WSU-UCLA RECAP: The Offense

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 12:46 PM PDT

The Cougs racked up 384 yards of total offense against UCLA, looking unstoppable at times. 311 of those yards came through the air against a UCLA secondary that's played very well thus far this season. It was another great day for Jeff Tuel and the receivers, and another so-so day for the offensive line and running backs.

On to the notes.

The offense spread everything out again, building off what we saw last week. It worked for the second straight week. We begged, even pleaded, for the offense to spread the field following three weeks of futility. I know the coaches were worried about putting too much on the young offense, but it's so frustrating to see an offense that took one week to install move with such ease.
Tuel had the second 300 yard passing game of his career. He continues to improve week-to-week and is showing why we were all so high on him. Charged with running the offense from the line of scrimmage again this week, he did just fine. Players were in the right spots, he was making the right reads and his mechanics were sound. It was nice to see some of the problems he had earlier this year -- throwing off his back foot, specifically -- almost non-existent against the Bruins.
Jeffrey Solomon is having a great year this year. Against USC, he showed off his quarterback skills. Against UCLA, he showed ~~sure hands and~~ (edit: after watching the rest of it, his hands were a bit inconsistent) crisp route running en route to six catches for 86 yards and a touchdown. Solomon gives Tuel another weapon out of the slot and adds even more depth to the talented wide receiver corps.

Marquess Wilson had the third 100 yard game of his short career. The kid just makes plays on the outside. In the fourth quarter, Wilson ran a crossing route, hauling in the catch and scampering for the most effortless looking 50 yards I've seen. His long stride makes his breakaway speed deceptive, but man he is fast. He continues to be incredibly fun to watch, week in and week out.

Mike Levenseller is doing one heck of a job with his receivers. The wideouts, many of which are young, know their routes, can get off a jam and have solid technique catching the football. He's got talent to work with, but that talent is developing rapidly under his tutelage.

Now, on to that series from the one yard line. First down: sneak. Second down: naked bootleg. Third down: trips left, with Jared Karstetter on his own on the near-side. Tuel rolls left, by design, and with nothing there throws it out of the back of the endzone. Fourth down: jumbo set, stretch right with James Montgomery dotting the I-formation.

A few things were apparent from the play-calling on that series. The offensive line simply can't get a push, leading to more misdirection and runs outside. The go-to play in the first three games -- the fade to Karstetter -- was missing in action from this series. Logwone Mitz, the power back, was also missing in action.

The run game is still sputtering five weeks into the season. Montgomery ran for 45 yards on 12 carries, Carl Winston had 11 on three carries, Mitz ran for 24 yards the only time he touched the ball and Chantz Staden only had one carry for six yards. The ground game actually improved, but it still is nowhere near serviceable. Again, I have no idea why Mitz isn't getting more touches.

I don't care that they went for it on fourth down. The plan the whole time was to go four downs, something that became obvious on the third down playcall. Tuel was told to throw it into the stands if there was nothing there, giving them another shot at it on fourth. They were at the one foot line with two kickers that have been wildly inconsistent. I'd rather take my chances getting that half-yard than kicking a field goal. Besides, there was no way the defense was holding UCLA to a field goal in the fourth quarter. The offense, and the fans, knew WSU would have to score a touchdown everytime they had the ball.

Paul Wulff decided to change kickers in the second half, giving freshman Andrew Furney a shot at field goals and extra points. Does it really matter at all? We just watched Nico Grasu almost get an extra point blocked because of the low trajectory on his kicks. So we moved from a proven, inconsistent kicker to an unproven kicker. In the scheme of it all, switching the kickers out really doesn't matter. The kicking game has been inconsistent for years and it sure doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon.

Tweet Comment 20 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Tuel was quoted

somewhere this morning as saying that on that 3rd down play (I’m assuming that’s the one he was talking about), that an RB was not where he was supposed to be, either for a handoff, or a quick pass.

by TiltingRight on Oct 3, 2010 5:12 PM PDT reply actions

Neither, I think

Montgomery missed his block. Tuel had Karstetter with a step in the back of the endzone, but the protection broke..

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 7:58 PM PDT up reply actions

It's nice to see our success in the passing game start to open up some running lanes.

It’s also nice to see how vastly improved the O-line is over last season. It’s nice to see the first servicable o-line in 3 years. Also were still pretty healthy which is a good sign

by kelly20210 on Oct 3, 2010 7:14 PM PDT reply actions

I didn't put this up because I need to hand chart it to figure out if it's right

But WSUFBB tweeted last night if you take out the Tuel sacks, the offense averaged 5.1 ypc. That’s a pretty huge improvement from the 2.5ish ypc they were averaging.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 7:17 PM PDT up reply actions

If you take out Tuel's rushing stats

(because none of his runs were planned as part of the running game)

we rushed 16 times for 81 yards or 5.05 ypc.

by TiltingRight on Oct 4, 2010 2:35 PM PDT up reply actions

Sounds right

When I rewatched it, I don’t think I saw any designed runs on read options. Most, if not all, of his runs came on “uh oh I’m about to die” type scrambles.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 4, 2010 2:44 PM PDT up reply actions

That's my recollection, too.

I think he had two decent runs where the middle of the field was so wide open he felt like he had to, but the rest were ugly.

by TiltingRight on Oct 4, 2010 2:55 PM PDT up reply actions

Don't forget Monty's run being called back

I thought we were 17 for 85 without Tuel, but same difference. Add in the 50 yards or so we lost on the hold & that’s a decent day for us. Thought the RB’s made better decisions, and actually had a few cracks to exploit.

I love Staden, but in watching him I realized why he’s not getting the carries I’d hope he’d get. His is a matador blocking….

by SDCoug on Oct 4, 2010 5:12 PM PDT up reply actions

Would've even been better without a questionable holding call

against Guerra I believe in the third quarter.

by kelly20210 on Oct 3, 2010 7:34 PM PDT reply actions

Tough call

on Guerra. Montgomery is starting to come and looks better and better when he’s running straight ahead. His lateral quicks are what seems to stop him from being the same back he was but maybe that will come over time. Maybe not.

by BornCoug on Oct 3, 2010 10:57 PM PDT up reply actions

It's tough to tell

Montgomery’s never been a burner, but it’s pretty clear he’s a step or two slower and his cuts aren’t as crisp. Of course that’s to be expected after the leg injury and subsequent surgery to clean up an old injury. However, he looks like he’s been getting stronger each week.

I did see some nice decisions and cuts from Montgomery when I went back and watched the game. There were times where the defense would crash and he’d plant a foot and break it outside for a nice gain. It was something small, but it was encouraging.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 11:01 PM PDT up reply actions

He's been off for 2 years

Transfer year and a rehab year. It isn’t surprising but you have to wonder if he will get that burst back. He looked great running straight ahead against UCLA in terms of speed and I agree that he looks better and better each week.

by BornCoug on Oct 3, 2010 11:15 PM PDT up reply actions

Tuel, Solomon, Wilson, Mitz

The more time Tuel gets the better he looks. Only a true soph., he seemed to make pretty good decision when he had the time.

Solomon is way up one play but needs to just make the catch other plays. Maybe he gets ahead of the play but if he would have just made a couple of those catches that were clear drops he would have had a huge day and the offense would have been on the field more.

Wilson is simply a big talent. Not a lot more to say with him.

Mitz, why doesn’t he get a few more carries? He seems to deserve it.

by BornCoug on Oct 3, 2010 11:03 PM PDT reply actions

True with Solomon

He’s been so much better this year, but he does still have those drops that remind me why he used to frustrate me. He made a great catch in the second quarter to cut the lead to seven, but he also had at least one drop that I remember. He’s been leaps and bounds ahead of what I expected, though.

I have no clue on Mitz. I know none of the running backs did much in practice this week and it seems the carry split is decided based on practice, but every time Mitz has touched it he seems like he’s making a play.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 11:08 PM PDT up reply actions

Solomon has sure hands?

Maybe I’m mistaken but he seems to me that for every good play he has (and there are a lot of them), he has a dropped pass to go with it.

Cougar999 version 2.0. Now with a shorter name!

by Coug999 on Oct 3, 2010 11:26 PM PDT reply actions

I probably should've re-watched the rest of the game before finishing this up.

Yeah, there were some drops in there again. Still, like I said, miles better than last year.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 3, 2010 11:28 PM PDT up reply actions

I just have one question about something that was very frustrating to me and my friends.

I was at the Rose Bowl on Saturday and watching the game, I haven’t had much of an opportunity to watch the Cougs this year. But what we couldn’t get over was that every snap was hitting Tuel in the feet. What exactly is going on there? Certainly this has been discussed before, no?

by Kenneth Arthur on Oct 4, 2010 9:03 AM PDT reply actions

They've only been running the shotgun for two weeks

And the center is a converted guard. He looked decent last week but definitely had a problem with low snaps against UCLA.

CougCenter, SBNation Seattle, @FloydCoug

by Brian Floyd on Oct 4, 2010 9:06 AM PDT up reply actions

Bad snaps

Williams was a center as a JC but the snaps have been pretty poor. I know it’s been a few years since he was snapping and maybe he rarely did it from the shotgun but that area really needs to improve.

by BornCoug on Oct 4, 2010 10:49 AM PDT up reply actions