sycasey said:
Amen to all of that. The second half of the UW game seems like the way forward. And honestly, we saw something similar in the second half against Davis too, but it was hard to say if it meant anything because it was Davis. Doing the same against a top Pac-12 defense tells you it's sustainable.
Ground and pound with Brown & Dancy and a lot of jumbo, 2-TE sets. Build in lots of options for Garbers to run. Control the pace, let the defense win it with just enough offense to support. Is that good enough to win the conference? No, not unless we get a lot of breaks. But it's good enough to improve on last season's record and get to a better bowl.
The sideline completion on our final drive was a real eye-opener to me. I didn't expect Garbers would be able to complete that throw, but he fit it right in there. Maybe if he can improve with those kinds of throws the offense can open up a bit.
It has been obvious since early in 2017 that we should be a run-oriented team operating out of jumbo sets, with our QBs throwing off of playaction or keepers on bootlegs. Mix in reverses and other counters. Bowers was much better outside the pocket.
Last year with Laird, Brown and Dancy at RB and McMorris at H-back. Garbers and McIllwain could both run, but Garbers was better with ball security. Having McIlwain throw 43 times against Arizona was nuts.
This year, again, we should be a run oriented team operating with jumbo sets. Brown, Dancy and Collins are our best offensive weapons. Garbers should be throwing off of playaction and bootlegs, mixed in with reverses. Run blocking is generally easier for a young line than pass protection.
We should drop the empty backfield sets (except maybe 3rd and 20). We should always have the threat of a run. The sets where we go empty backfield with Brown split out and then motion him back to line up behind Garbers for a run? Fools nobody.
The best development has been Baldwin using the Pistol. That really plays to our strength and helps Brown get a head of steam. It also makes playaction more convincing. I'd like to see more Dancy (And Colins) early so we can save Brown for pounding the defense late. We went with a lot of 2 tight end sets, but I think we only attempted one pass to a TE (Castles) and we did not set it up with playaction. Hopefully that changes.
Kekoa Crawford gives us a playmaker at WR, we missed having that last year. The guys who came back look better. I still think we do not have enough depth there for regular use of 4 WR sets. I'd rather we rotate and keep guys fresh and fast.
It will be interesting to see if Modster gets a chance and what he brings to the table.
Overall, Baldwin's "multiple" reminds me of late-Tedford "multiple." It needs an editor. We see glimpses of good stuff, but too often in the past we go away from what is working never to see it again. Focus on what we are best at, repeat until they stop it all while mixing in counters and variations off of that.
So, it would be good if, as the OP indicates, we are developing an "identity" (ie a focus on our strengths, what we do best).