Update: decided with the downtime to finally revamp the site. The old code was too broken to salvage (10 years and zero updates to it from the guy who made the theme). With donation money I purchased a theme that will have updates. Then I edited the code to get it as close to the old site as I could, for now, in terms of looks and function. Suggestions and feedback welcome. Thanks to the AB donors. Site should be more functional and faster now, too.

The original post:

For those who missed it, Luton graded out at 2.7 out of 6 and was accused of having bad body language and quitting. How that “Player of the Week” status seems like a distant dream. People were arguing this is just a number and means zero. Since we’re just grading his passes, it means the passes themselves (rather than the outcomes) are below average, which was pretty interesting. If it means nothing to you keep burying your head in the sand. It’s your right.

Gebbia looked like a natural leader and natural QB. Very subtle things like throwing a tight spiral, quick decisions, scanning the field, throwing a TD on the run, snapping the ball to catch their defender in penalty, “moxie”, etc. We should be breaking him in now if we want to be the team we can possibly be next year (and the rest of this year).

PS. Chuck_the_Mouth, who said this week’s games in the CBS pool were the “easiest picks yet” after I said they were tough, scored 5/12. I scored 7/12 for reference. Bad week for the anti-AB, Luton sack suckers. Somewhere, a sock monkey was throw at a wall, but since we weren’t there to hear it, did it make a sound?

With Zack Moss upgraded to probable I’m going Utah 35, Oregon State 24. Prove me wrong with a great game plan, Tibesar. We’ve seen the Beavs finish versus a bad Pac-12 team, but until we see them finish versus a good one it’s hard to go Beavs. Should be some energy in the building with homecoming, a lot of recruits, etc, so maybe some October magic happens.

The Luton Scale might not be in play afterall. I won’t able to document down, distance, and time for each play since I’m sick and will be lying down/commenting from the phone. If someone is commenting from a laptop and has good typing skills please step up and document the plays. Thanks!

Go Beavs.

As proposed in the prior thread, let’s end this Luton debate or at least have some fun with it by objectively grading him out this weekend. The opponent is a good one. They’re not an elite team and not Cal Poly or UCLA, either, so it should be fair. We can even do it for a few games. Okay, the Luton scale being proposed:

5= Hit in stride or only where the receiver can catch it. Dropped or caught.
4= Thrown where the receiver can catch it, but no chance of running after. Diving or sideline catch going out of bounds. Dropped or Caught.
3= Ball thrown low or high. Player has to kneel, jump, dive, or comeback to ball to make catch.
2= Ball thrown behind receiver or ball thrown into coverage were DB can make a play with possibility of interception. Any 3rd down that results in a punt.
1= Ball throw wild, high or low. Not including throwing ball away because of good coverage.
0= Interception, fumble, tip ball at LOS, or non-coverage sack.

Any modifications needed let me know and give the justification.

If we debate a pass is a 5 or a 4 we can split the baby and give it a 4.5, or we can do majority rules. This could be fun and interactive, and maybe both sides will learn something.

First off, good win. Anyone complaining needs to stop. UCLA at the Rose Bowl with Chip Kelly at the helm and a boatload of 4-star recruits is a good win. Period.

Moving on…it’s only mildly surprising the Beavs won last night. Beavs had the advantage in scoring offense, scoring defense, total offense and total defense. UCLA had the 129th ranked pass D out of 130. Take Luton’s performance with a grain of salt for these reasons. All that said, I took the Beavs +6.5 in the CBS pool and thought they had a shot (also thought they had a shot vs Stanford, a game they should have won). The bottom line is the PAC is in a down year, and the Beavs have a good offense, so they should be in games if their coaching staff doesn’t get in the way.

Smith has cost the Beavs two games this year with poor coaching/personnel/game management. Luton cost the team a win as well by missing Taylor wide open in the endzone. We should have at least one more win, probably two. But when you go with a JC QB that nobody wanted and a coach on the cheap, this is what you get.

The good news is Smith showed some progress last game only making 3 or 4 key coaching errors, in comparison to 6 the week prior. He’s well off the hot seat now (probably drops into the 40s). The bad news is the errors in those former games (and Nevada last year) has cost the Beavs three wins over two years. Other good news is the Beavs D is morphing into a bend-don’t-break D and the team played a complete game and didn’t fade. The Beavs confidence is rising, and they have become a little bit interesting again.

Utah is a better all around team and they have a better coach. They should win the game. But confidence and momentum are funny things, and the Beavs could ride that wave a bit further if Smith and Luton don’t get in the way. I’m going to bet on one of the two getting in the way.

Utah 27, Oregon State 24

Game thread. Go Beavs.