Hoping to get back to my DVR tomorrow and be able to really pick out some details of the game. But for now I am watching highlights I can find online, and soberly remembering a few more things I wanted to point out.
Here comes bullet... points (sorry)
- In the first recap I wrote about the speed of the D-line, especially the ends, but I neglected to mention the blinding speed the LB's showed. In particular Orie Lemon, Justin Gent, and Shawn Lewis. There were a few plays where Lemon blitzed up the middle and he was through the line shockingly fast. I already mentioned Gent in the first writeup, but to reiterate, he was not "Gent"le on the Cougs (uuggghh). I will have to watch the full replay, but from what I noticed on first watch Lewis was all over the field when he was in the game. He ran down RB's on the opposite side of the field, and delivered a few nice hits.
- And speaking of fast, on Kendall's 66 yard run in the 2nd I couldn't help but notice that in addition to Bowling, Randle, and Moore making blocks 30-60 yards downfield, Grant Garner and Nick Martinez were right there at the one yard line at the end of the play. Martinez in particular was spectacular on that play. He started by checking the DT at the line, then moved downfield where he took TWO Cougars out of the play 10 yards past the LOS, then still continued down the field where he was looking to be involved should Kendall have cut back.
Blackmon might be more of a physical freak than we thought. He has always seemed talented, but I never thought of him as clear cut #1 WR talented. But watching his TD catches, I may have changed my mind on that. Check out the elevation on the jump ball TD.
I know the DB is 5'9, but Blackmon out-jumped him by quite a bit, all while turning and fading toward the corner.
I love the new formation with the 3 RB/FB backfield. This one:
Appears to be Dana's experiment to put the best players on the field in some form, in this case the two FB's Ward and Paulsen. It seems to be a great alternative to using TE's, yet still providing extra protection. The only problem is that it needs a name. What about the "gunbone"? Oh right.. that's my wang's nickname. What about "shotbone"? "Fullbone"? "Funbone"? Why can't I think of any non-homoerotic names?
Watching highlights, Kendall's performance was even better than I remember it live. I am going to have to watch the full replay and count the number of broken tackles. Whether he was bouncing off of guys, or straight running them over, he just would not go down. And while I am not ready to make the full blown #21 comparisons yet, I have never seen a back at OSU that was able to start and stop like that outside of #21, and there have been some good ones here. And with that minor comparison having been made, let's go ahead and consider Kendall officially jinxed.
The receivers not named Blackmon will be better. I think we have to assume that starting next week, Kendall will be spied by 2 LB's at all times, and a safety will shade to Blackmon's side on most plays. This was already starting to happen in the 2nd half yesterday, and the other WR's (Moore in particular) found themselves wide open quite a bit, especially in the flats. Think about how impossible this offense is to matchup with now. Are you thinking about it? No? Well you should have been thinking that based on the Wash St game, an opposing defense has to spy Kendall, cover Blackmon with their best DB, and shade a safety that direction. So now the defense has 4 dudes somewhat committed to covering 2 of ours. This is going to lead to so many defenders being forced out of position and leaving huge chunks of field wide open. I predict that Moore or Cooper will have a huge game next week.
I will have to watch the replay to confirm this, but I feel like the DB's were pretty solid when matched up. The big passing plays (and the couple where Tuel overthrew an open dude), we more a result of leaving holes in the zone. In every online highlight thing I can find it looks like when manned up, the DB's held their own, most notably Andrae May on that excellent swat when he was one-on-one with no safety help in the 4th.
Lastly, that blocked punt was just sick, yet at the same time I feel pretty bad for the Wazzu fans who officially had their already crushed spirits just kicked right in the groin.
