What are your thoughts and analysis? Here's mine.
OFFENSE
1) Blocking needs to improve. We ran a lot of zone read option plays. When we are doing this, it's hard to run a lot of gap scheme plays. I would rather see Dunn call designed gap scheme run plays or play action passes.
2) Ollie needs to hit the hole hard and fast. He spent way too much time dancing around at the line of scrimmage and not going full speed. He needs to be way more decisive in his reads. Running more gap scheme plays will help in this area too.
3) At times the oSu offense was running at a break neck pace and the SDSU defense couldn't keep up. There MUST be a rule change after this season regarding players faking injuries to slow down offenses. I think Gundy's idea is the best. He believes anybody that is "hurt" on defense (where an official time out is used) shouldn't be allowed to play for the rest of that series unless a team uses one of their own timeouts. Today's game was slowed down over half a dozen times due to injured players or cramping players. This rule needs to change because it's ruining the game of football.
4) Our time management needs to improve. Why in the world are we still running a hurry up offense in the 4th quarter with a lead and refuse to pass the ball against a stacked box? I believe we had 3 three-and-outs and ran very little time off the clock. I remember seeing Bowman snap the ball with 20-25 seconds on the clock multiple times in the fourth quarter while simultaneously trying to run the ball to run out the clock. This makes no sense. The coaches and the players can do better.
5) Bowman played much better in the season opener than he did most of last season, but we will face better defensive lines who will give him a lot more pressure. I don't remember seeing him throw off his back foot, which is a great thing to see. He did have one play where the ball should have had been intercepted. He needs to learn to throw the ball to where only his receiver can catch it or it goes out of bounds. This may have been the reason for his inaccuracies to Stribling yesterday. If it wasn't for Stribling's incredible hands most receivers would not have made those three incredible catches.
6) We have three legitimate NFL receivers in Stribling, Presley, and Owens. I don't know if all of them will get drafted to, but they will all make an NFL roster or practice squad. Hopefully Stribling will stick around for another year.
7) Anytime we are up by 4 scores in the 4th quarter or up by 3 scores with less than 10 minutes remaining, we need to try and get Flores some game action. He is a very talented kid and needs experience in games. This way when he is needed he has game experience and isn't overwhelmed by the moment.
DEFENSE
1) Tackling is once again an issue for oSu. SDSU missed very few tackles. This is a coaching issue and needs to be fixed in practice with tackling drills. I know Gundy is always worried about players getting hurt, but tackle freshman who aren't going to be playing in the games. They can be tackling dummies.
2) There is still too much confusion in the secondary. This leads to way too many huge gains when receivers are running wide open.
3) Our DB's are going to get abused against a good team. I think we are the only college team whose corners are taught to play the receiver and not the ball. This makes absolutely no sense. Look at the NFL, do you see corners playing the receiver or do they turn their head to play the ball? Watch Alabama and Georgia, pay attention to what their corners do. I think this is an issue with our DB coach. Gundy needs to get with him to change his philosophy to match what we see in the NFL and the great defenses in the college game.
4) Our safeties cannot defend 12 yards off the ball in man-to-man. Why is this still an issue every year? We are not disguising our coverages and teams know how to exploit this. We need to mix up our coverages on third and long and run more zone (as long as we still rush at least four people).
5) I would love to see us go back to some bump and run coverages in the secondary. This throws off the timing of offenses and allows our defense to disguise our coverages when we are playing man-to-man or zone.
6) What I miss the most about those Jim Knowles defenses is his attacking style. I loved how he used a lot of bump and run coverages in the secondary, but the thing I miss the most were those blitz disguises. Pre-snap the opposing team offenses never knew where the pressure was coming from or when.
OFFENSE
1) Blocking needs to improve. We ran a lot of zone read option plays. When we are doing this, it's hard to run a lot of gap scheme plays. I would rather see Dunn call designed gap scheme run plays or play action passes.
2) Ollie needs to hit the hole hard and fast. He spent way too much time dancing around at the line of scrimmage and not going full speed. He needs to be way more decisive in his reads. Running more gap scheme plays will help in this area too.
3) At times the oSu offense was running at a break neck pace and the SDSU defense couldn't keep up. There MUST be a rule change after this season regarding players faking injuries to slow down offenses. I think Gundy's idea is the best. He believes anybody that is "hurt" on defense (where an official time out is used) shouldn't be allowed to play for the rest of that series unless a team uses one of their own timeouts. Today's game was slowed down over half a dozen times due to injured players or cramping players. This rule needs to change because it's ruining the game of football.
4) Our time management needs to improve. Why in the world are we still running a hurry up offense in the 4th quarter with a lead and refuse to pass the ball against a stacked box? I believe we had 3 three-and-outs and ran very little time off the clock. I remember seeing Bowman snap the ball with 20-25 seconds on the clock multiple times in the fourth quarter while simultaneously trying to run the ball to run out the clock. This makes no sense. The coaches and the players can do better.
5) Bowman played much better in the season opener than he did most of last season, but we will face better defensive lines who will give him a lot more pressure. I don't remember seeing him throw off his back foot, which is a great thing to see. He did have one play where the ball should have had been intercepted. He needs to learn to throw the ball to where only his receiver can catch it or it goes out of bounds. This may have been the reason for his inaccuracies to Stribling yesterday. If it wasn't for Stribling's incredible hands most receivers would not have made those three incredible catches.
6) We have three legitimate NFL receivers in Stribling, Presley, and Owens. I don't know if all of them will get drafted to, but they will all make an NFL roster or practice squad. Hopefully Stribling will stick around for another year.
7) Anytime we are up by 4 scores in the 4th quarter or up by 3 scores with less than 10 minutes remaining, we need to try and get Flores some game action. He is a very talented kid and needs experience in games. This way when he is needed he has game experience and isn't overwhelmed by the moment.
DEFENSE
1) Tackling is once again an issue for oSu. SDSU missed very few tackles. This is a coaching issue and needs to be fixed in practice with tackling drills. I know Gundy is always worried about players getting hurt, but tackle freshman who aren't going to be playing in the games. They can be tackling dummies.
2) There is still too much confusion in the secondary. This leads to way too many huge gains when receivers are running wide open.
3) Our DB's are going to get abused against a good team. I think we are the only college team whose corners are taught to play the receiver and not the ball. This makes absolutely no sense. Look at the NFL, do you see corners playing the receiver or do they turn their head to play the ball? Watch Alabama and Georgia, pay attention to what their corners do. I think this is an issue with our DB coach. Gundy needs to get with him to change his philosophy to match what we see in the NFL and the great defenses in the college game.
4) Our safeties cannot defend 12 yards off the ball in man-to-man. Why is this still an issue every year? We are not disguising our coverages and teams know how to exploit this. We need to mix up our coverages on third and long and run more zone (as long as we still rush at least four people).
5) I would love to see us go back to some bump and run coverages in the secondary. This throws off the timing of offenses and allows our defense to disguise our coverages when we are playing man-to-man or zone.
6) What I miss the most about those Jim Knowles defenses is his attacking style. I loved how he used a lot of bump and run coverages in the secondary, but the thing I miss the most were those blitz disguises. Pre-snap the opposing team offenses never knew where the pressure was coming from or when.
