Clawson Presser--Launch Point Edition

Apparently this is the new cliche du jour in the college football world. I guess that the key to stymying the lineman from Troy was to vary Tyler's launch point--in other words, don't let the defensive line get used to charging to the same spot in the pocket to the find the QB. And, obviously, your lineman KNOW where he is going, giving them an advantage.

So, onto the Presser.

In case there are any doubts, Coach is happy to be 1-0.

Missouri is an excellent team. This is Pinkel's 9th year, if you can imagine that. Coach says they are a "program" now, which means they excel beyond one or two recruiting classes. Coach believes Pinkel learned how to Coach while he was an assistant at BG.

In the last two years, only Oklahoma and USC have more wins over the past two years.

He admires (as I do) that Missouri did not have a let down, even though they did lose some great players. He likes Gabbert, sees Mizzou having big receivers.

He also thinks they have simplified their scheme on defense. They do have a new DC (their previous DC, who was mentioned for the BG job, is now with the Cleveland Browns). Clawson feels their defense is simpler. They are playing more zone, less pressure, trying not to give up big plays. They play soft and then fly to the ball (he observes).

He think our guys will be pumped up to play on the big stage, even though Troy was no "cupcake."

He continued to talk about the attack against Troy. He does give a little football education in his pressers, and in this case I am impressed by his commitment to an offense that takes what the defense is giving him. He said they were committed to stopping the run and putting an extra guy into the box. They then kept their corners back, and we attacked the space that was left open. Hence, not so many carries for Willie but catches for Freddie. Could be just the opposite in the next game.

He said that the key to our defense against Troy was stopping the run. That opened up BG bringing a wide variety of fronts to the defense. Clearly, he recognizes that stopping the Tigers run attack will be more difficult.

Oh--and he also noted that his observations on Missouri are based on one game, but we have some things we haven't shown, too.

bah-ha-ha-ha-ha.

He noted that everyone thought Gabbert might not be a dual threat QB (ala Daniel) but he outran an Illinois safety last week, so maybe he is.

There was some talk of Freddie's big day. Coach says Freddie works hard without the ball, and that while his massive number of looks (15 catches, some drops on top of it) was the result of the Troy defense, they had hoped to get the ball to him 10 times.

He feels terrible for Ty Pronty, who broke his foot. Says he had made huge progress. And he is a senior. Beyond that, he says the well is not dry at WR, but he will be missed.

Coach also says that we can't wait to adjust---there's no margin for error. We can't let them go running down and take a 14-0 lead like Troy did.

He does feel the running game needs to get better. Coach was especially disappointed that we couldn't run the clock out when we got the ball with about 6:00 left.

Finally, he says that the wins over Missouri in 01-02 and NO BEARING on the game Saturday.

And here I will conclude with a short editorial comment. Yes, it is true...those players and coaches are mostly gone. But, I think it does remind our players that it can be done, and that our program has done it before.

And back then, we didn't know a dang thing about moving the launch point.