I watched the Fiami/Toledo game in pretty great detail, here are a few musings:
-MofO's defensive front seven is VERY LEGIT. Might be the best we'll meet until the MACC, if we manage to get there.
-The Gabbert injury was pretty tragic. Not Alex Smith bad, more like Joe Theismann bad. Gabbert is a gamer...really hate to see that happen to anyone, not to mention one of the best players in the league.
-Their backup looked A LOT like CJ Harris. Bigger than Gabbert, mobile, but clearly looked less comfortable in the pocket v running play action.
How do we win (IMHO):
-Stop then run, and make their guy have to throw to beat us.
-Fiami will try to do what is driving us CRAZY right now: running the play clock down to zero before the snap and trying to shorten the game. We HAVE TO PLAY FAST...VERY FAST...and try to score ALL OF THE POINTS. Not "enough to win the game" points, but "ALL OF THE POINTS"! If we give their defense a lot of time to get set on D and take a breath, they will tee off on Rourke, and he runs an excellent risk of getting hurt again. We don't have the O Line to hold their pass rush at bay unless we are getting the ball out REALLY FAST and giving MofO no time to get settled at the line to make informed defensive play calls.
-Pass to set up the run, and when we run, we have to try to run OUTSIDE THE TACKLES more than we have, not hope that dive plays up the middle will work as a wear down strategy. I know that Kurtis is restricted due to his knee situation, but we definitely need to find ways to move outside the tackles to give a different look to their defense. Honestly, while watching the UT/MofO game, I was thinking that Navarro might just give us a better chance, considering Rourke's lack of mobility right now, but I trust that the staff can find ways to get O'Sean and Sieh out on the edges, as well as using some reverse action with our receivers.
-And if we get a lead, we can't keep running dive plays and hope to keep the clock running, playing stall ball and trying to wear their defense down. That's precisely what Toledo did on Saturday, getting super conservative with the lead, and they let Fiami sneak back in the game. This is also what Candle did against NIU, and that let NIU sneak back into the game at the end.
-Again, SCORE ALL THE EFFING POINTS!
This game is more winnable than it was, with Fiami starting their backup, but it is also very losable to a backup if we turn the ball over or give their defense an opportunity to tee off inside the tackles.
Last Edited: 10/23/2023 12:21:22 PM by D.A.