TCU vs Texas Tech

[Grok]

Hmm, http://collegefootballnews.com/2004/Columnists/JH/Sept_18/TCU_TexasTech.htm

[DarkMinion]

I can't get the site to load for some reason, wanna paste the article?

[Grok]

By John Harris

a.  The middle is off limits – If there's anything to be learned from facing the Texas Tech offense, it's that you cannot allow the receivers to get into the middle of the field.  After watching Mike Leach's Red Raiders for the past few years, his receivers do their most damage when they are roaming free in the middle of the field.  Opposing defenses take the approach that if they're not beating us deep, we're doing our job.  Then, you look up and they have 56 points and 500 yards passing.  Throw it short, catch and run.  Hit the intermediate receiver in stride and let him gain yards after the catch.  Play high and low against zone coverage.  Everything done between the hashes, which keeps Sonny Cumbie from having to make tough throws outside of the hashes.  The answer?  Don't let him do it.  TCU must force those receivers out of the middle.  Collision them at the line of scrimmage and funnel them outside the hashes, make Cumbie throw the ball to the sideline.  Don't allow the receivers when they catch the ball to make significant yardage after the catch.  Tough to do, and easy to say, but the Horned Frog defense, which was shelled against Northwestern, must push the game to the sideline to have a chance of stopping the Red Raider passing game.

b.  You duck-ing me? – Red Raider defensive end Adell Duckett is one of the more underrated players in the Big XII conference.  Often overshadowed by Tech's offensive stars, Duckett has toiled in relative anonymity throughout his career, but he's got to have a great game Saturday for Tech to have any chance of winning this game.  Although he's a solid pass rusher, his main focus must be to shut down the perimeter running game, led by Lonta Hobbs, Robert Merrill and Kenny Boyd.  Facing tackle Anthony Alabi, one of the best players in CUSA, he's going to have be quick and physical, not allowing Alabi to reach him or root him out of the hole.  If Hobbs/Merrill/Boyd are able to 'get the corner', running downhill, forget it, it's over.  Furthermore, if Duckett gets 'hooked' by Alabi or a tight end, it ends up cutting off inside linebacker pursuit to the football.  Although TCU's passing game has been strong (see below), the running game, on turf no less, is 100% lethal, and Duckett has to do all he can to not let the TCU duo get loose.  They must have the same success stopping the Froggie running game as they did against DonTrell Moore last weekend to have any chance of winning this game.

c.  The new Triplets – It's one thing to have two fine running backs like Hobbs and Merrill, but it's another thing when you have three blazers like Reggie Harrell, Cory Rodgers and Michael DePriest.  QBs Tye Gunn and Brandon Hassell have gotten equal time on the field, with Hassell taking over the SMU game after Gunn was banged up.  Regardless, this QB duo has got the weapons as a nice accessory, in addition to fantastic ball carriers.  DePriest is a flyer and when he gets the ball in the open field, you won't catch him.  Harrell is perhaps the most complete receiver, and Rodgers is a versatile do-it all receiver/punt returner.  This set of receivers 'completes' this offensive package; no longer can defenses load the box to stop the running game or the option because Gunn/Hassell can get his receivers in single coverage or open in the deep middle of the field.  Tech's secondary is still a big question mark and they'll have a hard time matching the speed of the TCU receivers.  And, said secondary won't get a lot of linebacker help if those LBs are not stopping the run.  So, they'll be on the proverbial island with these burners.  Good luck.

Conclusion:  TCU's defense played much better last week against SMU, but the jury's still out on the secondary and their overall pass defense.  Brett Basanez of Northwestern tore the TCU secondary to shreds and that's not a good sign in preparation for the Red Raiders.  Keep an eye on safety Marvin Godbolt as he's the glue of the defense.  He's at his best when he's blitzing off the edge, so any additional heat he can bring on Cumbie will be much needed.  There's just no way that Tech is going to effectively shut down the TCU offense.  Think that the Red Raiders are fast, check out the Horned Frogs offensive stars on turf.  TCU – 45 vs. Tech - 31    

[DarkMinion]

Players to watch for Tech:

#88 Jarrett Hicks WR 6'4" 208:  Very good WR, only a RS Soph, saw significant playing time last year, averaging 150 yds and 1.5 TDs after 2 games.

#35 Bristol Olomua TE/IR 6'6" 265:  Freakishly gifted athlete, very menacing figure going over the middle.  Coach says he has the best hands on the team, surprisingly, and that's saying alot, because #88 has really good hands.

#19 Taurean Henderson RB 5'10" 205:  Very quick, versatile athlete.  Catches alot of passes out of the backfield as well as running the ball.  He will get alot of touches in this game.

#36 Antonio Huffman CB 6'0" 180: Shutdown corner.

I'll do some research on TCU and post some players for them too.

[Hazard]

My problem with Tech, and TCU for that matter, is a virtual lack of depth on both sides of the ball.

[Grok]

My problem with Tech, and TCU for that matter, is a virtual lack of depth on both sides of the ball.

Lack of depth is a problem for all Tier 2 schools.  Tier 3 and below cannot even fill out a first-string with stars, like Tech can do.  Tech's depth is improving though, as they get more wins over Tier 1 schools.  If they consistently win one against a Texas or an Oklahoma, the recruits will come and depth will improve.

Both FSU and Florida sucked badly (FSU worse) in the 70s.  Not only did we have no depth, we had no playmakers.  That changed as FSU and UF started getting wins over quality opponents ON TV, and the recruits started staying home in Florida.

Texas Tech is in ripe recruiting grounds.  They'll ge their share if it's a fun place to go win on TV.

[DarkMinion]

In the past, every time a recruit would choose us over Texas or A&M (and yes, it happens quite frequently, despite what you may think), within 2 weeks, that particular recruit's rating will drop spectacularly.   Usually at least a star rating.    For example, one of our WR's, Brandon Douglas, was a highly rated, 4-star recruit out of Mesquite, Texas.  He had offers from us, A&M, and Texas, among others.  He eventually committed to us, and within 3 days, his rivals star rating dropped to 3 stars, and his rank as a Texas WR dropped from #4 to #21.  Another good example is Armon Dorrough, who was one of the most highly touted WR recruits in the country (I think '00), ranked in the top 10, and a 5-star recruit.  He committed to Tech, and dropped to 3 stars within 2 weeks.  Apparently someone at Rivals saw this as going to far, and the next week his rating was bumped back up to 4-star.   But he still lost that top 10 in the country WR rank.

I am not the kind of guy to holler "CONSPIRACY", but I've seen this happen WAY too many times to think it's a coincidence.  And it doesn't just happen to us, it happens to TCU and several of the other D-1 colleges in Texas too.

It's gotten worse this year, in the last few weeks, all 8 of our current '05 commits have seen ratings drops, and I fully expect all of them to fall farther.  These guys simply do not want to play fair, because, quite frankly, they are scared of us, and what we are on the brink of becoming.

You can call me an idiot all you want, but there are alot of worried UT/A&M alums out there, because there is finally a danger of a 3rd elite program rising in Texas, and they do not want it to happen.   The reason is, that UT/A&M get most of the....no, excuse me, make that ALL of the money allotted to Texas schools by the federal government.  UT/A&M filter alot of this money to their branch schools, but schools like Baylor, Tech, TCU, UNT, Houston, etc...get nothing.   Oh, and guess who came up with this brilliant idea:  Texas governer Rick Perry....Texas A&M graduate.

[Grok]

Sorry DM, you're crazy.  Rivals is never wrong, and your recruits just suck.

j/k.  Of course we know it is true.  Recruits who commit to Texas get more stars.  Recruits who are favoring Texas get higher rankings.  Once they commit to a non-correct school, they get their rankings punished, by both Rivals and by Lemming.