A Very Different Miners

[kyyote]

I have not seen a team play this kind of football in my 40+ years have followed them.  For a decade we listened to coaches talk about time of possession while we lost every game because we seemed to be more concerned with the clock than the scoreboard.  It made me insane!  Pass the damned ball!  Finally, we do.  Sparingly.  And it is working.  It is working in a way that is really scary for a team known for finding ways to lose because it leaves little margin for error.

For as long as I can remember, power teams ran the ball and ran over competition.   Three yards and a cloud of dust.  Pounding the football, grinding the other team down.  Teams that couldn't get the offensive linemen to be able to grind got ground.  Then came the spread offense.  It moved the ball out of the power zone.  So, the power teams now couldn't just grind on the weaker grinder.  The spread let them score, but it has limitations and creates different problems.  It the spread stalls, the defense is thrown right back into the fire.

This aspect of the spread offense, this quick strike offense, if you will, is also the hang your defense out offense.  That, right there is deadly.  Offense never tires,  Defense tires.  I should say that again.  Offense doesn't get tired or worn down.  Defense does.  So, everyone thinks offense is what puts the points on the scoreboard so offense is the key.  But, the old saying defense builds champions is also true.  Think about that.  We tend to look at offense as scoring points and the defense as not allowing points.  That is only half of the story, though.  It isn't that simple-one simply adds points and the other keeps that adding points from happening.  The one hour time limit is a huge factor.  Let me try and explain.  If there were two ice skating rinks and the two teams each have a Zamboni. The Miners skate on their rink and Zamboni the other teams ice and vice versa.  Our offense skates on the ice for 37 minutes and the other team has 23 minutes to clean the ice back up.  They other team skates for 23 minutes and the Miners Zamboni has 37 minutes to clean it up.  LA Tech's defense was on the field for 37 minutes.  The Miners' defense was on the field and fresh as a daisy at the end to just play Hell with their poor quarterback.  You know, like how other teams treated our poor qb's when you have to pass.  LA Tech likes to pass, but that is very different from LA Tech has to pass.  One controls the two dimensional attack and the other has no control of a single dimensional attack. 

I said the offense is perfect.  I know, it sputters because there is still a real battle of wills that takes place at the line.  We want to be bullies and their defense wants to not be bullied.  Simple.  So you bully.  Tough guys don't bully easily.  But bullying is simple.  Bully.  Keep bullying.  Because even the tough guys crack if you just keep pushing.  George Foreman pushing on Sugar Ray.  Sugar Ray raining blows on George and George chuckling knowing the Ray can't run for more than a few rounds and then the crushing blows land.  The Miners turned the ball over four times and still dominated.  What offense, what teams can turn the ball over four times and just dominate the shit out of the other team.  Well, one with a defense that is fresh as a daisy and can pin back its ears to attack some poor bastard running for his life trying to pass.  The fumbles are on the players holding onto the football, not the offense.  I will say in defense of the backs that LA Tech is 23rd ranked in the country at forcing turnovers.  No excuse, but recognize that this is something LA Tech does.  Just think how even more impressive the offensive domination AND defensive domination would have been had the Miners held on to the ball for those possessions!

Here is where I am maybe starting to unravel the knot of what trust the process might have meant.  Is it possible that Dimel has assembled the talent he has by convincing them that he will play a kind of football that allows the players to play a kind of football that better prepares them for the NFL?  When Price brought the spread, players flocked to UTEP looking for the chance to show their individual strengths.  That is what the spread does.  It reduces the game to one on one matchups.  But the offense Dimel is running is better preparation for the pros who still know the value of ball control and fresh defense.

[Chanson]

Numbers need to follow to prepare for the NFL. I think our defensive side is looking that part, but the Offense couldn't run the ball last night even though we have some pretty good backs.
What I did like seeing was the frequency of 3rd down conversions. Those conversions deflate the defense & the teams Psychi. The only offensive play that might get NFL attention is Cowing.

[kyyote]

Bear with me.  I am old and used to watch Lombardi coached Packers and R.C. Owens catching Alley Oop passes from Y. A. Tittle at Kezaar Stadium.  So(Rod Serling voice), imagine if you will, a football field with no lines.  Imagine now, that the idea of the game is to move the ball over the field and into the opponent's end zone.  Old school.  If while you have the ball and you stall in your movement, you have to give the other team the ball and let them try.  Basic.  Right.  And the game only lasts for a set time.  An hour of play.  Simple.  Get a lead and hold the ball until the time runs out.  No lines.   Pushing and the other side trying not to be pushed.  Basic.  Two guys.  One wants to push the other guy back into an "end zone" and the other guy doesn't want to let him.  Pushing is easier than resisting pushing.  Two guys both the same size, being the pusher is easier and less tiring than being the pushee.  And all you have to do is keep up the pushing and the one hour of time is running.  Passing is like a feint left or right that allows you to overcome or supplement your pushing.  But, like feints it loses effectiveness if the other guy knows it is all you've got.  Soon, the pushee becomes desperate, and they do desperate things.  Predictably desperate things that can be prepared for.  The lines and downs are just ways of measuring your pushing progress.  Keep moving the ball a little and you keep the ball.  Stop making pushing progress and you have to give the other guy a chance.  The game of football is pushing.  Feints are meant to be feints, surprises to add to your pushing game.  Pushing is pushing.  Equals find it easier to push than to resist pushing.  Resisting is tiring.  Pushing gets easier, especially as resisting takes its toll.  I said that the offense is perfect and of course there is always room to improve but the philosophy is perfect.  The execution of it by the players is let's just say, human.  I noticed that the backs even to the end were not securing the ball with two arms going into the line.  But, like I said, LA Tech is good at forcing fumbles.

[SisyphusMiner]

As long as our D is as tough as they are, I have no problem with ball control offense.  I just wish we were better at some things offensively.
But I'll take 6-1.

At the beginning of the year I certainly didn't think all our games were winnable.  I now think they are.  Not that we necessarily will, but that we could.   And that's a strange mental place for a Miner fan.  This D is good enough to give us a shot in every game.  When the O turns it over or goes 3 and out you can see in their demeanor that they are like "that's OK.  we'll just go get it back for you." 

Even more than the dominant D, I don't remember a Miner's team that faced adversity like 4 turnovers and didn't roll over.  That's a coaching thing.

[Alaska Miner]

Very well-said, Sis! I can tell you, that in my entire 4 decades of following Miner football, I have NEVER seen a defense like this.  And I include the bowl teams and conference champs in that. I am truly in awe of this defense. It is really a strange feeling as a Miner fan to see the defense walk in the field, and instead of a sense of dread, you get a shot of confidence! It’s truly thrilling!
Go Miners!! 
Let’s go bowling!!

[Minermojo]

Bwahahaha, reading Ky's posts is like listening to Biden...a lot of rambling. No offense old man, it comes with the territory, that is, an age thing. LOL

But, there were some good points in your posts.

[kyyote]

Bwahahaha, reading Ky's posts is like listening to Biden...a lot of rambling. No offense old man, it comes with the territory, that is, an age thing. LOL

But, there were some good points in your posts.

Yeah I was afraid that even as simplified as I made it, it would be over your head.  I can hear you now, "Where are the pictures?  I need pictures!" 
I am getting old,  but you would do well to dumpster dive into the trash bin of what I have forgotten and get yourself half way to being a genius.  A real half-wit.  Speaking of good points, that one one the top of your head is a dandy!   Mojo is like having a little brother.  One that smears his creamed carrots and strained beets all over his face and in his hair.  We don't want to talk about what he smears all over everything when he is in his crib! 

I am trying to get us to open our minds to seeing the entire team and philosophy of the team by shifting the paradigm with which we?, I, maybe others view the Miners.  I could be wrong, although my wife often tells me that I'm never wrong, but I have to admit that what the team is doing-not how well it may or may not be doing it- is fitting together like a the pieces of a puzzle in a way that has allowed me to see time of possession and running the ball in a way that probably has altered the way I understand their part in the game.  Ball control maybe should almost be seen as clock and time control. 
Think about this.  Tech only had the ball for 23 minutes-a bit over 1/3 of the game.  Don't think score. Think wear and tear on their defense and freshness of our defense instead and psychological warfare being waged, domination and what it does to their confidence, Tech's and the Miners'.  Now, imagine if the fumbles hadn't happened.  Not in points, but in minutes the Miners controlled the ball! 
I have been posting lots of stats, but  there is no way to measure the effect of going into the locker room as a Miner football player and coming out for the second half as the Miner football player in how they felt, and how that feeling made them play. 

[Minermojo]

"A real half-wit.  Speaking of good points, that one one the top of your head is a dandy! "

Ha, ha, and you're calling me a half wit. When I read that I remembered Ronald Reagan when he told Mondale, "there you go again."

Just kidding old man, you know I love you like a brother, an senile older brother but none the less, my brother.

Plus, you know that your wife is only kidding you right, re., about you never being wrong.

Go MINERS!

[SisyphusMiner]

Out of 28 quarters played I count 13 quarters where the opponent doesn't score.  And three games where the second half is a shutout.

[kyyote]

Me and Mojo and a video representation of my previous post. Lol


One more way to look at the whole thing.  UTEP's Offense has the ball for an extra 7 minutes and their opponents have to play defense an extra 7 minutes a game!

[UTEPDefense]

Out of 28 quarters played I count 13 quarters where the opponent doesn't score.  And three games where the second half is a shutout.

Interesting stat.  Thanks.

An interesting thing about Saturday's victory, was that we did not have a single D-line starter in the game on the play where we got the safety.  Praise, Moss, Taylor, and Stewart were all out of the game for that play and La. Tech still couldn't run the ball out of the endzone.  In fact, our d-lineman who got the biggest penetration on that play was a freshman(Jalen Rudolph).

[SisyphusMiner]

UTEPD, I always appreciate your insightful posts.  Don't be such a stranger!

[Chanson]

Out of 28 quarters played I count 13 quarters where the opponent doesn't score.  And three games where the second half is a shutout.

Interesting stat.  Thanks.

An interesting thing about Saturday's victory, was that we did not have a single D-line starter in the game on the play where we got the safety.  Praise, Moss, Taylor, and Stewart were all out of the game for that play and La. Tech still couldn't run the ball out of the endzone.  In fact, our d-lineman who got the biggest penetration on that play was a freshman(Jalen Rudolph).

I just gave you some Karma for that. Who pays attention to that? I freakin love it. With KY's stats, Sisy's insight, & D's unbelievable eye for what should be obvious, this little place has become the best Miner site.