Jump to content

SteelEER

banned
  • Posts

    93
  • Joined

Posts posted by SteelEER

  1. 11 minutes ago, kopp0e said:

    Hot damn, I'm gonna burn through all of my posi-reps with all of the enlightening ideas..!

    BYU adds a Notre Dame-esq following of national Mormons, while adding the largest football stadium in Utah...
    New Mexico adds an entire state, smack in the middle of the Albuquerque market, the 32nd biggest city in America...
    Rice adds the Houston market, (or alternatively allows XII members to personally recruit Houston on road games)...

    And if West Virginia is absorbed into the ACC (for ACCN content), then the XII could easily add Colorado State, to regain a portion of the Denver market...

    WVUs fans would hate the ACC as a whole. For years we tried to get in and those UNC and Duke assholes shot it down. If WVU has to be elsewhere we would much rather be in the SEC. Fuck the ACC.

  2. 1 hour ago, sushihorn said:

    It wasn't a criticism so you don't need to defend anything.  It's a reasonable decision on the part of the WVU coaching staff based on the sort of offenses they face every week in the Big XII.  I don't know what the exact situation is in Morgantown but I suspect there were other LBs are campus.  Perhaps they weren't ready to assume coverage responsibilities yet.

    No offense taken at all. Our depth at LB is just awful and our entire LB recruiting class of 2017 has been for shit. You can’t gutterball an entire recruiting class at LB and not feel the effects.

  3. 17 hours ago, sushihorn said:

    Reading the threads on Sam, the OL and Stoops’ firing got me thinking about the style of offense and culture that Tom Herman is instilling at Texas and the recent trends in Big XII defenses.  The top offenses in the conference have largely been spread passing attacks for years now and the defenses have clearly adapted to the offensive style.  Most defenses now feature base Nickel with multiple fronts featuring quick (and usually undersized) edge rushers to add to the pass rush.  Many of them are nominally LBs (usually SAM) but are the same size a run stopping SS used to be.  TCU’s Wallow (215 lbs) is fairly typical of this trend as was OU’s Striker a few years back.  The most extreme example is the Mountaineers’ Jovanni Stewart playing “SAM Linebacker” at 5’8” 191.

     

    Until I started looking into this the quicker defenses were obvious but I had no idea how extreme the trend had become.  And it’s hardly confined to the second level of the defense.  The down linemen tend to be smaller and quicker for pass rushing purposes as well.  Everybody has a 300 lb space eater playing the nose but the fronts have gotten lighter, in many cases by shifting to a 3-3-5 with what are effectively a small LB and a DB playing the edge when they present a 5 man front.  Even teams that play 4 DL are using lighter players.  TCU goes 240-260-302-235 across their line.

     

    All of this has been done to counter the spread passing game and honor the coverage responsibilities it forces on a defense.  But it’s not a great design against a power running attack complemented by an above average passing game.  Big XII DCs have not really had to worry about that on a regular basis for years now.  KSU has used this combination for decades but hasn’t had the talent to be a top team for a long time now.  ISU is moving in this direction but again they are not a team that is going to force anyone to redesign their defense yet.

     

    That brings us to Texas.  The hard-nosed attitude and power running attack are the antithesis of the offenses that most Big XII defenses are currently designed to stop.  Aggressive penetration will often just open up a cutback lane or leave a gap undefended.  Stunting even more so.  It’s really not good for the defense when both of the primary ball carriers for Texas are as big or bigger than the guys that are trying to set the edge and contain the outside zone runs, to say nothing of the blockers they are trying to shed just to get to the runner.

     

    At this point I don’t think the OL is good enough to dominate and abuse any defense in the conference.  There are still too many mistakes and a few weaknesses.  But they are definitely moving in that direction and they are certainly good enough to punish anyone who plays a light box to double or zone our WRs.  And with Sam running the ball 6 defenders is a light box against our 11 personnel sets.  The OL is now good enough to force teams to take major risks in coverage to stop the running game and most teams won’t be able to stop the short yardage conversions even by doing that.

     

    As the OL improves, I expect to see opponents distorting their existing defenses more and more to stop the Texas ground game.  The problem they face is not just scheme but personnel.  They’ve been training and recruiting to defend quick, subtle and fast passing offenses.  Now they are looking down the barrel of an old school, smash mouth running offense and they have the wrong players to stop it.  In the SEC where such offenses are common, 3 man lines often average close to 300 lbs across the front.  One of the 4 LBs is usually a standup DE in the 260 lb range and most of the others go 230+.

     

    Usually it pays off to go against the crowd.  I like what Tom Herman is doing with both culture and scheme.  And I especially like the dilemma that it puts DCs in all across the conference.

     

    In WVU’s defense, as I stated in a different thread, we have been crushed by injuries at the LB position and our LBs right now we’re safeties this past Spring. We are expected to get at least one starter back by November. IIRC both are in the 6’2” 230 range. Not exactly Levon Kirkland size wise,  but light years better than what’s out there now.

    Dana has liked running it and our OL has the size, but our RB committee is not what it usually is. DL is always a challenge as it is for most “non-elite” programs. That’s why 2 of our starters are grad transfers.  The 3-3-5 works best when you have a NT around 6’2” and 330+ that cannot be budged by one blocker. We haven’t had that kind of NT in forever. 

     

  4. 2 hours ago, ztejas said:

    Taking bets for how long @SteelEER lasts. 

    Does he make it to the end of October?

    BTW not wasting my negs on a troll like you. Don't worry, you should pick up plenty elsewhere. 

    Wow that is “Surly” right there. Are you threatening me with a negative heart?!? Holy shit I’m shaking. 

    I’ll be be here through the rest of the season! Try the veal. Tip your waiter.

    • Like 2
    • Fuck You 2
  5. 1 hour ago, Tired of Lurking said:

    West Virginia is our Kentucky. One dimensional pretenders that will go down one they start playing teams with a pulse (maybe next week against ISU?).
    I hope we play WVU in the CCG but it'll probably be TCU (30%) or OU (70%). I'm scared to play Murray again so I hope he's almost checked out by then in preparation for the minor league season.

    But what if that one dimension is the best in the country? 

×
×
  • Create New...