Posted September 19th, 2009 by Brian
Filed under: Feature, Football

Texas will need Colt McCoy's arm and his legs to outscore Texas Tech.

Texas will need Colt McCoy's arm and his legs to outscore Texas Tech Saturday night.

The Texas Longhorns have already played two games, but the season really gets started tonight as they take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in a primetime matchup on ABC. The Horns are looking for revenge and more importantly the number 2 team in the country is looking to get another win closer to a BCS title shot.

Check out our keys below to beating Mike Leach on International Talk Like a Pirate Day:

1. Pressure QB Taylor Potts with a 4-man rush.

There’s two things you can’t do against the Tech offense: let the quarterback have all day to throw or blitz too often. If you give Potts too much time to throw he’ll be able to take his time and pick apart the defense underneath. If you send extra blitzers at him he can quickly get the ball out and you better cross your fingers the defensive backs don’t miss a tackle. The ideal is that your front four are able to get consistent pressure without bringing extra help, but with [tag]Sergio Kindle[/tag] playing defensive end and [tag]Will Muschamp[/tag] drawing things up you’ll likely see Texas bring 3-5 rushers from all over the field. Through two games Kindle is still looking for his first sack of the season, will he blow up the Texas Tech offense tonight?

2. Call just enough designed Colt McCoy runs.

McCoy had -3 rushing yards in the first game and 44 yards in the second on very few designed QB runs. When the offense was sputtering against Wyoming in the 2nd and 3rd quarter, offensive coordinator Greg Davis called Colt’s number to kick start the offense. Tonight against the Red Raiders they’ll likely need that boost from the very beginning and we should see McCoy run some QB draws, the zone read, and the option. McCoy is the franchise and you have to protect him, but this offense isn’t as explosive without him running the football.

3. Commit fewer than 5 penalties.

Through two games the Longhorns have been flagged for 19 penalties, and that doesn’t count penalties that the opponents declined. Those kind of unforced mistakes will kill you in a close contest. Penalties wiped several big 3rd down conversions off the board against [tag]Wyoming[/tag], that can’t happen against higher quality Big 12 opponents. Defensively, the last thing you want to do against Texas Tech’s offense is give them extra chances.

Share

Related Posts

0 Comments

Comments are closed.

Texas FanGuide - Texas Longhorns fan app with roster, news, and team schedule

Subscribe to the 40 Acres!

Don't miss breaking news or another story from your favorite Longhorns fan site, subscribe to our RSS(?) feed!

Become a fan of the 40 Acres on Facebook

Recent Comments