Watched the Boise St playoff game again last night. Drew threw some spectacular TD passes in that game, but also threw some very poor passes as well. What struck me about the PSU offense in that game was the pathetic play calling. The running game was clicking right from the start but deep drop passes were called against blitzes that resulted in Drew taking big negative yardage sacks stopping promising drives. Boise had a very good pass rush of their own and PSU didn't do enough to stick to the run and make correct calls at the LOS for the offense to put the points on the score board that PSU's talent easily could have. The Boise DB's also did a good job of bumping the PSU WR's and TE Warren off their routs which caused some very off target passes.
The other thing about the offense in that game was that #77 Sal Wormley had 3 penalties which also significantly helped stop some promising drives. One of the holding calls was pretty weak, and overall Wormley played pretty well last season. But with the other 4 olinemen returning and it being reasonable to expect some individual improvement for each of them, I expect the OL overall to be noticably improved due to the individual improvement of the returning starter and Cooper Cousins replacing Wormley.
Other observations from that game looking towards this coming Fall:
- Rojas played a very good game and I look for him to break out further this season to help lead the LB's replace K. King.
- I'm still sad that Vanover's petition for another year of eligibility as Vanover was a difference maker at the end of last season when he got more snaps due to Carter's injury.
- Also regarding Allar, I don't believe the 2024 season WR's weren't as bad as the results vs ND led many to believe. I don't know if Franklin pushed Evans and Wallace out the door of if they just got tired of taking the blame for some bad passing game results, but I would feel better about PSU's 2025 passing game if they were still on the PSU team. It seems unreasonable to expect the PSU WR passing game to be greatly improved unless Drew improves his accuracy and decision making, and uses the time he has in the pocket to get the ball down the field when those opportunites are there.