09-17-2018, 12:05 PM
Haven't spoken to any coaches about this, but I've spoken to a couple of recent ex-players in the last couple of months on this topic. They have both said the talent and coaching are there, but that it does take this unit time to jell.
I think that the injuries have compounded this problem. I also think that at the start of the season it was reasonable for opponents to assume that if they didn't stack the box, Love and our run game would kill them, so they opted to test Costello and the passing game. We saw what happened with SDSU when they attempted this, and certainly USC did this to a point. My own view was that the run game wasn't bad vs USC, and then of course we didn't have Love for UCD, and the other backs just aren't at Bryce's level right now. I also don't think that we have seen all of the cards (pardon the pun) that Pritchard and Shaw will eventually show when running the ball - I haven't seen much if any jet sweeps, reverses etc.
FWIW, I don't have any numbers to back this up, but by my eye pass protection has been good.
I think that the injuries have compounded this problem. I also think that at the start of the season it was reasonable for opponents to assume that if they didn't stack the box, Love and our run game would kill them, so they opted to test Costello and the passing game. We saw what happened with SDSU when they attempted this, and certainly USC did this to a point. My own view was that the run game wasn't bad vs USC, and then of course we didn't have Love for UCD, and the other backs just aren't at Bryce's level right now. I also don't think that we have seen all of the cards (pardon the pun) that Pritchard and Shaw will eventually show when running the ball - I haven't seen much if any jet sweeps, reverses etc.
FWIW, I don't have any numbers to back this up, but by my eye pass protection has been good.