Week 3 Morning After: NT Beats SFA, Looks Forward to TTU
Week 3 Morning After: NT Beats SFA, Looks Forward to TTU
Good and bad feelings
I wanted good feelings. I wanted to float on a 60-burger. I wanted to be a windshield. SFA came into Denton and can feel good about their performance. Eric Morris and his group can feel good about the defense, and have lots of work for the offense.
That’s the nature of the game, though. I have four children and getting a day when they all are clicking — school work done, chores done, no one punching each other or throwing a fit — is a blessing. Imagine 100 dudes all clicking. And that’s just the players. You have to also manage your staff. Each one of those guys has a career and family, and ambitions and all the rest. It is amazing anyone gets anything positive done sometimes.
Still, they pay the coach some good money to deal with these problems and I have no issue saying “That’s what the money is for!”
Upon a modified second viewing of the game1 it is quite obvious that Chandler Morris was way off his game. He was throwing to ghosts. His first pick he misread DT Sheffield by a few yards, expecting him to continue. I thought Sheffield did the right thing and sat in the hole — that’s what they teach. Someone was wrong, and I suppose it could be the QB but it didn’t look it.
I will say that without the details of the coaching throughout the weeks we can’t be certain of who was at fault here. Still, it is not good. Sheffield thought he was sitting in the right spot and not “running out of being open” and Morris thought he would cross the face of the linebacker. Result: Interception.
On the touchdown drive this was wide-ass-open and it dropped short. It was a theme all night. I won’t screenshot all of them but this was an early indicator.
The ball over the top shows the arm talent, and accuracy. Good stuff from Morris here:
That play is designed to put the linebackers in conflict. If they bite (they did) on the play-action, you have the 12-yard dig wide open. Now, the problem is the deep safety who could drive on the ball. This is why you put a deep post there. This concept is called Mills and it is a classic football passing concept. The safety is supposed to be driven off and the dig should be open. Here, the safety steps up and Sheffield burns him deep.
My guess is that SFA is in match quarters, with the safety supposed to be taking the number 2 receiver (Sheffield) deep. He got greedy and got burned. Looks like he was driving on a dig. Don’t cheat! Haha.
The defense was outstanding but we did see a couple of near-misses. Expect TTU to target Number 14 out there as he was caught flat-footed twice in this game. The thing about football is that everything is on tape and if you even slightly smell a weakness you can expect that to be targeting ruthlessly all night. Remember future NFL corner Nate Brooks biting on a double-move that one time? Well every CUSA opponent afterward put that on their call sheet.
Oh how about that beautiful throw from Morris to Hammond? Love that.
Later on the drive that saw Sides and Carnes catch those classic Air Raid catch-and-run sticks and outs and tunnel screens, Morris was ruled just short of the goal line. Then NT ran it twice. Nothing doing. Our right guard gets pushed back. I got to say we must remember that the lowest man wins. That Nose was low, and pushed him back. He didn’t make the play but he cleared the way for the backer to fly in and hit Ragsdale square at the 1. NT ran it twice more and was stuffed. The linebackers were flying up and destroying things. NT got push, but not enough.
A note that this is with the starting backup center. That is Mercer is in, and not Duncan, but this wasn’t on the center. To this point NT hadn’t really got much running room.
Second interception talk:
Morris saw a pressure look and it came free, but he was staring down pass. The backer dropped off into the hole and got an easy interception. Classic zone blitz look.
You see a little DT zoning up also. There were four rushers, a DT spy?? and a linebacker dropping into the hole. The hot route was probably that swing but it all moved too quick to really analyze. I know why Morris threw this, but they baited him and got away with it.
The squad will have to work on some pass protection this week. You don’t need to bring more blockers or anything, but you do need to coordinate this kind of stuff better. Maybe X has a “fox” call. That means he just stays there and looks for a quick pass given that his corner is giving cushion. Morris can get the ball out “now” and live to fight another day. There are infinite options but this was one where SFA had it schemed up perfectly and caught NT slipping.
Oh and we lost Landon Peterson on this play.
Okay we’ll pause there so we don’t fill up your inbox with screenshots. I will say that I thought SFA’s guys were solid. There were a lot of guys that I wouldn’t mind having in green-and-white next season. The pass rush was aggressive and the whole squad played with an aggression that is commendable. Still, NT scored 35 points and should have had more but for some self-harm. The interceptions were bad, but some of that was just Morris reading poorly. The pass protection is probably 45% the youth on the offensive line. Later when Demashja Harris was in, he was attacking downhill and NT controlled the game well.
What Did We Learn?
The offense is hurting along that offensive line, and that Chandler Morris is but a human. He was nearly perfect in week one, and we saw flashes of it in week two. I think he’ll be better on the road in Lubbock, as there might have been a little exciting nervousness at home. I am reading generously here. When I interviewed Eric Morris back when he was the coach at UIW, he said one thing he doesn’t like is guys getting distracted by the people in the stands — like family and friends — and that sometimes it is better if they aren’t returning “home” because they can just concentrate on the game.
What Is The Expectation?
The offense has a lot of potential. I am bullish on the offensive line improving enough — through practice and reps or just health — that they will be solid enough to keep Morris upright. This is still the strongest unit and we saw them move the ball well while playing poorly. That is not terrible.
Beyond that, the defense had their best game since the Temple one last year. They were flying around, killing drives, and got a turnover. Texas Tech has a high powered offense with a skilled coordinator. We don’t want perfect, just okay.
Next Up: Texas Tech in Lubbock
Tech is led by Joey McGuire, and coordinated by Zach Kittley — you know him from Houston Christian (neé Baptist) and WKU, where he helped Bailey Zappe set records. The defense is coordinated by Tim DeRuyter, former head coach. He has coordinated them for three seasons.
McGuire won state titles at the high school level at Cedar Hill, and is a defensive coach at heart. He has transformed the TTU program for the modern recruiting era and has a talented roster with some nice recruiting classes.
Kittley is a modern Air Raid guy, with lots of tempo, funky formations, and looking to find guys in space. He will run the ball with Tahj Brooks — who had 1500 last year and 154 vs ACU. The offense didn’t look great vs Wazzu, however.
DeRuyter had TTU playing well last year, but this season they are allowing 6+ yard per play. ACU’s Air Raid sliced them up for 51 and 500+ yards with a couple of former NT guys on the squad.
We’ll have more in the bigger mid-week preview.
Right now the line was at 12.5 and is moving toward NT.
GMG
I usually try to get this post out on Monday, but I had a rec league game early, and then hosted people for a Cowboys watching party on Sunday afternoon. I had a lot of margaritas and many chicken fajita tacos and I was not in a great position to review the game. Also, Monday I had a lot of work in my day job where I earn money for my family and all that good stuff.