they have actually allowed more than us. 7 in 3 games or 2.33 per game. also have allowed 5 hurries. Looks like the passing game might be suffereing due to OL play
Texas Tech's Spread Offense--How to stop it?
- Thread starter Clones21
- Start date
That's true, and I noted that in my comment. On the other hand, the best completion percentage we've given up so far is 55% to Iowa. So it also looks like teams might be having more trouble then before completing passes against us.
If so, that means that Texas Tech's offense is a good matchup for our defense, since their strength is our strength and their weakness is our weakness.
I'll take a 51% completion rate any day of the week. And even though teams aren't passing on us very much, we still have 7 interceptions, including 3 returns for TDs.
Getting pressure with your front 4 and sound tackling is key against Tech. Unfortunately for us that's our greatest defensive weaknesses. I see a lopsided score against the good guys.
No I agree. The completion% is great. One thing that helps is teams pass in obvious passing downs so we know what to expect. But the compl% is a very nice stat.
First it was talk about the ISU oline, then the Packers oline, now it is TT oline under observation. Guess that is why mobile qbs are needed.
Another big thing is that the d-line needs to get their hands up! Especially the DE's TT throws a lot of balls out in the flats and if the DE's get up the field quickly and get their hands up they can knock down a lot of balls.
This isn't the same Air Raid offense that we (Tech) ran under Mike Leach. It's a version very similar, but still different, and the different parts of it, are the parts we are having problems with.
Coach Brown (the OC) has admitted that he has gotten impatient with the run game, and has gotten away from it too quickly. We are not throwing the ball 70% of the time anymore, and do try to establish the run, but Tubs/Brown haven't been happy with the results, and have REALLY stressed, and worked on it, the past 2 weeks.
Ideally, we will be a 55%-60% pass/run ratio, but haven't been there due to being "behind the 8 ball". Which means we have been in bad shape as far as down, and distance is concerned.
Supposedly, Brown has thrown out plays that just haven't worked, and has really only concentrated on a select few running plays...hoping to master those to increase the production this week.
I would expect Tech to come out early, and try to establish the running game, since that's all Tubs has talked about for the past 2 weeks. If it's successful, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tech run 55% of the time...just to get it going, and keep it going. If not, I'm sure we will continue to throw the ball more than what Tubs wants.
With James Willis (our DC), I would expect a lot more multiple looks on defense, more aggressiveness, and blitzes from everywhere. Our DE Scott Smith was a dominant force against Texas, and I expect to see him make a lot of plays. When he's motivated, not many OL will be able to block him one on one. He gave the UT RT fits all game, and he's still probably having nightmares about Mr. Smith.
Tech's defense is no longer a "bend don't break" that we were with Ruffin McNeil. Should be interesting to see if they've gotten better.
Our best CB has been out all year (LaRon Moore), but he'll be healthy, and will play against ISU. He suffered a broken leg in the Spring. It will be good to get him back, and in playing shape.
Oh yeah, thanks for Mr. Cqulin Hubert! Evidently he's been VERY impressive, and starting next year, will likely be a 3 yr starter at MLB for us!
Coach Brown (the OC) has admitted that he has gotten impatient with the run game, and has gotten away from it too quickly. We are not throwing the ball 70% of the time anymore, and do try to establish the run, but Tubs/Brown haven't been happy with the results, and have REALLY stressed, and worked on it, the past 2 weeks.
Ideally, we will be a 55%-60% pass/run ratio, but haven't been there due to being "behind the 8 ball". Which means we have been in bad shape as far as down, and distance is concerned.
Supposedly, Brown has thrown out plays that just haven't worked, and has really only concentrated on a select few running plays...hoping to master those to increase the production this week.
I would expect Tech to come out early, and try to establish the running game, since that's all Tubs has talked about for the past 2 weeks. If it's successful, I wouldn't be surprised to see Tech run 55% of the time...just to get it going, and keep it going. If not, I'm sure we will continue to throw the ball more than what Tubs wants.
With James Willis (our DC), I would expect a lot more multiple looks on defense, more aggressiveness, and blitzes from everywhere. Our DE Scott Smith was a dominant force against Texas, and I expect to see him make a lot of plays. When he's motivated, not many OL will be able to block him one on one. He gave the UT RT fits all game, and he's still probably having nightmares about Mr. Smith.
Tech's defense is no longer a "bend don't break" that we were with Ruffin McNeil. Should be interesting to see if they've gotten better.
Our best CB has been out all year (LaRon Moore), but he'll be healthy, and will play against ISU. He suffered a broken leg in the Spring. It will be good to get him back, and in playing shape.
Oh yeah, thanks for Mr. Cqulin Hubert! Evidently he's been VERY impressive, and starting next year, will likely be a 3 yr starter at MLB for us!
Thanks for your take, FinallyaD. I don't think TTech will be the offensive juggernaut they had been because no one can coach that offense like Leach (not that Tubberville's staff is trying). I'm not saying that they'll be ineffective, not I can't imagine they'll be as consistently successful as in the past. As I recall you guys had some good defenses in the past, that were overshadowed by the Airraid.
Hubert should have been ours. Would of been nice to have another LB back there for us this year.
Defensively, show one coverage and then shift to another late. Make every receiver who catches a ball pay dearly.
Offensively...
1. Get a first down
2. Throw a good pass
3. Receivers get open
4. Don't stare down the receiver
5. Receivers catch a pass
6. O-Line block
7. RB run hard
8. No penalties
9. Score TD's
Seems pretty basic. Basic has been tough for us.
Offensively...
1. Get a first down
2. Throw a good pass
3. Receivers get open
4. Don't stare down the receiver
5. Receivers catch a pass
6. O-Line block
7. RB run hard
8. No penalties
9. Score TD's
Seems pretty basic. Basic has been tough for us.
another Tech fan here. as the guy above explained, this isn't quite the same offense that we ran under Leach. the differences may be subtle to a non-Tech fan, but there are a lot of things we need to work on to make this new(ish) scheme anywhere near as successful as our offenses under Leach.
the key to slowing down our offense is forcing Potts to make quick decisions, which he's shown a lack of. Tech fans were spoiled by our offensive production under the previous Leach-era QBs, especially Graham Harrell, because they made quick reads and got the ball to the open man before pressure got to them.
as poorly as our offensive line has played so far this season, it doesn't take much to put pressure on Potts. play tight coverage on our receivers, send a LB or 2 every now and then, and our offense becomes pretty stagnant. the one tendency that we LOVED from opposing defenses during the Leach era was when they played soft coverage, that "keep everything in front of you" style that tried to limit YAC. the few games that we had poor offensive output was almost always against defenses who attacked our offense with press coverage and blitzes, rather than sitting back with a bend-but-don't-break mentality. i expect us to try to establish the run early this weekend, but whether or not that works will depend on how much our offensive line has improved (if at all) over the past 2 weeks.
the key to slowing down our offense is forcing Potts to make quick decisions, which he's shown a lack of. Tech fans were spoiled by our offensive production under the previous Leach-era QBs, especially Graham Harrell, because they made quick reads and got the ball to the open man before pressure got to them.
as poorly as our offensive line has played so far this season, it doesn't take much to put pressure on Potts. play tight coverage on our receivers, send a LB or 2 every now and then, and our offense becomes pretty stagnant. the one tendency that we LOVED from opposing defenses during the Leach era was when they played soft coverage, that "keep everything in front of you" style that tried to limit YAC. the few games that we had poor offensive output was almost always against defenses who attacked our offense with press coverage and blitzes, rather than sitting back with a bend-but-don't-break mentality. i expect us to try to establish the run early this weekend, but whether or not that works will depend on how much our offensive line has improved (if at all) over the past 2 weeks.
FWIW- I saw an iowa team and an ISU team beat TT by playing bend but don't break defense. Now those were a long time ago but they still worked.
Issue with playing tight, is a lot of teams don't have the personell to play tight on everyone and that creates a good match up somewhere. I admittedly have not seen TT play much this year but if it takes pressure then we may be in trouble as we just can't put pressure on the QB. since we can't put pressure on the QB then we need to play to our strengths.
Leach has his own style of the spread, and it certainly worked. Holgerson has his own style. Lincoln Riley's is a little different, too. There are many effective types of spread offenses, and Mike Leach doesn't need to be the coach to run an effective form of it. But, many Tech fans in the past were unhappy with how Leach (or our QB's) would abandon the running game. Coach Brown ran a very effective form of the spread at Troy the last 2 years, and knows the in's, and out's of this offense. He played in it under Mumme, Leach, and Franklin at Kentucky...before transferring to UMass. So, he's not new to it.
Actually, the best offense I have ever seen under Leach (not the most yards, or most points scored) was the '09 OU game. We were able to do what we wanted in that game.
Last year against OU, we ran the ball 33 times for 182 yds. We threw 53 times for 388 yds. Now, that is what an offense is suppose to do to a defense. Add 2 sacks in there, and you have 88 plays...which comes out to a 60% pass ratio. Not the 68%-70% Tech was known for, and which I didn't like.
I really think that is what Coach Brown has wanted to do since he got here. Tubs has said he would like to have an offense that passes about 60% of the time, but in order to do that, we need to be able to run the ball. There's a stat somewhere out there (I can't find right now) stating the Tech's W/L difference (over the last couple of yrs) when the RB gets more than 20+ carries in a game...I think we are something like 32-5. When the Tech RB's get less than 20 carries, we are around .500, or a little below it. It seems that even in Leach's version of the spread, he needed to get the RB's 20+ carries/game.
As far as our defenses go, NO...we really never had any GOOD defenses. Here's Tech's TOTAL DEFENSE rankings starting with '03:
'03: 106th
'04: 46th (this was a solid defense)
'05: 30th (this was helped by having FIU, Sam Houston St, and Indiana St on the schedule)
'06: 58th
'07: 45th
'08: 74th (11-2 season)
'09: 49th
Okay, "good" was an overstatement but it's not like you guys just gave up on preventing the other team from scoring as I think many people allude to. Three of the last seven years you listed were top 50 defenses - certainly not elite level, but worthy of a BCS conference football team.
I didn't mean to imply that Leach is the only guy who can effectively coach a spread, or that his version is the only one that works. But it will take Tubberville completely buying into the idea, which I've read he didn't so much do at Auburn, for the OC to be effective. However, you guys obviously have the personnel and culture already in place to run a pass-based spread so he may not be nearly as inclined to abandon it as he was at Auburn.
I didn't mean to imply that Leach is the only guy who can effectively coach a spread, or that his version is the only one that works. But it will take Tubberville completely buying into the idea, which I've read he didn't so much do at Auburn, for the OC to be effective. However, you guys obviously have the personnel and culture already in place to run a pass-based spread so he may not be nearly as inclined to abandon it as he was at Auburn.
it will come down to our defensive line. Getting pressure with our front 4 will be critical to our success. Im not too confident about our 4 guys.
If we get pressure with 4 and allow 7 to drop into coverage, we'll be just fine. In fact, we will win the game. If we have to blitz to get pressure consistently, we will lose.
Of course this is assuming Iowa State scores 24 points.
If we get pressure with 4 and allow 7 to drop into coverage, we'll be just fine. In fact, we will win the game. If we have to blitz to get pressure consistently, we will lose.
Of course this is assuming Iowa State scores 24 points.