During my lunch break, I found myself on YouTube, where it suggested I watch extended highlights of the Washington State and Oregon games. Admittedly, these weren't the best choices from a pure enjoyment standpoint. Of course, we beat Wazzu and lost to Oregon, but we should have been defeated by Wazzu and won against Oregon.
First, I want to preface some of my forthcoming comments by saying the 2015 season was
a lot of fun. Overall, I think it's up there with 2012 as Shaw's best season, but I give the edge to 2012 because of how much we lost to the NFL draft. The 2015 offense was stacked with talent that Shaw and other post-Harbaugh coaches recruited; some were beginning to bloom that season, while others were established stars. The Rose Bowl beatdown of Iowa should stand the test of time as one of the all-time great memories for Cardinal football fans. We ended the Rose Bowl by halftime against a top-five team. Shaw, the rest of the coaches, and the players should get free beers forever for that game alone.
Still, some things in the extended highlights grated on my nerves. One, Kevin Hogan and Graham Shuler's miscues cost us a chance to rally in the Oregon game. Two fumbled exchanges between veteran players in one game are inexcusable. Hogan also demonstrated his weakness with downfield accuracy multiple times, costing us at least two quick scores.
I know the usage of Love and McCaffrey together in 2016 is one of my favorite complaint drums to beat on. I'm only mildly less annoyed by how we underused Love in 2015. He flashed special skills in both games, but we only used him sparingly for quick passes to the flat or screens. You might say, "But Jacob, should we have taken snaps away from McCaffrey?" I say a more creative offensive coach would have utilized them more often together to create space for each other, as well as the receivers and tight ends. We also managed to justify giving Remound Wright snaps in a pseudo-intellectual attempt to be crafty in goal-line situations. We haven't had guys like Love and McCaffrey together more than a few times in our history. I can't help but feel we left a lot on the table with how we used them.
The cracks in some of our talent pipelines were becoming evident. The state of the inside linebacker room outside of Blake Martinez (an absolute stud) was concerning. We managed to recruit and coach our way into a situation where redshirt freshman Jordan Perez rotated with Kevin Palma as, in effect, starters No. 2A and 2B next to Martinez—oi vey. To say that was a major drop in talent is kind. (Trigger warning
@fborg81) The platoon system at the position in 2016 and 2017 was mind-boggling.
It's been said many times, but thank the football gods for Brennan Scarlett. He was
so good that season, and in those games in particular. He, Shittu, and Thomas were workhorses with almost zero help from backups—another worrisome crack in the foundation. The outside linebackers deserve love. The often underrated Kalambayi and Anderson were great, and Alfieri was excellent as the No. 3 guy. Our starting 11 on defense were very good that season, but the depth was shallowing at multiple positions.
As for the games themselves, Oregon was better than their 6-3 record when we played them. They had one of the best offenses in the country, and our defense might have shut them out in the fourth quarter if not for a fumbled snap that gifted the Ducks a field goal. Washington State was a borderline top-25 team that won nine games. Our defense treated Falk like a piñata and stopped them multiple times in the red zone to force field goals.
It was fun to watch our run blocking and McCaffrey do their thing. I loved seeing Hogan succeed after what happened in 2014.
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