First look at TCU…
Now that a few teams have played some conference opponents I get the chance to watch other league teams in action. Last night I watched the UNM/ TCU game and here are my first thoughts.
Like always the Horned Frogs have great athletes (just so you know I only watched the TCU defense). Their defensive guys have good size but they bank on their speed and ability to get pressure on the quarterback. That is why they both do a great job at stopping the run, and messing up quarterbacks rhythm which causes their opponents offense to struggle.
Gary Patterson runs that 4-2-5-but it is simply a personal modified 3-4, with the outside linebackers being smaller, quicker safety type players instead of a typical outside linebacker.
One thing that I saw that our offense will be able to exploit is their defensive backs tendency to sit on routes. Because their fronts bring so much pressure I am sure that their coaches have instructed their corners and safeties to play more squat man. (Squat man is when you wait for the route to break in front of you, so the corners give up very little ground.) By playing squat man the corners better match the pressure tempo of the front seven and when the quarterback has to get rid of the ball quickly, the frog corner is ready to leap into action (I know that was very cliche, but it just fits.) Playing a squat technique can also make your defense very susceptible to long pass plays and big plays- Please reference the Oklahoma game.
This game could very well come down to how well our offensive line can pick-up their blitzes and Max standing strong in the pocket and finding open receivers.
It is going to be a very tough game.
Wow,
They only play with 10 guys on defense? talk about confidence
. Seriously though, great Blog, keep it coming.
Good catch, I made the change. I tend to just type like crazy and sometime I don’t go back an count. Who needs that eleventh player any.
Awesome insight, local sports talk on the radio is as deep as a children’s swimming pool. Thanks again for the blog!
Quinn,
Great blog. I am an avid Coug fan and former pro athlete (baseball-5 yrs minors). I love your insights into the human aspect (not to mention football analysis). When I was at BYU, students sometimes would make a big deal about how athletes are treated special (not me, I was drafted out of high school then to Y after mission) and I would always have to stick up and say “they deserve every luxury they get.” You guys work hard and sacrifice a lot. I love seeing the comraderie and inside jokes. It is what I miss most about sports. Keep up the good writing. Go Cougs!!!
Can you explain squat man further? What do you mean they match the tempo of the front seven better? Are you referring to the CB’s breaking toward the receiver when he knows that the front seven will likely pressure him to throw and by doing so makes an interception or hits the receiver as the ball arrives?
Quinn, I love your defensive analyses. I find the offensive patterns easy to follow and understand, but the defensive stuff is like Greek to me sometimes. Maybe you could post a “Defense 101″ video blog, just to make it easier to understand the basic terms and routes?
WHEN YOU ARE DONE REFERENCING THE OKLAHOMA GAME REFERENCE THE 2007 BYU/TCU GAME
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