Overcoming Trap Games

[T1]

Good article in the Shreveport Times about trap games (WTF games) / building a program.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/story...gram/92707774/

"It's an easy game for us to look past considering their record (Rice). Like I said, upsets happen every week in college football so we gotta prepare to put our best foot forward." Trent Taylor

"Those letdowns we had in the past two years start with practice once you look back it at. We kind of slacked off at practice just because of the opponent or just because of the point we were at. Now, we still feel like we're the underdog and we still have a point to prove." Xavier Woods

[Houston Techsan]

Just look at what SMU did to Houston last week. That should be a good reminder.

[dawg80]

There are reminders every week....Penn State over Ohio State comes to mind too.

Upsets happen when the favorite team goes thru the motions, doesn't play with fire and passion. And then often "goofy" things happen, from a bad bounce, a bad call from a ref, a critical turnover and/or penalty, and then Bam! the underdog makes one play, maybe a long pass where the WR comes down with it in a heap. The play is as much luck as skill. But there you are....

Leave no doubt. CRUSH the opposition!

Glad to see some players (Trent and X) stepping up and being leaders.

[T1]

There are reminders every week....Penn State over Ohio State comes to mind too.

Upsets happen when the favorite team goes thru the motions, doesn't play with fire and passion. And then often "goofy" things happen, from a bad bounce, a bad call from a ref, a critical turnover and/or penalty, and then Bam! the underdog makes one play, maybe a long pass where the WR comes down with it in a heap. The play is as much luck as skill. But there you are....

Leave no doubt. CRUSH the opposition!

Glad to see some players (Trent and X) stepping up and being leaders.

Agree. Bottom line is they are unavoidable. It doesn't really matter how mentally prepared, crap still happens every week. It's what makes college football more interesting than the NFL, imo.

[Dwayne From Minden]

We technically have 2 1/2 more trap games left - Rice, UTSA and maybe UNT (if UNT wins again this week that is NOT a trap game)...

I think we are fine this week (even though 28 is a large cover and 76 is a high over...)

[Tech52]

depending on how UNT-UTSA turns out will determine how I feel about that. UTSA, while demolishing USM, hasnt really looked hot since. UNT has, though. Time to see what each is made of.

[qng001]

We technically have 2 1/2 more trap games left - Rice, UTSA and maybe UNT (if UNT wins again this week that is NOT a trap game)...

I think we are fine this week (even though 28 is a large cover and 76 is a high over...)

I guess I'm confused on the term "trap" game.

Are these really "trap" games or just bad competition? To me, trap games are playing someone who really sucks (which you do not take them serious) and looking ahead to the next big game. Southern Miss which is the biggest game left on our schedule is a month away (Nov 25th). I just don't see our players and coaches looking that far down the road. Plus we have a bye week before the Southern Miss game.

Rice, UNT, and UTSA are either mediocre or just plain bad. I don't see us looking ahead of Rice for UNT and looking ahead of UNT for UTSA.

[T1]

Umass was the classic trap game, imo. Right after the big win against WKU, non-conference game, weak opponent, long travel, poor crowd (no juice), a team that can be dangerous.

A conference game shouldn't be considered a trap game. Those are important for championships. However, the problem is getting up emotionally for a team you are heavily favored to beat. It opens up the potential for a WTF game.... which is what Dawg80 was describing (going through the motions, penalties, turnovers, giving up a big play, etc...).

[DocMarvin362]

I think we are fine this week (even though 28 is a large cover and 76 is a high over...)

Is that the halftime point spread and over/under?? 52-24??

[Tech52]

O/U is 76? wow

[Dwayne From Minden]

Paper is showing 72 as of this morning...

Just think as bad as Rice appears to be on paper while we score a lot of points it will not be in the 50's

[latech]

Paper is showing 72 as of this morning...

Just think as bad as Rice appears to be on paper while we score a lot of points it will not be in the 50's

we beat a better Rice team 76-31 in 2014 so O/U of 72-76 is very possible.

[Dwayne From Minden]

I just think Skip will take the foot off the pedal and get a lot of backups playing time when the score hits the 35-10 range

[olddog75]

I just think Skip will take the foot off the pedal and get a lot of backups playing time when the score hits the 35-10 range

That is what he is hoping for, as he was last week and was unable to do it until the very end. It would be a wonderful situation if the first team was on the bench for the final 20+ minutes. Doesn't happen much in our world, but Saturday appears to be a good chance.

[DJDAWG]

UNT worries me. Their DC did a heck of a job shutting down the Army passing game.