Well, the poll voters are gonna have a rough day figuring out what to do with an absolute laundry list of Top 25 losses to unranked teams. Luckily for them, Jeanty, Maddux, and the boys in Blue made sure they weren’t on the drop list.
While we await the weekly rankings, feel free to peruse our thoughts on the game and add your own:
- We’re running out of superlatives for Ashton Jeanty. Dude’s an automatic first down, and he’s almost the Steph Curry of “touchdown from anywhere” at this point.
- Sitting Jeanty in the second half of a game we’ve absolutely got in hand is the right play, but it feels like a letdown when we could be running up the stats. On the flip side, it’s a great comeback to “he’s stat padding against weak teams!” (what, in just the first half of play?)
- After we very lightly criticized Maddux Madsen’s lack of ability to capitalize on teams keying on the run game last week, he came out and turned in an absolute banger of a performance this week.
- It’s really hard to tell since it’s second-stringers by the time he comes in, but maaaaybe we were all a bit too quick on the Nelson Hype Train. I’m just saying let’s not do the airport thing anymore.
- As if to balance out the hype, the defense ran into their kryptonite with Utah State’s quick-strike pass offense. What is “Slant Route to the House”?
- That said, they did the “bend but don’t break” thing pretty well, and outside of the big pass plays, they really locked down a desperate team playing from behind with nothing to lose. Sometimes those big gambles keep the defense on the field too long and a gassed D makes mistakes.
- Special Teams is still lacking the “special” part, outside of Jonah Dalmas. He’s quietly putting together an all-time kicking career on the back of loads of touchdowns.
- Ok, and my man Dylan Riley, TO THE HOOOOOUSE
- As our venerable Drew Roberts suggested, our current kickoffs strategy seems to be Stacy Collins saying “just go out there and surprise me” at this point.
- Good news: Austin Bolt is back!
- In better news: CAPLES IS BACK!
- Who the heck is Chase Penry?
- Holy hell, Maddux was dealing to like the entire WR/TE/RB room…
In my lifetime, I’ve never seen a better running back than Jeanty. (I’m very old.) Can we stop the Mad Dog doubting? He’s growing. (Footballwise, of course) I think the D dialed it back a notch. Breezy is back. Receivers are getting open. Penry may end up being the top gun in the receiving room. Riley ran 96 yards to the endzone in 10.90 and from the 50 to the end zone in 5.19. Royals is a good receiver. Boise has only one interception on the year. Jonah Dalmas has a deal with the goalposts. TCrowe and Tuebner are twins,… Read more »
I agree with all, especially regarding Mad Dog…we had a chance to see just how much mental skill is needed for the QB position…Malachi may have more physical attributes, but his mental game is not yet there…Mad Dog’s is…
Agree about Madsen. I made a post on another thread stating that Nelson rocks on the quick throws. Going through his progressions still ties him up. Also, we haven’t had one interception, we’ve had three. Other than that, we’re moving right along.
I’m referring to the defense, specifically one defensive interception. Sorry for not making that clear.
There are many factors that go into an interception, but the most important is adequate coverage.
Thanks for the clarification. We’ve had a lot of ‘almosts’, but those don’t count.
Thanks for the reply, I’ll speculate; when Malichi was in high school, his physical talent alone made him great. Now he must have control of the playbook and know when and how to use it. I hope he’s patient with himself and those teaching him. I will speculate further. Dirk knows what he has in Malichi and is bringing him along at his pace. He also knows what he has in Mad Dog and is coaching the same way. If this is Dirk’s last year as OC, I hope he stays close to the program. Coaches are like Dutch uncles… Read more »
Not nearly enough data to assess Malachi. He might be the next Tom Brady, but the team works well as is, so tough to change much.
Giant believer here that Malachi can and will do great as opportunities present. Underneath conservative quick throws are what the situation called for when he’s been in, likewise didn’t make sense for him to take off on runs, etc. He’s faced logical playbook constrictions in the roles he’s been in. Nothing wrong with any of this, looks like DK is developing logically.