Monday rewatch thoughts

dnc said:

DerekJohnson said:

On the other hand, we gave 42 points, 515 yards and 7.9 yards per carry

Yeah, there's that. The zone read gave us all kinds of fits, USC definitely has athletes. I don't worry about that with any of the teams left on the schedule but wonder if Oregon files that away a bit for conference title game. Good (?) news is I don't think Tuli is 100% yet so hopefully that will help a bit going forward. Oregon State and Utah coming up will tell us a lot about whether we just can't stop the run or if it was the threat of Caleb that was especially deadly.

I hate that we didn't get Austin Jones out of HS or out of the portal, always loved that dude.

FireCohen said:

Wasn’t Parker Brailsford getting blown up by ASU?

dnc said:

UW was by far the more physical team. Obviously there's the 300 yards on the ground, but beyond that we were on the giving end of virtually all of the big hits in the game. Dom delivered multiple shots, the OL manhandled people and Dillon, Westover and Penix all picked up first downs by sheer will. The receivers were physical too (Ja'Lynn with another tough contested catch, Germ with an absolute decleater of a block).

Kickoff unit (especially Grady Gross) was an unsung hero. UW kicked off 9 times, 6 of them went for touchbacks (I didn't count how many of those were fair caught), only two that weren't were the one Branch let hit that didn't get into the end zone and he got tackled at the 5, a 17 yard return from the goalline to the 17 and the final of the day which Branch brought out from the goal line for 22 yards. Officially 43 yards on 3 returns for an average of 14.3 per return. Even if you take out the 4 yard debacle we held arguably the most explosive returner in the nation to under 20 yards per return.

Gross hit all his PATs and calmly knocked through another FG. Dude's been a revelation this year.

Super proud of Grubb. He called damn near a perfect game. There were more yards to be had in the passing game with our talent but they were easier to come by on the ground and he was willing to take them. Just a clinic.

Tybo doesn't have Dillon's vision but man he's explosive with the ball in his hands. Curious why we haven't tried him at KOR, would rather see him back then than Ngata if we're too worried about keeping Germie healthy. Maybe they trust his ball control? Love to have DJ come back next year but if he doesn't Tybo will get a lot of run.

Middle screen to Rome is just devastating. How do you stop that?

Penix made really good decisions, the one pick aside (which was really just an amazing defensive play by the tipper and a really good play by the interceptor). He was content to take what the defense gave him and didn't try and force the ball down field. When he did go downfield he drew a couple DPI's (including the huge one on Rome to wipe out Tybo's hold at midfield), converted the huge fourth down on the busted coverage to Rome, hit Polk for his patented going up for the ball while being hit grab and put one where Giles had a shot but couldn't quite reel it in. He also had a couple tough 1 yard runs when 1 yard was all that was needed. And of course the Heisman dime to Culp.

Speaking of Culp the TE's really made their presence felt. Cuevas had a nice grab early, Culp had the incredible TD and Westover had the big 3rd down pickup I referenced at the beginning. Plus lots of blocking contributions.

Probably not news but Parker Brailsford is a future All American and Probe Owl CENTER. He moves so well and his technique is really advanced for somebody so young. He's really good at guard but he's incredible at center.

Fautanu is probably gone, I can't imagine how he lasts past the second round. Just an incredible athlete at that size.

Trice had a very Trice like game. If we got any PUSH from the middle to match his HEAT from the edge he'd rack up the sacks. As it was he harassed Caleb all game and had a nice stop or two in the running game.

Couldn't possibly be happier for ZTF. The chemistry of the team and the staff really stood out. They love ZTF and he loves them. Proud of the way they rallied around him. That strip sack changed the whole complexion of the game.

Punt unit has to get that ball out there. Just a brutal block.

Fewer dumb penalties than I expected. Refs mostly let them play, can't remember any personal fouls other than the one tripping on Brailsford early and the nonsense call on Troy where SC didn't get hands to the face for taking his helmet off. Only maybe one DPI. I don't think we had a single downfield hold or block in the back despite all the long runs and screens. ESPN never did show us if the illegal formation on Rome was legit or not, interested to see if anyone can get the all 22 of that. Seemed like a weird call. Maybe our cleanest game, at least against a decent opponent.

We were about 1 tenth of a second from a scoop and score for Ulo, great play by Elijah to strip the ball, super super close to a catch.

We burned a TO early on defense when we somehow only had 9 men on the field. Defensive coaching still leaves a lot to be desired, players look confused often, don't know where to be or what their responsibilities are. This is going to burn us eventually.

HFNY said:

Speaking of the OL, I thought Buelow had a very good game too. He was moving well and I noticed him down field multiple times.

dnc said:

DerekJohnson said:

On the other hand, we gave 42 points, 515 yards and 7.9 yards per carry

Yeah, there's that. The zone read gave us all kinds of fits, USC definitely has athletes. I don't worry about that with any of the teams left on the schedule but wonder if Oregon files that away a bit for conference title game. Good (?) news is I don't think Tuli is 100% yet so hopefully that will help a bit going forward. Oregon State and Utah coming up will tell us a lot about whether we just can't stop the run or if it was the threat of Caleb that was especially deadly.

I hate that we didn't get Austin Jones out of HS or out of the portal, always loved that dude.

Tequilla said:

dnc said:

DerekJohnson said:

On the other hand, we gave 42 points, 515 yards and 7.9 yards per carry

Yeah, there's that. The zone read gave us all kinds of fits, USC definitely has athletes. I don't worry about that with any of the teams left on the schedule but wonder if Oregon files that away a bit for conference title game. Good (?) news is I don't think Tuli is 100% yet so hopefully that will help a bit going forward. Oregon State and Utah coming up will tell us a lot about whether we just can't stop the run or if it was the threat of Caleb that was especially deadly.

I hate that we didn't get Austin Jones out of HS or out of the portal, always loved that dude.

On the 4th and 1 TD pass that Caleb threw, Tuli destroyed his block and blew up the play forcing Caleb to pull something out of his ass the other way

That's a play that if you go back and watch we did A LOT of good things on and got nothing out of it. Even if you want to criticize the coverage in the end zone, the DB was there and not in terrible position ... ball placement was tremendous and the WR never really gave any indication that the ball was coming from which to trigger a look back from the DB

Lots of those plays throughout the game

Tequilla said:

@dnc

Don't want to go item for item but there were a few things that I wanted to call out

Gross and the kickoff teams (both sides of the ball) have been very good this year. The coverage units by and large have not only performed well, but provided momentum on a handful of occasions with big hits while the return team has typically held an edge in driving field position ... definitely some hidden yardage gains this year and obviously versus SC keeping Branch largely a pedestrian was huge in limiting easy scores for them. Best thing I can say about Gross is that he looks competent and his presence in kicks doesn't give me a pit in my stomach that you can often get with college kickers ... it was one of my biggest concerns coming into the season after losing Henry.

For as complementary as the above is, I've never been a huge fan of McAlister and his operation is just so slow. If you have any kind of pace to your punts you shouldn't get the ball blocked with the "protector" blocking arrangement ... but if you take your sweet time you can give someone time to go around the protection. Just can't happen.

Your call out on the TEs is very important and one I called out before the game as being critical in that we really needed to leverage the TEs and RBs in the passing game. Teams will look to limit the explosive plays from the WRs going over the top and the easiest way to combat that is through running against light boxes and making easy underneath throws. In particular, the TE delay to Westover on 3rd and 12 or whatever it was was a great play call and taking what the defense was giving.

All of that is great but it requires Penix executing it. It's interesting to see that the consensus nationally by looking at the stat line being that Penix had an average game Saturday. I'd argue that that was the best game that Penix played all year in that he had complete control of the offense and was on top of varying snap counts to ensure that the defense was never able to really time it up. The INT was a great play by SC but as you noted the night as a whole was full of Penix minimizing risk and just moving the ball.

There's a video going around (pretty sure I quote tweeted it on X) of a play where Troy got beat on an inside spin move where Troy responded with his own pivot spin and got back into great position ... that's absurd by him. That's just not a play that you see out of an OL often. Moreover, there were a few examples of where he got out in the running game into space and his movement for his size is just stupid good ... it's a devastating thing to see a guy that powerful coming at you when he's not at a deficit in the quickness department versus far smaller defenders. Clear the tracks ...

Honestly, the whole OL deserves a massive hat tip for their performance. Yes, it's easy to rip on SC's defense but you still have to block it up and we did a tremendous job. Go back and look at some of the bigger runs and see how every single member of the OL wins and wins big whether it's through their pulling action or by getting position, turning the defender, and getting a great seal to create the alleys to run behind. There were even a few plays where the RBs missed the hole or didn't give the block enough patience that could have busted for long gains.

The most impressive thing to me about ZTFs game wasn't the sack/fumble or his playing of Caleb in space ... it was that for arguably the first time all year he showed restraint and containment in his rush lanes and more often than not it resulted in Williams staying in the pocket versus getting to the outside. The balance of the plays in which Williams hurts you the most is when he's able to get outside and compromise the defense and by and large I thought we did a decent job there all things considered.

Speaking of the pass rush, the pressures are there and the results are going to be coming behind it. Tackling Williams is a massive challenge ... any other QB and UW probably ends up with 6+ sacks on Saturday.

I think it's easy to look at what SC did offensively and criticize the defense. SC's offense is the top offense in the nation and what Caleb is able to do is really unique to any other QB in the nation. There were a lot of instances that I thought that the D played really well on various plays and even more instances where you could look at 10 of 11 playing well, etc. There are obvious limitations on the defense and that's not going to change whether it's players or coaches over the last month. But what is continuing to show up is that in these close games UW is winning the critical plays that matter. The ZTF sack/fumble was a game changing play. UW won 3rd down in the game. Voi's sack was effectively a turnover given that it was a drive ender. What you have to like seeing is that regardless of the body blows that the D takes it continues to compete and makes critical plays.

The more that I look at this team the more that you have to appreciate the fact that it's a team. Sure, there are elements of where it blows out some teams that it's able to overwhelm. But what you see is a singular focus and belief throughout the players and coaches. It's a group that believes it's going to make the play it needs to. It's a group that reminds me a lot of the 2000 team in that while they played at a very high level, it was still a team that its collective was greater than the sum of its parts. This might be a bit more talented of a team than 2000 ... but the attributes are similar.

If history tells us anything, it's that beating USC with the type of season that we're having generally means that there's going to be a lot more to celebrate the rest of the way.