My anti-rebuttal, if you will. The yin to yesterday’s yang.

1. Hunter can run, but he can be limited. A&M (#11) and Baylor (#8) are not very good run defenses, but they loaded the box and held Hunter to his lowest YPC of the year. Iowa State tried to do the same, they just weren’t any good at it. The common thread: Dez going bonkers for 489 yards and 9 TDs in the 3 games. Which poses an interesting question:

What schools (if any) would you think have the personnel to single-cover Dez Bryant? Texas and Missouri (and TT) or Iowa State and Baylor? Maybe it’s just me, but if you stink on defense, shouldn’t you try to take away the other teams superstar and make them nickel-and-dime you to death? Getting gashed for 7 yards a pop is never fun, but it’s better than giving up 60-yard bombs.

Anyway, I think Tech’s objective on defense should be to stop Hunter and rely on disguising coverages to limit Bryant. Surely the Raiders have better DBs than Iowa State or Baylor, and Texas couldn’t stop the run with an honest 7-man front.

2. The defense is improved, but there are still moments in the season (1st half against Texas, 4th quarter against Missouri) where I get the sinking feeling that we can’t stop anyone. Then the D pulls a turnover out of nowhere and I relax again. So as long as Tech protects the ball, they should still have success moving up and down the field.

3. The main reason Robinson is more efficient this year is because Dez Bryant >>>>> Adarius Bowman. His INT rate is exactly the same as 2007, but his yards and TDs are up because Dez is much more of a big play threat. However, Zac’s YPC is down from 6.1 to 3.7 and he has already been sacked twice as much as last year (10 to 5). His effectiveness as a passer is up, but his effectiveness as a runner has not shown on the field. He has not taken off running as much, which led to sacks against Texas. And opposing defenses seem more prepared for him to keep on the zone read this year. Tech fans will remember that he did as much damage with his legs in 2007 as with his arm. The 2007 version of Zac as a runner is something all OSU fans are waiting for, but we haven’t seen it yet.

4. Don’t forget Texas. Although they were moving the ball so well through the air the first 3 quarters that it didn’t matter. And to be honest, I think Missouri gave up on the run too early. But Tech’s spread is a different animal – much wider split and much more pass coverage responsibility for the LBs. It will be an interesting challenge for OSU if Tech makes it a point to establish the run.

5. Our return teams have been great and our punter is all-conference. But our kickoff team just allowed the kid from ISU to set an NCAA record. It helped that we kicked off 10 times, but he had 3 really long returns. Whatever it was, we need to fix it this week.

If you define “big play” as a single play netting a 30 yard gain or a TD from +25 yards, how many big plays has Tech surrendered this year? And, how many big plays has OSU executed? My gut tells me Tech’s defense has done remarkably well preventing the big play sans Malcolm Williams (twice).

This game will hinge on the execution of o-line blocks and the d-line shedding of blocks /creating of a pile/multiple piles at the point of attack. We may see a breakout game for the Tech LB’s – why ? no blockers are reaching them all game long. Much has been made of the amount of gas in the tank for the Raiders. My thinking says this is a factor of emotional and physical energy. It’s available and untapped. I stood in Section 10 of the Jones on 01Nov and at the end of the game the team still had the fire in the belly. Conditioning and more conditioning – it’s the late season factor and its right where it needs to be. Tech can and will dominate the line of scrimmage. The term that leaps to mind is manhandle. I give credit to the OSU O- line they are a good unit. But expect the containment style rush to continue to be ferocious. It’s a fast paced Tech attack- it’s a wearing style of assault. The Texas O line is bit better(in my uninformed opinion – this OSU O-line is in for test. (And yeah I know they have at least 2 x all Big 12 offensive Linemen) On offense a Tech beating is in the offing for the OSU D-line(note the Tortilla Retort posting(s)) I expect them – the Cowboys down linemen to play well initially and be slowly ground down. One factor not really explored is the blast block effect supporting the rushing of Woods and Batch. In a word wearing. I DO not expect the OSU offnese to hold the ball for extended periods of time. Reversing the field the OSU running backs will have to block our defensive ends and do it well all day – 60 minutes – no exceptions otherwise we should expect to see 3-5 sacks by Tech before games end. Yarrggh Mateys – Issue Cutlasses’ and Grappling hooks the OSU galleon is in range!