Thursday, September 08, 2005
Keys to the Game
Keys to the Game
Samford will soon be on their way to meet the Bears in Waco and I’d like to look at the big picture of the game. What does the game mean to each of the teams and what is it going to take for them to win? Knowing myself like I do, I’ll probably wander around all sorts of topics about the game, so just bear with me.
Samford: What does the game mean?
For Samford, the game against EWC wasn’t a challenge. EWC is a brand new program and they didn’t have the talent or even a full coaching staff. So Samford is looking for a barometer. How good are we? For a D1-AA team like Samford, playing a BCS conference team, even one with the reputation of Baylor, is a huge step up in competition. Additionally, they are looking for a win, of course. They know they are a huge underdog (some off-shore casinos are giving Samford 29 points). But this is their Superbowl. If they can somehow pull this win off, they will have a huge publicity and recruiting cache to play off of. The Baylor team will have to be aware of this, and know that the Samford players are going to be intense and passionate about the game.
Baylor: What does the game mean?
It’s been years since Baylor has started 2-0, and this is a great opportunity to get that start. Baylor is looking to solidify their bowl-hopes with this non-conference schedule, and beating Samford is key to that.
Baylor is also looking to polish some of the rough spots that showed up in the SMU game. Bell needs to get into rhythm with his receivers. The offensive line needs to show that they can blow people off the ball from the first snap. The kick coverage squad needs to swarm to the returner and bring them down. And perhaps the biggest concern is the defense and their missed tackles.
Almost as important is getting the second and third string players some playing time. If Baylor is able to do that, it will mean that the first squads built a strong lead early in the game. Terrance Parks, the young receivers and the young secondary players are the ones most in needs of some playing time, and the younger defensive linemen could use some playing time as well.
So for Baylor the game means an opportunity to get one step closer to a bowl, and a chance to improve the experience of their depth and polish the skills of the starters.
Samford: How do they win?
The key to a Samford victory is going to have to be turnovers. They can’t muscle up the Baylor lines, and they don’t have the gamebreakers at the skill positions, so they will have to force turnovers and short fields. That will limit Baylor’s scoring opportunities, make Baylor players think too much and give them shorter fields to work with.
Baylor: How do they win?
Offensive consistency and good tackling. There don’t need to be any outstanding performances from any single player, there just needs to consistent effort and good execution. Baylor players also need to be sure that they equal the intensity of the Samford players. If they can come out and score quick and break the Samford teams will, the game will be much easier. But if Baylor allows Samford to get some drives going or even score early, then the Bulldogs confidence is going to get up. The Bears need to come out fast, make the Bulldogs doubt themselves and then pound them over and over again.
Overall, this is definitely the easiest of Baylor’s opponents this season. But Baylor needs to stay focused, because this game can do a lot for their future success against tougher opponents. Polishing their passing game will pay dividends as soon as the next week against Army, as can fixing the missed tackle problem. The confidence boost that will come from being 2-0 and having a chance at being 3-0 coming out of the non-conference season will be good for the Bears going into the conference play.
PREDICTION TIME:
Baylor 56
Samford 9 ¶ 9/08/2005
Samford will soon be on their way to meet the Bears in Waco and I’d like to look at the big picture of the game. What does the game mean to each of the teams and what is it going to take for them to win? Knowing myself like I do, I’ll probably wander around all sorts of topics about the game, so just bear with me.
Samford: What does the game mean?
For Samford, the game against EWC wasn’t a challenge. EWC is a brand new program and they didn’t have the talent or even a full coaching staff. So Samford is looking for a barometer. How good are we? For a D1-AA team like Samford, playing a BCS conference team, even one with the reputation of Baylor, is a huge step up in competition. Additionally, they are looking for a win, of course. They know they are a huge underdog (some off-shore casinos are giving Samford 29 points). But this is their Superbowl. If they can somehow pull this win off, they will have a huge publicity and recruiting cache to play off of. The Baylor team will have to be aware of this, and know that the Samford players are going to be intense and passionate about the game.
Baylor: What does the game mean?
It’s been years since Baylor has started 2-0, and this is a great opportunity to get that start. Baylor is looking to solidify their bowl-hopes with this non-conference schedule, and beating Samford is key to that.
Baylor is also looking to polish some of the rough spots that showed up in the SMU game. Bell needs to get into rhythm with his receivers. The offensive line needs to show that they can blow people off the ball from the first snap. The kick coverage squad needs to swarm to the returner and bring them down. And perhaps the biggest concern is the defense and their missed tackles.
Almost as important is getting the second and third string players some playing time. If Baylor is able to do that, it will mean that the first squads built a strong lead early in the game. Terrance Parks, the young receivers and the young secondary players are the ones most in needs of some playing time, and the younger defensive linemen could use some playing time as well.
So for Baylor the game means an opportunity to get one step closer to a bowl, and a chance to improve the experience of their depth and polish the skills of the starters.
Samford: How do they win?
The key to a Samford victory is going to have to be turnovers. They can’t muscle up the Baylor lines, and they don’t have the gamebreakers at the skill positions, so they will have to force turnovers and short fields. That will limit Baylor’s scoring opportunities, make Baylor players think too much and give them shorter fields to work with.
Baylor: How do they win?
Offensive consistency and good tackling. There don’t need to be any outstanding performances from any single player, there just needs to consistent effort and good execution. Baylor players also need to be sure that they equal the intensity of the Samford players. If they can come out and score quick and break the Samford teams will, the game will be much easier. But if Baylor allows Samford to get some drives going or even score early, then the Bulldogs confidence is going to get up. The Bears need to come out fast, make the Bulldogs doubt themselves and then pound them over and over again.
Overall, this is definitely the easiest of Baylor’s opponents this season. But Baylor needs to stay focused, because this game can do a lot for their future success against tougher opponents. Polishing their passing game will pay dividends as soon as the next week against Army, as can fixing the missed tackle problem. The confidence boost that will come from being 2-0 and having a chance at being 3-0 coming out of the non-conference season will be good for the Bears going into the conference play.
PREDICTION TIME:
Baylor 56
Samford 9 ¶ 9/08/2005
