GoldAppleCorps

Money seems like a guy who runs his route exactly correctly every single time. If he were the only guy on the field, he'd never get open. When the defense is fighting to run with the other receivers and account for the RB, he's going to be standing by himself quite frequently. After that happens, you're basically running a kick return. The defense is trying to turn around and track the guy with the ball. The offense is trying to get in their way. The ball carrier is trying to take advantage of the confusion and wander forward. The WR Screen takes advantage of a defense getting comfortable. If the receivers are regularly beating press coverage, then the DBs start leaning back and "picking up" the receivers as they get into their routes. The screen gets the ball out there quickly (and sort of blindly) to burn the defense's backwards motion. GDGD (and others) got in trouble when they used it off schedule. If the receivers haven't established their deep threat, then the DBs will still be up tight, or even worse, running downhill at the snap. At that point, the receiver is catching the ball flat footed while the DB clocks him in the head (being legal and preferred at that time). Coordinators really are engaged in a kind of chess match. Do the simple things until your opponent proves he can stop them. That's why having Bijan Robinson makes this offense dangerous, and why wealthy men spent 8 figures to remove the person who didn't want to play him all game.

Joshua Moore's comment that "somebody will always be open, no matter what" is how Sark's offense works. It's dangerous by design. Without ever really considering athletic abilities, if the receivers see what they're supposed to see, understand what that means, and run where they're supposed to run, then the defense will always be wrong in at least one place. It may take a second, such as a Safety deciding to attack Bijan Robinson's wheel route rather than bracketing Moore, thus leaving Joshua to roll his route inside with no help. Perhaps extra defensive help is rolled to that side, but pre-snap motion shows that Worthy is now being covered by a LB. It's the QB's job to see that, know why it happened, know what it means, and have the ball there on time and in the right spot. If the offense is run correctly, QB1 arrives at the post-game conference in a squeaky clean uniform, sipping water, and answering questions about if getting lifted in the 3rd quarter is affecting his Heisman chances.

It's a foregone conclusion. It's about as suspenseful as the Iranian Presidency election.

This move has to happen. It was never "if", but "when". After the SCOTUS forced the NCAA to abdicate amateurism rules (of which NIL is only the first domino), the rules of college football are changing. Nothing we can do about it. If we want to play the game at the highest level (I know we haven't in a few years, but that's a different post), then we're going to have to change with it. The SEC is currently the closest thing to the semi-pro game. I think the SEC itself will shortly (in the next 5 years) undergo further change, but again, another post. I wish this weren't the case. The Big 12 plays fascinating (if not always high level) football. The relationships between everyone in the State of Texas makes water-cooler talk passionate. The shared history won't easily be replaced. This isn't about money. It's only mostly about recruiting. The Big 12 was never stable even with Texas anchoring it. ISU getting a different offer or WVU leaving would have also killed it. For all the good things in the Big 12, it was the State of Texas and a couple of states that no one lives in. You can't run a conference on that. The best time to change jobs is when you don't have to. When the "big boys" reconfigure the amateurism rules for college football, the conversation will start with the SEC. The Texas Athletic Department is, like it or not, the most massive star in that particular galaxy. They have to have a seat at the table.

Most people (well, not many, actually) will encounter it in a liqueur named "Absinthe". Absinthe is created with an infusion of wormwood (a herb) distillate. The drink is a beautiful, clear emerald color in the bottle - giving it the nickname "the green fairy". Usually, before drinking, it's poured into the bottom of a glass, a slotted spoon containing a lump of sugar is placed over the top, and cold water filtered in. When the water mixes with the absinthe, it turns an opalescent cloudy white. Absinthe was favored by your creative types like Baudelaire, Picasso, Oscar Wilde, and such. Aleister Crowley wrote a book called "The Green Goddess". Since the thujone was supposed to be psychoactive, eventually absinthe was mostly banned. It's easily available today, but with most of the thujone filtered out. To me, it's another anise (licorice) flavored liqueur that I don't really care for.

It was 45 minutes of utterly incompetent football, 12 minutes of a brilliant rally, and 3 minutes of letdown. The halftime score was 22-6 Tech, as Texas had rallied to kick 2 FGs in the last 5:30 of the 1st half. We stopped the opening drive of the 2nd half, returned the punt for a TD, then Colt McCoy promptly threw a pick 6. There's plenty to dissect over that last drive. However, we sucked goat arse for most of that game. With a trip to the MNC on the plate, we failed mentally.

If this goes the way I think it will, Texas fans are going to have to get used to a couple of new concepts: 1) The ideal QB will be closer to Tom Brady than Vince Young. 2) The OC will have sent the offense onto the field with the tools to beat the defense. All those QB camps that kids go to in middle school and high school teach them how to read a defense. They teach drop technique, arm angles, throwing open a receiver, etc. Hudson Card is a star graduate of all those camps. Sark's offense comes ready to beat a given defense, and it's the QB's job to see the win on every play, and properly execute it. Three months ago, I'd have said the job was almost certainly his. Casey Thompson just looked trained for a different type of game. However, what I've seen out of Thompson this spring and summer told me he understands Sark's vision, and is ready to marry his formidable athletic potential to a clinical understanding of the game. He's gone and found guys that play with Brady and train like Brady build that part of his game. When the pads come on, I expect he'll be very difficult to dismiss.

I made it sound simple. All you gotta do is see all that stuff by reading the helmets lined up across from you. You don't the the "All-22" view like TV does. But yeah, Mac won as many MNC games as VY did. Strangely, I believe PK's defense functions in about the same way. He asked the offensive coordinators what their offenses were keying off of. He then presents those keys to make the offenses do what he wants them to do. If he shows pressure, then the RB has to stay at home to pick up the blitz. If that blitz never comes, well, that's one less player his defense has to worry about. He presents the opposing offense with the "worst case scenario", forces them to cover it, then doesn't give it to them.

In Sark's world, the QB is the decision maker. You come to the LOS, and the defense tells you where the play goes. The receivers see it, the OL sees it, the backs see it, and the QB damned well better see it. When the ball is snapped, the QB confirms what he sees. Did the Safety spin down to help with run support? If so, the X receiver is one on one. Throw skinny and let him go get it. If not, was the box light? If so, give to the RB. The other receivers are options (in Sark's words, start with the deep "TD" option and work back to the LOS). A QB who comes to run is limiting the offense. There will ALWAYS be someone in scoring position in his offense. If the defense wins the play or (gasp) the offense doesn't do its job correctly, then a QB run for positive yards is a consolation prize. It would be viewed as an overall offensive failure, however. The QB's job is to get the ball to the right player on time and on target. Sark's offense is functional by design, and not over reliant on super athletic abilities.

Mrs Milton found him boring too But that doesn't relieve you of your responsibility for this material. Now I'm waiting for reports from some of you... Listen, I'm not joking. This is my job!

Any time I have a new QB and an unsettled OL, I'm concerned. Those are two things that basically define a football team. As they go, so goes your chances of winning. Bad OL play is just impossible to scheme around. Great OL play makes every other player better. I believe Herman told Hand, "Here's what we're running. Teach your boys to block it.". I believe Sark asks Flood, "What do your boys do well? I'll build my offense on that.". Further, I believe that the Texas roster is better than was shown last season. I believe player skills were misapplied and used incorrectly in haphazard combinations. Having a competent OL and Bijan Robinson on the field makes a defense scheme to stop him first. I'm not predicting unstoppable, Bama style play, but with that threat, an OC who wants to pressure a defense can link plays together that does just that. This can be a formidable offense. First, though, the OL has to be beaten on by an angry defense. I've looked too foolish predicting success by previously well heeled OL coaches.

Let's pray for boring. Boring, right now, is good. Of course we'll be happy with a couple of grad transfers shortly, but other than that, we need to stay out of the news for the next 9 weeks or so. When I get to work and the "Offseason" thread page count jumps by 6, it's either (a) really bad news or (b) a slap fight about who owns more expensive loafers.

Sark is emphasizing that he's valuing what's betwixt the QB's ears more than hyper-athletic traits. When the QB comes to the line, there's a correct call for the defense he sees. When the ball is snapped, there's a correct place to go with it. The player who knows the answers to those puzzles most often, while minimizing the absolute wrong answers, will get the football first. He'd be thrilled if the QB never crossed the LOS in a game.

If you really care, I believe this link -> https://www.ncaa.org/sites/default/files/20-Hour-Rule-Document.pdf spells it out. There's dates involved about when things can occur. However, I understand the NCAA recognized that a lot of kids just won't quit. Being in a major football program means that they'll work whenever they can. Unsupervised workouts without knowledgeable trainers ended up killing some kids. Thus, the NCAA allows training staff to assist with workouts. These workouts have to be "voluntary" in that the athlete has to initiate them. The training staff cannot take attendance, report the results or anything else to the coaching staff, nor instruct any playbook type alignments.

Your power comes from the ground. If your feet aren't on the ground, you're just another object to be thrown - no matter how much you can lift. Your center of mass has to be over your base. Your base is your feet. If a line from your center of mass to the ground does not stay between your feet, you're off balance and falling. Offensive linemen have all sorts of drilled in footwork and hand placements to keep these principles solid at all times. A defensive player can push, tug, grab, shove in any direction at any time. If it happens when you're not in a solid base, you're out of the play and your man is headed to the ball carrier. Anyone else think that PK doesn't understand the concept of "vanilla defense", and that he's gonna throw his evil genius at the OL in practice every day? I'm pretty sure he and Flood have a "gimmie your best shot!" thing going.

Bijan jump cuts through a hole in the wide zone. You recover from your FS position and do all you can to chase him down after a 60 yard gain - at which point he spins, you crumple, and get the best seat in the house as he jogs in. Bijan: You hope you can get a hand on him. RoJo: You hope you can't get a hand on him.

So we want Sark's blunt honesty and home grown Texas. Why not go with a ditty from 3 years before the players were born: Bonus points if we get to bash a printer at midfield.

I'm encouraged by the reports on Jake Majors. Pre-injury Derek Kerstetter is one of our best 5 OL players, but he was miscast at Center. It's a small sample size, but I really need Majors to take that job. It's cliche, but the only person who could stop Bijan Robinson was Tom Herman. RoJo is a punishing back. He'll absolutely need to perform his special skull busting magic in order for this team to achieve, but Robinson forces a defense to line up differently. When he's on the field, a defense absolutely has to devote resources his way - thus taking them out of the play. Taking him off the field deliberately is just out-thinking yourself. Football still relies on its fundamentals. Don't run a play unless you can block it. Running the football is still safer way to play, and makes throwing it easier. Having an offensive mindset that plays within the limits of the OL will make everyone else's skills that much better.

Obs:

It's an extremely small sample size thus far, but I've got high hopes for Andrej Karic. He's still young, but I believe he has access to that black hearted hate filled streak that's essential to playing OL. The position is painful, miserable, and you only hear your name called when you do it wrong. To compensate, an OL has to have a borderline criminal disposition whilst wearing shoulder pads that's only temporarily calmed by slamming another human into the ground. I'm not predicting he's the starting LT, but if he isn't, then the LT is going to be very good indeed. Angry people win football games. Kasey Studdard had it. So did Connor Williams. I'm ready to see it in Karic.

There's something in your eyes that says, "Maybe...." About our level:

Just how good is Kyle Flood? Texas has a once in a generation player at running back. The word best describing our OL is "potential". Potential means you haven't done anything yet. Yes, we can point out the warts on just about every other "skill" player, and Casey Thompson in particular has played exactly one half of a credible game as a "starter". Now, I'm looking at that OL and imagining. Flood's abilities with the pieces he's inherited will be the difference between a nightmare and sticky sheets.

Hah! The "I'm going to pretend to be a drill sergeant!" mentality. Surely if you act tough and behave like a jerk, people will respect you, right? The truth is, you just can't fake that kind of thing if that's not who you are. Urban may have gotten away with it, but that's likely who he really is. Players understood that from him because it was real. Herman sounds like he was trying to play the tough guy. Texas players have seen tough guys in their lives, and Herman wasn't it. Instead of motivating out of fear, it just fell flat. Sark seems like the enthusiastic sales guy. He's glad you're on the team! He'll smile and shake your hand. He'll show you the plan, give you everything you need to succeed, encourage you, give you tips when you're flagging, and still be smiling when he cuts you loose for not making your numbers 2 quarters in a row! If you're not getting it, there's three guys waiting for your job. He emphasizes trust = time + consistency. I believe he's consistent because he's being his true self. Playing for Texas can be fun and enjoyable. You can build camaraderie with your teammates and position coaches. Ultimately, though, it's a privilege. If you don't do the hard work and produce at a championship level, you'll be "future endeavor"ed.

Until spring practice starts, the S&C coach is essentially a mouthpiece for the rest of the coaching staff. He's the only one allowed to directly interact, so the head coach's plans and demeanor often flow through him in the offseason (such as it is any more). People get motivated in different ways. Not everyone will work with the spittle flicking rager of a strength coach. A good coach is part psychologist. It's only a tired body that grows and improves, but push it too far and it breaks. Getting to know who's working their best, motivating those with work to do, while not breaking the bodies is an art. There's no wonder that, as it became more and more obvious that the previous head coaches were failing, that the S&C coach suddenly wasn't adequate either. Until on-field practice starts, they are the head coach.

Your majesty is like a stream of bat's piss!