We have our championship game contenders locked in now with Baylor vs Oklahoma now preparing to reprise their fascinating battle from the other week. Interestingly, both teams leaned very heavily on the QB run game to make round one a close battle and both teams continued to lean on that dimension of their offense to … [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…]
Week 10 was destined to be one of little consequence for this season in the Big 12 unless disaster befell some team or another. I guess there were some disastrous events for the TCU Horned Frogs, but they weren’t a team of much consequence for this season save for as a potential spoiler, a role … [Read more…]
I may have to take back some of my comments about Les Miles’ errors in pulling the scholarship from Jax “the destroyer” Dineen. There’s two arguments in favor of Miles’ decision that have made it an apparently justifiable move. The first is that by accepting the transfer of his own son, Ben Miles, as a … [Read more…]
Gary Patterson is a nut when it comes to scouting opponents, I’ve heard from multiple offensive coaches at B12 media days that game planning for Gary Patterson’s defense is one of the toughest challenges in the league. Naturally, his defense is designed to be flexible within the constraints of playing four-down, base personnel. Here’s the … [Read more…]
One very small subplot to this offseason has been the degree of change that’s coming to TCU’s offensive strategy in 2019. Gary Patterson had a presser in the spring in which he noted that they were “changing some things in their passing game” and that new WR coach Malcolm Kelly had been helpful towards this … [Read more…]
In a series I’m doing at footballstudyhall.com I broke down the chess games between Patterson and the Buckeyes that took place early in 2018. Going in I figured that Dwayne Haskins and the passing game would be too much for the Frogs, and he definitely did some real damage throwing it around but TCU had … [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…]
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…]
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…]