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GoldAppleCorps

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Posts posted by GoldAppleCorps

  1. 55 minutes ago, Reese Bennett said:

    Only see little guys in that video. Let's hope the big guys are lifting weights.

    Big guys have their own footwork voodoo. An OL only has power when his feet are touching the ground. He's only stable when his center of mass is over his base (between his feet). A lot of an OL education is concerned with how to move your feet so that you get from here to there while keeping your feet on the ground as much as possible, and while keeping your body centered over those feet whilst this occurs. Chapter 2 is how to do it when other large humans are falling around your knees and ankles.

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  2. I need a pass rusher, plain and simple. All the schemes and player data end up useless if I can't count on one of my edge guys to beat a block and go harass the QB. 

    I mean a Brian Orakpo type. The entire defense knew they only had to hold up a few seconds, because he was gonna get there. 

    This season, offenses could do whatever they liked on 1st and 2nd down, because on 3rd down, the pocket was gonna be clean. Eventually, someone would pop open. A pass rush shouldn't require a blitz, although sadly even our blitzes were almost always picked up and stymied. Out of the entire defensive roster, I need a guy who can be counted on to beat the guy in front of him and get into the backfield.

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  3. At some point, someone has got to come off a block.

    Every other team out there can pressure the QB at least once in a while with 4 defenders. Our guys will get locked up and stay stuck. When we bring a 5th or 6th guy, they get picked up and stay picked up. It's rare that I see a RB run through a busted hole (at least until later in the game on like the 80th play). Usually, there's defenders near him, but they're all tied up.

    It can't always be a blown holding call. Someone has to defeat the block of his opponent. That's "want to". I'm sure the coaches can teach that technique better, so I'm not sticking it all on one place. Eventually, though, there's gotta be pride in the front of the jersey enough to get Bo Davis level angry and throw off the blocker.

    Coaches can train you and give you the technique. You have to bring the ganas.

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  4. That middle stanza gets me. Mr. Davis doesn't recognize a distinction between himself and Texas Football. It wasn't the DL or his defense as a whole. It was the entirety of Texas Football that utterly failed in public. It doesn't matter which player or unit was more responsible than another. The program was embarrassed, and at least for one night, by extension he was humiliated. 

    When practice starts, put it behind you. Leaders lead, and practice is when you fix the problems. Don't let the loss hang. But that night on the bus out, nothing was funny. Anyone associated with the program should hate losing. Losses happen, but they should make you angry and determined to do better.

    This only works once. People born round don't die square. 

  5. You defend Baylor like we used to defend Nebraska. Not the 1996 world beaters, but the 2000's-ish version that still sort of ran the option but really bumbled around with pro set stuff. 

    Baylor wants to run and slow the game down. They'll try to string it out to one side, then the other, then decide to fake you out and run to the side they're not stringing out. Once in a while, they'll play action to pass to a receiver who may have gotten behind a defense that's playing on auto-pilot. A defense that stays with its man will be in position. I'm praying that PK spent the last week talking about the importance of attaching yourself to the ball carrier. Even if you don't tackle him, keeping him stopped while your friends arrive will do wonders.

    Baylor's defense is timed by two LBs that shorten the play. Terrell Bernard typically flies in at the ball Breckyn Hager style. Jalen Pitre acts as a "sweeper" to clean up sideline to sideline. Texas has the firepower to simply sprint by the Bears defense is Casey can get the ball out of his hand. Really, I don't need to discuss our OL. We're a formidable offense with a credible OL. Without it, we're a 3 and punt team.

    There won't be many possessions either way. Baylor can hit some chunk plays when the defense tries to help stop the run and gives up coverage. This keeps them in games, and their record indicates they're there for the win at the end. They're not coming back from a large deficit. Plan A either works or it doesn't. 

    Texas is better than Baylor at every position. However, a solid player with solid fundamentals beats a talented superstar trying to exceed his limitations in this game. I need Texas to be a better version of themselves.

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  6. 35 minutes ago, Homercles said:

    Loving your analysis, thanks. Makes me wonder how the hell my Pokes beat therapists by 10 with 3 turnovers…except via a smart, experienced, disciplined defense.  

    oSu beat Baylor at its own game by fiercely protecting the 1st down marker. Baylor doesn't have the talent to threaten the entire field reliably, so the Cowboy defense defended the 3-7 yards past the LOS with a vengeance. That's where Baylor wants to operate to keep the chains moving and take the air out of the game. 

    oSu has a pass rusher. If you do nothing, Malcolm Rodriguez will be along quickly to dump the QB. Baylor's offense isn't confident enough to punish overcommitment with a home run ball. The couple of times that Baylor broke through the Cowboy front loaded gauntlet resulted in big gains and points.

    If I were scatter-shotting schemes for the Texas defense against Baylor, using Alfred Collins at End to primarily compress the OL, thus preventing them from widening the zone read, would be intriguing. I want to reduce the space in which the Baylor ball carriers work. Basically, treat this like Nebraska. Keep the running game in front of you and make the QB win with his decision making and pass ability.

     

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  7. Baylor is currently respecting the fundamentals of football. They don't have talent at every position. They cannot dominate decent teams. However, their OL is playing within itself, slowing the game down, controlling by design what they can control, and giving themselves a chance to compete in every game. If the opponent obliges with stupid tricks, the final score will be very lopsided. Minimizing mistakes and controlling the clock got Bill Snyder a statue.

    The odds are that Baylor will lose staff to other programs quick enough that an enduring "culture" likely won't take root, but for the game approaching in 2 weeks, Texas will face a team that executes a very simple game plan very well. Texas will put more talent on the field. If that talent likewise executes very well for the entire game, Texas will land a decisive win.

    I'll leave it to the individual reader to determine the chances of executing the game plan with minimal mistakes.

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  8. 15 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

    He's taken a back seat to former LB Abram Smith lately who is the break tackle back.

     

    2021 so far-

    Smith: 105 carries, 785 yards, 7.5 ypc, 10 TD

    Ebner: 77 carries, 496 yards, 6.4 ypc, 0 TD

     

     

    The last 2 weeks...

    BYU-

    Smith: 27 carries, 188 yards, 8 ypc, 3 TD

    Ebner: 11 carries, 95 yards, 8.6 ypc, 0 TD

     

    WVU-

    Smith: 11 carries, 87 yards, 7.9 ypc, 1 TD

    Ebner: 8 carries, 53 yards, 6.6 ypc, 0 TD

    Agreed. I suppose Ebner posts the highlights. Abram Smith is stronger and is the current focus.

     

    Baylor plays defense with their offense. They're not plodding, but football still comes down to running the ball.

    On defense, Baylor relies on the magic provided by two very talented LBs in  Jalen Pitre and Terrel Bernard. Whenever Baylor is making stops and plays, it's almost exclusively because these two were involved.

    The DL is pedestrian at best. They have an LSU transfer DT in Siaka Ika who's decent, but can only stay on the field for 4 or 5 plays. Really, they're there to hold up blockers until Bernard or Pitre can make a play. I'd actually consider what would happen if an offense were to use their own "spy" and just tell a TE to find Bernard and block him no matter what else was happening. I'd be content playing 10 on 10 with Bernard limited.

    The longer a play takes to develop, the more likely it is these two LBs disrupt it. The Baylor secondary is propped up by these limitations because they won't factor on the back end otherwise. The Texas "skill" players can run by them, but only if the LBs are given something else to worry about.

    Texas likely won't get more than 8-10 possessions. Wasting them on speculative play actions just puts more pressure on the Texas defense to grow up. I need the Joshua Moore that catches passes to show up in Waco. More of the Bijan/Roschon/Kelian triad will ask the Baylor defense to find their own great players.

    Wasting possessions will make for a long day of watching the opponent's stretch offense spill 8 yard gains. Be violent and intentional with every snap.

  9. Baylor's offense has one big move. They run outside stretch zone like we used to do in the Victor Ike days. It's a really simple scheme where the OL sort of trots out wide-side and tries to widen out the defensive front until the RB finds a gap and cuts upfield. They have a very disciplined back fast enough to exploit creases in Tristan Ebner. He doesn't break tackles, but likes his open space.

    Other parts are based off that scheme dulling the defense. Instead of trotting wide-side, the QB can hold the ball, wait for the OL to get moving left, then work right with his RB. Conversely, passing occurs when the defense goes on auto-pilot. The primary target is Tyquan Thornton. He is a legit threat and understands how to get behind defenses.

    Bohannen is good enough to throw to an open receiver. He picks his spots. I feel like I've witnessed PK's tendencies to avoid getting burned by the pass by allowing run after run after run to gash the defense - all the while waiting for the surprise pass that never comes. This isn't the game to do that. Bohannen won't be able to break a defense with his passing acumen. Keep the safeties down, play shallow zones, compress the run game, and dare the QB to dazzle.

    Texas knows what it doesn't do well on defense. There's two weeks for the coaching staff to prepare for a predictable opponent that wants to go right at Texas' problem areas of assignment football and tackling. We'll need to improve as a program and not just scheme away from deficiencies. We're better than Baylor at every position, but aren't playing like it.

    This isn't a "we should win" game. If the same Texas team returns after two weeks, we're seeing about a 34-28 loss. If the first Texas defender starts arresting the ball carrier, this is a 45-17 statement.

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  10. If you're going to pull a guard to get out in front of an RB, it isn't going to be Tope Imade. Even by OL standards, Imade is a wide land mammal. He'll improve the pass blocking if by nothing else making the defenders take time to run around him.

    Glad he's finally getting his chance. Need to see him make the most of it.

  11. 12 hours ago, touchthemonolith said:

    It's futile at this point, but part of me still hopes that Sark wants to unleash Casey as a runner against OU. He's been effective, notwithstanding that really weird and slow run against TCU. Grinch's first, second, and third priority is containing Bijan. If they do manage to slow him down, and especially if the passing game continues struggling, then I'm gonna be pretty pissed if Casey's out there attempting a Mac Jones impression. 

    OU's defensive priority is pressure from the edges. Texas's OL does their best, but pass protection on the edge isn't their calling card currently. I mention this because while analyzing the TCU game, Sark mentioned that Casey could step up into the pocket more. OU's run stopping DTs aren't their strong suit. Washing them out and stepping into the pocket would open up the QB run lane if the defense overloaded to cover the receivers and Bijan as the escape valve.

    Casey's long run in the TCU game demonstrates he's got wiggle and speed. This offense has too many weapons to deliberately call the QB's number, but if the defense uses all their players elsewhere (or the Tackles fail to contain OU's very talented Ends), then stealing the yards up front would keep drives alive.

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  12. Unless you're credentialed in it, I guarantee that no one understands labor law in the United States and agency law. It's really frickin' complicated. Count me as one of the ones who aren't credentialed.

    However, the Supreme Court in their arguments that lead to NIL, were stark in their assessment that the NCAA could not define amateurism in the way they've historically done so. The justices outright stated that the NCAA was an illegal cartel.

    In this, the direction could not be more clear to the NLRB that student athletes would meet the definition of "employee" if considered without historical interference by the NCAA. After this, labor and agency law take over, and I'm completely clueless on that.

    I'm not arguing this is good. I'm stating that the SCOTUS requires it.

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  13. I don't want to start calling names because frankly Jamaal Charles and maybe Jordan Shipley are the last two players I recall with speed to house it on a breakaway.

    Having those players on the field makes a DC hesitant to call zeros. With no layers to a defense, one block or a broken tackle means hearing Texas Fight. They make everybody's job easier.

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  14. This gruntles my soul.

    Too many times I've seen a Texas player break into the clear. He'd give it everything he had before being tracked down by a DB from across the field. I'd be excited by the 25 yard gain, but wonder why he got caught.

    Texas now has several players across multiple positions that simply outrun the defense. Somebody might be able to catch him eventually, but not over the 100 yards that make up the playing surface.

  15. Please consider that a lot of those defensive metrics are hard-coded numbers. Texas Tech's offense had the ball 13 times (11 not counting end of halves). Obviously I saw the three coverage busts that led to easy points like everyone else, and aren't excusing those. I'm just pointing out that Tech still has a competent offense, and they had lots of sequences with the football. We may have done Tech a favor by making them switch QBs.

  16. If you had to diagram it, you play at home at 11am. Next week, you go on the road to a hostile environment in a smallish stadium at 11am. The week after, you play your Big Game of the season at 11am.

    By that time, the team simply thinks 11am is when they're supposed to be playing football. I've seen too many instances of Texas trying to crank the engine with 10:00 left in the 2nd quarter to discount this.

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  17. 45 minutes ago, immamac said:

    Not totally true. You just lose when times get tough and don't have a leader. Leaders can lead and blow people the fuck out too.

    My point being that you don't really know what a leader can do when everything's working out.

    When everyone's a step away, overthinking their job, and mistakes are leading to other mistakes, your leaders show up and refocus everyone. They're the ones that are able to seemingly switch the momentum back to their side. In reality, they're doing it because the players calm down and play like they've been trained.

  18. Colt was criticized in his first season for being timid in the huddle. He's a kid standing next to grown-assed men who played for trophies. He's not going to tell Kasey Studdard to pick up the effort. That team had a few leaders, so it wasn't rudderless, but it helps if the QB is authoritative. With experience comes wisdom. Colt obviously learned to stand and command.

    Card will get there (not necessarily, I think the MNC terror broke Garrett Gilbert mentally), but you can't teach experience. I'm confident the team will respond to Casey Thompson's leadership, at least against Rice. Leaders can only emerge when times get rough, though.

     

  19. Pretty reasonable to see where a 19 year old kid making his first road start in Fayettnam just freaked out. He wanted to do a good job in an important game, and the weight of the moment made him get into his own head and think about it. He opted for handoffs and give reads when he needed to risk passing. He double checked his windows instead of letting the ball go. By that time, it was too late for a fast moving game.

    As fans, we're still battered and fragile. We've had our optimism crushed too many times. It's all understandable.

    Letting him sit and catch up to the pace of the game stands to really help Hudson Card. Casey might fling a couple of turnovers, but it won't be because he lacked confidence. He's going to make Sark pull him back as far as aggression goes.

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  20. Card was overwhelmed playing his first road game against a crazy opponent. Understandable, but not forgivable. Casey gets his shot.

    The OL is the deep voodoo. Your best five OL players don't necessarily make up your best OL. They have to play as a unit. You can't harden that unit (!) in practice when the defense is a known quantity and has an interest in not killing your ball carriers. You only know what you have when you expose them to a hostile defense. If Flood says the team keeps going with the guys currently playing, I can only trust he knows what he's talking about.

    Hopefully, we won't learn anything new about the team playing Rice. I hope the tape shows that the team learned something after the Arky loss.

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