Destroyed SMU, and now destroying Memphis. Let's just hope this game was a bump in the road, and we go into the Cincy game at the end of the season, undefeated. If so, it would be a beautiful closing game to the regular season.
Cincy showing they are King this year.
- Thread starter Gmoney4WW
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If both of us go into that game undefeated there will be a whole lot on the line in that game. Including bowl selection. I am now on to Navy. What sucks is I live out here in Virginia and because of Covid-19 I can’t attend the game. I am worried about Cincinnati. They are really good
We’ll have to play our absolute best to beat Cincy...and that requires having everyone available.
The Cincinnati game style actually plays to our advantage. They are not flashy on offense and usually have methodical drives. If they don’t score quickly our defense has more chances for a TO. Our offense scoring on their D will also be a challenge for us. Not saying we will win but we match up better with them because of our physical run style than some of the other league teams do. I expect a relatively low scoring game neither team gets more than 28 points.
Navy worries me because of their discipline and precision. If we are not ready to play or make stupid mistakes (penalties, turnovers, etc...) it will be a long day.
Navy worries me because of their discipline and precision. If we are not ready to play or make stupid mistakes (penalties, turnovers, etc...) it will be a long day.
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I’m not worried about their discipline. I’m worried about ours.
Defending the option is all about discipline and assignment football. It’s designed to capitalize on over aggression and breakdowns in single player assignments due to lack of focus.
We’ve got some good DBs, who know how to play at Navy, but disciplined and gap sound they are not at times.
They just don’t have the personnel to be effective with it this year. SMUs defense is average at best and Navy is struggling to move the ball on the ground against them. UCF rolled Houston pretty good too and Cincy throttled Memphis. Memphis’ defense didn’t like Cincy’s physicality
They(Navy) started moving the ball at the end of the game with the quarterback switch.
I had tuned out when it was like 44-17. They've switched QBs about 3 times this year. It works for a short period of time probably because the opponent isn't ready for that QB and their particular skill set. Plus I'd bet that SMU had the 2nd stringers in at that time. I'm not sure what happened but Navy had a lead and then SMU scored 31 in the 2nd quarter. Game over.
They put their 1st string back in not too long after they started making their attempt, and still weren't able to stop them from scoring. You are probably right though, if you plan for that quarterback's skill set during game prep, he wouldn't be nearly as effective. I didn't catch whether this quarterback was one they had used before or not. He was a more mobile QB than the one they had in there earlier in the game. So they went back to playing more like the Navy of old.
In looking at the box score, Morris started and his passer rating was 38. He was the "passing" QB. Their 2 biggest plays were pass plays to the FB (29 and 62 yds). My guess is Morris holds the ball too long and takes too many sacks. (SMU had 4) Morris also rushed 6 times for -20 yards (sure the sacks are factored in there but that's not very efficient). Goslin only rushed 2 times for 8 yards so maybe he is the more adept passer (6-10, 121 yds). I just don't see a ton there for Navy's offense IF your LBs and DBs stay disciplined. Green and Evans cannot get caught looking in the backfield too much. We should, with our speed at LB and safety, be able to contain the runs. I also don't see Navy being able to get to the edge too easily. Goodlow and Player blow up the edges way too much and really force the RBs to go deeper in the backfield and wider which allows time for our safeties to really come up and seal the edge too. These are things we've done well so far this season. If I'm Gillespie, we practice defense without a ball this week. Assignment football. This is what Kragthorpe did for the one game we actually won at Navy.
Defense has done better at adjusting, it's Monty adjusting to different defensive looks on the offense that is non-existent. Of course, Monty came out fast in the 3Q the other day and that made all the difference. I also think ECU backed off on defense to avoid big plays. They didn't bring the pressure nearly as much as they did in the first half. Monty just needs to know this offense needs to go fast. I think Smith does better when we're moving faster. We did throw a couple of screens the other day that worked well too....except that we fumbled on one after a 15 yard gain, and we got called for illegal motion on the 2nd after picking up 7-8 yards. Also, the one time Smith kept the ball on the RPO, really worked well as well. I really wish we'd roll him out more on those as well.
Goslin kept the offense more honest, and having to guard against the threat from him. Those 8 yards kept the offense moving. Not saying he's the answer against us, or for the future. Just saying he gives them a slight debate on what to do at QB, and leaves it a bit more up in the air on who we prepare for.
Maybe. I'm putting our DL and LBs up as much better than SMU's. SMU's defense has not been good at all this year against anyone really. They just score about 45 pts a game. Covers up a lot of deficiencies in the defense. Sort of like our 2007-2008 seasons. When you score that many points and put up that many yards, people tend to overlook any defensive inadequacies you might have.
We thought the same last year. It’s tough to not look ahead. That smoo nonsense will be a dog fight.
When playing with pace clearly works. Even the ESPN guys felt the 1st series of the 2nd half was scripted. Then script the 1st 10 of the 1st half. When we play with pace we play much more effectively on offense.
Xactly., have an easy 'scrap the scripted plays' sign in case there is a personelle change or something is just not working right. Do it for 10+ plays 1st half & 2nd half. Go into halftime and quickly edit your 2nd half plays based on how the game is going, and relay it to the QB. No reason they shouldn't do this every game.
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