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Urban Sprawl

Posted by ChrisApplewhite on January 5th, 2009 under Football

Spread? Sprawl? Get it? Tell your friends. It all starts with Tim Tebow. There are two kinds of QBs — facilitators and play makers. If you asked 1,000 media members in which category Tebow belonged, the 800 or so that can speak through their drool will tell you “play maker”. If you asked Kirk Bohls he would throw in a similie. Those 800 would be wrong.

There is nothing explosive about Tebow. He’s got decent speed but he’s not quick, and he’s not overly accurate. He’s not in the Chris Weinke/Jason White club of guys who literally couldn’t suck hard enough to hold their team back because of everyone else around them, but he is overrated. Local sports radio dolt AJ Hoffman said — all on air and in complete earnesty — that Tebow was one of the best players to ever play the game. This is not only grounds for removal from the radio via public firing, but also grounds for removal from Earth via shotgun.

Tebow has the mobility of a tight end and a sllllooooowwww release. He is accurate within 15 yards and has nice touch on the deep ball, but UF relies on getting guys wide open downfield rather than hitting them in stride like Sam Bradford does.

Oklahoma will run out 9 guys faster than Tebow on Florida’s first play. OU gets in trouble on defense when you make them commit more resources than they want on the QB or the RB because their defense works best when they can gang up on the WRs and confuse the QB. The spread of the . . . spread has made Bob Stoops shift his base defense from the 4-3 to the nickel, and they’ve generally kept two deep safeties where in the past they’d have a SS in the box more often than not. Or, at least more than they do now. These days you almost never see it.

ou-2-deep.jpg

That’s what you’ll get more often than not, and I don’t expect that to change against UF. Partially because Tebow doesn’t scramble all that much and partially because I’d bet that Stoops and Co. are comfortable just letting the pursuit deal with it.

ou-front.jpg

That is how the other UT lined up on the first play of their game, and that is how OU spent the last two years playing us. I’m guessing UF is going to see a lot of this. That is respect for Florida’s speed, and pretty much everyone lined up that way.

Tebow isn’t a guy who have to scheme for in the run game, unless it’s 3rd and 1. He’s a lot like Colt in that regard. He’ll tear up A&M, but if you have any speed on your defense, let him run. You’ll catch him before he gets 4 yards, and the real dangers lie elsewhere.

So why does he have the Heisman? Well, that the sports media are enormous douches in every sense of the word is one reason why. They don’t watch enough games and can’t comprehend what they do see well enough to rely on them as judges for anything. The other reason is because he makes great decisions.

There are two separate aspects to UF’s offense (There is one aspect to OU’s defense, which is Brent Venables clenching his jaw after another TD and hoping Bob Stoops doesn’t beat him mercilessly after the game), and in order to be any kind of effective a QB has to be able to accomplish both of them. There is the west coast passing scheme at which players like Chris Leak and Alex Smith excel, and the option game, at which Mountain West defenses excel.

Tebow is an OK runner and an OK passer but he handles both aspects so well that it doesn’t really matter. He’s the new generation’s Josh Heupel or Ken Dorsey. He isn’t going to juke 14 guys and run 70 yards and he won’t make passes no one else can, but he doesn’t really need to. The scheme and the speed do the heavy lifting for Florida, and all they need is a shepherd to make sure the ball gets to where it needs to go before the wolves come.

University of Florida Gators offense aspect one: Run the damn ball

Florida’s run offense is based primarily around the option. There is nothing really complicated about what they do, either. They key is — as we’ll see later — what they do around the option.

Their packages themselves are simple. They’ve simplified most of it to fit their needs — this isn’t Tom Osborne we’re talking about here.

They have the simple stuff like a speed option, even if they do throw those goofy Meyerisms in there like the reverse packages:

Zone blocking, read off of one guy. Easy. They’ve got the old G series in there:

Tebow reads the end and either follows the lead blocking guard, or pitches and the guard acts as a seal for the pitch. There aren’t 9 guys in the front so it’s all made super easy for Tebow. He can slice up athletic SEC defenses like they were third world penii.

My favorite package of theirs is the shovel option:

Count the ways they stress the front. A reverse to hold the pursuit, then three options coming of the other side, except no one ever covers the TE. Why would you? David Hernandez is every bit the runner Tebow is so it’s a brutally effective play. With OU’s pavlovian desire to fetch the ball will almost certainly leave creases for this to work.

Another thing you’ll see is something we should all be familiar with by now, the wide splits. We bitch slapped Missouri when they tried this, but UF’s offensive line is athletic as hell, almost to a fault. They can pull this off:

There is nothing spectacular going on. Meyer stressed the defense and Demps, being the tiny, fast motherfucker that he is sprints right through. OU is masterful, and they always have been, at textbook run defense. Making them face unique situations where they can’t follow the rules is how you beat them. UF should spread them out any way they can.

They do the normal stuff, too, like the zone read. As usual, they do it unusually:

They find the DE regardless of where he is on the line and run it off of him. It’s the veer without the pitch. It’s a more sophisticated scheme and I have to admit I am getting a little angry right now. They even have my pet play:

I want to have Meyer/Mullen babies.

How well all of this will go over is an unknown. OU has active but not always disciplined LBs and with Granger out, it’s unknown if they’ll have a plugger in the middle. Florida is the ultimate grind-it-out team, so OU will have to create negative plays. How well they limit Florida will be solely determined by how well they penetrate. Florida’s OL is built for speed so it won’t be impossible. It’s going to be a game long struggle to see who beats who to the spot.

Two: “Run” it, too

In my opinion this is the biggest challenge for OU. Not because it’s the hardest to stop, but because it’s the most important to stop.

The spread has given birth to a new kind of running play that almost entirely removes the OL. The plays themselves are closer to screens, but their intent is the same as an old fashioned handoff. Would you rather give Jamaal Charles the ball and crash him into 14 gentlemen larger than him, or get him into space so he can use his talents? Herm Edwards knows.

That might go in the book as a pass, but it’s not. You can tell by the TE. He’s not running a route. If the safety doesn’t tackle Harvin, that’s a touchdown. OU is a pretty good tackling team, but it only takes one missed tackle. This is the type of low risk/high reward play that is so prevalent now, and Urban Meyer does it better than anyone else in the game.

Three: “West coast”

This shit made Alex Smith $40 million dollars:

That’s what why the spread and he west coast work so well together. Quick, easy pass to a game breaker leading to a game breaking play. There is nothing you can do against that in the scheme. If UF is going to send 5 guys out, it’s really hard to double one guy, and Florida puts Harvin is so many places that it’s tough to know where he’ll be. And who double teams swing routes and quick outs? Nobody. That’s why his YAC are what they are.

There is also the traditional west coast staple: running towards an open spot and stopping. Seems easy, but it requires a read for two players, then setting up the timing and the spot. It’s pretty difficult to sync all of that enough to consistently move the chains, but Florida does it very well.

OU has pretty good corners so we may not see a lot of Harvin on the outside. But Urban finds his ways. The similarity to both plays is that all the WRs are on the right. Harvin motioned out from the backfield on this play, and stayed in it in the swing screen above. LSU kept both it’s corners over the trip WRs, and OU does the same thing. If you treat Harvin like a WR and put a corner on either side, then the strength of the formation has the mismatch. Treat him like a RB and he’ll kill you on short passes. Put a bunch of WR on the field and Florida will run through you.

The marriage of all the aspects is the real key behind the scheme. We run a similar offense, in theory, but we don’t have Urban Meyer calling plays. We don’t take advantage of the defense in any purposeful way.

For instance, here is that first speed option again:

At first glance there is nothing spectacular about this play. What’s interesting is the circumstance. Normally the OL will leave one guy unblocked — the guy the QB is reading. Because of the west coast-y passing game, the defense has to account and stand in the general vicinity of every skill player lest they get screened to death. Because of the speed, they need to keep safeties back.

So what’s so special? Look at the front. Nobody goes unblocked. The only reason Tebow had to pitch at all was because the DE beat Hernandez’s block. It was 7 on 6 up front if you count Tebow as a de facto blocker. Had LSU adequately outnumbered the run, Percy Harvin was going single covered:

That’s why the spread is so dangerous and that’s why Meyer is the best play caller in the game. Tebow never audibles. Meyer is the mad scientist on the sideline.

Ever since he got to Florida he’s been running a mutant version of his offense — basically all the goofy fringe stuff — because his QBs couldn’t handle what he did at Utah. Chris Leak was strong in the short passing game but not much of a runner or deep passer, despite being black. Tim Tebow was a first year starter that didn’t give you much in the run game and was still figuring out the passing game. They mostly just pounded him up the middle until they could get something deep. Yeah, he won a Heisman (that he didn’t deserve), but he’s a much better player this year. Meyer is finally running his offense. Spread you out with base personnel and let you decide how he’s going to take your lunch money.

So how will this work against OU? Hard to say. The underneath passing stuff will be there all night, but the run game will be hit and miss because it’s been OU’s strength forever. The question is how well Florida can scheme OU’s defense apart, literally. If they can spread the field then the Oklahoma LBs get infinitely less effective. No reason Florida shouldn’t spend all night spread out in the 5 wide look, even with base personnel.

Unlike Vince Young, Tebow isn’t someone you can say “go win us this game” and he’ll do it. It’s a team effort at Florida. If one thing isn’t working then none of it works. OU can usually stop one thing. That’s why I think Oklahoma wins, 38-24.

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68 Responses

  1. Bartholemew Switzer said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:31 am

    Good read. Imagine the results of Florida’s offense if they had Pat White running the show. Lethal.

  2. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    He couldn’t handle the passing aspect as well. I think any of the Big 12 QBs outside of Bradford and Freeman could kill it. Reesing or Robinson would be remembered as legends had they gone to Florida.

  3. The General said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:44 am

    CA,

    While I think OU may have a slight advantage on offense and defense, Florida has an enormous special teams advantage that I think accounts for two touchdowns.

    Great breakdown of the Florida O.

    UF 42 OU 38

  4. Steve Nebraska said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:50 am

    So, assuming there’s some justice in this world and it’s us and not OU playing in this game, how would we defend it? Muschamp did pretty well at Auburn against Meyer, as I recall.

  5. Bartholemew Switzer said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:54 am

    Is there that much disparity in Pat White’s arm and Tebow’s?

  6. Kafka said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 11:17 am

    Chris,

    Great job, very meaty, thought provoking post.

    I’m guessing Florida wins. OU has been so terrible in the post season in recent years, why should OU do better this year? OU losing their top TB hurts when they play the best competition. Tebow’s running means that OU has to account for him while Florida does not have to worry about Bradford running so that simplifies D slightly for Florida. The Florida offense is more difficult to scheme for than the OU offense. Meyer is smarter than Stoops.

    It will be interesting to see if OU’s fast break offense discombobulates Florida.

  7. dick said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 11:22 am

    I don’t get it. You go through explaining the genius of Meyer and his offense and then you predict that he will get held below OU’s season average and 18 less points than Greg Davis and his O scored on them? Is OU’s defense really any different than what UF sees week in and week out in the SEC?

  8. Jackie Sherrill said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    Tim Tebow is a left handed Bucky Richardson

  9. Huckleberry said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 11:36 am

    I disagree with your conclusion simply because I think that this year’s Oklahoma defense has to throw too many resources at stopping one thing in order to do it.

  10. dasmithjones said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 11:37 am

    My wish: The Paperclips: 0, the Toothy Grinners: 2. That’s it. A safety, in regulation! We take care of business tonight and leave no question.

  11. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    “Is OU’s defense really any different than what UF sees week in and week out in the SEC?”

    Not really. But look at this list:

    Johnathan Crompton
    Stephen Garcia
    Jevan Snead
    Matt Stafford
    Kobi Burns
    Jerrett Lee
    Jon Parker Wilson
    etc.

    Bradford will be unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

    If Florida wins it’s because OU can’t protect him and, like The General said, UF’s special teams comes to play. It’s a huge difference there.

    UF’s defense isn’t really as good as their numbers. The SEC was brutal this year from the QB position.

    The Tennessee game in particular was fun to watch. UT had 4 turnovers, 3 in the red zone. They grinded out their yardage though.

  12. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    You could say the best QB on that list is Snead, and UF lost that game.

  13. DJ said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 12:41 pm

    One game I watched, Brantley came in in the 4th quarter, and he looked better running the offense than Tebow. When he takes over the QB duties they may be unstoppable.

  14. Huckleberry said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Yeah, but that doesn’t answer why you say Florida only scores 24 points.

    Points allowed for Oklahoma this season

    Chattanooga – 2
    Cincinnati – 26
    Washington – 14
    TCU – 10
    Baylor – 17
    Texas – 45
    Kansas – 31
    Kansas State – 35
    Nebraska – 28
    Texas A&M – 28
    Texas Tech – 21
    Oklahoma State – 41
    Missouri – 21

    So against the competent offenses they faced, they gave up 26, 45, 31, 35, 28, 21, 41, 21

    And Florida’s offense is better than any of those, IMO.

  15. RolloTamasi said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    Finally a Chris Applewhite post, great read.
    I like OU’s chances on defense in this game. I just saw on ESPN someone talking about all the Florida speed and how problematic that’ll be for OU’s defense.
    As if OU didn’t have anyone who knows what a 4.4 player looks like. I like OU’s zone defense and front four pressure to create turnovers against UF.
    I agree that unless Tebow is in a short yardage situation, his danger as a runner is only as a facilitator.

  16. Ag_in_TX said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    I would say Tebow is better than an “OK” runner, as you put it. BUT he is not a playmaker – U of F has got tons of them, but Tebow ain’t one. If you can force them into plays where the ball stays in his hands, you’ll have a good shot at beating them.

  17. The General said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Let’s gang up on CA.

    Texas time of possession against OU was a huge factor in our win (37:10 v. 22:50). We were able to do it with a ball control passing game and timely running (I can’t believe our running game put up 194 yards on OU).

    I would think that UF is well placed to put maximum pressure on Bradford by keeping the ball out of his hands. Without Murray, that offense doesn’t do much unless Bradford has a HUGE game. I am talking bigger than 5 TD’s and 387 on 28 of 39.

    I can’t figure out a way for UF to win this game without their secondary getting exposed as a fraud (possible because they have some young guys back there) or Tebow turning it over in bunches.

  18. dedfischer said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Tough task for the Sooners. Travis Lewis needs to have a big game for OU to win.

  19. Boomer said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    Agreed, good post Mr. Applewhite – not just because you picked OU which is enough to get you tarred and feathered on this board but quite informative – I agree OU’s D is a significant concern heading into this matchup – our saving grace will have to be Bradford, I just don’t see OU turning the ball over and if we can force a couple turnovers OU can win. I do wish we could keep our player’s mouths shut though, I don’t understand the fascination with running your mouth before games like this – it’s really unnecessary. It shouldn’t make a big difference but it looks awful dumb when you get exposed.

    Good luck against Ohio St. (I guess) – the conference/divison needs you

  20. dick said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    From that list, how many throw for 450 yards a game in Tech or Mizzou’s offense if they were in it for 4 years? None of them are physically inferior to Chase Daniel. Most were pretty highly ranked out of high school but scheme and speed of defenses keep their numbers down. And affinity for TAINTs when talking about Lee.

    Snead was also 8 of 20 for 99 yards and a pick before that bomb late in the 4th quarter against UF.

    I do agree that Bradford is a lot better than all of them.

  21. Ag_in_TX said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Oh, and nice write-up of how Meyer mixes elements of the Spread and WCO. Few observers can see the WCO elements.

    Florida employs the end run like many WCO’s do, usually with the great Percy Harvin (who will play Thrusday, according to news reports today). The way to defend that is to string it out to the sideline as best you can, so Meyer decides to add a wicked counter that guts teams that overpursue like, well, OU:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ug0FTNTPgC0&feature=related

  22. dick said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    ^^^ I thought that was CA’s pet play. We ran it a few times this year. It’s a good one.

    CA, are you going to do something similar for Florida’s defense? I wonder how their front will do against OU’s OL vs what we did against them. 3 sacks and

  23. SlickStreet said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    interesting stuff, CA.

    I haven’t seen anyone mention refereeing as a factor, but if they actually call some holds on the Sooners, then that makes what they try to do significantly tougher, especially without Murray this game.

  24. Gene Claude said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    I noticed that counter becoming quite popular throughout college football this year. Mizzou added it after OSU essentially ran 4 defenders to the spot at which we very obviously were going to run our zone read (that isn’t a read, because Daniel never kept the ball). Of course, it typically resulted in Daniel and Washington embracing in an uncomfortable man hug and being smushed by large men. But I liked it, nonetheless.

  25. TaylorTRoom said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Great breakdown. One factor for both schools- they are both great at turnover margin. The RRS and Florida’s game with Ole Miss may be the only games where these teams coughed the ball up more than they snagged it.

    Turnovers will be huge. These teams know this won’t be a field position game. It will be a “need to score a TD on every possession” game. A turnover is a lost TD opportunity for one team and a gifted TD opportunity for the other.

  26. Art Vandelay said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    I think CA is softening everyone up for the upcoming mud hole post from CTJ. Florida swarms the Sooners and wins by 14(+). CTJ will use more descriptive language.

  27. ponderos said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 3:49 pm

    Great analysis, Chris.

  28. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    Florida is a ball control team that doesn’t allow big plays on defense. Scoring will be depressed all around. I don’t think there will be many punts, just not as many drives.

    If Florida wins it won’t be a 48-45 game, it will be in the 30s or lower. I think 31-35 is UF’s ceiling.

  29. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    And the reason there is no Florida defense post is because there isn’t anything all that interesting. They play a pretty tpyical cover 2 scheme. Their LBs are fast and active, their secondary is good but young and their DL is small and not fast enough to make up for it.

    You can never tell how well OU will block outside the Big 12 but if they don’t get called it’s going to be a long night for Florida. Bradford is too good.

    The X-Factor is going to be the blitz. The LBs are so fast, and Charlie Strong so good, that they cause problems for teams with their pressure packages.

  30. ponderos said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    Huckleberry.

    A lot of those opponents’ scores came late after Bradford and OU turned the game into one of those the network switches in favor of a “more competitive game.” The failure is more one of just going through the motions because they’re already up 4-5 TDs. Actually pisses me off that they let up like that.

    OU’s special teams also led the nation in KO returns allowed for a TD. OU’s kicker led the nation in number of times flailing helplessly as the kick returner zipped past him.

    - Cincinnati, scored a TD on the last play of the game. Cincy also returned a KO for a touchdown.

    - Kansas, TD in the last minute of the game. OU was up 3 TDs already.

    - KState, 28 points in the first half. Inexcusable, but it helped that OU bombed them for 55 in the first two quarters.

    - Nebraska, TD in the last minute of the game. Nebraska was never in this one. OU was up 28-0 with 9 minutes to play in the first quarter.

    - a&m, see Nebraska acout never being in this one. OU was up 28-0 early in the second quarter and gave up two meaningless TDs in the second half, one of them on the dreaded KO return for six.

    - tceh, sand aggies with a TD in the last minute of the game. OU was up 52-7 at one point in the third quarter.

    - OSU, just never could stop them until it mattered late. Won’t use the excuse about it being a night road game, they only get up to play us … you guys play that card much better.

    - mizzou, it was 38-7 at halftime.

  31. dick said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 5:18 pm

    all good teams give up TDs when the game is out of hand, not just OU. i agree that the big leads make OU’s defense tougher to guage but you could also argue that those leads caused the other team to go one dimensional.

  32. Texas_Dawg said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 8:13 pm

    I think any of the Big 12 QBs outside of Bradford and Freeman could kill it. Reesing or Robinson would be remembered as legends had they gone to Florida.

    Ha. Tebow took a complete pounding last year and went 9-4 with a dislocated shoulder and broken hand. They had to run him half as much this year. Reesing would die.

  33. Texas_Dawg said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 8:31 pm

    UF’s defense isn’t really as good as their numbers. The SEC was brutal this year from the QB position.

    And the B12 is showing that it was clearly brutal from the defensive position this year.

    Brandon Spikes is going to destroy Sam Bradford. It pains me to say that, and I would give a lot to have OU win big, but Florida will win this game easily.

  34. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 9:20 pm

    Tebow gets hurt because Tebow is a full time short yardage back. He gets hit 3 times on every carry.

    SEC defenses are better (as a whole), I’m not arguing that, but Tebow is the product of a system same as Harrell and anyone else, not the cause of it.

    Bradford will face a good defense but one ill-equipped to stop him. Of course, that was true of WVU, too.

  35. Texas_Dawg said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 9:22 pm

    And the reason there is no Florida defense post is because there isn’t anything all that interesting. They play a pretty tpyical cover 2 scheme. Their LBs are fast and active, their secondary is good but young and their DL is small and not fast enough to make up for it.

    Texas had the best defense in the Big 12 this year… starting Blake Gideon. That guy wouldn’t even see the field in Florida’s secondary right now. And Jermaine Cunningham and Carlos Dunlap would be 2nd-team All B12 DEs already.

    Texas put up 20 points less than its season average against a B10 defense. So did Missouri. Texas Tech’s offense was shut down by the 4th best SEC team.

    Florida will roll. This game won’t look much different than the last 2 MNC games unfortunately.

  36. Huckleberry said:

    January 5th, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    ponderos -

    I will read your comments once you stop being a whiny douchebag.

  37. Texas_Dawg said:

    January 6th, 2009 at 6:50 am

    Tebow gets hurt because Tebow is a full time short yardage back. He gets hit 3 times on every carry.

    SEC defenses are better (as a whole), I’m not arguing that, but Tebow is the product of a system same as Harrell and anyone else, not the cause of it.

    Bradford will face a good defense but one ill-equipped to stop him. Of course, that was true of WVU, too.

    Tebow is a great CFB player because he can get those tough 3 yards (freeing up 10 blockers) and take the blows… while still being plenty good enough as a passer to let the endless number of weapons he’s had the last two years (Caldwell, Ingram, Harvin, Hernandez, Deonte Thompson…) do the rest. (But remember… even he was 9-4 last year… before Brandon Spikes rallied up a serious defense this year.)

    Freeman might be able to do the same… but Reesing and many others wouldn’t be able to stand the blows that really open up the rest of the offense. (Matt Jones is a recent QB that had the size, speed, and QB ability to do what Tebow has done given this system and talent.)

    I spent all the off-season and first month of this season doubting Florida… because I doubted their defense would improve greatly from last year. Well, it did (Janoris Jenkins at CB was a huge addition, and Troy Epps and Terron Sanders have done a good job of filling what once appeared to be a big hole at DT). They won’t completely shut Oklahoma down… but they will get to Bradford enough to hit him, Spikes will take away the crossing routes and the run up the middle, and Oklahoma’s defense will simply not be able to stop Tebow and Harvin.

    Sigh… at least Texas fans can take some consolation in their arch-enemy getting embarrassed in their BCS games each year…

  38. anonymous said:

    January 6th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    yeah right.

    http://www.windmilltilting.com/coachbo/why-oklahoma-can-and-should-beat-the-florida-gators

  39. Sam Bradford said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    I call bullshit.

    http://www.windmilltilting.com

  40. TaylorTRoom said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    Got to think that reports of Bradford planning to go pro are helping OU’s concentration and preparation. Can you imagine the conversations? “What about you, Jermaine? You staying or going?”

  41. ponderos said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    yeah, great timing.

  42. The Clash said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Should I stay or should I go now

  43. ponderos said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    OK, a sign from Bradford himself that he’s staying:

    he took out an insurance policy.

  44. Drunken Rooster said:

    January 7th, 2009 at 5:46 pm

    Hope he stays. Let’s see how he performs behind an inexperienced o-line.

  45. DBH said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 7:27 am

    “OK, a sign from Bradford himself that he’s staying:

    he took out an insurance policy.”

    That could be to cover himself against risk of injury during pre-draft preparation and up until he’s signed.

  46. TaylorTRoom said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 7:45 am

    Are they allowed to actually sign the NCAA-sponsored insurance papers until the season is over and they are actually eligible for the draft?

  47. Ag_in_TX said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:42 am

    Taylor, Bradford can take out insurance for whatever he wants to as long as he’s paying for it himslef. And if he is planning on going pro, wouldn’t a great game to enhance draft position be a great motivator?

    And remind me to tell you what in home visits from college coaches are like. You feel like counting your silverware after they leave.

  48. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 10:31 am

    A lot of kids take out insurance for the pro training periods to guard against a pulled hamstring before the combine and pro days or something like that.

    I will be one happy camper if Bradford goes. For someone who came out of fucking nowhere, he sure dominated like a motherfucker.

  49. ponderos said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 10:38 am

    Sam’s dad is an insurance agent in OKC.

  50. DBH said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 10:54 am

    Does he work for Big Red Insurance Agency?

  51. DBH said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 11:27 am

    Since we’re just hours away from game time, I guess now would be a good time to remind everyone that OU Still Sucks:

  52. DBH said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 11:29 am

    OU Still Sucks

  53. dynersooner said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    give em hell, give em hell, OU SUCKS!

    good write up CA. expect LOTS of yards from UF. points may be a differnt story…

  54. Trips Right said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    A couple thoughts. First, Bradford has only really been hit on a consistent basis one time this year. That was the second half of the Texas game. OU had one legitimate TD drive that entire half, Bradford looked like dogshit, and OU lost. Bradford will be hit tonight and it’ll be interesting to see how he reacts.

    Secondly, OU’s only been involved in one close game all year. They’re 0-1 in close games. It’ll be interesting to see how they react if and when they fall behind Florida. The fact of the matter is that Oklahoma’s been a notorious frontrunner this century. I can’t remember the last time they came back from a sizeable deficit this year or in the last 7 years.

  55. comeonminers said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Incredible post Applewhite.

    thank you.

  56. ChrisApplewhite said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 7:24 pm

    Tebow is in the process of giving a lot of football commentators a bad case of limp dick.

    I said that if one part of UF’s offense doesn’t work, then none of it works. Right now, unsurprisingly, they are having trouble running the ball. That’s putting UF in 3rd and long, and Tebow is helpless. Even when he breaks free to scramble he can’t pick up 9+, he’s good for 4-5.

    They need to play around more on first down and get into short yardage situations so it all opens up.

  57. Nic Harris said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Where can I try and hurt someone illegally?

  58. Trips Right said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:46 pm

    The National Championship game will serve as a big can of RAID on this site. It was fun watching the frontrunners choke another big game. Ohio State thanks you.

  59. Little Game Stoops said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

  60. ponderos said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    The better team won tonight. I guess that there are two teams really better than OU, and they’re both 10 points better.

    Tonight was tough.

  61. Horn in Tyler said:

    January 8th, 2009 at 8:54 pm

    Especially after L’Affaire McFarland, I am very pleased.

  62. Darren Damewood said:

    January 9th, 2009 at 12:33 am

    Hi, your thoughts intrigue me and I would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

  63. Tim Tebow said:

    January 9th, 2009 at 12:35 am

    Hi, this article kind of sucks because it did not take Jesus into consideration. Time to go chop some more foreskin.

  64. LonghornGirlie said:

    January 9th, 2009 at 12:35 am

    I’m hungry!

  65. hopefulhorn said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Thanks for the lucid explanation of Florida’s offense. It enhanced my enjoyment of the MNC game greatly because I had a better sense of what the Gators were trying to do. The option including inside shovel pass to the TE is genius and worked at a crucial time in the winning drive.

  66. Scipio Tex said:

    January 10th, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    Yep, as I watched the shovel option unfold I thought about this post.

    Great job, CA.

  67. Beergut said:

    January 14th, 2009 at 1:54 am

    It is difficult to take any breakdown of Florida’s running game seriously when there is no mention of the single wing.

  68. Random Thought About ISU Football... - Page 3 said:

    June 16th, 2009 at 6:30 pm

    [...] permalink Here is an insane breakdown of the National Championship game and how Florida’s offense works. Maybe slightly pertaining to this thread- Hawkfan, you will probably enjoy this. Wherever homerhawk is, he’d enjoy this too. Urban Sprawl | Barking Carnival [...]

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    I think Udoh is more like Gonzo than a Prawn from District 9 – but tha’ts not bad.

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  • Patrick Bateman commented on the blog post NCAA Tournament Open Thread: Weekend Edition   9 hours, 41 minutes ago

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  • admin commented on the blog post Best Opening Round I Can Remember   10 hours, 33 minutes ago

    parlin – Shoot me an email sailorripley at barkingcarnival dot com.

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