Hugh Millen

dhdawg said:

to recap.
1. I

AtomicDawg said:

Tequilla said:

Hugh WAS a try hard ...

If he actually said that then he needs to replaced on that show due to a conflict of interest ... there’s absolutely no rationale reason to think that UW has no chance

Fucking Quook

The last 3 times they have played super athletic teams have been ugly Pennsylvania state, bama and USC. in fact the minutes lead in those games combined is Troubling. Minimal time 3-0 vs usc and 7-0 vs bama. Taking a prove if attitude is not a far fetched approach.

If I am being honest I don't like our talent at linebacker or defensive line nearly as much as years past and we may have more trouble stopping the run this year. It's easy to see a repeat performance like we have in those games and still pump out like a 10-2 record.

What talent did we have at LB in those games that we don't have now? Remember that Azeem due to injury or other reason had little to no impact in any of them. it's largely been a mediocre unit for years.

The DL will take a step back without Vea, there is no question. but I don't think it's unreasonable to point out that they have the most experienced talent (gaines SR, Jaylen RS-JR, Levi RS-SO, Bowman SR) they have had in a long time.

I don't see why it's unreasonable to expect a defensive performance similar to what we had against Alabama where they were good enough to win. Even against USC they kept us in the game.

To me it comes down to the offense. What gives me hope is the offensive line given that we finally have a unit without any guys we know will struggle (like sosebee) and no one clearly playing out of position such as watty at LT or harris at RG. Hamdan needs to be both creative and stubborn with the run game.

What gives me not as much hope is browning and a WR group full of system guys and inexperience. We need to be good on 3rd down.

I think you are also overrating auburn if you perceive them to be in an elite category which is what USC, PSU and bama were when we played them.
I can't remember the term he used but Joel Klatt pointed out that for every good year they have they follow it up with 2-3 years of mediocrity.

Bingo

This is really the tale of the sides of the ball.

Defensively, this team is good enough to compete with teams at the national level. The oft referenced USC game of 2016 was a game where the SC offense scored 24 points. SC didn't particularly run the ball great in that game. Darnold made a few throws that you tip the cap to. Azeem got hurt and that didn't help matters. They hurt us with a lot of crossing routes and throws to the TE (he had 5 catches for 78 yards and a TD in the game, on the season he was at 17/250/4 … so yeah we got beat by a guy that likely never showed up in the scouting report). Gardenhire was playing … go back and watch the game and it wasn't good. We've leveled up here by and large as there's a good chance the 2018 version of DBU will be better than 2016. The Alabama game was as mentioned … we ran out of gas in the end defensively and still only gave up 17 points to the Alabama offense. Long story short we stopped everybody for Bama except Scarborough and his 69 yard TD run was a back breaker. BTW, few remember that Bama was 4 for 14 on 3rd down in the game. Last year vs Penn State we were killed by 3rd down and the big play. I'd have to go back and chart that game to really add it up but I wouldn't count on 32 for 41 for 342 dropped on our secondary often going forward. Barkley had a 90+ yard TD run. Did little the rest of the game running. I know Bryant was beat on a 48 yard TD. Looking back on that game I think we were fairly beat up and we're in a better spot going into the Auburn game than we were for that game.

Offensively, yes, it's fair to question whether or not we're ready for this kind of stage and that largely falls on Browning. It's a fair criticism. The SC game was miserable all the way around. Browning couldn't throw and the OL didn't produce anything for Gaskin to do work with. The Alabama defense in 2016 was one of the best I've ever seen in person. Clemson was able to beat them with a special QB, tempo, and their receivers making a number of insane plays on 50/50 balls. The Penn State game last year was actually something that may show a bit of room for optimism heading into this year. Unlike the SC/Alabama games, Gaskin actually was able to run the ball on Penn State a bit to the tune of 14 for 98 including a massive TD run. We just didn't have the ball against Penn State and ran only 55 plays … that's an area where we need to get better. If you give me Browning's stat line against Penn State of 18 for 28 for 175 yards, a TD, and 0 INTs right now and I like our chances on Saturday. We have an experienced OL that has been through the wars the last 2 years with only a talented newcomer in Jaxson Kirkland getting his feet wet (compare him versus Nick Harris in 2016 … it's going to be night and day).

The DL talent is going to be really good with the first 4 in the rotation. The question mark will be if they get hurt. I think the same is true at ILB if there are injuries to the BBK/Tevis/Beavers group because the talent behind them is very JAG quality at the moment.


The key to this year on offefnse besides being stubborn and making sure that Gaskin/Ahmed get enough touches is for Jake to manage the game successfully by accepting the check downs and not taking massive losses that turn field position. It will be him finding it within him to trust Ty Jones and let him go after some 50/50 balls. While we don't have any standout at WRs I don't think we lack for talent. What we're going to be need to be solid for here is making sure that we're able to play with good scheme to help get guys open. Ty's the key though as he's the guy with the pedigree to be a #1.

This is going to be the worst UW team in my opinion over the next 3-5 years without a doubt. That being said the talent difference they have over the rest of the PAC IMO is sizeable. The talent gap that we're piling up is further distancing ourselves from the balance of the conference. It's very realistic to expect a conference championship this year. It'd be far from shocking to see the back in the CFP (although I don't think they have a chance to win it with Browning until he proves to me that he is in fact capable of winning at that level and he will have opportunities to prove that this year).

Auburn always has talent ... what they do with it is always a huge question mark. They should be good ... but they are fully capable of throwing up a 7-5 or 8-4 season without too much of a thought. I know that they'll claim that they didn't want to play Central Florida, but they didn't look like a dominant team in that game. What's scary about them is that on their bst day they are right there with the best teams in the country. However, they have a ton of volatility to them so we'll see what we get Saturday. But make no mistake, it's going to take a high level game from Auburn to beat UW.