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GoldAppleCorps

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Posts posted by GoldAppleCorps

  1. 57 minutes ago, Rex Kramer said:

    The embellishment call was so fucking bad. A PP opp would’ve given us a 50/50 chance to end the thing in regulation. Ugh. 

    I appreciate the hockey tradition of "letting them play" when it comes to the playoffs. Refs don't want to insert themselves in the game, so a hit that's likely boarding gets overlooked if the player gets up. A straightforward cross check or slash can pass.

    When the pace of the game gets changed (like the Vegas guy that broke his stick across Heiskanen's back) or the puck carrier is knocked down, then a call has to be made (I'd be curious to know if Robertson's high stick contact would have been called if he hadn't hit the ice. Clearly a blatant high-stick, but it created a 5 on 3).

    In this case, the ref had to make a call. It was a deserved call, and one so blatant that it should have legitimately put the Stars on the PP with 4 minutes left. However, he didn't have the stomach for it, so he evened up the on-ice power with an embellishment call that no one believes.

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  2. To be fair, Makar is a defender (at least positionally - I think he's a winger who chose to specialize on defense) so he's going to be on ice a lot more. He just fires slappers from the blueline with such alacrity that he looks like a forward.

    Whomever survives this series is going to see too much of Conor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl (no, I'm not giving Vancouver a chance). If you have them on your team, you roll that line as often as possible. If MacKinnon is on your club, he's on the ice whenever he can be.

    If I'm Dallas, I'm reviewing tape to see if there's any way to slow down the Avs PP. Positionally, they just made scoring too easy. Being afraid to take penalties will neuter the Stars game.

  3. Colorado is a one-line team. It just so happens that it's an All-Star line that can more than carry the load. Stars have to bog the game down by any means necessary when that line is on ice.

    The phrase "pass the puck into the net" keeps coming up. We're not playing a series changing goaltender (although he kept the heart beating during opening OT). Dallas should spend some time watching Modano breakaway tapes. When you're the first man in, load up when you're 15 feet away from the net and unleash your best blast. We're giving up too much on triple-dekes and sneaky drops to no one. Put pucks on net at every opportunity.

    Playing 5 D men (and even that's being kind) and no Marchment is rough. Colorado is a team that's built to score, and on some level, getting 3 in the first made it tough to stay mentally checked in. Win the next one, and be ready to steal the 2nd away game using more depth on the back-to-back.

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  4. Much has been said over Vegas' use of LTIR to augment their team. With the way that the Western Conference was so close among the top teams, those additions "just in time" for the playoffs legitimately changed the weight of the Golden Knights. The Knights team that played Dallas wasn't the #8 team in the West. They were legit Cup contenders.

    Even so, what kept them in the series against Dallas was unholy goalkeeping. With the Knights playing a tight defense first with big bodies, Dallas still screamed in on them with multiple odd man rushes - only to see those opportunities snuffed by a miracle save. With even a reasonable save percent, the Stars win comfortably if not easily. In short, Dallas just fought through a team that could have easily repeated.

    If Dallas goes through a brutal series against Colorado and emerges bloodied but victorious in 7, then we can talk about fatigue. As it stands, it's more likely Dallas still has the aggression dialed up at home against a talented team that didn't have to work too hard in the 1st round. I'm not predicting anything easy. The Avs are a much different team than Vegas. They have lots of "WTF" skill players that have given the Stars fits in the past. Like the Oilers, they have so many individually brilliant players that it looks like a brilliant system. Obviously, we need "good Otter" to stay around (I'm confident he's here). Both teams can score. I just haven't seen any history of the Avs netminders being able to rescue their team. It's trite, but I see that difference in goaltending winning the series for the Stars.

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  5. 10 minutes ago, PsychMike said:

    Carl Reed Jr.'s dad was once Man of the Year at Shermer High.

    image.png.13ea0455aff9a66da202c19483071d44.png

    He then pursued a career in the Custodial Arts and landed a strategic position at his alma mater in order to become "the eyes and ears of this institution." I think we can trust him.

    image.png.e9604e67d157ee64ff0421beb52d7c09.png

    Yeah, but he sometimes masquerades as "Rudy the Oily Bohunk", so tread lightly:

    kapelos+sixteen.bmp

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  6. On 12/18/2023 at 7:57 PM, bschoolprof said:

    I can't stand her dreadful transatlantic accent tho.  It doesn't fit the show in any way.  I can't believe the director signed off on that.  

    I was hoping this was going to end up a plot point. It sounds like she's trying to effect the "New England Old Money" style accent (think Katherine Hepburn in "Philadelphia Story"). This was basically a form of the English "Received Pronunciation" that posh Brits would be taught in their exclusive educational institutions. Wealthy New Englanders adopted it to ape the landed gentry.

    JJL is doing such a terrible job of it that I'm suspecting it must be on purpose.

    Spoiler

    "You're in the one house in this state that I know my grand-daughter ain't at!"

     

  7. Before you're old and wise, you have to be young and stupid (old and stupid is still a possibility)

    We're getting Sark in the 3rd act. The young hero already got identified as the future savior, got smacked down trying to claim his birthright, went on a self-destructive path to find himself, and got rebuilt humbling himself at the feet of a short, soft-spoken guru.

    He's at the point where it's time to win the kumite.

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  8. Quinn suffered when he'd anticipate the pass rush, not set his feet, and throw a high school pass. I've not seen him run, but I don't see where Maalik would overly concern himself with a pass rusher.

    After practice, the receivers need to stay late and turn the JUGS machine up to 11. Failing that, find an M40 recoilless rifle and practice with that.

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  9. 10 minutes ago, redswingline said:

    I spend a lot of time looking at our opponents and data (among other matchups) because I like to throw a few bucks here and there at games.

    When the line started it was at -8. That was free money but man that # jumped quick. 

    You didn't say it outright, but you described it. They run the wide zone. It's all about  OL movement and cutbacks by the RB's. They absolutely don't have a basher anymore, so that means their offense stalls often. Lots of stops at the LOS for an opposing defense. They cannot throw over the top because they don't have a WR that can run by people. I think their starter is hurt and that means even less throwing ability.  As far as aranda  - they are tied into a massive contract and kicking the shit out of them isn't going to change his employment status - but it will still be fun to do it.

    I missed -8 and laid off -15 for a number of reasons. Everything points to a +20 pt win and them scoring 10 or less.

    Really, your uncertainty here is only how much you believe in Texas' ability to execute fundamentals. The Texas team that lined up against Bama and executed can name its score against Baylor. A Texas team that defensively guesses at gaps, comes off assignments to chase RBs, offensively throws off back feet and clangs easy passes off receivers con manos de piedra will find themselves on SportsCenter as giddy students carry away the goalposts.

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  10. 1 hour ago, closetojumping said:

    So you don't like Franklin or Hall on the DL? I think they're still decent, but they don't have a lot of help. 

    Some of my friends that cover the sport have been saying since Rhule left that Aranda was instilling a soft culture versus what Rhule had going on there. Aranda won the conference in Year 2 with mostly Rhule's guys, but since then, this looks like a program that is actively seeking its historic norms of being a below average shitheel.

    Sarkisian has to know that this is the Baylor Super Bowl, and so should his team. They're going to come out amped up and aggressive. I'm hoping, instead of a boneheaded 3 and out, Texas runs the ball early with authority and takes the adrenaline on the Baylor end out of the equation.

     

    They'll be in the right place doing the right things. They're just not big enough to make a difference. The Texas OL could just simply blow them out of the hole every play.

    This isn't the Baylor teams some of us remember from the 2000s where they ran around like practice wasn't even a thing. They believe in their coaching. They'll head to the right spot and do the right thing. They're just slow and weak at every position. They lose every position battle.

    Baylor's only chance is Texas mistakes. If Texas tries an intricate game plan full of reverse passes and such, the odds of mistake go up. If Texas challenges Baylor to a game of physical football, there's not much Baylor can do about it.

  11. 14 minutes ago, torre said:

    Nice summary.

    Comments about Utah ?   Baylor had a 13-6 lead and gave up 2 TD's in the 4th Q, winner in final minutes (20-13).    Utah without starting QB but beat Florida with backup.

     

    Utah is the #12 team with Cam Rising. Without him, they're barely average. The backup QB they used against Baylor was pitifully slow. Any player with even moderate D-1 speed would have flipped the field several times.

    Baylor got the ball back after giving up the tying TD with around 3 minutes left. They were deep in their own end. I forget the exact sequence, but the Bears faced 3rd and 12 with like 50 seconds left on the clock.

    During the play, the QB (Robertson) was pressured. He threw blindly across his body into the center of the field for an easy INT. Had he simply eaten the sack, Baylor could have punted and defended a field with no time left. OT was a virtual certainty. Instead, Utah ran several dive plays (already in FG range) to kill the clock. They ended up scoring when a Baylor player deliberately threw the RB into the endzone. A fairly astute move.

    On the ensuing possession, Utah let a single receiver run behind them (yes, they were in umbrella coverage - it was comical) catch a deep bomb to give Baylor a final shot at a TD pass from the 12 yard line. The fade was on target and likely should have been flagged for DPI. It wasn't.

    The game was a mistake filled slog with 2 teams trying to kill off the clock. If Texas false starts, holds, and plays with concrete handed receivers trying to execute a technical work of art, Baylor can drain the clock and make it interesting. If Texas plays high school football concepts with their size, strength, speed, and skill advantages, Baylor will be done by the middle of the 2nd quarter.

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  12. Texas cannot be "back" after one game. Texas is "back" when we're all bitching about only winning 10 games a season and being #5 at the end of the regular season.

    Re: Alabama and Saban's dotage

    Kyle Flood works for us now. His big boys kept parted the Tide and kept them off Quinn. If holding hadn't been allowed, Saban wouldn't be discussing Milroe's growth. He'd be discussing his recovery.

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  13. I think Kyle Flood is one of, if not the, best in the business. Him following Sark to Texas was huge.

    Other schools have to scheme. They have to react to the defense, block to their strengths, and paper over the deficiencies. Schools like Texas should get to pick the large, strong beasts, train them in proper footwork and hand placement, and dictate in a violent manner how the play will be run.

    Nobody replaces a generational talent like Bijan Robinson. However, two seasons training with Flood, and executing as a group, will let whomever gets the honor of playing behind them experience contact past the LOS instead of dodging behind it.

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  14. Kyle Flood received an amazing amount of freshman talent last year. Even when freshmen are that talented, it's usually inadvisable to have them play right away. It's usually a sign of pure desperation, and the results are usually poor. Kelvin Banks not only started on the OL, he did so at LT. Over the course of a season, you can count his mistakes almost on one hand. This just doesn't happen.

    All that to say that the rest of the OL class could easily be ready for their own moments next year. Between classes and game plan installs, it's just usually not possible for the OL coach to diagnose and fix mechanical mistakes. That's done in spring and fall camps. Some heralded names that we cooed over last December could easily get called again this September.

    I want those OLines where you go for it on 4th and 1 and just trust that they'll shove the defense back 2 yards. It's an optimistic goal for next season, but we're closer than we've been in a decade or more.

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  15. Baylor doesn't get emotional. Their offense does what it does regardless of the opponent.

    What it does is run stretch zone. The OL goes toward the wide side and tries to get the DL to follow. The RB takes the pitch and tries to find a cutback gap before he reaches the boundary.

    That's the base. Out of that, the want to misdirect. They want to fake wide and toss to the weak side. The QB will pull the mesh and waggle to the opposite side. They'll try "first man through" plays. Passing is based off getting the defense to attack the run and leave the opposite side throw wide open. They use a large, physical TE Sims as a possession receiver to great effect. They lack talent to beat a defense "straight up" in the passing game, but can secure chunk plays when the secondary bites on a misdirection. They like to be plodding, eat clock, and gain first downs. Texas fans will appreciate the strategy from "earlier years" of methodically gaining ground through pounding the run, only to inexplicably do some complicated triple reverse throwback naked blind QB screen shit that fails spectacularly and turns 2nd and 6 at the opponent's 17 to 3rd and 25 at the 36.

    Their defense is a violent DT, Apu Ika, and a bunch of guys doing their best. If Ika is allowed to cause havoc by disrupting line play, those guys can flow to the ball. If he's not occupying the offensive backfield, then Baylor's defensive athletes will come up 2nd best in every match up. Texas could simply use Sanders, Whitt, and Robinson to more than deplete Baylor's defensive abilities. Obviously, if the OL has a repeat of the TCU brain cramp, then there's no hope. I'm basing assessments on an aggregate of the season and not that one badly timed crapstorm.

    Baylor's offense will have some success. They have hard working players that understand the scheme. If the Texas defense stays disciplined and doesn't start trying to play 3 positions at once, they'll be better than Baylor. Similarly, Baylor's defense will come to stop Bijan. They probably won't be able to do that outright, but Quinn can make the offense's job easy by seeing his elementary reads.

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  16. 1 hour ago, Droopy said:

    I told the entire room I was in, on Saturday, that they are going to try an onside kick at some point and the first line has to stay FUCKING FACED FORWARD. As a former kicker, i was dissapoint.

    Thank you! This is page 5 in the play manual for "plucky upstart upsets Big Name".

    Score. Onside kick at a weird time. Run a trick play immediately after recovery.

    To be fair, their trick play didn't work as a trick play. The intended receiver was triple covered. Should have been a lazy interception. However, the DB's hips betrayed him, he did a sort of "hokey pokey" thing, and the pass was caught.

  17. Ordinarily, starting true freshmen on the OL is a sign of desperation and usually ends poorly.

    These aren't normal freshmen, and Kyle Flood had all summer to demonstrate his way. For such a large, violent position, success depends on hand placement, keeping your feet in contact with the earth as much as possible, and keeping your mass over your base. The only way to do these things in a game is to practice them until they become habits. There just isn't enough time during the week in season to correct bad fundamentals.

    Offensive lines don't earn praise for practice. They earn it when they go against an angry defensive unit that doesn't care if Quinn Ewers gets hurt.

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