A: Not many. Let's enjoy it. For most folks out there, we are playing with house money anyway...no point getting bent out of shape about winning ugly a bit when they expected us to have 1 or 2 losses by now anyway.
I had two large concerns coming into this year: Petras and our DL - and I have been pleasantly surprised by both.
I know Petras has been the whipping boy, and he certainly has some deficiencies...but you could say that he actually put the team on his back today and pulled them across the finish line (which many have said he has no ability to do). His deep throws were money. The interception was bad, but that is 50/50 on him and the WR. When you are running PA like that with your back to the play as it develops, you just don't have time to analyze and it is always going to be in traffic by design, so you are depending on your WR being where he is supposed to be and winning his route. Tracy did not (unfortunately, that has been sort of a theme this year for him...pretty disappointing actually). That one major F up aside, we do not win the game today without Spencer playing like he did. So, for those questioning what would happen if Petras had to go out and win the game for us...at least today, he did.
The less controversial take is that the DL has been far and away better than I expected them to be at this point. The rotation they are able to support is impressive and they just do such a good job all game long. This was a really good game to test them, as CSU actually has a pretty good O-line, a mobile QB, and capable backs (fortunate they lost their big back early). I was nervous about how they would hold up against a persistent rushing attack over the course of a long game, and they did really, really well. If anything, they were the ones exerting their will at the end. That is a really good sign going forward against teams that will want to lean on their running game like Wisconsin.
CSU is not a bad team either. They got gashed by SDSU in their opener by being out of position in the run game and having meltdowns on the back end when the SDSU QB bought time with his feet. SDSU didn't push them around. In many ways, they outplayed Vandy, but got killed by penalties and miscues. They finally put it all together against Toledo, at least defensively, and the offense was effective running, but bogged down in red zone. Honestly, they could have beaten Toledo by 40 if they had played cleaner. I think people are disappointed that we didn't just steamroll them, but this is actually a very solid defense we faced. They only really threatened us offensively on short fields, and they certainly benefited from some missed holding calls (especially on that first TD). People see that they lost to an FCS team, but 1) SDSU is very good, and 2) Like I said before, that was as much on CSU continually tripping over themselves as SDSU forcing things.
Quick hitter thoughts:
- That was a safety. I don't know how that doesn't get reviewed. KF should have challenged. That ball never made it all the way out of the endzone.
- WR blocking has been pretty bad this year. TE's haven't been getting it done either. The O-line has a long way to go, but we need better effort out of everyone on the blocking front.
- I don't know if we will see two better punters in a game for quite some time. They both had massive impacts on the game. It cannot be overstated how much they both kept points off the board.
- I think the OZ play is going to have to continue to be less of a focus of our offense. Our OL just isn't good enough or ready for it. We will never completely abandon it, and we shouldn't, but with as much youth and rotation as we have on the line right now, I just don't think it is realistic to expect them to be consistently effective with it. Problem is, there really isn't anything that they are doing consistently well, so it is hard to know what to lean on. Good news is that because they are so young, we can continue to expect leaps as the season goes on. It isn't like we have a bunch of JRs and SRs out there that have hit their ceiling and just can't get it done.
- Pass pro is getting better. Still not good, but it is making progress. As it continues to improve, I expect to see us working down field more and Petras is showing that he is capable of hitting on those plays pretty consistently. Also, we will be able to get more playmakers on the field and out in routes to give him more options if we don't have to worry about protection so much. Everything starts with protection, and we just aren't quite there. But, I think we are close...and then I think the offense can really make a leap forward.
I had two large concerns coming into this year: Petras and our DL - and I have been pleasantly surprised by both.
I know Petras has been the whipping boy, and he certainly has some deficiencies...but you could say that he actually put the team on his back today and pulled them across the finish line (which many have said he has no ability to do). His deep throws were money. The interception was bad, but that is 50/50 on him and the WR. When you are running PA like that with your back to the play as it develops, you just don't have time to analyze and it is always going to be in traffic by design, so you are depending on your WR being where he is supposed to be and winning his route. Tracy did not (unfortunately, that has been sort of a theme this year for him...pretty disappointing actually). That one major F up aside, we do not win the game today without Spencer playing like he did. So, for those questioning what would happen if Petras had to go out and win the game for us...at least today, he did.
The less controversial take is that the DL has been far and away better than I expected them to be at this point. The rotation they are able to support is impressive and they just do such a good job all game long. This was a really good game to test them, as CSU actually has a pretty good O-line, a mobile QB, and capable backs (fortunate they lost their big back early). I was nervous about how they would hold up against a persistent rushing attack over the course of a long game, and they did really, really well. If anything, they were the ones exerting their will at the end. That is a really good sign going forward against teams that will want to lean on their running game like Wisconsin.
CSU is not a bad team either. They got gashed by SDSU in their opener by being out of position in the run game and having meltdowns on the back end when the SDSU QB bought time with his feet. SDSU didn't push them around. In many ways, they outplayed Vandy, but got killed by penalties and miscues. They finally put it all together against Toledo, at least defensively, and the offense was effective running, but bogged down in red zone. Honestly, they could have beaten Toledo by 40 if they had played cleaner. I think people are disappointed that we didn't just steamroll them, but this is actually a very solid defense we faced. They only really threatened us offensively on short fields, and they certainly benefited from some missed holding calls (especially on that first TD). People see that they lost to an FCS team, but 1) SDSU is very good, and 2) Like I said before, that was as much on CSU continually tripping over themselves as SDSU forcing things.
Quick hitter thoughts:
- That was a safety. I don't know how that doesn't get reviewed. KF should have challenged. That ball never made it all the way out of the endzone.
- WR blocking has been pretty bad this year. TE's haven't been getting it done either. The O-line has a long way to go, but we need better effort out of everyone on the blocking front.
- I don't know if we will see two better punters in a game for quite some time. They both had massive impacts on the game. It cannot be overstated how much they both kept points off the board.
- I think the OZ play is going to have to continue to be less of a focus of our offense. Our OL just isn't good enough or ready for it. We will never completely abandon it, and we shouldn't, but with as much youth and rotation as we have on the line right now, I just don't think it is realistic to expect them to be consistently effective with it. Problem is, there really isn't anything that they are doing consistently well, so it is hard to know what to lean on. Good news is that because they are so young, we can continue to expect leaps as the season goes on. It isn't like we have a bunch of JRs and SRs out there that have hit their ceiling and just can't get it done.
- Pass pro is getting better. Still not good, but it is making progress. As it continues to improve, I expect to see us working down field more and Petras is showing that he is capable of hitting on those plays pretty consistently. Also, we will be able to get more playmakers on the field and out in routes to give him more options if we don't have to worry about protection so much. Everything starts with protection, and we just aren't quite there. But, I think we are close...and then I think the offense can really make a leap forward.
