No matter what else has happened over the last decade, a constant themehas been Texas and Oklahoma’s superiority in the recruiting rankings, in that order. The Longhorns are the most resource-rich program in the B12 by a decent margin (although the Sooners are obviously competitive) and are located in one of the hottest towns in … [Read more…]
It’s more than a little interesting to observe the TCU-Baylor rivalry these days. The Frogs aren’t even really a strictly Texas school anymore, their admission is over 50% comprised of out of state students, and the football program has served them well as an advertisement for kids from California and other locales. Baylor on the … [Read more…]
These three schools all share the common trait of being fairly distantly removed from the biggest metro areas of the Big 12. Those major metro areas and talent hubs are, in order by population: Obviously D.C./Baltimore and Pittsburgh are irrelevant for everyone in the B12 save for West Virginia but they very much matter for … [Read more…]
Some of these breakdowns will include single teams, others will pack together multiple squads. I intended for every post to be the latter but the Jayhawk posted ended up longer than expected. Building a Big 12 contender from the Midwest is something that has rarely coincided with using “space force” tactics. Mark Mangino got the … [Read more…]
The other day I explained my “space force enlistment” metric in my last post but I’ll summarize the gist of it. Controlling the middle of the field comes down to feel, team cohesion, strategy, experience, and toughness moreso than pure athleticism. A squad of well picked and developed 3-stars can lock down the middle of … [Read more…]
For the last five years I’ve tried to break down every recruit in every Big 12 class. The goal was to look beyond star ratings and class rankings and dive into fits, what different teams were looking for, upside potential, and ideally to have a database from which to be able to project whether teams … [Read more…]
My guys Paul Wadlington (Scipio Tex) and Kevin Dunn have a very good podcast going these days called “Everyone gets a trophy!” that I recommend. It’s a weekly listen for me. In the most recent episode, Paul (in so many words) basically describes how college football is starting to experience something like the Matthew principle … [Read more…]
In year one against the Big 12 it seemed that Jim Knowles had a two-pronged plan for building an Oklahoma State defense that could counter the explosive spread offenses that you encounter in this league. The first prong was to adjust OSU’s defense from the 4-3 hybrid system they’d been basing out of to a … [Read more…]
Bill Snyder’s teams were designed to win football games in a particular fashion. He built something akin to a powerhouse HS team, fielding maxed out seniors at most positions and bringing a level of discipline and precision to bear that other teams couldn’t overcome with superior talent. The team that Chris Klieman inherited for 2019 … [Read more…]
The Houston Rockets made a very controversial trade deadline move this season, dealing their starting center and eliminating their roster of any true big men. That move flew in the face of conventional wisdom on how you win basketball games, but for the Rockets it was a very logical move, comparable to when Billy Bean … [Read more…]