SEA Duck

I think that’s totally right. Lanning wants to win the game and doesn’t really care about the score. He is wholly unconcerned about the spread - outside noise. He doesn’t care about padding stats either. Jayden Daniels is clearly awesome, but Bo could have had many more TDs / yards if that was a priority for us. Dante only played for a half and a bit for the first three weeks. He wants to see the perfect game. For him that seems to be defined by depth, perfect execution beyond the 1’s. He knows that snaps at game speed and intensity are so valuable for the non starters. And he knows the season is a marathon. Not worth over rotating on any game after the outcome is determined. Prepare-Execute-Celebrate-Correct… and then on to the next. Maybe the thumbs up/thumbs down game at Michigan was the only time where we punched in another TD late in the game when we already had the outcome guaranteed. I was surprised at that. I also loved it! 😊

Obviously we posted a very similarly lopsided score and beat down on week 2 vs OK St. But even in those clearly game-controlled contests against MSU and NU and even against the Beavos, we are generally at the spread and don’t wreck folks by 50+. If you look at the Indiana game, and the lines of similarly dominant teams in FBS this isn’t uncommon. While OBD have been dominant thus far, we haven’t “broken their spirits”. Well maybe we did that to Gundy and Co lol. Why is that? Is it Lanning, who wants us to dominate but also seems to exude a culture of respect and doesn’t need to feel the ego need to go for 2 late in the fourth quarter? Is it that logic prevails, an we want to provide our 2nd/3rd team with valuable reps, and we want to preserve our 1’s from garbage time? Or are we actually trying to break those teams but they were better than that (we couldn’t beat them by 70). It feels like there may be coaches that are okay wrecking other teams. Cignetti didn’t do it to Old Dominion, but Indiana was mercilous in weeks 2,3 and 4. I’m personally okay with it but it has me super curious. We are only 2-2 against the spread and we were similar last year. I don’t think Lanning cares!

Looks like they’re 24th on the list.

This. I’ve been so impressed with what Bucky has accomplished with Tampa Bay as a rookie. He is so tough and shifty, grinding out games even while injured. We have missed his all around run game this year. But JJ and NW are still an impressive duo. Those runs where they played human dump trucks were among my favorite of the season!! 😎

I’ve been thinking a lot about the differences between DG and Bo. After the Maryland and Wisky games, I was really wondering about the offense and our inability to put more than 30 on the board. I recently rewatched the two games against UW to review Bo’s command of the offense, his run threat and even his arm, and see what were the differences that led us to explode for 40-50 pts in recent season. But Dillon has such intangible qualities. It took a few games for him to gel in Steins offense. I think he would be even better if he magically had a second season in our system. Despite the difference in physical qualities compared to Marcus, Herbert and Nix, he is a world-class competitor and a true winner. His leadership and confidence during the tough drive is incredible. That 4th and 9 to Ferg was so money! I’d definitely take DG as the QB of the eight remaining teams.