(09-14-2015 10:30 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 10:08 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Rice has actually been doing this. Looking at last year, both Julius White and Malcom Hill were offensive players that were converted to safety. This year Rice has former WR Derek Brown playing DE and at least tried Aston Walter at CB. I think safety Cole Thomas was an offensive player as well in HS.

I know we've done some of that, and with some good results. I'd do more. I'd keep doing it until the problem is solved. I'd accept even being a bit thin at RB or WR if that's what it took to prevent the big play in the secondary.

No team ever completely eliminates those plays. But reducing them is the goal, and that's something that can be tracked and measured.

(09-14-2015 11:06 AM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 10:30 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 10:08 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Rice has actually been doing this. Looking at last year, both Julius White and Malcom Hill were offensive players that were converted to safety. This year Rice has former WR Derek Brown playing DE and at least tried Aston Walter at CB. I think safety Cole Thomas was an offensive player as well in HS.

I know we've done some of that, and with some good results. I'd do more. I'd keep doing it until the problem is solved. I'd accept even being a bit thin at RB or WR if that's what it took to prevent the big play in the secondary.

No team ever completely eliminates those plays. But reducing them is the goal, and that's something that can be tracked and measured.

Agree, see Alabama (probably best defense in the NCAA over the last few years) versus Ohio State in the championship game last season. But we should be able to achieve a significant reduction from where we are now.

(09-14-2015 11:10 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 11:06 AM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 10:30 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 10:08 AM)mrbig Wrote:  Rice has actually been doing this. Looking at last year, both Julius White and Malcom Hill were offensive players that were converted to safety. This year Rice has former WR Derek Brown playing DE and at least tried Aston Walter at CB. I think safety Cole Thomas was an offensive player as well in HS.

I know we've done some of that, and with some good results. I'd do more. I'd keep doing it until the problem is solved. I'd accept even being a bit thin at RB or WR if that's what it took to prevent the big play in the secondary.

No team ever completely eliminates those plays. But reducing them is the goal, and that's something that can be tracked and measured.

Agree, see Alabama (probably best defense in the NCAA over the last few years) versus Ohio State in the championship game last season. But we should be able to achieve a significant reduction from where we are now.

Agreed. Part of that is recognizing personnel on the other team that we can't cover one-on-one. That Texas WR ran right past Pollard, so we either need more significant cushion when going one-on-one or to provide help over the top by not blitzing the safety on that side. Not sure who makes the call on how tight the initial coverage is, coach of CB though.

(09-14-2015 10:36 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(09-14-2015 08:14 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  As I see it, we have three problems:
1) Badly conceived passing attack
2) Vulnerability to the big play at the back end of the defense
3) Meltdowns in the kicking game

One other point, with regard to Walt's disagreement whether the failure to get signature wins is because we aren't good enough. You can't get signature wins if you're bad at 2) and 3), because those are precisely the things a better team will exploit if you push them to the limit. And you probably can't push them to the limit if you're bad at 1).

You can be about as good as we are overall, with different weaknesses, and still pull the upset. But being bad in these particular areas is especially harmful to any prospect you have of beating a better team. Fixing these specific areas is how you go about upsetting better teams. Not fixing those areas is how you keep losing to those teams. When I say we are not good enough to get signature wins, I mean that we are not good enough in these specific areas.

2 and 3 in my mind are related.

Most of the guys on cover teams are 'at the back of the defense', right?

UT fan broke down some of the positive plays for both teams (but mostly Texas) here:

http://www.hornsports.com/forums/topic/1...lm-review/