I rewatched our Fresno game (multiple times) and the first half of UT against Colorado St. While both teams are very vanilla, I picked up some things that I'm sure the coaches see. Ignore the national media—This game is winnable if we can get Ewers moving his feet, make him uncomfortable in the pocket, and have success on the ground.
tl;dr - you're built to beat this team. Use your Bama offensive game plan and your Wash defensive strategy to win.
Offense
@LenDaleWhite makes a good point that Vegas/national media doesn't trust Sherrone yet, and that's understandable. I believe he is one of the main reasons for our success over the last three years - however, time will tell if that's true.
Defensively, for UT, they're primarily a man defense and have been so for the past three years. While they mostly played a two-high safety look vs CSU, they'll at least roll one safety into the box like teams have done the past three years. I also expect Loveland now and for the rest of the season to get a safety shade towards his way when he's out wide, which you can use to your advantage.
We'll need to avoid keeping them out of cover 0 (no high safeties) to give ourselves the best chance to run the ball consistently. Teams have avoided cover zero against us ever since JJ torched OSU in the 2022 game. However, with a new, unproven quarterback, that will be back on the table.
The good news for me is that, offensively, your game plan against Bama will work here, as that game plan had a ton of man-beaters against that switch zone. Jet motions, shifts, RB Mesh, and WR leaks are all in play.
On the ground, UT gave up 106 yards, 4.2 YPC to CSU’s primary back. While they were sitting in two high looks all game, that gives me confidence that our much better oline can succeed on the ground. You have to succeed on the ground to win this game and keep the UT offense off the field.
I say all this with the assumption that we can still run the ball like in years past with 8 in the box. If we don’t have the offensive line to do so, then to me, it’s a no-brainer to start Orji against Arkansas State, and we will become an even more run-heavy team.
Defense
Make Ewers uncomfortable, make them one-dimensional, hold them to 3 in the red zone, and avoid the big plays.
The knock on Ewers has always been his footwork—You must get Ewers uncomfortable in the pocket to win. If not, he will pick us apart even with a good defense. The front four will have to have a great game against an offensive line that is very good in pass pro.
UT is an RPO-heavy offense—pros and cons, IMO—with as many post-snap reads as it runs. This, to me, is a check in our favor, as NFL coordinators like Wink/Minter/McD have the scheme and ability to mix coverages and confuse NFL type QB's (IE Penix)
Sark will have a good game plan, and they will move the ball. However, keeping them out of the endzone and forcing them to kick FGs will be huge. UT was awful in the red zone last year, and that trend needs to continue.
Twists, stunts, and well-timed blitzes will get home, as I don’t have a ton of faith in UT’s pass pro outside of their Oline. They don’t like to keep bodies in on Pass Pro (at least they didn’t against CSU) as it takes a playmaker off the field, and they have their third-string 200LB speed back or true Freshman to pick up Barham on the blitz (good luck with that)
Lastly, in a be better statement, if they can keep them one-dimensional and stop the run in their base 4-2 alignment, they can get a few three-and-outs and win the field position game that the offense most likely needs.
tl;dr - you're built to beat this team. Use your Bama offensive game plan and your Wash defensive strategy to win.
Offense
@LenDaleWhite makes a good point that Vegas/national media doesn't trust Sherrone yet, and that's understandable. I believe he is one of the main reasons for our success over the last three years - however, time will tell if that's true.
Defensively, for UT, they're primarily a man defense and have been so for the past three years. While they mostly played a two-high safety look vs CSU, they'll at least roll one safety into the box like teams have done the past three years. I also expect Loveland now and for the rest of the season to get a safety shade towards his way when he's out wide, which you can use to your advantage.
We'll need to avoid keeping them out of cover 0 (no high safeties) to give ourselves the best chance to run the ball consistently. Teams have avoided cover zero against us ever since JJ torched OSU in the 2022 game. However, with a new, unproven quarterback, that will be back on the table.
The good news for me is that, offensively, your game plan against Bama will work here, as that game plan had a ton of man-beaters against that switch zone. Jet motions, shifts, RB Mesh, and WR leaks are all in play.
On the ground, UT gave up 106 yards, 4.2 YPC to CSU’s primary back. While they were sitting in two high looks all game, that gives me confidence that our much better oline can succeed on the ground. You have to succeed on the ground to win this game and keep the UT offense off the field.
I say all this with the assumption that we can still run the ball like in years past with 8 in the box. If we don’t have the offensive line to do so, then to me, it’s a no-brainer to start Orji against Arkansas State, and we will become an even more run-heavy team.
Defense
Make Ewers uncomfortable, make them one-dimensional, hold them to 3 in the red zone, and avoid the big plays.
The knock on Ewers has always been his footwork—You must get Ewers uncomfortable in the pocket to win. If not, he will pick us apart even with a good defense. The front four will have to have a great game against an offensive line that is very good in pass pro.
UT is an RPO-heavy offense—pros and cons, IMO—with as many post-snap reads as it runs. This, to me, is a check in our favor, as NFL coordinators like Wink/Minter/McD have the scheme and ability to mix coverages and confuse NFL type QB's (IE Penix)
Sark will have a good game plan, and they will move the ball. However, keeping them out of the endzone and forcing them to kick FGs will be huge. UT was awful in the red zone last year, and that trend needs to continue.
Twists, stunts, and well-timed blitzes will get home, as I don’t have a ton of faith in UT’s pass pro outside of their Oline. They don’t like to keep bodies in on Pass Pro (at least they didn’t against CSU) as it takes a playmaker off the field, and they have their third-string 200LB speed back or true Freshman to pick up Barham on the blitz (good luck with that)
Lastly, in a be better statement, if they can keep them one-dimensional and stop the run in their base 4-2 alignment, they can get a few three-and-outs and win the field position game that the offense most likely needs.
