I was pretty bearish on Mario Cristobal’s Oregon team heading into 2019. Justin Herbert never really convinced me he was elite, the offense seemed overly focused on running the ball behind the offensive line, and the strategy of building Oregon around the offensive line always struck me as a dubious method. Every school is always … [Read more…]
That’s a hot topic of conversation these days, especially in light of Bill Connelly recently identifying the run defense and small size of the Oklahoma defensive line as a primary concern for 2020. From Connelly: If … the run defense finds some oomph. After crumbling to 84th in defensive SP+ in 2018, OU’s defense rebounded to … [Read more…]
Around this time last year I was working on my first book. I had decided to scrap the original concept, which was “The 10 greatest quarterbacks in Big 12 history” in order to write what I kept accidentally writing. A chronicle of how the league went from its Big 8/Southwest conference merger and roots in … [Read more…]
Chris Hummer of 247 recently did an interesting writeup on some states in our Union that, per NFL draft results, tends to end up producing more talent than high school recruiting services would have suggested. Some of the usual suspects show up here, such as the state of Wisconsin which I’ve discussed repeatedly in this … [Read more…]
Accepting transfers has become one of the most important ways that coaches can improve the talent level on their teams these days. It’s really sort of a win-win for everyone as every program tends to get log jammed at some positions and then thin at others and the transfer portal allows for an evening out. … [Read more…]
In part II the other day, I broached the same topic I’ve mentioned when I was explaining the theoretical advantage of the “bash bros” against the “Raid bros” in the Big 12. That didn’t work out so great, because it turns out that having easy answers for 3rd and 1 isn’t as valuable as being … [Read more…]
Before Urban Meyer’s run or the less successful eras of Will Muschamp and Jim McElwain, the original breakthrough Florida Gator teams were the Steve Spurrier squads of the 90s. Those squads won six SEC titles and a National Championship in 1996. Those Gator teams come up tangentially in my book… …his 95 team went to … [Read more…]
Not the state, who’s approach to the COVID pandemic under Gov. DeSantis was one that had a sizable chunk of citizens and commentators projecting disaster up until recently. I mean the football program coached by Dan Mullen that is returning their quarterback, four starters on the offensive line, and star “space force dreadnought” Kyle Pitts … [Read more…]
The “miracle on ice” was one of the greatest achievements in American sports history. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, an American amateur hockey team of mostly college upperclassmen and recent graduates won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics in New York. The Soviet hockey team they defeated at Lake … [Read more…]
If you’ve read this blog regularly, you’ll notice that I have an uneven relationship with the service rankings of players and teams. In one post I’ll come strongly against the idea that the class rankings are predictive or should be taken particularly seriously, in the next I’ll use 247’s data even to the point of … [Read more…]