GoldAppleCorps

The NCAA changed the rules regarding summertime coaching. That's the only reason why the true freshmen are even in the discussion. These guys will be stars one day, but collegiate defenses just do too many things that high school defenses don't do. Last season, these mammoth men were looking forward to simply squashing the hapless 16 year old in front of them. Now, they'll need to pick up 20 year old All-Americans slanting, stunting, and switching from all angles. It's a lot to take in. We're in new territory with the extra instruction this summer. The true frosh could be ready.

Baylor had a very good team strategy last year. They knew they could play stout defense, so their offense was "wide zone". That is, shuffle to the right and try to bash your way to 4 yards when you see a crease. Abram Smith was the perfect "John Riggins" (I'm old) style back for that. This did two things. It drew the defenses up to allow the infrequent passing game a wider latitude and, more critically, it wasted a heckuva lot of time. By limiting possessions, Baylor only had to hang on 4 or 5 times. Now one of two things could be true here. It could be that Jeff Grimes (Baylor's OC) is a genius who analyzed his available skill set and tailored an offense that exactly leveraged those talents. It could also be the case that this just happened to be the one he ran at BYU and it's really all he knows and was thrilled it worked out. I do know that this version must absolutely look different. The offense will almost certainly need to score more points since it's unlikely the defense will be as stiff. This same offense won't have the proven power backs and will rely on new runners to execute the gap reads. In the same vein, there are no experienced WR. The QB is conceptually more suited to passing, but was raw last season and didn't show much. Is Baylor's OL really that good when asked to straight pass block, or did they manage to get in the way while Smith bashed over the defense?

How old is he? If he isn't 21, there's no "legal" amount of alcohol when driving.

Here's to a game called Ten Toes. It's played all over town. The Lassies play it Ten Toes up, The Laddies Ten Toes down!

Texas Longhorn Football is about the only thing I'll redirect obligations for. I'll disturb the peace during the game. USMNT - During qualifying, I try to remember my upbringing and not unnecessarily impugn the nationality of those flopping, rolling, and cutting Pulisic's ankles. After qualifying, I sort of accept the fact that they're not upper echelon championship material yet. Dallas Stars - Watch whenever I can, although Fox Sports Southwest (or whatever) thinks it's still 1997 and everyone has a cable subscription (another rant entirely). This season they couldn't score goals. The playoff series against the Flames was merely a confirmation of that. When they show a notion to accede to a higher caliber, I'll be much more passionate fan. Texas Basketball - Games should only be 10 minutes long. I can't watch an entire game (my basic lack of knowledge on the finer details). College basketball is tailor-made for bitching about the refs. There's others I might have on whilst folding laundry, but that's largely the complete list of "undivided attention" teams.

The OL is kinda like a Thanksgiving turkey. You have to keep the oven closed, trust the chef, and let it bake. Like that turkey, when the moment comes, you've either got a beautiful spread, or a whole lot of pissed off people! Rightly so, we're all going to be worried about it. Last year absolutely sucked, and it was almost all the OL's fault. To extend the analogy, Flood walked into the kitchen to find a bunch of mismatched seasonings and the bird still frozen. The oven was still being fixed. An offensive line can't be thought of as five separate players. They act as one unit. If a WR misses his route, he just doesn't get the ball that play. If a RB blows the call, the QB scrambles. If the LT misses his assignment, well, we all saw what happens. This is also why an 18 year old kid who was road grading teenagers last year isn't going to succeed against 22 year old collegiate defenders. In addition to the strength mismatches, the learning curve is impossibly high for a guy trying to locate his English class. Stranger things have happened, but not many. A better way to plan is Kyle Flood and J'Tavian Sanders. Last spring, Flood barely met his charges. We were still stuck in COVID protocols. You just can't teach OL from a book over Zoom. Once the season starts, there's just not enough time to correct the footwork and hand placement problems. I'm eager to see what he does with the entire offseason to work. The presence of a competent TE is a force multiplier to the OL. If the defense assigns a DE to the outside edge, he won't be able to track the TE into coverage. If you spend a LB covering him, he could be blown out of the play if the TE seals the edge with a block. Now, the spring game was a setup designed to make the offense look good, but watching Sanders run seams, seal edges, and drag defenders out of position using motion tickled me in my special regions. The TE is the linchpin of our offensive schemes, and Texas has a player! Last season's OL was a special kind of shitshow that negated the talents of a lot of good position players. Its failures kept the defense on the field far too long. They own responsibility for a huge piece of that embarrassing record. They are what they were until proven differently against a hostile defense trying to kill our superstar QBs. I've watched too many seasons of incompetent OL play to make predictions, but I believe I've articulated reasons to look for improvement.

TEs are the "unfair" position on the offense. With all the arbitrary rules about "ineligible lineman down field", the TE is the lineman that can go down field. In doing so, he can completely wreck the defense's pretty pass rush and rotation. I saw that in the spring game with Sanders. Now, the game was largely a basic offensive skills competition with the defenses not really throwing complicated stuff at the OL (and in the process making them look better than proven), but 0 had the DEs and LBs gong all sorts of wrong. He's too big to assign a LB to, but a DE can't run with him in coverage. That's exactly what an "every down" TE should bring. Make the defense wrong. I was hyper-focused on blocking patterns, so I didn't study Billingsley's snaps that much. He'll have value in likely passing downs or in 12 sets. He seems less likely to block a LB, but would cause the defense to rethink a blitz or overload. He's a seam buster that would make a CB reconsider his commitment to the game. Really, the Texas TE rooms is a good mix of skills. So good that it'll be critical not to tip your intentions by who's sent out for a given play.

I got no knowledge of the actual stop. No idea what his specific facts are. But yeah, 38.04 is your citation: https://codes.findlaw.com/tx/penal-code/penal-sect-38-04.html Follow along with me as we realize: (a). The lights and cop car behind you are a good indicator that this is a peace officer attempting to detain you. (b). Hey! It's a Class A misdemeanor (still a pretty serious charge), EXCEPT: 1. It's a State Jail Felony if: 1a. You've done this before OR 1b. You do it in a vehicle or watercraft I'm gonna assume he wasn't in a boat at the time. I only mention all of this in case there's impressionable youths (yout's?) amongst us. It's always a felony to run from the cops in a car - even once for fun. It gets worse if you've done it before, somebody gets hurt when you do it, or (for some reason), you try to pop the cops' tires whilst doing it. Pull over, keep your hands in plain sight, be polite, have your license and insurance current and where you can find them, and politely decline all requests for searches. If the worst is gonna happen, give your lawyer something to work with by not legitimizing everything by being a jackass. Oh yeah. Taking contraband into a secure facility or destroying evidence are two other sneaky felonies. If you're being arrested, own up to the baggie in your pants, and:

For a right-handed QB, LT is his blind side. This guy cannot just whiff. Yes, he's going to be involved in pulling playside, but his overarching value is in letting the QB settle his feet and square his shoulders. Keep in mind that not much growth typically occurs for OL during the season. There's just too much to do in installing game plans to get "nuts and bolts" technical with footwork (an OL's bedrock) and hand placement. I say this because Kyle Flood is still the best in the business at teaching OL. He didn't have much time last year. There's every reason to believe that he can transform potential during the spring, summer and fall. Karic isn't long term Tackle. However, he's got the personality to keep the QB upright at LT until a better candidate is ready, at which point he'll be a natural guard. Someone's got to play the position, and tasking a true freshman with the job isn't a recipe for success. The incoming talent is legendary, and it just might work, but that's not the way to hope. Until the OL is attacked by a hostile defense (that is, one that doesn't care if the QB dies or not), then the Texas OL is still the grabastic mess we saw last season. They're the weak point, like a cracked engine block, that will keep the team from functioning.

The most popular guy on campus, when the program is struggling, is the backup QB. I love the guy, appreciate what he did for Texas and how hard he worked, but start the season 2-4 and see how much love you can find.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Standing behind a double-bass somewhere between Heaven and Hell... T-E-X-A-S!!!

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.

Team: "They know our play!" VY: "So?"

When Zach Evans gashed us for two runs, then TCU promptly fumbled a pointlessly intricate double reverse, I thought, "That's the most Tom Herman thing I can think of!".

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.