Seriously, they were not good last year, and if Williams had not bailed them out in several games, they would have had more losses.
The few yards receiving they had there was no DB within yards of them, none. Watch the game and you will see how open they were.
It was probably the game plan. UCLA was starting a Sophomore in his first game. The idea may have been to dare them to pass.
Actually the sun sets before 6:30 p.m. in LA this week.
If this is such a "problem" why are opponents only completing 58 percent of their pass attempts and averaging just 157 yards passing per game?
It true. I purposely wait a few days to post my Obli's Observations because I feel the same way. PSU left their WRs open. But then you look at the stats and see that we gave up 6 points and won handily. We aren't covering the spread and scoring the points like I hoped but it is due to the fact that we've only had 8 offensive drives in the last two games. We've given up a lot of first downs but not giving up a lot of points. But, of course, the idea is to score more points than your opponent. When you see the upsets from the weekend, it is a great reminder to be happy with a 1 - 0 weekend.
USC is going to get some big plays. Miller Moss is averaging 280 yds per game passing and a lot of that has come against ranked opponents. He probably won't panic because he's battle tested against good teams (LSU, Mich, Wisc, Minn).
So talking up West Virginia and Illinois was warranted? Or was it certain people just talking to hear themselves speak?
There are always concerns about game 1 with new players and coaches but I'll be the first to admit that WVa was less of a challenge than I thought. Greene was a good runner who had more yds running than Singleton last year. He got away from us on a number of plays last year and I was concerned about our LB play this year but it turned out that wasn't a problem.
Most have it 5.5 points, which is not small for a road team. Not that I care what those degenerates say, especially since we haven't covered several large spreads recently.
Correct. If the road team is favored by 5.5 that's significant. The expectation is this is a comfortable win. That doesn't mean 42-3 but similar to Illinois. Despite the score the Illinois game never felt in doubt. If we play a solid game this one won't be either.
I agree regarding a loss
Agree. Mich beat USC this year with there OL play where they had to replace 4-5 starters from last years team. If you watched them, against USC they appeared not to skip a beat. They just out muscled USC's DL. If they can do it, we should be able to also.
I don't know about the point spread but this is true, PSU's Oline and Dline are the strengths of the team so far this year. And that looks like PSU's most important matchup advantage for Saturday.
Get ready for Eye Test.
If you fly from Tokyo to Dallas, you arrive before you left. You might pass yourself in the airport.
Oregon has a much stronger SOS. They play Boise St., tOSU, ILL, UM, Washington, and Wisconsin. Based on this, if both O and PSU have one loss to tOSU, Oregon would go. Here are the tie breakers
Our DB's reacted quickly. Take another look at the game, their WR's were clearly open. Look at the one down the sidelines for 20 ++ yards. No one near him!
Their SOS isn't that much different. We both play OSU, ILL, PUR, WASH, WISC, & MD. Oregon played Boise State who is likely a bit better than WVa.
There is no head to head and non conference games are irrelevant. Assuming we both went 8-1 and lost to tOSU, it would come down to the #4 criteria and the SOS of conference games. Ignoring common opponents, it comes down to the conference record of MSU & Michigan (Oregon’s opponents) to USC & Minnesota (PSU’s opponents).
And I'd rather Oregon have to play an extra game so it should be interesting if that plays out which seems relatively likely.
The why couldn't they score more than 11 points? I mean... gaping holes? No DB within 10 yards of receptions? Very strange.
He actually does. Except the only two teams that were better than they were. 100% win everywhere else, as long as the starters are playing. Also, the best winning percentage in the Big 10 over any other coach who ever walked the sidelines. Winning % matters.
PSU was ranked #2 in the nation when they blew a big Q4 lead to lose to OSU by 1 in 2017. Several other losses were when OSU was ranked just a few spots above PSU (2018, 2019, 2023).
