SB Nation - Anthony Hines

Previewing Texas Tech vs. Ole Miss: Secondary

Seth C — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:00:05 -0000

SECONDARY

Player	Ht/Wt	Class	Position	Tackles	Passes Defended	Interceptions
Jamar Wall	5'10"/195	Jr.	CB	59	10	2
L.A. Reed	6'2"/212	Sr.	CB	19	3	0
Brent Nickerson	6'0"/195	Jr.	CB	26	1	0
Darcel McBath	6'1"/196	Sr.	S	70	7	6
Daniel Charbonnet	5'11"/203	Sr.	S	55	6	5
Anthony Hines	6'1"/222	Sr.	S	30	4	0
Jordy Rowland	6'1"/196	Sr.	S	27	3	0
Franklin Mitchem	6'2"/201	So.	S	15	0	0
Marshay Green	5'9"/170	Jr.	CB	29	6	1
Cassius Vaughn	5'10"/185	Jr.	CB	40	3	2
Dustin Mouzon	5'11"/175	Sr.	CB	22	1	1
Marcus Temple	5'9"/181	Fr.	CB	16	1	0
Jamarca Sanford	5'10"/200	Sr.	S	80	0	0
Kendrick Lewis	5'11"/192	Jr.	S	78	6	4
Johnny Brown	5'11"/207	So.	S	27	0	0

Texas Tech

Darcel McBath plays offense?
Nah, he just likes interceptions.

If there's one thing that this group improved upon from last year, it's the turnovers. Granted, a number of the interceptions were early in the year, the fact that this group, as a whole has been better at creating turnovers, so much so as this year's group is on the plus side of turnover margin, something that hasn't happened in the previous 2 seasons.

In fact, for the year, the Red Raiders had more interceptions, 17, that touchdowns given up, 16. That's a pretty amazing statistic and a testament to the progress this team has made defensively. And one other thing, this team had at least 1 interception for all but 3 games this year. Turnover and play making machines.

The passing yards given up can be deceiving, Texas Tech is giving up 238.08 yards a game through the air, which is 91st in the nation, but good for 3rd in the Big 12. I think that says a little something about the Big 12 offenses, or rather offenses in the big 12 in general. They are just simply prolific.

I don't know if it's fair to say that the offense begins with one safety or another, Daniel Charbonnet or Darcel McBath and it's probably fair just to think of them as being 1.A and 1.B. in terms of importance for this team. I thought McBath did an outstanding job later in the year, displaying his athletic ability that I thought we all knew that he had, but we didn't get to see until later in the year. D. Charbonnet was/is the guy that no one thought was going to be anything special, but has turned into an all-conference player. To me, they are both absolutely integral in stopping both the run and the pass. McBath led the team with 6 interceptions for the year, 3 of those coming against Kansas while D. Charbonnet had 5 for the year, 3 of those against SMU and 1 very important one against the Longhorns.

At cornerback, L.A. Reed was supposed to be the starter from the beginning of the season, but injuries kept Reed sidelined for the beginning part of the year, which slowed his development. Brent Nickerson stepped in nicely, although he had his rough spots, most cornerbacks do, but thought he did a good job for the most part.

If you had asked me to name all of the cornerbacks that have logged significant time this year I would have surely said more than the 3 listed above, but amazingly, Ruffin McNeill relied on his deep group of safeties to help in the sub-packages.

Anthony Hines, Jordy Rowland and Franklin Mitchem each have good size, speed and experience. I think that's by design as McNeill would rather have versatile guys who can play and cover multiple positions.

Mississippi

Jamarca Sanford makes you close your eyes.

The Rebels have a little strange in their pass defense thus far. When the Rebels limit opposing teams in the passing game, they win, when they don't . . . they lose.

In Ole Miss' 8 wins, the Rebels have only allowed teams to pass at 6.1 yards/attempt, gained 12 interceptions, given up only 6 touchdowns and allowed a passer rating of 102.63. In their 4 losses it's a completely different game as Ole Miss allows 7.9 yards/attempt, only intercepted 2 passes, given up 8 touchdowns, and allowed a passer rating of 156.84. Keep in mind that of Mississippi's 4 losses, 3 came against competent passing teams in Wake Forest, South Carolina and Alabama (questionable). The other loss was Vanderbilt, which only passed for 71 yards for the game so that tended to throw off the averages a bit, although Vandy was wildly successful passing the ball when they did (a 152.20 passer rating).

Perhaps the most interesting thing as I looked up players and stats for Ole Miss was the relatively size of these guys. All of them are under 6 feet, although, quite a few of them are close, and there should inherently be some advantages for the bigger/taller Texas Tech receivers (Crabtree, Lewis, Swindall, Leong and James).

Back to the Ole Miss secondary, the Rebel secondary is mostly comprised of cornerbacks, almost the exact opposite of the methods attempted by Texas Tech. Sanford and Lewis have a majority of the tackles and interceptions and the 4 cornerbacks, Green, Vaughn, Mouzon and Temple have all logged significant time, although Green and Vaughn are the primary corners. Considering that Texas Tech will go 4-wide and I would imagine that the linebackers will see some time, Mouzon and Temple will be tested early and often.

Conclusion:

Another tough matchup to decide and as we've discussed before, this type of look at each of the units tends to favor one over another because the conferences where they play. I mentioned above each teams' passer ratings and pass defense and Ole Miss ranks 61st in pass defense (PD) and 44th in pass efficiency defense (PED). Texas Tech ranks 91st in PD and 67th in PED. Texas Tech is worse in PD than Ole Miss, but is ranked 3rd in the Big 12, while Ole Miss is better, but ranks 11th in their conference.

Team	PED (Conf. Rank)	PD (Conf. Rank)
Texas Tech	127.46 (3)	238.08 (3)
Mississippi	118.91 (8)	209.83 (11)

Again, it's tough comparing apples to oranges, but statistically, Ole Miss has been better defending the pass, and although these numbers don't necessarily play this out, there are some numbers that I've found that I hope to post later in the week regarding Texas Tech struggling to stop the pass.

I'm giving the nod to Ole Miss, but again, it's close.

Previous Matchups

Quarterbacks :: Running Backs :: Receiver :: Offensive Line :: Defensive Line :: Linebackers :: Secondary :: Special Teams :: Coaching

Matchup	Advantage
Quarterback
Running Back
Receivers
Offensive Line
Defensive Line
Linebacker
Secondary

Poll

Who do you favor in this matchup of secondaries?

Texas Tech

83 votes

Mississippi

41 votes

124 votes | Poll has closed

Eastern Washington v. Texas Tech: TT Defense v. EWU Offense

Seth C — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 17:00:12 -0000

WHEN EASTERN WASHINGTON HAS THE BALL:

Statistical Leaders	Eastern Washington
Passing	Matt Nichols: 280 Comp., 440 Att., 3,744 Yds., 34 TD, 9 Int.
Rushing	Dale Morris: 198 Att., 930 Yds., 12 TD Matt Nichols: 129 Att., 392 Yds., 0 TD Alexis Alexander: 52 Att., 267 Yds., 5 TD
Receiving	Aaron Boyce: 85 Rec., 1,308 Yds., 10 TD Brynsen Brown: 52 Rec., 755 Yds., 4 TD Tony Davis: 35 Rec., 498 Yds., 4 TD

Statistical Leaders	Texas Tech
Tackles	Marlon Williams: 81 Darcel McBath: 73 Brian Duncan: 69
Sacks	Brandon Williams: 5.5 Rajon Henley: 4.5 Daniel Howard: 3.0
Interceptions	Jamar Wall: 5 Darcel McBath: 2 Daniel Charbonnet: 1 Anthony Hines: 1

Eastern Washington Passing Offense v. Texas Tech Passing Defense: No question who the leader of this offense is in Matt Nichols. Nichols has good size (6'2"/220), is capable of throwing the ball down the field, and can run as well. Don't be surprised when you leave this game thinking that Nichols is a helluva quarterback, because he is. I don't know if he has any pro potential, but he gets it done at EWU. EWU has their own version of Harrell-Crabtree as Nichols primary target is Aaron Boyce, who had 85 catches and 1,308 yards and 10 touchdowns. Boyce isn't a small receiver (6'3"/215) and Texas Tech corner backs should be well-versed in covering a big receiver with play-making ability. Brynsen Brown and Tony Davis round out the top receiving play makers for EWU.

Texas Tech may have more depth at defensive back than any other position. The defense is led by junior cornerback Jamar Wall and senior free safety Darcel McBath. Daniel Charbonnet and LaRon Moore should round out the starting 4, with Brent Nickerson, Marcus Bunton, and Pete Richardson who should all see time at cornerback, while Anthony Hines and Jordy Rowland should also see time at the safety positions. The Red Raiders were 1st in the Big 12 in passing defense and there's no reason why that trend shouldn't continue, despite EWU's more than capable offense.

Advantage: Texas Tech

Eastern Washington Rushing Offense v. Texas Tech Rushing Defense: EWU is actually pretty good at running the ball, behind senior running back Dale Morris, who rushed for 930 yards last year and is the little brother to Seattle Seahawks running back Maurice Morris. EWU's second leading rushing is Nichols and for the year, the Eagles were 50th in the nation in rushing. Statistically speaking, EWU was a good rushing team, but not a great rushing team.

Here's the deal that I think some folks are overlooking is that EWU only returns 1 starter on the offensive line from last year. There are some guys on the line who have started before, but the long and short of it is that Texas Tech's defensive line should dominate EWU's. The Eagles are going to be young and inexperienced. EWU's biggest offensive lineman is right tackle John Thomas (6'5"/300) and this should be a welcome change for the Texas Tech defensive linemen. We have no idea how well EWU is going to run the ball, and although this probably belongs in the category above, there's a pretty good chance that Texas Tech is going to rush and pressure the hell out of Nichols.

The Texas Tech rush defense isn't great and nothing would please me more than to see the Red Raiders absolutely shut down EWU. Again, it's not like we're talking about shutting down a BCS powerhouse, but it would be a nice way to starting things off by focusing on the run and not letting EWU gain any advantage in the running game. Everything is in place for this unit to improve upon a national 82nd finish last year. Returning are defensive tackles Colby Whitlock and Rajon Henley. We all hope that Chris Perry can contribute, while Richard Jones backs up Henley. The coaching staff has been toying with the idea of putting Brandon Sesay at defensive tackle and think this game would be a great place to see how Sesay reacts in a game.

At the ends, Jake Ratliff returns as does Brandon Williams. Personally, I'm looking for more production from both of these guys and would love to see Williams in double-digit sacks, or at least close to that, by the end of the year. There are a lot of backup options at DE, with Sesay, Sandy Riley, Daniel Howard, McKinner Dixon and Brandon Sharpe. Lots of depth and lots of options if someone isn't stepping up. My only request is that whoever is playing at end, contain the quarterback, don't just rush blindly up the field giving Nichols a lane to run. We don't need OSU version 2008 with a talented running quarterback at the helm.

At linebacker, Bront Bird, Brian Duncan, and Marlon Williams look to improve on last year, with Williams being the only junior. Julius Howard has impressed in fall camp thus far and I think the coaches view Howard as a playmaker and it wouldn't at all surprise me to see him get quite a few snaps. Blake Collier and Victor Hunter round out the remaining backups.

Advantage: Texas Tech