Point of Attack | Texas St. vs. Texas Tech

In light of the news regarding the Texas Tech men's basketball program I did not prepare any sort of links post this morning. These are the links from yesterday and this morning:

* LAJ's Nick Kosmider with a notebook.
* LAJ's Don Williams with a feature on DL Leon Mackey and his switch to the tackle spot.
* RRS.com's Mike Graham with a notebook.
* Student of the Game's Cody Davis with a look at the first game.
* SB Nation's Spencer Hall with this Week 1: Alphabetical.

So what's the best way to attack Texas St.'s offense? I think the best way to attack is not to attack and this very well may be the same thing that needs to happen when Texas Tech plays New Mexico as well. First things first, everyone needs to stay at home. The quarterback for Texas St. is going to make reads based on the play happening, so much is predicated on the quarterback making the correct read. Just like an Air-Raid offense, these types of offenses will generate yards on the ground, the difference is limiting the big play.

I'd also add that the defensive line and linebackers have to control the gaps. First, the defense needs to make sure that first and second downs are limited to then force a tough third down. Texas St. struggled to complete much of a pass last year and perhaps the biggest reason why Texas St. lost last year was that the running game was really limited towards the end of the year. With one game under their belts, Texas St. QB Shawn Rutherford was 18 of 24 for 189 yards, which is absolutely just fine for what they are trying to accomplish. Rutherford is supposed to be a game-manager and he obviously did that against Houston.

I was surprised when I went back and looked at the box score for Texas St. and RB Marcus Curry was electric as he had 14 carries for 131 yards and 2 touchdowns, with a long run of 73 yards. The Bobcats' were led in carries by Rutherford with 21 carries and 34 yards, although you have to factor in that Rutherford was sacked 4 times for 33 yards. He was carrying the ball, but I'd imagine that there is an opportunity to get to Rutherford if Houston can get to Rutherford, then I hope that Texas Tech should be able to rattle him as well.

Attacking the Bobcat offense after the jump.

The best thing about what Texas Tech's offense can do is present multiple options and multiple players that no one has really seen and Texas Tech should be able to do it in waves. The more I think about the overall depth of the running backs and the receivers, the more I think about how the offense is going to work.

This is an obscure and perhaps poorly-placed reference, but a handful of years ago, the Tulane Green Wave basketball team had a coach that would completely sub-out the entire starting five and put in a whole new five players. The new five would just play suffocating defense and literally run all over the court with no care about being conditioned to doing this the entire game because they knew that they're would also be subbed out at some time. I don't know if this is plausible for a running back and receiving corps to do this, but I cannot imagine a quicker way to tire out a defense that most likely doesn't have the depth to keep pace.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I'd imagine that Texas St. is happy that they played a spread team in Houston right out of the gate and they had success doing so. It appears that Houston never adjusted, or that they adjusted and Texas St. was just better. Without seeing the game, I'm not sure, but I do know that Houston was awful passing the ball, although the Cougars did appear to complete some long passes, and just did not have much underneath, in the second level. You had better be ready for a similar game to last week in that Texas Tech needs to take what the defense dictates and if they are only going to rush three players, then you run the ball and make them adjust.