sushihorn

Texas is a really bad match up for Baylor. Big, athletic blockers and Baylor came in looking to challenge the Horns at the net. Most other teams have tried to hit tool shots off the edge of the block or high and flat off the top of the hands. Baylor tried to go straight at our girls just as Brionne was rounding back into form. Big mistake and the result was 4.0 blocks per set. She's also been back long enough to reestablish her connection with Jhenna. Texas has made limited use of the middles on offense this season but with Brionne and Jhenna getting their timing back that changed radically. .500 on 8 attempts for Asjia was just slightly more impact than Baylor expected but within the range. There is no way that they were prepared for .500 on 18 attacks from Butler. This season the OH have been the clear focus of the offense and the Baylor middles were clearly halfway bailing to the outside to double early in the match trying to take that away. That nearly open net allowed Brionne to score 3 of the first 7 kills that Texas posted in that first set before BU adjusted. But the adjustment left poorly formed double blocks and even outright single blocks for the OH whenever the Horns were in system.

All those years of SECx3 QB coaching are really paying off.

Timing is much harder and more important with middle attack. You can't just throw up a 3 ball like you can to the pins. Texas has a problem there since there are 2 first year starters at MB and the only returning player at that position missed so much practices and is still limited by injury. Not surprising that there would be a lot of issues with that in play. It really limits the offense and allows opposing teams' blockers to focus on the outside. Brionne has been devastating in limited action and the freshmen have done well with their opportunities. Jhenna doesn't use them enough because she's not confident in the timing yet.

Texas' goal for side out % is 66%. Any team that can win 1/3 of their service points is doing well. In serving, that translates to anything lower than a 2:1 ratio of errors to aces being really good.

Nice run of European conference championships but they got knocked out in the finals by the Allies' all-star team.

OU's run defense held Houston to around their per game average. That puts them at the level of Washington State, Tulane, North Texas and Prairie View A&M. Maybe I'm crazy but I'm not seeing a basis for your confidence here.

It's hard to tell where his model ends and his personal opinion starts. It's very unprofessional and a perfect example of the Appeal to (false) Authority Fallacy.

MUCH less chance of overpenetration when there is only a single running threat in the backfield. Every defender adjust their angles to the obvious ball carrier.

I have a few observations of changes made by DC Grinch this year. They look a lot like 2018 OSU and WSU previously. The concepts behind the scheme look a lot like what LSU does but much less sound. Obviously the Sooners are also doing it with less talent and a lot fewer reps than the Swamp Kitties. OU is using 4 man fronts on most downs – basically a 4-3 Over alignment with the NB in place of the SLB. It’s a penetrating 1-gap scheme which is a radical change from Stoops’ 2-gap wall to control the blocker and threaten both gaps. On the plus side it creates more quick pressure in the backfield. On the minus side it lends itself to overpenetration and overpursuit. The secondary has gone from an aggressive zone scheme to overwhelmingly straight quarters coverage. This puts a lot of bodies on the deep ball and gives tight, semi-man defense on the outside WRs. The NB gets walked up a lot into the 2nd level as an extra run defender, which creates opportunities for the slot receiver behind him on play action and RPO calls. See the second play of the UCLA game and picture the WR running slant splitting the safeties while the QB pulls the ball and throws it. Quarters coverage tends to have issues on short crossing routes since underneath coverage is light and you can count on man with the outside WRs. It also has some of the normal cover 2 issues with slot routes to the outside when combined with inside routes from the X WR. But to me the real issue is run fits in the secondary. 4 DBs have deep coverage responsibilities which means they often arrive late and from depth in run support. The really good defensive coaches address this by spilling runs to the sideline which gives their DBs a chance to catch up. The Purple Wizard of Manhattan used to do this with tough DL play and sound LBs that read well and always employed the correct leverage. Patterson uses his wide 9-tech to give immediate edge support and force the play wide. Grinch actually aggravates the issues with run fits from quarters by penetrating so aggressively with his front. When his DEs and BLB equivalent get upfield it creates a lot of room for B and C-gap runs. The DL often stem pre-snap or run slants and stunts. All the motion up front by the defense makes it even harder for the back end to fit the correct gap. It creates confusion for the OL but also for themselves and it means they are often not gap sound. You can see it in the history of Grinch’s defenses. Anybody with a solid running game could usually move the ball effectively and often enough they ripped him a new one. See UW, Zona with Kalil Tate and MSU’s Lewerke. You could see how the DL movement and poor run fits damaged tOSU’s run defense last year also. I expect OU’s pass defense to be more effective because their pass rush will create more pressure than last year. They’re also more likely to generate turnovers. But the tradeoff is increased vulnerability on the ground – especially to the big play.

Sam has been very good running the ball this year in action deliberately designed to limit the hits he takes. 290 yards on 42 carries (6.9 YPC), 3 TDs and a bunch of 1st downs. Sacks are adjusted out since they properly belong to the passing game. The obvious exception was LSU, where Sam carried the ball 19 times, including 5 sacks. Even there Sam averaged 6.0 YPC against a supposedly all-world defense. I expect Sam to carry the ball 15-20 times against OU for a lot of yards. Grinch is playing penetrating one-gap front with quarters coverage behind that. It's very vulnerable to getting hit up the gut since it keeps 2 safeties deep while the 4 man front attacks upfield and the CBs are aligned wide and near the LOS so they have no pursuit angles on interior runs. That puts nearly all the responsibility for stopping those runs on the 2 ILBs. I'm expecting a lot of G/TE power with a backside keeper threat, QB lead/draw and QB counter. Texas hasn't put much of those plays on film and I think for good reason. Most of the play calling has either been vanilla (tight zone) or stuff we won't use that much against OU (counter trey). For reference Sam had 19 and 15 carries against OU last year and 21 carries in the Sugar Bowl.

Connelly just can't figure out Texas and it makes him a pissy, irrational little bitch.

How vanilla was the Texas offense? In the first 25 minutes, they ran RB counter 3 times, split flow zone twice, QB draw once. Everything else was tight zone. No swing pass with TE lead that they use as an extension of the running game and that would have attacked the bail technique used by WVU in their cover 3. No designed QB runs other than the one draw play. No keepers from zone read looks to make the defense play honest. Then on the last scoring drive of the half Texas starts to mix it up and just marches down the field. We see outside zone and it's very effective when the DL slants because their momentum is already parallel to the LOS and you can just help them keep running themselves out of the play. Suddenly the tight (inside) zone becomes effective also. Herman calls a bootleg with pulling lineman protecting. It doesn't work but gives the D something to think about. Then after successfully diversifying the offense, Texas goes back into a play calling shell after halftime.

You look at their dentistry and it just scares you to death...

Bush Light? I think they just call that a Landing Strip these days...

WVU did not honor any backside constraints because they KNEW Sam wouldn't be risked against the likes of them. That allowed them to slant DL into the zone runs and to bring a backside blitzer crashing down to take away the cutback. OU will never have that luxury.

Lincoln Riley squats to peer because just sitting down is too much toxic masculinity.

OU's most dangerous running play is the Counter Trey. It's slow developing by definition with a huge OT pulling all the way across the formation. That's why ISU defended OU so much better than than they did vs Texas. The 3 defenders coming up from depth in run support need time to get there. Counter Trey gives them that time. Tight zone and power/iso don't. Texas can probably play base dime with the Joker coming downhill right into the pulling guard's inside hip. See what he's kicking out for. In the Army we used to call that reconnaissance by fire.

Stunt or fire zone to create inside pressure and flush him. He's got speed but not much quickness outside the pocket so good angles by the spy and secondary should usher him out for short gains when he scrambles. Just can't let him break straight upfield or let him out with time to set his feet and throw.

To beat LSU a team probably needs 3 out of 4 from: outstanding QB play, strong running game, great secondary and good pass rush while bringing 4. Texas had 2 of those 4 and couldn't quite get it done. AFAIK Florida has only one, the pass rush.

MU's DL looked pretty good against WVU but that may be an indicator of how bad the WV interior line is more than a positive comment on the quality of of MU's defensive front. Brown's actions tell us he doesn't trust his line to hold up running the ball. Mizzou's defense has feasted on 3 pretty weak teams: W Virginia, SE Missouri and S Carolina. Wyoming made them look really bad. Not only did the Cowboys put up 300 yards rushing - a figure you rarely see outside of the service academies these days. They couldn't produce negative plays. Wyoming gave up no sacks and only 2 TFLs in 58 offensive snaps. Mizzou couldn't stop the run and couldn't disrupt drives.

A few observations on WVU. Cross posting here since this seems to be the game preview thread: ............................................ With no Texas Football this weekend, I watched the last couple of WVU games. Posting observations here in the interests of conserving thread count and because this isn't a full-fledged write up. West Virginia is going to be severely outmanned on both sides of the LOS. They did not trust the OL enough to run inside much against NC State or Kansas. The vast majority of runs were outside the tackles - mostly stretch and jet sweep. The little inside stuff they ran was either draws from a pass look and a few counter plays. This is a big problem for the Mountaineers since the Texas DL will be the stoutest front they've seen and it's not close. Kendall is only a moderate running threat and can't hurt a defense much if they account for him. He's accurate in the short passing game but may not have a lot of time in the pocket unless they can establish a running threat. On defense, West Virginia has a similar problem. They've had trouble stopping the run and gave up a lot of 5+ yard plays so a good running game should be able to grind them down. They're are basically playing 4-3 personnel up front with a couple of 290 lb DTs, a 250 lb DE and 240 lb stand up hybrid. Both LBs are 220-230 and their nickel is about 200. WVU relies on quickness to offset lack of size but they are facing an OL that is very good at locating smaller defenders in space. I do like what Neal Brown is doing in coverage. He is playing a lot of zone beind 3-4 men rushing. He's got them dropping deep quickly, reading the QB and coming up aggressively to make the hit on the receivers. It's a good strategy for the smaller, quicker guys he's likely to be able to recruit and it was very effective against NC State - producing 8 PBUs. Much less so against Kansas and I think that was because KU had both a greater running threat and a QB capable of delivering the ball early instead of waiting until the receivers were clearly open, thus giving more time for the DBs to react. With the mismatch on both sides of the line it shouldn't matter much to Texas this year. It's definitely something to watch for the future as this looks like another scheme that can give pass-heavy teams fits once it matures.

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies. I like them soft and a little chewy - like my women.

With no Texas Football this weekend, I watched the last couple of WVU games. Posting observations here in the interests of conserving thread count and because this isn't a full-fledged write up. West Virginia is going to be severely outmanned on both sides of the LOS. They did not trust the OL enough to run inside much against NC State or Kansas. The vast majority of runs were outside the tackles - mostly stretch and jet sweep. The little inside stuff they ran was either draws from a pass look and a few counter plays. This is a big problem for the Mountaineers since the Texas DL will be the stoutest front they've seen and it's not close. Kendall is only a moderate running threat and can't hurt a defense much if they account for him. He's accurate in the short passing game but may not have a lot of time in the pocket unless they can establish a running threat. On defense, West Virginia has a similar problem. They've had trouble stopping the run and gave up a lot of 5+ yard plays so a good running game should be able to grind them down. They're are basically playing 4-3 personnel up front with a couple of 290 lb DTs, a 250 lb DE and 240 lb stand up hybrid. Both LBs are 220-230 and their nickel is about 200. WVU relies on quickness to offset lack of size but they are facing an OL that is very good at locating smaller defenders in space. I do like what Neal Brown is doing in coverage. He is playing a lot of zone beind 3-4 men rushing. He's got them dropping deep quickly, reading the QB and coming up aggressively to make the hit on the receivers. It's a good strategy for the smaller, quicker guys he's likely to be able to recruit and it was very effective against NC State - producing 8 PBUs. Much less so against Kansas and I think that was because KU had both a greater running threat and a QB capable of delivering the ball early instead of waiting until the receivers were clearly open, thus giving more time for the DBs to react. With the mismatch on both sides of the line it shouldn't matter much to Texas this year. It's definitely something to watch for the future as this looks like another scheme that can give pass-heavy teams fits once it matures.

As @texifornia mentioned two of the weakest teams have pretty impressive P5 wins even if the opponents themselves weren't that great. One of the weakest 3rd tier team beat up on the closest thing the SEC has to a middle class. The only real OOC disappointment is the TCU loss to SMU and the ponies are looking very solid.