knapplc
International Man of Mystery
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga come to town this Saturday for their first-ever game against the Huskers.
The Mocs start the season ranked 21st in the Football Championship Subdivision (which normal people call D2, or Division II).
The Huskers are the only Div. I opponent on the Mocs' schedule this year. As a visiting Mocs fan brought to our attention a few months ago, Chattanooga has a recent history with Heisman trophy winners - and national champions. Over the last three seasons the Mocs have played against the eventual Heisman trophy winner - Cam Newton in 2010, Mark Ingram in 2009 and Sam Bradford in 2008. In 2007 the Mocs faced off against Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden.
The Mocs have also faced off against the two most recent national champions, playing Auburn last year (loss, 62-24) and Alabama the year prior (loss, 45-0).
If the Mocs are a good luck charm, or a bellweather for the Heisman and/or National Champion, this could bode well for the Huskers.
Chattanooga comes into Lincoln with a very young team. They are led by Senior QB B.J. Coleman, who averaged 272 yards per game passing last year. Coleman is complemented by SR WR Joel Bradford, and the pair have Bo's undivided attention. Look for the Blackshirts to roll coverage at Bradford and try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible.
Backing up Coleman is JR tailback J.J. Jackson, but Jackson only has four starts under his belt with three combined rushing TDs.
The offensive line is probably Chattanooga's biggest concern. The right side boasts the most experience with two Juniors, Adam Miller and Austin Wilson at Tackle and Guard, respectively, but combined they only have 17 starts. At Center the Mocs look to start Redshirt Freshman Patrick Sutton, and two more underclassmen at LG and LT, Sophomore Kevin Revis (a transfer from Tennessee) at Guard and Redshirt Freshman Taylor Dodds at Tackle. That is a concerning lack of experience across the line for the Mocs, especially when facing a Husker front four that features several levels of talented guys.
From what I understand from Sean Callahan via Twitter, the Mocs plan on featuring a quick passing game full of slants and bubble screens to Bradford and their WR corps to keep the pressure off of Coleman, to which Sam McKewon replied, "Ironically, that's what NU's defense wants."
The book on Coleman is that he has an NFL-caliber arm, good size (he's 6'5", 220lbs), but – and this is where it starts to get scary – he's immobile. He's not unable to run when necessary, but his game is definitely through the air, not on the ground. He projects similarly to Nathan Enderle, the Idaho Vandals QB the Huskers harassed into five INTs on 16/31 passing last year.
It'll be interesting to see how much clock the Mocs are able to burn, and how many sustained drives they're able to muster. God help them if they get into too many third-and-long situations – Eric Martin may just behead Coleman in his first major action as a third-down specialist.
Depth is also a concern along the defensive front. The Mocs' depth chart shows JR. DE Joshua Williams and Senior DT Nick Davison anchoring the left side. Both have good experience (Williams is three sacks away from the school record). However, the right side of the Mocs' D Line features two Redshirt Freshmen – Keyon Reed at Nose Tackle and Davis Tull at right DE. They'll be squaring off against ARod and Yoshi, two immense human beings that outweigh Reed and Tull by a combined 175lbs. That is a HUGE advantage.
The Mocs play a reasonably standard 4-3, so backing up their front four will be SR SAM Ryan Consiglio, JR MIKE Shane Heatherly and SO WILL Gunner Miller. Miller has five starts under his belt, but both Heatherly and Consiglio have decent experience.
The Mocs start a Sophomore and a Senior at both Corner and Safety, all of whom seem to have decent experience. CB Kadeem Wise set a Moc Freshman record last year with six INTs, so picking on him isn't necessarily the best option. In fact, the secondary is probably the Mocs' best unit overall, boasting the most overall starts and some respectable overall stats.
Russ Huesman is starting his third year coaching Chattanooga, and boasts an overall 12-10 record.
My take - I figure we should be able to run on these guys like cheap paint on a hot tin shed. I look for a couple of drives featuring nothing but the running game, smash-mouth pounding with the beef up front mowing down Mocs left and right. I would guess we won't throw a lot of passes, unless Beck just wants to see how the passing game looks in live action, simply because we won't need to throw the ball.
On defense I figure the Blackshirts have a better-than-average chance of pitching a shutout, depending on how much pressure they can get on Coleman. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bullish surge by the front four forcing Coleman into several bad decisions, creating many opportunities for the secondary to pick off errant passes.
One thing to note - as a team the Mocs had over 600 yards of returns against Auburn alone, so this is definitely not a team to sleep against on special teams.
The Mocs start the season ranked 21st in the Football Championship Subdivision (which normal people call D2, or Division II).
The Huskers are the only Div. I opponent on the Mocs' schedule this year. As a visiting Mocs fan brought to our attention a few months ago, Chattanooga has a recent history with Heisman trophy winners - and national champions. Over the last three seasons the Mocs have played against the eventual Heisman trophy winner - Cam Newton in 2010, Mark Ingram in 2009 and Sam Bradford in 2008. In 2007 the Mocs faced off against Heisman runner-up Darren McFadden.
The Mocs have also faced off against the two most recent national champions, playing Auburn last year (loss, 62-24) and Alabama the year prior (loss, 45-0).
If the Mocs are a good luck charm, or a bellweather for the Heisman and/or National Champion, this could bode well for the Huskers.
Chattanooga comes into Lincoln with a very young team. They are led by Senior QB B.J. Coleman, who averaged 272 yards per game passing last year. Coleman is complemented by SR WR Joel Bradford, and the pair have Bo's undivided attention. Look for the Blackshirts to roll coverage at Bradford and try to keep the ball out of his hands as much as possible.
Backing up Coleman is JR tailback J.J. Jackson, but Jackson only has four starts under his belt with three combined rushing TDs.
The offensive line is probably Chattanooga's biggest concern. The right side boasts the most experience with two Juniors, Adam Miller and Austin Wilson at Tackle and Guard, respectively, but combined they only have 17 starts. At Center the Mocs look to start Redshirt Freshman Patrick Sutton, and two more underclassmen at LG and LT, Sophomore Kevin Revis (a transfer from Tennessee) at Guard and Redshirt Freshman Taylor Dodds at Tackle. That is a concerning lack of experience across the line for the Mocs, especially when facing a Husker front four that features several levels of talented guys.
From what I understand from Sean Callahan via Twitter, the Mocs plan on featuring a quick passing game full of slants and bubble screens to Bradford and their WR corps to keep the pressure off of Coleman, to which Sam McKewon replied, "Ironically, that's what NU's defense wants."
The book on Coleman is that he has an NFL-caliber arm, good size (he's 6'5", 220lbs), but – and this is where it starts to get scary – he's immobile. He's not unable to run when necessary, but his game is definitely through the air, not on the ground. He projects similarly to Nathan Enderle, the Idaho Vandals QB the Huskers harassed into five INTs on 16/31 passing last year.
It'll be interesting to see how much clock the Mocs are able to burn, and how many sustained drives they're able to muster. God help them if they get into too many third-and-long situations – Eric Martin may just behead Coleman in his first major action as a third-down specialist.
Depth is also a concern along the defensive front. The Mocs' depth chart shows JR. DE Joshua Williams and Senior DT Nick Davison anchoring the left side. Both have good experience (Williams is three sacks away from the school record). However, the right side of the Mocs' D Line features two Redshirt Freshmen – Keyon Reed at Nose Tackle and Davis Tull at right DE. They'll be squaring off against ARod and Yoshi, two immense human beings that outweigh Reed and Tull by a combined 175lbs. That is a HUGE advantage.
The Mocs play a reasonably standard 4-3, so backing up their front four will be SR SAM Ryan Consiglio, JR MIKE Shane Heatherly and SO WILL Gunner Miller. Miller has five starts under his belt, but both Heatherly and Consiglio have decent experience.
The Mocs start a Sophomore and a Senior at both Corner and Safety, all of whom seem to have decent experience. CB Kadeem Wise set a Moc Freshman record last year with six INTs, so picking on him isn't necessarily the best option. In fact, the secondary is probably the Mocs' best unit overall, boasting the most overall starts and some respectable overall stats.
Russ Huesman is starting his third year coaching Chattanooga, and boasts an overall 12-10 record.
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My take - I figure we should be able to run on these guys like cheap paint on a hot tin shed. I look for a couple of drives featuring nothing but the running game, smash-mouth pounding with the beef up front mowing down Mocs left and right. I would guess we won't throw a lot of passes, unless Beck just wants to see how the passing game looks in live action, simply because we won't need to throw the ball.
On defense I figure the Blackshirts have a better-than-average chance of pitching a shutout, depending on how much pressure they can get on Coleman. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bullish surge by the front four forcing Coleman into several bad decisions, creating many opportunities for the secondary to pick off errant passes.
One thing to note - as a team the Mocs had over 600 yards of returns against Auburn alone, so this is definitely not a team to sleep against on special teams.
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