[EKUAlum05]

Say what you will about Russell passing but from the perspective of a Belfry fan, a team that Russell traditionally sees late in the playoffs, and a team that traditionally can stop Russell's running game. The two biggest differences in recent Russll teams and those squads from '04 thru '06 has been:
1) Defensive playmakers- Guys who just can dominate the game by disrupting plays and or coming up with a huge turnover Think about guys like Wills, Kasey Clark, Tyler Jones, etc... these guys consistently dominated their man and/or created momentum swinging plays.
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2) Passing Game/QB Play- The Wing-T can be stopped when there is little to no fear of a passing game. The better Russell teams kept defenses honest with their ability to hit short to intermediate passes consistently. Additionally, the bootleg, whether it be by Tommy Brown or Jones, was a dangerous weapon to keep DE"s honest. Belfry has dominated Russell in the past couple years because the Devils did not have a QB with the accuracy and/or the running skills to make their DE's and LB's have to do anything aside from pursue and disrupt plays.