(10-29-2011, 10:08 PM)garvin link Wrote:** The answer to that question is linked to a third -- what was an unheralded U.SC defensive front doing that made our juggernaut offensive line look so impotent for long stretches of the game? Luck was sacked twice and while the running backs racked up 151 yards, 35 of them came during overtime.
The same thing happened last year. My theory is threefold:
1) we fell into the 2009 Big Game trap. Our, at least, my interpretation of it. 2009 Big Game we trapped ourselves into thinking we were only a power running team and overcommitted to the run on first down, which when stuffed forced us predictably into the pass. That allows the defensive line to go all out on the pass rush, and allows the defensive staff to call much more stuff. Notice how much stunting they were calling against our offensive line? Can't do that if you think your opponent might run the ball, or might be effective with a screen. We tried doing a few screens throughout the game but this wasn't particularly effective. Fortunately we talked ourselves out of the trap and put it on #12. Look at the game play-by-play and you'll notice that starting at the first TD drive of the 3rd quarter, Stanford either throws it almost every time on first down, or calls a running play that counters the typical power stuff. Unfortunately we never called a play action on first down that I can recall.
2) the giving-a-shit theory. I've watched a fair number of 'SCs games this season, and I can't recall SC looking this good. The same thing was true last year. I think SC just gives more of a shit against us than they do against everyone else, and there's good reason--they always had trouble motivating their players consistently even during the glory days, so naturally motivation is hard to come by most of the time when they have literally nothing to play for.
3) field position. As a cause of Williamson's late scratch, we were consistently poor on kickoffs, which often meant we started possession behind our twenty. We had 6 of 13 drives start behind our 20 yard line. That obviously redounds to the defense's advantage. Recall that the sack/fumble happened behind our own twenty. Of course, this raises questions as to why our backup couldn't even make even decent kickoffs, but thus far Polian's escaped scrutiny for nearly everything else, so *shrug*.
Lastly, while the win might not exactly inspire confidence, recall that nearly every recent title-appearing team has had shaky moments. In 2008 Florida and Oklahoma both had a loss, so there you go. In 2009 'Bama made it because they got a nice block from Terrence Cody; Texas was oh-so-close to losing to a mediocre Nebraska team in the Big 12 Championship game. In 2010 Auburn's picaresque was pretty well-chronicled, and Oregon had close calls against us and, in particular, against 59ers and their wayward extra-point kicker. So, you know, deep breaths.
If it makes you all feel better, we held Barkley nearly a yard-and-a-half below his yards per attempt average at home.
