case the next game vs. OSU.
However, in spite of the examples of great play that have been shown possible, I do not have confidence (like if I were a betting man) as to which team will show up at OSU.
If our Colorado-game-Offense shows up, and our WashSt-game-Defense shows up too, then Yes surely on an upward trend.
But if the WashSt-game-Offense shows up, along with the not-long-ago UCLA-game-Defense, then it seems more likely there is no trend.
Only evidence that at times our guys can play great, but other times, extremely not so, and hard to know which will show up on any given Saturday.
This being said, I repeat my comment that Kudos due to Coach TT, Coach April, other staff, and the Gutsy players. For taking a brutally decimated roster so thin on much veteran experience, and turning it into a team already matching last year's wins, with 3 games yet to go! (assuming no bowl as I don't want to be accused of being a crazy person)
Looking at our season games so far, and lumping them into crude assessment buckets, my take is:
Win
Beatdown Loss
Competitive Loss
Competitive Loss
Beatdown Loss
(bye)
Win
Beatdown Loss
Competitive Loss
Win
So my assessment is a seemingly contradictory conclusion: Yes team is improved. No they are not on a discernable upward trend.
And this from someone who is so appreciative of the heart and character and commitment of both the players and coaching staff.
To explain:
The team is improved because they have shown, for both Offense like in Colorado game, and Defense in Wash State game, that they can play really well at a highly competitive level.
The problem with declaring a trend, is that a trend seems to imply a predictability of the next event, in this case the next game vs. OSU.
However, in spite of the examples of great play that have been shown possible, I do not have confidence (like if I were a betting man) as to which team will show up at OSU.
If our Colorado-game-Offense shows up, and our WashSt-game-Defense shows up too, then Yes surely on an upward trend.
But if the WashSt-game-Offense shows up, along with the not-long-ago UCLA-game-Defense, then it seems more likely there is no trend.
Only evidence that at times our guys can play great, but other times, extremely not so, and hard to know which will show up on any given Saturday.
This being said, I repeat my comment that Kudos due to Coach TT, Coach April, other staff, and the Gutsy players. For taking a brutally decimated roster so thin on much veteran experience, and turning it into a team already matching last year's wins, with 3 games yet to go! (assuming no bowl as I don't want to be accused of being a crazy person)