My big offseason question for Oklahoma and thus the Big 12 was how their defense would fare with a retooled DL, iffy and young LB corps, questionable schematic fit in the 3-4 defense, and then iffy run support up the middle from the safeties. I even questioned if they’d be soft on defense, then had … [Read more…]
Happy New Year everyone! Today is the day of the college football playoffs (and some other games) which is always exciting. They sure make the second game end late, but that’s alright, I’ve got enough juice for at least one more late night CFB binge before the offseason. I’ve written four previews of these playoff … [Read more…]
I just got a look at the coach’s selections for the All-B12 team, it was pretty solid. I mean they list like six DL or something silly like that to make sure that everyone who had a standout season is recognized which is reasonable. The main purpose of a list like that is to give … [Read more…]
Undersized DL are becoming a pretty common theme to college football these days. Over at Inside Texas, Scipio Tex recently broke down how much Texas was getting out of their three-man DL fronts in the dime package they’ve ridden to dominance in the second half of this season. In that front Texas regularly relies on … [Read more…]
I’ve been re-watching the Oklahoma vs TCU game this morning and this 3rd and 3 play stood out to me. Something I’ve been trying to explain this season to all of the frustrated Texas fans is how much of the modern game, particularly in the Big 12, is determined on the field by the players. … [Read more…]
They released them the other night I think. Me and the wife have been watching “Stranger Things” recently so we aren’t super up to date on the World Series or this playoff show. The whole goal of these weekly rankings is to amp up the anticipation and talk around the sport and maintain the entertainment … [Read more…]
While I’ve been busy elsewhere this season, I’ve still kept up regularly with the Big 12. Much of the criticism of the conference or explanations for why it’s on shaky ground for the future are all valid and true but that doesn’t mean it can’t be the most entertaining league from year to year. One … [Read more…]
Barry Switzer’s big innovation in college football, besides foregoing discipline in order to keep star players on the field, was using more of a burner at fullback to give the dive runs in his wishbone offense a little more explosiveness. Lincoln Riley stumbled upon something sorta similar when he used Dmitri Flowers on play-action tosses … [Read more…]
My chronicling of the Sooner defense over the offseason was fairly detailed as it seemed to me likely that Lincoln Riley would figure out how to build another top offense around Baker Mayfield and a loaded OL, but the defense was very much in question. The spring game showed a team that was very young … [Read more…]
Texas isn’t back but pre-Briles Baylor is! That’s probably harsh, I’ve been saying all along that Matt Rhule would likely take his lumps in year one while working to achieve the macro-level culture change and roster reconstruction necessary to win “his way.” I did think that they’d handle Liberty without difficulty but looking back it … [Read more…]