Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

[bigsig50]

No real thoughts right now. Wasn't expecting UCO to come in at 0-2. Could make for a dangerous team.

Teams are probably pretty evenly matched, but dig a little deeper later in the week.

[bigsig50]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

Got to watch some of both of UCO's 1st 2 games last night.

Hard to really know who they are right now. The seemed simply outmatched vs. Pitt State's defensive front. I imagine Pitt's defense is going to make a lot of defenses look like that this year. Defensively they seemed solid vs. Pitt, but that could've been a product of the Gorillas trying to find their identity. It could've been a product of Pitt's game plan as well. Their messy 2, 3, 4 yard runs that finish in piles give an illusion of defending the run effectively, but when they pile up and turn into long drives (99 yds!) they end up being fatal.

Kearney moved the ball pretty efficiently against them on the ground, and seemingly in bigger chunks. The UCO LB's seemed to have adequate speed, but it looked like they couldn't make up for the separation and push that the UNK OL was getting on the UCO defensive front. Offensively, UCO's QB looked much better than he did vs. Pitt. I actually anticipated seeing a different QB in the UNK game after watching his performance vs. Pitt. He was much more accurate and timing was much better although he did rely mainly on speedy number 5.



I think Lindenwood will take an offensive approach similar to Kearny's in establishing the run early. Like UNK and Pitt, they have multiple RBs that can carry the load and a QB that can hurt you with his feet. The question will be if the LU OL shows up. I imagine they got an earful at halftime of the MoSo game because they came out and performed much better. Hopefully they build on that. LU's offense will be able to add a wrinkle that UNK didn't really attempt that much and that's in the passing game. Cade Brister is currently the 3rd most efficient QB in the conference and Erik Heneman is a nightmare match up for a lot of secondaries. UCO does have the 3rd best passing defense in the league, so it will be interesting to see how LU approaches this.

UCO seemed to find more offensive success through the air so far this season, but they'll be running into a pretty good LU pass defense. LU has already picked off 3 passes this year, returning one for 6. I was worried about our secondary coming into the year after losing so much talent, but it appears that we've reloaded nicely. If LU can keep UCO out of 3rd-and-manageable downs, the LU defensive front could force UCO into some mistakes.

As always, my pick is biased. I say that LU will win this one on the backs of a strong running performance and will be able to make enough plays defensively to pull out a victory.

LU-24
UCO-23

[Thepeman]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

Good read, Sig. Do want to point out, you may want to edit your spelling of Kearney. You might bring some rath of those UNK supporters. :smile-big:

[bigsig50]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

Good read, Sig. Do want to point out, you may want to edit your spelling of Kearney. You might bring some rath of those UNK supporters. :smile-big:

My bad... thanks! (At least I didn't spell it Carney, lol)

[Thepeman]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

My bad... thanks! (At least I didn't spell it Carney, lol)

:laugh::good:

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

UCO's D has played the 2 most run heavy teams in the conference, so idk what you can tell about their pass D. They are pretty much untested at this point in that aspect.

[jimbo slice]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

for what ever reason, we went with the bend but dont break approach for the nk game....with that running game, if you dont hit that qb everytime he steps out of the pocket, you are making a mistake. we made that mistake. and also didnt attack the pitch man....i would have tried to make that kid beat me with his arm. he SEEM to be very accurate.


the korny o looked MUCH better than they did last year. theyre gonna beat a few of you guys this year.
hide and watch.

[jimbo slice]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

for what ever reason, we went with the bend but dont break approach for the nk game....with that running game, if you dont hit that qb everytime he steps out of the pocket, you are making a mistake. we made that mistake. and also didnt attack the pitch man....i would have tried to make that kid beat me with his arm. he SEEM to be very accurate.


the korny o looked MUCH better than they did last year. theyre gonna beat a few of you guys this year.
hide and watch.

as far as the pitt game goes..kid said pitt front 7 was much quicker this year and every play was a stunt or blitz. more than likely to confuse the rookie qb...last week things slowed down for him...

[bigsig50]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

UCO's D has played the 2 most run heavy teams in the conference, so idk what you can tell about their pass D. They are pretty much untested at this point in that aspect.

Good point. If LU can find that same type of success, I imagine they won't be tested much by us either. I don't anticipate that though. Bobeck has proven to be a solid coach and I would expect the Bronchos to come in looking to improve their run defense quite a bit. I don't see LU sticking with it like Pitt Sate does. They won't hesitate to take it to the air if they get a loaded box given the success and efficiency that Brister has played with already.

[bigsig50]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

as far as the pitt game goes..kid said pitt front 7 was much quicker this year and every play was a stunt or blitz. more than likely to confuse the rookie qb...last week things slowed down for him...

Pitt's defensive front looked tough. They played with a 3 man front and used a lot of stunts by some very fast and aggressive linebackers. If an offense doesn't prep for that, it can cause all types of issues. In my mind it's a high risk high reward type of D. You my be filling all of the gaps with bodies, but when you've got that many moving parts, you have more likelihood for one of them getting out of place and very little support on the back end of it. UCO attacked UNK much better.

LU's defensive scheme seems at times a hybrid of the 2. They run a 4 man front but stunt quite a bit with their 2 LB and strong safety. Their D-line has been very good at disrupting the run game (despite the MoSo numbers. Take away the 1 blown assignment 53 yard run and the 50 yards of garbage time yards, and they were held in check.)

[Predatory Primates]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

Pitt's defensive front looked tough. They played with a 3 man front and used a lot of stunts by some very fast and aggressive linebackers. If an offense doesn't prep for that, it can cause all types of issues. In my mind it's a high risk high reward type of D. You my be filling all of the gaps with bodies, but when you've got that many moving parts, you have more likelihood for one of them getting out of place and very little support on the back end of it. UCO attacked UNK much better.

LU's defensive scheme seems at times a hybrid of the 2. They run a 4 man front but stunt quite a bit with their 2 LB and strong safety. Their D-line has been very good at disrupting the run game (despite the MoSo numbers. Take away the 1 blown assignment 53 yard run and the 50 yards of garbage time yards, and they were held in check.)

Pitt plays in 3 or 4 depending on the situation. They also moved Thomas around a lot against UCO to get pressure.

[bigsig50]

Re: Central Oklahoma at Lindenwood

LU Game notes are up.

https://lindenwoodlions.com/document...13/Program.pdf

Interesting notes about the LU 2 deep. Definitely shaking up the starting OL. There are high expectations with those guys, and if they expect to stay on the field, they'll need to execute.

Also the addition of Zach Turnure for the linebacking group.

Those from/around STL and in tune with the HS football scene might remember him as being a stud for CBC. He ended up going to Ohio State to play lacrosse. While there he walked onto the football team and became a special teams star. He's in graduate school now at LU and still has a year of eligibility. Luckily for us, he still has the football bug in him! Very fortunate to have him land in our laps and he should add some nice depth and leadership to an already pretty talented group of LBs!

Looking at the UCO 2-deep, I noticed that the OL seems to be a little undersized compared to what they've had in the past. Maybe that's just perception.