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GoldAppleCorps

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  1. Don't rush an ms paint man. Rush an ms paint man, ya get rotten ms paint.
  2. It's hard to hurry KSU's QB because they're a Big 12 anomaly that doesn't pass as much. KSU lives off developing underappreciated talent into a precise power team. They don't hold or false start. They try to win by smashing out 3 yards per play on the ground, wasting time, and letting the opponent screw up. It's more effective than you'd think, and it lets a smaller school frustrate the more pedigreed league colleagues. Since most of their offense is basically student body right or left, it's tough to flush their QB. Against Maryland, the Texas defense was missing a ton of its backline. These are the players that are supposed to flow in and out of gaps to make the defense an unpredictable dynamic entity. Maryland ran a ton of jet sweeps and tosses that flatly confused the replacements. When the defense dialed up pressure, Maryland ran right by it. Truly not their finest moment. Lots of Big 12 teams avoid pass rush pressure by speeding up the play. With so many receivers in the pattern, the QB simply decides where he's going pre-snap. Since he's in the shotgun, there's no need to drop back. If the play is a slant or back-shoulder fade, he takes the snap and rips off a pass. Against an identified mismatch, this can be practically impossible to defend. I've maintained throughout these posts that the Big 12 posts gaudy scores and stats because the league prioritizes players that use the entire length and width of the field to implement offensive strategies that leave defenses unable to cover everyone within the boundaries of the rules of football. The SEC is primarily an NFL style league emphasizing physical strength against physical strength, running the ball to set up opportunistic passing plays in a style that controls the field and the clock. Usually, out of conference games pit overmatched also-rans against top of the table contenders where nothing real is explored. Georgia certainly is a contender and belongs in the CFP tier. Texas didn't earn that distinction, but hopefully could be thought of as a representative contender. I'm eager to see these style against each other!
  3. Really, in the Big 12, the physical attributes are only a small part of the equation. Every Big 12 defense comes to stop the pass. Great WRs recognize the defense they're seeing, and understand their role in putting those defenses in conflict. A deep post where the CB has safety help over the top is not open. Therefore, it's the secondary receiver's job to angle his route such that the safety must decide to sprint to the middle and cover the in, run to the boundary and help with the fly, or stay home to bracket the post. Of course, the QB makes it all work. His eyes will make that secondary help defender hesitate or lean the wrong way. After finding the receiver drawing 1 on 1 coverage, it's a simple (!) matter of tossing a perfectly placed ball either in front of the receiver so that it drops over his shoulder into his basket or to his back shoulder. Either way, the defender is going to be on the wrong side of the receiver by design. Big 12 defenses try to stop this silliness with a pass rush. If you give a Big 12 team time to develop a route, someone will get open. Now, Georgia has an OL to be envied. Texas would obviously counter this by using numbers - that is, sending more defenders than the OL can block from unexpected and non-obvious gaps. This makes me wonder about Georgia's dynamic play calling. Does Georgia come to the line ready to either run or pass? In the Big 12, we like to count defenders in the box and switch to run or pass depending on the math. I'm expecting Texas to almost always have a ton of defenders in the box, then have some, none, or all of those defenders rearrange themselves at the snap. This will be an attempt to prevent UGA from running ISO's and stretches for 5 yards a clip. Todd Orlando has a lot of tweener players on his roster, and I'm sure he's coming up with new and interesting ways to deploy them. Any QB trying to freelance after the snap will probably need to chase down an INT.
  4. So we'd be fools to play one on one. Let's not do that. If the Texas defense has anything, it's the ability to bring a lot of really fast players from oddball angles and gaps. We're not going to get one DL to outright beat his man in front, so we'll need to bring two or three. After shifting around the 4i-0-4i set, just have everyone else feint at gaps, jump around, and generally be moving before the snap. When the ball is snapped, make the OL figure out who's blocking whom. Let the QB figure out what the coverage is, and even which players are doing the covering. The object is to have one OL blocking air, two blocking the same guy, and two defenders running free in the backfield. With 5OL plus a TE, that's six chances per play for someone to miss an assignment. In reality, Georgia's offense is going to score. The object should be to make it take a while, run plays, and hope that the rust from the layoff coughs up holding penalties, the aforementioned missed blocking assignments, or other mistakes to put UGa behind the chains. I'm thinking this game should look like our historical tilts with the Cornhuskers of yore. Score on offense, take advantages of luck on defense, and try to make the Bulldogs play from behind.
  5. You know those conditioning drills where the entire unit had to run again if one member pulled up at 98 yards on a 100 yard sprint? This is where we find out why. Conditioning is largely psychological. You're eager and spirited in the 1st quarter rushing the passer and chasing the swing passes. In the 4th quarter, when Texas is running its 85th play of the game, it feels like you're doing it with iron boots on. Mentally, there's a bear on your shoulders. You've been conditioned not to quit, but no one would blame you for being exhausted, right? That's when the Texas coaches remind their players about August. They paid their dues then. They can remove fatigue from their head because they know they did the work. Fatigue is not an excuse. They may get out talented, but they won't get out worked.
  6. So you're saying that what we do well on offense is exactly what UGa doesn't do well on defense? Coaches like running inside because is does everything you want to do in a football game. It reduces opportunity for turnover, is simple, and allows you to control the clock. However, here in Big 12 land, we know there's no sense in controlling the clock until there's less than 5 minutes left in the game. Over 5 minutes, there's still plenty of time for 3 changes of possession and 2 TDs! Of course, now we're talking about execution. Those pop passes where Sam overthrows Beck wide open in the middle after a fake, or those flare screens where the WR either misses the football, or his buddy misses a block, are just wasted downs. I continue my excitement about testing the relative differences in conference styles represented in this game!
  7. Playing in the Big 12, you rapidly get used to the idea that "1 on 1 is open" - especially when your WR is a power forward like LJH. The ability for Big 12 QBs to consistently drop balls in stride over the top of a receiver or place it exactly on a back shoulder at the boundary (and the receiver's training to expect it there and run that route) means a defensive secondary has to provide either help or the threat of help everywhere on the field. It's setups like this that make for a good bowl game. We'd contend that Big 12 defenses look poor compared to the SEC due to the otherworldly abilities of the QBs and WRs that the State of Texas' football programs turn out. They would claim that their offenses are equally talented, but the legendary SECSECSEC speed of their defenses negates those weapons. Usually, a top tiered Big 12 offense would only play an also-ran SEC team during non-con, if at all. We just never get to test this in a live fire exercise. Texas isn't the top Big 12 offense. There's zero reason, though, for them to run head first into a brick wall defense begging them to play within 3 yards of the LOS. Trying to allocate resources against Johnson, LJH, Duvernay, Beck, and Watson is tough for any defense. Your write up reminds me of our game against Baylor. I've seen Baylor play more than just about anyone else here. With pressure in his face, the QB panics and runs. When a defense does the "rush 3 drop 8", you're just allowing the receivers to run until they find an opening.
  8. This is what bowl season should be about. You build a college football team to win your conference. In the early Big 12 days, you weren't winning the conference unless you beat Nebraska's Big Red Machine. Stopping that option meant heavy DL and massive LB. 5-2, 4-3, and 4-4 were normal defensive formations. Then Leach and OU unleashed this crazy, run the small guys everywhere terror. It left those hulking LBs helpless. Obviously, we know that today's Big 12 requires lots of DBs and preferably hybrid players that can spin down from safety to LB, then LB to DE. Georgia is built for that Bama offense. Now, Alabama does many things at an A+ level, but they'd prefer to run the ball. Smart is, well, smart and knows defenses have to stop the run first. He recruits his defense with the bodies to do that. I guarantee you he's not happy thinking about Johnson, Humphrey, Duvernay, and Watson on the field at one time. Controlling the A gaps is impressive, but useless when there's a 6' 6" receiver running the seam. Being a 300Lb DL is a great run stopper, but they tend to wither when asked to pass rush 50+ times. Coming out of your stance, slogging into an OL, pushing around, then getting near the QB one second too late, then turning around, digging in, and doing it again is vomit inducing. They're just not used to playing the game 20 yards at a time. Georgia is a dominating team rightly ranked in the Top 5. Texas is rightly the underdog, and will need to show its toughness to have a chance. However, a good bowl game should highlight the differences between conference styles. Texas/UGA should be a perfect example of that.
  9. Georgia plays more "honest" (meaning they're not going to try a bunch of misdirection or "spread the field" stuff) offense than just about anyone we play. They like to simply win their battles at the LOS and proceed NFL style down the field. This is actually going to be a very interesting aspect. Texas built its defense to counter the Big 12 "defend every inch" offenses where a ton of speedy receivers run everywhere and the QBs drop footballs right over their shoulder. As such, the Texas defense tries to keep the offense guessing about their structure and pressure until the snap. Rather than size, each OL member then has to decide which of the 3 players lined up near him is his responsibility. The idea is to cause gap and assignment problems. The SEC doesn't use this defensive concept very often. It will be interesting (and a critical part of the game) to see how Georgia's OL handles the different style.
  10. Herman wasn't talking with Beaty, at least substantially, about OU's scheme or how to beat OU. Herman was primarily interested in finding out, when Beaty was scouting Texas in preparation for the game, did he find any "tells" or tip offs that helped his defense anticipate a Texas offense play - or vice versa. Things like how an OL sets his feet, whether a RB is aligned (!) with a foot back or flat, etc, can tip a defense as to what play is calling. If an OC is doing his job right, he has several plays that look like the same pre-snap alignment. For a given down and distance, the OC should be able to run several variations from the same set. An even bigger bonus is if the passing trees (how the receivers start out after the snap) share the same "stem". By running several similar plays earlier in the game, the object is to have the defensive back thinking "Hah! I got this!", try to jump the route, then run by him for an easy TD. Because of this, defenders look to get an edge by noticing small things like foot sets (does the tackle have his back foot dropped deeper in pass protection?) and other alignments. Herman has people that can tell him everything that OU has put on tape. Only an opposing coach could tell him about his tendencies or predictability because, if he knew, he wouldn't do it.
  11. This is one of those awesome things where like 10 people heard the original statement and maybe 2 of them cared. Now, thanks to the Big 12 front office, it made ESPN and gets national attention. Like being in Jr. Hi, getting called "booger eater" by a bully in the halls. An assistant principal overhears it, starts yelling "Calling this nice man 'booger eater' is demeaning! No one wants to be called 'booger eater'. 'Booger eater' is an awful thing to say, very hurtful, and can't believe you called this kid, standing right here in front of me, wearing a red shirt and jeans I'd say about 5'2" sandy blond hair, a name like 'booger eater'! I demand you apologize right now for calling him 'booger eater'!" Now, everyone around the world is seeing Hager, in all of his Willie/Wooderson awesomness, reminding us of our duty to constantly comment on OU sucking! You can't buy this type of branding!
  12. I don't need speed on the edge so much as I need discipline. Obviously, faster is better, but too often this season all semblance of defensive integrity got lost when a DE or LB decided to crash down on the ball fake rather than contain. We have a stupid amount of speed in the defensive backfield. Just keep the ball carrier foxed at the LOS. If he's running towards the sideline, a safety or DB (or heck, even a DT that recovered) will be along directly to finish the tackle. Know your role. Play your role.
  13. Ok, there's full on defensive mental errors, like whomever's playing DE/LB responsible for outside contain continually crashing inside on a fake HB dive while allowing the runner to escape around him. Bro, I get it. You want to make the TFL, but there's tons of guys in there! You're the only one we have outside. Stay home until you're REALLY SURE it isn't a fake. On the other side, you've got the error of doubt. Orlando's defense has to be played full speed. It has moving pieces that have to reliably show up. When the starters are injured or out, the backups are trying to think their way through it. They're checking around them to make sure they're doing the right thing (they almost always are), but by that time, it's too late. The time to play your assignment is gone. What should have been you and your buddies boxing a RB out of bounds turns into him juking you in open space. When that happens, the defenders start doubting themselves. They play slower and think more, and the problem gets worse. We all know the players put themselves in peak physical condition during the summer. Getting mentally tough, though, is something that only experience will provide. Except for Caden Sterns. He needs to pause for a beat. About 5 times now, I've seen him beat the RB on a blitz to the mesh point - only to flash right by and miss everyone! Next time, he needs to stop once he's come clean through a gap. Just tell the QB, "Go ahead. I'll wait".
  14. 76712 - offa Hwy 84 TeXaS!!!
  15. While packing up the desk to split: FIGHT!!!
  16. Obviously, a game plan is just that - a plan for the game. The Texas coaches looked at the Baylor defense and started planning on how RB runs would draw up safeties. Those safeties could then be exploited by combo routes. When the LBs re-deployed, that could be targeted with zone reads and RPOs. The important point is that one play set up the defense to be victimized by the next series. We've discussed the relative skill sets of Sam and Shane. When Sam exited so quickly, the staff just sort of lopped off part of the playbook. They were confident that Baylor was a leaky defense, and just trusted to overall skill. In the 2nd quarter, Texas jumped out to a wide lead. When they came back for the 2nd half, the offensive staff chose to ride the defense. If I have one criticism of the Texas OC, it's the tendency (with the head coach's assent) to minimize risk too early. They did not rebuild the playbook for Shane at halftime, but rather operated under the same limits as in the 1st half. Clearly, they also wanted to minimize the risk of injury to Shane - having the lead and no experienced backup. Once again, the tendency to minimize risk led to an opponent throwing into the endzone for the win at the end. The Texas coaches are still learning their craft on the big stage, and must guard against this tendency. This week, if the coaches know Sam may not go (they may be fully confident right now that he's 100% OK - no one really knows), then they have a book ready for Shane to run the entire game. This book uses his skill set (more precise passing and less, but not no, running) to set up plays to exploit oSu's defensive tendencies and adjustments. For instance, the Cowboys love to blitz similar to Orlando's defense. Running screens, motioning TEs to tip off coverages and re-balance protections will play to Shane's strengths and punish that level of aggression. If they abandon pressure, see how they handle "trips right" route combinations. Our offense has a diverse skill set. With two weeks to answer the "what if Sam can't go" question, I'm confident they'll have the answers.
  17. Bob Stoops believed star power would overcome medical fact. He sent Adrian Peterson out against Texas when Peterson was struggling to jog in a straight line. He only had a "sore ankle". Sam could have had full on damage to his shoulder and Stoops would have delighted in telling everyone it was just "sore". Now, there's no such thing as a "typical" injury when it involves a complex joint like the shoulder or ankle. The physics and unpredictability of college football mean that any tackle, run, or jostle could cause weight to land on the affected bone or joint. However, Sam didn't pull himself out of the game. He was still throwing when the officials made him exit due to blood. I'm sure the starting QB at the University of Texas got every CT, MRI, ADB (I made that last one up) available. They won't risk long term damage. If Sam is pain tolerant, even with injections, he's your man. We play every game to win, at all times, with the best option we have.
  18. In all seriousness, there's a variety of maladies and misfortunes that can bite a football team during a bye week - especially one with a starting QB who "should be throwing balls by the end of the week". The Evil and Capricious Football Gods are not to be mocked. Do your part to keep them looking in a different direction.
  19. Every team is getting delay penalties these days. They're taking the edict to "immediately wind the clock" seriously. When you get an INT or a fumble, they're not waiting for the celebration to stop. They're winding the play clock. Same with punts and kickoffs. Take away lesson: Be ready with your unit for sudden changes (or obvious ones).
  20. From a desk on the edge of Waco: FIGHT!!!
  21. Hurd will play Wildcat or RB sometimes. He's their "power runner" when they need one. No mistake, he's a big strong guy. If he and Charlie Brewer are run threats at the same time, the defense has to rally to whomever has the ball quickly. Fortunately, it's not too hard to figure out. Just clinical gap assignment, as Baylor just doesn't possess enough heavy bodies for an effective lead blocker.
  22. Let's not start putting in the 2nd teamers yet. This isn't the 2005 Bears, and we're not 2005 Texas. Baylor's poor rushing defense gets its numbers because of single points of failure. Meaning, on a given play, the DL will slant and one guy doesn't get the message. There's a big backside hole (insert your mom joke here), and the RB goes for whatever's left of the field. It isn't like they just get drove play after play. Ditto pass defense. Four guys play man, one plays zone, and the X receiver is running all by himself. I'm not concerned about the Texas offense against Baylor's defense. I'm confident that, even if Baylor tightens up their mental game, Texas still has the athletes to score. Baylor does have horses on offense. They have to score on the big play because they lack the strength to power rush inside the 20. However, they execute that impossible to defend back shoulder fade that, when run perfectly, can't be stopped once the ball is in the air. The Texas defense has so many movable pieces that they create confusion interchanging with each other. If each man does his job, it should mentally overwhelm Baylor's OL, leading to QB pressure and, with enough frustration, easy turnovers. Texas should be rightly considered the overwhelming favorite, but we're still going to have to execute. Baylor would really like to leave Austin laughing about Texas being back.
  23. Do you remember how Texas fans were so incensed the last 2 years when our offense had all these awesome weapons, talent at WR, QB, and RB, and still couldn't put two 1st downs together? It's because, fundamentally, you have to threaten a power run - otherwise the defense just tees off on your lanes and makes throwing even a quick slant impossible (dropping LBs and DBs just love to run those things back for easy TDs). Baylor is exactly that. Even down to the screaming about how bad their OC is. If this were a 7 on 7, Baylor would own. Their receivers a quick, wily, and talented. If Charlie Brewer gets time, he's going to find an open man. That open man will be tough to tackle. Baylor gets huge chunks of yards on long rainbow passes that land at the boundary over the backside shoulder. The problem is, the Texas defense cannot by typically read pre-snap. They jump, shift, fake pressure, drop, and roll coverages to an insane degree. As such, Texas fans are likely to see the very familiar attempts to swing passes to RBs, pitches to WRs, etc in order to slow the rush or avoid pressure. I don't see it working well. There is simply no cure for an OL that can't block an inside run.
  24. I'm hoping that, if your intent is to hold blatantly, you could at least do it while shoving your defender backwards. That should keep you out of the end zone. There's gotta be a flaw in my logic, otherwise Mike Leach would have tried it already.
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