Well I must admit that I really had a hard time buying into this talk about how hard it would be for Tech to beat BYU. So, I spent some time reading the stats from last year and a few articles describing both teams.
My conclusion: BYU is being given a lot of credit for what it did prior to last year and not on where they are actually at today.
In fact, I feel very confident that Thursday night will provide Tech fans with an exciting win and a great game to give your true freshman QB confidence. Want to know why? (Okay I don't care if you want to know why, I'm going tell you anyway)
Lets look at the offenses first. Advantage: Tech.
BYU has a QB that wasn't anywhere close to excellent last year with a young line and without some of his best pass options. The RB may be good but that falls right into Tech's strength last year (even with a small DL). BTW, we held them to 79 yards rushing last year. Granted the QB has another year under his belt and the line is big. But I find it hard to believe in an offense that has so many intangibles. Take an average QB and put pressure on him and you get poor results. BTW, he threw 9 INTs to 7 TDs (7 games) so he is prone to mistakes. Overall you take an average to poor offense last year, take away some of its key components, and put it up against a defense that is at least as good, if not better, than last year and you don't get anything positive for the offense.
As for Tech, we have a RB who proved to be good against quality opponents last year with a great offensive line in front of him. Add a WR corp that has experience and you've got the beginnings of something good. Ball is the question mark but the strong offensive line should keep him relatively safe and thus slow the game down for Ball. I expect us to control the ball with solid running leading to a much more open passing game.
Alright how about defense. Advantage: Tech.
While I do think this is closer to call I still don't think BYU will be ready on defense come game number one. The reason? They are installing a radically different scheme. This will take some time to adjust and I predict that they will miss assignments and reads for at least two games while they adapt to this scheme. Also, you are talking about guys returning from a defense that gave up 27.8 pts/gm and 384.7 yds/gm last year. Those aren't stout numbers and they didn't play too tough of a schedule either. Look for the Tech run game to be open early and allow for the passing game to get going once they begin making adjustments. I don't think passing is the option early for Tech but that will happen once we pull them up to the line.
As for Tech, this unit will be solid. For the first time in a long time, we actually have a secondary that is athletic enough to go against some of the best WR in the game. Their speed is what gets me excited because that allows for mistakes to be erased. As for the LB, no need to go on too long about how great they are. The DL is still a solid core even though we did lose some guys. I think you'll see similar results to last year which means that the running game should be kept in check. Add to that the possible upgrade in the secondary and you start to get the makings of a good defense. The same defense that gave up 20.5 pts/gm and 355.7 yds/gm. The yards aren't great but the points are very respectable.
How about special teams? Advantage: BYU
This is the category that sort of scares me a little. I really believe that unless Tech steps it up this year we will lose a few games due to this squad. The positives are the actual chance for TDs on punt returns and continued speed on KOs. The negatives are the question marks at FG and punt. Hopefully I'm wrong but if this game is close near the end I won't be feeling too good. We will need to make sure that our punting game is at least average to insure that we don't give a young offense confidence by providing a short field.
As for BYU, they have great talent in punts and FGs. There returns probably won't be too bad either since I always seem to remember them having fairly good speed.
Coaching. Advantage: Tie.
I honestly don't know what to expect out of Gailey this year. I'm hoping for improvement in his grasp of what is going on during the game this year. With him calling the plays I think he will become more involved in the game and thus be able to react better. Last year I think he often reacted like a young QB by reacting a second or two late and not being able to react to the speed of the game.
Both coaches have something to prove and so I think it should be exciting to see what each coach puts together.
Okay, are you tired of listening yet? Overall, I think that Tech wins this game early and the second half becomes a more evenly played game without BYU being able to make any serious run at us. Should see a conservative offense early to avoid making mistakes with a more open approach in the second half. The key is to avoid putting Ball in poor situations that lead to turnovers. That could change the complexion of the game dramatically. Look for something around 21-10 halftime score with a final score around 31-21.
Either way I think that this team has plenty of positives and this game should prove to be a great moral victory that may provide them with enough confidence to handle Auburn next week. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. We've got a quality opponent on Thursday and it should be fun.
Thanks for your time and let me know what you think.
My conclusion: BYU is being given a lot of credit for what it did prior to last year and not on where they are actually at today.
In fact, I feel very confident that Thursday night will provide Tech fans with an exciting win and a great game to give your true freshman QB confidence. Want to know why? (Okay I don't care if you want to know why, I'm going tell you anyway)
Lets look at the offenses first. Advantage: Tech.
BYU has a QB that wasn't anywhere close to excellent last year with a young line and without some of his best pass options. The RB may be good but that falls right into Tech's strength last year (even with a small DL). BTW, we held them to 79 yards rushing last year. Granted the QB has another year under his belt and the line is big. But I find it hard to believe in an offense that has so many intangibles. Take an average QB and put pressure on him and you get poor results. BTW, he threw 9 INTs to 7 TDs (7 games) so he is prone to mistakes. Overall you take an average to poor offense last year, take away some of its key components, and put it up against a defense that is at least as good, if not better, than last year and you don't get anything positive for the offense.
As for Tech, we have a RB who proved to be good against quality opponents last year with a great offensive line in front of him. Add a WR corp that has experience and you've got the beginnings of something good. Ball is the question mark but the strong offensive line should keep him relatively safe and thus slow the game down for Ball. I expect us to control the ball with solid running leading to a much more open passing game.
Alright how about defense. Advantage: Tech.
While I do think this is closer to call I still don't think BYU will be ready on defense come game number one. The reason? They are installing a radically different scheme. This will take some time to adjust and I predict that they will miss assignments and reads for at least two games while they adapt to this scheme. Also, you are talking about guys returning from a defense that gave up 27.8 pts/gm and 384.7 yds/gm last year. Those aren't stout numbers and they didn't play too tough of a schedule either. Look for the Tech run game to be open early and allow for the passing game to get going once they begin making adjustments. I don't think passing is the option early for Tech but that will happen once we pull them up to the line.
As for Tech, this unit will be solid. For the first time in a long time, we actually have a secondary that is athletic enough to go against some of the best WR in the game. Their speed is what gets me excited because that allows for mistakes to be erased. As for the LB, no need to go on too long about how great they are. The DL is still a solid core even though we did lose some guys. I think you'll see similar results to last year which means that the running game should be kept in check. Add to that the possible upgrade in the secondary and you start to get the makings of a good defense. The same defense that gave up 20.5 pts/gm and 355.7 yds/gm. The yards aren't great but the points are very respectable.
How about special teams? Advantage: BYU
This is the category that sort of scares me a little. I really believe that unless Tech steps it up this year we will lose a few games due to this squad. The positives are the actual chance for TDs on punt returns and continued speed on KOs. The negatives are the question marks at FG and punt. Hopefully I'm wrong but if this game is close near the end I won't be feeling too good. We will need to make sure that our punting game is at least average to insure that we don't give a young offense confidence by providing a short field.
As for BYU, they have great talent in punts and FGs. There returns probably won't be too bad either since I always seem to remember them having fairly good speed.
Coaching. Advantage: Tie.
I honestly don't know what to expect out of Gailey this year. I'm hoping for improvement in his grasp of what is going on during the game this year. With him calling the plays I think he will become more involved in the game and thus be able to react better. Last year I think he often reacted like a young QB by reacting a second or two late and not being able to react to the speed of the game.
Both coaches have something to prove and so I think it should be exciting to see what each coach puts together.
Okay, are you tired of listening yet? Overall, I think that Tech wins this game early and the second half becomes a more evenly played game without BYU being able to make any serious run at us. Should see a conservative offense early to avoid making mistakes with a more open approach in the second half. The key is to avoid putting Ball in poor situations that lead to turnovers. That could change the complexion of the game dramatically. Look for something around 21-10 halftime score with a final score around 31-21.
Either way I think that this team has plenty of positives and this game should prove to be a great moral victory that may provide them with enough confidence to handle Auburn next week. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. We've got a quality opponent on Thursday and it should be fun.
Thanks for your time and let me know what you think.
