We will all feel better if - IF - we can beat Samford. I did say IF.
The reason is we beat both VMI (60-21) and Samford (55-14 or so) by 30/40 points EACH in 2019. If we lose to them both, well, something is amiss.
Hopefully, this last week was a real wake up call. NO ONE can just show up and beat anyone in the conference.
OK, on to Sammy - last time we ran all over them with some well-timed passes. Can we improve our PASS Protection this week? Will we be able to run better? Can we run at least enough to make them respect play-action? WILL THEY USE THE SAME FORMULA of stack the box and blitz making us hit some screens / crossing routes / hot receivers ?? Fine with me - if we can't beat that then we don't deserve to win anyway ... That's just basic football.
Focusing on the other side, Samford is probably a bigger ask than VMI. They just came from beating the very same Western team that we beat. And, likewise, beat Western badly. We beat Western 35-7. A week later Sam beat Western 55-27. They kept on scoring, we kinda pulled off. That said they averaged a very strong 6+ yards per rushing attempt and went 26-36-0 through the air. They piled on 600+ yards of O (Western D apparently stinks)...
A key here is they don't look to be quite as strong on D as we are. They allowed 450 yards of O to Western who we allowed 110 yards of O to. They allowed 22 first downs to WCU and we allowed 5 ... that encourages me. But they are better than Western, mostly on offense, so we better be ready.
Again, our D has had two stellar games. Stellar! But we better have some Pass protect plays in there.. our OL better pick up blitzes, our RB better pick up blitzes, our QB has to get rid of the ball when a blitz comes and it is second and three.. throw it away and live to play 3rd and three. Heck, maybe a simple shovel pass or something? Maybe some early screen passes to deflect the blitz? But basically better OL and RB protection for Hamp. It's that simple.
The reason is we beat both VMI (60-21) and Samford (55-14 or so) by 30/40 points EACH in 2019. If we lose to them both, well, something is amiss.
Hopefully, this last week was a real wake up call. NO ONE can just show up and beat anyone in the conference.
OK, on to Sammy - last time we ran all over them with some well-timed passes. Can we improve our PASS Protection this week? Will we be able to run better? Can we run at least enough to make them respect play-action? WILL THEY USE THE SAME FORMULA of stack the box and blitz making us hit some screens / crossing routes / hot receivers ?? Fine with me - if we can't beat that then we don't deserve to win anyway ... That's just basic football.
Focusing on the other side, Samford is probably a bigger ask than VMI. They just came from beating the very same Western team that we beat. And, likewise, beat Western badly. We beat Western 35-7. A week later Sam beat Western 55-27. They kept on scoring, we kinda pulled off. That said they averaged a very strong 6+ yards per rushing attempt and went 26-36-0 through the air. They piled on 600+ yards of O (Western D apparently stinks)...
A key here is they don't look to be quite as strong on D as we are. They allowed 450 yards of O to Western who we allowed 110 yards of O to. They allowed 22 first downs to WCU and we allowed 5 ... that encourages me. But they are better than Western, mostly on offense, so we better be ready.
Again, our D has had two stellar games. Stellar! But we better have some Pass protect plays in there.. our OL better pick up blitzes, our RB better pick up blitzes, our QB has to get rid of the ball when a blitz comes and it is second and three.. throw it away and live to play 3rd and three. Heck, maybe a simple shovel pass or something? Maybe some early screen passes to deflect the blitz? But basically better OL and RB protection for Hamp. It's that simple.
