I seriously think he is marking himself as an up and coming coach without a doubt. I have not been able to watch more than the second half of this game, but this Stanford team is tough, they hustle, and they have a great nose for the ball. They're not loaded with talent so it has to be mostly coaching. I'm very impressed to say the least. I'll be keeping my eye on Stanford this year.
I seriously think he is marking himself as an up and coming coach without a doubt. I have not been able to watch more than the second half of this game, but this Stanford team is tough, they hustle, and they have a great nose for the ball. They're not loaded with talent so it has to be mostly coaching. I'm very impressed to say the least. I'll be keeping my eye on Stanford this year.
Definitely marketing himself and doing a great job at it. All one has to do is listen to his interviews and read between the lines a bit to see where this guy's mind is at. He got in Pete Carroll's head last year before that game and is excellent with the media. And then remember the whole Michigan HC job fiasco? He made Mike Hart look like a fool.
Early prediction: Chicago Bears tank this year and make a big push for him.
Lots of unknowns. Could be be a 1-loss season about as easily as it could be a 5-loss one. I expect them to roll over Florida Atlantic this Saturday (Mack loves to run up the score in openers), but the month of October is really going to be a real test for Texas. All four games that month are going to be tough. If they make it through that stretch in good shape, I like their chances for the remainder of the season.
Early keys to watch will be the offensive line, the running game and the defensive secondary. Those will likely tell the tale.
You're out in Southern California, aren't you QL? Austin's perfectly fine (other than terrible heat and humidity in the summer), but if I were still living in SoCal there's no way I'd come down to here. I thought I was going to have the chance to move back to San Diego and was very happy at that prospect... too bad it didn't pan out. A big plus in Austin's favor, though, is cost of living. It's noticeably less expensive.
Your sister, huh? So many offers come to mind...
I'll introduce you if she ever gets divorced.
:lolBIG:
Yes, I'm in SoCal. I want to be able to afford a home that I can live in. I'm thinking about buying a house for investment purposes elsewhere but it's different when you own the house you live in and that probably won't happen here.
I have friends who have lived in Austin and they say the same thing about the heat. One friend said he also lived in Phoenix and would rather deal with that heat than Austin's heat although he like Austin as a city better.
:toast:
So would you say Texas -23.5 is a good bet for this weekend? I'm also looking at the over 65.5.
That's the downside to Southern California, and it's a big one: I don't see how anybody of a normal income affords a house. I'm closing on a place tomorrow, in fact, and I'm getting at a reasonable cost what would go for $400,000-$450,000 in comparable neighborhoods of San Diego.
The summers really are tough, and that's coming from a guy who's lived in Texas almost his entire life. 100-degree temperatures with humdities in the 90s are hard to deal with. When I visit Las Vegas in the summertime I find those days much, much easier than Texas. November, February and March are usually very nice, and it rarely gets bad in December and January. But April-October are hot.
My biggest question is whatever happened to Ryan McCants? It looks to me like Riley gave up on his OL opening holes in the middle and relied on speed to get one or the other Rogers brothers around the outside. That seems to be what they were given. That plus Moevao's ability to hit his 2 top receivers all night put him close to 400 yds. passing. In the end the Beavers ended up with almost 500 yds total offense to Stanford's 300. I see it as kind of like growth pains because as talented as Or St. seems to be, they hurt themselves with these bonehead mistakes. So much for the new offense playing up to their potential for the time being. When they get back to full strength on their OL they should be pretty badass.
Also, I have a feeling that if Aflava was playing, Gerhardt doesn't spring those 3 or so long gainers that threw a monkeywrench in the Beaver rush defense. Bryant Cornell, the Beaver's new WLB showed how well he can hit but he should have stayed home instead of overcommitting which allowed Gerhardt to get into the wide open. He made the same mistake a couple of times. Credit Harbaugh for exploiting his inexperience.
The rest of the time the Beaver D seemed to have as many plays that went for a loss as plays where Stanford gained a couple yards rushing. The Beaver D will be OK but those bonehead errors (also a bad bounce and questionable PI call on Tim Clark) took the wind out of their sails. Toss in over 100 yards in penalties strewn around the game and the Beavers pretty much beat themselves.
I still think they got the goods offensively but they don't know how to be clean and consistant yet.
Just realized I forgot to answer you, QL. I LIKE Texas for this play, but I don't love them. If it gets above 24 I don't think I'd want to play it. If for some reason it jumped to 27 or higher I'd be really tempted to try for a middle. I'm playing it only for a single unit, and I haven't touched the total at all.
Conan, it'll be interesting to see how Stanford shapes up over the next couple of games. They looked good defensively when the game was played a regular pace, then they appeared soft when the tempo was picked up. I'll be watching to see if that holds over the first part of the season. Oregon State just looked kind of sloppy for much of the game. Didn't look like they had a lot of consistency anywhere.
YourAM,
I wasn't so impressed with Stanford. I think it was more of a Beaver loss than it was a Stanford win. Pritchard was very deliberate and didn't look comfortable 3/4 of the time. Same sh*t as last year. Teams with a better DL than OSU had tonight will stuff the run and force Pritchard to put it up and they are finished. Their receivers were an easy cover most of the time.
Also, they play at home only 4 more times this season. They will be fortunate to win 2 of those 4. Maybe 3 but they've still got a long way to go. You probably won't see 200 yards on the ground again all year. Well maybe vs SJ St. again but I can't see too many more games with the same success they had on the ground tonight. I don't think that they can count on as many big plays.
I think what we learned was that the OSU defense isn't close to what they were last year. The beavs offensive excellence in fall camp can now be better understood. Although I think you are right to a degree, Afalava would have made a big difference. Was impressed with Morales, wasn't with Jaquizz and Moevo was very inconsistent, Stroughter was and will be a top WR in conf this year, just have to hope Lyle can get the ball to him enough.
As for Pritchard, I thought he played a very nice game. Harbaugh has these guys on the right track but from the looks of it we saw a matchup between two bottom tier P10 teams last night. Penn St should annihilate the beavs.
UoD, I can see how tenuous the Beaver DL can be without the depth they had last season. There was obviously some inexperience on the field with a couple subs in the rotation. However I recall just one series when Stanford seemed to march through them, early in the game. But the rest of the time I felt the Beaver's defense was adequate stuffing the run and getting after Pritchard.
But there were problems on the left side. They were vulnerable to the big play. Missed tackles, missed assignments throughout the game on the left side (weak side always) means to me that somebody needs some coaching up and/or more experience. Take away a few long gainers and Stanford runs for less than 100 yards.
Someone just blew it. I noticed on a few occasions (one or 2 long gainers on the ground) WLB Bryant Cornell was caught out of position because he overcommitted. DE Slade Norris can't do it all by himself. Not that I want to point the finger at just one guy, but I can see where there are holes to deal with. A couple of badly missed tackles etc.
Hard to tell about Jacquizz though. I didn't see much success with the left side of their OL. They were much more effective on the perimeter when they either ran or threw to the outside. It was the interior of their OL that never opened up much of any kind of hole for anyone, Quizz or McCants. I only noticed one play where Quizz left a defender frozen in his shoes. Was expecting more than that. Never saw him get loose in the secondary. It think it boils down to their OL. Still waiting on Jacquizz to get his opportunity to show his stuff.
But they did manage to give Moevao fair protection. Between Straughter and Morales, it was the Lyle Moevao show all night. Maybe if they hadn't given up as many points as they did when they did the way they did, we would have not seen as much passing, but that's purely speculative. Whatever the cause, 400 yards passing was a career day for Moevao.
They could have played the same game without all the gaffes and won by DD's but instead with all the mistakes it ended up the Beaver's beating themselves. I'd say that mistakes cost them a 14 or 16 point -
- swing on the scoreboard. They held Stanford to about 300 yards total offense. That's not so bad but you can't even afford that much if you turn it over. BAH! I do agree that they are a work in progress (both lines.) Hopefully the coaches have enough of an idea now where work needs to be done so they can be more effective next week. I think they are good enough now not to get rolled at PSU, but without all the "stupid" (but innocent) blunders.
Ducks,
I think it's hard to fault the progress the Beaver offense has made since last season's pathetic example. I think they did pretty well for a first outing.
IMHO Moevao showed good leadership. He started out overthrowing his receivers a few times earlier on but he made the adjustments and tore up Stanford's secondary. He methodically led them from his own 3 in the final drive only to be left short because of another one of those "gaffes." I was sure Stanford was a goner until lightning hit (again.) In any event, not Moevao's fault.
You gotta admit their passing game has improved tenfold. I think their offense is still in its "primordial ooze" state though... rough around the edges especially the OL, but the 29-18 first down stat should have shown up in the final tally but it didn't... gaffes.
Sooner or later Quizz will be catching passes over the middle amidst the linebackers instead of only to the outside and then we might see some flash. He can create more misses from more angles instead of outside where he can just get bumped out and it's done. He did pull off a nice 23 yard gainer in the beginning of the game over the left side but a holding penalty trashed it.
I'll will give you this though, their rushing game has a ways to go. They need Perry badly or someone else needs to have an epifany if McCants has a prayer of gaining 1000 yards this year. I don't think YB could have done much more himself last night. Their OL really needs some work. Thankfully they seem to be protecting Moevao. I shudder the thought if they couldn't. No question though that the OL is this team's Achilles heel.
Just curious... let's see where Moevao rates among the Pac-10 QB's as the season wears on. So far he's had 3 TD's and 2 picks (one of them due to a tipped ball) 400 yards net and about a 64% completion rate. PSU will put some pressure on that.
Straughter's numbers don't surprise me as Lyle's been connecting with him all during fall practice but this Morales thing came as a big surpirse. Maybe it shouldn't have because people have been saying good things about him all fall and he's also Lyle's roomate. James Rogers has plenty more to contribute and so does Darryll Catchings. Their WR's are the strength of the team and it showed. But they need a rushing game if they are to be successful (the way the Ducks are with their xlnt OL and backs, whoever they are.)
I'm just trying to be impartial here. You know I like all things Oregon. I'll try to be just as impartial with the Ducks as the season wears on.
I think it's hard to fault the progress the Beaver offense has made since last season's pathetic example. I think they did pretty well for a first outing.
IMHO Moevao showed good leadership. He started out overthrowing his receivers a few times earlier on but he made the adjustments and tore up Stanford's secondary. He methodically led them from his own 3 in the final drive only to be left short because of another one of those "gaffes." I was sure Stanford was a goner until lightning hit (again.) In any event, not Moevao's fault.
You gotta admit their passing game has improved tenfold. I think their offense is still in its "primordial ooze" state though... rough around the edges especially the OL, but the 29-18 first down stat should have shown up in the final tally but it didn't... gaffes.
Sooner or later Quizz will be catching passes over the middle amidst the linebackers instead of only to the outside and then we might see some flash. He can create more misses from more angles instead of outside where he can just get bumped out and it's done. He did pull off a nice 23 yard gainer in the beginning of the game over the left side but a holding penalty trashed it.
I'll will give you this though, their rushing game has a ways to go. They need Perry badly or someone else needs to have an epifany if McCants has a prayer of gaining 1000 yards this year. I don't think YB could have done much more himself last night. Their OL really needs some work. Thankfully they seem to be protecting Moevao. I shudder the thought if they couldn't. No question though that the OL is this team's Achilles heel.
Just curious... let's see where Moevao rates among the Pac-10 QB's as the season wears on. So far he's had 3 TD's and 2 picks (one of them due to a tipped ball) 400 yards net and about a 64% completion rate. PSU will put some pressure on that.
Straughter's numbers don't surprise me as Lyle's been connecting with him all during fall practice but this Morales thing came as a big surpirse. Maybe it shouldn't have because people have been saying good things about him all fall and he's also Lyle's roomate. James Rogers has plenty more to contribute and so does Darryll Catchings. Their WR's are the strength of the team and it showed. But they need a rushing game if they are to be successful (the way the Ducks are with their xlnt OL and backs, whoever they are.)
I'm just trying to be impartial here. You know I like all things Oregon. I'll try to be just as impartial with the Ducks as the season wears on.
