it's official: the wildcats are going bowling with byu in vegas! (and the sun devils get to start their offseason earlier than usual) i'm not sure if i like our chances against the cougars on dec. 20, but hey, it's progress. while it was a step in the right direction for arizona's football program, coach stoops shouldn't be patting himself on the back just yet. here's what needs to be done against byu:
- offense: arizona has arguably the most talented receiving core in the pac-10, but i don't think coach stoops really knows it. his play calling definitely irritates me - it's bland and boring. every now and then then stoops will surprise me and the opposing team with a deep playaction pass or decide to go for it on 4th and short, but most of the time he calls a run up middle or a hb/wr screen. with talented receivers like mike thomas and rob gronkowski, and an arm like tui's, you'd figure stoops would get creative and just let the offense run circles around opposing secondaries. here's a question for you: how do you get an opposing nickelback to shit his pants? run a 3 wr formation and line up gronk in the slot. seriously, stoops. the guy is listed as 6'6" and 260 pounds (jeremy shockey is 6'5", 250) and has excellent hands and speed for his size. no cb in all of d-1 football can make a solo tackle on him. just get tui to lob it up and have gronk go medieval on the poor bastard stuck covering him. even linebackers piss themselves when they see gronk running towards them. play him the way the kansas city chiefs played tony gonzalez in his prime. hell, even line him up at fb every now and then. running plays for gronk enough times will force the defense into zones and double-coverages, giving thomas opportunities in the open field or setting up antolin/grisby with runs. to sum up, no matter how well the rbs are doing, gronk and thomas need to be involved; they're the playmakers. they should have at least 14 receptions between the 2 of them against byu. also, stoops should use more splitback formations. grisby and antolin are small, quick, and have decent hands, so they can be used as check down receivers if tui gets pressured. have the offense attack the entire field, not just the 10 yards that are ahead.
- defense: byu's max hall is a very good qb (and from arizona). he needs to be pressured constantly. there were times during the asu game when rudy carpenter had several seconds to decide where to throw the ball. that just can't happen against byu. the cougars have 2 talented receivers with over a 1000 yards for the season, so arizona will need to blitz often and put hall on his back a few times to stand a chance. even though byu's rbs aren't anything to laugh at, force them to run. a byu/ua offensive shootout would be fun to watch, but there's just no way the cats will be able to keep up.
- special teams: play better! having the punter kneel and poor kickoff coverage kept asu in the game against the cats. the only good thing that came out of specials was the punt return for a td when the game was all but decided. other than that, our special teams looked atrocious. (on a side note, i had no idea arizona's punter is black. that just surprised me. it's like finding out there's a black driver in nascar or that there was a white slam dunk champion).
the game is still weeks away, so i'll probably post updated gameplans and predictions the more i read up on arizona's and byu's strategy.
p.s. a guy at work was telling me how he thinks the movie "valkyrie" will be an instant classic. i had to yell at him for about 15 minutes. it's tom cruise. it's tom friggin cruise. he plays a german colonel that conspires against hitler and, oh yeah, he doesn't have a german accent. remember kevin costner in robin hood? remember costner's english accent? that's right, you don't. it was shitty and valkyrie will be shitty. it's release has been pushed back numerous times which is never a good sign. it's scheduled to be released on xmas, along with benjamin button, the spirit, and bedtime stories. hmmm... you know what i feel like watching on xmas day? a shitty movie about a nazi midget with a conscience played by an actor who believes in thetans, silent births, and dc-8s filled with kidnapped alien souls. also, the movie's director is bryan singer. singer hasn't made a decent movie since the usual suspects. in fact, that was his only decent movie (superhero movies don't count, since their fanbases are already built in). and did i mention that valkyrie stars tom cruise? tom friggin cruise!
I am going to have to agree with most of your analysis. I think they think of the offense more like the west coast o than the spread. They think their offensive line is the strength of the team. They are experienced and strong and they open big holes for the rbs. I think he likes the idea of tui giving short passes and letting money mike and gronk create. I get this strategy because I think you can get into tui's head if he does not hit receivers repeatedly. Think about it, this is the qb that was nearly killed in Baton Rouge as a Sophomore. Think about the USC game. He makes a few mistakes and really becomes cautious and inaccurate. So while I agree with the idea of airing it out I also understand why they create conservative game plans.
ReplyDeleteAs for Tom Cruise, I think I have made my position pretty clear. You did forget to mention that he has an eye patch. An eye patch. Weird.
So using Costner in Robin Hood as an example is actually worsening your argument, because that was a fantastic movie. But youre right, this movie will be bad. Its pretty much a heart felt Nazi story, which is trying to shed a heroic light on a group of people that tried to wipe out a human race...but I bet it was a misunderstanding. He's a high up ranking Nazi, Im sure he got there by petting puppies and helping old Jewish ladies across the street.
ReplyDeleteBut outside of that, its Tom Cruise.
I've seen the trailer about 5 or 6 times and I can't believe that he doesn't have a German accent. So since Cruise can't do a German accent then every other Nazi in the picture doesn't have one either. It sounds like a Nazi movie set in Kansas City. The better blow a bunch of shit up in order for me to watch that movie.
ReplyDeleteYou're sitting next to me right now...eating my frosting. From the cake, not in a gay way.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell does that mean?
ReplyDelete