One of the most impressive and interesting storylines in the Big 12 this season has been Oklahoma’s evolution into a really high level, power-option team. Since Lincoln Riley came to Norman the Sooners have been much more run-oriented than certainly I would have guessed considering Riley’s Air Raid background. From the start of the year, … [Read more…]
I was preparing for my Kansas State preview over at Inside Texas (those drop on Thursdays and I believe this one will be free) today and went down a statistical rabbit hole that proved interesting. I was looking up how much of Kansas State’s pressure comes from their DL and the DL’s share of the … [Read more…]
I overlooked TCU in my preseason prognostications of the 2017 Big 12 football season. I probably oversteered a bit for having missed West Virginia the previous season and I also underestimated Gary Patterson’s ability to fix the defense with so many returning starters and Sonny Cumbie’s ability to mold Kenny Hill into a good game … [Read more…]
The 2017 season was a big one for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State. My assumption was that it was going to be his big chance to cash in hard on the Mason Rudolph era before it faded and head off for another job (Tennessee?) if he was ever going to do so. Oklahoma State seemed … [Read more…]
It’s kind of remarkable that Kansas State is recruiting as well as they are right now given olcow much of an unknown it is whether or not Bill Snyder will be still coaching from year to year. However, they keep getting young and younger as a staff as the old man replaces retiring or departing … [Read more…]
Earlier this week I noted that three strong Big 12 teams are facing a crossroad this offseason on defense. First there’s Oklahoma, who just blew a chance at a national title due to undisciplined and frankly soft play on defense this past season. Then there was Oklahoma State, who just hired Jim Knowles to update … [Read more…]
A few years back I wrote a really popular post called, “TCU’s Baylor problem” in which I explained that Baylor’s offensive scheme (which is now gone but has influenced the rest of the league) presented major stresses to TCU’s 4-2-5. Everyone had a Baylor problem, really, but TCU’s 4-2-5 was designed to allow them to … [Read more…]
My man @The_Coach_A from matchquarters.com did the coaching world a service and summarized a modern, anti-spread defensive philosophy in his new book: I’ll confess, I opted for the Kindle version, which still reads really easily but is perhaps a tad less useful for sharing for coaches that would want their staff to read this book. … [Read more…]