Washington State has done an admirable job coming together after head coach Nick Rolovich’s mid-season firing. The controversy surrounding Rolovich has galvanized the Cougars to a degree and they are playing as well as they have all season. They are second in the Pac-12 in pass yards per game, and after committing twelve turnovers in the first six games of the season, they have just five in their last five. Per our friends over at CougCenter, WSU is the most improved team in the Pac-12 in the second half of the season in points per opportunity (points you score after crossing your opponent’s 40-yard line).
Jayden de Laura In The Run And Shoot
The run and shoot has some key similarities to WSU’s former air raid attack: both employ lots of four and five wide receiver sets and identify as pass first in all respects. While the air raid relies on precise execution and exact timing of well drilled route combinations, the run and shoot is more improvisational. Every route has multiple options depending on how the coverage reacts, trying to force defenders into situations where no matter what decision they make, the offense always has a counter. Of course, this requires quarterbacks and receivers to be in near perfect sync and react to coverages the same way. Another difference from the air raid is significantly fewer passes to running backs out of the backfield. A pass game staple in the air raid, RB Max Borghi has just 14 receptions in eleven games this season.
The strengths and weaknesses of both their personnel and this philosophy are pretty much what you’d expect (and personally I’d argue there are more of the former than latter).
The Pros:
Most basic: All else held constant, sowing chaos up front makes it more likely you’ll find an unblocked or only partially-blocked path to the quarterback.
Opposing offensive lines can’t just hone in on one guy who’s the biggest threat every snap since they can’t easily predict exactly where each defensive linemen’s likely to head post-snap.
Furthermore, even if you could do that, from a personnel standpoint there isn’t any one guy who’s so much more dangerous than his teammate elsewhere on the line. That’s not me talking smack on anyone, more so complimenting the unit as a whole.
Makes it harder for opposing offenses to quickly get the snap off if they want to play hurry-up because identifying pressure is less straightforward for the quarterback/center.
And Cons:
The continuous stunting can get guys out of position and leave a lane open or have the Cougs completely lose control of the edge, which obviously gives opposing quarterbacks an easy escape route on the ground when that happens.
Obviously that’s more pros than cons, but that single con can bite WSU on occasion, especially against particularly mobile or particularly aware quarterbacks.
FYI- Since it was a hot topic on the latest HHH Podcast...the reason why I wrote 'Bow Down When You Come To Our Town' in this thread title even though the UW is 4-7 this season is because it is a rivalry game and with a rivalry game you can throw the season records out of the window. Hope that makes it clear for those who couldn't understand the logic behind it. All the best...
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Every Apple Cup Since 2013
The 113th Boeing Apple Cup
Interim Head Coach Bob Gregory Looks Ahead To Colorado, Apple Cup
Washington State has done an admirable job coming together after head coach Nick Rolovich’s mid-season firing. The controversy surrounding Rolovich has galvanized the Cougars to a degree and they are playing as well as they have all season. They are second in the Pac-12 in pass yards per game, and after committing twelve turnovers in the first six games of the season, they have just five in their last five. Per our friends over at CougCenter, WSU is the most improved team in the Pac-12 in the second half of the season in points per opportunity (points you score after crossing your opponent’s 40-yard line).
Jayden de Laura In The Run And Shoot
The run and shoot has some key similarities to WSU’s former air raid attack: both employ lots of four and five wide receiver sets and identify as pass first in all respects. While the air raid relies on precise execution and exact timing of well drilled route combinations, the run and shoot is more improvisational. Every route has multiple options depending on how the coverage reacts, trying to force defenders into situations where no matter what decision they make, the offense always has a counter. Of course, this requires quarterbacks and receivers to be in near perfect sync and react to coverages the same way. Another difference from the air raid is significantly fewer passes to running backs out of the backfield. A pass game staple in the air raid, RB Max Borghi has just 14 receptions in eleven games this season.
TYFYS @ChillyDawg
UWDawgPound https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/11/25/22802533/the-prediction-apple-cup-edition-uw-washington-huskies-football-wsu-cougars
UWDawgPound (click for full article) https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/11/25/22801388/washington-huskies-football-opponent-defense-preview-washington-state-cougars-apple-cup
The strengths and weaknesses of both their personnel and this philosophy are pretty much what you’d expect (and personally I’d argue there are more of the former than latter).
The Pros:
- Most basic: All else held constant, sowing chaos up front makes it more likely you’ll find an unblocked or only partially-blocked path to the quarterback.
- Opposing offensive lines can’t just hone in on one guy who’s the biggest threat every snap since they can’t easily predict exactly where each defensive linemen’s likely to head post-snap.
- Furthermore, even if you could do that, from a personnel standpoint there isn’t any one guy who’s so much more dangerous than his teammate elsewhere on the line. That’s not me talking smack on anyone, more so complimenting the unit as a whole.
- Makes it harder for opposing offenses to quickly get the snap off if they want to play hurry-up because identifying pressure is less straightforward for the quarterback/center.
And Cons:- The continuous stunting can get guys out of position and leave a lane open or have the Cougs completely lose control of the edge, which obviously gives opposing quarterbacks an easy escape route on the ground when that happens.
Obviously that’s more pros than cons, but that single con can bite WSU on occasion, especially against particularly mobile or particularly aware quarterbacks.Bob Gregory meets with the media ahead of the 2021 Boeing Apple Cup with Washington State on Friday, November 26.
SI PAC-12 FOOTBALL POWER RANKINGS
1. Utah 8-3/7-1 (72 points)
2. Oregon 9-2/6-2 (61)
3. UCLA 7-4/5-3 (60)
4. Oregon State 7-4/5-3 (58)
5. Washington State 6-5/5-3 (46)
6. Arizona State 7-4/5-3 (45)
7. Cal 4-6/3-4 (32)
8. Colorado 4-7/3-5 (30)
9. USC 4-6/3-5 (25)
10. Washington 4-7/3-5 (19)
11. Stanford 3-8/2-7 (12)
12. Arizona 1-10/1-7 (7)
Washington State vs Washington Picks Against the Spread Predictions 2021 College Football
Seattle Times https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/uw-husky-football/instant-analysis-three-impressions-from-wsus-40-13-route-of-uw-in-the-apple-cup/
UWDawgPound https://www.uwdawgpound.com/2021/11/26/22804317/huskies-reach-rock-bottom-in-40-13-apple-cup-loss
UW vs WSU Highlights
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