Big fan of the new era of coaches, but nights like tonight are beyond frustrating and concerning. Feels kinda like old Hip Hip Hooray is back behind the main whistle for FB.
Some observation, good and bad:
-All matches I watched via P12/OSU livestream had far less obnoxious fans by the microphone. What I did hear was a very sweet and funny conversation between a father and son. The father was answering a bunch of question his son was asking. Lots of questions centered around stalling.
-I am very concerned about the lack of aggression and offense in quite a few bouts tonight. It is not a one off, OkSt, PSU, and now Little Rock it felt like we were wrestling not to lose instead of wrestling to win.
-Credit to Nash, felt like he was more aggressive tonight.
-125 and Brandon Kaylor....what happened to our former AA. To me, he has looked unfocused and lacking urgency. Wondering if everyone else in the room at 125 is really that far behind him, Renteria and Coyle are the first two that come to mind. That fall loss made a huge difference in the dual and felt like we didn't recover. Spent the entire Dual chasing Little Rock.
-Our issue was Kaylor's fall and giving up two MD's. We only had a TF in our 5 wins tonight. Needed a MD at either 141, 149 or 185.
-Youth really can't be blamed or the loss of JR. Nash, Gabe and Justin have all performed at the level I expected or exceeded it during this recent run. Matty Ice has handled business at 174 since Wittlake went out. Fouret took his first loss today since entering at 165 as a starter to J. Bianchi.
-Watching tonight, felt like our wrestlers were pretty consistently smaller. Also felt like many looked tired. Have been seeing this for the past 4 duals.
-I had hoped Boone would be a bigger force in the line up. Is it up to 4 straight losses now? Little Rock, OkSt, PSU and Cal Poly.
-Our line up is now 9/10 recruits from the Pendleton era and 6/10 transfers. Kaylor is the last Coach Z recruit. 3/10 are HS recruits from CP era, all are Oregon HS wrestlers too which is pretty neat. Those 3 are also the youth I referred to earlier. At this point in year 4, I had hoped we would see more break into the line up.
-There are 29 HS recruits on our roster from the past recruiting classes under CP and Engel, may have accidently included a walk on. This does not include several who have transferred out, ie J Barnes, Fiorentino, Toranzo, Kuenzi, Brunson, Meinnzen etc. To me it is starting to become a bit concerning. Is it a HS recruit quality question or ability to develop them?
-I know Noah Tolentino would be in the mix without the injury he took which could make it 4/10, but that was at 149. Move him or Nash down, that knocks Gabe out of the line up or to 125. Move up they are against Crosby. Maybe Crosby could beat out Fouret?
-I have been watching over the past several years and our strongest wrestlers have been Coach Z holdovers and transfers. Dixon, G Willits, H Willits, Olmos, Kaylor sans this year are Z's. Reyes, Harvey, Crooks, Traub, Wittlake, Munoz, Belton, Crosby, Olguin, Shaner, Fouret and McDermott are all starters who transferred in. 10 of which from the D1 level.
-Of our AA's in the CP era, I believe Munoz is the only addition credited to CP via transfer from ASU. Willits brothers, Kaylor and Dixon are all Coach Z.
Late night rantings and ravings of a frustrated fan.
I know we are in good hands with the coaching staff, but dam....tonight was rough.
