Mornin Mates...
Today's Topic - Honest Questions
Is there an inverse relationship between having spread offenses and also having poor defenses at the same time..??
If you look at the PAC, four of the top five offenses as of last week (not counting yesterday's games) were Cal, Oregon, Wazzu and ASU and on defense Wazzu was #7, Cal was #10, ASU was #11 and Oregon was #12...
Some coaches would say that is because with high octane spread offenses that score a lot, it means that your defense is going to be on the field probably 30% longer than a more traditional offensive approach, which means that the opposing offenses will have more chances to gain yardage and score, and that the defense will be much more fatigued, as the game wears on, which means you better have a lot more quality depth to account for that or else...
Of course, in conference, Wash is both an offensive and defensive leader on both sides of the ball, as they run an up-tempo, spread offense and their defense does not usually struggle in games either...
Why is that...??
Is it because they have better talent particularly on defense and/or a better defensive scheme and/or better defensive coaching and coordination..??
Being from the Talent Is Destiny school of thought, I know that Wash has much better and deeper defensive talent than ASU, Cal, Oregon and Wazzu because, if you look at their defensive line, they are bigger and stronger than the others mentioned and the same goes for the secondary as well...
Folks, bigger is better in all cases, as long as you are not sacrificing speed, which the Huskies have plenty of on both sides of the ball...just compare the Huskies two deep along their DL to ours and then do the same thing in the secondary and you can see tangible differences in terms of size...
The difference, therefore, between ASU and Wash, on defense, is like the difference between night and day and it is that stark a contrast without question, which means it is mostly about the personnel on defense and not the scheme and/or coaching, although Wash may have better defensive coaches but I'm not sure that even Nick Saban, much less Chris Petersen, would have undefeated teams these days with our defensive personnel instead of their own...
Does anyone disagree with that conclusion..??
Now let's look at Wazzu that beat the Cats yesterday 69-7 because, with Falk at QB and with his offensive weapons and OL, that usually allows him plenty of time to pass, the Cougs are in a position to win most games, even though their defense is shaky a good portion of time which, to me at least, kind of mirrors what the Sun Devils were like several years ago when we won the South Conference title...
We had a potent offense like the Cougs and a good enough defense, with a lot of leftover personnel from Erickson, to win 10 games just like the Cougs are going to do this year...
I would also think, even given our pathetic defense, that if we had not lost our starting QB and had as many other key injuries, along the way, that we still well may have been in a position to win 9-10 games by outscoring our opponents, like we did with Texas Tech and Cal, that would have made a world of difference in terms of fan perception regarding the Sun Devils...
For, when you don't have the talent on defense like Wash, you are going to have to outscore opponents in order to win...right..??
Getting back to size for a moment, how do you think players like Chase Lucas, who is listed at 6' 156 pounds and Robbie Robinson, who is listed at 5'8" 172 are going to do in the coming years in our secondary, compared to some of the better DBs in the PAC that have very good size to go along with speed..??
I'm not saying they won't turn out to be good but size does matter some or a lot, even in the secondary, right..??
Anyway, I think it is interesting that a team like Wazzu that has not recruited all that well, as ranked by recruiting services, has pulled ahead of a team like UCLA that has had Top 15 classes in four of the last five years and that Leach, these days, is doing better than the other guys who came into the PAC at the same time like Graham, Mora and Rich Rod...
Is he a better coach and/or does he have a better system and/or does he have better talent..??
All I know is that he has at least four OL that will be drafted into the NFL and they stand 6'5" 295, 6'8" 354, 6'4"330, 6'5" 316 and 6'5" 318 and they give Falk plenty of time to pass most of the time, even though he makes quick reads and releases the ball quickly more often than not...
As always, I'll look forward to your feedback...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
Today's Topic - Honest Questions
Is there an inverse relationship between having spread offenses and also having poor defenses at the same time..??
If you look at the PAC, four of the top five offenses as of last week (not counting yesterday's games) were Cal, Oregon, Wazzu and ASU and on defense Wazzu was #7, Cal was #10, ASU was #11 and Oregon was #12...
Some coaches would say that is because with high octane spread offenses that score a lot, it means that your defense is going to be on the field probably 30% longer than a more traditional offensive approach, which means that the opposing offenses will have more chances to gain yardage and score, and that the defense will be much more fatigued, as the game wears on, which means you better have a lot more quality depth to account for that or else...
Of course, in conference, Wash is both an offensive and defensive leader on both sides of the ball, as they run an up-tempo, spread offense and their defense does not usually struggle in games either...
Why is that...??
Is it because they have better talent particularly on defense and/or a better defensive scheme and/or better defensive coaching and coordination..??
Being from the Talent Is Destiny school of thought, I know that Wash has much better and deeper defensive talent than ASU, Cal, Oregon and Wazzu because, if you look at their defensive line, they are bigger and stronger than the others mentioned and the same goes for the secondary as well...
Folks, bigger is better in all cases, as long as you are not sacrificing speed, which the Huskies have plenty of on both sides of the ball...just compare the Huskies two deep along their DL to ours and then do the same thing in the secondary and you can see tangible differences in terms of size...
The difference, therefore, between ASU and Wash, on defense, is like the difference between night and day and it is that stark a contrast without question, which means it is mostly about the personnel on defense and not the scheme and/or coaching, although Wash may have better defensive coaches but I'm not sure that even Nick Saban, much less Chris Petersen, would have undefeated teams these days with our defensive personnel instead of their own...
Does anyone disagree with that conclusion..??
Now let's look at Wazzu that beat the Cats yesterday 69-7 because, with Falk at QB and with his offensive weapons and OL, that usually allows him plenty of time to pass, the Cougs are in a position to win most games, even though their defense is shaky a good portion of time which, to me at least, kind of mirrors what the Sun Devils were like several years ago when we won the South Conference title...
We had a potent offense like the Cougs and a good enough defense, with a lot of leftover personnel from Erickson, to win 10 games just like the Cougs are going to do this year...
I would also think, even given our pathetic defense, that if we had not lost our starting QB and had as many other key injuries, along the way, that we still well may have been in a position to win 9-10 games by outscoring our opponents, like we did with Texas Tech and Cal, that would have made a world of difference in terms of fan perception regarding the Sun Devils...
For, when you don't have the talent on defense like Wash, you are going to have to outscore opponents in order to win...right..??
Getting back to size for a moment, how do you think players like Chase Lucas, who is listed at 6' 156 pounds and Robbie Robinson, who is listed at 5'8" 172 are going to do in the coming years in our secondary, compared to some of the better DBs in the PAC that have very good size to go along with speed..??
I'm not saying they won't turn out to be good but size does matter some or a lot, even in the secondary, right..??
Anyway, I think it is interesting that a team like Wazzu that has not recruited all that well, as ranked by recruiting services, has pulled ahead of a team like UCLA that has had Top 15 classes in four of the last five years and that Leach, these days, is doing better than the other guys who came into the PAC at the same time like Graham, Mora and Rich Rod...
Is he a better coach and/or does he have a better system and/or does he have better talent..??
All I know is that he has at least four OL that will be drafted into the NFL and they stand 6'5" 295, 6'8" 354, 6'4"330, 6'5" 316 and 6'5" 318 and they give Falk plenty of time to pass most of the time, even though he makes quick reads and releases the ball quickly more often than not...
As always, I'll look forward to your feedback...
G'day Mates and Go Devils!!!
