Solar

Helfrich did that with Carrington in the 2015 rose bowl. Got a touchdown out of it.

Since it was the last play of he game you could overturn the ruling and still have a clear winner. Definitely worth the protest. It's not too late.

Oh, I believe our record would likely be the same with Dilly to this point, perhap we beat Indiana once or twice last year, and we are more at risk this year. Dilly is a bit of a QB whisperer and the personnel are a bit different now that I would be much more confident in Dilly getting the most out of the players we have now.

Thanks John. I apologize for coming across so grouchy. At the end of the day efficiency is the most important metric, so philosophy focused on that is good. But seeing how efficient we can be with explosive passing plays, focusing on a high risk reward isn't the worst idea. But how efficient is taking a TFL on 60% on bubble screens? Maybe with better execution we can get that up to only 30% against a top 5 defense, but is that good enough? Perhaps the numbers advantage isn't the whole story. As a former DB I'd much rather take on a blocker in space who doesn't know exactly where his own ball carrier is coming through, and a ball carrier not looking at me that I can track based on his sideways movement and the trajectory of a pass, rather than going against no blocker and a ball carrier running at me with speed in the open field. It's easier to juke the clueless blocker, and use my upfield speed to corral the ball carrier who has little upfield momentum of his own and only has a split second to locate me and avoid my tackle. I wish Mehringer would just talk to our secondary to get a similar take. On paper the triple option has a superior numerical advantage and should be unstoppable, but numbers ain't everything.

Agreed. I feel the same about Iowa, don't ever want to play them again. They don't mind losing as long as they have a punchers chance against any team in the country, which is what their philosophies schematically give them.

Anyone with two brain cells can understand Dante's arm talent and our fast high possession receivers means the greatest success passing will be a down field attack. The problem is Kenny Dillingham designed a high efficiency offense around Bo Nix' strengths, and Dan Lanning has been smitten by that play calling approach ever since. If Dillingham were our OC today he would have designed a very different offense for the players we have now. But Dan doesn't think like that. We know that because the very first season with the wrong players for the system that Kirby ran at Georgia, he ran that system anyways. It's honestly impressive to see that MC at Miami has finally let go of his offensive philosophy and let the OC cook. Hopefully Dan gets there quicker than Mario. If Mehringer is truly a data driven mad scientist then he'll evaluate the success rates he is having, regardless of execution perfection and come to his own conclusions about what works best with players he has, not the players he wishes he had.

Wait what??? I finally won? YES!!! I didn't think to check until just now, but glad I did. Haha.

The Wisconsin Badger Punter punted the ball 69 yards, it went over the head of the punt returner, bounced inside the 5 yard line near the center of the field turned 90 degrees then rolled all the way to the sideline out of bounds almost clipping the pylon. They panned back to the punter that for a celebration made a very serious looking golf swing. Perfection. I expect video clips to emerge shortly. If you find one please post it here for folks to see, it's a must watch video.

They hit pay dirt in the portal, turned around their tackling issues and Madsen has made a step up in his play. They should win the Pac easy and likely will be ranked in the top 15 by playoff time, which should be enough to be the G6 champ.

Agreed. Our biggest losses last year were special teams, but hopefully this 1st game is representative of how they will play the rest of the season. Also the new long snapper is pretty good too!

Yesterday was completely expected and completely unexpected at the same time. Boise State has our number, and their isn't a high enough ceiling in the world for us to blow them out. But here are my takeaways. At a high level: Despite our returning production there is still a world where we are this year's Penn State. Not that I expect a complete implosion, but that sometimes returning production isn't enough to overcome a few key losses and a different slate of competitors. But the most likely scenario is we just played the G6 representative for this years playoff, and will probably experience the most improvement from game 1 to the end of the regular season than any other top 15 team. Positive takeaways from the game: The OL has a higher ceiling than last year's team Davon Benjamin is a stud only a half notch down from Finney who will give us an all American DB for years that can play nickel and any other position in the secondary Dante Moore will be improved in being an on-field OC. There was one audible he made that game us a 50 yard play. Expect more of that. Mathew Johnson may be better than Amauri Washington on the DL before the end of the season. Kicking was excellent. Kickoffs never resulted in anything past the 25, punts were effective despite lack of hang time, and field goal kicking was good, every PAT split the uprights and contact on the field goal was solid even if the direction wasn't perfect. Negative takeaways from the game: The most annoying traits of our offense and defense are Dan Lanning's not the coordinators and they aren't going away- A DL that plays containment over disruption, with an overall defense that bends through 3rd downs and breaks in the red zone, and an offense that prefers high completion ratio passes to players in space, even thoough Bo Nix and Tez Johnson are long gone. 7 passes behind the line of scrimmage for a loss and Dan Lanning said after the game, the play calling was good, it was just a player execution issue. News flash, bubble screens, reverses and passes to the flat to RBs don't work against experienced and determined DBs which Boise State's portal DBs showed. Making Hill RB1 when Davison is our most effective runner is not an improvement. We seriously are going to miss Bryce Boetcher -Jerry Mixon just doesn't have the hyper aggressive physical mindset needed to dominate between the tackles. If the RBs aren't stuffed by the DL or a nickel in run support it's 4-10 yards before they are brought down. Things I Don't Think are long term issues: Run blocking wasn't good but will get cleaned up. Stupid penalties will get cleaned up. Muffed punts will get cleaned up How we compare against fellow National Championship hopeful Peers: Having watched USC, Miami, Indiana and even some other not top 10 teams play, I can say We aren't going to win a natty. Why? Our QB is not an instinctual baller, our strategic coaching philosophy DNA on offense is not aligned to the players on our roster, and is destined to fail against elite experienced (ie smart and disciplined) teams and our LBs aren't able to keep a strong rushing attack off schedule consistently. Let's just enjoy the wins this season, but an NC or bust mentality is a guaranteed recipe for disappointment.

I have a different take on the OL. If you were to be asked who are the highest ceiling guys we have on the roster outside the true freshmen, it would probably be Douglas Utu and Zaire Addison. The fact both improved enough to start and contribute in the 1st game is a fantastic development. Further that Addison beat out Rogers for LT is huge, because we know Rogers is a fantastic tackle. Also Ferguson was a high ceiling project guy, who I think mostly played Lacrosse in HS. That he is developing enough to get some playing time as an above the line player is great. With regards to how the OL played, we need to know that Boise State has a top 20 pass rush attack. Dante Moore was sacked only once, and had a really clean pocket for himself on those successful intermediate and deeper passes. I think it's a bigger indictment on our OL of how few inside running plays were called, although having Hill as the starter played into that strategy some. Certainly there were missed assignments in the run game and not a lot of push at times. Much of that can be resolved with chemistry and being confident enough to play fast and hard. So ultimately if we are going to still have problems by the end of this year I don't think it wilo be the OL. I was encouraged by the way they played yesterday.

Positions I'm watching like a hawk: RT and Nickel. Coaching- looking for aggressive play calling of intermediate and deep passes by the OC and stunts and pressures (of the unsimulated variety) by the DC. Definitely looking for OL effectiveness creating running lanes for RBs and pass protection for Dante. Everything else should go swimmingly, well except possibly special teams as you mentioned. That is our biggest lack of returning production. If our kicker can't make kicks, if our punts only go 30 yards and our returners fumble, then this whole special season is going to be messed up by special teams. I will be interested in seeing the backups and freshmen to get an idea of who is already playing above the line football.

Based on the players interviews talking about pocket destruction and creating a cage around the QB, I don't think the defensive line philosophy has changed any. Their 1st job is still to contain the QB in the pocket. Getting to the QB is secondary. That appears to be a Dan Lanning thing, not a Tosh thing. I do think we get a few more sacks this year simply due to the massive pass rush upgrades Nasir Wyatt and Mathew Johnson offer. There is also a chance that our new DC will call more LB and secondary blitzes as well. Just my 2 cents reading the tea leaves.