The WR group these guys sport is truly nasty. They have 3 guys with 80+ catches, 12+ TDs and 1,000+ yards. Heck, their #4 WR has managed 57 catches, 786 yards and 6 TDs. Of those top 3, a different one leads in receptions, yards and TDs. Basically, Ryan Grice-Mullen, Davone Bess and Jason Rivers are interchangeable. Rivers is the tall one, and he’s coming off a torching of the Washington secondary where he managed 167 yards and 4 TDs. Two of the three go over 100 yards receiving nearly every game and all 3 have done it before as well. These guys make all kinds of ridiculous catches and have experience in the run n’ shoot with Brennan, an invaluable feature in an offense that relies so heavily on site adjustments from the WRs (they basically read the defense and adjust their route accordingly) and subsequent understanding from the QB. Individually, this unit doesn’t have anyone with the explosiveness of a Percy Harvin or the freakish size/speed blend of an Adarius Bowman, but as a unit they are certainly the most impressive group we’ve faced so far, although Florida [4]’s Harvin-Caldwell-Ingram group was pretty lethal too.

The UH OL is a bit odd. Run n’ shoot OLs are typically smaller so they can move with the pocket, but I was expecting some more beef than what they have listed. They have one guy (LT Keith AhSoon) listed over 295, but he’s only 6-1. The entire OL interior is 6-2 and the tallest lineman they have (RT Keoni Steinhoff) is a mere 6-3 and he tips the scales at a relatively light 282. LG Hercules Satele (GREAT name for an OL or professional wrestler) is the best player of this group and could be playing on Sundays next year. Given the giant OLs we’ve faced at various times this season, these guys will certainly be different, although we did face some smallish OLs this season too. The fact Brennan has been sacked 20 times on the year despite the relatively easy slate of defenses they’ve faced gives me reason to feel at least somewhat optimistic that we should have some success against their OL. The only DI teams that didn’t sack him at least twice were Utah State (115th in sacks), New Mexico State (75th in sacks) and UNLV (76th in sacks)…I didn’t count Nevada because he only attempted 2 passes before bowing out to injury in that one.

Bottom Line: The numbers this group has put up are certainly worthy of the buzz they’ve generated, and coming on the heels of the Boise State scoring effort against OU last year in a BCS bowl, the buzz is certainly expected. This is a unique offense that you don’t see often, but this defense they’ll be facing is by far and away the best defense they’ve seen all year. Statistically speaking, the best D they’ve played to this point is Boise State, a team that lost to a bad Washington team by 2 TDs and just gave up 41 to East Carolina. On average, the teams they’ve faced this season (DI only, so 10 teams) average 80th in total defense, 72nd against the run and 77th against the pass. This is important because the Hawaii [5] passing numbers can’t skew a team’s entire seasonal statistics. Those teams were simply that bad…I guess the collective 47-76 record should’ve tipped us off…they only played two teams with winning records (Fresno St and Boise St). OK, back to their offense. They pass the ball…a lot. I wouldn’t be surprised to see us in that 3-3-5 look we used against UF some. We were still able to get pressure and Tebow (while he had some success) was flustered often trying to find WRs and had to take a ton of sacks. Given the sheer number of WRs they’ll use, we’ll be in nickel most of the day, so it’s a good thing we’ve got great depth at CB. Allen, Miller, Flowers, Evans, and Brown will all get work and since all have started at some point, I feel better than I normally would. Washington was able to get to Brennan early up the middle so I have to think Atkins and Owens can be their usual disruptive selves. If they start that half roll to avoid pressure, it’ll be imperative that our DEs on the roll side can disrupt some. The zone blitz contributed mightily to the demise of the run n’ shoot in the NFL (college too for that matter). I’ve seen us do that at times this year and it certainly wouldn’t surprise me to see us unleash Dent or Ellerbe and drop Howard or Atkins into a short zone to stop that shuttle pass they use a lot.