It’s all about trying to maximize the bang.

 It’s all about trying to maximize the bang. Or in other words what's the impact of having a new staff managing the game time chaos.

D line – no one knows but it wouldn’t surprise me if Techs 2.5 deep that is -  Langeley / Kerry Hyder / Barr/ Colby Whitlock/ Chris Perry /  Miles Wade /  Briton Barbee  -  dominate the line of scrimmage in 10 out of 12 games.  The 2  x games they  are unlikely to win the line of scrimmage over the course of  the whole game is Ou and aTm. Doesn’t mean they couldn’t but it seems unlikely they will  win every snap in Norman or College Station.College FB Team Sacks per game.

 O line  - Running 20 more times per game means we finally get a 1000 yard rusher. In 2009 we ranked 90th in the nation averaging less than 3.6 yards per rushing attempt. In 2008 they averaged 4.7 yards per rush.College FBTeam Yards per Rush

Special teams the extra points and or field goals attempts seem to be good.  Kickoff coverage might keep all opponents below 80 yards net a game. Donnie Carona routinely punches 65 yard kicks and about a third are touchbacks. Punt coverage the same fast guys might get a muffed one or two per game. Without a really speedie guy like Taylor Charbonnet I am nervous as to what this outfit does. Ryan Erxlebenshould be consistent again. Somehow I don’t think Mr. LaCour is done competing for this slot. Would seem to the casual fan that getting 90% of the Raider punts inside the opponent’s 10 yard line is a reasonable goal.

  College FB Team Opponent Gross Punt Yards per

Rushing game – a 1000 yard rusher really means two things  -  time of possession goes up by factor of  6 - 7 minutes per game  and  2nd the opposing defense is almost guaranteed to see 80 plus plays which should impair their efficiency. Conversely the Tech defenses shouldn’t see any more than 55 – 60 plays in game. It’s all mathematics baby. By the way in 2009 Tech was ranked 24th in the nation on Red Zone efficiency but was 17 in the nation on points per play. Again a dip from 2008 statistics.

 College FB Team Red Zone Scoring Percentage

Passing game  - If you assume a 60%  plus completion rate on 42 plus passes a game then that’s 26 passes complete per game at 5.5 yards per catch. I trended this down a tad.  With the occasional big play for 40 plus. I am counting on 3 plus big plays per game. Well then you are right at 300 (+)  yards in the air per outing.  Respectable. Tech was number 2 in the nation in completions in 2009. Remember if Sheffield starts against SMU the Raiders will be undefeated going into November.

College FB Team Completions per Game

Pass defense -  No one knows yet if we are going to get  a 35 plus effort in the sack category in 2010. I‘d say with guy like Duncan putting his hand on the ground it’s a near certainty that the unit gets over 30 sacks and  perhaps a touch over 40 in a 13 game season. Passes broken up are money. If Cody Davis and Franklin Mitchell get the pressure on the passer support from the D line then I’m optimistic that Tech can exceed the 10 interceptions the entire Tech secondary got in 2009.

The rub is this our opponents completed an average of 21 plus passes and suffered 14 plus in-completions in 2009.College FB Team Opponent Third Down Conversions per game. I'd expect this too improve  under Tubs and the Jeep. As an example Texas was number 2 in allowing 3rd down conversions Alabama was # 7. Tech is mired @  # 100; tied with Central Florida and Southern Mississippi. 

 Rush defense  -  It wouldn’t surprise me if the down linemen andLinebackers dominate 11 of the 12 teams we’ll face off against. I.e. no indivdual running back romps on them for more than 80 yards on the ground per game. The Jeep should have these guys pretty salty by 05 Sep.  Funny as it sounds -  the Cougars run game  makes me the most nervous. Mostly because its late in the season. Next most dangerous running teams are the Aggies and at a distant third Sooners. It’s just a factor of matchups both the Aggies and Sooners have or had nicked up and rebuilt O lines with lots of freshmen/ red shirts getting the starting nod. Your Raiders ended up 40th overall in 09. They can improve that stat in 2010.

 College FB Team Opponent Rushing Yards per

Short yardage offense & defense  -  It’s no secret the Raiders red zone efficiency went down a bit in 2009.  None more galling than the 4 down failure in Houston on a muggy night. On the other hand the defensively the denial of NM once and both Nebraska and OSU twice was very pleasant. I worry we see couple of real melt downs per game by the "Jeeps" defense just because they will be taking more chances. But if  a D. Slay like play or two can burst the ball free at least once per half maybe we see an uptick. Offensively it’s a given more blast blocking by the offensive linemen will help improve the on the ground  rushing statistics. I guess I don’t know where I stand in this category.

Red zone efficiency

Minimize the distractions   - No locker room snits, no Equal Opportunity complaints and for God’s sake no closet worthy events. You may laugh but team chemistry is a very frangible thing.

Get the Bowl victory – i.e. win the fans back, gain the donations, and announce a stadium expansion. I think the fan base may have turned the corner here just based on the pace of season ticket sales. Don't know about you guys but Amy McBride isnt leaving me alone - yet.  Note of caution a 9 or 10 win effort is required to keep it - the fan interest -  that's really why the poll is on the bottom of this post. The Red RAider Club

Hit the road for recruiting- despite the silliness of it all – a Red Raider all 4 star class in 2012 is possible. Leach put the team on the map but Tuberville has the potential to out schmooze the Orange Bloods. He’s definitely a better orator than Mike Sherman. Besides our architecture beats that hodge podge of styles slung together down in College Station. (skirting the Seth rule of play nice here).

Everybody gets stronger in the off season conditioning program in order to repeat as Big 12 South Champions. I am a jury still out guy here folks. I know speed kills but upper body strength was the Bennie Wylie trademark and he didn’t decide that by himself. A lot of NFL strength dudes taught him before he showed up in Lubbock. Thing is we don’t have the top10 offensive linemen in the Big 12  so they had to get a slight advantage when facing the faster more talented tackles and defensive ends around the league.  I guess if this "new"  lower body "conditioning" regime keeps 2  x more linemen and 2 or three Linebackers or secondary guys in 3 or four more games in 2010 then it’s a success.College FB Team QB Sacked