:no_upscale()/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/MNBN647R7BDLVOL2DJ3BVSANTA.jpg)
UNIVERSITY PARK — At this point, based on the first three weeks of the season, SMU looks like it could be a one-trick pony on offense. Counterpoint: is that necessarily a bad thing when that one trick is really good?
Senior wide receiver Rashee Rice has looked the part of a potential Biletnikoff Award candidate so far. He leads the nation with 491 receiving yards on 28 receptions — many of which haven’t come without a contesting defender on his hip. Against Maryland last week, quarterback Tanner Mordecai targeted Rice 20 times.
“You guys saw it: Every time we threw it to him he either caught it or got a [pass interference],” Lashlee said after the 34-27 defeat. “So we’re not going to apologize for that.”
No apology necessary. But is more distribution necessary on offense the rest of the season, starting with Saturday’s sold out Battle for the Iron Skillet against TCU?
Offensive coordinator Casey Woods laughed when asked that.
“We’re going to give it to the guys that can get yards for us and make plays,” Woods said with a chuckle.
Then he took a more serious tone.
“But always,” he said, regarding an emphasis on spreading out the attack. “The offense is structured in that way and we’ve got good quarterbacks that can. Tanner does a great job distributing it throughout. Obviously, there gets to be situational times, and just sometimes it’s the looks that the defense gives you that gives you an opportunity. And shoot, when you hit it as many times as you hit it, there’s no reservations about getting him the ball.”
As word of Rice’s ability grows, however, the situations conducive to targeting him might diminish. One call for every defensive coordinator is the aspiration to eliminate or subdue an opposing offense’s best ability.
TCU defensive coordinator Joe Gillespie, according to SMU’s coaches, is good at doing just that. The former Stephenville head coach spent seven seasons at Tulsa, including the last three as the team’s defensive coordinator.
“I respect a lot of coaches in our business, but I may have as much respect for Joe Gillespie as anyone,” SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee said, both on a schematic level and personal level.
TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, formerly the head coach at SMU, said he didn’t know Gillespie personally before he interviewed him for the Horned Frogs defensive coordinator job this offseason. Dykes did, however, get to face-off against him, including last year’s season finale loss to Tulsa.
“I think he probably has as good of an understanding of that drop eight stuff as anyone,” Dykes said.
Translation: Gillespie is really good at designing a defense that can bend, but not break. Deep ball opportunities could be at a premium for a team that might have the best deep-ball connection in college football so far. Mordecai has completed 10 passes that traveled at least 20 plus yards to Rice, according to Pro Football Focus, at an average depth of target of over 27 yards on those passes. That’s the most receptions for a receiver in that category in the country. Those 10 receptions have resulted in 287 yards.
Gillespie’s Horned Frogs will undoubtedly try and slow that down. That emphasis could be a test for SMU’s offense.
“We’re going to have to be patient,” Lashlee said of SMU’s offense this coming Saturday. “At the end of the day, you hear this word — it all comes down to execution every week, that’s true, but the way they play their defense, probably more so than ever, because if you’re a hair off, they do a great job of always having you outnumbered.”
In addition to being patient, Mordecai and the SMU offense might also have to be a little more spread out. The good news, according to Lashlee: there’s a lot of options. Jordan Kerley left the first quarter of the game against Maryland with a shoulder injury, but Lashlee said he’ll be in “pretty good shape here pretty quick.” Rice transfer Jake Bailey made his return to the lineup last week. Texas transfer Moochie Dixon caught a touchdown late. Earlier in the game, true freshman tight end R.J. Maryland had a 51-yard touchdown reception.
“It doesn’t have to necessarily be one guy,” Lashlee said.
But if it has to be one guy, having a guy like Rice makes for a pretty good trick.
https://ift.tt/hRMTIce
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar