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…]
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…]
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…]
In the last post I went over the top 10 Big 12 defenses of the 2010s based on scoring defense within league play. That gave us the following list: I like the 2017 TCU Horned Frogs, 2010 Nebraska Cornhuskers, and 2017 Iowa State Cyclones from that list for their performance and/or innovative impact on the … [Read more…]
Recently I was talking Oklahoma defensive back recruiting and schematic future under Alex Grinch with Sooners Wire’s Kegan Reneau. It was sparked by this post I did on what Oklahoma and Texas will be attempting to do philosophically to stop all the potent passing attacks the Big 12 will feature in 2020. Reneau asked me … [Read more…]
Zach Evans was a character in a story told here over a year ago about North Shore’s victory over Duncanville in the 2018 Texas 6A state championship. D-Ville played a 4-1-6 dime defense and mostly shut down Evans only to be torched by 4-star, Auburn-bound? quarterback Dametrius Davis throwing to 4-star, Texas A&M recruit Shadrach … [Read more…]
In my last post, I was breaking down the challenges confronting Big 12 defenses for the upcoming 2020 season. The return of several quarterbacks combined with the growth or addition of big time weapons outside at receiver makes for a pretty frightening scenario for defenses trying to cover it all up. Within that post, I … [Read more…]
The 2019 season in the Big 12 was really one of the weakest in a while in terms of offensive skill outside the hash marks. Quarterback play was down a little bit, with Jalen Hurts, Sam Ehlinger, and Brock “pump fake” Purdy really highlighting the league’s signal-callers. Wide receiver play took a commensurate dip, which … [Read more…]