Official Stopping Jake Locker Thread
 

Aside from doing what we do on D, should we assign 1 spy, 2 or even 3 to keep him contained? What say ye?

I'm reluctant to say this, but he may be just a big a running threat as Vince Young was.

BYU, on the road vs. Pac-10. Betting man will count this as a L.

I think Locker is a running threat, but we wont spy him with more than one guy. We may have our D-ends play containment instead of pass rushing for part of the game, but besides that when you play strictly zone defense running quarterbacks are not as big of a threat because everyone is facing the line of scrimmage.

Also Locker threw more interceptions than touchdown passes last year, and only completed 47.8% of his passes last year. This will also help in game planning for him.

I'm curious how exactly you spy with 3 guys.

I'm surprised to read that from you; Locker's decent, but nowhere near the threat that VY posed to teams.

BYU won't need to change much; I would spy him with 1 guy and make sure the rest understand their assignments. BYU needs to get physical with him; hit him early and often. He broke off a couple of runs on SC last season, once he started getting hit he stayed in the pocket.

I'm honestly not that concerned. I think the 'BYU susceptible to running QB's' issue is being overplayed.

As a follow-up, here's a comparison of some QB Rushing yards last year, compared to that QB's average:

AF:
Carney: 9 for 5, Averages 49 (on 10.4)

UNM:
Porterie: 5 for -15, Averages -2.6.

CSU:
Hanie: 13 for 13, Averages 0.8 (on 7.7 rushes/game)

UNLV:
Dixon: 8 for 28, Averages 27.
Clayton: 2 for 17, Averages 25.6.

TCU:
Dalton: 12 for 60, Averages17.8 (on 7.5 carries)
Jackson: 9 for 21, Averages 23.4 (on 7.3 carries)

Wyo:
Sween: 5 for -18, Averages -10.1.

Utah:
Johnson: 14 for 25, Averages 13.6 (on 7.7 carries)
(won't count Louks - those were gimmick plays).

SDSU:
O'Connel: 17 for 61, Averages 34 (on 11.3 carries).


In fact, of QB's who had 5 or more rushes, only Andy Dalton & Travis Dixon for TCU rushed for at least 1 y/c more vs. BYU than was their average for the year (Dalton averaged 2.4 yds on 7.5 carries per game, while Dixon averaged 2.5 yards on 11 carries per game).

Furthermore, Dalton is the only QB with at least five rushes to rush for more than 3.6 yards per carry (he was at 5.0).


I think it's safe to say that the 'BYU has a tendency to give up big rushing yards to QB's' theory is mostly overreaction to a single game. In fact, the league-leader in rushing for QB's, Shaun Carney, rushed for only 5 yards on nearly the same number of carries as is his average, so when BYU specifically game-plans to stop a rushing QB, they seem to be capable of doing so.

As much as I would like BYU to win this game...Waters has a point.

BYU has been HORRIBLE on the road, and the Pac-10 with their officiating "intangibles" will not help.

Historically, this is a "L" for BYU.

Bronco really needs to address BYU's "road woes" this year. If he can get BYU out of the gate with a quick start....the sky is the limit. To reach their goals he can not afford to get out to a slow start.

If BYU can tuck away a couple of Pac-10 teams, tack on the past 2 years and what they can accomplish this year?...then the next year could be really exciting when we get everyone back ...again.

The only thing that has separated BYU from victories in their last 3 road games vs BCS teams is their propensity to melt down between the opposition's 15 to 35 yard line with penalties, turnovers and missed FGs.

I honestly hope returning 10 starters this year will solve all three.

Dennis Dixon in the 06 LV Bowl