Saturday, December 31, 2005
SMQ BOWL BLITZ: SIZING UP THE ROSE BOWL
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 Thus far, SMQ has extolled the virtues of USC's "indefensible" offense, which offers too much firepower at every position for any defense to slow down; none has yet come close.
So the Trojans should be able to score running or passing - Texas will just have to keep up. Over the next two installments, SMQ analyzes whether the 'Horns match up well enough with USC's defense to put up their usual gaudy numbers.
 Friday: When USC Has the Ball: Rushing Offense vs. Texas' Front Seven
Advantage: USC
Sunday: When USC Has the Ball: Passing Offense vs. Texas' Secondary and Pass Rush
Advantage: USC
Monday: When Texas Has the Ball: Passing Offense vs. USC's Secondary and Pass Rush
Tuesday: Special Teams: The kicking game, return game and intagibles
Wednesday: Game day thoughts and predictions
TODAY: When Texas Has the Ball: Rushing Offense vs. USC's Front Seven - - - - -
For all USC's backfield talent, Texas rolls into Pasadena with five serious rushing options - Jamaal Charles, Selvin Young, Henry Melton, Ramonce Taylor and leading rusher Vince Young - all of whom would could be a 1,000-yard stud if he wasn't forced to share the rock with the surrounding talent. It doesn't hurt that the offensive line ranks with the nation's best road-grader units, either.
Some numbers: the 'Horns averaged almost 5.8 yards per carry, close to the magic six-yard mark reached only by its upcoming opponent, and scored a national best 50 rushing touchdowns - more than four per game. Only two teams - top-ranked rushing defense Ohio State and ninth-ranked Colorado - held UT under 200 yards on the ground, and UT rolled up more than 300 five times.
Texas Rushing vs. Top 40 Rushing Defenses
vs. Ohio State (#1): 38 carries, 112 yards (2.9 per rush), 0 TD
vs. Oklahoma (#5): 40 carries, 203 yards (5.1 per rush), 2 TD
vs. Colorado (#9): 47 carries, 145 yards (3.1 per rush), 4 TD
vs. Kansas (#3): 53 carries, 336 yards (6.3 per rush), 4 TD
vs. Colorado (#9): 57 carries, 268 yards (4.7 per rush), 6 TD Um, pretty hard to argue with that.
USC, meanwhile, has built its defensive rep on big, run-stuffing units, like the one that topped the nation in yards per game last year and swallowed up Adrian Peterson in the Orange Bowl. This season: still good, but not that good. Not Ohio State good, at least, which has been the only level of play high enough yet to achieve anything resembling success against Texas' bevy of backs.
USC Rush Defense Against Top 40 Rush Offenses
vs. Arkansas (#13): 52 carries, 197 yards (3.8 per rush), 0 TD
vs. Washington State (#16): 33 carries, 195 yards (5.9 per rush), 2 TD
vs. California (#9): 31 carries, 167 yards (5.4 per rush), 4 TD Decidedly less impressive.
There's no way to gauge the Vince Young factor here, since SC hasn't played a remotely athletic, scrambling style quarterback yet this season, nor has it faced the misdirecting spread option scheme so en vogue in the Midwest. Conventional wisdom says the Trojans' serious speed is enough to chase VY down many yards sooner than most teams could get to him, but then, there is nothing conventional about Vince Young, one of the few opponents with any chance to out-athlete USC. Even the speedy Trojans will have to heed proper pursit angles, outside contain and responsibility football (i.e., gap/lane fills, don't bite down or overpursue on option fakes) to slow down this horse.
Advantage: TEXAS
 If there's one weakness in the Texas rushing game, it's the lack of a Ricky Williams/Cedric Benson type workhorse who can carry the load every play. With this offensive line, though, who needs that? The 'Horns have speed (Taylor and Vince Young), power (Melton and Selvin Young) and everything in between (Charles). They also have a scheme that's ideal for exploiting fast, aggressive defenses, which are more likely to overpursue and allow room for well-executed misdirection runs, which is Vince Young's bread and butter. If that fails, the massive line (average weight: 313.8 lbs.) can just push the smaller Trojan line around.
Next: What if Vince Young has to throw?
- - - - -
8:16 PM
|
WELCOME...
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
And don't let the name fool ya - second guessing the phenomenal athletic feats and split-second decisions of college kids under extreme physical duress is for every day of the week.
AWWW!! The totally nicest people, like, ever!...
How much football does he watch? Dude's got insights on -everybody-, and by everybody, I mean everybody. Throw in some of the best writing in the blogosphere, and we're talking about a daily must-read.
- Burnt Orange Nation
SMQ starts to sound more and more like the Gregg Easterbrook of our ideal memories every day - whip-smart, systematic, omnivorous in his intellectual tastes and yet unafraid of the cheap joke.
- Every Day Should Be Saturday
Sunday Morning Quarterback is one of our favorite football blogs on the internet.
- State Fans Nation
Sunday Morning Quarterback is a killer football blog if you are a college football junkie. It is run by one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, and analytical writers in the college football blogosphere...The guy is thorough and detailed and provides a level of analysis you are not going to find anywhere else .
- Bruins Nation
Just another hack writer who hasn't done one lick of research...
- SOT2
...the pride of Southern Mississippi ever since Brett Favre turned into an ESPN soap opera, has the sort of prose knack that can keep you riveted to a preview about any one of D-IA's scrubbier members ... should be given gifts.
- MGoBlog
- - - - -
e-mail Sunday Morning Quarterback at sundaymorningqb@yahoo.com
- - - - -
PREVIOUSLY FROM SMQ:
2006 Preview
Anatomy of an Underdog
BlogPoll: 1-10/11-25/Roundtable
The ACC
The Big Ten
The Big XII
The Sun Belt
Running Departments
The Rap Sheet
July 29/Aug. 1/Aug. 9/Aug. 16/Aug.19/Aug. 25/Sept. 28/Oct. 4/Oct. 5/Oct. 18/Oct. 26/Nov. 2/Nov. 7/Nov. 8/Nov. 28/Dec. 2/Dec. 8/ Dec. 11/Dec. 18/Dec. 21/Feb. 6/Feb. 10/April 7/April 14/April 21/April 29/May 6/May 12/May 19/May 26/June 2/June 10/June 16/June 24/June 30/July 8/Aug. 4
- - - - -
SMQ-APPROVED
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PAGES
News from the Big Guys
ESPN/ College Football News Wire
Sports Illustrated
FOX
CBS Sportsline
USA Today
Opinion: Columnists and bloggers
Around the Oval (Ohio State)
Badger Sports (Wisconsin)
The Blue-Gray Sky (Notre Dame)
Block U (Utah)
BoiFromTroy (Southern Cal)
Bruins Nation (UCLA)
Burnt Orange Nation (Texas)
The Corporate Headquarters of the San Antonio Gunslingers
Dave Sez (Virginia)
Dawg Sports (Georgia)
ESPN: Ivan Maisel/Pat Forde
Every Day Should Be Saturday (Florida)
FOX: Pete Fiutak
Golden Tornado (Georgia Tech)
Heisman Pundit
I'm a Realist (Georgia)
Journalism is for Rock Stars (Alabama)
Mark May Be Wrong
MDG CFB (Fresno State)
Mountain Lair (West Virginia)
MGOBlog (Michigan)
Orange::44 (Syracuse)
Paradigm Blog (Michigan)
Paul Westerdawg (Georgia)
Pitch Right (Navy)
Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer (Alabammer)
Section Six
Sexy Results (Virginia)
SI: Stewart Mandel/John Walters
Sporting Fools (Florida State)
Straight Bangin' (Michigan)
Texas A&M and Baseball, In No Particular Order (Texas A&M)
The 614 (Ohio State)
The House That Rock Built (Notre Dame)
The Sporting Gnomes (Clemson)
Tiger Pundit (Clemson)
We Must Ignite This Couch (West Virginia)
The Wizard of Odds
- - - - -
The Blog Poll
- - - - -
WANNA DO SOME RESEARCH? NERD! HERE'S SOME QUICK REFERENCES:
College Football Data Warehouse
College Football Research Center
College Football News
cfbstats.com
Football Commentary
THE STANDINGS
THE POLLS
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Passing
Receiving
All-Purpose
Scoring
Tackles
Sacks
Interceptions
Tackles For Loss
Field Goals
Punting
Kickoff Returns
Punt Returns
TEAM STATISTICS
Rushing Offense
Passing Offense
Total Offense
Scoring Offense
Rushing Defense
Passing Defense
Total Defense
Scoring Defense
Turnover Margin
- - - - -
Past Seasons
2005
Thursday Morning Quarterback
Sept. 29/Oct. 6/Oct. 20/Oct. 27/Nov. 3/Nov. 10/Nov. 17/Nov. 24/Dec. 1
Sunday Morning Quarterback
Oct. 2/Oct. 23/Oct. 30/Nov. 6/Nov. 13/Nov. 27
Stat Relevance Watch
Part One/Part Two/Part Three
SMQ Bowl Blitz
New Orleans/GMAC/Las Vegas/Poinsettia/Motor City
SMQ's [Hurricane-Abbreviated] 2005 Preview
Top 25 Countdown/Methodology
All-America Team
ACC
BIG EAST
BIG TEN
BIG XII
|