09-05-2018, 04:16 PM
My two big concerns:
Our ILBs got crushed on straight up run plays. BO had some great highlights but did not come off blocks up the middle. Fortunately, Lance saw it early and adjusted, bringing more heat and more bodies in the box. From there on we handled their O.
My personal pet peeve: The O line did not block as badly as the Love numbers would suggest. Look at the formations, D front and down and distance of those plays. They played their Aztec D with a freeman up the middle and he filled enormous holes opened by the line. Shaw ran against numbers, once again. It's satisfying when it works but mind-numbing when it doesn't. SDSU dared us to ran at those fronts and we kept doing it, just as in prior years. Shaw admitted post-game he was "stubborn" about running it and then went to the pass game. But it's not just run vs. pass. It's using sets and personnel to make the D defend the whole field. While our pass game eventually made them pay for running the Aztec safety and LBs at the line, the number of times we hit our head against the wall was truly remarkable. Against better pass defenses we will need to run from more diverse sets and circumstances. For some support, see SI's post-game take:
https://www.si.com/college-football/2018...bryce-love
Our ILBs got crushed on straight up run plays. BO had some great highlights but did not come off blocks up the middle. Fortunately, Lance saw it early and adjusted, bringing more heat and more bodies in the box. From there on we handled their O.
My personal pet peeve: The O line did not block as badly as the Love numbers would suggest. Look at the formations, D front and down and distance of those plays. They played their Aztec D with a freeman up the middle and he filled enormous holes opened by the line. Shaw ran against numbers, once again. It's satisfying when it works but mind-numbing when it doesn't. SDSU dared us to ran at those fronts and we kept doing it, just as in prior years. Shaw admitted post-game he was "stubborn" about running it and then went to the pass game. But it's not just run vs. pass. It's using sets and personnel to make the D defend the whole field. While our pass game eventually made them pay for running the Aztec safety and LBs at the line, the number of times we hit our head against the wall was truly remarkable. Against better pass defenses we will need to run from more diverse sets and circumstances. For some support, see SI's post-game take:
https://www.si.com/college-football/2018...bryce-love