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The fact that Arky doesn't already have a new coach announced after eight months to look for one portends bad things for getting anybody high up on their list.
The 2012 Texas A&M team does not represent the SEC's first go-round trying to stop a spread offense. The SEC struggled against Urban Meyer at Florida for several years. If you have the players, you can run the scheme and be effective. It's not as though A&M went from having some plodding offense to putting up these numbers. Last year I think A&M was #7 in the country in total offense; they just sucked in translating yards into points and turned the ball over like crazy, sort of like Arky this year.
I think the key to slowing down Manziel will be to force him to make quick decisions. With the present O-Line, that has been tough to do, because of so many plays where he can stand in the pocket for seven seconds, and then run around for another seven or eight trying to make something happen. If, as expected, a couple of those guys go to the NFL, then Manziel's massive margin for error gets reduced to something more typical for an SEC QB. He's a great athlete and improviser, and has made strides in decision-making, but it remains to be seen as he develops whether he'll make quick, good decisions that the elite defenses will force him to make to be effective. Michael Vick's best year at VT was his freshman year.
I caution aggy against extrapolating the 2012 season into some kind of impending SEC dominance. LSU and Florida will be better on offense next year. Alabama isn't going anywhere.
The fact that Arky doesn't already have a new coach announced after eight months to look for one portends bad things for getting anybody high up on their list.
Didn't Spurrier essentially run the spread too?
Wouldn't have made a difference. Florida took away his strengths by keeping him in the pocket and playing tighter coverages. Plus, their d-line was stout as well. A&M's offense played well in the first half and got shut down in the second half just like the LSU game and even similar to the Bama game so the whole extra week argument goes out the window. I don't think the extra week would have made a difference. Plus, Florida was playing a young QB as well.
Manziel is a completely different player then he was against UF. A&M had open receivers all over the field against Florida but had a freshman reluctant to pass the ball and take chances. That isn't the case anymore. I said "It would be a totally different ball-game" if we played them next week. That doesn't mean we'd beat them but they wouldn't hold Manziel and our offense to 17 pts again either. That I know.
People went back to that Florida game all season long for some special recipe to stop Johnny and it hasn't worked all season. Why? Because he's a totally different player who has improved week by week. If you go look at him scrambling against Florida he wasn't even looking upfield for open recdeivers, he was dead-set on running the ball. Now, he is creating time and finding receivers off the scramble drill first, and running if nothing is there second.
I think the second half against Alabama represents what the A&M offense playing at its present level would accomplish against an elite SEC defense that has seen it before. That would be more or less the "average" of A&M's output in the first vs. second halves against Florida.
Well that was an even half. A TD and FG for both teams and that game was in Tuscaloosa.
So A&M's 17-point performance against UF would instead be somwhere in the range 20 +/- 4, and Florida might try to do something with the ball in the fourth rather than milking the clock knowing that A&M was stymied. Doesn't sound like a "totally different ballgame" but rather a "remarkably similar ballgame."
I didn't say that, that's what you said. but for somebody who is so confident that we wouldn't beat them if we played them again, you just said it would be an even half.
I think we would score 24+ pts if we played them again. We just put up 29 on Alabama and FSU just put up 26 on UF. So I don't see how we wouldn't put up a similar number considering our offense has grown immensely from game 1 to now.
We're probably just parsing semantics on the "different ballgame" at this point. A&M might beat Florida if they played again, but the game would look like a typical grind-it-out SEC game rather than the Tecmo Bowl performances the A&M offense puts up against also-rans. The 29 against Alabama includes 20 in the first quarter, i.e. the fast start I'm asserting won't happen when elite defenses see A&M for a second time. The 26 FSU scored includes a meaningless touchdown on the last play when UF was playing prevent to run the clock out.
I think you'd see another close game where the winner scores 20-24 points.
When you said "It wouldn't have made a difference" I was assuming you meant the final outcome.
When I say it would be a different game, I didn't necessarily mean we would put up video game numbers on that defense because it's the best in the nation IMO. What I'm talking about is the fact that we had 0 first downs in the third quarter of that game and 3 first downs in the whole 2nd half. What this did was tire out our defense resulting in Florida winning the game. I do believe we would be able to move the ball and gain yards if we played them again (not week 1) making it a different game. Who knows if that would result in a bunch of points but it would definitely keep our defense from tiring out. It would be more of a fast paced game because Florida wouldn't be able to establish such a dominant run game and time of possession. I still think it would be a close game but we were total that 2nd half and a lot of that had to do with their defense but also the fact that we had a freshman QB playing his first ever game. The adjustments they made in the 2nd half of that game wouldn't have the same result tomorrow then it did then is my whole point.
No, LeeMajors, Spurrier did not run the spread. At least not the Spread we see around CFB today. He did have a lot of 4 and 5 receiver sets, but not as much of a shotgun reliant, hurry-up tempo type scheme like Oregon/A&M use. His passing game was much more of a downfield attack.
Ol' Ball Coach had some crazy good RB's in his day like Fred Jackson and Errict Rhett. Very underrated and a big reason his teams always passed the ball so well.
According to Vegas 5 SEC teams would be favored against ND:
http://www.sbnation.com/college-foot...rgia-odds-2012Notre Dame vs.:
Alabama: -9.5
Georgia: -3
Florida: -1.5
LSU: -3
Texas A&M: -3.5
South Carolina: +3.5
Yeah, I meant a spreadlike precursor, up tempo at least. Spurrier always had top notch athletes all over the field. Emmit was no slouch either
Can't remember if he ran no-huddle much or not, tbh. Maybe some, but I don't think it was every down like an Oregon or an Aggy. He also had guys under a center a fair amount. It was almost more like the run n shoot than a spread, iirc.
And wasn't Emmitt pre-Spurrier?
Edit: yep, he played for Galen Hall
I blame my inaccuracies on the hash haze fromn last night, but yeah a lot like June Jones as Falcons OC as far as I remember
no worries
mmmmm....hash, June Jones and the run and shoot. Makes me miss the 90's and those ty Falcons teams.
I think Spurrier's offense was called the fun and gun, very similar to the run and shoot. They just threw the ball to a spot in that offense.
I'm actually feeling pretty even on this game this weekend. If J. Jones, Olgetree and Rambo show up with that defense in the right state of mind, they can win. I hope a new Aron Murray shows up, too.
I think maybe even the good lord Jesus Christ is pulling for Georgia this weekend. Hopefully he pulls a few strings imho.
Holy ing buhjeezus but I hope you Dawgs win
And then ing obliterate the Domers in the Natty.
Romad, I DO NOT want to be a ND fan in the BCSNC game... you hear me? My ing head might explode. I'm holding you responsible
Sucks for Florida who's beaten 3 of those teams.
God that game last night was a kick directly to the . Why not e the ball? I must have said it out loud 30 times after the game ended.
Oh well, that was one of the best SEC championship games ever, maybe the best. Congrats to Bama, they earned it. Their O-line is a monster and they should win it all again.
I'm having a hard time coming to the realization that whatever God there is, he is a Yankees, Bama and Lakers fan.
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