Yesterday I decided to turn a series of Twitter arguments into a post about Michigan’s relative talent level. My argument was that Michgian’s overall talent level under Jim Harbaugh has actually been plenty high, but they haven’t been strong enough in the box to win with the run game and their aggressive defensive strategy and … [Read more…]
That’s a hot topic of conversation these days, especially in light of Bill Connelly recently identifying the run defense and small size of the Oklahoma defensive line as a primary concern for 2020. From Connelly: If … the run defense finds some oomph. After crumbling to 84th in defensive SP+ in 2018, OU’s defense rebounded to … [Read more…]
Not the state, who’s approach to the COVID pandemic under Gov. DeSantis was one that had a sizable chunk of citizens and commentators projecting disaster up until recently. I mean the football program coached by Dan Mullen that is returning their quarterback, four starters on the offensive line, and star “space force dreadnought” Kyle Pitts … [Read more…]
The “miracle on ice” was one of the greatest achievements in American sports history. If you’re unfamiliar with the event, an American amateur hockey team of mostly college upperclassmen and recent graduates won the gold medal in ice hockey at the 1980 Winter Olympics in New York. The Soviet hockey team they defeated at Lake … [Read more…]
If you’ve read this blog regularly, you’ll notice that I have an uneven relationship with the service rankings of players and teams. In one post I’ll come strongly against the idea that the class rankings are predictive or should be taken particularly seriously, in the next I’ll use 247’s data even to the point of … [Read more…]
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…]
The 2019 season in the Big 12 was really one of the weakest in a while in terms of offensive skill outside the hash marks. Quarterback play was down a little bit, with Jalen Hurts, Sam Ehlinger, and Brock “pump fake” Purdy really highlighting the league’s signal-callers. Wide receiver play took a commensurate dip, which … [Read more…]
The two best defenses in the Big 12 in 2019 shared a common trait. For years Big 12 defenses have been tortured by the conflicts and challenges that spread offenses can create for their linebackers that have to align in space across from a slot. Iowa State and Baylor both played 3-down, broken stack defenses … [Read more…]
Today’s largely accepted wisdom is that you build a National Champion by recruiting the best players in the country, regardless of their location, and assembling your team out of the best of the best. Alabama started to employ that model as the Nick Saban program got going, Ohio State got there as well, and Clemson … [Read more…]