Missouri’s bowl hopes are there for the taking. Can Barry Odom’s Tigers finish the comeback?

Perhaps, we’ve always been this way, but as technology has improved we’ve gotten more and more impatient as people. I remember as a kid, when my mom came home with our first computer. That thing was probably powered by a hamster wheel, but it was ours and it connected us to the rest of the world so I didn’t care.

Those were simple times. Now if my YouTube video doesn’t load up instantly, I’m about ready to throw my phone across the room. Don’t let Netflix buffer during the middle of an important scene—I might call Spectrum and cancel my cable service immediately (yes, I’m one of the few dinosaurs that still subscribes to cable). We don’t wait for anything anymore. We want everything fast and instantly.

Sports rarely work that way. Granted, I’m in the same boat as many of you. This Missouri season was incredibly frustrating to watch early on, and I maybe possibly have myself been guilty:

Ok. Alright. Chalk it up to me being a fan. But suddenly, miraculously, something has changed with Mizzou football. Maybe it was the schedule opening up, or the bye week coming at the right time, or the return of AJ Logan, but there is suddenly hope for this team.

This is what we expected to see for most of the year: an offense that can score from just about anywhere on the field, and an improving defense. This team has a legitimate shot to make a bowl game. Missouri is a 10-point favorite at home against Tennessee in what should be an incredibly fun weekend in Columbia. They can do it. I believe again, as should many of you. It’s going to be a fun November to track.

Missouri did what you are supposed to do last week: Florida was down, and Missouri kept them there. The Tigers broke Florida’s spirit and coasted down the stretch.

Can Missouri keep it up against further SEC competition? We will see. The expectation for the 2017 team was always to make a bowl game, and they’ve chosen a weird path, but it’s still very much possible. That’s a real sign of the progress for Odom and his staff.

Everybody makes a bowl game. There are forty bowl games. But given their start, making a bowl would show real fight and cohesion that I didn’t think they had earlier this season. It would’ve been very easy for Missouri to hold its head down and go through the motions of the rest of the season. It’s clear that they haven’t.

Barry Odom had gotten a Kim Anderson label, and to some extent it was earned. I didn’t like the post-game rant after the Auburn game. To me, it reeked of desperation from a man who felt his dream job was slipping away.

But Kim Anderson teams never showed the sign that Odom’s squad did this past Saturday. You were always waiting for Kim to give you some sign that he could be the solution and not part of the problem, and that sign never arrived.

For the first time this season, there’s some hope with this Missouri team, a feeling that your preseason expectations will be proven right. You couldn’t ask for a much better closing stretch of SEC games. Missouri’s bowl hopes are right there for the taking.

Gary Pinkel was 37-35 in his first six seasons at Missouri heading into 2007, with just one bowl win under his belt. Things didn’t just happen overnight, it took time and patience—maybe more time than people thought and maybe more patience than people had—but it eventually happened.

Barry Odom is probably not Gary Pinkel, but less than two seasons wasn’t enough time to show us that. A bowl game appearance will calm everyone down, fans can exhale a little bit, and there will be some momentum going into next season. And Odom would have earned it during college football’s most important month.

“Those who win in November will be remembered” was Pinkel’s favorite saying. We are three weeks away from seeing if Barry Odom can live up to that quote.


Carrington Harrison is a host for The Drive on 610 Sports in Kansas City. You can listen to C-dot daily from 2pm to 6pm here.

Oklahoma Sooners Football Press Conference Notes: Big 12 defenses, Marquise Brown’s speed, and the injury situation

After winning one of the most exhilarating Bedlam games in history, the Oklahoma Sooners are looking forward to an enormous challenge against the TCU Horned Frogs. Baker Mayfield looks to be the clear front-runner in the Heisman conversation after an epic performance on a Saturday where all other candidates had sub-par outings. Finally, the team appears to be focused and not overly high on themselves, which is always a great sign.

Perhaps the most noteworthy message coming out of today’s press conference was when Baker Mayfield openly challenged the fans to set a new standard for crowd noise. Mayfield referenced how the Tech game from ‘08 is always brought up for how impactful the fans can be, and he wants this week to be the new benchmark.

“I got one last thing. Being at one of the last home games we’re gonna have, it’s important to our college football playoff run. I’m gonna call out our fans. It’s gonna be an important one for us. 7 o’clock game. Night game. I don’t want to hear any talk about the 2008 Texas Tech game. This needs to be the new talk for the future, this crowd needs to be going. We give it our all week in and week out. I expect the fans to do the same for me this Saturday.”

Fans, I know we can rise to the occasion. For those in attendance, do your part and be the difference. Let’s make the TCU game from 2017 the new standard for the future.

Lincoln Riley took the podium after the players and touched on a little bit of everything from the past weekend and previewed Gary Patterson’s Horned Frogs. Check out some of the highlights from Riley’s Q&A with the press on Monday:

“I think he’ll respond well, he’s a competitor. I think some of his youth showed up the other day [. . .] but he’ll learn, he’ll grow, he’s competitive. He’s a really, really good player and he’ll be much better for it.”

“I feel like he’s just gotten more comfortable, and we’ve gotten more comfortable with him. He’s able to play more reps, and he’s making more plays as the reps go up.”

“It’s uneducated. When we sit here and play our conference every single week and we play great offenses every single week, we’ve seen what happens. We’ve also seen, going back to the bowl games last year, there’s one conference that gave up under 20 points per game and that was the Big 12 where everybody is playing out of conference teams. People want to talk about (Big 12 defenses), but we didn’t have any problems moving the ball against SEC defenses — one of the best ones in the country last year in the bowl game.”

“He’s the best one I’ve ever coached and probably the best one I’ve been around. I’ve been around other guys that maybe did a few things better here or there, but you talk about the total package of intelligence, arm talent, leadership, drive, being able to move, he’s the most complete one I’ve been around.”

Lincoln Riley announced that safety Kahlil Haughton will miss this weekend’s game against TCU with an injury, cornerback Jordan Thomas is listed as questionable and defensive tackle Neville Gallimore should return this week after missing the last two games. Haughton’s injury is especially crucial because the other safety, Will Johnson, will miss the first half of the TCU game after being tagged with a targeting call on Saturday.

Full Press Conference Links:

Orlando Brown also spoke about Baker Mayfield and his Heisman chances. It is apparent that this award would mean a lot to Brown and the o-line unit.

“He may say it doesn’t mean much to him, but as on offensive line it means a lot to us. We want him to win that Heisman Trophy. We want him to win every award he can win. We want to send him out of this university as one of the best players of all time.”

On the day, there was a lot of talk about emerging star receiver Marquise Brown. Baker Mayfield was asked who he thinks is faster between Brown and the 2016 Biletnikoff Award winner, Dede Westbrook.

“I think Marquise is even faster. Love Dede, but Marquise, he’s got another gear.”

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Tom Herman ‘100-percent’ certain he wants to retain all assistant coaches

Without continuity, there’s no alignment.

The latter buzzword is almost cliche at this point when discussing first-year head coach Tom Herman and the Texas Longhorns, but it does matter — the only assistants he didn’t bring with him from his first staff in Houston were his offensive coordinator and his running backs coach.

And his offensive coordinator, Major Applewhite, became the next head coach. Herman also knew his running backs coach, Stan Drayton, from his time at Ohio State. Not to mention the fact that Drayton is considered one of the best in the business.

So it was hardly a surprise on Monday when Herman defended his entire staff — and most especially, heavily-criticized offensive coordinator Tim Beck — by indicating that he expects all nine to return next season.

After all, that continuity has value in producing alignment and it’s something that the ‘Horns simply haven’t had in recent years.

As Herman pointed out, fifth-year senior B-back Naashon Hughes has seen 33 assistant coaches work at Texas since he enrolled in 2013. In every season, there has been a different offensive coordinator. Former head coach Charlie Strong change his offensive play caller and his defensive play caller in consecutive seasons.

In sharp contrast, Mack Brown’s coaching staff was remarkably stable during his incredible run — by Herman’s count, there were only 15 coaches over a stretch of 12 years.

“I think continuity and consistency with your staff is really, really important in college football,” Herman said. “It is one of the most underrated reasons for success in my opinion, and it’s why now as a head coach — now I see why all the other head coaches that I worked for were always so protective of their assistant coaches and didn’t want them to leave because they understood the value in continuity.”

The other area that Herman wanted to emphasize is that Beck is the play caller as the offensive coordinator, but he’s not solely responsible for the plays that go down to the field. Wide receivers coach Drew Mehringer is now providing another set of eyes in the coaches box, while the entire offensive staff provides feedback and makes personnel decisions.

There are a variety of interactions that occur when the defense is on the field between Herman, Beck, Mehringer, and the rest of the staff. Beck and Herman solicit input on what plays the staff likes, what adjustments are necessary, what plays can beat specific fronts or coverages. The offensive line coach provides insights on how the defensive line is attacking the line of scrimmage and suggest possible plays as a result. The position coaches make decisions about personnel.

Between games, the ultimate responsibility rests with Herman to evaluate and provide feedback to his coaches.

“It’s my job as the head coach to coach the assistants and provide them feedback as to areas I think they need to improve, provide them with support and praise in areas that I think they are strong at and allow them to continue to enhance their strengths,” Herman said. “But that’s my job as the head coach is to coach the assistants.”

Herman admitted that at some point a coach may become uncoachable, just like a player, but Texas is not approaching that point yet.

“I hired these guys knowing exactly what I was going to get, and we’ve all got to get better, especially on that side of the ball. But I have full confidence that we will,” Herman said.

Unfortunately, significant improvement, especially offensively, probably won’t come until 2018.

Deep Inside the Numbers: Auburn-Texas A&M

I like when Auburn beats Arkansas. The Hogs learned a simple college football lesson: look like Rutgers, play like Rutgers. Here’s to hoping the Aggies wear all smokey gray or black on Saturday. They won’t call it that, they’ll call it “Anthracite” or “Texas Smoke” or some other made-up nonsense a person got paid money to come up with instead of saying “we’re all gonna wear gray shirts.” As for the bye week, wasn’t that when Auburn was supposed to get healthy? With Pettway injured, my confidence level going forward is waning. Auburn has shown it plays best when it utilizes at least two healthy runners. Luckily we have a stable of running backs who have fresh legs due to a nonsensical lack of touches. Maybe this is what ole Gustav has been planning for all along?

Can’t get my running backs injured if I never play them!

 

Looking at my stats computer in the laboratory, I am hoping to find some sort of reassurance that this Auburn team is really the 14th best team in America and not a 7-5 bastion of mediocrity. This game will tell us a lot about how the rest of the season will go, and I want to know Auburn is going to win.

If you’ve been reading these articles you know that I am the preeminent Auburn football statistician in the Auburn Family (#blessed) and the computer never lies. Even the two times it has seemed to have predicted a win and Auburn lost, it was really only a test of your faith. When you look back, the footprints you will see will be the computer’s. It has feet.

Carry us calmly into calamity, crest the waves of conflict with your microprocessors microprocessing our most longed-for goals, computer guide.

Auburn has played twice in College Station, Texas, and has never lost there. In fact, Auburn hasn’t lost a game in the state of Texas since January 1, 1986. I was less than a month old! The Tigers are riding a Texas-sized 30-year winning streak into Saturday’s game. Auburn this season is 2-1 when playing west of the Mississippi, and 2-0 if you don’t count the miserable second half against LSU. In games west of the Mississippi, Auburn has outrushed it’s opponents 797 yards to 452, rushing for an average of 266 yards per game and allowing only 150. Auburn has allowed its opponents west of the Mississippi to convert on only 32% of all third downs and have only allowed a total of 54 first downs in those three games. This Auburn defense is really dominant and has traveled well. The offense has also been better than we think, outgaining its opponents by nearly 200 total yards per game west of Mississippi and holding the ball for an average of four more minutes than its opponents.

When Auburn plays west of Old Man River this season, it plays extremely well.

Computer, what else?

In Bill Connelly’s excellent S&P+ rankings system, Auburn is ranked 10th. Texas A&M is ranked 72nd. Auburn has played 4 other teams ranked 50 or worse this season and is 4-0 against them. Missouri and Ole Miss both ranked ahead of the Aggies, and Auburn dispatched with both of them with relative ease. Mississippi State, whom Auburn delivered a beat-down, is one of top 20 teams in America according to S&P+. That Mississippi State team straight-up worked the Aggies last weekend, by the way. The Aggies have yet to beat a team ranked in the top 25 of S&P+, and their Division I-A wins are against teams ranked 110, 99, 65, and 90 respectively. Why are we even worried about this game?

Since 1961, Auburn is 6-1 on November 4. It has beaten its last three opponents on that date, and has won two straight against schools who wear a shade of red in their uniforms. Texas A&M is toast.

The last time the Aggies hosted a conference game in College Station on November 4 was back in 2006. They got beaten by Oklahoma. Oklahoma’s receiving coach for that game: Kevin Sumlin. Follow the math, people. The Aggies have never won on November 4 when Kevin Sumlin is in the building. Never. It won’t happen this year either. I see Auburn’s defense allowing a couple of big plays but not enough to make Tiger fans worried. The stats show Auburn’s offense having its way against Texas A&M and the Tigers rolling up yards on their way to a comfortable road win.

Auburn 42

Aggies 17

Nyheim Hines, NC State should be full-go for Clemson game

NC State suffered its first significant bout of attrition since early September during the Wolfpack’s loss to Notre Dame last weekend. Defensive linemen Darian Roseboro, Justin Jones, and Eurndraus Bryant were all banged up early, as was running back Nyheim Hines, who got rolled up and was lucky to escape without major injury.

All of those players appear likely to return this week against Clemson, at least based on what Dave Doeren had to say on Wednesday. They all practiced; Hines and Bryant were kept out of contact drills, but both sound probable for the Clemson game, NC State’s current biggest game of the week of the year.

Hines’ injury was frightening at first look, since he had a leg and ankle dragged at an awkward angle from behind by a Notre Dame defender. Hines was immediately taken to the locker room for x-rays, which proved negative, but he did not return to the game, depriving State of one of its biggest weapons for the remaining 2+ quarters against Notre Dame.

The attrition up front was also significant, particularly with Jones and Big E unable to fill their typical roles in the middle of the defense.

State’s gonna need everybody ready to go this weekend against Clemson to pull off an upset, so let’s hope that’s what we’ve got, and this is not just Dave Doeren being optimistic for optimism’s sake. Below are Doeren’s full remarks from the ACC Wednesday teleconference.

———–—

DAVE DOEREN: Looking forward to Homecoming Game, a chance to play a great Clemson football team, and two teams fighting for first place in the division. So a ton to play for and guys have really done a great job preparing and working hard in practice. Obviously got a few more days here to polish things up.

But they are a very good team, explosive offense, balanced offense. They are the No. 1 defense in the ACC in almost every category.

So a great challenge for us with our team, and as we look at the last game we played, we know we can play better. And losing some key players during the game didn’t help, but we still had some opportune moments and some critical errors that cost us at key moments.

All big games come down to one or two or three plays, so it’s going to be a game where those plays have got to go our way, and it’s our job as coaches to get them there and their job to finish them, and looking forward to watching it happen.

Q. How would you compare the Lamar Jackson you faced this year to the one you faced a year ago?DAVE

DOEREN: Lamar Jackson?

Q. Yes.

DAVE DOEREN: Okay. We don’t play Louisville this week.

Q. Okay. Do you care to look back at that game at all?

DAVE DOEREN: He’s a great player.

Q. Obviously you had to deal with that formidable Notre Dame running game last week. What do you want to do better with the run defense as you get ready for a good Clemson running game?

DAVE DOEREN: First thing you’ve got to do is fit the run game the right way. We had a couple misfits, guys in the wrong gap and something we haven’t done. We’ve been very good at that. You’ve got to play with low pads, inside hands, shed blocks and leverage the ball on tackle and that’s what rushing defense is and that’s at all positions, because they can make it a DB tackle with a correct block and guys got have to disciplined eyes so they can strike and play aggressive in the running game.

As far as the Notre Dame game, they did a great job. They have a great offensive line; and when we lost three defensive players on the defensive line during that game, our rotation hurt us as the game went on.

So hopefully we’ll be healthier. We were able to get all three three of those guys in practice today, so that was a very positive thing for our rotation up front.

Q. Anything you’re looking to do better when it comes to your running game as you get ready for that stout Clemson defense?

DAVE DOEREN: They make it hard. They have got a really good front. They have got big people and rotate and active linebackers and big safeties.

For us, it’s about being on our tracks and being thick and our contact and running our feet and passing off movements well, because they do a good job defensively, you know, with their blitz packages and line movements. They are going to get heavy on you and try to flatten you out when they play their odd front. The O-Line has to communicate well together and tight ends and running backs and see the plays that are there to make and go get them.

Q. Kelly Bryant for them as a bigger role in the run game. How does that make it more challenging to defend this type of Clemson offense?

DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, he has, I think 30 more carries than their tailback, and maybe it’s 50, than the other tailback. He’s without a doubt a threat. Not just when they design it but when they drop back and he scrambles.

Similar to when we play Louisville and other quarterbacks; Syracuse. Our D-Line has to be disciplined. We can’t just run past and open up an escape lane. We have to power the pocket and press it, and when we blitz we’ve got to be in our rush lanes and not create seams for him to escape through; and if it’s inside pressure, we have to have guys that are containing it outside and understand how we work together in pass rush because that’s really important against an athletic guy like Kelly.

Q. You mentioned getting everybody back in practice today. If everybody is able to play, even though they might still be a little bit banged up, do you feel like your rotation will be back to the way you want it to be in this game?

DAVE DOEREN: If they are all back, yes. We’ve been able to double-train some guys, too. So it’s something that we can do if we have to.

But Justin Jones was 100 percent today. He looked great, during practice, the whole practice. Eurndraus Bryant was out and we didn’t do as much with him because at nose tackle there’s not a ton he has to do. He did his individual work and we’ll rest him. I think we’ll have them all and they will be feeling really good on game day. We’ll be back to being able to play eight or nine guys in the front.

Q. Obviously Ryan has had a great year and maybe last week was maybe sub-par for him, he threw a pick-six and the completion percentage wasn’t really there. Against a great team like Clemson, how important is it for him to get back to mistake-free football?

DAVE DOEREN: Well, I mean, any time you play in a big game, every rep matters, not just for the quarterback. But Ryan’s done a great job throughout the season. It was a tough day to be a throwing quarterback out there. It was in the 30s temperature-wise and the wind was blowing. It’s not an ideal place to throw.

So I think being home and having the weather will help him. You know, second part of it’s just learning from his errors and continuing to improve, and I think that’s something Ryan does well. He really studies himself. He’ll use that as an opportunity to be a better player.

Q. What was his week of preparation like facing back-to-back maybe his two toughest defenses all year?

DAVE DOEREN: He’s had a great week of prep, and he understands what Coach Drinkwitz wants, and he has played against this defense before, so he has an idea what to expect.

They do a great job in man coverage and they mix it a lot. There’s a lot of different looks that they are going to give you and they disguise and they have got an active front. They have got 31 sacks. So our timing and our protection is going to be important.

Q. Trying to get an updates on Hines. How did he look in practice today?

DAVE DOEREN: He was running around, feeling really good. We didn’t hit him. So that part, we’ll still have to see. But he was full speed and he was flying around the field. So we’re excited that his progression has been what we hoped it would be, and tomorrow we’ll continue to do more. We’re still three days out, so the recovery will continue.

Q. Do you feel like he can still be as explosive Saturday as he’s been before the injury?

DAVE DOEREN: Yeah, I think by the time we get to Saturday, unless we have a setback, I feel real confident about it. I know he did coming off the field today. Just those things, you’ve got to continue to get through the hurdles you face on any injury, and you go block a sled or you hit a moving linebacker and you get put in a weird position, and then the next play you feel fine.

Some of that’s mental for those guys. You get tackled and rolled up and you pop up and you’re good. You’ve got to get through those things in the game. Progression-wise, he’s doing really well so far in the recovery.

Cougars can still be the King of the North

Cougar Nation was pretty upset over Saturday’s loss to a red-hot Arizona team, but the fans shouldn’t get too down. It is only the second loss of the season and the Pac-12 North is still up for grabs folks. WSU currently sits in third place with a 4-2 conference record. Stanford and UW are both ahead of WSU with one conference loss apiece.

However, the good news is that WSU gets to play Stanford and UW in two of the last three games. Therefore if the Cougs take care of business against the Cardinal at home this Saturday and at subsequent road games against Utah and UW, they will the Pac-12 North. They will hold all the head to head tiebreakers and it won’t matter what Stanford or Washington do in their other games. This would of course lead WSU to the Pac-12 championship and a likely rematch against USC. The Cougars are probably out of the playoff hunt at this point, but the Fiesta Bowl would be a nice consolation prize.

This scenario is of course more unlikely than not, but hey it’s nice to have something to dream on that isn’t totally out of the question.

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Louisville Football: Thoughts at the 1/4 Pole

Another quarter mile is in the books. If you missed Parts 1 and 2 of this series go back and check them out, I think they’re worth your time, especially if you feel like recapping 6 of the most dumbfounding and absolutely frustrating games Louisville has played in quite some time (I’m really selling it, ain’t I?).

It doesn’t take a master handicapper to observe that things aren’t quite going as planned heading into this third leg of the race. Most of the lofty goals the Cards set in the offseason have long since been gone and the individual goal of seeing Lamar repeat as a Heisman winner is nearly off the table. Losing out to NC State in a somewhat unenthusiastic fashion at the ½ mile pole left fans frustrated to say the least, let’s see how the next segment unfolds….

After just getting passed by the Wolfpack the Cardinals appear somewhat demoralized, although still in the mix with the second group of horses it appears they realize the Wolfpack and Clemson may now be unreachable. The Golden Eagles, who have offered little challenge to the Cardinals in races prior are now in the same group and looking to take advantage of a horse that just hasn’t shown the kick many expected to see in the weeks leading up to the race. While Anthony Brown had been labeled as the jockey at the post draw a late scratch put newcomer AJ Dillon in the saddle and he has been grinding from the back of the pack the whole race. Still appearing somewhat stunned from being overpowered by the Wolfpack the Cards have not taken the opportunity to slide onto the rail and for some unfathomable reason seem content staying 6 wide heading into the turn, almost as if they have no interest in playing defense and want to make things harder than it should be. The Golden Eagles are uncharacteristically showing more fight than the Cards and it appears they are actually going to pass them on the inside. Yes, the Golden Eagles have now passed the Cardinals mid way through the turn. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t witnessed it with my own two eyes.

The Cardinals now find themselves in the back of the pack with what appears to be an injured Seminole horse, a pre-race favorite that stumbled coming out of the gate. Lamar is asking for some kick but just hasn’t gotten the response from the thoroughbred he expected to see. Jockey James Blackman is looking to slide past the Cardinals on the inside, even with his injured horse, which may seem unprecedented but with the Cards showing thus far I would not be shocked to see them fall behind the Seminoles either. Lamar is looking to finally guide his horse to the rail and with much less traffic in the back of the pack he found an opening and slid in front of the Seminoles going on the defensive for what seems like the first time since early in the race. Mid way through the turn Blackmon has fumbled away his opportunity to gain position and has now pulled up on the reins, likely looking to just trot to the finish.

Getting a boost from holding off the Seminoles the Cards now look to make a push at the Demon Deacons directly in front of them, who are lagging slightly behind the second group. Never imaging themselves to be in this position Lamar is hoping to remain on the rail and make up some ground quickly before reaching the quarter pole. Deacon jockey John Wolford just peeked back at the Cardinals and is having nothing to do with allowing them space to operate. He is starting to show his horse the whip coming out of the turn and in what should no longer be considered a surprise the Cardinals simply do not have the horse to keep up with the group. The Demon Deacons and the rest of the second group are now actually pulling away from the Cardinals as they come out of the final turn. In what seemed to be a promising race for the Cardinals, they now have no chance of finishing in the money and the last quarter mile appears to be for optics alone.

Concerns from the third ¼ mile:

I understand that in situations like these hyperbole and drastic overstatements become commonplace, but I’m quite literally running out of words to say that haven’t already been said. Instead of flooding your brain with text I’ll simply utter three very simple and very straightforward words to sum up my thoughts thus far.

Shocking.

Frustrating.

Embarrasing.

I was on the train. I was buying into the “we got a real shot this year” hype heading into the season. Sure, we had plenty of questions, but I thought ‘Lamar’ would be a reasonable answer to the majority of them. After all, how could you possibly field the most electric player in college football, with plenty of talent surrounding him, and NOT finish with at least ten wins? It just didn’t make sense.

Reality bites.

For those who may consider themselves visually learners (myself included) lets open the very scary book of ‘stats’ to help piece together just what has happened to the Cardinal football this season and how things have trended since Bobby 2.0 began…

 

The 2014 team started strong and finished strong in this category, only allowing a tick over three touchdowns per game on average (good enough for 24th in the country). Even though they lost some folks the year prior some of Strong’s holdovers continued to dominate upfront in 2014 and beyond. As those players have slowly left the program via graduation or transfer, the scoring defense has jumped almost a full ten points in four seasons currently sitting at 30.8pts/g (92nd in the country).

 

So now we know teams are scoring, but maybe its long plays, gadget plays, ‘trickeration’ if you will that is hurting the Cards? Nope. Just like the scoring defense the opponent’s Red zone Conversion percent is going up and has reached a ten year plus high at 88.89%. If you want to round up to 90% for simplicity even my dumb brain can figure out that 9 times out of every ten a team is putting points on the board once they cross the 20 (Cards sit at 103rd in the country). Craziness.

 

Similar to the scoring defense the overall defense statistics in terms of yards/game has never been as good as that first season (2014) and has skyrocketed this year to an astronomical number at 410.1yd/g (85th in the country). Unacceptable on any level, but even more so considering you have numerous upperclassmen playing large defensive roles. In fact, against Wake 13 of the 22 players on the two deep depth chart were Juniors or Seniors. ‘We’re young’ doesn’t play well with me, especially nine games into the season.

 

Yeah, that whole ‘3rd and Grantham’ thing may have been a nice hashtag or a very simply excuse to blurt out when complaining to your friends about the defense, but on average the last three years (2014-2016) the Cards sat at 18th in the country in stopping opponents on 3rd down. This year, the Cards are almost a full 10 percentage points higher than last season and are dangerously close to clipping the 45% mark on the season. In laymen’s terms, damn near half the time opponents snap the ball on 3rd down, they are converting. Inexcusable. Cards sit at 92nd in the country as of today, with only 15 Power 5 teams performing at a worse clip. Who would thought we’d be begging for ‘3rd and Grantham’ in 2017?

So why are all those numbers so high? Is it just lack of talent, drive, playcalling, etc? One big reason is that the Cards defense is not getting pressure or turning the ball over as often as they used too, which often results in a shorter field and easier points for the offense. (Buckle up because we are quite literally about to go down a slippery slope)

 

Pressuring the quarterback and getting sacks can almost single handedly kill drives. On the other hand, when you don’t do that, drives are sustained and usually result in more yardage and more points being scored (see charts above). The Cards have gotten worse each of the last four seasons in getting to the QB and if they keep pace the projected 2017 number will be the lowest sack total since 2008 (currently sitting at 58th in the country).

 

Just as sacks ‘likely’ kill drives, interceptions will undoubtedly kill them, putting the ball back in the hands of the offense. Following a disturbing trend, once again the Cards are on pace for their lowest interception total since 2010 (currently sitting at 57th in the country). Getting the ball back to a very prolific offense would certainly help put points on the board and likely translate to more wins. It is simply not happening.

So, what do we do now? I don’t know. Firing a guy nine games into the season in year one of his contract certainly doesn’t create the best atmosphere for future coaching searches, but at this point I could really give a damn about Louisville taking a PR hit. Sirmon, nine games into his Louisville career, has performed well below any reasonable expectation that may have been set for him coming into the season. The stats don’t lie, the consistent breakdowns don’t lie, the on field confusion doesn’t lie, and the record of 5-4 with an offense averaging 36.7 points per game certainly does not lie. I’m easily one of the more optimistic fans out there, but there is literally zero ‘past performances’ to point to for Sirmon to offer hope that things can be turned around. Mississippi State was a failure, and that failure has now been passed onto the Louisville football program. That can’t be an acceptable standard moving forward.

Why all hope is not lost:

The first post in this series referred to why hope wasn’t lost for the season, and that things could still be turned around. We’re beyond that point. The ‘hope’ for the rest of this season would be to win out, beat a mediocre bowl team, and try and build momentum heading into 2018. A notch down from that would be to simply beat your rival in the last game of the year. A six win season is a disappointment no matter how you wrap it up and stick it under the tree, but beating Kentucky in one of the six wins would at least let you put a ‘real’ ribbon on the box instead of one of those cheep peel and stick versions. It ain’t gonna be pretty either way, but it doesn’t leave you completely embarrassed come Christmas morning.

All things being fair, Petrino has delivered on his promise to bring offensive minded football back to Louisville. I’ll save you the charts but the Cards are putting up yardage and points the last couple years that rival any season in their history. While he certainly deserves a very large tip of the cap to one Lamar Jackson, he has brought in the talent to field one of the top offensive teams in the country. The issue of course is that he may be sacrificing defensive talent to pull in more and more offensive threats…thus resulting in more points, but not necessarily translating to more wins. The quarterback position seems set for a few years and the wide receivers have talent, but grabbing a few more defensive studs should be priority one, two, and three heading into the offseason.

Three games remain. The atmosphere around the Louisville program one year ago this time was palpable. A national story, college football playoff ranking, the best player in the game competing for a Heisman, it was almost surreal. One year later the agony of a 5-4 season almost makes thing feel that much worse after having experienced the high of 2016. If you want to fold up shop, move on to next year, focus on basketball, etc you certainly have that right. Me, I’ve decided to enjoy the last three games for what they are…three more opportunities to watch the team I support, play a game I love, and cheer on the best player to ever wear a Louisville jersey. We clamor for football from April to September every year, your interest in counting down the days until the season kicks off is proof of that, let’s not let a couple poor performances distract us from missing the final ‘quarter mile’ of another Louisville football season. You never know what you might miss.

See you all back here in four weeks.

Go Cards.

Georgia Tech Recruiting: Film Room – LB

Instead of an advanced stats analysis this week, we’re going to continue the slow-moving recruiting analysis series with the LBs.

Here are the links to the Previous articles:

DE (Wow that didn’t age well)

DT

This article will focus on Tech’s 2 commitments at the LB position, as the class is likely full there. As before the prospects will be evaluated in 5 categories, which will be different than the ones used to evaluate DL prospects. For a LB these are:

Size

Size is a bit more than height and weight. How long are the player’s arms? Do they have a good, healthy weight distribution? How big is the frame? Is there room to add more good mass? How much?

Range

Does the player have the length, lateral agility, burst, and pursuit speed to get sideline to sideline to support runs outside the tackles?

Defeating Blocks and Tackling

This is a bit a of a 2 lumped in one situation, but they are both related to physicality. All LB prospects will have highlight tackles on their profiles, but are they defeating blocks from bigger OL? Do they use good tackling form? Do they reliably prevent YAC from the ball carrier?

Play Diagnostics

This is a bit hard to decipher from a hudl video, but there are some things to look for. How quickly do they react to the flow of the play? Do they take false steps and rely on athleticism to make the play? Do they make a lot of plays by filling the correct gap?

Coverage

One of the biggest things for any player in coverage is flexibility in the hips. Additionally, the player will never be able to react to a route runner’s breaks or be able to react quickly enough to the pass in zone. Additionally, how well does the player attack the catch point in coverage? Do they have good instincts? How are the player’s hands?

  • 5: Power-5 Elite
  • 4: Power-5 Above Average
  • 3: Power-5 Average
  • 2: G5
  • 1: FCS
  • Size: 3
  • Range: 4
  • Defeating Blocks/Tackling: 4
  • Play Diagnostics: 2
  • Coverage: 4

Hudl

When Jackson committed, he struck me as a raw, athletic prospect who needed to work on the finer points of being a linebacker at the next level. Watching his senior tape, he’s made tremendous strides in that regard, and has one of the best looking LB tapes of any Tech commit I’ve watched in a while. At 6-0 215-220 lbs, Jackson has average size for the position, and has good length for his height.

Jackson’s main strength is his range. A true sideline-to-sideline player, Jackson has run down ball carriers from all over Middle Georgia, including Tech’s own Tobias Oliver. Jackson’s first step and closing speed are first-rate, which should help with bubble screens.

The area where I felt Jackson could improve the most from his Junior film was block shedding. As a Junior, Jackson mostly stuck to the outside and didn’t have much of any film in the box, and hardly a single play where he engaged an offensive lineman. As a senior, he still does a lot of gap shooting and sideline to sideline play, but the block shedding has finally arrived. He has a number of plays in his senior film where he fills a gap well by stacking a shedding the blocker before making the tackle. His tackling is a bit better too, he’s allowing less YAC on tackles than the year prior, especially in the box.

The big area for improvement for Jackson is play diagnostics, specifically on run plays. He often takes a couple false steps before getting a handle of the play, then uses his superior athleticism to make up for it. He will occasionally sniff out a screen, but this is an area where coaching and experience will do Jackson wonders.

There isn’t a ton of coverage film out there for Jackson, but he has all the physical tools to excel there, from quick hips to great closing speed. He also displays good hands on offense and had a nifty interception in his Junior tape.

  • Size: 4
  • Range: 2
  • Defeating Blocks/Tackling: 5
  • Play Diagnostics: 2
  • Coverage: 2

Hudl

One of Tech’s most highly rated commits, Justice Dingle is an interesting case study. A player with great strengths and some tough weaknesses, where is his best spot at the next level?

Most recruiting outlets have Dingle rated as a Mike LB based on his HS position. Dingle plays all over the field, even putting his hand in the dirt as a down lineman, but mostly plays as an Inside LB. He has tremendous size as an ILB, with a thick frame that looks heavier than his listed 230 lbs. He’s easy to find on his high school tape, as he’s just bigger than everyone else. If he had a little more length, his size rating would easily be a 5.

Range is where Dingle really struggles. He’s huge, but doesn’t excel at getting outside or playing in space. He always looks more comfortable in the box or with his hand in the dirt. He has a good first step, but his top end speed is a bit lacking, as is his lateral agility once he gets going. It’s a big area for improvement.

The dude can absolutely bring the boom, though. Dingle hits like a truck and knows how to separate the ball from the ball carrier. He’s impossible to block, too. His junior tape alone shows him defeating blocks by blowing up linemen head on, knifing into the backfield by putting his shoulder into the blocker, and bending the corner on the pass rush by utilizing a nasty rip-and-dip move.

Dingle also takes a lot of bad angles in the run game and is late reacting to run plays. Unlike Jackson, he doesn’t have the speed to make up for these mistakes. Additionally, there isn’t any substantial film of him in coverage outside of the embedded video above.

Now, reading all that, it seems like I don’t think very highly of Dingle as a recruit, but that’s not the case. I think he’s being evaluated at the wrong position. There have been whisperings that Dingle may play more of an Edge defender role at Georgia Tech, meaning he’ll be utilized as a pass rusher and general havoc creator. Looking at Dingle’s strengths, this role makes a lot of sense. He has a good first step, has a thick, strong frame that could add even more weight, and is difficult to block. On top of that, he has exceptional flexibility, a highly coveted trait for edge rushers. When playing off the edge in high school, he scrapes down the line well to chase plays away from him, and racks up the TFLs. Let’s look at how I’d rate him in an Edge defender role using the DE attributes:

  • Size: 3
  • Explosiveness: 4
  • Bend: 5
  • Run Defense: 3
  • Pass Rush: 4

Looks a lot better. If used correctly, Dingle has the opportunity to be an exceptional addition to the Tech defense.

Oklahoma State Unsung Hero: West Virginia

After the offense struggled last week against Texas, the Cowboys dropped 50 on the Mountaineers in Morgantown. The defense had a solid game overall, holding the West Virginia offense to 25 points in a 50-39 win for the Pokes. Mason Rudolph had a fairly pedestrian day, throwing for 216 yards and 3 touchdowns. The run game was the story of the day, though, with JD King breaking onto the college football landscape. After Justice Hill went down with an injury on only his second carry, King rushed for 142 yards on 36 carries and two total touchdowns on the day.

The defense had another solid day, forcing 5 Mountaineers turnovers, including 4 interceptions of Will Grier. Once again, the run defense was incredible, holding the Mountaineers to 62 yards on 30 carries. Justin Phillips led the way with 6 total tackles, and AJ Green had a breakout game with 2 interceptions.

I have talked a lot about the defense in this series of articles this year, and rightfully so. The narrative is that the Big 12 does not “play” defense because of the high scoring offenses. However, it cannot be understated how good the Cowboy defense has been this year. Young at nearly every position group, they have stepped up and have been getting better every week, this is going to be key for the rest of the season.


The defensive line has been a key to the success of Oklahoma State’s defense this season. Guys like DeQuinton Osbourne and Jordan Brailford have had a lot of success this season. One guy that has gotten lost in the mix this year is Cole Walterscheid, but he had a fantastic game against West Virginia. He is my unsung hero this week. Walterscheid had 3 tackles, one for loss, and a sack (it should have been two sacks, but it was negated by a questionable horse collar tackle penalty).

NCAA Football: Oklahoma State at West Virginia

NCAA Football: Oklahoma State at West Virginia

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

He has been a great edge rusher for the Cowboys the last two years. He came on strong last season, playing in place of the aforementioned Brailford, who missed all of last season with an injury. He only has 11 tackles through 8 games this season, but what he has been able to do is provide continued depth on the defensive line for Oklahoma State. The Cowboys rotated 4 guys in and 4 guys out during drives. Having that type of depth is important, especially against high-flying offenses. If Walterscheid can continue to produce, he will be a part of the success of the defense as the Oklahoma State tries to contend for a Big 12 title.

Duff’d It! Rankings and Other Accolades: You really went and did it, Florida

We’ve finally made it, everyone! Week nine of this college football season is in the books and the College Football Playoff committee have convened for the first time, our annual reminder Condoleeza Rice has a cruical role in shaping college football. And topping the inaugural 2017 CFP rankings are none other than the Geo-hrk. The Geo-whrrrgrbl. The Geo-urghhhhh I can’t take this let’s move on to the far superior rankings

Duff’d It! Rankings, Week 9

5. Penn State. JT Barrett heard all the terrible things you said about him. Yes, even you, Michael. He heard you talking about how he’s overrated and how Ohio State keeps winning in spite of him, and he said, “fine, I’ll beat Penn State all by myself while looking as nondescript as possible. You’ll all see!”

Meanwhile, James Franklin and Penn State had to travel through Akron on the way to Columbus. Gonna guess they took an alternate route back.

4. Wazzu. I think I’ve finally figured out what a pirate’s worst enemy is – it’s Khalil Tate! He’s darting all over the place, scoring touchdowns, stealing your treasure, and leaving you to die in the desert. Pirates hate the desert! There’s no water to sail on, and drinking rum will just dehydrate you and make you die quicker.

3. Michigan State. On the one hand, Spartans, you lost to Northwestern in triple overtime, making Medill graduate and brand robot Darren Rovell happy; on the other, at least your L was against a football team and not $130 worth of fast food.

2. TCU. You don’t just walk into Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa and expect a win. Not anymore; after taking down OU in Norman, the Cyclones have been out for blood, and the last thing you want to see on the horizon is a bloodthirsty Cyclone, especially when that Cyclone is coached by a literal god.

1. Florida. When you travel to Jacksonville, it’s almost a guarantee it’ll take something from you. Fortunately for the Gators, it seems like they were already angling to get rid of their coach, so when the piper came calling they took one last look at Jim McElwain and tossed him into St. John’s River. Nothing left for the Gators now but to quietly finish a disappointing season with an unknown interim coach – OH DANG IT’S RANDY SHANNON Y’ALL TIME TO RENT THE PARTY BOAT

Honorable mention: Tennessee. After Saturday’s defeat to Kentucky, Butch Jones has lost what feels like his fifth “must-win” game of the season, which just goes to show that if every game is a must-win, none of them are.

Georgia Tech lost to this team and I’m still mad about it.

SEC Conference Plays of the Week

 

Several calls late in the UNC-Miami game might have led you to wonder if the officials had it in for the Heels. But just look at that block. That was early in the game. They weren’t being subtle about it at all!

 

That’s Arkansas, once again illustrating the best kind of trick play: the one that tricks yourself.

There ain’t no such thing as a free ride in the real world…. but this is the NCAA, and so Rashaad Penny can’t charge for any jersey sled rides.

Employee of the Month of the Week

Wake Forest v Georgia Tech

Wake Forest v Georgia Tech

Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

John Wolford, QB, Wake Forest

You can keep telling yourself Lamar Jackson is always the best player on whatever field he’s on, but that doesn’t make it true, and it wasn’t Saturday when Jackson and his supporting cast lost to Wake Forest. John Wolford’s is much better, and that helped him spread the love and earn the Deacons the victory, with 28 completed passes (with just 6 misses) for 461 yards and five touchdowns, and another touchdown and 14 yards on four carries. That’ll earn you an EotMotW award, even if that pesky Khalil Tate is trying his best to win all of them.