Baylor Football Blog
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Army Offense Preview
After opening their game against Boston College with a 12-play 80-yard drive, Army went on to punt or turn the ball over on all but one possession; when they missed a 37 yard FG. While dominating the TOP in the first half, 19:05 to 10:55, Army could only hold onto the ball for 9:55 in the second half. Their spread offense only spread the ball to 4 receivers (3 with 5 catches, one with 2) and their star RB carried 27 times for 81 yards (2.6ypc). Their scoring drive was also helped by a pair of BC penalties, worth 20 yards. Without that one drive to open the game, Army managed only 170 yards on 55 plays (3.1yards per play).
Let's look position by position and see how Army stacks up against Baylor's defense:
Quarterback:
Zac Dahman (6-0 179) has been the starter the last two years for Army. Last year he threw for 1,767 yards with 9 TDs and 7 interceptions. He's not a star, he's a bus driver. His job is to not make mistakes and to hand the ball off to Carlton Jones.
Last week, he got the handing off part right, but faltered about in the zero-mistakes category. He threw 2 interceptions in the game, while throwing for 154 yards, completing 53% of his passes. He averaged 4.81 yards per attempt and 9 yards per completion. For Baylor fans, think of Shawn Bell with a little bit more of a tendency to throw interceptions.
Baylor's secondary should be able to bottle the passing game up, if they can close on those short, underneath routes more effectively. I'm sure that will be a point of emphasis this week in practice. Dahman doesn't have a big arm, so we don't have to worry about him beating us deep, but those short routes have got to be shut down.
Runningback:
Carlton Jones (5-9 197) was a much heralded running back last year, rushing for 1,269 yards and 17 touchdowns. This year he is without the veteran offensive line that cleared the way for him and will have to do more things on his own. Against Boston College, Jones ran 27 times for 81 yards (2.6ypc). He caught 5 passes for 12 yards (2.4ypc) with a long of 8 yards.
Mike Viti (5-10 242), Army's fullback, got only one carry for 2 yards, but Army is fine with him simply blocking the way for Jones.
With the success that Boston College had shutting this offense down, I wouldn't be surprised to see Baylor use a very similar scheme. Baylor's defensive ends are doing a good job stringing running plays out to the sideline, but they need to do a better job of not over-running the play. We've gotten gashed up the middle by small backs because our DEs are so quick to try and sweep around the offensive tackles. Our front seven also needs to improve on bringing the runner down at first contact. We've given up a number of plays when we've had a player in the backfield, but let them escape and get 5 or 6 yards. If we can fix those two problems, Army might not get the one touchdown they had last week.
Wide Receivers:
Wide receivers was thought to be a strength of the team coming into the season. Army's starting wideouts Jeremy Trimble (6-0 212) and Jacob Murhpy (6-2 206) did a good job against BC collecting the ball and gaining yards. They both caught 5 passes with Murphy leading with 66 yards and Trimble gaining 54 yards with a touchdown. Together they averaged 12 yards per catch and will need to continue to have success against Baylor to open up the running lanes.
The only other people to catch passes were Jones and Uletkowski (6-3 244), Army's tight end. He's a big guy that has soft hands, and caught two passes against BC.
Altogether, I don't think that Army showed their full capabilities to pass and catch against BC. Hopefully, Baylor can do the same thing with some pressure. The receivers themselves don't scare me, when compared to our secondary, but if the defensive line can't get pressure, then we are (again) going to see a bunch of short passes go just over the first down marker.
Offensive Line:
They are small, inexperienced and they got beat up on last game. They average 6'3" and 276 pounds. 8 of their 10 players on their two deep weigh 282 or less. They have 4 players that weigh 262 or less on their two deep, including their starting RT Ray Zelenak (6-2 255), a sophomore. Only Bier has any experience at all. He earned two letters in his three previous years, at guard. He hasn't played center since high school and should still be adjusting to making protection calls and reading defenses on the college level.
Our defensive line is bigger, by far, than these guys. They SHOULD dominate them physically, not allowing Army room to run or time to pass. It might take a series or two for it to show, but they should not be able to fight long against our defensive line. Throw in the fact that they are playing a center that has one game of experience in his position and if we blitz it should be very effective.
Let me put it this way: If Bobby Ross could switch offensive lines with Samford right now, he would do it. In a heartbeat.
I think Baylor has the athletes that are needed to shut this offense down. I doubt they score more than 14 points, and I wouldn't be shocked if we got a shutout. That said, this game is our first real road test and we can expect some nerves to show. But it should be good preparation for our games against A&M and ISU. Expect some lapses in defense, but it's also time for Baylor fans to expect our defense to dominate opponents. And this is a game when that expectation should become a reality. ¶ 9/13/2005 0 Comments
After opening their game against Boston College with a 12-play 80-yard drive, Army went on to punt or turn the ball over on all but one possession; when they missed a 37 yard FG. While dominating the TOP in the first half, 19:05 to 10:55, Army could only hold onto the ball for 9:55 in the second half. Their spread offense only spread the ball to 4 receivers (3 with 5 catches, one with 2) and their star RB carried 27 times for 81 yards (2.6ypc). Their scoring drive was also helped by a pair of BC penalties, worth 20 yards. Without that one drive to open the game, Army managed only 170 yards on 55 plays (3.1yards per play).
Let's look position by position and see how Army stacks up against Baylor's defense:
Quarterback:
Zac Dahman (6-0 179) has been the starter the last two years for Army. Last year he threw for 1,767 yards with 9 TDs and 7 interceptions. He's not a star, he's a bus driver. His job is to not make mistakes and to hand the ball off to Carlton Jones.
Last week, he got the handing off part right, but faltered about in the zero-mistakes category. He threw 2 interceptions in the game, while throwing for 154 yards, completing 53% of his passes. He averaged 4.81 yards per attempt and 9 yards per completion. For Baylor fans, think of Shawn Bell with a little bit more of a tendency to throw interceptions.
Baylor's secondary should be able to bottle the passing game up, if they can close on those short, underneath routes more effectively. I'm sure that will be a point of emphasis this week in practice. Dahman doesn't have a big arm, so we don't have to worry about him beating us deep, but those short routes have got to be shut down.
Runningback:
Carlton Jones (5-9 197) was a much heralded running back last year, rushing for 1,269 yards and 17 touchdowns. This year he is without the veteran offensive line that cleared the way for him and will have to do more things on his own. Against Boston College, Jones ran 27 times for 81 yards (2.6ypc). He caught 5 passes for 12 yards (2.4ypc) with a long of 8 yards.
Mike Viti (5-10 242), Army's fullback, got only one carry for 2 yards, but Army is fine with him simply blocking the way for Jones.
With the success that Boston College had shutting this offense down, I wouldn't be surprised to see Baylor use a very similar scheme. Baylor's defensive ends are doing a good job stringing running plays out to the sideline, but they need to do a better job of not over-running the play. We've gotten gashed up the middle by small backs because our DEs are so quick to try and sweep around the offensive tackles. Our front seven also needs to improve on bringing the runner down at first contact. We've given up a number of plays when we've had a player in the backfield, but let them escape and get 5 or 6 yards. If we can fix those two problems, Army might not get the one touchdown they had last week.
Wide Receivers:
Wide receivers was thought to be a strength of the team coming into the season. Army's starting wideouts Jeremy Trimble (6-0 212) and Jacob Murhpy (6-2 206) did a good job against BC collecting the ball and gaining yards. They both caught 5 passes with Murphy leading with 66 yards and Trimble gaining 54 yards with a touchdown. Together they averaged 12 yards per catch and will need to continue to have success against Baylor to open up the running lanes.
The only other people to catch passes were Jones and Uletkowski (6-3 244), Army's tight end. He's a big guy that has soft hands, and caught two passes against BC.
Altogether, I don't think that Army showed their full capabilities to pass and catch against BC. Hopefully, Baylor can do the same thing with some pressure. The receivers themselves don't scare me, when compared to our secondary, but if the defensive line can't get pressure, then we are (again) going to see a bunch of short passes go just over the first down marker.
Offensive Line:
They are small, inexperienced and they got beat up on last game. They average 6'3" and 276 pounds. 8 of their 10 players on their two deep weigh 282 or less. They have 4 players that weigh 262 or less on their two deep, including their starting RT Ray Zelenak (6-2 255), a sophomore. Only Bier has any experience at all. He earned two letters in his three previous years, at guard. He hasn't played center since high school and should still be adjusting to making protection calls and reading defenses on the college level.
Our defensive line is bigger, by far, than these guys. They SHOULD dominate them physically, not allowing Army room to run or time to pass. It might take a series or two for it to show, but they should not be able to fight long against our defensive line. Throw in the fact that they are playing a center that has one game of experience in his position and if we blitz it should be very effective.
Let me put it this way: If Bobby Ross could switch offensive lines with Samford right now, he would do it. In a heartbeat.
I think Baylor has the athletes that are needed to shut this offense down. I doubt they score more than 14 points, and I wouldn't be shocked if we got a shutout. That said, this game is our first real road test and we can expect some nerves to show. But it should be good preparation for our games against A&M and ISU. Expect some lapses in defense, but it's also time for Baylor fans to expect our defense to dominate opponents. And this is a game when that expectation should become a reality. ¶ 9/13/2005 0 Comments
