A well-coached game for 58 mins. Too bad the game is 60. Also, might've been the best chance to beat Shaw as he had one of his brain fart games (sadly, a brain fart game by him is still good enough to beat the current iteration of ucla).
Rosen made some great throws and missed some that might've put the game away. He just isn't very accurate on the deep ball at this point.
I know some disliked KP insistence on running, but I have no problem with that. The idea was to keep the clock running and limit how many plays the defense was on the field.
It took the defensive brain trust only 5 years but they finally figured out that an 8 man box is useful thing to stop the run. Kudos.
The defense in general played very well (even Hollins). Getting Goforth off the field for Pickett has really helped, might be time to do the same for Wadood if Goodman can handle the position. Particularly against run first teams.
The WRs are still bad. Massington is an empty jersey. Lasely looks long term like he might be the best of the group. Roberts has some upside. Iese had a good game, but his blocking is still so blah. Adams has potential but he hasn't played WR before (in the same way moving Barr to D was a good idea, they really screwed up keeping Adams on defense). Andrews isn't good enough to drop the ball or have stupid penalties but he does both.
The offensive line is what it is. Weak in the middle and pretty good on the outside. As a group, they're above average pass blocking and below average run blocking.
The RBs are pretty un-unique. They get what's there and not much more.
Sadly the real problem is just who this team is which is who they always are. Why do they lose to good teams? Stupid penalties, ill-timed drops, and a conservative mentality that makes winning close games a pipe dream.
I mostly don't believe you put drops and penalties on coaches but when they are so prolific over such a long period of time it's hard not to say the problem is systemic. And currently if the game is on the line and ucla is on defense with 2 minutes remaining, I'd bet my house they will lose every time (has Mora won a game in this scenario?)
I think this is a team that no matter how much talent they have, they are a perennial 6-6 to 9-3 team (with the step-back in recruiting there may be less talent going forward). I don't think this staff is capable of beating a team of equal or greater talent unless they are incompetently coached. The scary part is how little has been accomplished with top 10 QBs. There's no heir to Rosen that looks like a can't miss player that bodes poorly. On the defensive side, they haven't been particularly good with NFL players like Kendricks, Barr, Clark, and now Vanderdoes, and they don't have anybody of that level next year.
I'm just guessing but I don't think there's that much excitement around this program. As you might've seen, I was trying to sell tickets for face value. Nothing. Half of face. Nothing. Finally sold the tickets for about 30% of face. Another middling year with high ticket prices and I think the fans are going to leave in droves.
updated schedule guess
A&M L
UNLV - W
@BYU - W (had as an L)
Stanford - L
AZ - W
@ASU - L (was a W)
@WSU - W
Utah - L
@Colorado - L (was a W)
OSU - W
USC - W (tossup)
@Cal - W
Total: 7-5 (down from 8-4)
Rosen made some great throws and missed some that might've put the game away. He just isn't very accurate on the deep ball at this point.
I know some disliked KP insistence on running, but I have no problem with that. The idea was to keep the clock running and limit how many plays the defense was on the field.
It took the defensive brain trust only 5 years but they finally figured out that an 8 man box is useful thing to stop the run. Kudos.
The defense in general played very well (even Hollins). Getting Goforth off the field for Pickett has really helped, might be time to do the same for Wadood if Goodman can handle the position. Particularly against run first teams.
The WRs are still bad. Massington is an empty jersey. Lasely looks long term like he might be the best of the group. Roberts has some upside. Iese had a good game, but his blocking is still so blah. Adams has potential but he hasn't played WR before (in the same way moving Barr to D was a good idea, they really screwed up keeping Adams on defense). Andrews isn't good enough to drop the ball or have stupid penalties but he does both.
The offensive line is what it is. Weak in the middle and pretty good on the outside. As a group, they're above average pass blocking and below average run blocking.
The RBs are pretty un-unique. They get what's there and not much more.
Sadly the real problem is just who this team is which is who they always are. Why do they lose to good teams? Stupid penalties, ill-timed drops, and a conservative mentality that makes winning close games a pipe dream.
I mostly don't believe you put drops and penalties on coaches but when they are so prolific over such a long period of time it's hard not to say the problem is systemic. And currently if the game is on the line and ucla is on defense with 2 minutes remaining, I'd bet my house they will lose every time (has Mora won a game in this scenario?)
I think this is a team that no matter how much talent they have, they are a perennial 6-6 to 9-3 team (with the step-back in recruiting there may be less talent going forward). I don't think this staff is capable of beating a team of equal or greater talent unless they are incompetently coached. The scary part is how little has been accomplished with top 10 QBs. There's no heir to Rosen that looks like a can't miss player that bodes poorly. On the defensive side, they haven't been particularly good with NFL players like Kendricks, Barr, Clark, and now Vanderdoes, and they don't have anybody of that level next year.
I'm just guessing but I don't think there's that much excitement around this program. As you might've seen, I was trying to sell tickets for face value. Nothing. Half of face. Nothing. Finally sold the tickets for about 30% of face. Another middling year with high ticket prices and I think the fans are going to leave in droves.
updated schedule guess
A&M L
UNLV - W
@BYU - W (had as an L)
Stanford - L
AZ - W
@ASU - L (was a W)
@WSU - W
Utah - L
@Colorado - L (was a W)
OSU - W
USC - W (tossup)
@Cal - W
Total: 7-5 (down from 8-4)
