Nesbitt seems to just launch into a jump ball with confidence Bey Bey comes down with it. Has GT run into a lockdown corner before? Someone who can match Thomas physically? I am guessing no as he only has 4 picks all year in 153 attempts.
Spievey is going to be on the island all day out there on Thomas; if there is one guy on the defense I would want to have this assignment it is Spievey. Can you imagine the shit storm that would happen if we didn’t have Spievey? Give Shada the job and half the fans wouldn’t bother buying tickets.
Lastly getting burned deep without over the top safety help three times in 23 games? Could be much worse.

Check out the cushion that FSU corner is giving him. He didn’t get beat but as Bacon noted, you don’t want to get into a jump ball situation with Bey Bey. For all of Amari’s athleticism, his 6’ frame going up against a guy that is 6’3" doesn’t inspire me with confidence. And that, presumably, is where Greenwood comes in.

That guy’s head was swiveling around like somebody was shooting at him and he didn’t know what direction the shots were coming from.

the more I expect Norm to play the two deep and let the front seven give this a go. He might play with Greenwood and Sash a bit and disguise some things there and fake some things but I think he may want to let the front seven play in the beginning and see if GT is up for our physical play and surprised by our quickness.

OPS, how the hell are the GT snoopers going to understand what the hell your point is if you don’t have a graph.

Demaryius Thomas = James Hardy

You’ve identified one of the strongest points of the Tech offense. Most defenses have the play side safety assigend to either the quarterback or pitch man on the perimeter for the run game. The other thing you’ll see when we pass is the A-back (or wing-back if you’re old school) usually also runs a go straight up the seam. The A-backs aren’t particularly big guys, but they’re fast enough that they are a mismatch running straight up the field on a linebacker. This puts the safety into a bind: does he leave Thomas one on one with the corner or the linebacker one on one with the back? There’s an example of this in action here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbJf4aWfNN4

Obviously, Iowa linebackers are a lot faster than the ones from Durham, so covering the A-back with a backer and rolling the safety to Thomas could be an option . However, if the back is fast enough to run away from the linebacker, the play would be an easy touchdown, and sending the linebackers deep opens up space for a running quarterback.

Personally, I think Iowa is better off putting the safety on the A-back, not risking the linebacker on A-back matchup, and daring Nebitt to pass. If the backers drop deep, he’s more than willing to pull it down and run, and he’s not a particularly accurate passer (one might even call his 47.7% completion rate Stanzi-like).

With that in mind, I agree with you that Spievey is the x factor. If he can keep the ball away from Thomas, that would go a long way towards stopping the Tech offense. Does Spievey always play on one side of the formation, does he follow one particular receiver around, or does he always go to the wide side of the field? Thomas moves around from side to side, so if Spievey is always on one side, Thomas could end up matched up on the other corner.

But my brain hurts thinking about it. I just can’t see GT beating us with the long pass if we shut down their option. If we break up the option like that, every time he drops back, their QB is going to be target practice for Clayborn et al. If we jam the dogshit out of their receivers consistently we should be OK.

There are a lot of ways to skin this GT cat but I am sure Norm will put together a great game plan that is sure to bitch slap the Jackets. If the first one doesn’t work I guarantee the 2nd half game plan will. That’s how we roll! The good news is our offense will be healthy and hungry and it GT has a weak D. This will not be a close game. Iowa 34-9!!!