2014 Questions about practice...Readiness

[malonish]

[lwjr]

Beat ? Or spank them

Good point.

[JasonB]

And here it is:

JasonB

SMU is better at RB, QB, LB, DB, and S.
TT is better at OL, DL, and WR.

If Tech was a traditional team, they would run a ball control offense behind the offensive line, to spare the QB and wear SMU down on a hot day. But that isn't KK's style.

I think this game is a lock to go over. That said, I expect both teams to struggle a little offensively at the beginning of the game. The TT DL will disrupt the SMU offense from getting in a rhythm, while the SMU receivers drop a couple of passes. Meanwhile, the TT QBs will take a little while to get started, as Tech is surprised by the speed of the SMU secondary and is forced to play it a little closer to the vest than they want to.

Either the SMU offense will get on track first and put too much pressure on the young Tech QBs than they can handle, or the Tech offense takes the first step forward and the SMU defense gets worn out in the heat.

I will go with home field advantage and an experienced QB, 38 - 24 SMU. But I am really wary that if the SMU OL and DL don't play well (I think we are better on DL than people think, and the OL is definitely better than last year), the score might flip.

I don't see this as being a close game if SMU wins. The Tech QBs will force things and turn the ball over I think. The SMU offense was really bad last year - 90th in total offense, 115 in pass efficiency. The offense will be much improved this season, which will allow us to turn opposing mistakes into points without relying on the defense to score it for us.
JasonB Hall of Famer
Hall of Famer Posts: 2558Joined: Mon Aug 27, 2001 2:01 amLocation: Allen, Tx, USA

Yep, I was flat wrong about LB play last year, it was a huge disappointment for everyone. Their DL dominated our OL, and Tech was able to keep it close until their TE came in for the second half and ripped our LB corp apart when Rambo left.

I'm not sure why you brought that post up, I would make the point that we didn't get outpracticed for that game. We got beat because we couldn't keep up with the TE and our OL got run over. We weren't as good of a team as TT, even though my expectations going into the game were that we had a better team. Not hitting in practice doesn't matter when you are 5 yards behind their TE in man coverage.

[East Coast Mustang]

Also- looking back, Tech was a lot better than I think people expected last year.

I still contend we have a great chance of winning that game after going ahead in the 3rd Quarter on the TD pass that got called back on a completely BS holding penalty on Line...we completely seize the momentum of that game if the TD stands...instead they got it all and put the game away later on.

[East Coast Mustang]

We won five games last season and by my count could have won four more...Cincy, Rutgers, Tech, and UCF were all winnable for us. Then again, we almost lost to Montana State.

[East Coast Mustang]

One thing I never understood about Tech game is why Mason had our DBs playing so far off on their WRs...we were giving Mayfield short, easy completions all over the field and letting him build his confidence up. I would have challenged their receivers (especially in the first half in which I believe their stud TE Amaro was suspended?) and forced Mayfield to make throws down the field and bank on him making walk-on freshman mistakes. I could have made half the throws he completed in that game unfortunately

[PerunaPunch]

Linebacker was supposed to be an area of depth and strength for us last year, but we lost some guys who were expected to challenge for starting spots. We knew we were going to be light up front last year after losing Pitt, Grenier and Margus, but optimistically thought being big and deep at LB would help compensate.

[SMUer]

just missed by 32 points

He said if we messed up in our OL/DL the score would FLIP. So yes, [deleted] 38-24 Texas Tech is pretty close to the actual 41-23.

It might rain a lot today or it might not rain at all. I'd be right almost every time.

[SMUer]

June kills it against tough opponents with extra bowl practices but looks like he spends no effort in the spring/fall practices to prepare for Game 1. He's an enigma.

[PK]

June kills it against tough opponents with extra bowl practices but looks like he spends no effort in the spring/fall practices to prepare for Game 1. He's an enigma.

You forget...those early games are preseason and don't count...basically just for practice.

[PonySnob]

June kills it against tough opponents with extra bowl practices but looks like he spends no effort in the spring/fall practices to prepare for Game 1. He's an enigma.

Army?