Arizona @ Oregon St discussion thread

[azgreg]

Sat. 9/22/18 1:00 PM

Cats open as a 6.5 point favorite.

[PHXCATS]

Cats win 45-35. The defense still looked bad vs SUU but there were some bright spots starting to develop. Offense seemed to get back on track a bit. Oregon State is really bad. The O-Line will be a bit better. Receivers finding their stride. Tate throwing better. Some positives from the RBs. Unfortunately the defense is still an issue but Oregon State sucks.

[Spaceman Spiff]

Given that we leapt out to a 38-0 deficit in our prior road game, I have significant concerns. If we're winning any Pac game, this is a good candidate, but we looked completely unprepared for Houston.

In all honesty, I've basically quit caring about this year, so whatever happens, happens.

[ASUHATER!]

Given that we leapt out to a 38-0 deficit in our prior road game, I have significant concerns. If we're winning any Pac game, this is a good candidate, but we looked completely unprepared for Houston.

In all honesty, I've basically quit caring about this year, so whatever happens, happens.

Yeah I agree. Oregon State is the team we have the best chance of beating left, but being on the road is always tough. If we lose this game then honestly 2-10 is the best case scenario the season.

[Merkin]

Not expending much defense if the O/U is 75.

Not a betting man, but might take ntOSU and the points.

[PHXCATS]

Not expending much defense if the O/U is 75.

Not a betting man, but might take ntOSU and the points.

How many tickets does your dad need for the red blue game/practice?

[Merkin]

Not expending much defense if the O/U is 75.

Not a betting man, but might take ntOSU and the points.

How many tickets does your dad need for the red blue game/practice?

Thanks, not going to even ask him, but appreciate the offer.

[azcat49]

Cats have shown me nothing to think we can win a game on the road vs a P5 team. Maybe we pull a rabbit out of the hat or is it our head our if our ass?

[ByJoveByJingle]

I’ll play Devil’s advocate:

1) Oregon State is marginally a Power 5 school
2) Our defense is no worse than any of the typical RR defenses. In fact, it looks identical to the RR defense, including giving up big plays on 3rd and long.
3) We won a lot of games under RR with those defenses
4) Leaving the question, can we score enough to win games the way we did over the past 6 years? I don’t recall scoring over 60 points a lot of times under RR, even against the patsies on our schedule. Was it an anomaly? Is Southern Utah truly that much worse than the other bad non-con opponents we’ve played? Or, did the offense turn a corner?
5) People tend to overvalue their ability to predict the future based on their early observations.

I think we beat Oregon State. And I think we win a minimum of 4 games this year.

[EVCat]

5) People tend to overvalue their ability to predict the future based on their early observations.

And fans are the worst.

From 10-2 to 2-10 based on the very early returns against a BYU team that just beat Wisconsin, and a Houston team that, admittedly, steamrolled us early. We did get within 1 yard of making it a 2 score game with 8 minutes left, but that series was maybe the most disturbing of the game.

The play calling isn't completely dialed in, and Tate coming up hobbling after being tackled certainly left him really only looking to pass and hand off against a poor SUU defense. But SUU's offense is good and was going to put a few on the board...the 17-17 period was concerning, but then we did what we are supposed to do and ran 31 straight against an FCS team.

Oregon State's over/under to start the season was 1.5, and that was with SUU and Nevada on their schedule. They are bad. We know we are not that level of bad, especially with OL more intact. We should know this coaching staff is an upgrade, but 2 games with a battered and missing offensive line against a pretty decent BYU team, as it turns out, and a walk on vs Ed Oliver in Houston at 9am has completely changed that narrative? The overreactions both positive and negative are like a roller coaster. I don't know if people say we are going to be 2-10 to express their anger, or to lessen expectations, or what, but there is no fkn way we lose out. Or even, IMO, fall under 6 wins. The PAC South is garbage. ASU has almost eliminated running as an option and Michigan State is not going to win a lot of games in the Big 10. Utah? Jesus...who knows who they are ever. UCLA looked awful. Worse than us against a less talented squad than either of our losses. USC seems just confused as to what to do. Colorado? Shit, if I wanted to overreact, I'd say they are winning the division based on their bashing of bad teams.

The gut punch happened. BYU. They are better than we thought. Houston was a disaster from the jump. SUU came at a great time. So does Oregon State. Mazzone and Tate will dial in at some point, when Tate isn't throwing against our own subpar defense and giving the OC visions of a pocket passer and there is some real film at game speed. We could already see some shifting of the pocket and read option calls (Tate handed them all off after tweaking his ankle), and Tate, quite simply, throws one of the best off balance deep balls I have seen. Trust will build, the right way to run this offense will become apparent, and we get to tune the dial in vs Oregon State first in a fantastically helpful bit of scheduling. It will be in the mid-70s, not a threat of weather, and our talent beats OSU at nearly every position. And, hopefully, we take what we are given with that advantage and further figure out what works best on offense that can utilize Tate's excellent arm while having him run enough to not get killed but keep defenses honest, and to get big plays.

I think we end up 6-6. We'll be 2-2 after this week. And there are plenty of toss-up games to win. And I think we beat an ASU team that has all but given up on the run and will get Manny Wilkins killed.

[azgreg]

[azgreg]

[azcat49]

Hoping BJBJ and EVCat are right and what we have seen is an anomaly but our defense is such a concern. Giving up almost 200 yards on the ground vs a FCS team is not a recipe for beating teams in our conference. Not to mention the 3rd and 4th down conversion success. OSU is going to try and run it down our throats and control clock. If we don't pop out to a quick lead I fear we are going to be in trouble once again and Tate might start forcing the big play mentality with his arm

[threenumberones]

Smart money coming in on the beavs.

[azgreg]

The defense has held OSU's offense to only 122 yards and to only 3 of 8 on 3rd down.

347 yards on offense in the first half for only 14 points. Keep shooting ourselves in the foot.

[OSUCat]

That was a nice solid game. It was nice feeling that the defense could make a stop versus thinking that only the opponent offense can stop themselves.

Oh, and a fake field goal was great to see.

[UAEebs86]

Dirty AF

[PHXCATS]

Was an really good game. Way to get Oregon State off the field right away then drive down and score immediately. The defense took a huge step up. While Oregon State is not a good team overall, they did score 38 points a game going into Saturday and UA held them 24 points under that. Schooler was the freaking man.

On offense, Tate isnt 100% but he did more then enough and a few mistakes kept points off the board. This game should have been 49-14.

If this team steps up a bit more on defense and cleans up some of the stuff on offense it can still be a good season.

[azgreg]