I realize that many of you saw this when watching on TV at home when they showed the replay. Those of you who didn't watch it on TV, here's what happened:
I don't mean to pile on Tyler Higby. I'm just reporting what I saw.
It was first and 10 from the ASU 14-yard line with about 1:15 left in the first half. This was right after a long catch and run by Stewart on third-and-five.
On the first and 10 play in the red zone, ASU ran one of those stunts out of its 30 front that I mentioned in the pre-snap read as an x-factor for this game. I don't remember ASU running that many stunts last year. I don't remember the last time I saw a 30-front defense run stunts the way ASU does, or as often as they run them.
It seemed like any time MSU had a run play that was stuffed for a gain of 2 or less, ASU was stunting.
On this play, ASU stunted the NT and the left DE. Higby was at RG. The DE was stunting across Higby's face. THe man Higby was initially blocking stunted to the outside. In the process of passing him off to Reid, Higby let the DE get inside of him and penetrated the pocket. That DE was pushed all the way across the pocket by Higby, who was trying to recover. The DE was pushed into Jarvis's back side. He "rolled up" Jarvis from behind. Simlar to the injury that took out Tupe Peko for half a season many years ago.
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Bottom line: The stunting 30 was an oddball. I thought it might be a problem, and it was. I will be interested to see if ASU continues to give opponents problems with their defense the rest of the year. The d-line is an odd-ball, and their corners are talented. They missed a lot of tackles in the first two games, but not many in this game.
I don't mean to pile on Tyler Higby. I'm just reporting what I saw.
It was first and 10 from the ASU 14-yard line with about 1:15 left in the first half. This was right after a long catch and run by Stewart on third-and-five.
On the first and 10 play in the red zone, ASU ran one of those stunts out of its 30 front that I mentioned in the pre-snap read as an x-factor for this game. I don't remember ASU running that many stunts last year. I don't remember the last time I saw a 30-front defense run stunts the way ASU does, or as often as they run them.
It seemed like any time MSU had a run play that was stuffed for a gain of 2 or less, ASU was stunting.
On this play, ASU stunted the NT and the left DE. Higby was at RG. The DE was stunting across Higby's face. THe man Higby was initially blocking stunted to the outside. In the process of passing him off to Reid, Higby let the DE get inside of him and penetrated the pocket. That DE was pushed all the way across the pocket by Higby, who was trying to recover. The DE was pushed into Jarvis's back side. He "rolled up" Jarvis from behind. Simlar to the injury that took out Tupe Peko for half a season many years ago.
**
Bottom line: The stunting 30 was an oddball. I thought it might be a problem, and it was. I will be interested to see if ASU continues to give opponents problems with their defense the rest of the year. The d-line is an odd-ball, and their corners are talented. They missed a lot of tackles in the first two games, but not many in this game.
