The ONE thing that made you shake your head

Down by 14 with 4 minutes left, we don't snap the ball until :03 on the play clock.  We continue to do that the whole series even though we've been set since like :10 on the play clock while the game clock continues to run.

 
The thing that made me shake my head was that first half defense....the one with the soft corners, large cushion, slow linebackers covering WRs with track star speed, that didn't work against ASU and these rocket scientists thought they could do that with Oregon. That is when it finally occurred to me that A) our coaches are stupid or B) that is all the further along our D is in learning Diaco's system or C) we have nowhere near the right personnel to make it work or D) all of the above. That is when I lost hope for this season.....and then something within me broke and I figured out I really didn't care. Now I am just excited to see high scoring, closely contested games for the remainder. It'll be fun but much different than my usual having hope we'll do anything of importance in the cfb world.

 
Extremely loose coverage and a zone where no one seems to cover anybody are head scratchers, especially after the last game. 3 against 5 pass rush....what??? It must be demoralizing for the players.

 
Play action when the pass was evident.
This x 1000...Takes too long and wastes a blocker.  You're down 2-4 touchdowns!  No one is biting on a third and long play fake.

My other one was the bubble screen.  After getting nut punched by ASU, who in their right mind thought Oregon wouldn't do this?  Well, they did and most of the time it worked.  

 
Two things from yesterday.  Riley crushing Meyer in the shoe.

Instead of a 1st and 10 at midfield to open the game, ball goes through hands bounces of facemask right to Duck defender.  I told my my buddies after the ensuing score, that would be the difference in the game.  They gave a lot of sh!t at halftime about that, but turns out at the end of the game spotting them 14-0 lead was 7 to many to overcome.

 
The thing that made me shake my head was that first half defense....the one with the soft corners, large cushion, slow linebackers covering WRs with track star speed, that didn't work against ASU and these rocket scientists thought they could do that with Oregon. That is when it finally occurred to me that A) our coaches are stupid or B) that is all the further along our D is in learning Diaco's system or C) we have nowhere near the right personnel to make it work or D) all of the above. That is when I lost hope for this season.....and then something within me broke and I figured out I really didn't care. Now I am just excited to see high scoring, closely contested games for the remainder. It'll be fun but much different than my usual having hope we'll do anything of importance in the cfb world.
I think this sums it up.  I'll go one step further to just say the the totality of the ineptitude of this incredibly experienced staff.  From the piss poor clock management, whether it be burning useless timeouts or in the 2 minute drill letting the clock wind down, to the scheme, play calling, square leg, round hole etc....scheme over skills etc...

I am not a defensive guru, but I really enjoy watching football.  It doesn't take  a rocket scientist to realize that Oregon is one of if not the fastest pace teams in the nation.  Throw in world class speed at receiver and we decide to play no press, have LB's cover receivers, Taggert isn't new to coaching.  You know what he is going to do, yet we had no plan at all.  I think that the stats show they ran about 13 less plays in the 2nd half and barely threw the ball. Oregon went into "protect" mode vs Diaco getting the D squared away.  Not a dig on the players. They balled out the 2nd half. 

Unsure if this is simply the best they can do as a staff i.e. .500 record or if there is something else that I am completely missing (I really think its the staff).  Some guys will go down as great coaches sole based on their W-L record.  Most of those would also be considered great game managers, planners, technicians etc....After 2 years and the start of this season, our staff might have reached their ceiling.  Not a knock, just a sinking in reality.  No matter how "good" a coach wants to be, there are limitations in their abilities or everyone would be the next Nick Saban.

 
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