Saturday's SCRIMMAGE

Stephenson's punting was inconsistent. Looked like shanked two but nailed several others.

Tayo Fabaluje was a beast on one series. He's huge and going to be great.

Both QBs looked good at times and poor at others.

I thought the defense was solid.

I'm still concerned about our running game.

Nelson got an extra series at the end bc the numbers were so skewed in favor of Heaps. And during that series--against the 3rd defense, coverage was totally blown and jacobsen was totally left alone and Nelson heaved a floater than wobbled all the way to jacobson and went for a touchdown--BUt hey it will be weighed in as a TD.

I know that sounds anti-nelson and pro heaps, but there is a clear difference in passing ability.

That having been said, we need Nelson. There were a few 3rd and shorts that he could come in and do what he does and convert.

I know most dont like a 2 QB system, but i think this would really work this year at least till Heaps really gets this all figured out

NOt new news--the 2nd and 3rd O-line stinks, stinks, stinks. felt bad for Munns.

PUnter Stephenson is the new "Mr 50/50" He can boom it and bust it on punts.

Although the three step kick-off method seems already much better than last years kick-offs that really, really struggled at times.

Yes, Kitic is right. Running game is anywhere from a big question mark on the optimistic side to very average on the other. Mike Hague had a few good runs. Nice to see some shades of Mike back.

I thought Riley's TD was against the 2s on defense.



I thought the defense played well and stifled both QBs more than I thought they would.

Oh, I also thought our TEs played well. We may not have two TEs like we had last year and run a lot of two TE sets, but I think between Holt, Muhelmann and Mahina we can field at least one high quality TE this year.



Thinking of Heaps having any of those as a security blanket the next four years is very exciting.

anyone keeping tabs on who's getting the sacks on D? I think I've heard Van Noy's name mentioned just about everyday.

Our first string O-line looked solid, I was surprised by how well Lark played, Heaps looked better than Nelson today but neither was particularly impressive, defense looked good at times and then blew coverages etc at others, overall it looked rusty and sloppy, thank goodness we've got three more weeks.

Through the first week, and I think the stats bear this out, when the QBs get their series it goes one of two ways.



For Riley it seems to go either TD/FG drive or three-and-out.

For Jake it seems to go either TD drive or string several plays together and then punt.



Jake definitely has the edge of consistently moving the ball or at least at starting drives. He seems much less prone to three and outs.

Turf Update



I was on the 46 yard line, just above the main concourse and I was watching the LB's do some drills right down in front of me on the field, part of it was stepping backward then exploding forward. Every single one of them ripped up huge chunks of turf when they stepped backwards, but it was on the sidelines. The turf seemed to hold up very well on the actual playing surface.

I was there - but I did not get one of the Team Roster handouts. I knew a few players - but - obviously I don't have all the players numbers memorized.



Q: How did Kyle Van Noy & Kaveinga do?? Juice Quezada?? Anyone see anything??

Van Noy looked great on the pass rush and run defense, had another sack today, but he got beat several times when dropping into coverage and he was the one who blew the assignment that let Jacobsen get the last TD catch from Nelson. Overall he's a beast rushing but his coverage skills need some work.

I feel like we're avoiding that elephant in the room here...what the heck is going on with our running game? 90% of the running plays I saw went for 0-2 yards, and I think one went for 6 or 7 yards. It was a pretty sad sight consider all the hype and promise from our stable of runningbacks.



I was sitting too close to the field to really see what was going on half the time, so somebody please fill me in. Is it an offensive line problem, RB problem, or is our rush D really that good?

If you watched the OU game, you should know that Kariya and JJ can not get it done with the run game alone. They can, however, both pass catch it well and get it done in that area. So we might be throwing it a lot this year. Having said that, this is supposed to be our best O-line in years, so those big uglies better create some holes or else I will be disappointed. Should be a nasty group this year, and good enough to even get me some yards. Should be..

I think it has a lot more to do with the strength of our run defense. Other than getting picked apart by Jake, on that 96 yard drive, our DB's held up really well throughout the day. The D stopped 10 of 13 drives, and I think that is part of why they did so well. I remember multiple 3rd and longs, and we are not used to that as an offense and playcalling unit. Our linebackers looked lost in pass coverage sometimes, but were really keyed into the run and putting pressure on the qb. With 3 more weeks, we should be good enough to not lose the game on running alone. I am so excited to see our Defense take care of the glaring weakness of the last two years with the DB's stepping up, and actually being the stoppers of the defense. Even with Bills leaving on a mission - a huge blow, as he was next in line for the FS spot - they have taken that in stride, and it seems that they will have that weakness shored up too. I think that this might be the first year of the don't-bend-don't-break-just-kick-some-ace defense. And that is more exciting than anything, to me.

BlueIsBetter wrote:
I think that this might be the first year of the don't-bend-don't-break-just-kick-some-ace defense. And that is more exciting than anything, to me.

I sure hope so, because the "bend but don't break" defense can be so frustrating to watch, and when it does break, things get ugly real fast

I think the run game or lack there of is in part due to the lack of hitting and pad level that goes on the first week of camp.