Why the UNM Game Is a Great Pre-TCU Preparation for BYU

As you gather with friends this evening and begin to talk about what BYU has to do to win, I hope you have done three things: 1. Read my scouting reports; 2. Read the first look at TCU; and 3. Become familiar with the next few paragraphs.

This game is almost the perfect pre-TCU game BYU could have scheduled. In watching the film, I have seen a lot of similarities between the teams, and I think having UNM this week and a short week to prepare for TCU won’t be bad. Here are my top reasons:

1. The UNM defense and TCU defense do a lot of similar things, i.e. lots of pressure and man-to-man coverages. They also rely on having more “athletes” on the field than a typical defense.
2. UNM’s team speed is equivalent to TCU’s due to the effort demands of Rocky Long. Yeah...at a position-by-position comparison, the TCU defense is faster, but it doesn't play collectively as hard as the UNM’s defense. So the speed factor balances out.
3. The UNM/TCU offenses have similar characteristics/styles (a running quarterback, spread attack with power concepts mixed in, good skill-position players, coordinator that will run first and pass second, and efficiency in running screen plays). How BYU’s defense performs Saturday will be a good gauge of what we could expect on Thursday night next week.

The only negative that I see is that UNM is normally very physical, and a short week doesn’t allow your body much time to bounce back. Saturday’s game is going to rely heavily on the defensive and offensive fronts’ abilities to control the line of scrimmage. I just hope we don’t lose anyone to a significant injury before the real tests of the season begin.

Short practice weeks are tricky. Coaches have to make sure they prepare enough, but also give the players time to recover from the previous game. BYU has a good track record the past two or three years during Thursday night games. Plus, with everything that will be riding on the game in Fort Worth, I wouldn’t expect a bad week of preparation.