My Keys to Winning vs. A&M…

[CaneTheGaytors]

There's really no gameplan discussion needed this week. Can we hold up on the lines? We haven't against an SEC team or Clemson in years and years and years. If we do, it'll be a game in the 4th quarter. If we don't, we're gonna get smoked like we usually do in these games. We can talk strategy until we're blue in the face, but at the end of the day can we open a hole and protect DVD on offense, and can we avoid getting pushed around on defense? Pretty much all that matters to me.

There’s many different ways to skin a cat.

Their D line is full of super talented dudes. They are all strong and fast. They overlooked App St., and paid the price. They’ll be up for this game, no doubt about it.

We don’t yet have the horses on the OL, in my opinion, to be able to consistently move the ball on the ground for good chunks against these dudes. Putting TVD in predictable 3 & 5 or longer downs consistently might get him seriously injured.

Nothing is more frustrating for a defense than when they are being kept off balance. It causes them to make mistakes, and to start cheating on their anticipation of the snap, which could lead to a few offsides penalties against them.

As far as our D line, we have been stout against the run so far, albeit it was against two very inferior teams talent wise in comparison to our roster. We have not been able to generate consistent pressure with just our DL so far this season. Hopefully Mesidor will be back at 100%, and the rest of our dudes come to play like if their lives depend on it.

My biggest worry is our LB’s and CB’s. If they don’t tighten **** up, it’s gonna be a long night.

 

[ddann]

Check the advanced box score Bill Connelly does for ESPN. App State had something like a 22% postgame win expectancy. They averaged 3.8 yards per play, and somehow 8.2 plays per drive. That's insane. That's like 3 yard gain, 4 yard gain, 3rd and 3....3 yard gain lol. All night long. 3.7% explosive play rate.

The A&M defense came to play. But their offense is sooooooo bad. Pretty much exactly what @SouthParkCane has been saying all month.

But the blueprint App State showed is not what you want. It's not going to work the majority of the time. You're not going to win a lot of games averaging 3.8 yards per play, running the ball 51 times, and 4.5 yards per pass.

Just key on Achane. Nobody else on their entire team is doing anything. They averaged 6.5 yards per play on plays involving Achane, and 4.3 YPP with everyone else. He is the key, focus on him, don't let him beat you, don't give them short fields, and make them have to play consistent offense to beat you. Do that, and protect the QB, and we'll score enough to win.

And if Max Johnson starts, don’t throw a shoe late in the 4th when you have the lead.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

App St was able to do it to them being undersized. Time for that Cristobal and Mirbal coached OL to shine.

I mean, not really on offense. They were incredibly inefficient. Remember, this offense scored a billion points against UNC the week before. Saturday, they averaged 3.8 yards per play. For context, in 2021, there was only 1 team in the country who averaged less than 4 yards per play. New Mexico at 3.79. So essentially, App State had a performance on offense that was equal to the worst offense in the country last season. Not great.

But they did hold up pretty well on defense. And we should be able to as well, considering you can essentially play 11 on 10 with how absolutely awful Haynes King is.

 

[CaneTheGaytors]

Have you watched A&M recently? They don't have a QB. All the adjustments in the world won't change that. I think, if we can stop their running game from even getting started, we walk right through them. Easier said than done tho

That same QB (King), passed for 364 yards in their opening week victory. To say that he cannot pass is asinine. He didn’t have a good game this past week, but the dude is a dual threat QB that can and will hurt us if our DB’s don’t tighten up, and if we give him all day to throw the ball.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

There’s many different ways to skin a cat.

Their D line is full of super talented dudes. They are all strong and fast. They overlooked App St., and paid the price. They’ll be up for this game, no doubt about it.

We don’t yet have the horses on the OL, in my opinion, to be able to consistently move the ball on the ground for good chunks against these dudes. Putting TVD in predictable 3 & 5 or longer downs consistently might get him seriously injured.

Nothing is more frustrating for a defense than when they are being kept off balance. It causes them to make mistakes, and to start cheating on their anticipation of the snap, which could lead to a few offsides penalties against them.

As far as our D line, we have been stout against the run so far, albeit it was against two very inferior teams talent wise in comparison to our roster. We have not been able to generate consistent pressure with just our DL so far this season. Hopefully Mesidor will be back at 100%, and the rest of our dudes come to play like if their lives depend on it.

My biggest worry is our LB’s and CB’s. If they don’t tighten **** up, it’s gonna be a long night.

Agree with this, and it's why I've been saying for a month that I believe this is going to be a very low scoring game. Vegas agrees, the total is 48. For comparison, of all games this weekend involving any ranked teams, it's the lowest total out of any of them. If we can get to 30, we win the game.

You say my biggest worry is our LBs and CBs. I disagree, simply because I believe A&M is very, very bad on offense, and while I'm sure they'll play better than they did last week, I don't see them just chewing us up on that side. My biggest worry, as it has been for 10+ years, is our offensive line. We had a TON of complete busts last week. Against dudes half as talented as we'll see on Saturday. Just flat out brain-farts and total miscommunications resulting in multiple plays where an offensive lineman, or sometimes multiple, blocked literally no one. So can we not have those, and if we can, can we hold up at the point of attack? If we can just have a stalemate there, we should be able to score enough to win.

 

[CaneTheGaytors]

App State ran the ball 52 times and limited Texas A&M to just 38 plays and 18 min of possession. Worked fine for them.

Every game is different. Matchups are different every game. Good coaches make adjustments to their alignments and formations.

It’s not wise to think that what worked for App St. will necessarily work for us. Two totally different teams with different personnel and schemes. Hopefully Gattis realizes this and has some suited cards up his sleeve.

 

[CaneTheGaytors]

Agree with this, and it's why I've been saying for a month that I believe this is going to be a very low scoring game. Vegas agrees, the total is 48. For comparison, of all games this weekend involving any ranked teams, it's the lowest total out of any of them. If we can get to 30, we win the game.

You say my biggest worry is our LBs and CBs. I disagree, simply because I believe A&M is very, very bad on offense, and while I'm sure they'll play better than they did last week, I don't see them just chewing us up on that side. My biggest worry, as it has been for 10+ years, is our offensive line. We had a TON of complete busts last week. Against dudes half as talented as we'll see on Saturday. Just flat out brain-farts and total miscommunications resulting in multiple plays where an offensive lineman, or sometimes multiple, blocked literally no one. So can we not have those, and if we can, can we hold up at the point of attack? If we can just have a stalemate there, we should be able to score enough to win.

I didn’t say it was your biggest worry, I said it was my biggest worry.

Also, I agree with you. If we score 30 points this week; we should win the game. If we do and don’t win, then something went horribly wrong.

 

[OrangeBowlMagic]

I didn’t say it was your biggest worry, I said it was my biggest worry.

Also, I agree with you. If we score 30 points this week; we should win the game. If we do and don’t win, then something went horribly wrong.

I'm an idiot. I meant to say "you say your biggest worry..."

 

[CaneTheGaytors]

I'm an idiot. I meant to say "you say your biggest worry..."

No worries. I figured you may have meant that. I was just clarifying just in case.

 

[Empirical Cane]

I fear that you are correct. Don’t think that’s a good strategy for this game, but we shall see.

Worked for App State.

Then again Ive said for a long time Canes OL os nowhere near as good as unit in Boone.

 

[TitansHope]

There's really no gameplan discussion needed this week. Can we hold up on the lines? We haven't against an SEC team or Clemson in years and years and years. If we do, it'll be a game in the 4th quarter. If we don't, we're gonna get smoked like we usually do in these games. We can talk strategy until we're blue in the face, but at the end of the day can we open a hole and protect DVD on offense, and can we avoid getting pushed around on defense? Pretty much all that matters to me.

this is 100% correct, and it's what we brought mario in here to do. obviously the guy's not a miracle worker and i doubt we're gonna come out and totally dominate the trenches, but here's hoping we can do a respectable job unlike all the recent examples.

 

[FrancisSawyer]

Thanks, brother! I really doubt that we see it, too. I hope that I’m totally wrong, and that trying to pound the rock against them works, but I have a feeling that if we play conservative/tentatively, we’re gonna get smoked.

I agree but the thing that bothers me is that despite their loss to the mighty App Store, ATM is still seen as some super tough SEC squad that is going to run train on us if we don't play a perfect game. On top of that it's the whole thing that ATM is a wounded animal that is seething at their embarrassing loss to the mighty App Store.

***** that!!! Our coaching staff and our team should be chomping at the bit to go into their crib and bash them right in the teeth. ATM must have some self doubt creeping around in their heads. Good! Let's go in there with a purpose and take it to them from the opening kick. We go in swinging and take an early lead and those frontrunners just might fold up their tent and assume fetal position.

Doing the above is what has defined UM football when we were on our game. Not some goofy false bravado but knowing when an opponent might be a bit down and snapping their neck. What the heck has ATM done to earn all this praise and respect? They haven't done a damned thing. Our guys should go into this game ****ed. ****ed that these goof balls are in our way. ****ed that they are an underdog to a team that just got beat by the mighty App Store in their own crib! ***** ATM! Sure respect for your opponent is fine but we don't need to give these yahoos too much respect.

Our team is at the beginning of a transition and the beginning of the tenure of a new staff, an elite staff. Our guys maybe a bit young and maybe a bit unsure of themselves to be the stone cold killers I described above but this is where that elite staff comes in. Preparing us mentally for this game will be the challenge for Mario and staff. This is where team leaders make their presence felt. This is where TVD takes it up on himself to be the Alpha and have his guys ready to score 50. This is where we find out who the true leaders on defense are. This is where Josh Gattis and Kevin Steele make their money. This is where that coaching experience comes into play.

I can't overemphasize the importance of having the right mindset and the psychological edge. The team takes on the personality of the head coach. Mario and staff have to eradicate that tentative, fearful play not to lose mentality from this program. That mental toughness, the psychological edge and the confidence that comes from expecting to win is absolutely crucial to building a winning culture and it starts with a win in this type of game. More than anything, I want to see that start Saturday. Go Canes!

 

[TriStarCane]

If I’m Jimbo, I just throw 9 routes all day and let my WRs outrun our CBs. We haven’t shown we can cover vertically and we don’t have a pass rush to get to the QB.

 

[IndayArtHauz]

If I’m Jimbo, I just throw 9 routes all day and let my WRs outrun our CBs. We haven’t shown we can cover vertically and we don’t have a pass rush to get to the QB.

This may be a good idea if your QB isn’t Haynes King. The kid is bad bad.

 

[TriStarCane]

This may be a good idea if your QB isn’t Haynes King. The kid is bad bad.

The last two QBs were bad too and they had success. He just needs to throw the ball 20 yards. The next time we stop it will be the first

 

[ssvir]

…a brief analysis.

In my opinion, the best chance that we’ll have to win this Saturday is if we play aggressive football from the get go.

On offense, I would love to see us call a pass on first down to start the game. I think that aTm will stack the box to try to stop our running game. Would love to see something like what Lashlee successfully called last year a few times (a pass design that gets the ball to either Arroyo or Mallory), or a wheel route to Rooster or Parrish. I’d also like to see more passes overall on 1st down to keep them off-balance and having to guess.

On D, I’d love to see Flagg and Ivey riding the pine. A&M has some serious speed at the skill positions, and their QB can run. I’d play a faster LB combo, and keep a spy at all times on the Aggie’s QB. From what I’ve seen of him, his strength is as a runner. If Flagg is out there, this guy will gash us, and he may house a long run. I’d try to make him beat us by blitzing more than we have so far this season, and by mixing/disguising coverages.

Ivey, as I stated, should not see the field as a starter ever again at the U. Great kid, but he is a serious liability, specially in a big game like this one. Wish that they would start Al Blades and Stevenson, with Couch at boundary.

If our lines come to play, we have a shot. Hoping that TVD puts it all together this week. He had mentioned in the pre-season that he had talked to Gattis about putting some plays in that he’s already comfortable and familiar with from last season. Hopefully Gattis listened and unleashes some of those type of plays this week.

It’s now or never. Gotta at least play tough and make it a close one. Let’s Go Canes!

 

[canadianhurricane]

That same QB (King), passed for 364 yards in their opening week victory. To say that he cannot pass is asinine. He didn’t have a good game this past week, but the dude is a dual threat QB that can and will hurt us if our DB’s don’t tighten up, and if we give him all day to throw the ball.

Against Sam Houston St? He should pass for 300+ against them! Isn't he "SEC" ?

I understand your perspective. Prepare for the worst. For me, after watching both their games this year, I'm more concerned about #6. Even with as stoppy as our DBs are been, I think we should still load the box and force them to throw

 

[E1k]

Be aggressive early and on early downs, finish drives

Get to the ball on defense, force them into 3rd n mediums and longs

If we can do that and get a lead to make them have to pass we can create turnovers and they will fold

 

[arinand1]

That same QB (King), passed for 364 yards in their opening week victory. To say that he cannot pass is asinine. He didn’t have a good game this past week, but the dude is a dual threat QB that can and will hurt us if our DB’s don’t tighten up, and if we give him all day to throw the ball.

They struggled to move the ball most of that game from what I watched. Around 200 of those passing yards came on three or four plays that broke long, a couple by Ainias Smith and Yulkeith Brown. IIRC, two of those were wide open, like nobody within 10 yards open. Basically all the rest were very short passes, he still managed to throw two interceptions, and they struggled to move the ball consistently all game. Against an (respectable, I suppose) FCS squad.

I’m definitely not suggesting that the team should take any QB they play lightly, but the guy is seriously BAD.

 

[3GC]

Mario/Gattis are gping to pound the rock.

and get pounded..