Why I'm thrilled we are 9-2 but I'm not going to stop complaining about the offense...

[StormyCOUG42]

We are #3 in passing because we run the AIR raid. It's not the ground raid. It's the AIR raid.

Who checks to the run? Luke does.

You know who is #1 in rushing... NAVY.... because Navy runs...the option... where is Navy in passing? #128 because they run the option.

It's almost as if certain offenses are geared certain ways...

But what you also fail to actually realize is that we have 279 sack yards which negatively effects our rushing.

Here's our running back averages

Morrow 6.3 ypc
Williams 4.28 ypc
Wicks 4.88 ypc
Harrington 4.00 ypc.

Every single one of our backs in over 4 ypc. Every single one.

And without sacks we are over 1000 yards rushing.

But .wait.. there is more..

The RBs have 850 yards receiving.

So in total the RBs have almost 2500 yards of offense.
And guess .what.. the receivers have about 3500 of offense receiving.

Of the 6000 yars of offense the WRs and the RBs are about 60/40

The things that are bothering us this year is

Luke is down 4% in completion percentage
Luke is down . .4 yards per attempt

We've allowed 10 more sacks this year than last year.

Last year total we had 2.23 sacks per game
This year we have 3.5 sacks per game

Rushing we rushed last year for 27 carries per game this year 25.

So in the grand scheme of things...

We've rushed a little less
We haven't protected as well
We've completely passes slightly less.

So the QB is the same.

But we were missing the two receivers he was most familiar with
And we are missing a couple lineman from last year

Those slight tweaks explain the fluctuation.

Luke has always been a guy to be a little too cautious. It's always been his flaw, but unless you are like brand new to Cougar football and haven't been following it closely...i hate to break it to you but this is exactly what we have been doing with Falk.

Will more aggressive play produce better results? yeah probably, but as we've seen with Hilinksi / Halliday that comes with its drawbacks as well (Picks / mistakes)

I should have been more clear. My point in showing how poorly rated our running game is was to highlight the absurdity of using the stat to define our offense... same as using the passing stats. Clearly we are a passing team... we throw the ball a lot so yes, our passing is always going to be at or near the top in the country and our running is always going to be towards the bottom... neither is a good ( or sufficient) indication of our offensive productivity. I actually agree that the RBs have been very effective in terms of being involved either on the ground or as part of the passing game. Morrow in particular has been great this season.

I'm not certain the increase in sacks is due to poor protection. Luke has been holding on to the ball a lot more this season and taking more unnecessary sacks. Maybe this is due to WR play... maybe Luke isnt seeing the field clearly. I'd like to think its the WR not getting open... but when Hilinksi came in the BSU and UA games, all of a sudden guys were wide open on nearly every play. It's suspicious. The drop in scoring is not solely on Luke... but, as the starting QB in a Leach Air Raid system, he is the focal point. Its the one position we cannot afford to play poorly at.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

We are #3 in passing because we run the AIR raid. It's not the ground raid. It's the AIR raid.

Who checks to the run? Luke does.

You know who is #1 in rushing... NAVY.... because Navy runs...the option... where is Navy in passing? #128 because they run the option.

It's almost as if certain offenses are geared certain ways...

But what you also fail to actually realize is that we have 279 sack yards which negatively effects our rushing.

Here's our running back averages

Morrow 6.3 ypc
Williams 4.28 ypc
Wicks 4.88 ypc
Harrington 4.00 ypc.

Every single one of our backs in over 4 ypc. Every single one.

And without sacks we are over 1000 yards rushing.

But .wait.. there is more..

The RBs have 850 yards receiving.

So in total the RBs have almost 2500 yards of offense.
And guess .what.. the receivers have about 3500 of offense receiving.

Of the 6000 yars of offense the WRs and the RBs are about 60/40

The things that are bothering us this year is

Luke is down 4% in completion percentage
Luke is down . .4 yards per attempt

We've allowed 10 more sacks this year than last year.

Last year total we had 2.23 sacks per game
This year we have 3.5 sacks per game

Rushing we rushed last year for 27 carries per game this year 25.

So in the grand scheme of things...

We've rushed a little less
We haven't protected as well
We've completely passes slightly less.

So the QB is the same.

But we were missing the two receivers he was most familiar with
And we are missing a couple lineman from last year

Those slight tweaks explain the fluctuation.

Luke has always been a guy to be a little too cautious. It's always been his flaw, but unless you are like brand new to Cougar football and haven't been following it closely...i hate to break it to you but this is exactly what we have been doing with Falk.

Will more aggressive play produce better results? yeah probably, but as we've seen with Hilinksi / Halliday that comes with its drawbacks as well (Picks / mistakes)

Averages can be misleading. We were mostly talking about an individual game (like Utah...or that's my impression).

I think toward the end of the Utah game we faced 2nd and 7 and then 3rd and seven. The 2nd and 7 was a long incomplete pass down the right sideline with a little over 3 minutes to go. The 3rd and 7 at 3:09 was the long pass that was an INT. I think it would have been wise to run on 2nd down (Morrow only please) which would have at least killed clock or forced a Utah timeout. The 3rd and 7 I can understand somewhat as it became like a long punt with the INT. Prior to those plays on the last drive, 6 of 7 were passes with 4 completed. Not bad.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Maybe what ?

Maybe it would have cost us Leaf. It's the coach's job to sell players of the vision.

 

[Snoopcoug]

Our young receivers aren't near as good as last years crew (yet) and it has hurt our offense. They don't separate. Our line struggles picking up blitzes. And yes, Falk isn't perfect, but we're 9-2. I really wouldn't care if we won every game running an offense designed entirely on the fumblerooski, the objective is to win games and that is happening. We should write a "minimum margin of victory" clause into Leach's next contract so the fanbase doesn't have to deal with any anxiety on game day. How dare he allow these games to be close?

I have a feeling the HOF coach that sees these guys practice everyday has a better idea of who gives the team its best chance to win than a group of grumpy internet warriors doing their pretending they know something about football while channeling an SEC fan mentality.

The reality is if Leach leaves for Nebraska tomorrow, we will lose out, and win four games tops next season. This staff isn't prefect, kinda like Price and crew weren't perfect. But its pretty dang good, and I'm glad we've got the guys we've got. Its been way worse and it'll be worse again. Enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[cr8zyncalif]

Pardon my being satirical. That was my point: UA's read option is designed to not give up sacks, especially when its point man is a stud runner.

OK, just wanted to be sure. I figured that we were on the same wavelength, but I've been having occasional technical difficulties with my satire detection equipment.

 

[CougEd]

Maybe it would have cost us Leaf. It's the coach's job to sell players of the vision.

Well it has been written that Price promised leaf for his signature that they would only recruit one qb. Brad Otten was a transfer from Weber state who ended up at USC and led them to a Rose Bowl that wanted to come to WSU but Price told him to look for another school.

Well it is a coaches job to lay out the vision . UW sold Leaf on a vision of a Rose Bowl and they had a recent history. Dennis Erickson and Miami sold him on their vision of National Championships . WSU sold Leaf he would one day would lead WSU to the Rose Bowl and sold him he would be only qB they would recruit .

 

[random soul]

Even if they were in the box they were on their heels ready to bail because we weren't even trying to run. UW will do the same damn thing. I always heard Leach was a master of adjustments and would routinely come out after half time and run teams out of the stadium. Haven't seen that happen in a long time.

Btw I know he is offensive coordinator...anyone in the know does he have eyes in the press box relaying anything to him? Because it seems like both Falk and Leach are clueless as to what the defense is doing and finding their weaknesses, and that might help.

The one game this year that showed me some good offensive halftime adjustments was Oregon. We went 4 verts on their coverage and it got us the 2 TDs that sealed it. Outside of that, not a lot to find.

 

[PINGDUDE4]

The one game this year that showed me some good offensive halftime adjustments was Oregon. We went 4 verts on their coverage and it got us the 2 TDs that sealed it. Outside of that, not a lot to find.

Really ? Geez.

Watch the second half of the Stanford and USC games and you will see adjustments all of over the place.

Specifically on the final TD drive Leach calls Luke over when they had the ball around the 50. They scored in 3 plays on underneath routes , last one on a route that Calvin ran for the first time in the game.

Starting to think that this is getting to be most entitled fan base going right now. Heck even Alabama fans know they will be playing close tough games like the one they had at Miss. State

 

[Coug90]

Really ? Geez.

Watch the second half of the Stanford and USC games and you will see adjustments all of over the place.

Specifically on the final TD drive Leach calls Luke over when they had the ball around the 50. They scored in 3 plays on underneath routes , last one on a route that Calvin ran for the first time in the game.

Starting this think that this is getting to be most entitled fan base going right now. Heck even Alabama fans know they will be playing close tough games like the one they at Miss. State

Yeah really. Hearing about games where tech had 10 points at halftime and came out and scored 5/6 straight TDs in the second half...couldn't be stopped. stuff like that. Heard it directly from tech fans. I'm just curious, because I can't recall games where we've had an offensive explosion in the second half from first half adjustments, and that was supposed to be one of Leach's big strengths.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Really ? Geez.

Watch the second half of the Stanford and USC games and you will see adjustments all of over the place.

Specifically on the final TD drive Leach calls Luke over when they had the ball around the 50. They scored in 3 plays on underneath routes , last one on a route that Calvin ran for the first time in the game.

Starting this think that this is getting to be most entitled fan base going right now. Heck even Alabama fans know they will be playing close tough games like the one they at Miss. State

A while back I mentioned that it was only a matter of time before Leach would "need" to be fired because our fans would think that 8-4 wasn't acceptable. These types of threads are the first steps to that kind of talk. Coach can't recruit, make half-time adjustments and his system isn't balanced enough by the standards of our fans. Entitled is the right word even if it makes no sense for us to be that way.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Really ? Geez.

Watch the second half of the Stanford and USC games and you will see adjustments all of over the place.

Specifically on the final TD drive Leach calls Luke over when they had the ball around the 50. They scored in 3 plays on underneath routes , last one on a route that Calvin ran for the first time in the game.

Starting this think that this is getting to be most entitled fan base going right now. Heck even Alabama fans know they will be playing close tough games like the one they at Miss. State

I don't think it's unreasonable to be very concerned about our offense and specifically the QB. The numbers speak for themselves. We could argue that since we lost Marks and Craycraft that this largely explains the struggles. However, we saw what TH did (suddenly there were receivers open all over the place) and also we have no freshmen receivers now as we are at the end of the season.

Having said that, we are having a terrific season (no one argues that point)...and it's largely on the backs of our stellar defense.

 

[Fab5Coug]

A while back I mentioned that it was only a matter of time before Leach would "need" to be fired because our fans would think that 8-4 wasn't acceptable. These types of threads are the first steps to that kind of talk. Coach can't recruit, make half-time adjustments and his system isn't balanced enough by the standards of our fans. Entitled is the right word even if it makes no sense for us to be that way.

You're giving this board too much credit. A handful of disgruntled'ish fans online don't get coaches fired. Leach won't ever get fired for winning 8 games, regardless of what we know-it-all keyboard jockeys think about it.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Agree the offense hasn't been perfect but what's up with the Wazzu's DB's holding and grabbing the WR's? Seems to me the DB's are not being taught sound coverage technique. CB #4 was called for holding twice and was holding on the play when he gave up a TD yesterday. I would be more concerned about the chronic holding problems by the Wazzu DB's at this point. When your defense gives up 514 yards to Arizona with most coming up the gut on running plays there's a major glitch in your defense preparation and or philosophy.

Yea, can't believe no one else has thought to start their version of Vince Young against us and our glaring defensive glitch.

 

[CougEd]

Yea, can't believe no one else has thought to start their version of Vince Young against us and our glaring defensive glitch.

Fab while I agree with you about Tate, the one "style" of offense that has given grinch fits is an offense that doesn't have a complicated passing game but has a QB that is has legs. He has Stanford's number. They do nothing against his defense.

 

[CougEd]

A while back I mentioned that it was only a matter of time before Leach would "need" to be fired because our fans would think that 8-4 wasn't acceptable. These types of threads are the first steps to that kind of talk. Coach can't recruit, make half-time adjustments and his system isn't balanced enough by the standards of our fans. Entitled is the right word even if it makes no sense for us to be that way.

Flat that is a pretty big leap. Asking to run the ball a few more times so the QB isn't chucking it 69 times and throwing low percentage deep throws while all you need to do is burn clock isn't asking a lot. It is like going to the Red Robin and asking for warm fries versus the ones that were served. Do you think they want to boot you out cause you asked for warm fries?

 

[brettcraycraft51]

Flat that is a pretty big leap. Asking to run the ball a few more times so the QB isn't chucking it 69 times and throwing low percentage deep throws while all you need to do is burn clock isn't asking a lot. It is like going to the Red Robin and asking for warm fries versus the ones that were served. Do you think they want to boot you out cause you asked for warm fries?

this is the most gloriously random analogy i could imagine... i love it.

 

[brettcraycraft51]

this is the most gloriously random analogy i could imagine... i love it.

from now on, instead of "we need to run more" it has to be "these fries are so cold."

 

[Flatlandcoug]

Flat that is a pretty big leap. Asking to run the ball a few more times so the QB isn't chucking it 69 times and throwing low percentage deep throws while all you need to do is burn clock isn't asking a lot. It is like going to the Red Robin and asking for warm fries versus the ones that were served. Do you think they want to boot you out cause you asked for warm fries?

Like I said.......we've seen threads bitching about recruiting, play-calling, personnel decisions.......all while we are sitting at 9-2. It's been argued repeatedly here that he's only starting Falk out of loyalty and to the detriment of the team. It's only a matter of time before people start thinking that Leach has "peaked" and we need to move on. I'm not advocating that, I'm just saying that it's human nature and we can see the start of it here. We've already seen that one of the most decorated QB's in our school history isn't good once we started thinking that the grass is greener.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

from now on, instead of "we need to run more" it has to be "these fries are so cold."

If I get cold fries during the AC I'm going to be seriously pissed.

And throw in some extra campfire sauce, that sh!t is liquid gold.

 

[PINGDUDE4]

Yeah really. Hearing about games where tech had 10 points at halftime and came out and scored 5/6 straight TDs in the second half...couldn't be stopped. stuff like that. Heard it directly from tech fans. I'm just curious, because I can't recall games where we've had an offensive explosion in the second half from first half adjustments, and that was supposed to be one of Leach's big strengths.

Tech has never fielded a team in their entire history that would score 5/6 straight TD's on the defenses Stanford. SC or even Utah put on the field this year PERIOD. If the Tech fans said it they are full of crap and delusionary as is usually the case.

The point is to win the competitive games. Which is what your team has found a great knack of doing this year.

Every team is going to find match-ups where their unit is so much stronger than the opposition that they will look dominant in certain games. What separates teams is those that can win more than their share of the competitive ones.

That is one reason I have never been sold on your rivals the Huskies. When they can dominate the other team with their ( somewhat thuggy ) defense they look invincible. However when they find another team that will punch back they have not found ways to win the competitive game. Happened to them last year with their losses to USC and of course Alabama and it is happening again this year with their losses to ASU and Stanford.

 

[Fab5Coug]

Fab while I agree with you about Tate, the one "style" of offense that has given grinch fits is an offense that doesn't have a complicated passing game but has a QB that is has legs. He has Stanford's number. They do nothing against his defense.

Tate is the only mobile QB that has given us problems this year.

Burmeister didn't do anything. Utah's guy didn't do much.

Tate is just different level. No one can stop him.

 

[fingerdisco]

Flat that is a pretty big leap. Asking to run the ball a few more times so the QB isn't chucking it 69 times and throwing low percentage deep throws while all you need to do is burn clock isn't asking a lot. It is like going to the Red Robin and asking for warm fries versus the ones that were served. Do you think they want to boot you out cause you asked for warm fries?

But is it like asking for more grenadine in your Shirley temple?

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

But is it like asking for more grenadine in your Shirley temple?

"can you bring fries before our order comes out?"

 

[fingerdisco]

"can you bring fries before our order comes out?"

How ‘bout a Hot Pocket cooked in a dirty microwave instead?

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

Tech has never fielded a team in their entire history that would score 5/6 straight TD's on the defenses Stanford. SC or even Utah put on the field this year PERIOD. If the Tech fans said it they are full of crap and delusionary as is usually the case.

The point is to win the competitive games. Which is what your team has found a great knack of doing this year.

Every team is going to find match-ups where their unit is so much stronger than the opposition that they will look dominant in certain games. What separates teams is those that can win more than their share of the competitive ones.

That is one reason I have never been sold on your rivals the Huskies. When they can dominate the other team with their ( somewhat thuggy ) defense they look invincible. However when they find another team that will punch back they have not found ways to win the competitive game. Happened to them last year with their losses to USC and of course Alabama and it is happening again this year with their losses to ASU and Stanford.

Hoping that for a change we punch back against them in the AC. Haven't done that since 2012.

 

[chipdouglas]

With an "average" WSU defense, 4 of our 9 wins are automatic losses. We beat BSU, USC, Stanford and Utah by a combined 17 points, winning the turnover battle in 3 of 4. In fact, we've only lost the battle twice this season (Arizona blowout was one).

That puts us at 5 wins, and probably fewer: @ Oregon, for instance, consider 11 TFLs, as well as THREE 4th down stops and FIFTEEN 3rd down stops, altogether allowing us to start several drives in great field position and put up points which otherwise don't get put up.

Now imagine the offense having to drive the length of the field on every series, getting no extra drives from defensive turnovers, and looking on helplessly from the sideline while your defense can't get off the field and your opponent chews up clock. Heisman talk never would have happened, there would be far more rage directed at CML, and there would be no whiny threads after games complaining that the offense isn't getting its due.

As far as I'm concerned, you can debate whether we would have won 4 or 5 to date - but 6+ wins is not possible with a lesser defense.

 

[Coug1990]

The bitching and moaning by some of you is flat out idiotic. WSU is 9-2. Whether they win or lose the Apple Cup, this has been a very good season. When did some of you begin to think and whine like BSU or the uw?

I skimmed this thread because some of this was too stupid to read. Comparing this team to the 94 team? You have no idea and for those of us who watched those games, it is a foolish comparison.

It seems like many of you have forgotten just how many bad offensive years this team always had until the team was all upperclassman. It is why the team would have 2-3 awful years under Price and then the team would make a bowl.

This years team is still in the top half of the conference in scoring and total yards.

You want to know the reason this team is inconsistent offensively? The top eight receivers are made up of two true freshman, one rs freshman, two true sophomores and a rs sophomore. The only two upperclassman are true juniors Tavares Martin and Kyle Sweet. The offense will get better with experience and physical growth of the players. But, this year it does lead to inconsistency.

This his been the longest sustained good offense that WSU has had in a very long time if not ever.

 

[dgibbons]

With an "average" WSU defense, 4 of our 9 wins are automatic losses. We beat BSU, USC, Stanford and Utah by a combined 17 points, winning the turnover battle in 3 of 4. In fact, we've only lost the battle twice this season (Arizona blowout was one).

That puts us at 5 wins, and probably fewer: @ Oregon, for instance, consider 11 TFLs, as well as THREE 4th down stops and FIFTEEN 3rd down stops, altogether allowing us to start several drives in great field position and put up points which otherwise don't get put up.

Now imagine the offense having to drive the length of the field on every series, getting no extra drives from defensive turnovers, and looking on helplessly from the sideline while your defense can't get off the field and your opponent chews up clock. Heisman talk never would have happened, there would be far more rage directed at CML, and there would be no whiny threads after games complaining that the offense isn't getting its due.

As far as I'm concerned, you can debate whether we would have won 4 or 5 to date - but 6+ wins is not possible with a lesser defense.

Yes, but if we’re imagining things, I’m going to imagine that I won the Powerball years ago and donated a bunch of money so WSU would always have a dominate defense.

 

[earldacoug]

Watched the Utah game replay yesterday. Anthony Herron pointed out that the Cougs on 3rd down, are in 12th place in the PAC 12, with the longest amount of yards to go for a first down. That is a telling stat imo. So why are we so bad on first, second down ? Lack of intensity, play calling, tempo ? No way we should be 12th !!

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Watched the Utah game replay yesterday. Anthony Herron pointed out that the Cougs on 3rd down, are in 12th place in the PAC 12, with the longest amount of yards to go for a first down. That is a telling stat imo. So why are we so bad on first, second down ? Lack of intensity, play calling, tempo ? No way we should be 12th !!

It's simple really. too any negative plays. If it' not holding or dropped pass, it's a Falk sack.

There' little to no middle ground with this O; either boon or bust.

 

[Flatlandcoug]

With an "average" WSU defense, 4 of our 9 wins are automatic losses. We beat BSU, USC, Stanford and Utah by a combined 17 points, winning the turnover battle in 3 of 4. In fact, we've only lost the battle twice this season (Arizona blowout was one).

That puts us at 5 wins, and probably fewer: @ Oregon, for instance, consider 11 TFLs, as well as THREE 4th down stops and FIFTEEN 3rd down stops, altogether allowing us to start several drives in great field position and put up points which otherwise don't get put up.

Now imagine the offense having to drive the length of the field on every series, getting no extra drives from defensive turnovers, and looking on helplessly from the sideline while your defense can't get off the field and your opponent chews up clock. Heisman talk never would have happened, there would be far more rage directed at CML, and there would be no whiny threads after games complaining that the offense isn't getting its due.

As far as I'm concerned, you can debate whether we would have won 4 or 5 to date - but 6+ wins is not possible with a lesser defense.

The thing that's tough about woulda, coulda, shoulda's is that you don't know how the other pieces react if one of them changes. For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth, we have the #4 offense in the conference in total yards and #6 in scoring. We're moving the chains and 2nd in the conference in first downs. Things could be better but they could definitely be worse. What's insane about our fans being upset about our team's performance is that we appear to be actively looking for reasons to be angry. My co-worker that played at Iowa State is thrilled that his team is 6-4 right now with two winnable games left. My KSU brethren would be thrilled with a 9-2 record instead of the 5-5 spot that they are sitting in right now. Nebraska fans would definitely prefer to be in a position to bitch about close wins instead of the 4-6 record they are staring at right now. Y'all seem to forget that the other teams are trying too and just as many teams fail as succeed. We are lucky to be on the plus side of the equation.

When I read all of these threads bitching about winning close, it makes me think that we freakin' deserved Paul Wulff.

 

[dgibbons]

Watched the Utah game replay yesterday. Anthony Herron pointed out that the Cougs on 3rd down, are in 12th place in the PAC 12, with the longest amount of yards to go for a first down. That is a telling stat imo. So why are we so bad on first, second down ? Lack of intensity, play calling, tempo ? No way we should be 12th !!

Less explosive, much less effective running the ball, more sacks.

 

[brettcraycraft51]

Watched the Utah game replay yesterday. Anthony Herron pointed out that the Cougs on 3rd down, are in 12th place in the PAC 12, with the longest amount of yards to go for a first down. That is a telling stat imo. So why are we so bad on first, second down ? Lack of intensity, play calling, tempo ? No way we should be 12th !!

i heard that too and wondered if he was just talking out of his butt (because of the way he said it, it sounded like it could have been hyperbolic blather from an obvious moron), or if he was citing a real stat.

i'm sure it's a combo of factors, but the one thing that stands out is how different that is from last year. last year, i made a post about how efficient the offense was (it was a really remarkable year for the o last year in terms of efficiency). one of the things that stood out from the "research," such as it was, that went into that post was not only the outstanding third down efficiency, but where the o ranked in terms of total third downs. they hardly had any compared to most other teams. the thing was, they were gashing defenses on first and second down to the point that they were (a) picking up first downs w/o getting to third down, and (b) converting third downs at a high rate because of how often they only needed a couple yards.

my take on the factors that are different are the same as bleed and dgib have mentioned. for whatever reason, we were running the ball way more last year (and honestly f**king defenses up w/ it). i'd guess fair amount of those 5-7 yard first/second down plays came on runs. i don't have actual data, but the eye test suggests that bleed's right about sacks/penalties putting us in less advantageous third down positions too. again, no data, but i suspect there's been an uptick in incomplete passes on first down as well (which, just to be clear is a shared blame situation... not all on luke).

anyway, it would be interesting to run down the details on all this. if i have the time i'll go back and look at our offensive series so far and see if we can put some numbers to this speculation (number of 1st/2nd down sacks, penalties, incompletions, etc). that could be an interesting project.

[jesus, tl/dr: we were way better at this last year...]

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

The thing that's tough about woulda, coulda, shoulda's is that you don't know how the other pieces react if one of them changes. For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth, we have the #4 offense in the conference in total yards and #6 in scoring. We're moving the chains and 2nd in the conference in first downs. Things could be better but they could definitely be worse. What's insane about our fans being upset about our team's performance is that we appear to be actively looking for reasons to be angry. My co-worker that played at Iowa State is thrilled that his team is 6-4 right now with two winnable games left. My KSU brethren would be thrilled with a 9-2 record instead of the 5-5 spot that they are sitting in right now. Nebraska fans would definitely prefer to be in a position to bitch about close wins instead of the 4-6 record they are staring at right now. Y'all seem to forget that the other teams are trying too and just as many teams fail as succeed. We are lucky to be on the plus side of the equation.

When I read all of these threads bitching about winning close, it makes me think that we freakin' deserved Paul Wulff.

"#6 in scoring"

All that matters for the offense is scoring, right? Likewise, all that matters for the defense is preventing scoring.

So by that parameter we are "average" on offense. I made this point about being "average" on offense a couple of weeks ago.

I'm not angry. I am thrilled with this season. I think, however, a reasonable person would conclude that our offense has underperformed relative to what the Air Raid should and has produced.

Make sense?

 

[Flatlandcoug]

"#6 in scoring"

All that matters for the offense is scoring, right? Likewise, all that matters for the defense is preventing scoring.

So by that parameter we are "average" on offense. I made this point about being "average" on offense a couple of weeks ago.

I'm not angry. I am thrilled with this season. I think, however, a reasonable person would conclude that our offense has underperformed relative to what the Air Raid should and has produced.

Make sense?

I think it's more of a case of people losing sight of the past and what the Air Raid has actually produced at WSU. Yardage production is slightly down this year from the average of 2015 and 2016. Scoring is higher in 2017 than 2015 but lower than 2016. The passing offense is about where it's been but our rushing production is down a lot from last year which accounts for all of the drop from last year. Should we be doing better this year with a senior QB and a pretty good defense? Sure, but as others have pointed out, we lost our two best receivers to graduation. Could that be a factor? I think the biggest issue, which has been pointed out by others, is that we have reverted to bad habits on play calling and not running the ball enough.

You could argue that it's Luke's fault, but when I watched Hilinski calling plays, I saw a guy who was rarely going to check into the run and if he were running the show, we would revert to Halliday type offensive numbers that you see listed in the graphic for 2014. BTW, we finished 3-9 that year. A big issue that I have with the conversation is people using supposed failings of our offense to justify their desire to see Hilinski on the field. That isn't productive for anybody and just creates divides. We all agree that we need to be better, but having an agenda to unseat Falk so we can return to 2014 seems silly to me.

 

[How_did_this_happen?]

I think it's more of a case of people losing sight of the past and what the Air Raid has actually produced at WSU. Yardage production is slightly down this year from the average of 2015 and 2016. Scoring is higher in 2017 than 2015 but lower than 2016. The passing offense is about where it's been but our rushing production is down a lot from last year which accounts for all of the drop from last year. Should we be doing better this year with a senior QB and a pretty good defense? Sure, but as others have pointed out, we lost our two best receivers to graduation. Could that be a factor? I think the biggest issue, which has been pointed out by others, is that we have reverted to bad habits on play calling and not running the ball enough.

You could argue that it's Luke's fault, but when I watched Hilinski calling plays, I saw a guy who was rarely going to check into the run and if he were running the show, we would revert to Halliday type offensive numbers that you see listed in the graphic for 2014. BTW, we finished 3-9 that year. A big issue that I have with the conversation is people using supposed failings of our offense to justify their desire to see Hilinski on the field. That isn't productive for anybody and just creates divides. We all agree that we need to be better, but having an agenda to unseat Falk so we can return to 2014 seems silly to me.

It's purely speculative to say we'd revert to 2014 numbers with TH at QB...and I'm not promoting the idea that we should now switch to TH as our starter, just to be clear. If Luke doesn't produce vs UW I'm sure that Leach will pull him.

By the way, I don't think it's exactly fair to compare the performance of TH to Falk this season as he has far fewer snaps. He doesn't have the same experience level. Experience matters.

I am also pretty sure that next season, if TH is our starting QB, we will see more INTs than what Falk threw...but we will also see more yards/points. The question is: just how many more INTs will TH throw and will Leach find that acceptable given that we likely have more points on the board due to our offense.

Of course, I could be wrong...

 

[brettcraycraft51]

I think it's more of a case of people losing sight of the past and what the Air Raid has actually produced at WSU. Yardage production is slightly down this year from the average of 2015 and 2016. Scoring is higher in 2017 than 2015 but lower than 2016. The passing offense is about where it's been but our rushing production is down a lot from last year which accounts for all of the drop from last year. Should we be doing better this year with a senior QB and a pretty good defense? Sure, but as others have pointed out, we lost our two best receivers to graduation. Could that be a factor? I think the biggest issue, which has been pointed out by others, is that we have reverted to bad habits on play calling and not running the ball enough.

You could argue that it's Luke's fault, but when I watched Hilinski calling plays, I saw a guy who was rarely going to check into the run and if he were running the show, we would revert to Halliday type offensive numbers that you see listed in the graphic for 2014. BTW, we finished 3-9 that year. A big issue that I have with the conversation is people using supposed failings of our offense to justify their desire to see Hilinski on the field. That isn't productive for anybody and just creates divides. We all agree that we need to be better, but having an agenda to unseat Falk so we can return to 2014 seems silly to me.

this is a well-reasoned post and you make a lot of sound points (particularly the halliday/hilinski comp thus far--and damn you for putting those memories in my head ). however, and maybe this is where some of the gnashing of teeth over falk criticism/desire to hand the keys to hilinski doesn't make sense to me, why the concern of divisions? divisions in the locker room/on the coaching staff? sure that's a big deal, but why does it matter here? i (purely hypothetically ) say i'd like to see hilinski out there more often, you say that's a bad idea, we both have our reasons, we try and sometimes fail to be civil while making our case. what's the big deal?

 

[Flatlandcoug]

this is a well-reasoned post and you make a lot of sound points (particularly the halliday/hilinski comp thus far--and damn you for putting those memories in my head ). however, and maybe this is where some of the gnashing of teeth over falk criticism/desire to hand the keys to hilinski doesn't make sense to me, why the concern of divisions? divisions in the locker room/on the coaching staff? sure that's a big deal, but why does it matter here? i (purely hypothetically ) say i'd like to see hilinski out there more often, you say that's a bad idea, we both have our reasons, we try and sometimes fail to be civil while making our case. what's the big deal?

Fair enough. I actually wish that college football psychology would allow us to put Hilinski on the field more. The more snaps the better when the time is right. I was disappointed to see Falk head out onto the field against OSU when we were up several TD's in the fourth quarter because we are going to be better off if Tyler gets snaps as often as possible. My "what's the big deal" is seeing fans publicly lose their minds over the play of the winningest QB in our school's history. For all of the talk he should be better, we would not be where we are without him. We've never had a QB that handled a 4th quarter come-from-behind drive better than him. I don't mind the talk about what he needs to do better, but the talk of casting him aside as we head to 9-2 bugs me. I'm not worried about the team being divided because it seems pretty obvious that they know the score and support Falk. I just hate to see a board that struggles to be civil when times are good to lose that because it's just not good enough.

 

[Fab5Coug]

The thing that's tough about woulda, coulda, shoulda's is that you don't know how the other pieces react if one of them changes. For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth, we have the #4 offense in the conference in total yards and #6 in scoring. We're moving the chains and 2nd in the conference in first downs. Things could be better but they could definitely be worse. What's insane about our fans being upset about our team's performance is that we appear to be actively looking for reasons to be angry. My co-worker that played at Iowa State is thrilled that his team is 6-4 right now with two winnable games left. My KSU brethren would be thrilled with a 9-2 record instead of the 5-5 spot that they are sitting in right now. Nebraska fans would definitely prefer to be in a position to bitch about close wins instead of the 4-6 record they are staring at right now. Y'all seem to forget that the other teams are trying too and just as many teams fail as succeed. We are lucky to be on the plus side of the equation.

When I read all of these threads bitching about winning close, it makes me think that we freakin' deserved Paul Wulff.

Just curious, but who is it that you think is so upset?

 

[Fab5Coug]

Fair enough. I actually wish that college football psychology would allow us to put Hilinski on the field more. The more snaps the better when the time is right. I was disappointed to see Falk head out onto the field against OSU when we were up several TD's in the fourth quarter because we are going to be better off if Tyler gets snaps as often as possible. My "what's the big deal" is seeing fans publicly lose their minds over the play of the winningest QB in our school's history. For all of the talk he should be better, we would not be where we are without him. We've never had a QB that handled a 4th quarter come-from-behind drive better than him. I don't mind the talk about what he needs to do better, but the talk of casting him aside as we head to 9-2 bugs me. I'm not worried about the team being divided because it seems pretty obvious that they know the score and support Falk. I just hate to see a board that struggles to be civil when times are good to lose that because it's just not good enough.

Again, who is it losing their minds? ElC is the only guy I can think of that has consistently called for TH, but I don't even find him that obnoxious about it,

Who else are you so concerned about?