Monday, September 19, 2005
Baylor vs. Army Defensive Review
Baylor played a good run-stopping defense against Army and it proved to be effective. Army struggled to run the ball and in turn to pass it without turning it over. Baylor's defensive line got plenty of pressure on Dahman and stacked run behind the line of scrimmage regulary.
Defensive Tackles
Wow, what a game these guys had. Robinson and Gary combined for 9 tackles, 4 TFL and 2 sacks on the day. They set the offense back 17 yards and provided a push on basically every play. Robinson showed good pass rushing skills for a 300-pounder and Gary was a rock against the run.
Behind them, Dan Gay, Vincent Rhodes and Quincy Jenkins got some playing time, the three combining for 4 tackles on the day. Morriss was especially impressed with the play of Rhodes and the steps he's taking.
Grade: A
Defensive Ends
Marcus Foreman and Montez Murphy completed the defensive line play combining for 11 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks for -15 yards and 1 forced fumble. They were playing sideline-to-sideline, and Foreman had a great play running down Jones from behind. I was a little disappointed they didn't dominate even more, considering the size of guys they were going against, but it was on the road, Army was charged up for their home opener and really I should be happy with our defensive line combining for 20 tackles, 6 TFL and 4 sacks, right?
Geoff Nelson got in the game a little bit, but didn't have any tackles, though Morriss did say he played well.
Grade: B+
Linebackers
Colin Allred is the man. Two plays back to back in this game perfectly capture how I think of Allred. Army ran to the right and Allred brings the guy down in the backfield, but is called for a 5-yard facemask. It was a kinda nit-picky call, but there it was. The next play, Allred blows right past the blocker and totally blows up a reverse and the play ends with a loss of 12 or so. He just keeps coming and doesn't let anything disrupt his intensity. The crazy thing: Allred only ended up with 3 tackles on the day, but his presence had an undeniable effect on the game.
Jamal Harper also ended up with 3 tackles on the day, which is surprising considering how well the defense played. I would assume that Army's weak offensive line gave many of the tackles that would normally fall to the linebackers to the D-Linemen. Nick Moore ended up with 3 tackles as well, and Ben Hixson got in on a tackles, too.
The linebackers were active and showed good poise on the road. Their disruption of plays was key to holding Army's rushing attack in check.
Grade: B+
Secondary
Selling out to stop the run seemed to cost the secondary some shut-down ability, as Army rolled up 228 yards of passing offense. I'm not sure how upset we need to be about that, seeing as how, like against SMU, we gave up some yards on their last drive with a bunch of walk-ons and second/third stringers getting experience. On that last drive Army got 48 yards of passing and 13 yards in a penalty for the score. So, without that last drive we gave up only 180 yards of passing and 3 points. And I'd take that any day and twice on Saturday.
Baylor's secondary grabbed two interceptions, one on a very aware play by Maurice Linquist, grabbing a tipped pass from a prone position on the field. Additionally, Willie Andrews got two TFLs, one sack for -11 yard, and Mo Lane grabbed FOURTEEN tackles. The starting cornerbacks combined for 10 tackles, and the secondary forced two fumbles.
Considering the number of players played against Army and how deep we went on our depth chart, the secondary did a very good job of bottling up Army's offense and forcing turnovers.
Grade: B+
Overall Defense
The defense won this game for us, and it's been a long time since our defense has kept us in a road game this far from home. Forcing turnovers, hold Army's starter to 3.3ypc, and their team as a whole to 3.7 yards per play, the defense played very well. Taking out that last drive of the game, the defense allowed 236 yards of offense or 3.37 yards per play. That is a fantastic effort on the road.
There are still things that need to be worked on, specifically the three step drop passing attack that we've seen three games in a row now. I'm sure we've been selling out to stop the run and that affects it somewhat, and I'm sure we're not showing a lot of originality on defense to disguise some of what we'll do in conference play, but this is something that needs to be addressed. If we could close that option down some, then we'd truly have a defense ready to go toe-to-toe with any Big XII offense.
Grade: B+ ¶ 9/19/2005
Baylor played a good run-stopping defense against Army and it proved to be effective. Army struggled to run the ball and in turn to pass it without turning it over. Baylor's defensive line got plenty of pressure on Dahman and stacked run behind the line of scrimmage regulary.
Defensive Tackles
Wow, what a game these guys had. Robinson and Gary combined for 9 tackles, 4 TFL and 2 sacks on the day. They set the offense back 17 yards and provided a push on basically every play. Robinson showed good pass rushing skills for a 300-pounder and Gary was a rock against the run.
Behind them, Dan Gay, Vincent Rhodes and Quincy Jenkins got some playing time, the three combining for 4 tackles on the day. Morriss was especially impressed with the play of Rhodes and the steps he's taking.
Grade: A
Defensive Ends
Marcus Foreman and Montez Murphy completed the defensive line play combining for 11 tackles, 2 TFL, 2 sacks for -15 yards and 1 forced fumble. They were playing sideline-to-sideline, and Foreman had a great play running down Jones from behind. I was a little disappointed they didn't dominate even more, considering the size of guys they were going against, but it was on the road, Army was charged up for their home opener and really I should be happy with our defensive line combining for 20 tackles, 6 TFL and 4 sacks, right?
Geoff Nelson got in the game a little bit, but didn't have any tackles, though Morriss did say he played well.
Grade: B+
Linebackers
Colin Allred is the man. Two plays back to back in this game perfectly capture how I think of Allred. Army ran to the right and Allred brings the guy down in the backfield, but is called for a 5-yard facemask. It was a kinda nit-picky call, but there it was. The next play, Allred blows right past the blocker and totally blows up a reverse and the play ends with a loss of 12 or so. He just keeps coming and doesn't let anything disrupt his intensity. The crazy thing: Allred only ended up with 3 tackles on the day, but his presence had an undeniable effect on the game.
Jamal Harper also ended up with 3 tackles on the day, which is surprising considering how well the defense played. I would assume that Army's weak offensive line gave many of the tackles that would normally fall to the linebackers to the D-Linemen. Nick Moore ended up with 3 tackles as well, and Ben Hixson got in on a tackles, too.
The linebackers were active and showed good poise on the road. Their disruption of plays was key to holding Army's rushing attack in check.
Grade: B+
Secondary
Selling out to stop the run seemed to cost the secondary some shut-down ability, as Army rolled up 228 yards of passing offense. I'm not sure how upset we need to be about that, seeing as how, like against SMU, we gave up some yards on their last drive with a bunch of walk-ons and second/third stringers getting experience. On that last drive Army got 48 yards of passing and 13 yards in a penalty for the score. So, without that last drive we gave up only 180 yards of passing and 3 points. And I'd take that any day and twice on Saturday.
Baylor's secondary grabbed two interceptions, one on a very aware play by Maurice Linquist, grabbing a tipped pass from a prone position on the field. Additionally, Willie Andrews got two TFLs, one sack for -11 yard, and Mo Lane grabbed FOURTEEN tackles. The starting cornerbacks combined for 10 tackles, and the secondary forced two fumbles.
Considering the number of players played against Army and how deep we went on our depth chart, the secondary did a very good job of bottling up Army's offense and forcing turnovers.
Grade: B+
Overall Defense
The defense won this game for us, and it's been a long time since our defense has kept us in a road game this far from home. Forcing turnovers, hold Army's starter to 3.3ypc, and their team as a whole to 3.7 yards per play, the defense played very well. Taking out that last drive of the game, the defense allowed 236 yards of offense or 3.37 yards per play. That is a fantastic effort on the road.
There are still things that need to be worked on, specifically the three step drop passing attack that we've seen three games in a row now. I'm sure we've been selling out to stop the run and that affects it somewhat, and I'm sure we're not showing a lot of originality on defense to disguise some of what we'll do in conference play, but this is something that needs to be addressed. If we could close that option down some, then we'd truly have a defense ready to go toe-to-toe with any Big XII offense.
Grade: B+ ¶ 9/19/2005
