Defensively, Venebals is better this year (and I believe last year, but don't make me sign a contract on that one), but the issue with Venebals is the same with Sark vs Kirby- it's mental. Without a miracle comeback from Gabriel in 2023, Venebals is also looking down the barrel at 0-4 vs Texas. It's not that he doesn't have talent or he's a shitty DC, it's we commit to slow, grinding pace, quick passes, and focus mainly on short gains to wear them down, which combined with the ability to convert on third downs, we're able to exploit their weakness. Venebals also seems to use a different defensive approach to how he game plans against us. It doesn't help them that they have poor tackling (which could just be a result of our skill players being better overall), and if you watch the game they looked to be missing assignments.
All this to say that Smart's defense don't miss assignments often, they play sound defense, they tackle well, and are equally matched in talent O vs D. Whatever the DFEI says, during this game I take it with a grain of salt. Mentally Kirby owns Sark, he already knows what Sark does because he's so predictable, and has been since at least 2023. We can't run IZ because we don't have the linemen for it, which is on Sark/Flood (beating a dead sooner again, but it's apt). We still have a RB room that's decimated because 1. Wisner is our lead back, when he's built to really be a third down back, 2. Baxter just got back from missing 4 games, starting with UTEP where he went out with yet another injury (hamstring), and he's lost almost all of his speed from tearing damn if not all of the ligaments in his knee, but he's a plus on blocking and RPO's, and 3. We just had Gibson transfer (our third leading RB), and we have RS and true frosh, one of whom just came back from an achilles tear, and the other, while extremely talented, tends to run into the back of his linemen frequently.
Theri secondary is ranked top 10, and third in the SEC behind on Bama and us, so Arch is going to have to pull up his britches, don't force the ball in triple coverage, hope the line can hold up for at least 2-2.5 seconds, and our WR's need to get separation (man that's going to be something to watch). I know Sark will want to commit to the long ball, but he's playing a dangerous game against them with Bolden back there, Robinson IV is true shit down corner. We do have the talent at WR, and if we can give Wingo some screens, he can house it, or at the very least get us a ton of yards. Then we can commit to using Moseley and Moore for some dig routes, slants, curls, posts, and then use Wingo/Moseley for go routes. But it will be all for nothing if we cannot get a run game going. This is a game where I would get Terry III some handoffs and RPO's.
Just a side note: I heard over and over from Gerry that Terry will grow into a TE or some shit, which I think is bullshit. He's built (I'm not saying he's ANYWHERE or ANYTHING remotely close to ability/freakish talent, just H/W) like DK Metcalf (6-4 210), Julio Jones (6-4 215), Dwayne Bowe (6-2 210), AJ Brown (6-2 218), Davante Adams (6-2 210), Jeremiah Smith (6-3 215), Roy Williams (6-4 205) were all tall and big coming out of high school, so I'm not sure where he's getting this ridiculous idea that Terry can't stay at WR and be effective. I'm not, nor has anyone I've seen writing, said he's even in the same wheelhouse as any of the aforementioned, but the idea that he can't play WR at both the college and pro level at his size is absolutely ludicrous. I don't know his 40 time, but I read where he ran a 4.42 his junior year at a camp, but it's unverified.
Just something crazy I saw, which is irrelevant to the the game, but Justin Jefferson was a low 3 star coming out of high school, and he's now the best WR in the NFL. That's insane. That's on par with Ed Reed being a 2 star coming out of high school, and being arguably the greatest safety in NFL history.