re: A&M - Bama 2012 and JFF vs. the Zone Defense

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IMO, a lot of JFF's accuracy, was due to Swope breaking off the routes and giving him a good target to get to. Without Swope, he's 13 of 20 for 142 and 1 TD.

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Absolutely. Swope was his security blanket all year long, but especially in the Bama game. Losing him is HUGE. Someone will have to make up for his catches, but more importantly, his toughness. JFF's style of quarterbacking leaves his receivers open for some nasty hits occasionally (just the nature of a scrambling QB). Several of Swope's catches in the Bama and LSU games were very brave, to put it mildly.

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Defensively, you did NOT make these turnovers happen. Watch the tipped INT - had nothing to do with anything but dropping the pass into a defender. And the fumble was NOT stripped.

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Wrong. Our defender pummeled the receiver at the same time the ball got there, and another Ag was there to make the interception - GREAT defense.

The ball WAS stripped on your fumble - very clearly so.

Everett had ANOTHER interception that was called back because his heel landed out of bounds - if he had landed differently, the game would have been a blowout.

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I don't understand how J Hangover is even as accurate as he is with a ball that flies end over end and sideways.

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He has great touch on the ball. He's also a very good basketball player. Touch helps a lot to make those shots where your form and mechanics might be off.

The Aggies have one of the most underrated backfields of all the SEC favorites, IMO. If defenses pay as much attention to stopping JFF as I think they will, our ground game could be the most lethal part of our offense.

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It improved as the season progressed

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Agree. Aggies have some talent at the RB position and have for the past few yrs. Will be interesting to see the grunts on the line this year. That and seeing who steps up at WR for yall will be the key this yr.

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JFF torched you last year.

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253 yds isn't exactly torching. He made critical first downs though and made the plays when they counted though.

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253 yds isn't exactly torching. He made critical first downs though and made the plays when they counted though.

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This.

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the Bama game is going to come down to the Bama O vs the A&M D even though JFF is getting all the pub.

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Yup, been saying this.

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The real key is confusing JFF and getting him to make mistakes. That's getting harder and harder to do though.

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After Bama he really was unstoppable and no one really even challenged him.

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These arguments don't address the fact that Bama ran the defense A&M wanted... 4 down-lineman and man coverage. It was not the same D as UF and LSU, although there were similar looks. JFF's didn't throw deep early in the season because it's not the strength of his game. This theory that he had some kind of an epiphany the night before the Bama game and finally understood this brilliant Sumlin offense (y'know, the same one every no-huddle team uses) and never looked back is myth. It's also wishful thinking that JFF develops into some kind of pocket passer this year. He's accurate but his height holds him back in the short passing game and his deep balls get less accurate (that's why A&M wants a one-on-one deep down the middle of the field where the DB doesn't have a chance at an INT). OU let off 50 a lot last year, so I don't think that's a good measuring stick as a program.

Actually he started playing better in the State game and carried that over to Bama. He was adjusting and making very few mistakes, hence the lack of turnovers and high completion percentage. Against LSU and UF he was trying to do it all by himself and it burned him. Against Bama he adjusted and started making the throws to the open guy once Bama took away his ability to run.

Sumlin's offense isn't unique, that's true. The key to any HUNH though is having a QB that has it down cold and can call the plays at the line when he sees the mismatch. That's why you often see Sr QB's come in to start in HUNH offenses that aren't particularly talented but put up huge numbers, Nick Florence at Baylor last year was a good example. Johnny wasn't really doing that until late in the season, up until then he was just playing Superman and it cost him several times.

They are also absolutely working on his pocket passing game. He wasn't allowed to run in practice or the Spring game at all, they were forcing him to stay in the pocket. That's all he worked on with George Whitfield as well including drills where they would blindfold him and throw timing patterns to a space. It's not because they aren't going to let Johnny run this season, it's just they want to develop his other skills to be just as deadly.

Johnny's passing ability is very underrated as is his arm strength. He throws the ball with a lot of touch and that sometimes makes his passes look softer but he can muscle it when he needs to. The guy also has huge hands that give him great control over the ball.

I do agree that getting pressure on Johnny by blitzing is the best method against him as is the 3 DL Zone look. That said it leaves other options open when you do that. In spite of losing Swope he will also have better overall talent around him this year than last. Cam Clear at TE and RSJ at WR give him 2 more 6'6+ targets to go with Evans. The Ags have speedsters at WR to burn. Then he has 4 quality RB's all with different styles, all of which can catch the ball. So it really comes down to confusing Johnny and getting him to make the wrong decision on what is the right option on each play.