Week 12 Matchup WSU Offense vs Colorado Defense

Washington State Offense vs Colorado Defense

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Chart reflect ranking percentile for Offense or Defense vs NCAA 
0 is worst unit in NCAA 100 is best

The Washington State offense (#3) is ready for the marquee matchup of the conference season to date. They creamed two bad defenses in a row in Arizona and Cal after not playing that well at Arizona State. They certainly did enough to get past two really good defenses in UCLA and Stanford, but neither of those teams are as good offensively at Colorado. Luke Falk and company are going to have to play really well against the conferences best defense to set up a winner take all Apple Cup.

This is still true:

Wazzu is phenomenal at Drive Efficiency. Luke Falk and his receivers run this offense with an amazing consistency and execution. WSU has been more effective at running the ball this season too. Washington State is also really really good at Explosive Drives and Negative Drives. They can put up points in a hurry and they don't do many 3 and outs. The Cougs are pretty average at Play Efficiency, suggesting they do run a fair amount of plays that don't gain a ton of yards. They are also middle of the road at D-plus Plays and 3rd down when you control for SOS.

Colorado's defense (#5) is tearing it up under Jim Leavitt this season, but they really struggled dealing with Brandon Dawkins last week. If Arizona had competent red zone play calling Colorado might have found themselves in a game, but Arizona just ran really dumb plays. It should not fuss Colorado too much though; when Dawkins is healthy he is a load to deal with, just ask Washington. Colorado hasn't really played anyone who is going to spread them out to throw this season, so this will be an interesting test for them as they look to set up a winner take all game against the Utes.

Colorado is excellent at Drive Efficiency, Play Efficiency, Negative Drives, and they are very very good at Explosive Drives, 3rd down, and D-plus Plays. This defense is phenomenal and they have few weaknesses. The key for the defense is for the offense and special teams to not leave them with too many short fields to defend.

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