Yesterday I decided to turn a series of Twitter arguments into a post about Michigan’s relative talent level. My argument was that Michgian’s overall talent level under Jim Harbaugh has actually been plenty high, but they haven’t been strong enough in the box to win with the run game and their aggressive defensive strategy and … [Read more…]
Bruce Feldman of the Athletic recently released his “freaks” list, which is always a fun read. No. 1 on the list is Michigan defensive end Kwity Paye, which I found striking particularly in light of how much talent has been passing through Ann Arbor since Jim Harbaugh took over. I noted as much on Twitter: … [Read more…]
For the 2020 season, the Tigers lose 15 starters from what might have been the greatest team in college football history. Certainly there’s no team from any previous year that could beat them in a hypothetical matchup, the changes in tactics would ensure that. Then there’s the resume, which is also astounding and included multiple … [Read more…]
It’s been interesting to see the Shanahan offense enjoy a resurgence in the NFL game. It’s never really gone away, receiving various tweaks and updates over the years, and the last two NFC champions in the NFL employed modern takes on the original Mike Shanahan offense. First the Sean McVay LA Rams and then the … [Read more…]
The 2020 Iowa State Cyclones are going to make a big push to become the 5th Midwestern team to win a Big 12 championship in this upcoming season. They may not have it in them, God knows the league could be competitive this season (or be hampered in a dozen fashions by COVID-19), but their … [Read more…]
The other day on Twitter I kicked off a storm with this comment: I was actually setting up something I’ll publish closer to the season, which is a look back unforeseen developments around the Big 12 that have tended to yield unexpected finishes in the standings. I’ve used the term “little 8” a couple of … [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…]
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…]
Someone asked Bill Connelly a really good question on Twitter yesterday in response to his article about how the spread has “won” in college football and is now the strategy. I have a lot of thoughts on this, indeed I wrote an entire book before the season on the topic of what’s been driving offensive … [Read more…]