What to Watch: Sam Houston



It's finally Friday but Sunday somehow still feels like a week away.  As the Jackrabbit Illustrated team got together to decide on the "What to Watch" we had our first moment of truly differing takes of the season.  Let's try to lay it out the best we can.

1. Make the Bearkats Drive the Field

The Jackrabbit defense plays tough physical defense that is predicated on the bend but don't break philosophy.  The Bearkat offense is quick strike and doesn't seem to really worry about the time of possession. The Bearkats truly can be electric on offense and that is why the Jackrabbit defense must make them drive the field in order to score.  There cannot be any huge momentum changing 50+ yard touchdowns.  This also means sound tackling on short and intermediate routes.  Keep the 8 yard completion as an 8 yard completion.  Make them drive the field and see if they can play with out making a mistake for 80 yards.

2. Contain Schmid

Like most great quarterbacks, you can't really count on completely stopping Eric Schmid.  He is going to get his yards through the air and on the ground.  The important thing to do is to try your best to keep him in the pocket, collapse the pocket from the inside out, and when you get a hand on him, grab ahold and hang on for your teammates.  Again, we realize that a player of his caliber is going to make some plays but the Jacks have to try and contain him the best they can while still making him uncomfortable from a strong and consistent pass rush.   

3. Win Special Teams

The Jackrabbits have played solid special teams for much of the year.  We've asked them to play even on special teams recently.  This week, we would like to see them outright "win" the special teams battle.  Block a kick/punt, force a turnover, limit the return yardage from the electric #12 Jequez Ezzard, break off a big return of our own and make the big kick.  In games where the two teams are as evenly matched as SDSU and SHSU special teams can be the deciding factor.

4. Let the #605Hogs Eat

The Sam Houston front 7 is pretty dang impressive.  Really, one could say the front 9 because the safties spend so much time around the line of scrimmage because of the Bearkat commitment to stopping the run. A specific matchup to watch is Wes Genant vs. the Sam Houston noseguard, #95 Joseph Wallace (6-1, 300).  If Wes, with the help of the guards, can neutralize Wallace I think the Jacks can still run the ball.  Wallace is the key though.  He has to be blocked and moved out of the way.  As we have seen throughout the year, the run game sets up the pass game.  The offensive line has passed every test this season.  We'll see if they can do it again.

5. Just Win Baby

This one is a carry over from last week.  If the other 4 things on this list don't happen and the Jacks somehow still manage to win, that is all that matters!  Again, style points don't matter, the voters don't matter.  All that matters is the final score on the scoreboard.  So far the Jacks have found a way to win every game except one and we truly believe this team can come home with the championship trophy.  This is the Jackrabbit's time.


Go Jacks!

Ben, Brendan, Chad, Dallas, Kyle, and Matt

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