As mentioned earlier, even with their regular starters available the outcome would have been very similar--for one reason: the defensive scheme. Here's one part of that scheme that I noticed while watching the game: usually, when the defense releases one or both of those upbacks, #31 would dump it off to them and they would have wide open space in front of them to make huge gains. Anyone who saw the San Marcos game would have seen this in action. In that game, the upback dump-offs were averaging 15 to 20 yards per play. The reason that play "usually" works so well is because the defense usually play their corners man-to-man vs. the Seguin WRs. Baytown didn't do that. Instead, the Baytown corners allowed the WRs to run "free" down the field, "gambling" that their safety (#21) would be able to Roll his coverage to playside, thus allowing the playside corner to cover the upback dump-off. This is exactly how Baytown intercepted the first pass of the game--Seguin was not expecting there to be a defender playing on the upback once he was released. For the remainder of the game, the upbacks "heard footsteps" and were never able to establish a rhythm. This scheme would have worked no matter who started or didn't start. Also, Baytown inserted a SPY (#7) on #31 and his job was to "contain" #31 and squeeze him which resulted in very limited yardage. In my opinion, if other teams can get their hands on this game film, they will see a "recipe" for stopping the Seguin-style spread offense (or at least slowing it down). And yes, it was a risky defense because the WR opposite of the play was allowed to run FREE the whole night and fortunately for Baytown, Seguin never tried to exploit it. It was a fun game to watch as a fan and I'm glad I attended. So bottom line: the defensive scheme did the trick in limiting their offense.
