Spring Game

[CatinVA]

And here in Northern VA I didn't see a damn thing because Comcast still won't offer the P12 Network in this area. Whenever I contact the P12 network offices of Comcast they try to get me all excited..."Comcast does carry the P12 Network all over the country!! Hooray! But, oh, yea, I see, just not in your metro area..." I would love to know the reason why DC is one of a couple metro areas that doesn't receive P12 via Comcast but nobody can tell me. I see P12 fans, clothes, license plate covers, etc every single day all over the place in DC.

I hear you brother. PAC-12 stuff everywhere, but no PAC-12 network. Comcast is definitely missing out on some money.

[dc4azcats]

Tellas Jones is a RS Junior BTW

Thanks. Point remains the same. He's been in the system all 3 years that RR has been here.

[azpenguin]

I don't think it's a giant step back. But the defense has lost some key guys. Pettinato, Bondurant, Grandon, McKnight, and Tevis aren't easy to replace, and the cornerbacks in particular are going to be tested. I think Neal will do well and Denson will too. McCall showed promise last year. Behind them, there's going to be some growing pains and with the schedule the depth at CB will be tested in the bombs-away Pac-12. Once Scooby's support crew in the front seven finds their footing it's going to make everyone a lot better but the defense will probably be taking some lumps. I'll be glad to be wrong on this and the squad has a realistic shot at winning the South again. The offense should be improved to the point where the defense has some more room to learn without losing games doing so.

I do think that the 2016 defense has the potential to be stellar (and the offense as well... this team is going to be absolutely loaded next year.)

I think our secondary will be much better than LY. I was at the scrimmage and the one thing that caught my eye was the speed and guys were flying around the ball. As far as speed and athleticism goes it's not difficult at all to replace what we had LY. It was essential that we do replace those guys.

Loved Tevis but the guy couldn't cover me if I went out for a pass let alone any TE, RB, WR in the Pac 12. Love the guys who play with a ton of heart but we were limited with what our safeties could do. Our safeties always played the run and never helped deep on a long pass (Grandon improved on that late against Utah and assu). How many teams burned us LY on long passes because our safeties were nowhere to found? I think we're faster and certainly bigger in the secondary and I think we have much more versatility as you have guys like Magloire and Parks who can lay the wood and can cover a TE and or RB. The speed and size will also help on safety blitzs as again Tevis wasn't the fastest guy out there.

As far as the DL goes, Williams and Griffin are a couple of big dudes and take up a lot of space. Will they be able to take up blockers in the question. Gilbert getting another year is huge and Fani was playing well at the end of LY and expect him to be healthy by Fall camp and ready to go. Turituri and Scooby are going to be rush ends again TY on passing situations unless somebody comes into Fall camp and surprises. I think we will be much more effective on corner and safety blitzes because of the size and speed that we have back there. Mixing up the blitzes and blitzing from everywhere is what we've shown in bits and pieces but I think Casteel has the pieces to be a little more aggressive TY. I agree that '16 we will be really good on D but I wouldn't sell this unit short for this season.

Ah, was wondering where ya'd been I don't necessarily think you're wrong, and I'll be glad to be wrong myself on my defense prediction. I do, however, put a lot more value on Tevis than a lot of posters here do. Not fast, undersized, etc. But he just managed to keep making plays. Will Parks said that after Tevis went down in the Fiesta Bowl that it took a while for the defense to figure out how to play without him. Interesting that you think the secondary will be better. It's a younger group at cornerback, and losing McKnight means that the guys in the lead are a RS sophomore, a true sophomore, and a converted receiver (who looks like he can be really good at corner.) If the front seven can get to the QB, though, the learning curve gets a lot less steep for these guys. Whatever the case, Casteel has shown to be an excellent manager of the talent he has at hand and he'll get everything he can out of his group... if they live up to their experience then they could indeed be very solid. We'll see. I just hope the no-bye schedule doesn't turn into a problem. (Flip side - if Arizona manages to win the South, then they go into the Pac-12 title game on a week of rest.)

[Gladiator Cat]

Azpenguin,

The truth of the matter is.........the "no bye week" for mid-season rest and recovery is going to present a problem. RR is going to need to make some adjustments that he normally wouldn't just to get the guys some rest.

A week or two off throughout the year to recover cannot be overstated one bit.

This team is going to be battered and bruised to a pulp come the end of the year. We're gonna need a lot of good fortune to stay healthy.

[azpenguin]

Azpenguin,

The truth of the matter is.........the "no bye week" for mid-season rest and recovery is going to present a problem. RR is going to need to make some adjustments that he normally wouldn't just to get the guys some rest.

A week or two off throughout the year to recover cannot be overstated one bit.

This team is going to be battered and bruised to a pulp come the end of the year. We're gonna need a lot of good fortune to stay healthy.

I agree with that and to me the bye week problem is the biggest thing standing between this team and a chance to do big things. If they do manage to escape injury trouble and win the south, that will be a sign that maybe, just maybe, this program's luck has turned. I wonder if the coaches are going to have a quicker hook this year; for example, if they're up 31 on NAU at halftime, why keep the first teamers in at all if they can help it? We will be finding out just how deep this roster is this year.

[pokinmik]

I wonder how many NCAAF teams have ever had effectively no bye week. Gotta be pretty freakin rare.

[Carcassdragger]

Jake Fischer once said that when things are rolling well, the last thing you want is a bye game to kill the momentum. It's a rose colored glasses look at this schedule, I know.

I think this team is a little better on paper than last year. Might be another epic season.

[UAEebs86]

I wonder how many NCAAF teams have ever had effectively no bye week. Gotta be pretty freakin rare.

I've heard people say every year one PAC-12 team gets stuck with this, so we can look forward to it again in 2027.

Why couldn't we play NAU the last weekend in August to open up a bye before UCLA - is there a rule on when your season can start?

[TuiTouchdown]

I feel like it was last season or maybe the season before that Oregon St. had a bye the very first week. Which in my mind would be even worse.

[Sage&Silver]

I wonder how many NCAAF teams have ever had effectively no bye week. Gotta be pretty freakin rare.

I've heard people say every year one PAC-12 team gets stuck with this, so we can look forward to it again in 2027.

Why couldn't we play NAU the last weekend in August to open up a bye before UCLA - is there a rule on when your season can start?

Yes, one PAC teams gets stuck every year because ND and USC want to play that weekend, and nobody's dumb or ballsy enough to tell ND and USC to fuck off.

{edit: I just noticed this is only true for USC home games (even numbered years) Looks like Stanford is the culprit this time.}

That weekend is the first round of the FCS playoffs, but I seem to remember playing an fcs school the final week back in 06 or 07-ish. Maybe they've added a round since then.

The problem with moving games is the opponent needs to move the game too and their conference opponent needs to find someone to play and so on and so on. Either Larry Scott needs to project this shafting out twenty years, or Utah needs to reschedule the Holy on Thanksgiving weekend. Then UCLA and CU can finish with each other and everything will be balanced again.