Watching Navy play....

[HoopsDawg]

I know this is obvious but if you play assignment football and tackle well, then the option should be easy to stop. Navy gets most of their yards off of missed tackles or FB dives.

2 things we have going for us:

1) our DT's aren't great pass rushers, but they are really geared to stopping the run. If Eulls, PJ, CJ, and big Nick James take away the FB, that goes a long way to shutting them down. If Mckinney doesn't have to worry about the FB he can scrape down and nail the QB time after time.

and

2) our corners, especially Redmond and Calhoun, do a good job of getting of WR blocks and helping in the run game. All of the sudden you could have Mckinney, Preston Smith, Wells, and Redmond all keying on the QB and pitch man.

No excuse for us not to win this gmae.

[msstate7]

I expect GT to try and hit us deep early. We can't let that happen.

[HoopsDawg]

The first half flew by. Even with more commercials due to it being a bowl game, the first half was over in 1 hour, 15 minutes.

[Todd4State]

Paul Johnson is an option guru. He's probably the best at running that offense in the country.

I know that we've moved JT Gray back to safety. I hope he starts and plays the entire game.

I think they are going to have a hard time with Chris Jones on the inside, but they are also going to have a hard time running the ball at Beniquez and Wells. I'm worried about Evans and Coman on their wingbacks though.

[blacklistedbully]

I know this is obvious but if you play assignment football and tackle well, then the option should be easy to stop. Navy gets most of their yards off of missed tackles or FB dives.

2 things we have going for us:

1) our DT's aren't great pass rushers, but they are really geared to stopping the run. If Eulls, PJ, CJ, and big Nick James take away the FB, that goes a long way to shutting them down. If Mckinney doesn't have to worry about the FB he can scrape down and nail the QB time after time.

and

2) our corners, especially Redmond and Calhoun, do a good job of getting of WR blocks and helping in the run game. All of the sudden you could have Mckinney, Preston Smith, Wells, and Redmond all keying on the QB and pitch man.

No excuse for us not to win this gmae.

I wish it was just this simple, but there's a little more to it than just what you've said. My biggest concern is whether or not our DB's will recognize and effectively communicate & react when their assignments are switched at the snap. For instance, if Redmond is on the play-side WR, I feel great about him getting off the WR block. However, how will we handle it when that WR goes inside for the crack block on the Safety instead? Not only will Redmond need to recognize this immediately, communicate with our Safety and assume responsibility to cover the pitch instead of the WR, but our Safety will also have to catch this and realize his assignment is no longer to step up to cover the pitch, but rather to take responsibility for the play-side WR released to him by Redmond (or whoever is playing that CB position).

I worry our Safety will miss the switch and leave us exposed for a big play.

That said, I have to believe the extra time we've had to prepare will make the difference for our defense, even with the loss of Collins. Turner will have our D-linemen accepting their primary role of "filling gaps", and the DB's will be ready, both for recognizing plays and to cover man-to-man as necessary. I have no doubt our LB's will be terrific, particularly our Mike.