And it comes down to recruiting.
Once again, we had a golden opportunity to make hay on our in state rivals, and once again the powers at WSU were asleep at the wheel and/ or unable to make an actual dent in the recruiting battle.
I too deluded myself that we were the Ducks v2.0; high powered offense with just enough defense to make games respectable. That simply isn't the case, though.
We just got our asses handed to us by the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the conference, and it wasn't even close. The talent gap and coaching gap was glaring. What's worse that that both teams managed to catch up and then pass us in half the time it took us to get to where we are currently.
I don't like beating up on our team, but that defense is BAD, and they got fat by beating up on a bunch of really bad teams in the P12 this year. The 4 teams that came in with a gameplan and some talent either gave them fits or outright beat them. Our linebacking corps is HORRIBLE. Possibly the worst I've ever seen on the Palouse. If not for Luani, every pass over the middle would have gone for 6. Barber, while looking like a stud against Sister Mary's Blind school, was completely absent for CU and UW, as was Hercules. Gesser told us Oguyau (sp, I know...) would be the next incarnation of Ike or DD. I saw Pippens break down 3 yards away from Ross and then get shook out of his shoes and THEN avoid contact. That secondary benefitted a TON from the front 7 being able to get pressure on the really bad OL's we played this year.
The offense, while supposed to be plug and play, couldn't even account for the absence of 1 guy in the WR corps. I don't want to hear shit about River be clutch or extraordinary, both of which he was, but that's kinda the requirements for the slot/ over the middle guy. So, apparently we aren't as deep/ talented at WR as we all assumed we were either.
OL seems solid. Not much to criticize there, other than they can't move the LOS for run plays against any formidable opponents. They can pass block their asses off though, and did all year.
RB seem solid.
Special teams - not sure how many college programs can build continuous success without a kicking game, but Leach seems determined to be the first one to do so.
While I am disappointed in the end of the season, this post is in no way an emotional reaction to losing. In fact, I've taken a lot of time and tried to think about why we lost and what it means about the program and for the program's future. My conclusion is that outside of some type of miracle recruiting boon, we will be mired in the 3-6/7 spot of the conference depending on how good or bad the other teams are.
Change my view.
Once again, we had a golden opportunity to make hay on our in state rivals, and once again the powers at WSU were asleep at the wheel and/ or unable to make an actual dent in the recruiting battle.
I too deluded myself that we were the Ducks v2.0; high powered offense with just enough defense to make games respectable. That simply isn't the case, though.
We just got our asses handed to us by the 2nd and 3rd best teams in the conference, and it wasn't even close. The talent gap and coaching gap was glaring. What's worse that that both teams managed to catch up and then pass us in half the time it took us to get to where we are currently.
I don't like beating up on our team, but that defense is BAD, and they got fat by beating up on a bunch of really bad teams in the P12 this year. The 4 teams that came in with a gameplan and some talent either gave them fits or outright beat them. Our linebacking corps is HORRIBLE. Possibly the worst I've ever seen on the Palouse. If not for Luani, every pass over the middle would have gone for 6. Barber, while looking like a stud against Sister Mary's Blind school, was completely absent for CU and UW, as was Hercules. Gesser told us Oguyau (sp, I know...) would be the next incarnation of Ike or DD. I saw Pippens break down 3 yards away from Ross and then get shook out of his shoes and THEN avoid contact. That secondary benefitted a TON from the front 7 being able to get pressure on the really bad OL's we played this year.
The offense, while supposed to be plug and play, couldn't even account for the absence of 1 guy in the WR corps. I don't want to hear shit about River be clutch or extraordinary, both of which he was, but that's kinda the requirements for the slot/ over the middle guy. So, apparently we aren't as deep/ talented at WR as we all assumed we were either.
OL seems solid. Not much to criticize there, other than they can't move the LOS for run plays against any formidable opponents. They can pass block their asses off though, and did all year.
RB seem solid.
Special teams - not sure how many college programs can build continuous success without a kicking game, but Leach seems determined to be the first one to do so.
While I am disappointed in the end of the season, this post is in no way an emotional reaction to losing. In fact, I've taken a lot of time and tried to think about why we lost and what it means about the program and for the program's future. My conclusion is that outside of some type of miracle recruiting boon, we will be mired in the 3-6/7 spot of the conference depending on how good or bad the other teams are.
Change my view.