GoldAppleCorps

Colorado is a one-line team. It just so happens that it's an All-Star line that can more than carry the load. Stars have to bog the game down by any means necessary when that line is on ice. The phrase "pass the puck into the net" keeps coming up. We're not playing a series changing goaltender (although he kept the heart beating during opening OT). Dallas should spend some time watching Modano breakaway tapes. When you're the first man in, load up when you're 15 feet away from the net and unleash your best blast. We're giving up too much on triple-dekes and sneaky drops to no one. Put pucks on net at every opportunity. Playing 5 D men (and even that's being kind) and no Marchment is rough. Colorado is a team that's built to score, and on some level, getting 3 in the first made it tough to stay mentally checked in. Win the next one, and be ready to steal the 2nd away game using more depth on the back-to-back.

Much has been said over Vegas' use of LTIR to augment their team. With the way that the Western Conference was so close among the top teams, those additions "just in time" for the playoffs legitimately changed the weight of the Golden Knights. The Knights team that played Dallas wasn't the #8 team in the West. They were legit Cup contenders. Even so, what kept them in the series against Dallas was unholy goalkeeping. With the Knights playing a tight defense first with big bodies, Dallas still screamed in on them with multiple odd man rushes - only to see those opportunities snuffed by a miracle save. With even a reasonable save percent, the Stars win comfortably if not easily. In short, Dallas just fought through a team that could have easily repeated. If Dallas goes through a brutal series against Colorado and emerges bloodied but victorious in 7, then we can talk about fatigue. As it stands, it's more likely Dallas still has the aggression dialed up at home against a talented team that didn't have to work too hard in the 1st round. I'm not predicting anything easy. The Avs are a much different team than Vegas. They have lots of "WTF" skill players that have given the Stars fits in the past. Like the Oilers, they have so many individually brilliant players that it looks like a brilliant system. Obviously, we need "good Otter" to stay around (I'm confident he's here). Both teams can score. I just haven't seen any history of the Avs netminders being able to rescue their team. It's trite, but I see that difference in goaltending winning the series for the Stars.

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

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

Before you're old and wise, you have to be young and stupid (old and stupid is still a possibility) We're getting Sark in the 3rd act. The young hero already got identified as the future savior, got smacked down trying to claim his birthright, went on a self-destructive path to find himself, and got rebuilt humbling himself at the feet of a short, soft-spoken guru. He's at the point where it's time to win the kumite.

Quinn suffered when he'd anticipate the pass rush, not set his feet, and throw a high school pass. I've not seen him run, but I don't see where Maalik would overly concern himself with a pass rusher. After practice, the receivers need to stay late and turn the JUGS machine up to 11. Failing that, find an M40 recoilless rifle and practice with that.

Counterpoint the surrealism of the underlying metaphor...

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

The Baylor offense only works when the stretch running game is getting yards. They want to jog to one side or the other, widen the gaps, and let the RB pick one to run through. Obviously, this works better when your RB is a basher. He needs to usually slam through a tackle for 3-4 ugly yards. Baylor does not have that guy. Their current RBs are indecisive and unable to force the issue if it isn't there. T'Vondre Sweat can make everyone's job simpler by blowing up the middle of the field. Without that to play off of, the Baylor running game dies under gap integrity (Anthony Hill, this isn't the game to overplay your role). The Baylor QB cannot create in the passing game. They rely on the running game forcing defenders to overcommit. They're looking for downfield passes to receivers standing WIDE open by themselves, since the defender committed to the run. If the run game leaves them in 3rd and 7, they'll pray that a dragging TE gets ignored. Other than that, it's a scramble and throwaway. If the Texas offense ever wanted to run between the tackles, this is the game. Blast their lightweight NT out of the A gap and have at it. It won't be glamorous for the first drive, but Baylor will either need to commit additional defenders quickly or face an easy but inescapable death. Once those defenders commit, just use your toys to score how you will. Texas' only real opponent in this game is Texas. Baylor cannot compete directly. This game will be functionally over as soon as Texas executes its fundamentals. If that happens from the start, Baylor will fold in the middle of 2nd quarter and may realistically end the Aranda era. They're a fragile, apathetic bunch right now who are mentally checked out. They'll give it their best in the beginning out of pride. If there's success (because Texas allowed it), the game could be on. Otherwise, they'll have emptied the bag and surrendered.

They'll be in the right place doing the right things. They're just not big enough to make a difference. The Texas OL could just simply blow them out of the hole every play. This isn't the Baylor teams some of us remember from the 2000s where they ran around like practice wasn't even a thing. They believe in their coaching. They'll head to the right spot and do the right thing. They're just slow and weak at every position. They lose every position battle. Baylor's only chance is Texas mistakes. If Texas tries an intricate game plan full of reverse passes and such, the odds of mistake go up. If Texas challenges Baylor to a game of physical football, there's not much Baylor can do about it.

Utah is the #12 team with Cam Rising. Without him, they're barely average. The backup QB they used against Baylor was pitifully slow. Any player with even moderate D-1 speed would have flipped the field several times. Baylor got the ball back after giving up the tying TD with around 3 minutes left. They were deep in their own end. I forget the exact sequence, but the Bears faced 3rd and 12 with like 50 seconds left on the clock. During the play, the QB (Robertson) was pressured. He threw blindly across his body into the center of the field for an easy INT. Had he simply eaten the sack, Baylor could have punted and defended a field with no time left. OT was a virtual certainty. Instead, Utah ran several dive plays (already in FG range) to kill the clock. They ended up scoring when a Baylor player deliberately threw the RB into the endzone. A fairly astute move. On the ensuing possession, Utah let a single receiver run behind them (yes, they were in umbrella coverage - it was comical) catch a deep bomb to give Baylor a final shot at a TD pass from the 12 yard line. The fade was on target and likely should have been flagged for DPI. It wasn't. The game was a mistake filled slog with 2 teams trying to kill off the clock. If Texas false starts, holds, and plays with concrete handed receivers trying to execute a technical work of art, Baylor can drain the clock and make it interesting. If Texas plays high school football concepts with their size, strength, speed, and skill advantages, Baylor will be done by the middle of the 2nd quarter.

Having watched way too much Baylor football, a few things: Baylor will want to drain the clock. Their offense is largely what they want to call "wide zone" where the OL blocks sideways in an attempt to stretch the defense laterally. The RB is supposed to find the the open gap and cut. Ideally, this gets 3-4 yards at a time, runs the play clock, and converts 3rd/4th downs to waste as much time as possible. Baylor lacks the strong power back to make this work. The QB can make hay on deliberate keepers, but isn't strong enough to improvise. Passing only occurs when the defense over-commits to stop the run. It's usually thrown back "against the grain" to a WIDE open receiver standing by himself. The injured starter QB Blake Shapen can sort of read defenses and work a progression (I do not expect him to play). The 2nd string Sawyer Robertson is a transfer from Mississippi State. He will ONLY throw to his first read, and will stare it down. Texas has way too much speed and power. Sweat can single-handedly blow up their OL. The danger here is getting too aggressive and jumping run fits. Texas is better at every position, and only has to play within themselves to avoid long, clock draining, possession stealing drives. Baylor has no DL. Texas could literally run the A gap dive the entire game and win handily. Avoid the temptation to over-innovate, beat the defender in front of you, and smash your way down the field until Baylor's defense puts all 11 guys on the LOS in an attempt to push back. Any passing done is purely for fun. Don't overthink the problem. Wyoming used a combination of time wasting and strength to give themselves a chance. Texas obliged by doing just enough dumb things to kill the precious few amount of possessions they had. It made the game a lot closer. Baylor will want to do the same thing, but Texas is bigger, faster, stronger, and more talented at every spot. Play a simple game, stay focused, and enjoy a 50% Burnt Orange stadium until halftime, after which it'll be 90%.

My favorite thing about that celebration is how it indicated he understood the concept. He knew the route trees, he knew where the defense's vulnerability was, he knew he'd sucked in the deep safety, and he knew it was a TD when the ball went up.

Texas cannot be "back" after one game. Texas is "back" when we're all bitching about only winning 10 games a season and being #5 at the end of the regular season. Re: Alabama and Saban's dotage Kyle Flood works for us now. His big boys kept parted the Tide and kept them off Quinn. If holding hadn't been allowed, Saban wouldn't be discussing Milroe's growth. He'd be discussing his recovery.

Every coach wants their team to play more physical. The short answer is: Kyle Flood works for us now.

If you want to press coverage, you'll need a pass rush guaranteed to get to the QB in non-geologic time. Take Brian Orakpo as your example. Which one of our defenders can reliably pressure a QB?

I think Kyle Flood is one of, if not the, best in the business. Him following Sark to Texas was huge. Other schools have to scheme. They have to react to the defense, block to their strengths, and paper over the deficiencies. Schools like Texas should get to pick the large, strong beasts, train them in proper footwork and hand placement, and dictate in a violent manner how the play will be run. Nobody replaces a generational talent like Bijan Robinson. However, two seasons training with Flood, and executing as a group, will let whomever gets the honor of playing behind them experience contact past the LOS instead of dodging behind it.

Kyle Flood received an amazing amount of freshman talent last year. Even when freshmen are that talented, it's usually inadvisable to have them play right away. It's usually a sign of pure desperation, and the results are usually poor. Kelvin Banks not only started on the OL, he did so at LT. Over the course of a season, you can count his mistakes almost on one hand. This just doesn't happen. All that to say that the rest of the OL class could easily be ready for their own moments next year. Between classes and game plan installs, it's just usually not possible for the OL coach to diagnose and fix mechanical mistakes. That's done in spring and fall camps. Some heralded names that we cooed over last December could easily get called again this September. I want those OLines where you go for it on 4th and 1 and just trust that they'll shove the defense back 2 yards. It's an optimistic goal for next season, but we're closer than we've been in a decade or more.

Baylor doesn't get emotional. Their offense does what it does regardless of the opponent. What it does is run stretch zone. The OL goes toward the wide side and tries to get the DL to follow. The RB takes the pitch and tries to find a cutback gap before he reaches the boundary. That's the base. Out of that, the want to misdirect. They want to fake wide and toss to the weak side. The QB will pull the mesh and waggle to the opposite side. They'll try "first man through" plays. Passing is based off getting the defense to attack the run and leave the opposite side throw wide open. They use a large, physical TE Sims as a possession receiver to great effect. They lack talent to beat a defense "straight up" in the passing game, but can secure chunk plays when the secondary bites on a misdirection. They like to be plodding, eat clock, and gain first downs. Texas fans will appreciate the strategy from "earlier years" of methodically gaining ground through pounding the run, only to inexplicably do some complicated triple reverse throwback naked blind QB screen shit that fails spectacularly and turns 2nd and 6 at the opponent's 17 to 3rd and 25 at the 36. Their defense is a violent DT, Apu Ika, and a bunch of guys doing their best. If Ika is allowed to cause havoc by disrupting line play, those guys can flow to the ball. If he's not occupying the offensive backfield, then Baylor's defensive athletes will come up 2nd best in every match up. Texas could simply use Sanders, Whitt, and Robinson to more than deplete Baylor's defensive abilities. Obviously, if the OL has a repeat of the TCU brain cramp, then there's no hope. I'm basing assessments on an aggregate of the season and not that one badly timed crapstorm. Baylor's offense will have some success. They have hard working players that understand the scheme. If the Texas defense stays disciplined and doesn't start trying to play 3 positions at once, they'll be better than Baylor. Similarly, Baylor's defense will come to stop Bijan. They probably won't be able to do that outright, but Quinn can make the offense's job easy by seeing his elementary reads.

Thank you! This is page 5 in the play manual for "plucky upstart upsets Big Name". Score. Onside kick at a weird time. Run a trick play immediately after recovery. To be fair, their trick play didn't work as a trick play. The intended receiver was triple covered. Should have been a lazy interception. However, the DB's hips betrayed him, he did a sort of "hokey pokey" thing, and the pass was caught.

Ordinarily, starting true freshmen on the OL is a sign of desperation and usually ends poorly. These aren't normal freshmen, and Kyle Flood had all summer to demonstrate his way. For such a large, violent position, success depends on hand placement, keeping your feet in contact with the earth as much as possible, and keeping your mass over your base. The only way to do these things in a game is to practice them until they become habits. There just isn't enough time during the week in season to correct bad fundamentals. Offensive lines don't earn praise for practice. They earn it when they go against an angry defensive unit that doesn't care if Quinn Ewers gets hurt.

The first week of practice depth chart is more important. The only people who care about a depth chart at all are those who have to constantly offer up disconnected football thoughts. Once the season opens, there's actual game tape to obsess over.

The barrier to entry for Twitter is very low. The quality of the product is usually in accordance. Depth charts belong with the fax machine in the bin of "things that used to convey information, but now are largely just advertisements for vacation rentals and bogus health insurance". Aside from probably 5 OL and a QB, nothing on either side of the ball really has a position or assurance. We might run TE, RB, and WR in any combination. Maybe on this play a big possession receiver stands in the "X" space. Maybe on the next a speedy guy is lined up there. In the next series, we've recovered a fumble on the 2 yard line, so Cam Williams is playing the TE position. Depth charts don't MAS. If you're in uniform Saturday night, know where your helmet is and where you line up when your formation is called. Everything else is effluvia.

It is right and good that you posted this. This is practically "intervention" level evidence of the problem. A couple of them the OL didn't quite let the QB set. Sure. A couple were clear "don't catch that" interference from DBs. The vast majority are clearly a superior athlete shredding the defense, standing all by his lonesome - and just having the ball thrown sort of randomly. These aren't in need of NFL quality throws. A practice toss somewhere within 3 yards would have done. Worthy was almost a passing offense by himself. I understand he should have help this season, but it's apparently not compulsory. I further understand the Burnt Orange family is blathering about which of their two perfect QBs gets the honor of throwing to him. This video should alleviate the stress. "Perfect" isn't required. "Adequate" will score points.

If I had to offer hope, it'd be that the NCAA did us a huge favor by allowing coaches to teach over the summer. Those details alluded in previous reports about hand placement, sinking hips, explosions, and footwork mean everything to OLinemen. During the season, you just can't stop practice and coach them up. I believe in Kyle Flood. He'll get the best out of his players, given the opportunity. He didn't get much of an opportunity last year (remember COVID restrictions were still in place for most of the spring). While I believe he'll improve everyone's play, I don't think our upperclassmen are currently the future of the program. We're set to test the limits of conventional wisdom. Normally, even "talented true freshmen" are a liability on the OL. If they played at all (before the relaxed redshirt rules), it would be in garbage time when the play calls were simplistic and the defenses weren't going full out. However, in our current situation, the freshmen are THAT talented, the coach is THAT good (and got extra time to instruct the details), and unfortunately, the existing prospects were THAT poor. It may be the case that one or more really are ready to go. I'd be surprised if that were the case, but frankly after last season, I'm ready to be surprised.