Gents, my Liberty Bowl Preview wraps up at FWTCT. Part II: The Defenses is available for your enjoyment. Let's talk D!

I'd also like to thank you guys for all the input you gave me last week. It was a big help fleshing this thing out.

Here's a direct link to WMD's defense preview.

http://www.forwhomthecowbelltolls.com/20...ew-defense

D'oh! Thought I'd included the link in my initial post. 'Preciate it, 76!

I thought you put together a fair and insightful overview. To me, the matchup of the game looks to be the MSU WRs against the Rice CBs, as it has the looks of a game where MSU might decide to challenge strength against strength. That said, the strategy that I would use if I were the MSU coach and was limited to about 15 minutes to put together a strategy would be to run, run, run, on the Rice defense until they forced you to pass, due mainly to the size advantage of the MSU line.

On the other side of the ball, my perception is that Rice's blocking schemes contribute a lot to their rushing success, so it will be interesting to see how the rushing matchup against MSU's front seven plays out, insofar as scheme rather than matchups may be more important. Rice's OC (departed to KSU after the CUSA championship game) was an OL and OL coach. All of that said, to me, run blocking is one of the hardest parts of football to understand and evaluate whilst watching a game (as opposed to watching with the benefit of rewind and slow motion).

(12-27-2013 11:18 PM)War Machine Dawg Wrote:  D'oh! Thought I'd included the link in my initial post. 'Preciate it, 76!

My pleasure. Let me add my thanks for your great analysis!

@WMD - you said:

Quote:I find it interesting Rice had a better Scoring D but gave up more TDs.

I think you forgot Rice has played an extra game on the season. Given the total difference is only 35 (MSU) to 37 (Rice), it helps partially explain the difference (in that context, Rice has given up fewer TDs per game). The number of FGs given up can also skew it.

Thanks for both reviews.