In the past I’ve tried to be sympathetic to the NFL draft’s evaluations of players. I don’t know why I assumed that their evaluation was a gold standard, perhaps because college football conversations on team talent levels are often dictated by how many players a team had drafted and where they went. We should probably … [Read more…]
The NBA playoffs often come down to matchups, as the good pundits are typically fond of noting. The Utah Jazz are pretty darn good when they aren’t playing the better spread/shooting teams like the Houston Rockets or Golden State Warriors. The Rockets make life hard for everyone because they force you to deal with James … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall this week I wrote on the 21 spread. Technically 21 personnel means two RBs and one TE, but can often mean a variety of things. Oklahoma in 2017 ran a lot of 21 spread if you defined Mark Andrews as a TE, Dmitri Flowers as a FB, and then the … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I took a look at what’s coming down the pipe from Gary Patterson and the Horned Frogs, in particular their three-down sub-package that they used a lot last year. It’s similar to the defense that Phil Bennett had created at Baylor towards the later years (especially 2015 and 2016) and … [Read more…]
There hasn’t been too much information flowing yet from the spring practices taking place across the Big 12. Lots of programs are fairly quiet either because they are looking for new QBs and key players, they are naturally secretive by nature, or it’s simply early and they expect things to shake out over the course … [Read more…]
I just recently finished the newest book by my man Coach Alexander: https://www.amazon.com/Hybrids-Making-Defense-Cody-Alexander/dp/1790429722 It’s a phenomenal read both for coaches of the game and also fans and writers that want a deeper and more comprehensive look at how defensive tactics have evolved to the point we’ve reached today. Coach A has a few main points … [Read more…]
Matt Rhule has been fairly obvious about his process for the Bears. From the beginning he was making moves that indicated a preference for rebuilding the program and roster from the ground up. They didn’t force a 22 personnel offense on the spread roster or choose schemes that were a needlessly bad fit for their … [Read more…]
There’s been an amusing trend in Gary Patterson’s public appearances recently, both at his signing day presser and then at a coach’s convention, where he’s noted that TCU’s reputation is better out of state than within the state of Texas. Because of his garrulous and self-referential nature he can be fascinating to listen to as … [Read more…]
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…]
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…]