What you just said is why I think a 4-4 may work. Since we KNOW they're going to try to run it, I want Skinner on the field at all times. He's been a beast stopping the run, and as I pointed out, finished second to B-Mack in tackles this year. No way could I justify taking him off the field. And while they're a "spread" team, we know that with the big backs, they're going to want to pound it inside. Thus, why not put another good tackler like Richie or Beni on the field? With Beni's speed, he'd almost work as another safety, if we wanted to put him outside in the 4-4 and move Skinner inside with B-Mack.

Something else to think about is maybe using Jiles at S. He's got good size and tackles pretty well, but seems to struggle a little in coverage. Why not put him at SS and let him play the run? It frees up Market to be a traditional FS and play CF for when Rice tries to take the inevitable deep shot off the play action.

The one thing I WOULDN'T do is what you suggest: Take a LB off the field for an extra DB. We're just too beat up in the secondary and I want ALL my big body run stuffers on the field. Hell, I would mind a 5-3-3 with Smith, Eulls, PJ, CJ, and Autry all on the field together. The good news is that we seem to have lots of options. And fwiw, those who've been to a couple of bowl practices (such as C34) have said that Cox was practicing at S.