What were your expectations....I bet

[CougEd]

they were 4-3 to start the season with losses against Wisc, Oregon and USC. Anyone believe Oregon was a slam dunk? Yet we had that game with the exception of two bad calls. The first down run to Nakia late in the game. And Ward having on a 4th down Thorton split out with the running back.

Name the seniors on offense? Name the OT's who played OT before. Here is our problem...the oline. People want Ward to run more....the DT is eating up Hilburn. Maybe we just don't have anyone else, but he is constantly getting beat. there is no room to run up the middle. Stephens was a tackle last year, we move him to guard. Fafita was a guard, who lost quickness btw and now is at tackle. Kingston played well at guard he is now at tackle.

OSU game first time they came out without energy, and they don't have the talent to over come that lack of energy. But they have played hard for Dickert and staff, so that isn't a real concern of mine.

For the last four years despite recruiting shortcomings can anyone argue that OSU's oline has been the bully on the block and the most consistent oline in the conference? Yeah part of it is scheme, but they just wear people down.

Ward kind of reminds me of rosie his soph year. raw, talented, yet mistake prone. Ward has had a huge adjustment coming from the level he came from.

We will see if it is a one time lack of concentration, or if our receivers continue to drop balls.

And note, delaura quit because our oline was so bad in the bowl game. and I don't remember our offensive being anything to brag about in the run and shoot in that game. They need to get the oline to be average......then they may be able to execute

 

[spongeandshoot]

they were 4-3 to start the season with losses against Wisc, Oregon and USC. Anyone believe Oregon was a slam dunk? Yet we had that game with the exception of two bad calls. The first down run to Nakia late in the game. And Ward having on a 4th down Thorton split out with the running back.

Name the seniors on offense? Name the OT's who played OT before. Here is our problem...the oline. People want Ward to run more....the DT is eating up Hilburn. Maybe we just don't have anyone else, but he is constantly getting beat. there is no room to run up the middle. Stephens was a tackle last year, we move him to guard. Fafita was a guard, who lost quickness btw and now is at tackle. Kingston played well at guard he is now at tackle.

OSU game first time they came out without energy, and they don't have the talent to over come that lack of energy. But they have played hard for Dickert and staff, so that isn't a real concern of mine.

For the last four years despite recruiting shortcomings can anyone argue that OSU's oline has been the bully on the block and the most consistent oline in the conference? Yeah part of it is scheme, but they just wear people down.

Ward kind of reminds me of rosie his soph year. raw, talented, yet mistake prone. Ward has had a huge adjustment coming from the level he came from.

We will see if it is a one time lack of concentration, or if our receivers continue to drop balls.

And note, delaura quit because our oline was so bad in the bowl game. and I don't remember our offensive being anything to brag about in the run and shoot in that game. They need to get the oline to be average......then they may be able to execute

Yeah I want to run more.

Jenkins lit up USC when he ran the ball...same yesterday.

I think he got hit at the line of scrimmage on just one of his running plays. the rest, 5 plus yarrrrds...to quote Beth Mowins

 

[CougPatrol]

Team is what I thought they would be. Competing for 5th in the conference. The last 4 games of the season at Stanford, ASU, at Arizona, and UW will define the season.

Heading into the year, I thought 7-5 would be a good season. If Cam is back next season, we can take a step forward. Keeping Jenkins out of the portal will be a challenge. Need to rebuild the o-line and get help (speed) at WR.

 

[Coug90]

Team is what I thought they would be. Competing for 5th in the conference. The last 4 games of the season at Stanford, ASU, at Arizona, and UW will define the season.

Heading into the year, I thought 7-5 would be a good season. If Cam is back next season, we can take a step forward. Keeping Jenkins out of the portal will be a challenge. Need to rebuild the o-line and get help (speed) at WR.

Interesting thing is it looked like the RB room was going to be the issue. And here we are with the best player on offense being the freshman RB. I didn’t expect much this year, 8 wins max…and that was if Cam was lights out because I figured our running game would be rough.

 

[CougPatrol]

Interesting thing is it looked like the RB room was going to be the issue. And here we are with the best player on offense being the freshman RB. I didn’t expect much this year, 8 wins max…and that was if Cam was lights out because I figured our running game would be rough.

Jenkins is electric with the ball, but like every young RB, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to be an every down back. While I expected us to win yesterday, I was fearful that he wouldn't be ready to handle the blitz pickups, and that played out. I believe Cam was sacked 6 times and hurried and knocked to the turf on 8 others. Of course that's not on Jenkins, but he missed some pickups.

 

[mikalalas]

Jenkins is electric with the ball, but like every young RB, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to be an every down back. While I expected us to win yesterday, I was fearful that he wouldn't be ready to handle the blitz pickups, and that played out. I believe Cam was sacked 6 times and hurried and knocked to the turf on 8 others. Of course that's not on Jenkins, but he missed some pickups.

Getting 15 MINIMUM carries, instead of only 8 CARRIES, when he is getting 7 yards, each of the 8 carries, is not being a EVERY DOWN BACK.

Only giving him 8 carries, is, should be CRIMINALLY STUPID, BAD, ETC.

 

[chipdouglas]

they were 4-3 to start the season with losses against Wisc, Oregon and USC. Anyone believe Oregon was a slam dunk? Yet we had that game with the exception of two bad calls. The first down run to Nakia late in the game. And Ward having on a 4th down Thorton split out with the running back.

Name the seniors on offense? Name the OT's who played OT before. Here is our problem...the oline. People want Ward to run more....the DT is eating up Hilburn. Maybe we just don't have anyone else, but he is constantly getting beat. there is no room to run up the middle. Stephens was a tackle last year, we move him to guard. Fafita was a guard, who lost quickness btw and now is at tackle. Kingston played well at guard he is now at tackle.

OSU game first time they came out without energy, and they don't have the talent to over come that lack of energy. But they have played hard for Dickert and staff, so that isn't a real concern of mine.

For the last four years despite recruiting shortcomings can anyone argue that OSU's oline has been the bully on the block and the most consistent oline in the conference? Yeah part of it is scheme, but they just wear people down.

Ward kind of reminds me of rosie his soph year. raw, talented, yet mistake prone. Ward has had a huge adjustment coming from the level he came from.

We will see if it is a one time lack of concentration, or if our receivers continue to drop balls.

And note, delaura quit because our oline was so bad in the bowl game. and I don't remember our offensive being anything to brag about in the run and shoot in that game. They need to get the oline to be average......then they may be able to execute

Much of this is true, but “you shouldn’t have expected anything better than struggling to reach a bowl game” is not an argument many boosters will accept.

 

[chipdouglas]

The OSU loss and overall performance has me pretty pessimistic about the rest of the season, with a handful of games where we won’t be favored.

The Idaho opener was a shocking/depressing opening to the season, but after Wisconsin it seemed anything was possible. Then CSU, a hair away from Oregon, a respectable home effort vs Cal. I don’t know that we win at SC but it was a stripes con job either way. Feels like we’re in a slump now and I don’t see hosting Utah, going to Stanford, or UW, being games we’re favored in. And I wouldn’t be surprised to split the Arizona schools.

Don’t know what to think about this season. Started heinous, progressed well, and looks like we’re heading into a slump. Need to pull out to salvage at least a bowl, and I think we will, if only just.

 

[CougPatrol]

The unfortunate reality is that we haven’t beaten a good team this season. This is the worst Wisconsin team in years, and Colorado State and Cal aren’t good at all.

On the other hand, Stanford, ASU, Arizona, and UW are all seriously flawed teams. Still a lot of football left to be played.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

they were 4-3 to start the season with losses against Wisc, Oregon and USC. Anyone believe Oregon was a slam dunk? Yet we had that game with the exception of two bad calls. The first down run to Nakia late in the game. And Ward having on a 4th down Thorton split out with the running back.

Name the seniors on offense? Name the OT's who played OT before. Here is our problem...the oline. People want Ward to run more....the DT is eating up Hilburn. Maybe we just don't have anyone else, but he is constantly getting beat. there is no room to run up the middle. Stephens was a tackle last year, we move him to guard. Fafita was a guard, who lost quickness btw and now is at tackle. Kingston played well at guard he is now at tackle.

OSU game first time they came out without energy, and they don't have the talent to over come that lack of energy. But they have played hard for Dickert and staff, so that isn't a real concern of mine.

For the last four years despite recruiting shortcomings can anyone argue that OSU's oline has been the bully on the block and the most consistent oline in the conference? Yeah part of it is scheme, but they just wear people down.

Ward kind of reminds me of rosie his soph year. raw, talented, yet mistake prone. Ward has had a huge adjustment coming from the level he came from.

We will see if it is a one time lack of concentration, or if our receivers continue to drop balls.

And note, delaura quit because our oline was so bad in the bowl game. and I don't remember our offensive being anything to brag about in the run and shoot in that game. They need to get the oline to be average......then they may be able to execute

My only disagreement with the post was "delaura quit because our oline was so bad in the bowl game". That worthless fuggin' turncoat was in Arizona before the bowl game meeting with the Arizona coaching staff and was playing the most half-assed football of his life in the bowl game. Our OL got much better when his sorry ass wasn't on the field. Now, the truth is that our OL does suck and Ward is struggling to be effective because of that, but JDL left because of issues besides our OL and everyone knows it.

As far as the rest of your post, most of us kind of felt that 4-4 with a decent chance of running the table in the last four games was the season in mind. In that respect, nobody should be that upset with how things are shaking out. Biggs had a field day before the season started ranting about how bad both are lines were. We knew we had OL issues and we knew that Ward might struggle with jumping up to Power 5 play. However, putting up a weak effort against Oregon State with multiple dropped balls, hero ball by Ward, play calling tilting too much to the run and the pathetically bad pass defense in long yardage situations is nothing to inspire confidence that we can finish strong this season. We have 10 days to get ready for Utah....and another 10 days after that to get ready for Stanford.

We will learn a lot about Dickert in the next month. Is he the "JV coach" that Biggs loves to yell about or is he a leader of men who knows how to get these guys to handle adversity and turn things around? Time will tell.