Football

[Black Oaks]

The three main weapons are Strong, Kelly and Foster. All three are nicked to some extent.

Kelly is playing after a few weeks off for a broken bone in his foot. That has to hobble him a bit. We need to watch for the back shoulder throw. He uses it frequently to Strong, if Strong is there. Kelly does not like to be pressed, like Stanford and Texas Tech did last season. UCLA and USC put pressure on him and he had problems with that also. Knock him down, get a pick or recover a fumble from him and he starts to tryi ng to make it all up. As he does this, his game gets worse rather than better. I think the long season is taking a toll on the entire ASu squad, not just Kelley.

Foster is most dangerous coming out of the backfield on short crossing passes, wheel routes. We need eyes on him at all times. He might be a great candidate for a shadow like Tra'Mayne. ASu lines him up all over the place. He is their leading rusher and usually their 2nd or 3rd leading receiver. He is not a power rusher but uses his speed. He has good hands. The last few games he has taken some massive hits, he has to be a bit sore. Combine that with late in the season and he is not as sharp as he was earlier in the season.

Strong is the best athlete of the 3. He is a very good receiver. He currently is being held out due to a concussion. Cracker seems to put winning ahead of health concerns for individual athletes so I would not be surprised to see Strong playing on Friday. Yes I know it is a rivalry, but it is not worth he long term health. I get the idea that cracker would rather win the game at the sacrifice of his best receiver. We will see on Friday.

Several other thoughts. ASu is using their tight ends more in the passing game. I know there will be drags, and wheel routs galore. There will be roll one direction and throw back the other way often. We have been burned on some of those. I also would not be surprised if their first play from scrimmage is a post pattern. We have been stung on that several times this season.

Key to the game, maintain discipline on your assignments. Pressure Kelly, get to him early. Get a striop or two. Get your hands up in the passing lanes if you can't get to him. Pound on Foster. Give him lots of memories from this game.

Bearing Down on shutting ASu down

[BayCat]

Oaks, good summary. Reading some of their boards there is a definitely a concern over Kelly's play. He is simply a different QB if you get to him. Strong is the real deal. He is terrific and is his safety net. He will throw it to him in double coverage. If we play just a 3 man rush game I think we are toast. I haven't watched them a whole lot but asswho's OL seems to be pretty good pass blocking. Not killing it in the running game. One thing that really was a nice surprise against Utah that I hope carries over is that between zeller and the others we were stout at the nose. It makes a bid difference. I know Booker broke the long run but otherwise we did a pretty nice job on him.

[Redondo Beach Cat]

Agree.

Great post Oaks...hope Casteel sees this.

[rickyk]

I agree we were stout at the nose and I think the reason why was Sani Fuimoano. He really occupied a couple of guys all afternoon and I think his play allowed Scooby and Turituri to get some good licks in.