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OswegoBruin
Joined: 11/11/10 Posts: 17,107
Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green
Posted Sun, Sep 04 3:56 pm (Edited Sun, Sep 04 4:00 pm)
-I actually am, philosophically, happy we did not utterly destroy BG. I think the last thing a team like ours needs to be is cocky. I think this teams needs to understand their weaknesses and work to improve every week. I think they will take that away from this game, where there were plenty of mistakes to isolate and improve. It was a comfortable win, but not so comfortable as to engender complacency.

Offense

-I won't wast much time on RBs other than to say, lets enjoy every minute of Charbonnet while we have him. Elite talent. And Keegan Jones looks improved in every area; vision, speed, cutting ability.

-Not in love with the injuries to Haebermehl and Ezieke. Hopefully they're just dinged up, but we will need them for conference play.

-From a playbook standpoint, we showed a bit more than I'd like, but I think it will put opponents on notice that we have an effective short passing game ready to dial up when needed. Make them think twice about just blitzing all day.

-I know he started out rough, but I am much less worried about O'Neal at LT than I am DiGeorgio/Taupaki at RT. They both did not play particularly well.

Defense

-This is Darius Muasau's defense. I liked his play from start to finish. Always around the ball, great instincts, sees gaps, really like him as a player. Should have had a fumble TD.

-It's pretty clear to me BG wanted nothing to do with our defensive interior after the first few drives, hence our DTs and MLB getting few tackles. They just attacked the edges, to minimal success.

-To that end, saw a lot more of Jacob Sykes and Gary Smith than I expected. Two big bodies who look quick and strong.

-Choe-Bryant Strother got a lot of play in the second half in the Nicke. Very interesting development, and he looked quite mobile. As an aside, stats for this game were very weird. I watched Choe-Bryant Strother make a solo tackle and an assisted tackle, yet he didn't record any tackles on the stat sheet. Odd.

-Toia, though he didn't record a tackle, looks to be a lane clogger, effectively taking up two OL with frequency. I'm fine with that. He also had a nice tip in the 3rd.

-Greyson Murphy had 1.5 TFLs and 1 sack while being held on essentially every play, sometimes egregiously. I like what I've seen from both the Murphy twins.

-While I appreciate Bo Calvert and all he's given to this team, it's time for him to sit. Carl Jones is too instinctual, too disruptive, too athletic. Great game from him.
"Every day at UCLA was a good day." -Coach John Wooden
BruinMBA
Joined: 11/22/05 Posts: 4,723
Thx... any sense of the injuries...
Posted Sun, Sep 04 4:25 pm
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
... to zeke and Hudson?

Zeke seemed to me to suffer from heat sickness, while Hudson seemed to have a left shoulder issue.
wassily
Joined: 8/11/14 Posts: 1,095
attacking deep
Posted Sun, Sep 04 5:18 pm (Edited Sun, Sep 04 5:19 pm)
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
Offense took what BG gave them. BG had really soft coverage in the secondary while being aggressive up front.

Couple things I saw...
1) OL wasn't great... didn't give DTR enough time to look deep. Some plays the WR was open deep if DTR had just 1 more second to stay comfortable in the pocket, but he didn't.

2) On timing/read plays, he was good. Took what the defense gave him. Saw the outflanked spots and hit the WR/TE immediately

3) DTR locks onto 1 combo play vs utilizing other combos.. something to watch out for against better, quicker/bigger defenses. This is something where aggressive defenses can pick these combos apart

I don't think blitzing is really the key to stop the UCLA offense. Get enough pressure from front 4, go single high while being aggressive underneath and you'll force DTR to look for the long ball which he isn't as accurate. BG was way too passive in the secondary.

For #3 (DTR locks onto 1 combo play), here's what I'm talking about:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5juVUTAxSz0



Starting at 27:10, UCLA ran the same play 3 times in a row.
There are 2 combos going on in this play.
Bottom screen: TE and RB
Top screen: 3 WR

You've got an option play at the bottom where if the Defense is in Zone, you are playing off of the near side LB. If nearby LB goes to the flat to cover the RB, then you hit the TE. You can see DTR read that in all 3 plays, hitting the TE the first two times since the LB has gone to the flat. While the last play, the LB has taken the TE position, so DTR dumps it to the RB.

My concern here is the tunnel vision. 1st play, if he read the coverage at the line, he would have seen a soft zone. The outside WR was open on a stick route, so he didn't need to read anyone. The play to the TE was fine, but based on 1st read, I would have have gone where the numbers were in zone coverage.

The 3rd play.. this is one where it makes me think he isn't being asked to read the coverage at the line for these quick plays. He's going to have the numbers at the top with the inside receiver being open for a quick out and east first down. Instead, he goes to where BG is sitting in the area where the TE and RB are going to be.... having run the same exact play 2 times before. UCLA gets the first down with Charbonnet's skill... but against better defenses, this wouldn't fly.

This repetitive same read is something to watch out for. Other teams will pick up on this in film.
Bruininrancho
Joined: 8/05/17 Posts: 2,570
Kaz said they didn’t open the playbook at all
Posted Sun, Sep 04 5:51 pm
In response to attacking deep (wassily)
Said it was very vanilla and didn’t show everything they could. Chip saving lot of stuff for conference play.
geester
Joined: 12/22/11 Posts: 1,322
Kaz did have 10 catches...More touches?
Posted Sun, Sep 04 8:19 pm
In response to Kaz said they didn’t open the playbook at all (Bruininrancho)
But I still think he needs to touch the ball more. Hope they have more end around plays where he can use that speed to get to the edge. And more passes straight to the flats where he can get one on one against the secondary. None of those secondary players can bring him down in isolation.

Absolutely think he is a Big Time playmaker and many forget how good of a runner he is. I do believe he is in the Tyler Lockett/Glyn Milburn/Christian McCaffrey type mold, where they can take it to the house from anywhere on the field. Probably one of the best to do that in a UCLA uniform....better than D Felton.

Honestly...i have no idea how that Fresno State player caught him from behind on the Kickoff return last year. An anomoly.

I get to enjoy one last year (I dont think he's even scratched the surface of what he is capable of) and hope this game 1 is that start of something HUGE...
BruinMBA
Joined: 11/22/05 Posts: 4,723
Rocket Ismail
Posted Sun, Sep 04 8:49 pm
In response to Kaz did have 10 catches...More touches? (geester)
That's my hope.

Kaz is to Ucla this year as the rocket was to nd back then
big game 2
Joined: 2/06/09 Posts: 3,343
Thoughtful
Posted Sun, Sep 04 7:08 pm
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
recap, well done.
BruinFBNattyChamp
Joined: 9/24/19 Posts: 31
Bruins may need to make a change at RT ...
Posted Sun, Sep 04 7:28 pm
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
RT is very concerning to me. I'd give the DiGeorgio/Taupaki experiment one more game to see if one of them can be effective. If not, I'd try Tyler Manoa at RT, and if that doesn't work, I'd move Jon Gaines to RT and slide Taupaki to RG. P.S. Great analysis Oswego! I really enjoy your posts.
Parkside
Joined: 12/22/19 Posts: 858
RT
Posted Sun, Sep 04 7:33 pm
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
DiGiorgio had a really rough game but I thought Taupaki looked pretty good. Got beat outside once but otherwise physical and more agile than I thought. The 4 inside guys that rotated looked good but it’s disappointing that Noah isn’t in that mix as a rotation player after redshirting last year.
OswegoBruin
Joined: 11/11/10 Posts: 17,107
I didn't isolate on Taupaki a ton
Posted Sun, Sep 04 8:32 pm
In response to RT (Parkside)
but he absolutely whiffed on one down block and let Keegan get killed in the backfield.
BruinMBA
Joined: 11/22/05 Posts: 4,723
Ucla ran 92 offensive plays
Posted Sun, Sep 04 8:51 pm
In response to I didn't isolate on Taupaki a ton (OswegoBruin)
What is an A performance? 90% success?

That means 9 failures.
Crispy
Joined: 1/13/14 Posts: 6,904
Blaylock
Posted Mon, Sep 05 9:16 am
In response to Some notes on a rewatch of Bowling Green (OswegoBruin)
Looked very good to me —- I was however at the game and haven’t caught a replay…
OswegoBruin
Joined: 11/11/10 Posts: 17,107
Blaylock and Churchwell played very well.
Posted Mon, Sep 05 9:30 am
In response to Blaylock (Crispy)
Blaylock was all over the ball, and Churchwell laid several huge hits. Our CBs had a couple miscues, but overall it's not really a good sample size for them considering they weren't challenged during the game at all.
Maui13
Joined: 3/24/05 Posts: 2,556

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How did Kirkwood play?
Posted Mon, Sep 05 9:50 am
In response to Blaylock and Churchwell played very well. (OswegoBruin)
I couldn’t watch the game and missed everything.
How did Kirkwood play? I’m expecting him to have a big year.
BruinMBA
Joined: 11/22/05 Posts: 4,723
He played well
Posted Mon, Sep 05 1:52 pm
In response to How did Kirkwood play? (Maui13)
BG didn't have very fast and/or long receivers. Plus the bg qb wasn't very tall or have a strong and accurate arm. And the Ucla rush was pretty good. So kind of an easy day at the office for DK.

That said, he was very aggressive in run support, played hard in the face of deadly heat, and laid the wood on a short pass in front of him where he blew up the receiver just as the ball arrived.

Check out this video

https://youtu.be/9PINjnsN640