It's hard for fans to gleam a lot of positives after such a tough loss, but I came away optimistic about our team. Oregon had too much offense for us, and being without our top safety; particularly late in the game, was a massive death blow. Still, the team played hard against one of the top teams in our league. I'm sure I'll bitch about the concerns I have in other threads, but for now, this one focuses on the positive take aways.
Cam Ward was exceptional yesterday, and I see a huge upside for him (and us) if he stays healthy. For a sophomore who's still adjusting to D1 ball, his poise and swagger is impressive. He has a natural pocket presence and seems to effortlessly flow with the pass rush. His short to mid-range passing accuracy is stellar. We don't have a lot of deep threat WRs, but the offense looked better than it has all season yesterday. In the era of the transfer portal, I'm excited to have a kid like him for the next season or two. I suppose there's an outside chance he'll declare for the draft, but I don't see that right now. Draft boards have him listed as a 6th round pick, or the 15th rated QB. Staying another season seems like it would help him up those projections.
I still like our defense, especially against the remaining teams on our schedule. Oregon and Wisconsin were matchup nightmares for us up front, but now we're settling into a run of teams who we can line up with. Cal ran for 341 yards vs. Arizona, but I don't see them coming close to those numbers against us. Utah's offense has looked mediocre this season, and they just lost their starting TE and top receiver likely for the season. USC and Oregon State will be difficult road games, but neither of them bring to the table what Oregon does. Stanford, ASU, and Arizona are all teams we can beat. The Apple Cup will be extremely tough. UW has a super soft schedule this season, missing USC and Utah, and Michigan State just got waxed at home by Minnesota 34-7. We don't know a lot about UW just yet.
I don't know, I guess for me this season is looks brighter now than it did after our game vs. Idaho. If we can avoid the injury bug, I could us finishing with 8 wins. October is going to be brutal, but our final games are against Utah, at Stanford, ASU, at Arizona, and UW. With Ward and the offense continuing to ascend, I can envision us making a late charge. Gotta get this one vs. Cal.
We've gone 1-1 against Wisconsin and Oregon. The P12 has a lot of parity this season, but none of the remaining teams on our schedule are overwhelming. Huge game this week vs. Cal. The winner heads into October 4-1 with everything still in front of them. Looking forward to Homecoming,
Cam Ward was exceptional yesterday, and I see a huge upside for him (and us) if he stays healthy. For a sophomore who's still adjusting to D1 ball, his poise and swagger is impressive. He has a natural pocket presence and seems to effortlessly flow with the pass rush. His short to mid-range passing accuracy is stellar. We don't have a lot of deep threat WRs, but the offense looked better than it has all season yesterday. In the era of the transfer portal, I'm excited to have a kid like him for the next season or two. I suppose there's an outside chance he'll declare for the draft, but I don't see that right now. Draft boards have him listed as a 6th round pick, or the 15th rated QB. Staying another season seems like it would help him up those projections.
I still like our defense, especially against the remaining teams on our schedule. Oregon and Wisconsin were matchup nightmares for us up front, but now we're settling into a run of teams who we can line up with. Cal ran for 341 yards vs. Arizona, but I don't see them coming close to those numbers against us. Utah's offense has looked mediocre this season, and they just lost their starting TE and top receiver likely for the season. USC and Oregon State will be difficult road games, but neither of them bring to the table what Oregon does. Stanford, ASU, and Arizona are all teams we can beat. The Apple Cup will be extremely tough. UW has a super soft schedule this season, missing USC and Utah, and Michigan State just got waxed at home by Minnesota 34-7. We don't know a lot about UW just yet.
I don't know, I guess for me this season is looks brighter now than it did after our game vs. Idaho. If we can avoid the injury bug, I could us finishing with 8 wins. October is going to be brutal, but our final games are against Utah, at Stanford, ASU, at Arizona, and UW. With Ward and the offense continuing to ascend, I can envision us making a late charge. Gotta get this one vs. Cal.
We've gone 1-1 against Wisconsin and Oregon. The P12 has a lot of parity this season, but none of the remaining teams on our schedule are overwhelming. Huge game this week vs. Cal. The winner heads into October 4-1 with everything still in front of them. Looking forward to Homecoming,