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…]
Almost everyone runs the spread now. Using multiple receivers, spacing, and the forward pass as the key components to your offensive strategy is pretty well accepted now as a best practice. The hurry-up, no-huddle (HUNH) is also close to being accepted as a best practice. Obviously Kansas State is out here running A-gap power from … [Read more…]
That’s the name I came up with when describing an approach to anti-spread defense that focuses on doubling an opponent’s star players while leaving the rest of the offense at advantage. You can read about it at Football Study Hall, I use Oklahoma’s win over Texas in the Big 12 title game and K-State’s “blueprint” … [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…]
Yes, I’m going to volunteer for this annual beating once more and break down every recruiting class in the Big 12. I started with the Texas class, which you can read about over at Inside Texas, next I move through the Big 12 going from north to south. This is Matt Campbell’s highest rated class … [Read more…]
I didn’t really expect the Super Bowl to be a high scoring game. What I saw of the Rams against the Cowboys and in glowing columns written here and there about Sean McVay’s genius suggested to me that he’d simply built a thorough, modern, and well executed version of the old Mike Shanahan offense. I … [Read more…]
Over at Football Study Hall I have a new piece up diving further into the Patriots’ strategy for defending Kansas City and where I think defense is heading in the coming years. Having guys on defense that can allow you to matchup in the passing game is essential. Vic Koenning actually spoke to that in … [Read more…]
There’s an argument to be made that Pat Mahomes was the most talented QB in Big 12 history. Not necessarily the best and certainly not the most accomplished, but probably the most talented and certainly in terms of pure throwing ability. The Kansas City Chiefs embraced his abilities and the direction of football this season, … [Read more…]
The 2017 Kansas State vs Oklahoma game was a really impressive contest between what I’m now delineating as a “spread-option” team and a “spread-Iso” team. I may have to further adjust those terms but the idea is that OU will create multiple stress points with their scheme and then “send it where you ain’t.” K-State … [Read more…]