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Not sure what even Rolo is trying to do

Cougatron

Cougatron

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Oct 17, 2012
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I just feel like watching the team everything seems completely disjointed. It all looks like every play is some sort of prayer (even the ones that work)

The line has no gap control or creation it leaks worse than a damn.

everyone seems like they have a lack of focus.

defensively the bright spots are far too few and it’s like we completely lost the ability to cover oh… 90% of the time.

I sort of wanted to give Rolo this year as year 1 because obviously for the pandemic chaos of last year. That’s hard to do coming in and establishing a team, but then I look at other teams that had to overcome that adversity and they don’t look as nearly lost as we do.

USC fired their coach, had their QB go down, and they looked more together than us.

I like to give Coaches proper amount of time to develop their roster and well to coach, but I honestly can’t figure out what Rolo is coaching.

With Leach I could see what he was trying to do from recruiting to reps/system. It was clear what he was implementing.

but with Rolo… I just have no idea what the hell he’s doing. Who is our QB? Don’t know. How are we utilizing our skill players to maximum effectiveness. Don’t know. What kind of coverage are we doing? Don’t know.

And I can tell the players don’t know what to do either.

My cautiousness says give the guy 1 more year after this one to see if things “click” but if we go through the whole season and things deteriorate I’m fine with cutting him loose.

You are paid to coach them up not coach them into chaos.
 
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Cougatron said:
I just feel like watching the team everything seems completely disjointed. It all looks like every play is some sort of prayer (even the ones that work)

The line has no gap control or creation it leaks worse than a damn.

everyone seems like they have a lack of focus.

defensively the bright spots are far too few and it’s like we completely lost the ability to cover oh… 90% of the time.

I sort of wanted to give Rolo this year as year 1 because obviously for the pandemic chaos of last year. That’s hard to do coming in and establishing a team, but then I look at other teams that had to overcome that adversity and they don’t look as nearly lost as we do.

USC fired their coach, had their QB go down, and they looked more together than us.

I like to give Coaches proper amount of time to develop their roster and well to coach, but I honestly can’t figure out what Rolo is coaching.

With Leach I could see what he was trying to do from recruiting to reps/system. It was clear what he was implementing.

but with Rolo… I just have no idea what the hell he’s doing. Who is our QB? Don’t know. How are we utilizing our skill players to maximum effectiveness. Don’t know. What kind of coverage are we doing? Don’t know.

And I can tell the players don’t know what to do either.

My cautiousness says give the guy 1 more year after this one to see if things “click” but if we go through the whole season and things deteriorate I’m fine with cutting him loose.

You are paid to coach them up not coach them into chaos.
Click to expand...
Our recruiting will and shall continue to be devastated the longer we wait.
 
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Cougatron said:
I understand the sense of urgency. I normally am a give the guy his time to produce, but this may be an exception and we have to cut our losses and move forward in a new direction.
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New direction?

Why not an old direction? And no, not a return to the Wulff Walden Dynasty.

There are only two WSU coaches who bettered themselves after leaving WSU, and showed expertise in coaching QBs.

And both are younger then Joe Biden or Nancy Pelosi.

Jackie Sherrill and Dennis Erickson.

Erickson is even younger than Tony LaRussa who this year returned to the White Sox after an absence of 35 years and is leading them to the post-season.
 
I am not sure that even Rolo knows what Rolo is doing. So I'm gonna say it and will probably get slammed for it: But I think Rolo and at least offensive staff are worse game day coaches than Wulff and Sturdy and may be more toxic for our program. And that is saying a lot because I was NOT at all a Wulff fan. We have better talent right now than Wulff did but give it a few years...... We don't have 240 pound Oline men. I can guarantee that with the talent we have Sturdy would have had a more coherent game plan and stuck to it and given Borghi et al more carries.

I usually give people a long rope to hang themselves, but I am for pulling the plug now.
 
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ATACFD said:
I am not sure that even Rolo knows what Rolo is doing. So I'm gonna say it and will probably get slammed for it: But I think Rolo and at least offensive staff are worse game day coaches than Wulff and Sturdy and may be more toxic for our program. And that is saying a lot because I was NOT at all a Wulff fan. We have better talent right now than Wulff did but give it a few years...... We don't have 240 pound Oline men. I can guarantee that with the talent we have Sturdy would have had a more coherent game plan and stuck to it and given Borghi et al more carries.

I usually give people a long rope to hang themselves, but I am for pulling the plug now.
Click to expand...
Wulff is the run game coordinator at Cal Poly where his running backs today ran 13 times for 32 yards in a 48 to 14 loss. (They are 1-2 only win over a 77 year old coach).

Todd Sturdy is head coach at MidAmerican Nazerene and he is 1-3. His only win this year was against Graceland University who were missing Elvis and Joe Esposito.
Today Sturdy lost to Grand View University (they are skipping Toppenish University) and they did run the ball but got their asses kicked 47-21.

The lesson is water seeks it's own level and running the ball these days at WSU is a loser's strategy.
 
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FnuLnu said:
Wulff is the run game coordinator at Cal Poly where his running backs today ran 13 times for 32 yards in a 48 to 14 loss. (They are 1-2 only win over a 77 year old coach).

Todd Sturdy is head coach at MidAmerican Nazerene and he is 1-3. His only win this year was against Graceland University who were missing Elvis and Joe Esposito.
Today Sturdy lost to Grand View University (they are skipping Toppenish University) and they did run the ball but got their asses kicked 47-21.

The lesson is water seeks it's own level and running the ball these days at WSU is a loser's strategy.
Click to expand...

I swear, Wulff must be cursed or something. Everywhere he’s gone since Eastern has been an absolute train wreck. It can’t all be his fault. I swear, he could be the coffee coordinator at Alabama and they’d somehow go 3-9.
 
Oh I agree that Wulff and Sturdy aren't great coaches and obviously it's all apples and oranges comparisons. The fact Wulff and Sturdy are losing still at lower levels doesn't negate that I think Rolo may be a worse game day coach (although the multi million's he's getting is gonna set him up for life, so he's got that going for him. At least Wulff was cheap)
 
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In the past I've argued on this board against schools who were quick to fire coaches, or fired them mid-season. WSU has never been one of those schools. But I worry that the transfer portal changes the equation significantly. There is literally not a single player on the team you can say for sure will return. Combine that with weak recruiting, and we are looking at 1 or 2 wins a year.

The upside is the potential for a much quicker rebuild if you get the right guy....
 
I guess I don't see it the same way as most of you. I look at the first half offense and see what the R&S is supposed to be. I did not see disjointed, lack of focus, wing and a prayer or any of the other stuff on any sort of widespread basis. I saw some mistakes, of course, but had JdL come out healthy for the second half, we'd have continued to move the chains and put together drives. The second half would have been much different. The herd of lemmings shouting to push Rolo off the cliff ahead of themselves would be a bit more sane.

My only significant Rolo concern at this point is that he seems to only have one QB who can run his offense. That is a real concern, especially in an offense that by its very nature tends to expose the QB quite a bit if it is being fully utilized. If he had at least 2 JdL style QB's, I would be much more comfortable. As it is, unless the O finds a way to do something without JdL, I am not sure what we are going to do when he is out of the game.
 
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It just seems we are so far away from play 4 good quarters in a game. I'm glad we were competitive at home early when they were forced to replace QBs and their new coach was getting his feet wet. But what are the circumstances that will allow us to keep that going for a full game? This homestand is over- how will be look on the road?
 
That’s a cheap shot at Wulff. Thirteen rushes in a ballgame is not conducive to establishing a running game. It is, however, the logical consequence of being down 41-7 before the game is half over.
 
COCoug said:
In the past I've argued on this board against schools who were quick to fire coaches, or fired them mid-season. WSU has never been one of those schools. But I worry that the transfer portal changes the equation significantly. There is literally not a single player on the team you can say for sure will return. Combine that with weak recruiting, and we are looking at 1 or 2 wins a year.

The upside is the potential for a much quicker rebuild if you get the right guy....
Click to expand...

Kids will return if they have nowhere else to go that will give them a scholarship.
 
The offense looked good throughout the first half yesterday, minus the dropped TD. We looked atrocious in the 2nd half with our 3rd string QB.

It won’t break my heart at all if Rolo is sent packing, but when a program like WSU is left with their 3rd string QB, it doesn’t typically end well. Yes, I’m aware that USC played the game with their backup QB, but that backup QB was also the Gatorade and MaxPrep high school player of the year in 2020.
 
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BiggsCoug said:
Kids will return if they have nowhere else to go that will give them a scholarship.
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Those kids aren't generally gonna win you many games. Kids that have no where else to go are replaceable. There is no shortage of kids in that category
 
HHusky said:
That’s a cheap shot at Wulff. Thirteen rushes in a ballgame is not conducive to establishing a running game. It is, however, the logical consequence of being down 41-7 before the game is half over.
Click to expand...
If you really believe that, then there is no other alternative then for Jimmy Lake to hire his former mentor Paul Wulff as OC replacing John Donovan or as the OL coach replacing Scott Huff.

That would definitely show the sodbusters.
 
HHusky said:
What is the psychology behind wishing ill upon Wulff, who is, after all, one of your own? I don’t even hate Willingham as much as some of you hate Wulff.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Just goes to show the character of some people on this bored.
 
HHusky said:
What is the psychology behind wishing ill upon Wulff, who is, after all, one of your own? I don’t even hate Willingham as much as some of you hate Wulff.
Click to expand...
You're conflating wishing ill upon Wulff with wishing ill upon uw.

Kind of like you'd wish WSU would have signed Wulff to a lifetime contract.
 
HHusky said:
What is the psychology behind wishing ill upon Wulff, who is, after all, one of your own? I don’t even hate Willingham as much as some of you hate Wulff.
Click to expand...

I dont wish ill on Wulff. I just think he is a terrible football coach. It is amazing to me he still gets jobs. I have elevated him from Turd. There is a new Turd in town.
 
I’ve been here long enough to know rooting against Wulff is a thing. I just asked why?
 
HHusky said:
I’ve been here long enough to know rooting against Wulff is a thing. I just asked why?
Click to expand...
Why is hoping out loud that he is reunited with Jimmy Lake on the UW football staff is wishing ill up on him?

He will be paid more than he was at WSU, his pension will probably be spiked.

It will give some of the professional Cougs on the west side a chance to again cheer for the UW again.
 
HHusky said:
I see a few are going to pretend the glee of some Cougs at any Wulff failure isn't a thing.
Click to expand...
Nobody here rooted for Wulffs failure. He was a Coug player and a damn good one, also went through a helluva lot personally that most of us couldn’t fathom handling. Your rivalry quips and ribbings are welcome and most of the time funny, but GTFO with this nonsense.
 
cr8zyncalif said:
I guess I don't see it the same way as most of you. I look at the first half offense and see what the R&S is supposed to be. I did not see disjointed, lack of focus, wing and a prayer or any of the other stuff on any sort of widespread basis. I saw some mistakes, of course, but had JdL come out healthy for the second half, we'd have continued to move the chains and put together drives. The second half would have been much different. The herd of lemmings shouting to push Rolo off the cliff ahead of themselves would be a bit more sane.

My only significant Rolo concern at this point is that he seems to only have one QB who can run his offense. That is a real concern, especially in an offense that by its very nature tends to expose the QB quite a bit if it is being fully utilized. If he had at least 2 JdL style QB's, I would be much more comfortable. As it is, unless the O finds a way to do something without JdL, I am not sure what we are going to do when he is out of the game.
Click to expand...
You're being generous. We had 3 drives in the first half:

Our first series was 12 plays, 89 yards, and looked pretty good. Borghi carried 4 times for 36 yards, De Laura was 5/7 for 52, and McIntosh had the other yard. Touchdown.

Second series was a short field after the first INT, and started at the USC 46. 9 plays, 45 yards. Borghi carried 4 for 16, De Laura ran 2 for 0, threw 2/3 for 34. Turnover on downs at the 1.

Third series was again a short field, starting at our own 42, and had a 15 yard penalty. 7 plays, 58 yards. McIntosh carried 3 for 12. De Laura went 3/5 for 31. Touchdown.

We had two more possessions in the first half, which were a combined 4 plays for 2 yards. One of those ended the half, so isn't necessarily fair to count, but the other drive was a 3 & out. Bottom line is that our 2nd drive limped to the red zone and failed. Our second scoring drive really only covered 43 yards. After that, the wheels didn't just come off...we didn't have any wheels. And, JDL was still running the show for that 3 & out.

Our first three possessions - accounting for all of our points - covered 28 plays and 192 yards. 65 rushing yards (52 from Borghi), 117 passing, and we gained (net) 10 penalty yards. We ended the game with 279 yards, 99 rushing and 180 passing...so in our next TEN drives, we gained 87 yards - 34 rushing and 63 passing.

For the game, Borghi carried 13 times for 72 yards. 8 of his carries and 52 yards were on our first two drives. McIntosh had 5 for 20. 4 of his carries - and 13 yards - were on the first 3 drives. In the final 36:13, our top two RBs touched the ball a total of 6 times. Also in the final 36:13, we generated zero points, and we didn't cross midfield again until our final drive. Coincidence? I think not.
 
Cougatron said:
I just feel like watching the team everything seems completely disjointed. It all looks like every play is some sort of prayer (even the ones that work)

The line has no gap control or creation it leaks worse than a damn.

everyone seems like they have a lack of focus.

defensively the bright spots are far too few and it’s like we completely lost the ability to cover oh… 90% of the time.

I sort of wanted to give Rolo this year as year 1 because obviously for the pandemic chaos of last year. That’s hard to do coming in and establishing a team, but then I look at other teams that had to overcome that adversity and they don’t look as nearly lost as we do.

USC fired their coach, had their QB go down, and they looked more together than us.

I like to give Coaches proper amount of time to develop their roster and well to coach, but I honestly can’t figure out what Rolo is coaching.

With Leach I could see what he was trying to do from recruiting to reps/system. It was clear what he was implementing.

but with Rolo… I just have no idea what the hell he’s doing. Who is our QB? Don’t know. How are we utilizing our skill players to maximum effectiveness. Don’t know. What kind of coverage are we doing? Don’t know.

And I can tell the players don’t know what to do either.

My cautiousness says give the guy 1 more year after this one to see if things “click” but if we go through the whole season and things deteriorate I’m fine with cutting him loose.

You are paid to coach them up not coach them into chaos.
Click to expand...
Whatever he was trying, it wasn't coaching.
 
95coug said:
You're being generous. We had 3 drives in the first half:

Our first series was 12 plays, 89 yards, and looked pretty good. Borghi carried 4 times for 36 yards, De Laura was 5/7 for 52, and McIntosh had the other yard. Touchdown.

Second series was a short field after the first INT, and started at the USC 46. 9 plays, 45 yards. Borghi carried 4 for 16, De Laura ran 2 for 0, threw 2/3 for 34. Turnover on downs at the 1.

Third series was again a short field, starting at our own 42, and had a 15 yard penalty. 7 plays, 58 yards. McIntosh carried 3 for 12. De Laura went 3/5 for 31. Touchdown.

We had two more possessions in the first half, which were a combined 4 plays for 2 yards. One of those ended the half, so isn't necessarily fair to count, but the other drive was a 3 & out. Bottom line is that our 2nd drive limped to the red zone and failed. Our second scoring drive really only covered 43 yards. After that, the wheels didn't just come off...we didn't have any wheels. And, JDL was still running the show for that 3 & out.

Our first three possessions - accounting for all of our points - covered 28 plays and 192 yards. 65 rushing yards (52 from Borghi), 117 passing, and we gained (net) 10 penalty yards. We ended the game with 279 yards, 99 rushing and 180 passing...so in our next TEN drives, we gained 87 yards - 34 rushing and 63 passing.

For the game, Borghi carried 13 times for 72 yards. 8 of his carries and 52 yards were on our first two drives. McIntosh had 5 for 20. 4 of his carries - and 13 yards - were on the first 3 drives. In the final 36:13, our top two RBs touched the ball a total of 6 times. Also in the final 36:13, we generated zero points, and we didn't cross midfield again until our final drive. Coincidence? I think not.
Click to expand...
The stats are on the ribbon boards. Total yards were shown as 183 during the second quarter, and went backwards until the 4th quarter. After those first three series the O did nothing until garbage time. When I say nothing, that is literal- nothing.

For people that want to crap on the defense, I'm not saying they're great. Far from. However, the defense does not have players the caliber of Borghi, Lucas, Harris, Jackson and McIntosh.
 
dgibbons said:
The stats are on the ribbon boards. Total yards were shown as 183 during the second quarter, and went backwards until the 4th quarter. After those first three series the O did nothing until garbage time. When I say nothing, that is literal- nothing.

For people that want to crap on the defense, I'm not saying they're great. Far from. However, the defense does not have players the caliber of Borghi, Lucas, Harris, Jackson and McIntosh.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I'm not going to go back and re-hash all of the numbers, but if someone wants to, look at our rushing every week. In all 3 games, we've had at least one running back who was making yards early in the game. In all 3 games, after a point early in the 2nd quarter, we've stopped giving them the ball. That's a coaching problem. If your RB is getting 9 yards per carry, like Borghi was on the first drive, you keep giving it to him. If your RB is getting 4 yards per carry, like Borghi was on the 2nd drive, and McINtosh was on the 3rd, you keep giving it to him. 4 YPC may not be sexy, but it puts the ball in the endzone and it keeps your D off the field.

From 6:08 in the 2nd quarter to 6:12 in the 4th quarter - almost exactly one half of the game - we had 9 possessions (call it 8 because one ended the half). In those 8 possessions, we had 5 3 & outs, 2 turnovers, and a single first down. We ran 23 plays and gained a net of 32 yards. Somehow, someone on the sideline thought that was better than giving the ball to Borghi. Somehow, having a walk-on QB throw short routes, including at least 2 short of the sticks on 3rd down, was better than trying to run.

I've said before, I've seen little evidence of a coherent game plan, and I think Saturday showed even more that there isn't one. The only thing we seem to do consistently is find something that works, and then refuse to keep doing it.
 
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95coug said:
Agreed. I'm not going to go back and re-hash all of the numbers, but if someone wants to, look at our rushing every week. In all 3 games, we've had at least one running back who was making yards early in the game. In all 3 games, after a point early in the 2nd quarter, we've stopped giving them the ball. That's a coaching problem. If your RB is getting 9 yards per carry, like Borghi was on the first drive, you keep giving it to him. If your RB is getting 4 yards per carry, like Borghi was on the 2nd drive, and McINtosh was on the 3rd, you keep giving it to him. 4 YPC may not be sexy, but it puts the ball in the endzone and it keeps your D off the field.

From 6:08 in the 2nd quarter to 6:12 in the 4th quarter - almost exactly one half of the game - we had 9 possessions (call it 8 because one ended the half). In those 8 possessions, we had 5 3 & outs, 2 turnovers, and a single first down. We ran 23 plays and gained a net of 32 yards. Somehow, someone on the sideline thought that was better than giving the ball to Borghi. Somehow, having a walk-on QB throw short routes, including at least 2 short of the sticks on 3rd down, was better than trying to run.

I've said before, I've seen little evidence of a coherent game plan, and I think Saturday showed even more that there isn't one. The only thing we seem to do consistently is find something that works, and then refuse to keep doing it.
Click to expand...

MB and DM averaged 5 yrds per carry between them. That is pretty good. You can build an offense around that and do well. Will they?
 
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