Story: Cardinal's physicality poses test for Cougs
- Thread starter ScottHood
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Linebackers are going to be critical in this game too. McCaffrey is their leading receiver, in addition to being the leading rusher. Hogan can run if he has to, and Sanders can break one too.
My early thought was that the way to play Stanford was come up and take away the run. Make Hogan beat you with his arm. Problem is that USC and UW both tried that...and he did. Hogan threw for 279 and 290 against them, completing 70+% of his passes in both games. We have to play our best game on D this week, and it has to be a full 4 quarters. No lapses in containment, no letting the QB get outside. And the O needs to do what they've been doing.
I don't think we're going to put up 45 against Stanford, but I don't think 30-35 is out of the question. They don't get many sacks (10 this season), and they've given up yards to the better passing teams. The big question is, can our defense keep them under 30 (only Northwestern has so far), and can our special teams avoid giving up a big play?
My early thought was that the way to play Stanford was come up and take away the run. Make Hogan beat you with his arm. Problem is that USC and UW both tried that...and he did. Hogan threw for 279 and 290 against them, completing 70+% of his passes in both games. We have to play our best game on D this week, and it has to be a full 4 quarters. No lapses in containment, no letting the QB get outside. And the O needs to do what they've been doing.
I don't think we're going to put up 45 against Stanford, but I don't think 30-35 is out of the question. They don't get many sacks (10 this season), and they've given up yards to the better passing teams. The big question is, can our defense keep them under 30 (only Northwestern has so far), and can our special teams avoid giving up a big play?
I am not a football defensive savant who knows the ins and outs of the different formations and strategy's, but my thought for Stanford is to shadow McCaffery with your best defender (Luani?), cover him every where, every play, with the one guy, and let the other chips fall where they may. Probably absurd in reality, but just my thought.
Look, guys, it breaks down pretty simply. We have to stop the run. We will do it. We will include the strong safety in that equation. We will as a result pay for it with some big pass plays. All things considered, if we avoid any turnovers, Stanford will still get past 30 points. How far past depends mostly on whether we avoid turnovers and whether we avoid another special teams bake sale. Best possible: we hold them to low 30's. If we come out ahead on turnovers, we might possibly manage middle to upper 30's. So a win is possible, but it depends on the whole team putting together a complete game. We have not done that yet this year, so it would take two or three steps forward to do it this weekend.
Yes, it is possible, but don't bet the house. I think Stanford gets close to 40, while we eke past 30. A respectable game, and if we finish the season well after that (lose to UCLA, win the rest) we will be in good shape for the season.
Having said all that, Cinderella will again visit Pullman if we pull off the upset.
Yes, it is possible, but don't bet the house. I think Stanford gets close to 40, while we eke past 30. A respectable game, and if we finish the season well after that (lose to UCLA, win the rest) we will be in good shape for the season.
Having said all that, Cinderella will again visit Pullman if we pull off the upset.
Just curious...why are you writing off UCLA? I don't really think their defense can stop us.
Why not be optimistic? We are on a 3 game win streak, finish the regular season with 5 more. Offensively this team has gotten better every week, if they continue to "out execute" on offense the sky is the limit for this team. It was interesting listening to Rich Rod's comments after the game about the Cougs, "we knew what was coming, we were shouting the play from the side lines, we just couldn't stop them, they didn't do anything we didn't expect them to do", needless to say Rich Rod sounded extremely frustrated. Of course Stanford's D is much better than AZ, but that is what is defined as a great offense, you know what is coming, but you can't stop it. The question is can the Cougs do the same thing against Stanford? We will know in the 1st quarter.
CML has said this for over 2 decades now. It isn't about some trick plays or doing the unexpected. It's about execution. He has said point blank that when his offense is clicking, everyone will know what the team is going to do. But when executed properly, no one can stop it. While I think we have quite a ways to go to reach what he had at TT (after all, he took over a much healthier team at TT AND it still took him 8-10 years to achieve what he had), I love the mental turn-around this team has shown. They don't give up, they know they can score within one minute at any given time. We take all the wind of of the opponents sails doing so. It discourages them. And our D has started to see the light, as well. They are out there having fun and executing, albeit they are a bit behind our O.
Can't wait for our future.
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