This week the trio talks about the big win in Mobile.
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012
UTSA's improved rushing attack
Coming in to the 2012 season, it was no secret that UTSA's number one offensive goal for the season was to run the ball more efficiently. We're one game through the sophomore season and it looks like the Roadrunners have already made serious progress towards that goal. In 2011, the Roadrunners were only able to average over 4.5 yards per carry against a Division I opponent once, with their best statistical performance coming against Southern Alabama (176 net rushing yards, 4.6 average). UTSA rushed for 183 yards on Saturday, while averaging a very respectable 5.9 yards per carry.
New offensive coordinator Kevin Brown utilized many different looks to achieve these numbers. Soza lead many option plays with Okotcha, Armstrong, and Glasco all taking snaps at his side. Walk-on brothers Aaron and Seth Grubb were both used from wide out-- Aaron on a jet sweep and Seth on a four wide reverse. David "El Magnifico" Glasco was the day's leading rusher, seeing 70 yards on just nine carries (7.8). While Okotcha's and Armstrong's stats were mediocre, they did a great job of taking more than simply what the defense gave them with hard running and wise cuts. Similar to last season, UTSA was extremely efficient rushing from the wide receiver position. The Grubb bros combined for 34 yards on two carries, and Kam Jones brought in 15 yards on his sole carry.
Let's break down the day's biggest carry to see where UTSA found success:
Following a William Ritter fumble recovery of a botched snap to C.J. Bennett and an ill-advised pass attempt to a covered Brandon Freeman, the Roadrunners come out of the huddle with split backs out of a spread shotgun look-- Okotcha acts as the halfback, making the Runners strong on the left side, while Glasco becomes the tailback on the backside.
As Soza reads the defense before the snap, we see the Jaguars run up in their typical 3-3-5 look with the free safety shaded to the strong left side where UTSA has two receivers and a blocking threat in Okotcha. The defensive line looks normal --7 and 1 techniques-- with the weak side linebacker shaded out and up a little bit more than usual.
As Soza receives the snap from Leonard, the defensive line attempts to fire up the field while all three linebackers begin to read their keys. Slot receiver Kam Jones looks in for a screen, causing South's nickleback to sprint up to cover him. If Kevin Brown is as good of an OC as I think he is, Jones should be a legit option for a screen pass if South Alabama threatens with a blitz here. Fortunately for Glasco, they do not. Hoog seals off the strongside end with a perfect hook block. Leonard and Harris combo block the noseguard while Walker leaves the weakside end for Soza to read off of. Okotcha releases in front of Soza and Glasco to take out the weakside linebacker. No decoy or fake necessary. Thankfully Hoog has blocked off the strongside end so well that Soza has two good options on the play (again, three being a screen to Kam if Brown is smart).
Here's where the Roadrunner's luck on the play begins to turn. Both the middle linebacker and weak side linebacker play up to the line of scrimmage after seeing the end left open. At this point in the play, Glasco already has the ball and a half yard of separation from Soza, yet the two Jaguar defenders are looking and standing elsewhere. Afraid of the play action threat, the Jaguar secondary is slow to react.
Oh baby. South Alabama's defense has totally taken themselves out of this play to the point where poor Cody Harris doesn't even have anyone to hit, nor does Josh Walker have anyone to kick out on. Leonard manages to pancake the noseguard after receiving an assist from Harris. Soza does a great job of faking a keep, which leads to the linebackers biting away from the ball. Hoog has his defensive end three steps away from Glasco and Inskeep makes sure to seal off the strongside backer on his right shoulder, ensuring he won't be able to sneak by to blow the play up. Weakside end Romelle Jones tries to chase after David, but 275 pound guys aren't very good at that.
And with that, it's off to the races. USA's free safety takes a horrible, lazy angle on Glasco, who wisely cuts away. The Jaguars will finally catch up to El Magnifico 51 yards later.
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New offensive coordinator Kevin Brown utilized many different looks to achieve these numbers. Soza lead many option plays with Okotcha, Armstrong, and Glasco all taking snaps at his side. Walk-on brothers Aaron and Seth Grubb were both used from wide out-- Aaron on a jet sweep and Seth on a four wide reverse. David "El Magnifico" Glasco was the day's leading rusher, seeing 70 yards on just nine carries (7.8). While Okotcha's and Armstrong's stats were mediocre, they did a great job of taking more than simply what the defense gave them with hard running and wise cuts. Similar to last season, UTSA was extremely efficient rushing from the wide receiver position. The Grubb bros combined for 34 yards on two carries, and Kam Jones brought in 15 yards on his sole carry.
Let's break down the day's biggest carry to see where UTSA found success:
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| All screenshots via ESPN3 |
As Soza reads the defense before the snap, we see the Jaguars run up in their typical 3-3-5 look with the free safety shaded to the strong left side where UTSA has two receivers and a blocking threat in Okotcha. The defensive line looks normal --7 and 1 techniques-- with the weak side linebacker shaded out and up a little bit more than usual.
As Soza receives the snap from Leonard, the defensive line attempts to fire up the field while all three linebackers begin to read their keys. Slot receiver Kam Jones looks in for a screen, causing South's nickleback to sprint up to cover him. If Kevin Brown is as good of an OC as I think he is, Jones should be a legit option for a screen pass if South Alabama threatens with a blitz here. Fortunately for Glasco, they do not. Hoog seals off the strongside end with a perfect hook block. Leonard and Harris combo block the noseguard while Walker leaves the weakside end for Soza to read off of. Okotcha releases in front of Soza and Glasco to take out the weakside linebacker. No decoy or fake necessary. Thankfully Hoog has blocked off the strongside end so well that Soza has two good options on the play (again, three being a screen to Kam if Brown is smart).
Here's where the Roadrunner's luck on the play begins to turn. Both the middle linebacker and weak side linebacker play up to the line of scrimmage after seeing the end left open. At this point in the play, Glasco already has the ball and a half yard of separation from Soza, yet the two Jaguar defenders are looking and standing elsewhere. Afraid of the play action threat, the Jaguar secondary is slow to react.
Oh baby. South Alabama's defense has totally taken themselves out of this play to the point where poor Cody Harris doesn't even have anyone to hit, nor does Josh Walker have anyone to kick out on. Leonard manages to pancake the noseguard after receiving an assist from Harris. Soza does a great job of faking a keep, which leads to the linebackers biting away from the ball. Hoog has his defensive end three steps away from Glasco and Inskeep makes sure to seal off the strongside backer on his right shoulder, ensuring he won't be able to sneak by to blow the play up. Weakside end Romelle Jones tries to chase after David, but 275 pound guys aren't very good at that.
And with that, it's off to the races. USA's free safety takes a horrible, lazy angle on Glasco, who wisely cuts away. The Jaguars will finally catch up to El Magnifico 51 yards later.
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Week Won!
"Well that was fucking awesome." Dare I quote myself, these were the first words I energetically shared with my wife as she kindly provided designated driving services for my day drunken state. We were leaving the parking lot of Freetail Brewing Co, from the first big time game watching party. It was the historic game, the party and the thrill of both that had me riding high.
Sure, the game got delayed two days, but damn, was it worth the wait. I'm not going to lie, I thought we were in trouble early, real early. After USA drove down and scored a touchdown on their first drive, they stopped the UTSA offense with a three and out. They were about to score again, and I was feeling that FBS teeth kicking I kept hearing about, albeit from another newbie. I started slouching in my chair which hit the back of another seated at the table behind me, as the small beer factory was starting to catch the eye of the fire chief. Then something big happened, Triston Wade intercepted a pass in the end zone and as he took a knee, we all jumped to our feet. From there UTSA scored a TD, recovered a fumble on the kickoff and scored another. It was on!
The late first half touchdown was concerning and the third quarter was pretty flat. Fret not, fans, the fourth quarter brought the fireworks. Anyone reading this knows how it all went down, the seesaw lead change, the late USA touchdown and of course the kick.
Anytime I watch a potential game tying/winning kick, as soon as I see the shot of everyone lined up, my mind gives a quick prediction of what is going to happen. I didn't like what my crystal ball was telling me, I wanted to grab it and throw it against the TV, like Eli on those DirecTV commercials. Thankfully I was wrong, and somehow a kicker on the worst FBS team was able to hit a pressure filled 51 yard field goal.
The place went completely nuts. People were standing on chairs going crazy. I considered stripping down to my g-string and streaking the place, but remembered I made a questionable call of going commando in the morning. No shit, it felt like a Spurs playoff game. Below is a still in time of me basking in the glow of certain victory:
Check out the youtube video of the crowd's reaction...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zrcJkJy1Ms&hd=1
Anyway, can't overstate the victory enough. Readers already know all the first that it accomplished and what it means. Seeing the game on ESPN (the ocho, sure) gave that feeling that we have arrived. Being able to watch the game at a bar, even as an Internet stream screamed big boy football. To top it off, being in a room with a few hundred passionate Roadrunner fans cheering each play, well, we could have been any other major program. Might as well have been a bar in Columbus, Baton Rouge or
Randoms:
- Nice to see Eric Soza throw some pretty balls downfield. Well, as downfield as we can expect from him. While most of the passing was short routes, the second two touchdowns were good throws with a little yardage on them.
- While I would like to have seen more than one sack for UTSA, it was interesting to note that Soza was not sacked. Not bad for an offensive line that has been a preseason concern.
- Heard comments about receptions being spread around, but how about carries? It was expected that Glasco and Okotcha would share carries, but Armstrong's load made it more of a three team comittee and receivers got three.
- Very impressed with Texas State dominating Houston. Not sure if it means we will have a tougher late game this year or easier early game next year, if either.
- Streaming games for a large crowd is pretty stressful, but we were lucky to have two systems setup. It was the game within the game for me to watch the direction of the heads in the bar as the TVs would get off sync.
- Two things regarding ESPN3, can you show the damn down and distance, after a few pitchers of beer it gets hard to do the math. Oh and yeah, our coach is not Larry Cocker, you would think after being in two BCS championship games the production crew would get it right. They got Vinnie running that shit?
- It was really cool meeting some of the Interneters. Even met some guys from the spurstalk days, now that's old school
- We aren't hosting a full on tailgate party, but are inviting anyone to stop by and hang out. We should have a keg of Freetail beer that we will share with friends of the site. Details to come, make sure you're following us on Twitter.
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Monday, September 3, 2012
WAC Jack Podcast Episode 1
Hey everyone I wanted to let you know that Jack Hopkins, formerly of bobcat report has a new show on the as-yet-revealed podcast network.
So think of this show as a sister podcast on which you will hear lots of college football goodness.
LINK
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So think of this show as a sister podcast on which you will hear lots of college football goodness.
LINK
Talk about this post on twitter and on the Forum
Saturday, September 1, 2012
First Half Update: 20-14 Runners!
It was a slow start to say the least. It looked like U of South Alabama had the Runners on their heels with the up-tempo no-huddle. The UTSA offense didn't look like it was ready for Season 2 either. The Jags went up 7-0 after getting a nice catch on a streak route over Starling. Then, before UTSA could recover, they quickly got the score on a run up the middle.
It looked like the Jags were going to get their second touchdown until Tristan Wade picked off a Bennett pass in the back of the endzone. That sparked the offense and led to the 58-yard pass-and-catch from Soza to Kam Jones.
On the ensuing kick-off Tristan Wade made another big play by forcing the fumble. UTSA then drove and scored on a Soza pass to Hicks.
After trading punts, the Jags snuck in a TD right before the end of the half.
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It looked like the Jags were going to get their second touchdown until Tristan Wade picked off a Bennett pass in the back of the endzone. That sparked the offense and led to the 58-yard pass-and-catch from Soza to Kam Jones.
On the ensuing kick-off Tristan Wade made another big play by forcing the fumble. UTSA then drove and scored on a Soza pass to Hicks.
After trading punts, the Jags snuck in a TD right before the end of the half.
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