[msqueri]

4. The hardest question for me right now is whether this poor defensive performance is who we are on that side of the ball. Defense has clearly been a brighter spot than offense this year and there have been signs of improvement and young talent an optimist would want to latch on to. But as the season nears its final stretch it's looking very likely this will now be the sixth straight pretty crappy Lance Anderson defense. How much of that is having to play with a crummy hand due to the ineptitude of the offense? Going forward, how much of it will be having several key defenders in the middle of the defense out with injury? I think it's a fair amount for both, making the defense harder to evaluate than the offense. Put another way, the offense stunk all season while the defense had a stretch in the middle of the season that looked a bit better before it succumbed to its destiny. Ultimately it's pretty bad though. This was Washington State's first time breaking 500 yard of offense in the last three seasons and 7.14 yards per play is the third highest they've had in that span. Even excluding the scoop and score, they had 3.75 points per drive, which made the Washington State offense (#77 in points per drive) look like the Washington offense (#7 in points per drive).

5. I do think losing Fields, Miezan, Williamson, and Damuni on the first few plays of the game nuked the game plan. We went into the game counting on those guys to defend the run and then otherwise for the defense to focus on the pass-happy Cougar style. Without those guys we had walk-ons and very poor players manning the middle. The result was ugly. Washington State came into the game averaging 83 rushing yards per game and 3.45 yards per carry. Against us, they had 306 yards rushing and 8.05 yards per carry. That is more than double the rushing yards the Cougs have had in any game this year. At no point in the last 14 seasons has Washington State had a single game against any opponent (even FCS) with either that many rushing yards or that high of a yards per carry. (I didn't care enough to go back to see if it's ever happened in history) Read all those numbers again. We're all probably inured to how bad Stanford's run defense has been in recent years but that's special to let one of the worst rushing teams in the nation do that to you. Injuries can't excuse that performance, but Fields, Miezan, and Damuni being out was debilitating for run defense. Those are key parts of what we do (albeit not well) in that phase. Because the Cougs typically have a weak run game, I think a plausible alternative reality exists in which we're just mediocre enough against the run with those guys and don't give up the brobdingnagian plays up the middle (or maybe just one or two of them) that Washington State hinges on the pass like they normally do. Just as it was against UCLA, pass defense was the relative bright spot of the game for us. I'd say it was straight-up good - the fourth lowest passer rating, third lowest yards per attempt, third lowest passing yards, and second lowest completion percentage any defense has allowed to the Cougs this year. It was one of our three best pass defense games of the year, along with the Oregon and Notre Dame games. The problem is that without a modicum of run defense Washington State could have their way with us regardless. I could buy an argument that the defense turns in a mediocre performance last night if it had the personnel to execute it.

6. I have less patience for any notion that not having the personnel to execute is defensible. Injuries happen in football and, before that really unfortunate 2-3 play stretch our defense had been relatively healthy this year. As Shaw has said all year, when you have injuries it comes down to the depth to overcome them. It's on the coaches that the drop-off from Miezan, Damuni, Fields, and Williamson to Jorgensen, Kaul, Gilman, and Slocum was so disastrous. When you recruit three scholarship linebackers in a three year stretch and they all suck, you don't get to complain that your starting linebackers getting injured is debilitating. Sadly, it does look like a LB calamity will be our future for years to come, as the three young guys do appear to suck if they couldn't even get an opportunity yesterday. Horrifying that three starting linebackers can all be gone and Dubre, a seemingly quality recruit near the end of his second year, gets two snaps in garbage time. Also very troubling that in one of the last four games of the year, meaning that all players who have not yet played this year now automatically get to count it as a redshirt, neither Hudson nor Rose is football-ready to see the field. Jorgensen and Kaul have made a lot for themselves as guys who came in as walk-ons. This isn't their fault (in fact Jorgensen had two big run stops, which is usually about what we can expect from Damuni, and Kaul broke up a pass). It falls squarely on the recruiting and player development that made us have to play them a combined 76 snaps. It's also a recruiting issue when you have to rely on a player like Gilman at safety.

7. I do have some nice things to say about individual defenders. McGill got beat for a touchdown in garbage time by a backup QB making his debut, but three pass breakups (one in the red zone) against Ward is big-time. I wouldn't be surprised if the Coug game plan was to pick on McGill, and he didn't let them (Turner-Muhammad on the other hand....). He also forced a punt by being an annoying pissant and drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that forced a punt rather than going for it on 4th and short. And it's clearer and clearer that the best talent on this team are the true freshmen edge guys. PFF assessed Bailey as having a Jekyll and Hyde game, but in terms of sheer number of big plays he was clearly the standout Cardinal of the day - a 3rd down stop in the red zone spoiled by Gilman's penalty, a forced fumble and gigantic 19 yard loss that made a punt inevitable, a tackle for loss and another run stop, and a QB hurry to force an incomplete pass. He's a beast. [He did have a roughing the passer thanks to acting from Ward and maybe a bit of a makeup call for the previous play's love tap] Cooper forced a 4th down with a tackle (not his fault STM then gave up the touchdown) and forced two punts (a stop for no gain on 3rd and 4 and a QB hurry on 3rd and 5). I think they're easily the two best players on the roster adjusted for age. And we got a glimpse of their classmate Tafiti getting his first action and it will be nice to see more of him going forward. Also in the true freshman getting his feet wet category, I was delighted to see one of my favorite recent recruits, Collin Wright, look like a guy who will start at Stanford as long as he's eligible (i.e., I think he should start as a redshirt freshman next year and is already markedly better than Gilman).

[msqueri]

4. The hardest question for me right now is whether this poor defensive performance is who we are on that side of the ball. Defense has clearly been a brighter spot than offense this year and there have been signs of improvement and young talent an optimist would want to latch on to. But as the season nears its final stretch it's looking very likely this will now be the sixth straight pretty crappy Lance Anderson defense. How much of that is having to play with a crummy hand due to the ineptitude of the offense? Going forward, how much of it will be having several key defenders in the middle of the defense out with injury? I think it's a fair amount for both, making the defense harder to evaluate than the offense. Put another way, the offense stunk all season while the defense had a stretch in the middle of the season that looked a bit better before it succumbed to its destiny. Ultimately it's pretty bad though. This was Washington State's first time breaking 500 yard of offense in the last three seasons and 7.14 yards per play is the third highest they've had in that span. Even excluding the scoop and score, they had 3.75 points per drive, which made the Washington State offense (#77 in points per drive) look like the Washington offense (#7 in points per drive).

5. I do think losing Fields, Miezan, Williamson, and Damuni on the first few plays of the game nuked the game plan. We went into the game counting on those guys to defend the run and then otherwise for the defense to focus on the pass-happy Cougar style. Without those guys we had walk-ons and very poor players manning the middle. The result was ugly. Washington State came into the game averaging 83 rushing yards per game and 3.45 yards per carry. Against us, they had 306 yards rushing and 8.05 yards per carry. That is more than double the rushing yards the Cougs have had in any game this year. At no point in the last 14 seasons has Washington State had a single game against any opponent (even FCS) with either that many rushing yards or that high of a yards per carry. (I didn't care enough to go back to see if it's ever happened in history) Read all those numbers again. We're all probably inured to how bad Stanford's run defense has been in recent years but that's special to let one of the worst rushing teams in the nation do that to you. Injuries can't excuse that performance, but Fields, Miezan, and Damuni being out was debilitating for run defense. Those are key parts of what we do (albeit not well) in that phase. Because the Cougs typically have a weak run game, I think a plausible alternative reality exists in which we're just mediocre enough against the run with those guys and don't give up the brobdingnagian plays up the middle (or maybe just one or two of them) that Washington State hinges on the pass like they normally do. Just as it was against UCLA, pass defense was the relative bright spot of the game for us. I'd say it was straight-up good - the fourth lowest passer rating, third lowest yards per attempt, third lowest passing yards, and second lowest completion percentage any defense has allowed to the Cougs this year. It was one of our three best pass defense games of the year, along with the Oregon and Notre Dame games. The problem is that without a modicum of run defense Washington State could have their way with us regardless. I could buy an argument that the defense turns in a mediocre performance last night if it had the personnel to execute it.

6. I have less patience for any notion that not having the personnel to execute is defensible. Injuries happen in football and, before that really unfortunate 2-3 play stretch our defense had been relatively healthy this year. As Shaw has said all year, when you have injuries it comes down to the depth to overcome them. It's on the coaches that the drop-off from Miezan, Damuni, Fields, and Williamson to Jorgensen, Kaul, Gilman, and Slocum was so disastrous. When you recruit three scholarship linebackers in a three year stretch and they all suck, you don't get to complain that your starting linebackers getting injured is debilitating. Sadly, it does look like a LB calamity will be our future for years to come, as the three young guys do appear to suck if they couldn't even get an opportunity yesterday. Horrifying that three starting linebackers can all be gone and Dubre, a seemingly quality recruit near the end of his second year, gets two snaps in garbage time. Also very troubling that in one of the last four games of the year, meaning that all players who have not yet played this year now automatically get to count it as a redshirt, neither Hudson nor Rose is football-ready to see the field. Jorgensen and Kaul have made a lot for themselves as guys who came in as walk-ons. This isn't their fault (in fact Jorgensen had two big run stops, which is usually about what we can expect from Damuni, and Kaul broke up a pass). It falls squarely on the recruiting and player development that made us have to play them a combined 76 snaps. It's also a recruiting issue when you have to rely on a player like Gilman at safety.

7. I do have some nice things to say about individual defenders. McGill got beat for a touchdown in garbage time by a backup QB making his debut, but three pass breakups (one in the red zone) against Ward is big-time. I wouldn't be surprised if the Coug game plan was to pick on McGill, and he didn't let them (Turner-Muhammad on the other hand....). He also forced a punt by being an annoying pissant and drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that forced a punt rather than going for it on 4th and short. And it's clearer and clearer that the best talent on this team are the true freshmen edge guys. PFF assessed Bailey as having a Jekyll and Hyde game, but in terms of sheer number of big plays he was clearly the standout Cardinal of the day - a 3rd down stop in the red zone spoiled by Gilman's penalty, a forced fumble and gigantic 19 yard loss that made a punt inevitable, a tackle for loss and another run stop, and a QB hurry to force an incomplete pass. He's a beast. [He did have a roughing the passer thanks to acting from Ward and maybe a bit of a makeup call for the previous play's love tap] Cooper forced a 4th down with a tackle (not his fault STM then gave up the touchdown) and forced two punts (a stop for no gain on 3rd and 4 and a QB hurry on 3rd and 5). I think they're easily the two best players on the roster adjusted for age. And we got a glimpse of their classmate Tafiti getting his first action and it will be nice to see more of him going forward. Also in the true freshman getting his feet wet category, I was delighted to see one of my favorite recent recruits, Collin Wright, look like a guy who will start at Stanford as long as he's eligible (i.e., I think he should start as a redshirt freshman next year and is already markedly better than Gilman).