Welcome back. No drawn out intro here or anything, let's just dive straight into my thoughts from last night.
After the performance that we all witnessed from the defense against Abilene Christian, it was imperative that this side of the ball find some sort of resolve and turn it around against the Cougars. ACU thrashed the Red Raiders through the air, WSU did their work on the ground. John Mateer, who was noted to be a dual threat QB and a lightning bolt in the scramble game, found open space constantly in the designed run game.
The QB run game has terrorized Tech under the current regime and it was no different with Mateer.
CJ Baskerville pointed out that the defense’s tackling needs work, this was evident in the several times where first contact was made behind the line and the play still evolved for big gains. Wazzu rushed for 301 yards total, Mateer accounted for 197 of them.
The defensive line looked lost at times, the linebackers were slow and the secondary was outmuscled and in a daze trying to catch Mateer. You could say the secondary had a better game defending the pass, but Mateer only threw the ball 19 times and his receivers dropped four passes. I was personally just astonished at truly how silly John Mateer made this Red Raider defense look.
I don’t think I’ve been as frustrated watching an offensive performance from this current staff as I was watching last night. Here is what stood out to me:
Founded by a Red Raider, All Hands Craft Cocktails is proud to announce their partnership with RedRaiderSports.com. Try these bar strength, ready-to-drink vodka cocktails at Jones AT&T Stadium this football season or find them at a retailer near you. Cheers.
@ALL HANDS
After the performance that we all witnessed from the defense against Abilene Christian, it was imperative that this side of the ball find some sort of resolve and turn it around against the Cougars. ACU thrashed the Red Raiders through the air, WSU did their work on the ground. John Mateer, who was noted to be a dual threat QB and a lightning bolt in the scramble game, found open space constantly in the designed run game.
The QB run game has terrorized Tech under the current regime and it was no different with Mateer.
CJ Baskerville pointed out that the defense’s tackling needs work, this was evident in the several times where first contact was made behind the line and the play still evolved for big gains. Wazzu rushed for 301 yards total, Mateer accounted for 197 of them.
The defensive line looked lost at times, the linebackers were slow and the secondary was outmuscled and in a daze trying to catch Mateer. You could say the secondary had a better game defending the pass, but Mateer only threw the ball 19 times and his receivers dropped four passes. I was personally just astonished at truly how silly John Mateer made this Red Raider defense look.
I don’t think I’ve been as frustrated watching an offensive performance from this current staff as I was watching last night. Here is what stood out to me:
- Postgame, Behren Morton remarked that the offense continued to take what the defense was giving them. Wazzu was taking away a lot of the deep game and that was why the offense couldn’t get vertical and the screen game/underneath concepts were so prevalent last night. Now my thinking on this. Zach Kittley has been adamant that he wants to take what the defense gives them and to not force anything. But in this regard, you had this extreme overhaul in the passing game through the portal, for what? Every defense is going to try to take away the deep ball, I don’t reckon you’ll find many teams who consistently make themselves vulnerable to getting beat over the top, not consciously, at least. Do you not trust your playmakers to be able to cause a bust in coverage? Give them a chance, and if the guys you’re counting on can’t beat deep coverage then maybe they really aren’t as explosive vertically as we thought they could be. There’s a distinct difference in taking what the defense gives you and letting the defense completely deter you from taking any chances at all.
- Our very own @J. Apodaca asked Joey for his assessment on Behren’s performance last night. Joey’s response dealt with the amount of hits Behren took. Important, yes, but you’re leaving so much of the story untold. My personal assessment was Behren did not look the part last night, in really any facet of running the offense. 323 yards read his statline. 270 of those were the result of the receivers making something out of nothing in the redundant screen game. I think if you’re going to gripe about the lack of a vertical concept last night (like I just did), you also have to recognize that Behren’s placement on deep balls was downright bad. Overthrows, underthrows, balls thrown behind, really all of the above. 4-for-16 and two picks on passes beyond 10 air-yards. Not great.
- Last point on offense, I was a bit more understanding a week ago when we all discussed the lack of Micah Hudson. In the opener, with the kind of situation you were in, I could get the idea of trusting your veterans to carry you. But hearing once again the notion of “Who do you take off the field?” was really, really disappointing. Kelly and Douglas did some good things last night, they’re dynamic after the catch. Eakin had great moments against ACU and he did get some separation on some routes but was let down by the pass. However, I would certainly have to imagine that it is possible to rotate these receivers and give Micah some more snaps. I understand everything surrounding his slow progression into game action, but you're gonna have to get him involved somehow. Keep him engaged and give him the platform to learn in-game. Jeremiah Smith, freshman former 5-star wideout at Ohio State, struggled early for the Buckeyes last week. Day and Hartline kept believing in him, let him work through the struggles and he's had a couple really good performances for them. Context is critical, I know, but you've gotta get Micah involved.
Founded by a Red Raider, All Hands Craft Cocktails is proud to announce their partnership with RedRaiderSports.com. Try these bar strength, ready-to-drink vodka cocktails at Jones AT&T Stadium this football season or find them at a retailer near you. Cheers.
@ALL HANDS
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