Its taken me a week, but on the treadmill this morning I think I have found a theory that I can live with that can get me through to next season understanding the debacle of last Saturday and leave room for hope for the future.
So try this.
Most of this is about Defense. If we were going to compete with the big boys in the first 4 years of the Harbaugh Era it was going to be because of a dominant defense. We do not have the offensive line, quarterback or skill players to be a dominant offense. So it had to be stifling dominant defense if we were going to make it to the playoffs and make some noise. Here is my take on what happened. I am looking at 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Don Brown Era. Don Brown said, "I know how to stop this offense!" when speaking about the JT Barrett lead OSU offense of 2016 and 2017. And you know what, he did! In 2016 he stopped that offense and we won, well almost but JT was F'ing short. And while Barrett was in the game last year we played them to a draw and if we had a quarterback with a pulse we would have won that one too. However, problem 1 in the short run is that JT Barrett is not the quarterback at OSU and Jalen Hurd is not the quarterback at Alabama. We now have to deal with Haskins and Tua. Since Haskins entered the game last year, they have put up about 83 points on us over about a game and a half. The throw version of the spread, not just that nasty running quarterback that Brown does know how to stop but instead the fling it all over the place passing spread is what we need to stop. Brown's defense is not yet suited to stop that. Can he with some tweaks? sure he can, but he will have to change some things. Just like Harbaugh adapted the offense, Brown will have to adapt the defense. By the way, not many people are stopping that offense, but 83 points in a game and a half is way, way too many and we can do better.
Point # 2. On Defense, to be as good as we needed to be, our 5 stars needed to play like 5 stars and our 4 stars needed to play like 4 stars. Gary gave us zero on Saturday. Solomon DNP. Long and Hill were pretty good but where was Ambry Thomas? A 4 star future #1 CB supposedly and yet we have Brandon Watson chasing way faster guys all over the field and getting toasted. OSU will always have at least equal talent to us and most years superior talent. But its always been that way. That does not mean we can't beat them, but our best players need to play up to their ceilings and that did not happen Saturday. On defense, our stars did play well against OSU in 2016 and we played to a draw. Did not happen in 2018.
Lastly, couple thoughts on the offense. The future is bright. We have plenty of quarterbacks. The offensive line is ascending and skill players are here or coming in the next class. Harbaugh has changed the offense. Not as much as we would like or as much as is needed but we made progress and will continue to.
Offensive challenges:
1. We have a quarterback as our starting tight end. Even at 6' 8" and supposedly a 4.5 forty (not a chance he is that fast anymore by the way) he can't block and plays like a quarterback at Tight End. Asiasi was a huge blow and we got McKeon and not Nauta. Big Blows to what we want to do on offense.
2. Lastly, I love our wide receivers but they are not the fastest group. I would venture to say every OSU receiver is faster than any of ours and I would also say that every team we played had at least one receiver faster than any of ours. For the offense to take the next step, this great group we have now needs to be supplemented with some absolute burners. I think they are coming starting next year.
So the punch line, keep evolving the offense with even better players, get our stars to play like stars on defense and change the aim point of the defense to address the cutting edge college offenses of OSU, Alabama, Clemson and we have a shot. Don't have to stop them cold, no one is doing that, but have to contain them better. And we get all three rivals at home next year. I will view the future as bright. Full of challenges but we do have a shot to be good.
That's my two cents.
So try this.
Most of this is about Defense. If we were going to compete with the big boys in the first 4 years of the Harbaugh Era it was going to be because of a dominant defense. We do not have the offensive line, quarterback or skill players to be a dominant offense. So it had to be stifling dominant defense if we were going to make it to the playoffs and make some noise. Here is my take on what happened. I am looking at 2016, 2017 and 2018, the Don Brown Era. Don Brown said, "I know how to stop this offense!" when speaking about the JT Barrett lead OSU offense of 2016 and 2017. And you know what, he did! In 2016 he stopped that offense and we won, well almost but JT was F'ing short. And while Barrett was in the game last year we played them to a draw and if we had a quarterback with a pulse we would have won that one too. However, problem 1 in the short run is that JT Barrett is not the quarterback at OSU and Jalen Hurd is not the quarterback at Alabama. We now have to deal with Haskins and Tua. Since Haskins entered the game last year, they have put up about 83 points on us over about a game and a half. The throw version of the spread, not just that nasty running quarterback that Brown does know how to stop but instead the fling it all over the place passing spread is what we need to stop. Brown's defense is not yet suited to stop that. Can he with some tweaks? sure he can, but he will have to change some things. Just like Harbaugh adapted the offense, Brown will have to adapt the defense. By the way, not many people are stopping that offense, but 83 points in a game and a half is way, way too many and we can do better.
Point # 2. On Defense, to be as good as we needed to be, our 5 stars needed to play like 5 stars and our 4 stars needed to play like 4 stars. Gary gave us zero on Saturday. Solomon DNP. Long and Hill were pretty good but where was Ambry Thomas? A 4 star future #1 CB supposedly and yet we have Brandon Watson chasing way faster guys all over the field and getting toasted. OSU will always have at least equal talent to us and most years superior talent. But its always been that way. That does not mean we can't beat them, but our best players need to play up to their ceilings and that did not happen Saturday. On defense, our stars did play well against OSU in 2016 and we played to a draw. Did not happen in 2018.
Lastly, couple thoughts on the offense. The future is bright. We have plenty of quarterbacks. The offensive line is ascending and skill players are here or coming in the next class. Harbaugh has changed the offense. Not as much as we would like or as much as is needed but we made progress and will continue to.
Offensive challenges:
1. We have a quarterback as our starting tight end. Even at 6' 8" and supposedly a 4.5 forty (not a chance he is that fast anymore by the way) he can't block and plays like a quarterback at Tight End. Asiasi was a huge blow and we got McKeon and not Nauta. Big Blows to what we want to do on offense.
2. Lastly, I love our wide receivers but they are not the fastest group. I would venture to say every OSU receiver is faster than any of ours and I would also say that every team we played had at least one receiver faster than any of ours. For the offense to take the next step, this great group we have now needs to be supplemented with some absolute burners. I think they are coming starting next year.
So the punch line, keep evolving the offense with even better players, get our stars to play like stars on defense and change the aim point of the defense to address the cutting edge college offenses of OSU, Alabama, Clemson and we have a shot. Don't have to stop them cold, no one is doing that, but have to contain them better. And we get all three rivals at home next year. I will view the future as bright. Full of challenges but we do have a shot to be good.
That's my two cents.
