This hasn't really been anything I've seen talked about much, but don't you figure that we only saw the most vanilla of vanilla Os against a seriously overmatched opponent?
So tell me experts....what WILL we see against SC? My non-expert guesses...

Wilddawg from Hardeman and Fields..... maybe Robertson, maybe Crumpton and maybe Cook in the second half after his suspension.

Fromm opens up...I mean, OPENS up. I'd expect a half a dozen deep attempts quickly to try and put the cocks behind the 8 ball early. They'll try to get MH and some of the speedsters to break it open early.

Jet sweeps? I dunno, you gotta figure the SC D-coordinator has watched that tape of D-Rob streaking down the sideline about 28 times. Wouldn't you think they might use this as some kind of fake or something?

Read option with Fields? My mouth has been watering to see that. Is that gonna happen against an undersized DL?

So, you tell me experts...what do we see Saturyday?

I think you will see a lot of short passes to start, moving the chains is what it is all about. Short passes, run the ball, keep their D on the field as much as possible in the heat. You have to try to establish the run to set up the pass UNLESS they are selling out to stop the run-bringing 7-8 guys in the box, then you might see some shots downfield to try to spread them out. We have a HUGE depth advantage (also overall talent) and we will want to keep that D on the field and keep our D fresh if they start using up tempo against our D which I suspect they will-figuring we have so many new starters that we will be out of position and have trouble communicating properly.

I do hope that when we are inside the red zone we go to Fields in the wild dog, I think that will drive opposing DC's crazy, his run/pass read options will give teams fits. BUT, Fields very nearly had a pick 6 against him last week, so he is going to have to be careful handling the ball.

I think we will start the game with two tight end set and I back formation. Run the ball and see if they can stop it. Will be total physical for the first quarter. Wear down their defense.
Than we will pass more and run jet sweeps.
By the 4 th quarter they will give up mentally and physically.
Dawgs 42 Cocks 14.

We were very vanilla on both sides of the ball.

On offense, not so much in the play calls themselves, but the blocking schemes, reads at the point of attack, and stuff like that. We ran straight-up man blocking pretty much the whole game, we didn't do much zone read, or RPO, if any at all. We didn't pull much, or run any counters, traps, or stuff where we moved the pocket. Very basic stuff.

On defense it was even more noticeable. The DL just played straight up, with little to no stunts, twists, zone blitzes, or anything like that. Our LBs played a good 5-6 yards off the ball the whole game, and we played the same plain Jane coverage in the secondary most of the game as well.

Despite all of that, we still beat a decent team 45-0. Austin Peay is not a pushover. They were 8-1 in FCS last year with the only loss to #4 ranked & conf champ Jax St. They came in ranked in FCS, and they have several transfers from FBS teams on the roster.

I'm guessing we'll see more variation in most or all of the above against USC. And as such, I think you'll see bigger numbers from some of our usual suspects as a consequence.

The thing that I'm surprised we didn't show is the toss sweep. That's like going to the ocean with no water. I hope that, since we mixed the FB, we have not also shelved our signature offensive play. Only God knows how many kids grew up day dreaming about turning the corner, wearing red and black, and flying down the sideline for a TD. I guarantee there were stud RBs in youth league watching Herschel, Hearst, all the way thru Gurley and Chubb thinking....I wanna be a Dawg and do that!!!