This game is enormous. Want to win it real bad. It's got all the feels of a swing game for the rest of our season, considering we are small home favorites and stand to be TD+ underdogs in our next two games. It's pivotal to be 2-1 heading into the UT game at home. Here's what I think are the three biggest keys to the game.
UH's Pass Rush v. Tech's OL, RBs, TEs, and Donovan Smith
This is a big one. UH has what appears to be legitimate P5 pass-rushing options. They call their D-line "Sack Ave" and absolutely got after UTSA. Generated 32 pressures and 4 sacks. For comparison, UH had just 13 pressures v. Tech last year.
#44 D'Anthony Jones - 6'2 270 lbs. Unheralded JUCO Transfer. Had a sack in last year's game in Houston. High motor guy.
#0 Derek Parrish - 6'2 245 lbs. No offers out of Pearland from anyone but UH. Had a sack in last year's game in Houston. Another high motor guy. Had surgery on his hand about a week ago, but still played damn near every snap against UTSA.
#9 Nelson Ceaser - 6'3 245. Legit 4 star prospect out of Missouri City. Had a Tech offer. This guy must be a physical freak. Played primarily on the interior DL last year. This year, he plays everywhere. He was used to spy UTSA's QB quite a bit last Saturday, and I bet they employ the same strategy this week. Was credited with 9 pressures and a sack against UTSA.
They have some other options but these are the guys that will have our attention. We're going to learn a lot about Monroe Mills this week. I'm a little nervous for him. He's played 69 career snaps. I don't think any have been against a P5 team. Real bullets will be flying Saturday. I don't think he will be physically disadvantaged like he might be a couple times later on in the year against some of the Big 12 pass rushers, so we need him to hold up on Saturday. It could only get worse for him from here.
I'm not as worried about Caleb Rogers. But, as mentioned above, the pass rushers are only going to get better from here on out. Him having trouble against UH is a really bad indicator for the rest of the season.
Donovan Smith is listed in bold as part of this match-up because he's going to be critical in negating UH's pass rush. If they are winning battles on the edge, will UH also be able to contain him when the pocket breaks down? Frank Harris for UTSA had his moments getting loose against UH in these spots. But he's a different runner than Donovan -- a little faster, much slighter, not as big of an arm. Donovan should be tougher to bring down and could make UH pay deeper downfield in scramble scenarios.
Our Secondary v. UH's WRs
UH has some real dudes at WR. Well, at least one. #1 Tank Dell will be one of the fastest, most electric guys we play all year. He's a burner. I think he plays in the NFL if his body can hold up. I'd like to see Muddy Waters and Reggie Pearson get their hands on him a couple times with bad intentions to see if we can knock him out of the game. I think the game plan has to be to try to deny him the ball (and that goes for special teams too... Austin McNamara needs to be on point (he will be)). Who covers him? I have no idea. 64 of his 74 snaps against UTSA were in the slot. I don't think we use Rayshad or Frye or Dunlap on him. They probably take the outside guys. Blankenbaker? Dadrian? Muddy?
#10 Matthew Golden is another slender-build burner. He will play outside and draw one of our top 3 corners. Got to keep him in front.
#18 Joseph Manjack is a former 4-star that was castaway-ed by Lincoln Riley at USC. He looks pretty good and may have passed up Kesean Carter if their usage against UTSA is any indicator.
#8 Ke'Sean Carter didn't play that much on Saturday and only ran 14 routes. I wonder if his dad is b*tching on twitter about his usage or playing time the way he did when he played for Kingsbury or Wells? Still, we know he's pretty good and he's played quite a bit of football by now. Really physical for his build and can definitely run.
#85 Christian Trahan is a monster TE that is heavily involved in their passing game (30 routes ran).
I am primarily worried about their speed guys getting behind us. Or catching the ball in front of us with a lot of room to operate. This will be a really good test for our secondary. Unlike the test for our OL, it may not get too terribly tougher for our secondary going forward. We will definitely face larger, more physical WRs in the Big 12, but maybe not the kind of top-end speed that UH will have.
Our Defense v. Clayton Tune's Legs
It's uncanny. When sh*t hits the fan, Tune is running the ball. The most critical downs on Saturday for our defense will be Tune runs. There will be designed runs on 3rd and medium. And there will be scrambles on 3rd and long. If we stop him from running the ball effectively, we will win this game. He's a much better athlete than you might expect (so you're saying he's white, huh?). Had 8 carries for 66 yards, a TD, and a 2-pt conversion against UTSA. I bet you those 8 runs were the highest-leverage plays of the game. Against us last year, Tune had 8 carries for 59 yards and a TD. The rest of their team carried the ball 21 times for just 44 yards.
Houston's OL had problems against UTSA. I believe we'll be able to get after him on dropbacks. They (still) don't have an answer for Tyree Wilson. But can we get home on plays where Tyree and others win 1v1s? Or will they turn in to big runs by Tune. We also need to tee off on Tay'Zahn Henry when he's in pass pro. He got knocked out of the UTSA game (shocker), but he's not going to be effective blocking our edge rushers.
I didn't really notice it (I'm also not a football coach), but our coaching staff was pretty critical of our edge guys for letting Murray State's QB get outside the pocket and connect on some of those deep throws. We've got to be sound on Saturday. Tune is also willing to put his body in harm's way. Would love to see Reggie Pearson get a clean shot at him. He's got the potential for getting knocked out of the game if he isn't careful.
Ryan left it all out on the field in everything he did. In his honor, we bring you Fields of Gold, so that others facing bone cancer can keep on playing. A portion of proceeds from every case sold is donated to The Little Warrior Foundation.
The Little Warrior Foundation's mission is to fund & find a lasting cure for childhood cancer, with a specific focus on Ewing's Sarcoma.
shop.summerlandwinebrands.com
@Saynotobarefoot
UH's Pass Rush v. Tech's OL, RBs, TEs, and Donovan Smith
This is a big one. UH has what appears to be legitimate P5 pass-rushing options. They call their D-line "Sack Ave" and absolutely got after UTSA. Generated 32 pressures and 4 sacks. For comparison, UH had just 13 pressures v. Tech last year.
#44 D'Anthony Jones - 6'2 270 lbs. Unheralded JUCO Transfer. Had a sack in last year's game in Houston. High motor guy.
#0 Derek Parrish - 6'2 245 lbs. No offers out of Pearland from anyone but UH. Had a sack in last year's game in Houston. Another high motor guy. Had surgery on his hand about a week ago, but still played damn near every snap against UTSA.
#9 Nelson Ceaser - 6'3 245. Legit 4 star prospect out of Missouri City. Had a Tech offer. This guy must be a physical freak. Played primarily on the interior DL last year. This year, he plays everywhere. He was used to spy UTSA's QB quite a bit last Saturday, and I bet they employ the same strategy this week. Was credited with 9 pressures and a sack against UTSA.
They have some other options but these are the guys that will have our attention. We're going to learn a lot about Monroe Mills this week. I'm a little nervous for him. He's played 69 career snaps. I don't think any have been against a P5 team. Real bullets will be flying Saturday. I don't think he will be physically disadvantaged like he might be a couple times later on in the year against some of the Big 12 pass rushers, so we need him to hold up on Saturday. It could only get worse for him from here.
I'm not as worried about Caleb Rogers. But, as mentioned above, the pass rushers are only going to get better from here on out. Him having trouble against UH is a really bad indicator for the rest of the season.
Donovan Smith is listed in bold as part of this match-up because he's going to be critical in negating UH's pass rush. If they are winning battles on the edge, will UH also be able to contain him when the pocket breaks down? Frank Harris for UTSA had his moments getting loose against UH in these spots. But he's a different runner than Donovan -- a little faster, much slighter, not as big of an arm. Donovan should be tougher to bring down and could make UH pay deeper downfield in scramble scenarios.
Our Secondary v. UH's WRs
UH has some real dudes at WR. Well, at least one. #1 Tank Dell will be one of the fastest, most electric guys we play all year. He's a burner. I think he plays in the NFL if his body can hold up. I'd like to see Muddy Waters and Reggie Pearson get their hands on him a couple times with bad intentions to see if we can knock him out of the game. I think the game plan has to be to try to deny him the ball (and that goes for special teams too... Austin McNamara needs to be on point (he will be)). Who covers him? I have no idea. 64 of his 74 snaps against UTSA were in the slot. I don't think we use Rayshad or Frye or Dunlap on him. They probably take the outside guys. Blankenbaker? Dadrian? Muddy?
#10 Matthew Golden is another slender-build burner. He will play outside and draw one of our top 3 corners. Got to keep him in front.
#18 Joseph Manjack is a former 4-star that was castaway-ed by Lincoln Riley at USC. He looks pretty good and may have passed up Kesean Carter if their usage against UTSA is any indicator.
#8 Ke'Sean Carter didn't play that much on Saturday and only ran 14 routes. I wonder if his dad is b*tching on twitter about his usage or playing time the way he did when he played for Kingsbury or Wells? Still, we know he's pretty good and he's played quite a bit of football by now. Really physical for his build and can definitely run.
#85 Christian Trahan is a monster TE that is heavily involved in their passing game (30 routes ran).
I am primarily worried about their speed guys getting behind us. Or catching the ball in front of us with a lot of room to operate. This will be a really good test for our secondary. Unlike the test for our OL, it may not get too terribly tougher for our secondary going forward. We will definitely face larger, more physical WRs in the Big 12, but maybe not the kind of top-end speed that UH will have.
Our Defense v. Clayton Tune's Legs
It's uncanny. When sh*t hits the fan, Tune is running the ball. The most critical downs on Saturday for our defense will be Tune runs. There will be designed runs on 3rd and medium. And there will be scrambles on 3rd and long. If we stop him from running the ball effectively, we will win this game. He's a much better athlete than you might expect (so you're saying he's white, huh?). Had 8 carries for 66 yards, a TD, and a 2-pt conversion against UTSA. I bet you those 8 runs were the highest-leverage plays of the game. Against us last year, Tune had 8 carries for 59 yards and a TD. The rest of their team carried the ball 21 times for just 44 yards.
Houston's OL had problems against UTSA. I believe we'll be able to get after him on dropbacks. They (still) don't have an answer for Tyree Wilson. But can we get home on plays where Tyree and others win 1v1s? Or will they turn in to big runs by Tune. We also need to tee off on Tay'Zahn Henry when he's in pass pro. He got knocked out of the UTSA game (shocker), but he's not going to be effective blocking our edge rushers.
I didn't really notice it (I'm also not a football coach), but our coaching staff was pretty critical of our edge guys for letting Murray State's QB get outside the pocket and connect on some of those deep throws. We've got to be sound on Saturday. Tune is also willing to put his body in harm's way. Would love to see Reggie Pearson get a clean shot at him. He's got the potential for getting knocked out of the game if he isn't careful.
Ryan left it all out on the field in everything he did. In his honor, we bring you Fields of Gold, so that others facing bone cancer can keep on playing. A portion of proceeds from every case sold is donated to The Little Warrior Foundation.
The Little Warrior Foundation's mission is to fund & find a lasting cure for childhood cancer, with a specific focus on Ewing's Sarcoma.
Summerland Wine Brands
shop.summerlandwinebrands.com
@Saynotobarefoot
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