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…]
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…]
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…]
One of the most impressive and interesting storylines in the Big 12 this season has been Oklahoma’s evolution into a really high level, power-option team. Since Lincoln Riley came to Norman the Sooners have been much more run-oriented than certainly I would have guessed considering Riley’s Air Raid background. From the start of the year, … [Read more…]
I was preparing for my Kansas State preview over at Inside Texas (those drop on Thursdays and I believe this one will be free) today and went down a statistical rabbit hole that proved interesting. I was looking up how much of Kansas State’s pressure comes from their DL and the DL’s share of the … [Read more…]
I overlooked TCU in my preseason prognostications of the 2017 Big 12 football season. I probably oversteered a bit for having missed West Virginia the previous season and I also underestimated Gary Patterson’s ability to fix the defense with so many returning starters and Sonny Cumbie’s ability to mold Kenny Hill into a good game … [Read more…]
The 2017 season was a big one for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State. My assumption was that it was going to be his big chance to cash in hard on the Mason Rudolph era before it faded and head off for another job (Tennessee?) if he was ever going to do so. Oklahoma State seemed … [Read more…]
It’s kind of remarkable that Kansas State is recruiting as well as they are right now given olcow much of an unknown it is whether or not Bill Snyder will be still coaching from year to year. However, they keep getting young and younger as a staff as the old man replaces retiring or departing … [Read more…]
Earlier this week I noted that three strong Big 12 teams are facing a crossroad this offseason on defense. First there’s Oklahoma, who just blew a chance at a national title due to undisciplined and frankly soft play on defense this past season. Then there was Oklahoma State, who just hired Jim Knowles to update … [Read more…]
A few years back I wrote a really popular post called, “TCU’s Baylor problem” in which I explained that Baylor’s offensive scheme (which is now gone but has influenced the rest of the league) presented major stresses to TCU’s 4-2-5. Everyone had a Baylor problem, really, but TCU’s 4-2-5 was designed to allow them to … [Read more…]