I wonder how they are going to keep these guys motivated. A horrible month of September that saw just one win over a non-BCS team, but otherwise, it was four routs against teams that we are supposed to compete with on a weekly basis. We have heard of it before, where you get 1) a new regime with an entire new, hard-ass approach, 2) there are major issues from day one, and 3) the team falls apart and splits off into different factions as the locker room lawyers and bad apples show their true self during tough times. Numbers one and two have happened, and number three could as well. I don’t envy Wulff right now, and he said as much in today’s Times:
As for whether something is being lost in translation from coaches to players, Wulff said, “We’re asking them to do some different things. In our mind, we’re asking them to be more sound and more disciplined. We’re just struggling, getting kids to execute.”
Oh well. As Wulff said, it’s a one-game season from here on out, and the only thing they will focus on is this week’s opponent, UCLA.
Speaking of UCLA, they are still a work in progress but showed some improvement vs. Fresno State, losing 36-31. The troubling thing about the Bruins? Their running game got on track in a big way, churning through the Bulldogs for 234 yards.
As with any team on the schedule from here on out, the opposition’s goal will be to 1) run, 2) run some more, and finally, 3) run it. Get used to it. Why would any offense do anything else but do the most simple thing in the game, which is handing off and asking your offensive lineman to run block?
I know some people have rallied that with our defensive tackle situation so bleak that maybe they should just go to a 3-4 and play up to their strength? Well, they have done some of that, if you haven’t noticed, and it’s obviously not working. But how about going in another direction? Maybe instead of experimenting with a 3-4, they should go to a FIVE MAN FRONT, almost like a goal-line defense! How about a 5-2 defense? Mullennix, Turpin, Ahmu, Eichelberger and Mattingly all along the front, with Greg Trent and Ken Dunn at linebackers? Bring down Jackson as a rover instead of a strong safety spot, putting eight in the box, while having Hicks play free safety as a centerfielder, right down the middle of the field? It puts your cornerbacks out on an island, sure, but what other choice do they have? Besides, UCLA’s QB play has sucked this year, so there shouldn’t be a whole lot of fear in their passing game. Just roll it out for first and second down, see if you can put the QB in second or third and more than 5 instead of second or third and less than 2. Then go to your regular nickel packages on obvious passing downs. But at this point, anything should be an option, for what they are doing now isn’t even close to working.
You think things are bad in Pullman, well, they are. But how about Seattle right now? UW loses a game they have pointed to as one they had to get, allowing Stanford to waltz to their way to 466 total yards, surpassing their best mark by well over 100 yards on the year. They also lose Jake Locker for 6 weeks, if not more depending on how his broken thumb comes along. Now 0-4 and a huge underdog at Arizona, 0-5 looks pretty likely. What a mess.
Finally, nice going M’s. A 101-loss season is bad enough, and you are now “founders” of the 100-100 club (over $100 million spent in payroll, and at least 100 losses to go with it). But here they were, coming into the weekend, with a lock on the #1 pick in next year’s MLB draft if they just could have lost ONE GAME this weekend. Not two games, not three games. Just ONE more loss. Instead, in a meaningless series in every way, shape and form, they SWEEP THE A’S!?! Meanwhile the Washington Nationals did the right thing, laying down for the weekend and getting swept by the Phillies, giving them the #1 pick?? What a nightmare. Stephen Strasberg, the dominating right-handed power pitcher from San Diego State who routinely hits the upper-90’s on the radar gun and is head and shoulders THE GUY this year, pegged as can’t miss by every scout around. What a great idea to have him in the rotation with Felix and Brandon Morrow and the rest. So even when they win, they lose. PUH-THETIC.
Happy Monday!
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