I had a few brief interactions at B12 media days with Jalen McCleskey, Dana Holgorsen, and Justin Phillips I’ve transcribed here. We’ll start with Dana Holgorsen, who seemed bored and irritated by the time I headed over to his booth at the breakout session. Holgorsen What did you make of some of the dime defenses … [Read more…]
I caught a few words with Lincoln Riley during B12 media days, transcribed here. Coach what went into the decision to move Caleb Kelly inside? Just thought it was the right time, kinda had an opening there with Emmanuel Beal graduating. It’s gonna allow us to keep Caleb on the field a little bit more … [Read more…]
At the 2016 Big 12 media days Matt Campbell was a little resistant to the idea that the goal at Iowa State was to build a Midwestern-Style football team to take on the Texas-based squads elsewhere around the league. However, I came back and revisited the topic at the 2018 Big 12 media days and … [Read more…]
I tinker with positional designations and roles a lot, typically trying to capture the evolving nature of the game in the Big 12 and the roles that are emerging. I wrote up a glossary for positions a few years back and then for formations more recently. But then my preseason All-B12 team included the “shock … [Read more…]
I came to peace a year or so ago with the fact that All-Big 12 teams don’t reflect the actual positions and roles in the league in a given period of history but just try to stuff in all of the guys that had a major impact that season. With a few exceptions like the … [Read more…]
Okay, hang on though… As a Texas guy who’s watched the Longhorns languish the entire decade due to self-made problems while the league’s reputation and leverage across the sport has declined, I’ve got a fairly good view of what exactly the Big 12 is and what it isn’t. It isn’t the SEC, the passion level … [Read more…]
As a close follower of the Texas Longhorns, my starting assumption to the question of whether you can recruit a top defense is “no, you cannot.” Texas has regularly recruited at the highest level in the Big 12 this decade and also put some pretty bad defenses on the field in that time. However, Texas … [Read more…]
I can’t really blame Lincoln Riley for what happened in that exchange on the radio with Danny Kannell where the young Sooner coach gave the SEC some bulletin board material (however mild) by embracing the opportunity to compare playing defense in the Big 12 and doing so in the SEC. You can read the full … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I chronicle how things are going for the various Briles-tree coaches around the college game. The situation in Houston is pretty interesting. If you’re a fan of conspiracy theories there’s some reason to believe that the pro-Briles Cougar boosters are working a hostile takeover of the program. First pushing Applewhite … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I did a post on the increasing use of iso run schemes amongst smashmouth spread teams. The smashmouth spread in general is starting to evolve into just becoming “spread-iso” football. By that I mean that the goal is basically to spread teams out, find the weak spot, and hammer it … [Read more…]