Thursday, September 28, 2006

The Truth About Baylor Football

I want to extend a thanks to JudgeChamber for extending the invitation to discuss Baylor football on this blog. I'll try to keep it real and call it like I see it.

For my first post I want to discuss what I think will be the keys to the game. I think it's funny how some people talk about keys to the game. Usually, the first thing someone spouts off is "turnovers, penalties, line play." The next time someone tells you that, punch them in the face. These things are true in every game. It's not insight, it's stating the obvious. The team should show up to the stadium sometime before 6. See, I can do it too.

So without further delay Here are my keys to the game:

  • Quarterback (yikes!) must have a GREAT game. Notice I didn’t put he who will no longer be named. This sounds like a no-brainer but the stat line needs to read 300+ , 2+ touchdowns if we are going to have a chance. 200-225 and 1 touchdown on 45 attempts will mean a loss. Count on it. Our defense/special teams will probably give up 13-17 so we need points. I don’t see K-State blitzing all that much. They saw that Army could get to the quarterback with the front 4 and surely they saw that our biggest plays have been off screen type plays. Why would they risk bringing linebackers when they can disrupt without them? Also for the love of all that is holy please throw deep once a quarter. People whine about our running game but when the safeties are lining up 8 yards off the ball you just can’t. Making them line up 12 yards off the ball would make all the difference in the world.

  • Terrance Parks in the red zone. I mentioned this before to several people, in our offense when we have 4-5 receivers out there it is like stealing to have him on the inside. The defense can only double team one person (maybe) and it won’t be him. He will be lined up on a linebacker in which case he needs to be running a 6-7 yard out and use his speed to run away from them or if a d-back does cover him he needs to live between the hashes where the defender won’t be able to even see the ball until its too late.

  • On defense, it’s all about the front 7. I don’t even think the secondary will be a factor in this game. If the K-State coaches have an ounce of brain cells between all of them, they will run, run, and run some more on us. Their QB is about as scary as ours, why even give him enough rope to hang himself?

  • We MUST get a two touchdown lead somehow. This puts K-State in “catch up” mode and plays to their weakness and our supposed strength.

I want to expand on this last point. From what I have seen thus far in this season, the only way we win a conference game is for a game to unfold like the OK-State game last year where our opponent self destructs right in front of us. Our team doesn't have the "onions" to actually trade blows with another team. At the first sign of an opponent getting momentum, our guys have been making the "Baylor face" and from there it's all over. Let's hope a spine transplant happened during the week. You know Ron Prince was telling his team all week: "Just stay in the game, hold onto the ball. Baylor is a ticking time bomb that will go off on itself if you just let it. If we are two scores behind or better, they will find a way to give it to us."

For an ender, to the couple who sits in front of me: Learn the rules of the game, just because the other team ran for more than 5 yards does not necessarily mean there was holding. You're annoying as hell when you scream for penalties that even Pac-10 officials could get right not calling.

4 comments:

Chris Yount said...

Great post, TDF.

We have heard that Bell is working on throwing a bit deeper in practice, but I recall him doing that every other week, too. Until he gets to the point where he can do that in the game, he's going to be the same player he was in 2004. Fortunately for Baylor Fandom, Bell was the perfect scheme against A&M in 2004.

If Bell can go deep twice in the first quarter (hint: throwing 5 yards over your receivers head as he dives for the catch doesn't count), then he should be able to loosen up the KSU defense. Once the defense is loosened up a bit with the deep ball, this offense will be magic.

Cynical_Jeff said...
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The DixieFitz said...

Parks has had our longest play from scrimmage against a Div I opponet this season. He caught the ball, made someone miss, and actually got up the field and delivered a blow as he was knocked out of bounds. This is something that our "playmakers" have not done.

It's sad, but true. Parks has shown so far to be our best offensive threat.

Chris Yount said...

And he's under-utilized. He should be averaging at least 5 catches per game.