Photo Attribution: US Presswire
Well that did not go as planned.
1. Certainly when your rush yards and penalty yards are similar (and you rushed for 196 yards) that’s not a good thing1.
One person on Twitter said this was as undisciplined as he’s ever seen a Gundy team play and I agree. It’s weird too, you’d expect that in 2006 or 2008 but it feels like we’ve progressed enough as a program that discipline issues wouldn’t be your main focus going into week three. Yet here we are.
2. The wide receiver drops reminded me of the Missouri game last year. I don’t know if we have a receiver that DIDN’T drop a ball tonight. And the thing that mad it worse is that Lunt was on point over and over again. “Dropping dimes” as one Twitter follower put it.
Even the triple coverage flea flicker that the Pac-12 announcers nearly broke down over hit Tracy Moore in the hands.
3. Kevin Calabro2 said “157 penalty yards ought to take your breath away if you’re a coaching staff.” That’s a direct quote, no elaboration. I would think it would make you want to take your players’ breath away, but maybe that’s just me.
4. Wes Lunt (and his stat line3) were tremendous tonight. I know the three picks looks bad but one was on Tracy Moore for falling down and one was Josh Stewart basically handing one of Arizona’s DBs the ball. The other one, the pick six, was bad4.
But he was everything you needed him to be and more, if anything I felt like the hyped talk of his composure was maybe even underrated. The most flustered I saw him all night was maybe a clap of the hands that lasted .8 seconds. Color me impressed.
5. My dad texted me in the middle of the fourth quarter: “the worst part about all of this…is Herbstreit calling it.” Blind squirrels, nuts, etc. When you put a team on upset alert literally every week, at some point you have to be correct, no? Did he have us on upset alert against Savannah State or did Fowler talk him out of it?
6. The dirtiest little secret about tonight? Justin Gilbert and Brodrick Brown got housed all night. Matt Scott threw for 320 and 2 and it was extremely easy.
7. The unintentional comedy on the Pac-12 production of this game was off the charts tonight. CalaBRO thought Tracy Moore’s third TD was an incompletion for a good 10 seconds. Quinn Sharp was lining up for the extra point before he realized it was caught. Then the studio guys kept saying “we” during halftime highlights like they were either 1.) coaches of the Pac-12 teams playing or 2.) Brian Davis and Grant Long.
THEN Rick Neuheisel called us Oregon State, the Big 10 champs, and compared Tracy Moore to Dez Bryant and Justin Blackmon in his post game. Unprecedented stuff all the way around.
8. The lack of leadership tonight was pretty stunning. I talked about this a little bit here but my biggest question about this year’s team wasn’t talent or how Lunt would perform but whether or not this team would compete together as well as they did last year.
Who would put the offense on his back like Weeden did last year? Who would pick the D up like Markelle Martin and Jamie Blatnick? Still a ton of time but tonight was not promising.
9. Cox has to be feeling pretty good right now, eh?
10. I think the toughest part of the loss tonight for me was the realization that if we really are a top 15 program then we go on the road and take care of business against a team like that. I’m not saying we should be going 10-2 or anything crazy like that but top 15 squads (Oregon, Va Tech, etc.) don’t go out and slop around like OSU did tonight.
It’s just not a part of their DNA. I understand this year’s team is not last year’s team but that doesn’t mean we should revert to what we did tonight.
Much more coming later today.
- While you were reading that sentence Calvin Barnett picked up a personal foul and got fined for littering twice. ↩
- I bet Ryan Lochte wishes this was his last name: “yeah good to meet you, my name’s Ryan Cala-BROOOO” ↩
- 37-60 for 436 yards 4 TD and 3 INT ↩
- It was like the most freshman pick ever (on the road, under duress, falling away, pick six…there’s not a QB alive who didn’t throw that pick his freshman year) ↩
I really feel the penalties in the first half killed us. We’d have probably scored 35 before the break without them. Lunt is the real deal. I was very impressed, and I’m a harsh critic. As for the defense…… I don’t even know what to say. Let’s hope Bill Young can work a miracle.
Virginia Tech may not even be a top-15 program. The GaTech game was beyond ugly. Albeit they did win, it took OT at home.
We’ll be fine. Just remember, we get Lunt for the next 46-53 games. I’ll take it.
Kyle: why didn’t we run the ball more? Two experienced RB’s who performed well, on the road, freshmen QB, etc. I don’t get it.
I felt like we did run a lot. Plus Lunt was playing great. My only question is why Drivekiller Jackson was still in the game after his 5th drop.
Haha Drivekiller Jackson, think we can make that official.
I agreed with all of your points. To maybe add on to #10, it sure looks like this team is in rebuilding mode. They will need to vastly improve over the next few weeks to convince me otherwise.
I got the feeling that Spencer was next in line for DC if he’s still here when Bill Young retires or takes another job. At least we found out now that he doesn’t know what he’s doing instead of after he was promoted and given a new contract. We lose a game instead of a season. So there’s one positive we can take from that embarassment.
The defense was the most glaring problem…Was it Bill Young’s absence (I hope so, but not likely)? Where were the forced turnovers?! What the hell guys…how much of this can be seen as a result of playing a horrible team to start the season, guys not getting reps and then going on the road to face a more than competent team (especially offensively)…
I’m disappointed with the effort, discipline and attitude of the team. I hope the ship gets righted or see we are looking at an 8-4 season… At best.
I thought Lunt did very well for a true freshman in his first real full length game. The defense needs to step up. As for the penalties, there were some valid calls but there were many wrong calls and many non-calls on Arizona. Did the poor officiating change the outcome of the game? Maybe and maybe not but they did change the outcome of each drive. I see some promise. The offense worked well half the game, the defense did well on a few occasions. We all want a repeat of last season, but hope is not lost. A loss like this in week two does not define the season, it may be the motivation for the rest of the season.
Well said.
The announcing crew was the WORST I have ever seen who was actually paid for what they do – the “we” thing was finally explained once the game was nearly over: The color commentator was an AZ football alumnus. However, the play-by-play guy was not merely incorrect a few times, but inexcusably, atrociously, incompetent. He called out the wrong player’s name as much as he got it right. Does not each team provide the announcers with a roster listing? If this is what viewers can expect to see on a regular basis, then I am thrilled that COX and AT&T refused to be bullied into making the PAC-12 Network a permanent part of their standard programming.
You were right on target with Lunt. If anything, I was more impressed by him after this game than earlier – only a few bad decisions were made targeting the ball (but all went where he threw them).
The dropped passes, the asinine penalties, the turnovers, and the lack of killer instinct is all on the players. It was obvious to me that this team has the talent to compete for Big 12 championships. However, it remains to be seen if they have the mental toughness, discipline, and leadership to get the job done. Once again, this is on the players.
My only complaint with the coaching staff was the first doomed 4th down attempt by JW Walsh. Of all the plays available, why run the QB Zone read against a defense that practices it every day against their own offense?
To answer the earlier questions regarding play calling: The OSU offense is predicated on taking what the defense gives you. And after OSU gashed the Wildcats during the first quarter, AZ made the adjustments of putting on more player in the box to guard against the run and force the pass.
Even with the turnovers and penalties, the offense did enough to win. 600+ yards of offense and 38 points on the road should be enough. The defense was simply awful. I had hoped that we had advanced to the point that we wouldn’t have one of these wholesale defensive collapses, but I guess not.
I thought we looked poorly coached and the defense looked hapless. I agree – it could be a long season…
Thought No. 6 is what really stuck out to me. Gilbert & Brown have been reading too much of their own press. They got embarrassed.
everybody step back from the ledge. we were without the freaking defensive coordinator.
Sorry in advance for the wall ‘o text guys, but please read it, I have some legitimate points to consider.
I hate to be the guy that whines about the referee’ing, but seriously. The team clearly has to be more disciplined, and when you get called on a legitimate penalty, you can’t really complain, but it really did seem like the refs were only watching one team out there. There were umpteen holding penalties NOT called on AZ. I’m sure there are those kind of things missed in any game, but at some point you have to just let them play!
I feel like the refs were so on lockdown that it just killed any kind of rhythm or enthusiasm. How many times did Smash ‘n Dash (My only enjoyable part of the broadcast was the new nickname given to Randle & Smith) bust out a ten yard gain, only to be turned into 3rd & 20 because of a holding call?
By the fourth quarter I really felt like it was getting ridiculous. How ’bout the pass interference call on our secondary WHEN THE BALL WASN’T EVEN GOING TO THAT RECEIVER..? Or what about that unnecessary roughness call on Barnett for trying to get a QB off his back that WAS INTENTIONALLY RIDING HIM LIKE A HORSE…. RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE REF?!!! That one blew my mind. Yes, I understand the first penalty – roughing the passer, and I might be convinced of the second penalty, but ONLY if the QB was ALSO called for un-sportsman like conduct, and the penalties offset. The unnecessary roughness call on Brown when he continued to tackle the guy out of bounds was really pushing it too… He had one toe on the sideline, which Brown couldn’t have seen, because his head was up and they were already locked up together. He was just finishing the tackle, which is his job, but yet the many tackles out of bounds that AZ made were never called (because they shouldn’t have been, I’m just illustrating the contrast, because neither should Brown have been penalized).
But to get off that soapbox, and onto something that OSU can actually control, I really think the defense was/is better than it looked last night. The DE’s looked solid, but I’m not sure about the interior. What seemed to consistently happen is that the DE’s would come around the sides and get pressure on the QB, which would often flush him out of the pocket and get a nice gain straight up the middle. It seemed that there was no defensive stand whatsoever in the middle of the field all night. I don’t know if that’s the fault of the LB’s or the line, but it has to be corrected. I’m not as concerned with the last few gashing runs right through the middle at the end of the game, because by then they had lost all heart, but the wide open passes ten yards out, and the QB runs the whole game really added up and kept the chains moving. I did not see any adjustments made to the scheme at halftime, which makes me think that things would have gone a little differently had Grandpa Young been there.
Another thing that bothered me is how many times the DE’s flushed the QB out of the pocket and into wide open territory in the backfield, but instead of finishing him off, they would pull up and raise their hands to try and deflect the pass. I understand that concept, certainly, but had I been coaching there last night, I would have got the line together and told them this: When you are almost at arm’s reach of the guy, just keep barreling toward him and if he gets the pass off, it probably won’t be pretty, and could result in an interception. Instead, what consistently happened, is he would pump-fake, the DE would stop in his tracks and jump for it, and then the QB would complete a non-challenged throw.
Finally, Lunt did very well, all things considering, but let’s be honest, there were several ill-advised passes and ones that forced the receiver to adjust. The interception that went off Stewart’s hand and into the defender’s breadbasket was one of them – that was on Lunt, not Stewart. Stewart was in the process of falling down just trying to come back to the ball.
Very well said Mark. But you even forgot one of the onesided officiating calls. The frickin kick catch interference call on #20 Larry Stephens in the 3rd quarter I believe. At first I thought it might have been a legitimate call because of the camera angle but after they showed the replay I was much more in disbelief. Overall it’s not so much that that one penalty affected the next drive so much but it just illustrated how bad (one sided) the officiating was last night. About the defense as a whole, they played worse than I would of hoped but the penalties especially the personal fouls whether called for or not, can all be corrected. I would hope (using your words) that Papa Young could get these things corrected. It is still really early in the season. And a loss here doesn’t take us out of the running for the Big 12 or really even the national title (although I don’t think we are ready for that talk again). But my point is it better to have this happen early in the season to get it corrected for later. It is definitely better than losing to frickin Iowa State in like week 13 or whatever.
About Lunt, I mean what can I say, the kid is for real. I can’t believe the biggest problem with our team last night was a semi-veteran defense and not a TRUE freshman quarterback!! He was on target over and over all night. And the kid has a cannon!! The drops are another fixable problem. And I’m sure Gundy was trying to figure out how to get a jugs machine on the charter plane last night so, Drivekiler Jackson (not my words) but awesome, and Isaiah Anderson can catch balls down the isle all night. I do disagree with the Stewart interception being Lunts fault though. Stewart needs to secure that ball that hit him in the NUMBERS and not turn around and hand it to the defender. Lunt really only had like three bad throws last night. The one pick six. Which almost any quarterback no matter what level of maturity would throw. And flea flicker probably shouldn’t have been tried into triple coverage even though it did hit Tracy in the hands. And one play where a linebacker fell back into coverage and Lunt didn’t see him and he hit the linebacker ( I think #53) in the hands. Good thing he wasn’t ready for it either.
Sorry my phone locked up and I didn’t get to finish. I just wanted to say that overall I was very disappointed with the performance but I really was curious to watch Lunt play his first real game and he passed with flying colors. All the others problems can be corrected. And need to be. And Broderick and Gilbert do need to get their s**t together. I’m still VERY thankful we don’t have David Ash as our starting quarterback!! I hope the rest of the season goes better. Sorry for posting so much. Good day.
Obviously a 21-point loss as a 10-point fave is disappointing, but I saw a lot to like.
Wes Lunt was beyond impressive. I realize this *sounds* over the top, but… if you take away the pick-6 and one overthrow (of Stewart on the post-corner), he looked just like Weeden. A loss sucks, but I am SO HAPPY to look forward to three full years of this guy.
The mistakes, while numerous, are all correctable. Penalties and drops can and will be fixed. We ran well, we passed well, we even got some pressure on the quarterback. This is not a disaster. It’s a bad night.
Last night was frustrating as heck, but I am no less optimistic now about the Big XII slate, and I’m much *more* optimistic about 2013 and 2014.
11. Last night pretty much guaranteed no more quality non-con opponents will be scheduled. We’ll see Savannah State again before we see another BCS team scheduled with a home and home. I just hope the playoffs force their hand because SOS is heavily weighed.
They got the first two TDs too easily and quickly, started believing their own press releases. That’s as much the fault of the coaches as the players. Getting slapped back down to earth is a good thing if it makes everybody involved realize that OSU teams have to prove themselves all over again every year. It ain’t fair but that’s the way it is as long the Herbstreits of the world are in the booth.
I’m still laughing at the Rya Lochte endnote lol!
We did not play a good game, but I think everyone is now convinced how bad a coach Mike Stoops is. Basically the same players, and that team was a whole lot better than the previous two times we played them. Better attitude and fewer mistakes on both sides of the ball.
One area I think the poor officiating really hurt OSU that had nothing to do with penalties; disrupting the game pace. We run a faster than most no-huddle and we know how important that rhythm is to our offense. With the holding calls and refs screwing around “chatting” about other calls, it looked very difficult to get into a sustained fast pace that usually is good for rattling the opposing defense.