Clawson Presser--Defending the Spread

Coach Clawson did his presser Wednesday...not a ton of news was made.  He talked a lot about Akron, which, as we and others have noted, is a different kettle of fish from the one we expected.  That team, even at 1-4, is much, much improved.  They play a spread offense, short passes and if you get out of the box to deal with that, it opens up running lanes in the middle.  We have to tackle and play well in space to stop them.

Akron is also playing at a high energy level.

And...they play an aggressive defense, with a blitzing pass rush along with tight, press man to man coverage.  Which will put a premium on BGs ability to get WRs open against press coverage and make accurate passes.

Yeah, I know what you mean.  I feel the same way.  This one has trouble written all over it.

Coach said the offense had to keep up, do what it had to to win, but that "we haven't scored like that this year."  When asked what Miami did that we could copy, he said we could have "our QB throw for 500 yards and rush for 100 yards."

Heh.

He also, just for irony's sake, went on to describe in perfect detail how difficult the spread is to defend.  He said something like "they spread you out to the numbers and then that opens all kinds of lanes up."  Honestly, he went on extensively about how effective the spread is.

To which I thought, gee, I wonder if we ever played that kind of offense?  Did we have any success?  How often were we shut out?

But that's just the dark side talking.  I guess I still believe our team is better than they have shown.  Akron may be much improved, but four years into this program, this should be a game we can go over and win.  He says the players are focused.  Akron is going to be incredibly hungry Saturday....