Yes, last night was a heartbreaking loss, but ever since game 1 last year, I/we said that what we want to see is progress. For most of last year there was none. I feel that had a lot to do with StS at QB, though you guys can argue that all you wish. This year, from game 1 vs MN, I noticed they looked bigger and more aggressive. They passed the “eye ball” test more. They gave good effort. Things looked on track. Then the Colorado game. That one threw us all off. Those of us who saw progress began to question it, etc. It was ugly. Shortly after, first Pac-12 win, and things are looking up again. Then they play Utah close. Tough loss, but again, looking up compared to last year and the general effort. Then Washington blows us out, though we still see effort and will the entire game. They never mentally break; they just get outplayed. Now a great effort vs a tough offense in WSU.

It makes you wonder how fast this thing can get turned around next year with (a) everyone who is injured now returning healthy and (b) new injection of talent into the program via another recruiting cycle, and the current redshirts coming off.

I had this team for 4 wins this year (Arizona and Oregon seem like wins to me, but with a team this beat up you can’t bank on anything). Next year I’m seeing 6 if they continue this effort and also get that injection of depth/talent.

The good news is we have an exciting basketball team and baseball team to bridge the gap until then. And also we can watch this current team keep fighting and mentally preparing (because that’s what they’re essentially doing this year — it is simply mental training for when they do have the physical bodies) for next year and beyond. This is what I expected to see all along, and I’m fine with it because I can see the improvement, even if it’s not yet showing up in the results. It reminds me of a stock, like say Google, which years ago spent billions investing in hiring new talent. The stock cratered hundreds of points as investors got spooked by the short-term earnings dip. What has happened since? The stock almost doubled as those long-term investments paid off in new product. It’s the same thing happening here. GA is laying down the mind-set, which is long-term. The short-term results aren’t there, but this will pay off big.

The one concern I have is McGiven. He could not recognize McM as the best QB (and not only that, but threw him under the bus, when he didn’t do the same for the other QBs who were actually out there playing and sucking eggs), he came out of the half pass happy last night, overall play calling has been poor, etc. The other coach who should be on the hot seat is Brennan. I like him very much as a human being, and I think he’s a decent recruiter, but someone has to take the responsibility for all these dropped passes the past few years. It should be easy to coach “focus”, catching with the hands instead of body, looking the ball in before running upfield, etc. These are not difficult skills. The rest of the staff looks solid. Clune has been a surprise to the upside. I was lukewarm on the hire.

Go Beavs!

So what do you guys think?

I fall into the “Beavs have a shot in this game” camp.

Washington State is a solid team, but the Beavs have toughened up as the year’s gone on. It seems like GA and the team are finally in sync — the players seem to want to give him as much effort as they can, and, in general, soak up as much information as they can. Good sign. GA, meanwhile, is maximizing the roster talent pretty well (minus the QB situation, which is the glaring weakness/disaster).

The formula for victory should be self evident: run the ball, wear down the clock and the WSU D, and then disrupt Falk’s rhythm. Oh, and catching passes sure would help. A lot will depend on injuries. Nall and Decoud being the key injuries. If the Beavs had a healthy roster (depth), I’d think we’d see a string of good games to end the year, but these injuries might derail that.

If McM isn’t good this week, we can start to deduct he’s just not very good. There should be opportunities to make plays. I thought he was okay last week given the situation.

My initial reaction is close game, with WSU winning by 4 to 7 points, but let’s see how the injuries play out.

It’s interesting how week to week the mood changes during a rebuild. Everyone is waiting for that “ah ha!” moment where there’s tangible evidence things have turned the corner. Versus Washington, you could see it in things like effort. But just a few weeks prior everyone was ready to jump ship, myself included. Many of us haven’t gone through a complete rebuild like this with a new coach, so we don’t know that this all comes with the territory. Or if we do know (via watching other teams do it), we want to skip steps and get to the fun part. Lesson learned, for me at least.

I can definitely see improvement. That’s what I wanted to see this year and it’s there.

On a side note, I told a reader who wrote me privately that Oregon and Stanford remind me of Apple. In that, when Steve Jobs died, Tim Cook was asked not to rock the boat but to just keep it steady…and basically not fuck it up. It’s lead Apple down a path of zero innovation, only not wanting to mess up what Jobs created. Oregon and Stanford are the same. Both coaches are running the prior coaches schemes and just trying not to fuck up the juggernauts. Helfrich even uses “win the day”, a Chip Kelly slogan. Shaw is finally being exposed as all Harbaugh’s guys have now left and the toughness they instilled is gone. GA is doing the opposite of these coaches. He’s rocking the ship to the point he’s flipped it over and we don’t even recognize it anymore. IMO this is better because with it comes the freedom to follow your own vision rather than another coaches.

On another note, we see how important the QB position is yet again as Oregon goes into decline the moment they have QB issues. People in the prior thread were asking if we’d prefer a mobile QB or a passing QB. Definitely a passing QB. I’d like someone to ask GA how he prioritizes the “win with this arm, mind, legs” line. It should be in this order: mind, arm, legs. OSU fans have suddenly put a huge priority on running QBs. Historically they aren’t very good players and we should not fall into that trap. The mobile QB is a siren.

3:30 on pac-12 network.

Go Beavs.