Matt Wells’ Utah State program was defined largely by three things. First, the Kyle Whittingham-tree defense. Wells’ came up under Gary Andersen’s Utah State program and would hire more defensive coordinators from that tree, including Texas’ Todd Orlando. Most recently they brought in Keith Patterson, who’d worked in the 3-3-5 stack under Dana Holgorsen and … [Read more…]
This is basically Lincoln Riley’s first recruiting class that he owned from start to finish. Now, I think he was a driving force for Sooner recruiting before taking over as HC but since he has things have really taken off. He’s a strong recruiter with a good grasp of the art of leveraging Oklahoma’s prestige … [Read more…]
Mike Gundy is, in my estimation, one of the most clever strategists in the Big 12. His program management is clearly high level and the Pokes are regularly anticipating developments around the league and putting themselves in position to be at the cutting edge of evolving tactics. Recently that has meant stockpiling actual, dual-threat TE … [Read more…]
I’d been tracking Chris Klieman at North Dakota State for several years before he become the head coach at K-State. You can read some thoughts on his systems and how it all might translate to K-State in this article over at Football Study Hall. In short, he built some bruising teams up north in Fargo that dominated FCS competition with … [Read more…]
Yes, I’m going to volunteer for this annual beating once more and break down every recruiting class in the Big 12. I started with the Texas class, which you can read about over at Inside Texas, next I move through the Big 12 going from north to south. This is Matt Campbell’s highest rated class … [Read more…]
I didn’t really expect the Super Bowl to be a high scoring game. What I saw of the Rams against the Cowboys and in glowing columns written here and there about Sean McVay’s genius suggested to me that he’d simply built a thorough, modern, and well executed version of the old Mike Shanahan offense. I … [Read more…]
Alex Grinch is the newest coordinator to venture into the DC graveyard that is the Big 12. The number of top line DCs that came to the Big 12 with fanfare only to find themselves on the receiving end of some knockout punches is extensive. Todd Orlando at Texas is one of the most recent … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I have a new piece up diving further into the Patriots’ strategy for defending Kansas City and where I think defense is heading in the coming years. Having guys on defense that can allow you to matchup in the passing game is essential. Vic Koenning actually spoke to that in … [Read more…]
There’s an argument to be made that Pat Mahomes was the most talented QB in Big 12 history. Not necessarily the best and certainly not the most accomplished, but probably the most talented and certainly in terms of pure throwing ability. The Kansas City Chiefs embraced his abilities and the direction of football this season, … [Read more…]
Over at SB Nation I have a piece up on Jalen Hurts and his fit within the Oklahoma offense in 2019. Overall I think this was a nice addition by Lincoln Riley and further evidence that they are establishing Norman as a destination for top skill talent and QBs. There’s definitely going to be some … [Read more…]