The offense would have been fine without the turnovers. Crazy how ~80 yards of offense can be negated by a single turnover...and doubly so if you give up a 100 yd pick six. How often do you see a pick six go 100 yds? Sigh.
Given what I presume are debilitating injuries to the OL, I think you have to heavily feature misdirection as an offensive coordinator. I'm not sure that's in David Shaw's DNA, and I'm not sure Tav Pritchard is up to the job. I do appreciate the newfound passing game, but KJ often throws the ball into double- or triple-coverage, banking on accuracy and the hands of JJAW + tight ends. When it doesn't happen...you can give up INTs. I did see some check down throws this time, which was heartening, but Utah made better use of intermediate routes -- Stanford could use a game manager approach and take those 6 yd crossing routes instead of the 20 yd JJAW/tight end routes.
The announcers were talking about how we should expect KJ to keep the ball anytime now given how the defense was flowing to the RB...haha, what do the announcers know...
Our front seven were getting caved in regularly. This is a problem, and I'm guessing it has to do with them staying on the field longer and more often. The alternative explanation is that we're just not good at defending a man-blocking rushing attack. Utah certainly showed that they were good at defending a zone-blocking rush--a LB would find an unblocked gap, or the backside edge rusher would get the RB. Sigh.
KJ has to make quicker decisions and be more decisive. The double-clutching and long reads are not helping the OL or the sack numbers. It means more shorter routes for the receivers and maybe cleverer route combinations. Clever hasn't been an evident quality of the offense lately. In fact, it's been notably missing.
Did Buncom get victimized twice? No help on the 4th and 2 resulting in a 35 yd TD, and couldn't stay with the receiver on the almost-sack that put the game really out of reach. Sigh. Fewer defensive snaps and less time on the field might help, but those were two single points of failure for 14 pts.
Check out this recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP4zG_Mb2Qw
One more thing: I'm starting to doubt the ability of certain coaches to actually coach. I don't think that recruiting is the issue, as others have begun to posit. We have talent, and we have smarter talent at that. We need coaches to actually elevate their game. IMO, Duane Akina is the king of coaches for his ability to turn talent into production on the field. I've not really seen that at the QB position since Harbs/Luck. I feel like Hogan was a completely self-made talent who coached himself into the NFL (where he was coached to throw better pretty much immediately, ahem). We're doing pretty well with the tight ends and linebackers right now. Ron Gould and Diron Reynolds at RB and DL seem to be doing ok, but I can't really tell cause they're recent-ish hires. If you lack QB/OL coaching, you're kind of sunk. Raw talent gets you almost nowhere there. Raw talent at WR/DB can mask a lot of issues...not so at QB/OL. We need some good coaches there.
Given what I presume are debilitating injuries to the OL, I think you have to heavily feature misdirection as an offensive coordinator. I'm not sure that's in David Shaw's DNA, and I'm not sure Tav Pritchard is up to the job. I do appreciate the newfound passing game, but KJ often throws the ball into double- or triple-coverage, banking on accuracy and the hands of JJAW + tight ends. When it doesn't happen...you can give up INTs. I did see some check down throws this time, which was heartening, but Utah made better use of intermediate routes -- Stanford could use a game manager approach and take those 6 yd crossing routes instead of the 20 yd JJAW/tight end routes.
The announcers were talking about how we should expect KJ to keep the ball anytime now given how the defense was flowing to the RB...haha, what do the announcers know...
Our front seven were getting caved in regularly. This is a problem, and I'm guessing it has to do with them staying on the field longer and more often. The alternative explanation is that we're just not good at defending a man-blocking rushing attack. Utah certainly showed that they were good at defending a zone-blocking rush--a LB would find an unblocked gap, or the backside edge rusher would get the RB. Sigh.
KJ has to make quicker decisions and be more decisive. The double-clutching and long reads are not helping the OL or the sack numbers. It means more shorter routes for the receivers and maybe cleverer route combinations. Clever hasn't been an evident quality of the offense lately. In fact, it's been notably missing.
Did Buncom get victimized twice? No help on the 4th and 2 resulting in a 35 yd TD, and couldn't stay with the receiver on the almost-sack that put the game really out of reach. Sigh. Fewer defensive snaps and less time on the field might help, but those were two single points of failure for 14 pts.
Check out this recap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP4zG_Mb2Qw
One more thing: I'm starting to doubt the ability of certain coaches to actually coach. I don't think that recruiting is the issue, as others have begun to posit. We have talent, and we have smarter talent at that. We need coaches to actually elevate their game. IMO, Duane Akina is the king of coaches for his ability to turn talent into production on the field. I've not really seen that at the QB position since Harbs/Luck. I feel like Hogan was a completely self-made talent who coached himself into the NFL (where he was coached to throw better pretty much immediately, ahem). We're doing pretty well with the tight ends and linebackers right now. Ron Gould and Diron Reynolds at RB and DL seem to be doing ok, but I can't really tell cause they're recent-ish hires. If you lack QB/OL coaching, you're kind of sunk. Raw talent gets you almost nowhere there. Raw talent at WR/DB can mask a lot of issues...not so at QB/OL. We need some good coaches there.