...::He said.

.She said::...

...::THE OFFENSE

SHE SAYS::...

By now most everyone knows that I HATE being overly critical, but I also have
a responsibility to give an honest assessment of how I saw things. That being
said, there are two things that stood out to me on Saturday night:

1) The Bearcats defense was better than I expected.

2) The Beavers have some work to do on offense.

While the rest of the local media is clamoring for a 'Quarterback Controversy'
to sell newspapers, in watching (and re-watching) the game I think there the
blame for a stagnant offense can be passed around.

Penalties, dropped passes, and taking sacks for huge losses all contributed
to a lack of rhythm. What is disheartening is that this is the second game in
a row that the Beaver offense has sputtered.

The offensive line is young and they struggled to open up holes for Quizz.
On a side note however, it should be noted that center Alex Linnenkohl is playing
extremely well. I watched him make some incredible blocks for Quizz and Quon
on the night.

Overall, it was a night that I'm sure the entire offense would like to forget.
While having Darrell Catchings back in the mix is nice, he still has a tendency
to drop big passes. Damola Adeniji has great hands, but isn't the burner that
is going to stretch the field.

If Riley's offense is going to work the way it is intended, they need a healthy
running game and deep threat potential. Right now, without more help from the
offensive line, the running game is stalled and I don't see that deep threat
potential. This is causing teams to key in on the run and fly sweep.

All in all it was pretty sloppy at times and the inconsistency hurt them down
the stretch.

SHE SAYS-GRADE: C

2 former walk-ons and a true freshman = trouble. As good as Coach Cavanaugh
is, he wasn't dealt a full deck with the offensive line this year. Will they
get better? Of course. But they appear to be missing the all important o-line
ingredient of strength…and that won't change much this year.

It appears that several years of missing on O-line recruiting is finally rearing
its ugly head. However, trial by fire is the quickest way to get up to speed.

Quizz was clearly not his explosive self out there. True, he wasn't getting
the holes, but he can usually manufacturer something with his skills. He just
didn't have it 100% on Saturday.

Sean Canfield had a decent day. Yes, he held the ball a bit too long once or
twice, but he also kept the mistakes to a minimum and wasn't always helped by
the O-line, the receivers, or the play calling.

One thing I noticed on the replay, Canfield gets in big trouble when he takes
too many steps back from the shotgun formation. A few times he took five plus
steps, only to see the pocket collapse in front of him (where it naturally should),
giving him few options to step into the throw or into the pocket. I didn't see
this as much in the second half so maybe the coaches touched on it.

The offense had it chances and couldn't convert at the necessary times. It
was an across the board breakdown in many areas. Right now….QB controversy
= silly talk.

HE SAYS-GRADE: C-



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