10-06-2012, 10:20 PM
As usual, better write-up than the AP. Some additional random thoughts:
- this game is some bad foreshadowing for the Oregon game
- our best defense against the pass seems to be having one of our tall lineman bat down the ball. Henry Anderson's play was brobdingnagian, as was Murphy's pick-six last week. Gardner got a couple this week too. Funny how some of the preseason talk was about how Stephens was a leader, and Gardner was a relentless beast, and Anderson was, uh, tall
- Thomas showed good hands coming down with that interception, usually the 3 defenders are so eager that they collide and botch that one
- our corners still give up way too much cushion, not sure if that is just our scheme, but unfortunately both our young bucks Carter and Lyons both allowed a lot of yardage today; they should of course improve with more experience; Lyons isn't quite a Thorpe award winner yet but you can see his potential and his closing speed (but please turn around in the future)Â
- not exactly sure who our defense is at this point; looked great against SC, mostly great against UW minus 2 brobdingnagian plays, and looked somewhat mediocre today (kind of like the 3rd quarter against San Jose State); still vulnerable to the quick pass, but also gave up a lot of rush yards today right up the middle as well after getting spread out
- we have put a lot of hits on quarterbacks particularly early in games, Barkley seemed perhaps the most rattled by this (how many licks does it take to get to the center of Matt Barkley? Apparently about 10), Price and Scott both seemed to hang in and continue to perform better
- I still hate the fade, but at least it failed on a 2-point conversion and not on one of our crucial 4th downs; Toilolo is 6'8" but he does not seem to be a great leaper which might help some of these plays
- Kelsey Young has got some jets; now we see why the coaches were raving
- the 4th and 1 false start against Arizona probably saved the game
- thankful for instant replay in college football, otherwise Terrell's third and 8 catch and fumble gets ruled incomplete and the game is probably lost as we are down 14 at the time with 8 minutes left (and Shaw was sending out the punt team -- why?)
- as much as I am rooting for Williamson, I am sure glad the game did not come down to him kicking the FG. His kickoff out of bounds when we needed another stop to get the ball back when we were down 7 was just maddening, but luckily we forced the 3 and out
- I was wondering if Shaw would have ran the ball 3 times and let Williamson kick a 40+ yarder; I was also wondering how crappy my day was going to be if we lost this game, thankfully I will never have to find out either of these things
- speaking of guys I feel bad for, hope Montgomery is okay (ankle injury?); the broadcast seemed to show him having words with a teammate (Ertz?) after his big fumble; wonder if he is feeling some of the pressure from his big dropped passes in previous games
- to me, the Fox analyst seemed to be dead on the money in discussing Nunes - was a harsh critic in the early going, but then praised him when he really started to look confident in making some plays at the end of the game; his first TD pass to Ertz was actually a horribly late decision, and was just lucky the defender fell down
- Nunes' slow-and-go scramble move made another magical appearance in a crucial moment
- I wonder if they will open up the playbook more against Notre Dame to test their secondary, since Nunes seems to throw a much better medium-long ball compared to the one hoppers on short passes
- this game is some bad foreshadowing for the Oregon game
- our best defense against the pass seems to be having one of our tall lineman bat down the ball. Henry Anderson's play was brobdingnagian, as was Murphy's pick-six last week. Gardner got a couple this week too. Funny how some of the preseason talk was about how Stephens was a leader, and Gardner was a relentless beast, and Anderson was, uh, tall
- Thomas showed good hands coming down with that interception, usually the 3 defenders are so eager that they collide and botch that one
- our corners still give up way too much cushion, not sure if that is just our scheme, but unfortunately both our young bucks Carter and Lyons both allowed a lot of yardage today; they should of course improve with more experience; Lyons isn't quite a Thorpe award winner yet but you can see his potential and his closing speed (but please turn around in the future)Â
- not exactly sure who our defense is at this point; looked great against SC, mostly great against UW minus 2 brobdingnagian plays, and looked somewhat mediocre today (kind of like the 3rd quarter against San Jose State); still vulnerable to the quick pass, but also gave up a lot of rush yards today right up the middle as well after getting spread out
- we have put a lot of hits on quarterbacks particularly early in games, Barkley seemed perhaps the most rattled by this (how many licks does it take to get to the center of Matt Barkley? Apparently about 10), Price and Scott both seemed to hang in and continue to perform better
- I still hate the fade, but at least it failed on a 2-point conversion and not on one of our crucial 4th downs; Toilolo is 6'8" but he does not seem to be a great leaper which might help some of these plays
- Kelsey Young has got some jets; now we see why the coaches were raving
- the 4th and 1 false start against Arizona probably saved the game
- thankful for instant replay in college football, otherwise Terrell's third and 8 catch and fumble gets ruled incomplete and the game is probably lost as we are down 14 at the time with 8 minutes left (and Shaw was sending out the punt team -- why?)
- as much as I am rooting for Williamson, I am sure glad the game did not come down to him kicking the FG. His kickoff out of bounds when we needed another stop to get the ball back when we were down 7 was just maddening, but luckily we forced the 3 and out
- I was wondering if Shaw would have ran the ball 3 times and let Williamson kick a 40+ yarder; I was also wondering how crappy my day was going to be if we lost this game, thankfully I will never have to find out either of these things
- speaking of guys I feel bad for, hope Montgomery is okay (ankle injury?); the broadcast seemed to show him having words with a teammate (Ertz?) after his big fumble; wonder if he is feeling some of the pressure from his big dropped passes in previous games
- to me, the Fox analyst seemed to be dead on the money in discussing Nunes - was a harsh critic in the early going, but then praised him when he really started to look confident in making some plays at the end of the game; his first TD pass to Ertz was actually a horribly late decision, and was just lucky the defender fell down
- Nunes' slow-and-go scramble move made another magical appearance in a crucial moment
- I wonder if they will open up the playbook more against Notre Dame to test their secondary, since Nunes seems to throw a much better medium-long ball compared to the one hoppers on short passes