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The way to beat the Cougars - OutsiderFan - 10-27-2018

If Lance Anderson has earned his keep this week, he will have spent a good deal of time watching the game video from when WSU last came to the Bay Area and had their asses handed to them by Cal in Berkeley in 2017.

The key to stopping that offense is quick pressure on the QB that isn't telegraphed at the snap. You must bring 4 guys on virtually every play, but also must drop some guys that look like they are coming and bring others from different directions that don't. You must drop DL and OLB into coverage and bring Safeties and Corners to keep the QB off balance.  Don't ever give him the same looks, and NEVER only rush 3 guys to drop 8 into coverage, because the QB will always find and usually hit a receiver given the space they create on the field. Stanford has no chance if Anderson plays a basic front.  I might even go with some one DL formations, with 6 DBs, 2 ILBs, 1 DL, and two OLBs. Invite the Cougs to run, and put your best pass defense on the field, with lots of blitz packages.

On offense, watch what BC did to Miami last night.  Lots of first down passing out of run-heavy formations.  And switch up to tempo to keep the defense off balance.  Hopefully run some of those screen passes that worked so well against ASU, minus the penalties fo course.

This game will test David Shaw and staff's ability as coaches, and frankly, it really does determine where Stanford is in the Pac-12 North pecking order.  Is Washington State a better football program than Stanford? If they win, I say yes, as it will be three wins in a row, and WSU will likely finish ahead of Stanford in the standings in 2 of the last 3 seasons.

Things can always change, but Leach has caught up to and maybe surpassed David Shaw. It's time for Shaw to raise/evolve his game to stave Leach off, or be supplanted by him. The recriminations will begin if Shaw loses tonight.  That's what happens when you get paid $4M/year and are 5-3. There are no excuses.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - Hulk01 - 10-27-2018

Agreed re the defense.  Don't show Minshaw the same stuff.  He's a much better thrower than a thinker.

Yes, I'd all but bench Dylan Jackson.  You need quickness--Reid, --off the edge. 
Lots of nickel--hell, mostly nickel. 
You can play nickel LBs--half safety, half ILB--with both Barton and Okereke.
They're fast enough.

They are a rhythm offense: they get one good long drive and another follows, and often another.
You have to disrupt that.
They get out of rhythm, too.

Screw with the bubbles, their version of a sweep.  Pull a Meeks and steal one of those throws, or make Minshaw afraid that you can.  A pick on that throw is a Pick-Six.

This isn't a bad matchup for our defense--if we sit Jackson much of the time.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - Austroturf - 10-27-2018

I am questioning the effectiveness of blitzing.  It worked on Falk, because he was slower to get rid of the ball.  So far this season, Minshew has only been sacked 5 times due to his really quick release.  Agree on all the other points above.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - JPR36 - 10-27-2018

Yeah, it is pretty hard to argue that the Cougs get better talent than we do, so if they beat us three years in a row, you probably could draw some conclusions about the relative skills of the coaching staffs.

lex24 - lex24 - 10-27-2018

Football is a game of matchups. WSU has matched up well last few years. Not because of their offense. But because of their defense. Quick fronts that blitz a lot give Stanford fits. Also, as Hulk said, this is a tempo game. If it’s played fast, it will be a very long day. Stanford can’t go three and out after WSU scores. If they get in a rhythm they will put 21 on you quick.

Problem is, Stanford has shown no ability to control the ball with their running game. That was the key to beating two great Oregon teams in ‘12 and especially ‘13. Somehow Stanford has to sustain drives today. They have not shown the ability to do that this year. They start today. Or they get drilled.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - Hulk01 - 10-27-2018

This isn't a quick-strike WSU team.  They're Stanford 2013, but with short passes rather than runs, lots of 10-12 yards drives that take over four minutes.

They're efficient rather than explosive.  Lots of good plays, not a lot of big ones.  

Maybe they've jelled and do have an excellent offense.  But the idea of them as offensive wizards under Leach seems bizarre to me; he's doing the same thing he's tried for about a decade, save an occasional weird formation that no one has ever tried before, for good reason.  They've been an average offensive team for most of the last five years.

Add to it the fact he is a jackass and I hope we crush them.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - Austroturf - 10-27-2018

(10-27-2018, 09:51 AM)Hulk01 Wrote:  This isn't a quick-strike WSU team.  They're Stanford 2013, but with short passes rather than runs, lots of 10-12 yards drives that take over four minutes.

They're efficient rather than explosive.  Lots of good plays, not a lot of big ones.  

Maybe they've jelled and do have an excellent offense.  The idea they've had many under Leach seems bizarre to me; he's doing the same thing he's tried for about a decade, save an occasional weird formation that no one has ever tried before, for good reason.

Add to it the fact he is a jackass and I hope we crush them.

Yes, I truly hope Shaw is smugly smiling at the post-game presser after having given a bit of payback for the last two years.  For that to happen, Shaw will need to put together something we haven't seen all season.  I hope he sees winning this game as a point of pride, not just any old W in his record.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - OutsiderFan - 10-27-2018

Since I didn't see the WSU game, can someone tell me how Stanford played defense today, and if it in any way resembled what I was hoping to see?

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - JPR36 - 10-27-2018

(10-27-2018, 07:39 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote:  Since I didn't see the WSU game, can someone tell me how Stanford played defense today, and if it in any way resembled what I was hoping to see?

I didn't see the game either, but whatever they did worked reasonably well for most of the first half and then collapsed. Those who saw the game said the tackling was atrocious.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - Vandelay - 10-27-2018

(10-27-2018, 07:39 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote:  Since I didn't see the WSU game, can someone tell me how Stanford played defense today, and if it in any way resembled what I was hoping to see?
The defense was complete and utter crap!  Does that answer your question?

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - OutsiderFan - 10-27-2018

(10-27-2018, 07:51 PM)Vandelay Wrote:  
(10-27-2018, 07:39 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote:  Since I didn't see the WSU game, can someone tell me how Stanford played defense today, and if it in any way resembled what I was hoping to see?
The defense was complete and utter crap!  Does that answer your question?

No, it does not. Read the original post in the thread, and try again.

RE: The way to beat the Cougars - BostonCard - 10-27-2018

No, the defense largely failed to get to Minshew, though a couple of times he was pressured to throw it away.  That was not for lack of trying... we did a mix of blitzing, but Minshew can get the ball out of his hands within three seconds; no amount of pressure fixes that.

The failure of the defense was largely a tackling failure.  Time and again we had a dB with a chance to tackle the WSU receiver for a loss or short gain on their bubble screens, and time and again the receiver would make our guy miss and turn a two yard gain into a twelve yard gain. Our safeties and Holder were repeatedly victimized.

In the past when we were able to stuff WSU it was because our guys could tackle in space.  Today we could not.

BC