No reason to over-analyze this game, because if I have ever seen a game that a team pulled the foot off the pedal it was Saturday. This game could have easily been a lot worse than it was! We were a physically imposing team that did whatever we wanted to do whenever we wanted to do it. I will say I was hard on BA at times last year for things he did or didn't do. However, without a doubt he looked better yesterday than he has at any point of his career against any team. His footwork was almost perfect, he has developed a quicker release, he made really good decisions with the ball yesterday, and finally his arm strength is as good as it has ever been. Kudos to him for a great off-season it has showed up and this is his team without a doubt and I am truly proud for him.
The good news is we didn't show much yesterday, but what we did was on display yesterday. Many times last year I would say Chaney and BB had no continuity between philosophies, It was never more evident than yesterday, so many time last year t it looked like there were two offenses being played at times last year. Always reference how it felt like Chaney was trying to stick a round peg in a square hole, but yesterday there was continuity of philosophy and it was a beautiful thing to behold. Enos is really good and he proved it yesterday, hope to express that later today in my film breakdown.
Now to the Grades.
Offensively Grades:
-QB: BA was next to flawless, he had two throws there we on him, and he later made up for both of those throws. The one in the second half that he missed to Sprinkle, it looked to me like he was throwing back corner and Sprink broke off the route. Probably just a first game miscommunication there.
Overall Grade: A+
-RB: This one is a little tougher because for the first time in BB's time here we didn't use them as much as I thought we would. With that said Alex looks much leaner and he gets in and out of his cuts even quicker than before. Kody is a load and will have some good games this season, he has a quick first step and one man isn't going to bring him down often. Williams is a freshman and you can tell! He has a lot of upside though, he runs with good pad level and has a good burst. The only thing right now is he wants to hit the hole before there is a hole. His patience will develop as time goes on without a doubt.
Overall Grade: B+
-TE: Hunter Henry and Jeremy Sprinkle are impressive without a doubt. They can both block, run, and catch very well. Those two make our offense very dynamic and its going to be hard to stop what we do.
Overall Grade: A+
-WR: Keon Hatcher, Jared Cornelius, Drew Morgan, Dominique Reed, Cody Hollister, and Damon (Duwop) Mitchell. These young men played AWESOME. They caught everything thrown to them, ran extremely good routes, and as a whole their blocking was near flawless. I have been very rough on these guys in the past, but it appears those days are over. These guys outside coupled with our TE's and running game, we have a true "PRO-STYLE" offense that no one is going to want to have to deal with. Our uniqueness in the modern world of college football is going to play in our favor. As most teams prepare week in and week out for the Spread, we will be a whole new animal to deal with. We do things differently and we now do things like a lot of NFL teams have done them for years. We are very explosive but we don't have to do it by going fast. This group makes us dynamic with what they bring to the table.
Overall Grade: A+
-OL: Two holding penalties, both of which negated first down runs and 4 times they broke down in run blocking made for a so so day for this group. Pass Pro on the other hand was really nice seeing as to how UTEP was bringing everything they had including the kitchen sink almost every play. NO one laid a hand on BA all day with the exception of when Josh Allen (FULLBACK) on heavy package ran into BA causing a busted play.
Overall Grade: B All things considered B is fair because again pass pro was outstanding.
-OC: Thank you Dan Enos for not being so stubborn that you won't take advantage of what a defense gives you. It was refreshing to see an OC with an operating brain on the sideline. I was so encouraged ladies and gentlemen, in the fact that we let them pick their poison. They sold out to stop the run and because of that BA had a career day and went 14-18 for 308 and 4 TD's. A few more times of doing that and teams won't be able to stack the box on us and then we become a real problem. It appears gone are the days you can make us one dimensional and beat us. Now I know this wasn't an SEC team by any means and I will hold off my over enthusiasm until I see it consistently happen against other teams with more talent. I am talking scheme wish here we are going to be tough to deal with.
Overall Grade: A+++
Defense:
-DL: These boys can ball, up front we had great penetration most of the day. I loved Hodge and his technique I watched him on a few plays on watching it again and his hand placement was clinic quality. Also loved my man Bijohn and his energy and motor. Thought Jeremiah Ledbetter was the defensive player of the game as he was disruptive and just himself everywhere the ball was. Also on the edge I thought Deatrick Wise was playing R very well, Smith used his range and eye discipline to negate their wildcat package in the second half. Also I talked about Loewen all the time last year, and he was always flashing on film and #89 did it again. He is a baller folks he just makes plays, and plays with good pad level. The guy plays with a nasty streak in him as well I love watching him.
Overall Grade: A
-LB: Thought Brooks filled the Will role well in this game and played down hill. Also thought Josh Williams played well against the run, but he got hit hard on a couple of pass coverage. I get very excited watching #23 Dre Greenlaw, this young man has a chance to be the best LB we have in time. This kid has a burst and arrives with bad intention in a hurry. I was glad to see him yesterday and you might want to get use to his name being called. This is just an opinion but I think against more spread teams you might see him assume the Will role and they move Brooks to the Mike, because of pass coverage (down the road of course). I can see that being something that takes place as Dre gets more experience under his belt.
Overall Grade: C+
-DB: Josh Liddell made a couple mistakes, but nothing that cannot be corrected (none were in coverage which I can live with)! I really thought the corners were GREAT. Their receivers had a combined total of 3 catches for 22 yards. Henre' might just be our best overall player on defense and he is without a doubt a true play maker. In just his 1 game of this sophomore year the young man has already made 3 INT's in his young career. Santos Ramirez looks the part, but he has to stop just trying to kill people all the time and breakdown and make the play (which he will learn in time)
Overall Grade: A- (only reason it wasn't an A or A+ was because they didn't tackle well)
-DC: Robb Smith is simply a great coordinator, he got caught a couple of times by formation and they weren't really ready for the wildcat in the first half. However, like any other real coach he goes into the locker room and makes adjustments then pretty much ended those things. Still think he is the most underrated DC in America.
Overall Grade: A
This is going to be an exciting team and we did what the number 18 team in the nation does to a Conference USA team. It could have been much worse, but we took our time and really played to keep people healthy for later in the year.
Look forward to next week in the Rock planning on being there since now we are just a few minutes from War Memorial. Later today I will break down some subtle things I caught offensively and defensively yesterday. Once again I hope you guys enjoy the breakdown. Later today I will focus on formations and how Enos uses them a lot better than Chaney did.
The good news is we didn't show much yesterday, but what we did was on display yesterday. Many times last year I would say Chaney and BB had no continuity between philosophies, It was never more evident than yesterday, so many time last year t it looked like there were two offenses being played at times last year. Always reference how it felt like Chaney was trying to stick a round peg in a square hole, but yesterday there was continuity of philosophy and it was a beautiful thing to behold. Enos is really good and he proved it yesterday, hope to express that later today in my film breakdown.
Now to the Grades.
Offensively Grades:
-QB: BA was next to flawless, he had two throws there we on him, and he later made up for both of those throws. The one in the second half that he missed to Sprinkle, it looked to me like he was throwing back corner and Sprink broke off the route. Probably just a first game miscommunication there.
Overall Grade: A+
-RB: This one is a little tougher because for the first time in BB's time here we didn't use them as much as I thought we would. With that said Alex looks much leaner and he gets in and out of his cuts even quicker than before. Kody is a load and will have some good games this season, he has a quick first step and one man isn't going to bring him down often. Williams is a freshman and you can tell! He has a lot of upside though, he runs with good pad level and has a good burst. The only thing right now is he wants to hit the hole before there is a hole. His patience will develop as time goes on without a doubt.
Overall Grade: B+
-TE: Hunter Henry and Jeremy Sprinkle are impressive without a doubt. They can both block, run, and catch very well. Those two make our offense very dynamic and its going to be hard to stop what we do.
Overall Grade: A+
-WR: Keon Hatcher, Jared Cornelius, Drew Morgan, Dominique Reed, Cody Hollister, and Damon (Duwop) Mitchell. These young men played AWESOME. They caught everything thrown to them, ran extremely good routes, and as a whole their blocking was near flawless. I have been very rough on these guys in the past, but it appears those days are over. These guys outside coupled with our TE's and running game, we have a true "PRO-STYLE" offense that no one is going to want to have to deal with. Our uniqueness in the modern world of college football is going to play in our favor. As most teams prepare week in and week out for the Spread, we will be a whole new animal to deal with. We do things differently and we now do things like a lot of NFL teams have done them for years. We are very explosive but we don't have to do it by going fast. This group makes us dynamic with what they bring to the table.
Overall Grade: A+
-OL: Two holding penalties, both of which negated first down runs and 4 times they broke down in run blocking made for a so so day for this group. Pass Pro on the other hand was really nice seeing as to how UTEP was bringing everything they had including the kitchen sink almost every play. NO one laid a hand on BA all day with the exception of when Josh Allen (FULLBACK) on heavy package ran into BA causing a busted play.
Overall Grade: B All things considered B is fair because again pass pro was outstanding.
-OC: Thank you Dan Enos for not being so stubborn that you won't take advantage of what a defense gives you. It was refreshing to see an OC with an operating brain on the sideline. I was so encouraged ladies and gentlemen, in the fact that we let them pick their poison. They sold out to stop the run and because of that BA had a career day and went 14-18 for 308 and 4 TD's. A few more times of doing that and teams won't be able to stack the box on us and then we become a real problem. It appears gone are the days you can make us one dimensional and beat us. Now I know this wasn't an SEC team by any means and I will hold off my over enthusiasm until I see it consistently happen against other teams with more talent. I am talking scheme wish here we are going to be tough to deal with.
Overall Grade: A+++
Defense:
-DL: These boys can ball, up front we had great penetration most of the day. I loved Hodge and his technique I watched him on a few plays on watching it again and his hand placement was clinic quality. Also loved my man Bijohn and his energy and motor. Thought Jeremiah Ledbetter was the defensive player of the game as he was disruptive and just himself everywhere the ball was. Also on the edge I thought Deatrick Wise was playing R very well, Smith used his range and eye discipline to negate their wildcat package in the second half. Also I talked about Loewen all the time last year, and he was always flashing on film and #89 did it again. He is a baller folks he just makes plays, and plays with good pad level. The guy plays with a nasty streak in him as well I love watching him.
Overall Grade: A
-LB: Thought Brooks filled the Will role well in this game and played down hill. Also thought Josh Williams played well against the run, but he got hit hard on a couple of pass coverage. I get very excited watching #23 Dre Greenlaw, this young man has a chance to be the best LB we have in time. This kid has a burst and arrives with bad intention in a hurry. I was glad to see him yesterday and you might want to get use to his name being called. This is just an opinion but I think against more spread teams you might see him assume the Will role and they move Brooks to the Mike, because of pass coverage (down the road of course). I can see that being something that takes place as Dre gets more experience under his belt.
Overall Grade: C+
-DB: Josh Liddell made a couple mistakes, but nothing that cannot be corrected (none were in coverage which I can live with)! I really thought the corners were GREAT. Their receivers had a combined total of 3 catches for 22 yards. Henre' might just be our best overall player on defense and he is without a doubt a true play maker. In just his 1 game of this sophomore year the young man has already made 3 INT's in his young career. Santos Ramirez looks the part, but he has to stop just trying to kill people all the time and breakdown and make the play (which he will learn in time)
Overall Grade: A- (only reason it wasn't an A or A+ was because they didn't tackle well)
-DC: Robb Smith is simply a great coordinator, he got caught a couple of times by formation and they weren't really ready for the wildcat in the first half. However, like any other real coach he goes into the locker room and makes adjustments then pretty much ended those things. Still think he is the most underrated DC in America.
Overall Grade: A
This is going to be an exciting team and we did what the number 18 team in the nation does to a Conference USA team. It could have been much worse, but we took our time and really played to keep people healthy for later in the year.
Look forward to next week in the Rock planning on being there since now we are just a few minutes from War Memorial. Later today I will break down some subtle things I caught offensively and defensively yesterday. Once again I hope you guys enjoy the breakdown. Later today I will focus on formations and how Enos uses them a lot better than Chaney did.
