Here’s what’s going to present problems for a team early in the season.
New players overestimate the quality of their opponents. We’ve seen this happen with UW.
We’d play say EWU and then someone like Hawaii and get overconfident. I remember watching the Arizona
game and we almost lost that game to a very average Arizona team. Pac-12 teams have the size and speed
even if they don’t play well.
Conference only games is going to be a gauntlet. Teams with shallow depth are going to struggle this season.
For instance after playing Auburn tough…Oregon got to play a heavily outmatched Nevada team and then Montana. Allowing them to recuperate and gain reps against teams unlikely to pose much of a threat.
Avalos’ Defense looks like it’s good at preventing getting gashed in the run game at the expense passing offenses.
USC is the only anomaly being a team with excellent WR that lost and was due to injuries and Interceptions by Slovis and general youth at positions
Oregon struggled against WSU, couldn’t contain ASU WR on the road and we can’t forget how Jordan Chin ran by Graham for the UW TD. They also allowed Bo Nix to throw for the game winner
Wisconsin had 1 WR of note in Quintez and would have still won the game had they protected the ball. Neither Utah nor Arizona has anything scary at WR
Arizona nothing scary.
What will we see with the UW and Donovan’s take on ProStyle Offense?
I keep reading “the UW is going to establish the run and then pass”
I think this is going to be the biggest misconception going into the season. Sawyer Racanelli sheds some light in a Seattle Times interview
“ I think the offense is going to be fun,” said Racanelli, who added that he’ll primarily play in the slot. “A lot of people have said, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a run-heavy offense,’ which I don’t think it’s going to be. It’s a prostyle offense. Prostyle realistically is 60-40 pass-run. Having good running backs is going to help, but based what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a fun thing for the receivers. It’s not going to be the run-heavy offense that UW has recently seen in the last couple years.
“I think it’s going to be a new offense and a fun offense and I think the fans are going to be in for something special.” – I think the offense is going to be fun,” said Racanelli, who added that he’ll primarily play in the slot. “A lot of people have said, ‘Oh, it’s going to be a run-heavy offense,’ which I don’t think it’s going to be. It’s a prostyle offense. Prostyle realistically is 60-40 pass-run. Having good running backs is going to help, but based what I’ve seen, it’s going to be a fun thing for the receivers. It’s not going to be the run-heavy offense that UW has recently seen in the last couple years.
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Pro Style is going to deliver what needS to be done to win. Trying to prove “who’s dick is bigger” through running into 8 men in the box is stupid.
Notice that non blue blood teams don’t place a lot of emphasis on recruiting elite tailbacks? They know it’s about the passing game. At Vandy Donovan had Jordan Maxwell his future NFL tall WR 1. He used the hell out of Maxwell in 2013. He now has 5 Jordan Maxwells.
I dare opponents to load the box this year. Oregon’s D gambles in that they keep guys near the line of scrimmage and that pressure will prevent over the top plays. That system broke against ASU not only were they losing the underneath stuff akin to what WSU like to do but they sprung huge leaks in covering Aiyuk and Darby on go routes.
Their D is designed to snuff out conventional offenses. I’m unconvinced that they’re ready for a team that has a strong TE/WR group willing to attack underneath and over the top.