Put eight guys in the box and force Taysom to beat you with his arm. Taysom is not going to throw the ball down field, or at least he hasn't so far this year, so the defense can scoot up and play smash mouth run D. Teams with quick ends and OLB's cause havoc because we struggle with OL quickness to stop the penetration from the outside. With more guys in the box there are less running lanes and space. You can't completely stop our running attack because Taysom, Jamaal, Algie and co, and our Oline are pretty stout at moving the pile upfront, but you can limit the damage and control the points by forcing us to move our way slowly down the field.

Utah has found this out and mastered it. Houston began to figure this out as they slowed our attack in the second half. Unfortunately, Virginia will do the same thing so we need to adjust in order to win.

I strongly believe the best way for us to attack this defensive philosophy is to implement the long ball. Obviously we have to be efficient at it in order for it to have an impact, but here is why it will help us increase the points and become an elite offense. Can you imagine what defenses would do if we were successful at throwing the ball down field? Safeties would have to back up to avoid the quick score over the top and they would have to drop more guys out of the box to accommodate. This would create a huge advantage up front for Taysom and Jamaal. Football is all about mismatches and numbers. If you can take one or two guys out of the box, our running game will dominate anyone. You also keep the defense guessing. Run? Pass? We have already shown our cards and are becoming one dimensional, much like last year. This is the perfect time to show Virginia that we have a lot more tools in our tool box.