The d line appears to be a strength...good news

[CougEd]

Since losing very experienced players was a huge concern of mine going into 2015. With the offense, and good dline play, the DB's seem to be making things happen the table is set for an expectation of 7 wins. They should win all three non conference games, UW is in total rebuild and have total inexperience at QB. UCLA, Cal, CU, OSU. Actually that is 8 games, so they can lose to a UCLA or Cal and still get to 7.

I watched the Apple Cup, several dumb plays or we were right there in the first 35 minutes of the game. You can't let a guy go untouched for 50 plus yards, but there were several critical drops, one by Mayle early that if he makes that play we put pressure on the UW. I would hope we fair better in Seattle.

 

[CougPatrol]

I'm not ready to say that we "should" beat Rutgers, but I agree that we look like at least a .500 team.

 

[kayak15]

I am pleased to hear that Big Joe sees the DL as a strength. We are going to need them to deal with Rutgers' running game. Keep that depth coming, guys.

 

[ttowncoug]

It's been a long time since we had decent talent at this group.

 

[Cougsocal]

Since losing very experienced players was a huge concern of mine going into 2015. With the offense, and good dline play, the DB's seem to be making things happen the table is set for an expectation of 7 wins. They should win all three non conference games, UW is in total rebuild and have total inexperience at QB. UCLA, Cal, CU, OSU. Actually that is 8 games, so they can lose to a UCLA or Cal and still get to 7.

I watched the Apple Cup, several dumb plays or we were right there in the first 35 minutes of the game. You can't let a guy go untouched for 50 plus yards, but there were several critical drops, one by Mayle early that if he makes that play we put pressure on the UW. I would hope we fair better in Seattle.

There is also another real possibility. The OL's pass blocking, or the problems associated therewith after Halliday (and his quick release) went down, may be more indicative of their actual pass blocking abilities, when having to sustains blocks for non -"pitch and catch" QBs. Do you really think our OL is really 14 sacks on 500 attempts quality? Or did they get help from Connor's release?

While there are a couple news faces, who appear to be talent upgrades, Paulo, Vaeao, Ekuale, Barber combined for 4 sacks all last year. Paulo equaled his sack total of last year in the last scrimmage alone. We hope that the defense will be able to pass rush like the Posse, but it is more likely to be a mixture of factors including the D not having to deal with Connor's release, the OL needing to sustain blocks longer, and having to block unfamiliar schemes, young QB's having to throw against the nickel, as well as significantly better speed/talent on defense.

 

[wulffui]

There is also another real possibility. The OL's pass blocking, or the problems associated therewith after Halliday (and his quick release) went down, may be more indicative of their actual pass blocking abilities, when having to sustains blocks for non -"pitch and catch" QBs. Do you really think our OL is really 14 sacks on 500 attempts quality? Or did they get help from Connor's release?

While there are a couple news faces, who appear to be talent upgrades, Paulo, Vaeao, Ekuale, Barber combined for 4 sacks all last year. Paulo equaled his sack total of last year in the last scrimmage alone. We hope that the defense will be able to pass rush like the Posse, but it is more likely to be a mixture of factors including the D not having to deal with Connor's release, the OL needing to sustain blocks longer, and having to block unfamiliar schemes, young QB's having to throw against the nickel, as well as significantly better speed/talent on defense.

I'm willing to sacrifice a few more sacks to Connor's quick release if it means no more getting baited into throwing to an "open" guy on the wing who has two defenders going to him before the ball has left the QB's hand... cough, Arizona, cough, Nevada.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Since losing very experienced players was a huge concern of mine going into 2015. With the offense, and good dline play, the DB's seem to be making things happen the table is set for an expectation of 7 wins. They should win all three non conference games, UW is in total rebuild and have total inexperience at QB. UCLA, Cal, CU, OSU. Actually that is 8 games, so they can lose to a UCLA or Cal and still get to 7.

I watched the Apple Cup, several dumb plays or we were right there in the first 35 minutes of the game. You can't let a guy go untouched for 50 plus yards, but there were several critical drops, one by Mayle early that if he makes that play we put pressure on the UW. I would hope we fair better in Seattle.

It's all just luck Ed. Sometimes it doesn't work out. ;-)

 

[Cougatron]

There is also another real possibility. The OL's pass blocking, or the problems associated therewith after Halliday (and his quick release) went down, may be more indicative of their actual pass blocking abilities, when having to sustains blocks for non -"pitch and catch" QBs. Do you really think our OL is really 14 sacks on 500 attempts quality? Or did they get help from Connor's release?

While there are a couple news faces, who appear to be talent upgrades, Paulo, Vaeao, Ekuale, Barber combined for 4 sacks all last year. Paulo equaled his sack total of last year in the last scrimmage alone. We hope that the defense will be able to pass rush like the Posse, but it is more likely to be a mixture of factors including the D not having to deal with Connor's release, the OL needing to sustain blocks longer, and having to block unfamiliar schemes, young QB's having to throw against the nickel, as well as significantly better speed/talent on defense.

I think it's a combination of many things.

The D-Line has more bodies/talent/depth thus fresher legs to relentlessly rush.
The extra DB in the Nickel package makes routes develop slower.
Falk isn't like Halliday who will try to throw guys open/play with reckless abandon so he thinks before he throws. He's young so the speed will come in time, but right now he's a little too patient.

I think our O-line is decent/above average, but still not top level quality. I think over time it will improve as we go along. I think Freeman, Madison, O'Connell etc. are the future.

 

[CougEd]

There is also another real possibility. The OL's pass blocking, or the problems associated therewith after Halliday (and his quick release) went down, may be more indicative of their actual pass blocking abilities, when having to sustains blocks for non -"pitch and catch" QBs. Do you really think our OL is really 14 sacks on 500 attempts quality? Or did they get help from Connor's release?

While there are a couple news faces, who appear to be talent upgrades, Paulo, Vaeao, Ekuale, Barber combined for 4 sacks all last year. Paulo equaled his sack total of last year in the last scrimmage alone. We hope that the defense will be able to pass rush like the Posse, but it is more likely to be a mixture of factors including the D not having to deal with Connor's release, the OL needing to sustain blocks longer, and having to block unfamiliar schemes, young QB's having to throw against the nickel, as well as significantly better speed/talent on defense.

Well I think our head coach believes it. And no I don't think they will rush the passer anywhere close to 94 or 2002. But we play four teams in the PAc 12 that we are better than. CU, OSU, UW, and Cal.

 

[Cougsocal]

I'm willing to sacrifice a few more sacks to Connor's quick release if it means no more getting baited into throwing to an "open" guy on the wing who has two defenders going to him before the ball has left the QB's hand... cough, Arizona, cough, Nevada.

Anything that gives this offense more diversity is a good thing. Connor threw for a ton of yards, but many of those yards were ceded to him. Teams realized that blitzing the guy was pointless, because he would release the ball before even a free rusher could get to him. So they played let the offense beat themselves defense. That scheme was generally effective in keeping us out of the endzone. It is clear that 2014 lead Leach to have an epiphany on defense. I hope he, Falk and Bender has had similar experience on offense. Despite all the yards, we remain mediocre in scoring offense. We need an offense that does more to avoid getting bogged down in the redzone, by generating more plays that end up in the endzone, rather than the redzone.

It is no coincidence that the the best QBs in school history used the spread's dink and dunk schemes as a means to set up big plays. Connor was the master of dink and dunk, but was a big play novice. Dink and dunk alone has never been a huge success in the Pac-12.

 

[CougEd]

Anything that gives this offense more diversity is a good thing. Connor threw for a ton of yards, but many of those yards were ceded to him. Teams realized that blitzing the guy was pointless, because he would release the ball before even a free rusher could get to him. So they played let the offense beat themselves defense. That scheme was generally effective in keeping us out of the endzone. It is clear that 2014 lead Leach to have an epiphany on defense. I hope he, Falk and Bender has had similar experience on offense. Despite all the yards, we remain mediocre in scoring offense. We need an offense that does more to avoid getting bogged down in the redzone, by generating more plays that end up in the endzone, rather than the redzone.

It is no coincidence that the the best QBs in school history used the spread's dink and dunk schemes as a means to set up big plays. Connor was the master of dink and dunk, but was a big play novice. Dink and dunk alone has never been a huge success in the Pac-12.

I think last year stats wise we were less than mediocre in scoring offense in Pac 12 games. I do know we were way down in scoring efficiency. So hopefully our QB play is better, our dline play is better, and our DB play is better despite losing experience at two of the three positions. I do know if we don't make defenses honest with a running game our scoring offense will continue to struggle.

 

[kayak15]

1990 and I posted back and forth some time ago about the need for an RB big enough to move the pile near the end zone. With Wick's increased size, maybe he will do able to fulfill that role. We are all tired of posting nice stats between the 20s only to peter out near the goal line.

 

[Cougatron]

1990 and I posted back and forth some time ago about the need for an RB big enough to move the pile near the end zone. With Wick's increased size, maybe he will do able to fulfill that role. We are all tired of posting nice stats between the 20s only to peter out near the goal line.

We are slowly getting better at it, but it's slow.

Red zone conversion %
2012 - #108
2013 - #94
2014 - #84

TD %
2012 - #88
2013 - #62
2014 - #51

So we are steadily getting better at it.

 

[CougEd]

1990 and I posted back and forth some time ago about the need for an RB big enough to move the pile near the end zone. With Wick's increased size, maybe he will do able to fulfill that role. We are all tired of posting nice stats between the 20s only to peter out near the goal line.

You believe it is because of the size of our backs we didn't run near the goal line?

 

[kayak15]

You believe it is because of the size of our backs we didn't run near the goal line?

That is part of it. Obviously, the line's ability to run block is the other primary factor. Having a sufficiently large RB to move the pile certainly helps in short yardage situations.