Ian Boyd: Coach, last year with the new defensive coordinator, you brought a lot of pressure, finished 10th nationally in sacks, but gave up 32 and a half points per game. Will the approach on defense change this year in year two to something more conservative or will you guys run it back and look … [Read more…]
I’m actually on the wrong side of the Mississippi these days to utilize this expression. It’s an old expression meant to describe unique features of the frontier in contrast to the more densely packed populations and civilization on the east side of the country. Nowadays the east side of the Mississippi has 58% of the … [Read more…]
Over at Inside Texas I have a piece up I’ve been putting together since Big 12 media days with quotes from Tom Herman and Sam Ehlinger that have illuminated the apparent strategy for the Longhorn offense in 2019. In short, the plan is to put a greater emphasis on RPOs this coming season, giving Ehlinger … [Read more…]
Over on Twitter I built a long thread filled with GIFs from Tim Tebow’s 2008 campaign where the Gators won the SEC and national championships. Here’s where it begins: It’s really something to behold the Gator O creating time for Tebow and advantages for their receivers every time they run play-action off their counter schemes … [Read more…]
Texas and Iowa State each share a real problem heading into the 2019 season. Texas’ DC Todd Orlando piggy backed off Iowa State DC Jon Heacock’s inverted Tampa 2 defense back in 2017 and both had tremendous success with it. The Cyclones made it their new base for 2018 and added more to the scheme … [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…]
Week 11 was fun, Oklahoma State came within a missed extra point or converted two point conversion of beating Oklahoma and then Texas Tech raced back from a 34-17 deficit to force a game-winning drive from Texas. The RRS rematch is still in play. Here’s Max Olson’s helpful breakdown of the B12 from here: I … [Read more…]
I got this comment on my post the other day explaining my “ranking” of the Big 12 and what I’m watching for in terms of figuring out who can win the title: Ian, I understand where your loyalties lie but my impression is that you are not a Lincoln Riley believer at this point. Is … [Read more…]
Okay, hang on though… As a Texas guy who’s watched the Longhorns languish the entire decade due to self-made problems while the league’s reputation and leverage across the sport has declined, I’ve got a fairly good view of what exactly the Big 12 is and what it isn’t. It isn’t the SEC, the passion level … [Read more…]
As a close follower of the Texas Longhorns, my starting assumption to the question of whether you can recruit a top defense is “no, you cannot.” Texas has regularly recruited at the highest level in the Big 12 this decade and also put some pretty bad defenses on the field in that time. However, Texas … [Read more…]