Over at Football Outsiders I’ve got the stats breakdowns and some thoughts on every bowl game (eventually, with the most recent post breaking down the playoff semi-finals. Over there you can read about how I’m picking an Alabama vs Notre Dame finale, which will probably disappointingly feature a 20 point spread for the Tide. This … [Read more…]
I guess technically the various Big 12 teams are about to be gunning for their bowl opponents, at least those teams that are playing in bowl games. Oklahoma has real stakes to their postseason since they are in the playoffs again and Texas probably has some interest in showing well against Georgia in the Sugar … [Read more…]
…by hiring Chris Klieman of North Dakota State. I’ve been watching North Dakota State for several years now and have lots of notes from some of their showdowns with FBS schools, rival South Dakota State, and their title game bouts with James Madison. I broke down some of Klieman’s strategies and how they translate to … [Read more…]
As a Texas grad, I’ve been here before. Your program is replacing a legend who was losing his touch. It wasn’t easy to convince him to hang things up and now he’s probably going to stick around and be a helpful or hurtful force depending on the circumstances. You hated to see him go but … [Read more…]
Part of what makes the Big 12 so tough is how much of a copycat league it is. You can stay ahead with your tactics only so long as other teams lack the personnel to mimic it. Oklahoma’s advantages from their “21 spread” sets are virtually dried up now as we saw multiple teams copy … [Read more…]
The league released their All-B12 team already, I was surprised to see that they did so before the B12 championship game evidently counting that strictly as a postseason event and unrelated to the B12 season. Obviously there’s some sense in that but I wanted to see how the Red River Rematch played out before I … [Read more…]
The Big 12 championship game raised an interesting question for me about Oklahoma’s 2018 season and moreso their 2017 campaign. What if Lincoln Riley had promoted Ruffin McNeil to DC sooner? Against the Texas Longhorns in a championship game with a playoff berth on the line, McNeil finally found his best 11 from the Oklahoma … [Read more…]
I’ve always loved watching Bill Snyder’s teams. I’ve particularly enjoyed the second Snyder-era for which I’ve been a Big 12 blogger and active observer of the league. His teams this decade have always been designed to try and game college football with calculated strategies and recently I’ve learned more about his original run at K-State … [Read more…]