In moderation, yes. However, with less talent than Bama, LSU, Auby, & A&M, this simply won't consistently work.
Printable View
It's why there has to be some gimmick with perfect timing & selection
It's why IMO Hugh Freeze always did better against elite competition than Mullen. Mullen wanted to stick to his system while Freeze wasn't afraid to throw in some gimmick
Against elite defenses, you've got to try and steal a touchdown somehow, someway
Agree. There is certainly a give & take element to it.
Which would you rather have?
- I believe much of the reason they loss to Memphis & Ark wasn't necessarily because of gimmick, but because of a lack of discipline & culture as we spoke about in the other thread. You can't measure culture in big games. Culture is about taking care of business when you should.
Consistently won't happen.
However, if we can get to around 35 4/5 star players on the roster, get an elite SEC QB, & have Bama & LSU at home, we've got a chance to steal one.
We were close in 99 & 2014 had Bama on the road. That game always seems to be a road game.
Throw Dak Prescott on last year's roster with 2019 schedule & we've got a solid shot
Agree to disagree. Mullen increased percentage by throwing a ton of check downs. The inherent passing accuracy of those QBs only marginally improved even under Mullen. Dak is the only one that I saw a significant difference in pure accuracy from start of career to end of career. Relf was in no way accurate even as a SR, I don't care what the % says. I watched him as most here did. But yea, he was better than under Croom where he got zero coaching. Even Russell could never hit anyone accurately beyond about 20 yards. I could count on one hand the number passes Russell completed to receivers well downfield. Always an overthrow or an underthrow.
Freeze had some success against elite competition because he had an elite defense a couple of years and he always had elite talent at WR. Having elite talent at WR means you can score in one play from pretty much anywhere, which means you don't necessarily have to sustain long drives to score. Mullen never had an elite WR, and probably only Wilson, Ross, and Bumphis even qualified as being good and would have gotten starter minutes for most other teams in the SEC.
If you want to beat inferior opponents, you'd rather have an elite running game than an elite passing game. You can grind them down and reduce variability. If you want to beat superior opponents, you want an elite passing game that can increase variability.
Even then, Freeze only beat Bama in Tuscaloosa b/c they benefited from a lot of turnovers and a fluke off the helmet TD reception and Bama D getting suckered by illegal men downfield, and they only beat Bama in Oxford b/c Bama's OC was too good just to run the ball for six yards a carry and had to get cute with passing.