Baylor Football Blog
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Top 5
Here are the Top 5 positives and the Top 5 negatives Baylor fans should take away from the TCU/BU game.
Top 5 Positives:
5. The offense.
It is at least as good as last years. It might not be better yet, but we produced more than we averaged last year, and looked good at times.
4. Daniel Sepulveda.
Coming off his injury, he boomed a huge punt that pinned TCU at their own 15 yard line, and averaged over 43 yards per punt on the day. Not bad for coming back 4 weeks early. Hopefully he won't have to punt much this weekend and be able to be 100% by the time we head to Seattle.
3. The defense.
This battled hard for the top spot, but we gave up two late scores (last 18 minutes of the game), and had some trouble wrapping up on our tackles. There are a lot of young players out there, so that should get better, but they didn't deserve #1 or #2 this week.
2. Terrance Parks at Receiver.
The guy looked very good out there, showed very good hands and got up the field quickly after the catch.
1. The offensive line.
We had a couple problems with penalties early, but only gave up one sack on the day and gave Bell
Top 5 Negatives:
5. Penalties.
I know one of Jason Smith's penalties was bogus, but twice we took ourselves out of field goal range because of penalties. Havens was within a couple feet of nailing a 47-yard field goal. His accuracy when under 40-yards: 100%. More than 40-yards: ~50%.
4. Kickcoverage.
I've never understood why it's so hard to stay in your lane when on kick coverage. Really, how often does this need to be practiced? That 69-yard kickoff return was the beginning of a huge shift in momentum, and it was easily fixable. We stop him between the 20 and the 30, and we likely get another 3 and out. Instead, we give them great field position so that when we shut down their offense, they are still able to kick the field goal.
3. Misdirection defense.
I don't know how many times TCU got big yardage on the counter plays, or the pump-fake to one side, screen to the other plays. But we need to learn not to overpursue. I'm hoping experience will help with this.
2. Red-zone.
I know, I know, we turned the ball over or got penalties. It's not like we floundered through 3 downs and had to settle for a FG, but we didn't score at ALL. We have to settle down when we get into the redzone, and we have to realize when we are that close to scoring, we can't be careless with the ball.
1. Shawn Bell's ball placement.
Shawn has to learn to lead his receviers and hit them in stride. This offense is predicated on yards gained after the catch. Sure, you only have to throw the ball five yards, but you should at least give the receiver a chance to turn that into a big play. Zeigler and Shelton were making NFL-caliber catches, and getting 7 yards for them. We need to let our playmakers make plays. ¶ 9/05/2006 0 Comments
Top 5 Positives:
5. The offense.
It is at least as good as last years. It might not be better yet, but we produced more than we averaged last year, and looked good at times.
4. Daniel Sepulveda.
Coming off his injury, he boomed a huge punt that pinned TCU at their own 15 yard line, and averaged over 43 yards per punt on the day. Not bad for coming back 4 weeks early. Hopefully he won't have to punt much this weekend and be able to be 100% by the time we head to Seattle.
3. The defense.
This battled hard for the top spot, but we gave up two late scores (last 18 minutes of the game), and had some trouble wrapping up on our tackles. There are a lot of young players out there, so that should get better, but they didn't deserve #1 or #2 this week.
2. Terrance Parks at Receiver.
The guy looked very good out there, showed very good hands and got up the field quickly after the catch.
1. The offensive line.
We had a couple problems with penalties early, but only gave up one sack on the day and gave Bell
Top 5 Negatives:
5. Penalties.
I know one of Jason Smith's penalties was bogus, but twice we took ourselves out of field goal range because of penalties. Havens was within a couple feet of nailing a 47-yard field goal. His accuracy when under 40-yards: 100%. More than 40-yards: ~50%.
4. Kickcoverage.
I've never understood why it's so hard to stay in your lane when on kick coverage. Really, how often does this need to be practiced? That 69-yard kickoff return was the beginning of a huge shift in momentum, and it was easily fixable. We stop him between the 20 and the 30, and we likely get another 3 and out. Instead, we give them great field position so that when we shut down their offense, they are still able to kick the field goal.
3. Misdirection defense.
I don't know how many times TCU got big yardage on the counter plays, or the pump-fake to one side, screen to the other plays. But we need to learn not to overpursue. I'm hoping experience will help with this.
2. Red-zone.
I know, I know, we turned the ball over or got penalties. It's not like we floundered through 3 downs and had to settle for a FG, but we didn't score at ALL. We have to settle down when we get into the redzone, and we have to realize when we are that close to scoring, we can't be careless with the ball.
1. Shawn Bell's ball placement.
Shawn has to learn to lead his receviers and hit them in stride. This offense is predicated on yards gained after the catch. Sure, you only have to throw the ball five yards, but you should at least give the receiver a chance to turn that into a big play. Zeigler and Shelton were making NFL-caliber catches, and getting 7 yards for them. We need to let our playmakers make plays. ¶ 9/05/2006 0 Comments
