Tequilla Thoughts - Stanford

Tequilla said:

We'll make this relatively short and sweet ...

We talk a lot about the players needing to learn and develop into a Championship caliber team. And while I still have no doubt that Chris Petersen is the right answer at the UW, he learned a very valuable lesson today. You can only run so many gimmicks against big boy teams and expect success. The decision to call a fake punt in a tie game at or around midfield on a 4th and long situation was JUST FLAT OUT THE WRONG CALL AT THE WRONG TIME IN THE WRONG SPOT. I get the idea of trying to jump start the offense and creating an opportunity to score. But the risk was far greater than the potential reward. And Petersen needs to learn the implications of that in how he manages a game. It's not that you want him to dial back the unpredictability that his teams have. But at the same time, there's a reason that the saying "discretion is the better part of valor."

Jeff Lindquist got destroyed after his performance against Hawaii in the second half - and rightfully so given that he looked like a deer in headlights. After 3 games, I think it's 100% fair to say that Cyler Miles has a dramatic inability to throw any midrange throw with accuracy and most importantly with ANY conviction. If your name is Troy Williams, you should be looking at the next 2 weeks as your opportunity to prove to the coaching staff that they can believe in you enough to know that you won't repeatedly make mistakes. Personally, I dramatically overestimated the abilities of Miles and he's been 100% exposed as a QB in much the same way that Lindquist and Nick Montana were.

For all the heat that the defense has taken, they absolutely played well enough today to win the game and created 3 turnovers (more on that in a second). Special teams was a bit hit and miss, but in general, these units were definitely good enough to win the game.

In contrast, while Miles' inability to throw an intermediate route is painfully obvious, even more startling, and IMO telling, is that it's apparent that Miles DOES NOT have command of the offense or the strong respect of their teammates. While Petersen values ball security and winning the turnover battle (which we are doing quite well in), it flat out doesn't matter if you can't do anything with those opportunities. Miles consistently looks disorganized and I'm not 100% confident that the players have 100% confidence in him. It's probably the most disturbing thing I watched in person today (other than the Mariners trying to finish a game).

Tequilla said:

We'll make this relatively short and sweet ...

We talk a lot about the players needing to learn and develop into a Championship caliber team. And while I still have no doubt that Chris Petersen is the right answer at the UW, he learned a very valuable lesson today. You can only run so many gimmicks against big boy teams and expect success. The decision to call a fake punt in a tie game at or around midfield on a 4th and long situation was JUST FLAT OUT THE WRONG CALL AT THE WRONG TIME IN THE WRONG SPOT. I get the idea of trying to jump start the offense and creating an opportunity to score. But the risk was far greater than the potential reward. And Petersen needs to learn the implications of that in how he manages a game. It's not that you want him to dial back the unpredictability that his teams have. But at the same time, there's a reason that the saying "discretion is the better part of valor."

Jeff Lindquist got destroyed after his performance against Hawaii in the second half - and rightfully so given that he looked like a deer in headlights. After 3 games, I think it's 100% fair to say that Cyler Miles has a dramatic inability to throw any midrange throw with accuracy and most importantly with ANY conviction. If your name is Troy Williams, you should be looking at the next 2 weeks as your opportunity to prove to the coaching staff that they can believe in you enough to know that you won't repeatedly make mistakes. Personally, I dramatically overestimated the abilities of Miles and he's been 100% exposed as a QB in much the same way that Lindquist and Nick Montana were.

For all the heat that the defense has taken, they absolutely played well enough today to win the game and created 3 turnovers (more on that in a second). Special teams was a bit hit and miss, but in general, these units were definitely good enough to win the game.

In contrast, while Miles' inability to throw an intermediate route is painfully obvious, even more startling, and IMO telling, is that it's apparent that Miles DOES NOT have command of the offense or the strong respect of their teammates. While Petersen values ball security and winning the turnover battle (which we are doing quite well in), it flat out doesn't matter if you can't do anything with those opportunities. Miles consistently looks disorganized and I'm not 100% confident that the players have 100% confidence in him. It's probably the most disturbing thing I watched in person today (other than the Mariners trying to finish a game).