[81alum]

Well, it is clear now that our defense is good when healthy and mediocre when not.  But with a few injuries it seems we do not have as much quality depth as we hoped.  Still, if our offense controlled the ball more, as it did during our first two games, our defense is good enough to put us in a position to win.

So while the defense is a mixed bag, there is nothing mixed about our offense.  Our receiving corps is probably better, but everything else has degraded.  Our quarterback is capable but inexperienced and we are seeing exactly how damaging that is in this kind of offensive scheme.  Todd Husak pointed out frequent broken coverages by WSU that Burns simply did not see.  Getting the game to slow down to the point you can see the whole field and take advantage of defensive mistakes is something that does not happen instantly.  Even so, Burns looks like he can be capable enough provided we are running a balanced offense.

So let's be absolutely clear.  The last two games have been a disaster because the opposing defensive coordinators were able to lock down our running game.  All those offensive linemen did not suddenly become incompetent between one game and the next--it cannot ALL be execution.  This is scheme in some way.  Opposing coaches are deliberately exploiting something they see in our scheme.  I'm not competent to say what it is--whether it is run blitzes or overstacked boxes or whatever.  We simply must find a way to counter whatever it is they are doing, and it is not enough to say that we just need to play better.  We don't seem to have a Murphy or a Garnett to take off the shelf.

[81alum]

Well, it is clear now that our defense is good when healthy and mediocre when not.  But with a few injuries it seems we do not have as much quality depth as we hoped.  Still, if our offense controlled the ball more, as it did during our first two games, our defense is good enough to put us in a position to win.

So while the defense is a mixed bag, there is nothing mixed about our offense.  Our receiving corps is probably better, but everything else has degraded.  Our quarterback is capable but inexperienced and we are seeing exactly how damaging that is in this kind of offensive scheme.  Todd Husak pointed out frequent broken coverages by WSU that Burns simply did not see.  Getting the game to slow down to the point you can see the whole field and take advantage of defensive mistakes is something that does not happen instantly.  Even so, Burns looks like he can be capable enough provided we are running a balanced offense.

So let's be absolutely clear.  The last two games have been a disaster because the opposing defensive coordinators were able to lock down our running game.  All those offensive linemen did not suddenly become incompetent between one game and the next--it cannot ALL be execution.  This is scheme in some way.  Opposing coaches are deliberately exploiting something they see in our scheme.  I'm not competent to say what it is--whether it is run blitzes or overstacked boxes or whatever.  We simply must find a way to counter whatever it is they are doing, and it is not enough to say that we just need to play better.  We don't seem to have a Murphy or a Garnett to take off the shelf.