Collins

[msstate7]

We gave you a big raise and now it's time to earn it. I don't know if the best approach is to come after them and try to force mistakes or play conservative and make them sustain long drives. Both are risky IMO. If you play aggressive, they can hit hr's on us. If you play conservative, hill could get in a groove. Mr collins, you've had 2 weeks and you have the personel to play with this team. I think you're a great DC and now it's time to prove it. Hail state!

[Political Hack]

you gamble and get after them on 3rd downs to get them off the field. Otherwise, you keep a S over the top... preferably Hughes.

[thf24]

Despite finishing strong and ending up with a good game, Hill showed Saturday that he's not the elite QB everyone has been touting him as, at least not yet. He saw real pressure for the first time and didn't deal with it well. I think he was under 50% completions for most of the game, and didn't finish much over. I'd say our secondary is as good or better than Arkansas', and our front is way better. As long as Collins and Turner can get our d-line fired up and playing hard from the whistle despite the early kickoff, I think we'll be fine.

[ShotgunDawg]

Despite finishing strong and ending up with a good game, Hill showed Saturday that he's not the elite QB everyone has been touting him as, at least not yet. He saw real pressure for the first time and didn't deal with it well. I think he was under 50% completions for most of the game. I'd say our secondary is as good or better than Arkansas', and our front is way better. As long as Collins and Turner can get our d-line fired up and playing hard from the whistle despite the early kickoff, I think we'll be fine.

Hill is a "pretty good" QB. I don't believe he is elite, as in high level NFL sense, but he is more than capable of carving up most any team in college football.

From what I've seen, the key to stopping him, is getting him to move his feet. I think his ability to throw with accuracy is great diminished when his feet are moving. Particularly if he is moving to his left.

[maroonmania]

We gave you a big raise and now it's time to earn it. I don't know if the best approach is to come after them and try to force mistakes or play conservative and make them sustain long drives. Both are risky IMO. If you play aggressive, they can hit hr's on us. If you play conservative, hill could get in a groove. Mr collins, you've had 2 weeks and you have the personel to play with this team. I think you're a great DC and now it's time to prove it. Hail state!

Well I will say that FOR US playing conservative is NOT the way to go. I think we have shown than when we play conservative trying to stop the pass that is exactly when we CAN'T stop it. When we play coverage and only send a few people we don't cover anybody. We just stand around in the secondary and our guys apparently don't realize they have to still go cover someone and can't just stand in a spot. We obviously have to mix up our coverage schemes to confuse Hill but if we play max coverage a lot it will be a disaster. If we give Hill lots of time to throw we will get burned repeatedly deep because our cover guys just don't stick with receivers, we let them run free. What you saw A&M do against Arkansas in the 4th quarter will be what they do to us all game if we play that way.

[starkvegasdawg]

You bring the house early and often. Even the announcers Saturday said he can't hit a moving target very well. We need to make him have to hit a moving target while he's running for his life. Force some errant throws to see if we can get some picks. I want Hill having nightmares of our defensive line and for McKinney to have a couple of clear shots at him when he does try to run. Crumple him up like we did Jennings against LSU.

Offensively, we have got to run the ball but sooner or later they will stack the box wth an 8-9 man front. Dak will have to make them pay with the passing game. I think our offense is much more lethan than Arkansas' so if we are on our game and not committing stupid mistakes I think we will be able to score on them. It will just come down to if our defense can slow them down enough for out offense to out score them.

We have our chance this Saturday to knock off our second top 10 team. We do that and everybody has to admit LSU was not a fluke or them having a down game. We're starting to get some respect but not from everybody yet. We beat the aggies and then we have it from everyone.

[MetEdDawg]

You definitely can't be conservative with this game plan. I don't think we were conservative last year but we were horrible on 3rd down and that cost us the game. We had TAMU in several 3rd and medium or long and they converted almost every one of them.

We've got to attack and move Hill from his spot like most have said. Don't give him time to think. Have to get pressure with our front four but when we blitz we HAVE to make him move. Can't get picked up and give him a clean pocket. That means we are going to have to be very good in man coverage Saturday though and that scares me some.

We also have to be multiple in our looks. Zone look man coverage. Drop 8 off a blitz look. Drop DL in short zone coverage. Mix in some 3-3-5 or have Wells and Jackson on the field at the same time in a base 4-3 look. We will have to get creative with our personnel usage because this type of team has the ability to carve us up. They play way against our strength which is our physical front 7. Got to give them looks they haven't seen before. The good thing is our defense has the ability to fly around the field. Fast and quick and that's how we will have to play to win. I think we put up 35+. Question is can we hold them to less than that.

[ShotgunDawg]

You definitely can't be conservative with this game plan. I don't think we were conservative last year but we were horrible on 3rd down and that cost us the game. We had TAMU in several 3rd and medium or long and they converted almost every one of them.

We've got to attack and move Hill from his spot like most have said. Don't give him time to think. Have to get pressure with our front four but when we blitz we HAVE to make him move. Can't get picked up and give him a clean pocket. That means we are going to have to be very good in man coverage Saturday though and that scares me some.

We also have to be multiple in our looks. Zone look man coverage. Drop 8 off a blitz look. Drop DL in short zone coverage. Mix in some 3-3-5 or have Wells and Jackson on the field at the same time in a base 4-3 look. We will have to get creative with our personnel usage because this type of team has the ability to carve us up. They play way against our strength which is our physical front 7. Got to give them looks they haven't seen before. The good thing is our defense has the ability to fly around the field. Fast and quick and that's how we will have to play to win. I think we put up 35+. Question is can we hold them to less than that.

Texas A&M was 6/13 on 3rd downs against us last year. The game wasn't lost there. The game was lost due to our poor special teams giving up 185 yards on 6 kickoff returns, Texas A&M getting 2 TDs in which they didn't have to drive the ball over 30 yards, and A&M having a 2 play 90 yard drive.

We stopped A&M 8 times last year, their 3rd down conversion had little to do with the outcome. Us giving up big plays on special teams and giving them short fields did. A&M also blocked a punt for a safety and we averaged 27 yards per punt in that game. We also missed a FG and they did not. All in all, our special teams played like shit in this game, not our offense or defense.

I think if we play clean on special teams and stop A&M 8 times Saturday, we will win the game.

Here are the stats if you are interested in actually doing research on the game: http://www.hailstate.com/fls/16800/stats/fb/2013/ms1109.htm#GAME.DRV

[jumbo]

I hope we don't play conservative. That's what SC did and they got picked apart with the underneath passing game. We need to pressure the hell out of Hill and keep a S over the top. I'm willing to bet our front 7 can stop the run without any help.

Bottom line is, they are going to score and hit some big plays. They key will be limiting those big plays and getting a couple turnovers.

[dawgoneyall]

Just no prevent defense.

But I hope we are in the position to consider the prevent.

[MetEdDawg]

Texas A&M was 6/13 on 3rd downs against us last year. The game wasn't lost there. The game was lost due to our poor special teams giving up 185 yards on 6 kickoff returns, Texas A&M getting 2 TDs in which they didn't have to drive the ball over 30 yards, and A&M having a 2 play 90 yard drive.

We stopped A&M 8 times last year, their 3rd down conversion had little to do with the outcome. Us giving up big plays on special teams and giving them short fields did. A&M also blocked a punt for a safety and we averaged 27 yards per punt in that game. We also missed a FG and they did not. All in all, our special teams played like shit in this game, not our offense or defense.

I think if we play clean on special teams and stop A&M 8 times Saturday, we will win the game.

Here are the stats if you are interested in actually doing research on the game: http://www.hailstate.com/fls/16800/stats/fb/2013/ms1109.htm#GAME.DRV

If you will remember, I believe TAMU converted three 3rd and 10+ on our defense and every single one of those led to scoring drives for them. The percentage wasn't awful (less than 50%), but it was the ones they got that killed us. Us failing to stop them in + defensive situations stopped us from getting off the field and getting the ball back AND it led directly to scoring drives for them. That's a killer no matter how you slice 3rd down percentages.

The worst was the 3rd and 18 where we chased Manziel for 50 yards in the backfield and he hit I think Evans on the sideline for the conversion. Just kept changing the momentum in their favor in situations that we should have been able to stop them and get the ball back.

[drunkernhelldawg]

Hill is a "pretty good" QB. I don't believe he is elite, as in high level NFL sense, but he is more than capable of carving up most any team in college football.

From what I've seen, the key to stopping him, is getting him to move his feet. I think his ability to throw with accuracy is great diminished when his feet are moving. Particularly if he is moving to his left.

Inexperienced, but capable of being exceptionally accurate and quick.

[Dawgfan77]

Control LOS with no more than 5 and get pressure on Hill with no more than 5. We will need to be multiple and disguise blitzes but we need to drop 5 or 6 in coverage. Have to play safety deep as well. DL vs OL is what's it's going to come down too

[rbdog82]

Something I noticed in A&M games against USC and Ark was that both teams tackled poorly on short - intermediate routes, which lead to first downs for A&M. If we can limit a 0-5yd pass to a 0-5yd gain, then we will be fine. If A&M starts racking up YAC, it could be a long day.

[sandwolf]

The worst was the 3rd and 18 where we chased Manziel for 50 yards in the backfield and he hit I think Evans on the sideline for the conversion.

I remember that one. That was pretty deflating.

[starkvegasdawg]

Screw the game last year. Means nothing. A&M is a completely different team this year - as are we. I think this game comes down to us:
1. getting consistent pressure on Hill
2. not giving up the long pass play
3. us being able to run and pass in a good enough balance to keep them honest on defense

If we can do those three things then I think everybody on this board (except the bear lurkers that I hope are clicking ads) will be in a very good mood at 3:00PM Saturday afternoon.