Post by wilkyisdashiznit on Sept 9, 2019 10:19:13 GMT -8
Oregon State drove 85 yards in eight plays. Two penalties. One was pass interference for 15 yards. The other was a false start. 75 yards of offense on six plays. By that time Banker had switched up the defense to take away the run and dare Oregon State to pass. Three of the plays were Jefferson getting stuffed for a combined two yards. The other three plays went for 73 yards. The last play was designed to go right. Banker had the perfect defense called, and Pierce was about to get stuffed like Jefferson. However, Pierce is smart and athletic enough to make something out of nothing, cut back left and into the clear for the touchdown.
The touchdown gave Hawai'i 2:25 to drive down and make that great 75-yard drive meaningless. That Hawai'i drive was coupled with two dopey fourth down calls. The second fourth down conversion was after Oregon State had strategically exhausted Hawai'i of timeouts and had called a timeout to ensure a perfect play call. The Beavers still had another timeout that they could have called. Instead, first down. Mike Stoopsesque-level terrible timeout to save a spike, incomplete, and touchdown.
To answer your rhetorical question, no. No, I would not say that that drive was a result of terrific play-calling.
1st and 10 at the 15. Trips left. Fake end around to the right with a hand-off to Jefferson to the left dialed up. There is nothing there. Jefferson cuts back to the right to try and make something out of nothing but is tackled by the ILB for two yards.
2nd and 8 at the 17. LT looked like he jumped, but it was not called. Hodgins ran a streak and had his man beat. The line held up. Luton threw a perfect 35-yard back shoulder pass. The safety was late with help. The CB did all that he could and clearly interfered with Hodgins.
1st and 10 at the 32. Oregon State left seven blockers in to block a six-man rush on a play-action pass. The RG whiffed on his assignment, which allowed the backer through untouched on a delayed blitz. Jefferson was late on his route and was being held, which was not called. Jefferson was being guarded anyway by a backer. Hodgins ran a perfect route. Luton, with the backer in his face, threw a good 25-yard out to hit a relatively wide open Hodgins. Hodgins then ran another 12 yards for a first down. Great route. The play-call was poor against that defense, but it worked, largely because Hodgins is a great WR and ran a great corner-post, and Luton threw a great ball, considering the backer being in his grill. The rest of the line blocked perfectly, which gave the play the time that it needed to develop.
1st and 10 at the 40. Oregon State ran a strong-side run out of the pistol. Hawai'i ran a safety blitz. Keobounnam whiffed on his block of the MLB and Jefferson was tackled for no gain.
2nd and 10 at the 40. Oregon State ran basically the same play. The Sam Backer beat Togiai and the weak-side DE beat his blocker to combine and tackle Jefferson for no gain. Hawai'i called a timeout.
3rd and 10 at the 40. Oregon State ran trips left, no tight ends out of shotgun. Pierce was tackled for three yards. Fortunately, the referees called a phantom false start to give Oregon State another down.
3rd and 15 at the 45. Hawai'i got pressure rushing four. Oregon State kept the RB in to block. With the pocket collapsing, Luton took a hit to throw a perfect ball through two backers in zone to a diving Taylor for 20 yards.
1st and 10 at the 25. Oregon State ran tempo, which was good play-calling. Pierce, who had just been stuffed on the phantom false start was about to get stuffed again, so he cut left, faked out the unblocked MLB and the safety before shaking off the CB's tackle 20 yards downfield for a TD. Great run. Terrible play-calling.
The play-calling was great, inasmuch as it put great Oregon State players in Hodgins, Luton, and Pierce in a position to succeed. However, outside of the Hodgins' post-corner route out of a play-action that fooled no one, none of that was really great play-calling in and of itself.