Wednesday, October 06, 2004

The Chips

Falcon fans have some bad memories of the Chips, none worse than the image of a fat punter running a fake punt 80 yards, ruining our 1994 season, and setting in a curse that wasn't lifted until we similarly trick-fuc*ed Northwestern with the Magner reverse when they were expecting an extra point.

Last I looked, BG was a 14-point favorite, and let's hope we can live up to that. Its on the road, and its homecoming at CMU. Furthermore, I'm afraid they can hit at our weaknesses. They run well (4.5 yards per carry) and Jerry Seymour went 28-123 on us last year. He is at least as good as the Wolfe kid @ NIU. They run the ball about 54% of the time, a little higher than the typical MAC average.

Our D has to prove that it can stop the run this week, or we could easily lose again. Some things are working in our favor. NIU's starting line is bigger. They go 290-310-290-295-310 across the front, while CMU goes 328-287-294-294-275. CMU has two seniors and two juniors on the front. The other thing working in our favor is that I don't think they have the ability to go over the top like NIU did if you pull in. Their QB has only 49.1% COMP, and 4 TD's. Their best receiver is only getting 4.5 catches a game.

That should help. Still, we need to tackle better and pursue better and contain better.

CMU has also had raging good special teams. Brian Kelly says its the quickest way to turn a team around, and you saw the same philosophy from UM. We need to cover returns well, and block our kicks well. We don't need big plays on the road going against us.

There's plenty to worry about here. On the plus side, teams have throws on CMU, and if Omar can build on the big game in Philly, then we should be fine.

No comments :