1. Offensively, we were competitive and effective. We put up 17 in the first half. Gained over 500 yards. Play calling was much more imaginative - at least on 1st downs. Even with a banged up OL, we managed to keep the ball moving.
2. Once both OL guys went out, our OL looked and performed as they did 2-3 years ago - because we were suddenly, "young and inexperienced" again. Lack of true quality depth in the OL was apparent.
3. Rosen pick 6 was all on him. He stared down his receiver easily allowing the DB to break quickly on the throw. In the future he'll look off the WR and that throw is completed. There is a better chance of that throw being completed if the WR isn't lazy on the route and fights for the ball - and had that happened last night, the pick 6 might not occur. But overall, Rosen was sound.
4. The throw to Andrews for the TD was perfect. A potential momentum changer....then our, "special teams" showed they are not special. Within a span of seconds, the momentum was sucked away and we were left with hanging on. The loss of Ulbrich as ST guy seems to have hurt us the most. 2nd biggest hurt on STs is the sorry state of our punting this year. Gone are the days of hearing the ball pop off the punters foot. Looks like we are destined for 35 yard punts the rest of the year.
5. I think losing Vanderdoes has hurt us more than losing MJ. MJ would have made a lot of plays last night, but I suspect having Vanderdoes would have changed the complexity of the OL vs. front 7 much more impactfully. First half, Clark was killing their center. 2nd half, the doubled on him. They wouldn't have been able to with Vanderdoes available to us. We would have been stronger against the run AND the DL pressure would have been more pronounced - not to mention we would have been fresher in the game.
6. Bradley defense was conservative again. We "ran into this last year" as well - Stanford kept additional blockers in to try and chip the DEs to buy more time. Last year, the post-game statements were that it was useless to blitz and expend more bodies against 7 blockers. If we did, they throw at will against us. If we played it straight up, they'd run on us. Last year, it was if we were saying that their offense against us was PERFECT and we had no chance against them. THIS year.....ummm.....seems like same game plan and same results. It appears like we don;t have the balls to chanllenge that thinking.
I watched us demonstrate a tremendous amount of defensive pressure in Fall Camp at San Berdoo, but the PSU fans I spoke with never saw much pressure from Bradley. They did NOT appreciate the bend-but-don't-break philosophy their defense used at PSU with Bradley as DC. They just were not sure it was Bradley's defense, or JoPa's overall control that was forcing that style of play. Looks like it IS Bradley.
Going into the year, as always for us to be successful, we needed to demonstrate we were tough enough physically and mentally to play with Stanford and Utah. We also had to show we had the athletes and team speed to play with ASU, Oregon and $uc. Without both those characteristics in the team, we wouldn't really be in a position to threaten in the conference. Well, after seeing us against ASU and Stanford.....
2. Once both OL guys went out, our OL looked and performed as they did 2-3 years ago - because we were suddenly, "young and inexperienced" again. Lack of true quality depth in the OL was apparent.
3. Rosen pick 6 was all on him. He stared down his receiver easily allowing the DB to break quickly on the throw. In the future he'll look off the WR and that throw is completed. There is a better chance of that throw being completed if the WR isn't lazy on the route and fights for the ball - and had that happened last night, the pick 6 might not occur. But overall, Rosen was sound.
4. The throw to Andrews for the TD was perfect. A potential momentum changer....then our, "special teams" showed they are not special. Within a span of seconds, the momentum was sucked away and we were left with hanging on. The loss of Ulbrich as ST guy seems to have hurt us the most. 2nd biggest hurt on STs is the sorry state of our punting this year. Gone are the days of hearing the ball pop off the punters foot. Looks like we are destined for 35 yard punts the rest of the year.
5. I think losing Vanderdoes has hurt us more than losing MJ. MJ would have made a lot of plays last night, but I suspect having Vanderdoes would have changed the complexity of the OL vs. front 7 much more impactfully. First half, Clark was killing their center. 2nd half, the doubled on him. They wouldn't have been able to with Vanderdoes available to us. We would have been stronger against the run AND the DL pressure would have been more pronounced - not to mention we would have been fresher in the game.
6. Bradley defense was conservative again. We "ran into this last year" as well - Stanford kept additional blockers in to try and chip the DEs to buy more time. Last year, the post-game statements were that it was useless to blitz and expend more bodies against 7 blockers. If we did, they throw at will against us. If we played it straight up, they'd run on us. Last year, it was if we were saying that their offense against us was PERFECT and we had no chance against them. THIS year.....ummm.....seems like same game plan and same results. It appears like we don;t have the balls to chanllenge that thinking.
I watched us demonstrate a tremendous amount of defensive pressure in Fall Camp at San Berdoo, but the PSU fans I spoke with never saw much pressure from Bradley. They did NOT appreciate the bend-but-don't-break philosophy their defense used at PSU with Bradley as DC. They just were not sure it was Bradley's defense, or JoPa's overall control that was forcing that style of play. Looks like it IS Bradley.
Going into the year, as always for us to be successful, we needed to demonstrate we were tough enough physically and mentally to play with Stanford and Utah. We also had to show we had the athletes and team speed to play with ASU, Oregon and $uc. Without both those characteristics in the team, we wouldn't really be in a position to threaten in the conference. Well, after seeing us against ASU and Stanford.....
