4 Comments

  1. Joey

    Ian,

    If OU wins and backs their way into the 4th seed of the playoff, do you see them being able to create problems for any of the top 3 schools? I don’t, personally, but I feel like I’d want to play tOSU more than the other two.

    Also, I’m not throwing dirt of Herman just yet, but I remember you being bullish on him as the leader of the program. In hindsight, do you feel like you overvalued some of his abilities or do you think with the right hires he can still right the ship?

    • ianaboyd

      I don’t think Oklahoma will be able to keep up with Clemson, LSU, or Ohio State. Those teams will pick at Hurts’ weak spots and won’t be easily muscled around up front.

      Herman had a vision for a strong overall program with a physical and demanding culture heavily reinforced by S&C and the offseason program. His plan was for top level recruiting and development to pair with a power-spread offense and aggressive defense to bully opposing teams. They have not emphasized game planning to opponent, haven’t taught positions well, and have basically been badly burned by fielding physical, talented, but technically insufficient players in gameplans that allow opponents to move the focal point to areas of Texas weakness or opposing strength.

      So Herman as an overall program guy has taken a huge hit because the staff he oversaw performed so poorly. Orlando had a rough 2018 as well but it seemed like he’d adjust for 2019. He didn’t quite adjust enough and some other cracks showed, so they basically fell apart. As leader of the program Herman now needs to adapt in major ways, particularly in regards to staffing, backing up to do more quality control, and game planning teams more.

  2. Will

    Hey Ian, nothing to add really (obviously I agree with your take on Brown). I just want to reiterate what another poster said last week.

    These articles are great, easily the best Big 12 weekly breakdown out of there. They have been a pleasure to read even when they haven’t featured anything about WVU. Thanks for the great reads all season long!

    • ianaboyd

      Thanks Will! Glad you enjoyed them, I’ll have some offseason stuff as well and I’m thinking through some other projects.

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