But at the same time, it's also not impossible to ignore the fact that we were an extremely young team on offense this year and really as a team with very few experienced playmakers when it came to making plays in tight spots.
What you hope you see out of this team going forward is that they learn from some of their mistakes in close games this year about the importance of every single play, being smart about avoiding bad penalties, the importance of protecting the football, etc. There was improvement in these areas throughout the year.
Most smart people said before the year that we'd be much better the back half of the year compared to the front and that there'd be games that we'd lose in the front half that we'd never lose as the season progressed. That happened. Nothing about this season was particularly surprising to me.
These stats are very useful for evaluating the potential of a team. What they don't account for is the intangible ability to win close games, or "clutchness", for lack of a better term, which is of course critical in a sport like college football where anything more than one loss effectively eliminates you from national championship contention.
The S&P numbers more or less mirror what any rational fan could see this year; our team was good enough to match up with anyone on our schedule, we just fucked ourselves consistently and lost too many games because of it. Folks like Auburndoog are adamant that this is 100% due to youth, and that improvement in the "clutchness" department will be linear as our players gain experience. Of course he completely ignores the possibility that our lack of "clutchness" stems from the coaching staff, and that this problem will not fade away with time. Next year will answer that question. A single-digit win season will mean our coaches have failed to develop a roster that has that intangible ability.
These stats are very useful for evaluating the potential of a team. What they don't account for is the intangible ability to win close games, or "clutchness", for lack of a better term, which is of course critical in a sport like college football where anything more than one loss effectively eliminates you from national championship contention.
The S&P numbers more or less mirror what any rational fan could see this year; our team was good enough to match up with anyone on our schedule, we just fucked ourselves consistently and lost too many games because of it. Folks like Auburndoog are adamant that this is 100% due to youth, and that improvement in the "clutchness" department will be linear as our players gain experience. Of course he completely ignores the possibility that our lack of "clutchness" stems from the coaching staff, and that this problem will not fade away with time. Next year will answer that question. A single-digit win season will mean our coaches have failed to develop a roster that has that intangible ability.
This is a very good post that probably should be pinned as a response for people like @ThomasFremont that will pop off for the next 9+ months about something that can't be determined one way or another until next season.
But at the same time, it's also not impossible to ignore the fact that we were an extremely young team on offense this year and really as a team with very few experienced playmakers when it came to making plays in tight spots.
What you hope you see out of this team going forward is that they learn from some of their mistakes in close games this year about the importance of every single play, being smart about avoiding bad penalties, the importance of protecting the football, etc. There was improvement in these areas throughout the year.
Most smart people said before the year that we'd be much better the back half of the year compared to the front and that there'd be games that we'd lose in the front half that we'd never lose as the season progressed. That happened. Nothing about this season was particularly surprising to me.
I do agree we got better, but we lost to a declining Utah at home and mediocre ASU team in the 2nd half of the season.
These stats are very useful for evaluating the potential of a team. What they don't account for is the intangible ability to win close games, or "clutchness", for lack of a better term, which is of course critical in a sport like college football where anything more than one loss effectively eliminates you from national championship contention.
The S&P numbers more or less mirror what any rational fan could see this year; our team was good enough to match up with anyone on our schedule, we just fucked ourselves consistently and lost too many games because of it. Folks like Auburndoog are adamant that this is 100% due to youth, and that improvement in the "clutchness" department will be linear as our players gain experience. Of course he completely ignores the possibility that our lack of "clutchness" stems from the coaching staff, and that this problem will not fade away with time. Next year will answer that question. A single-digit win season will mean our coaches have failed to develop a roster that has that intangible ability.
This is a very good post that probably should be pinned as a response for people like @ThomasFremont that will pop off for the next 9+ months about something that can't be determined one way or another until next season.
I've already stated multiple times that I have seen enough out of Petersen. He's not a championship coach at this level, imho. Any statistical model this out of touch with reality (12th nationally vs 4th in our own division) is seriously pressing. But latch onto it if it makes you feel better about 7 wins.
However, I've also been very clear that Pete can shut me the fuck up by winning the North/conference.
I agree with the thread that UW being ranked 12th in anything is FS, but the teams behind us suck too. It doesn't really matter. The teams at the top would plunger us.
Comments
This crap is so stupid.
I seriously applaud the attempt to get more sophisticated metrics of football, but fucking come on.
AND POINT DIFFERENTIAL NORTHWEST CHAMPIONSHIP!
But at the same time, it's also not impossible to ignore the fact that we were an extremely young team on offense this year and really as a team with very few experienced playmakers when it came to making plays in tight spots.
What you hope you see out of this team going forward is that they learn from some of their mistakes in close games this year about the importance of every single play, being smart about avoiding bad penalties, the importance of protecting the football, etc. There was improvement in these areas throughout the year.
Most smart people said before the year that we'd be much better the back half of the year compared to the front and that there'd be games that we'd lose in the front half that we'd never lose as the season progressed. That happened. Nothing about this season was particularly surprising to me.
The S&P numbers more or less mirror what any rational fan could see this year; our team was good enough to match up with anyone on our schedule, we just fucked ourselves consistently and lost too many games because of it. Folks like Auburndoog are adamant that this is 100% due to youth, and that improvement in the "clutchness" department will be linear as our players gain experience. Of course he completely ignores the possibility that our lack of "clutchness" stems from the coaching staff, and that this problem will not fade away with time. Next year will answer that question. A single-digit win season will mean our coaches have failed to develop a roster that has that intangible ability.
However, I've also been very clear that Pete can shut me the fuck up by winning the North/conference.
Not letting you back on the bandwagon when our "dumb fuck" HC leads us to back to back Rose Bowls in '16 and '17.
one thing is for sure: UW is the best 7-6 team by either measure
If we play Oregon or Utah on a neutral field tomorrow, I'm still not confident Washington wins. Too many loser decisions on GameDay to win.
Sounds 100% accurate...