Key(s) to Beating aTm

[ojaipony]

Take the fight to THEM. They are in OUR house, not theirs. They have everything to lose. We have nothing to lose. Play wild and crazy. Personally, I'd blitz like crazy, jam the hell out of their receivers (requires great safety play unfortunately) and throw the long ball early and often (one play to DJ, one play to DT, the next play to GD, etc etc).

To slow down the hurry up, you have to take the fight to THEM. Jam the receivers, blitz and have great safety support. Freshness helps, but only if the new legs know what to do and are "in it to win it".

They will come in here expecting to dominate the tempo and be up 3 TDs by halftime. (that very well could happen if we play passive with no chip on our shoulders). But I like our chances if we play very aggressively (including the play calling). And, if we lose, at least we go down swingin'.

The way I see it, anyway . . .

[WordUpBU]

Take the fight to THEM. They are in OUR house, not theirs. They have everything to lose. We have nothing to lose. Play wild and crazy. Personally, I'd blitz like crazy, jam the hell out of their receivers (requires great safety play unfortunately) and throw the long ball early and often.

The way I see it, anyway . . .

UF had a lot of success in the 2nd half loading the box but not blitzing. They didn't rush crazily upfield and Manzeil couldn't throw the Ags down the field. It effectively killed the only 2 things A&M had success with: The QB draw and screens

If SMU can hold up on the DL they can probably have the same success but that is a big if.


Offensively it's about the OL protecting Gilbert and the passing game not hiccuping with misses and drops. It doesn't have to be great, it just can't stop itself.

[S....M....U]

What sort of defensive scheme does Florida run? as a 3-4 we need to blitz and constantly provide pressure. particularly because our front 7 didnt penetrate like we expected them to against baylor

[ojaipony]

Take the fight to THEM. They are in OUR house, not theirs. They have everything to lose. We have nothing to lose. Play wild and crazy. Personally, I'd blitz like crazy, jam the hell out of their receivers (requires great safety play unfortunately) and throw the long ball early and often.

The way I see it, anyway . . .

UF had a lot of success in the 2nd half loading the box but not blitzing. They didn't rush crazily upfield and Manzeil couldn't throw the Ags down the field. It effectively killed the only 2 things A&M had success with: The QB draw and screens

If SMU can hold up on the DL they can probably have the same success but that is a big if.


Offensively it's about the OL protecting Gilbert and the passing game not hiccuping with misses and drops. It doesn't have to be great, it just can't stop itself.

Thanks for the insight, Wordup. I would do a lot of run blitzes to give extra support to our undersized linemen. We have to stop the run. Our first priority. If we have to keep everything inside, then our inside guys have to get to the line of scrimmage quickly, because Michael will break tackles no doubt.

[S....M....U]

our first priority is to get to the backfield. without a strong secondary, hurries and sacks are key. don't give the QB an opportunity to throw the ball. blitz like crazy

[WordUpBU]

What sort of defensive scheme does Florida run? as a 3-4 we need to blitz and constantly provide pressure. particularly because our front 7 didnt penetrate like we expected them to against baylor

UF is a 4-3 but the actual 4-3 or 3-4 is less important. It's how many you have near the line to deal with the run.

SMU can play safe zones rushing 4 players and still have 8 guys near the line unless Manzeil throws well enough to make SMU change. SMU probably needs to force that issue and make the young guy execute down the field and defend them like they did TCU last year. Take the run & deep ball away and force them to pass underneath.

[ojaipony]

I don't like knocking our team, but the UF DL makes our DLs (including Margus) look like a high school team. They've got 6'3"-6'5", 320 plus pounders rotating in nonstop (probably at least 6-7 four star type guys 2-3 deep. . . we have zero, except one really tall guy who is a stud but he's just one guy). That's what separates even a mid-level SEC team and ours. (why I've been constantly saying that recruiting big DTs -- even if they aren't the most talented, we need the beef -- should be top priority in the 2013 class). We have one, maybe 2 guys, that even come close to that size (Darrian Wright . . . O'Guin did but he's gone).

[S....M....U]

aka how many you've got in the box. but with a 3-4 scheme you must blitz to plug holes early and often. otherwise you are reacting to the run and not preventing it.

I tend to agree with your assessment. make him throw and see what happens.

[StallionsModelT]

The key will be turnovers and big plays. If we can force A&M into some early turnovers and capitalize with touchdowns then we have a chance. Conversely, if we turn the ball over like we did against Baylor and fail to finish drives then we will get our doors blown off.

We have a shot to beat them, but we CANNOT SHOOT OURSELVES IN THE FOOT. Whether its blown coverages, picks in the red zone, etc we simply cannot give the better, more talented team more opportunities to beat us.

For me, the major concern is how our defense will hold up late in the game. Thankfully its not going to be a scorcher so we shouldn't be affected by the heat. However, we are going to need to rotate guys in quickly and have them perform at a high level.

Its going to take a lot of things going our way to win this thing. But it can happen.

[Treadway21]

The key is not getting down 14 - 0 or more in the first quarter. That beat us last year against them, and also at Baylor. We are not a team that comes back against anyone, much less stronger teams like AandM and Baylor. The amount of mistakes in the first quarter will tell you all you need to know about the final score. Plus this offense only goes one speed, slow tempo.

Against A and M it was turnovers and a short field. Against Baylor, it was penalties and turnovers. I would like to see how we do when we are competitive in the first quarter.

[S....M....U]

agreed. if we can avoid big mistakes in the first half and go into the 3rd quarter with a decent chance anything can happen.

I've notice that June seems to start games slow. I would love to either play a conservative, solid first half...with line running well and gg connecting on crucial 3rd downs, or see the offense go at them from the start, throwing deep balls and opening up the d for zach's feet.

[AusTxPony]

While all this is true, the real KEY to the game is GG. We need to out score them and we win. To hell with how often they score, we just need to score more points. Right?

[StallionsModelT]

We don't need to get into a shootout to win this game. A&M didn't score a single point in the second half against UF due to halftime adjustments and spying on their QB. The kid is a freshman. If we let A&M go bombs away on us then its gonna be a long year. Stack the box and make them beat us deep.

[S....M....U]

+1

[jimhagle]

Manziel is key-stopping him that is. I just don't see us getting to him enough and he will consequently have enough time to wheel and deal. Also GG has to figure it out for us to have any chance.