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Taking back the edge: Will Muschamp edition

Posted by ChrisApplewhite on January 27th, 2009 under Football

Unless you got your face stepped on by a third rate college player’s foot and went into a coma 10 years ago, you’ve probably noticed how nobody even bothers running a “pro style” offense anymore. Those that still insist upon that ancient way of being find their results to be satisfactory in their eyes, but wildly unimpressive compared to those hotbeds of pure football electricity like Missouri and Kansas.

Simply put, the spread has taken over college football like microscopic animals in CloseToJumping’s pubic region. It has spread its evil into high school football, threatening to completely ruin the sport to the point where people think Riley Dodge and Taylor Potts are legitimate prospects at QB. Graham Harrell’s name gets tossed about as a first rounder by men that are paid handsomely to judge such things, then he goes to the Senior Bowl and treats it like an old folk’s home, shitting his pants for literally one straight week. Not even the experts are safe.

The players are all just cogs in the machine. If it wasn’t them it would be someone else, and if it wasn’t that person, it would be someone else still. The spread has a life of it’s own. It does so much heavy lifting that the only way to tell any of them apart anymore is by their stupid, stupid haircuts. Seriously guys.

The spread, pictured here:

borg7.jpg

. . . is the greatest threat defensive coordinators have ever faced, making the wishbone look tame by comparison. The west coast offense is child’s play.

In basic terms, the spread makes the QB’s job much easier and the defense’s job much harder. Since the defense is so spread out, there is usually only one read the QB has to make, and often times he needs to make no read at all. The defense, meanwhile, has to defend everything, which normally means they are defending nothing.

Defenses up until now have basically two options: Be that team with several NFL pass rushers, or be that team with several NFL defensive backs. This is why Rice scores 40 points a game and Kansas won a BCS bowl. Those teams are rare. We happen to be one of the few that can pull it off, but in the years where we don’t have enough talent (2007) or that talent is not mature yet (2008), we’re just as vulnerable. Texas fans have to close their eyes and pray just like everybody else. Difference is that ours were answered.

utcoachguy.jpg*

There are basically two kinds of coaches — those who steal and those worth stealing from. Greg Davis famously treks off to remote locations every summer to draw more plays onto note cards that he can pull out of a hat the next season. As far as I know, he has never spontaneously added anything to our offense during the season.

Muschamp, on the other hand, understands the game in a way an computer engineer understands a programming language. He has certain tools, he has certain parameters, he has a goal, and his solution is built from whole cloth within those confines. This past season he did something monstrously interesting to me and possibly the Ryan family of coaches, had they been aware of what he was doing. He ran the 46.

You might ask: Wasn’t the old forty six made obsolete by the spread of the short passing game? Please note the pun.

Nice pun, reader. And yes, the 46 was ultimately made irrelevant, just like the Run & Shoot, because it was mostly a gimmick that opponents quickly digested, metabolized, and shit out. But, just like any other fad that ever graced the football field, it was rooted in an idea that worked. For the R&S it was receivers and QBs playing their own game of adjusting routes based on coverage. For the 46, it was covering the center and both guards with down linemen so that all three couldn’t be double teamed.

The R&S died when the zone blitz raped, killed, and dumped it’s limp body behind a 7-11, but the successful concepts have been absorbed into various west coast offenses and added yet another dimension to the offense. The 46 had to be similarly adapted into this brave new world.

There is no need to rehash the spread in great detail, but the important thing about it is the way to stresses every single player on the team. Typically, when an offensive player and defensive player are locked in combat, the offensive player has the advantage. He already knows where he and the ball are going. This is truer the farther down you go. Huckleberry was actually a not bad high school WR. Think about that.

So the first step in stopping the offense is taking back some of the personnel discrepancies. Find where you have an advantage and exploit it. For most defenses, there isn’t even more than the one option of isolating your nose tackle over the center and giving him a two way go. Luckily for us we had one of the best in the business at the position.

The 46 front comes into play when you try to isolate. This is the schematic witchcraft you have to pull to fight back. Traditional concepts won’t work on a theory based on beating traditional concepts, after all.

The old front looked like this:

old46.jpg

The 46 had an unusual alignment in that the SS lined up on the weak side of the formation. In fact it took it’s name from the Bears’ safety that year, Doug Plank, wore 46. That is your history lesson for the day, unless you are remotely familiar with sports at all.

So not only did the 46 make every offensive lineman have to block a guy on his own, but it also made each lineman accountable, so he couldn’t run off and pull towards a more helpful destiny. He had to stay and block. The pendulum was swung to the defensive side. The only game the Bears lost that year was, prophetically, to Dan Marino, who went 45/51 for 580 yards in that game. It was a barrage of short passes, negating the pressure and exposing the (relatively) weak coverages. Those numbers might be off, by the way, I am going from memory and I was 3 at the time.

These days, almost nobody uses old fashioned pro formations. In fact we haven’t even had a proper scholarship fullback since Ahmard Hall proved that you could just put an athletic, determined walk on there and be fine. Derek Lokey took it from there.

While offenses have gradually whittled down the blockers, defenses haven’t really found a balance between speed and power. LBs these days are either not fast enough for pass coverage or not big enough to stop the runs, and the ones that are only moderately good at both have been entirely invalidated by the extreme nature of the offenses they have to face.

This is where the schemes come in. Defensive coordinators can’t rely on hustle and technique to stop people anymore, because those under athletic relics can’t hang in the isolated states in which they exist. Linebackers aren’t really backers anymore, they are front line infantry. Nobody has the resources, really, to help them.

RC Slocum used to have a phrase regarding his 3-4 defense, “use 3 to stop 5.” He probably still has that phrase, but he only mutters it in College Station hang outs while sitting alone, waiting until someone recognizes him. His philosophy was to use his 3 down linemen to take up blocks from the OL, freeing the LBs to do their thing. The 46 operated in almost diametric fashion, practically just lining dudes up man for man and telling them to whip the other guy’s ass. Philosophically it’s closer to the modern Cover 2 4-3 defense than anything else. But anything can be retooled, which is just what we did.

Quickly take stock of what we had. A dominant NG. Two great pass rushers. A number of big, althetic DEs who aren’t quite fast enough. This is the engineer’s toolset. The goal is to maximize all of that talent. Our solution, while not of full-time use (we went entire games without doing it), was to put our guys in a new and improved 46 package. Behold the majesty!

new46.jpg

Pure letter domination. Fucking dots had it coming if you ask me. We actually use a lot of variations on the one concept:

new46-2.jpg

new-46-3.jpg

These are all non literal translations of our package. We run a lot of different fronts, and a lot of three DL packages. These are a few of many, and I may not have everyone in the right position. The important thing is the squeeze in the middle.

Let’s run down the checklist.

- Does it maximize the impact of your best players?

Yes. If the center wants double team help on Roy Miller, the guard puts the tackle next to him in the impossible situation of having to somehow close on a fast DE lined up 2 yards inside of him. It’s not just unreasonable, it’s ludicrous to even consider. Unless you are us and you need to run the ball on 3rd and 2. If I wasn’t on the 2nd floor I would leap out the window right now.

Second, if the offense wants to double team the DEs, they’ll need to block down with the OTs to do so. We have a couple of very strong DEs. one in Orakpo and one in Melton with a little bigger frame who can play on the strong side and survive those doubles. Orakpo and Kindle played on the same side in this package so Orakpo often avoided the double team, meaning Miller, Orakpo, and Kindle all got single blocking, minus whatever help the backs gave.

- Does it give you a numbers advantage?

Yes. Unless the other team’s coaches love watching their QB get hit in his ribs over and over, the front demands double teams. All blockers are needed to account for three guys. The solution is to either let Roy Miller through, where he will mysteriously stop 7 yards in even though he is well past your center (this only works in Big 12 play, lucky for Florida and Ole Miss), or just throw the ball quickly and not worry about it. The 3 on 5 aspect gives us the best of the 3-4, and the fact that it can turn a team on dimensional is the best of the 46.

- Speaking of one dimension, how is it at stopping the run?

Well that’s the real question, isn’t it. In order to have your ducks in a row against the pass, you can’t really afford to outnumber the offensive line to stop the run. If both safeties are back, and you have a DB in to cover the slot, you’ve only got 6 guys left to commit to the front. Against 5 OL and a TE, this is the kind of slow suicide that Hollywood would adorn with Oscars. But the guy still dies in the end. We’d be the guy in this scenario.

So, you need your numbers back. The front we use can do this, but it takes a disciplined lineman to pull it off.

We start in an advantageous position. In order to keep it that way, our DL need to play proper technique. If the ends allow themselves to get hooked, the the RB can just go around them:

46hook.gif

But if the ends hold their gap, it gives them containment. Roy Miller, the undoubleable monster, has a freedom to move over to the playside gap and clean up if there is a cutback:

46good.gif

So in theory, we are forcing the tackle down and freeing whatever player is over there to do something productive. If that player is 5′9, the productivity is more or less in question. But he bled for this team, which outweighs being horrible. Theoretically, though, it forces double teams along the line and let’s LBs be LBs, instead of having to be the point of attack for a blocker.

Isolating Miller has advantages in the passing game, too. If the Ten Yard Torrents wasn’t sp stubbornly moronic about it’s upload ratio, I would put in the plays against Tech early on where Miller barged into the backfield time after time (only to get “tired” 6-7 yards in). But they expect people to keep up ratios even though nobody downloads old games, so fuck them. I will do it in dots.

Since the guards can’t help on Miller — it would give the DEs a straight shot into the backfield — he gets to engage the guy in front of him, all alone. The way a pit bull engages a small child.

millerrules.gif

Add Kindle to the equation:

kindle.gif

And now you’ve essentially created a good match up for your three best players.

We may never see this package again, because who knows if we’ll have any linemen worth singling out next year. But the actual X’s and O’s aren’t important. What is important is that our defensive coordinator/head coach in waiting/object of secret sexual desires took what we had and configured it into an outcome that gave us advantages over the powerful offenses we faced. Next season will give us different challenges, but I am confident that we’ll have answers, now and for the next how ever many years.

Plus, I heard  that Andre Jones guy is pretty good. So we have that.

*No idea how to give credit for that picture, but I found it here.

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48 Responses

  1. Great read. Thank you.

  2. CA,

    Good read, but I don’t agree on the 46 being a gimmick. It was a modification of a simple goal line defense and the concepts are still used in the NFL. To call it a gimmick would be as accurate as calling the WCO a gimmick.

    It will be interesting to see how things counter each other in the next few years. Do teams continue to recruit smaller defensive linemen and linebackers and if so does that man a switch by some to more run based offenses.

  3. The WCO has been around for 40 years. The 46, the original version, was obsolete by the early 90s.

    Doesn’t mean is was completely worthless. Like both you and I said, it’s concept is still alive and well, just not in the stunting, blitzing 8 man front kind of way.

  4. Not to argue, but I believe if you were to ask Buddy Ryan he would tell you that the original version of the 46 was a goal line defense he ran back at Marshal an that he has been tweaking it until he got the perfect collection of pieces to work with at the Bears.

    Since defense traditionally responds to the offense I think we will still see forms of the 46 if more teams turn back to running the football.

  5. As far as Greg Davis goes i will never fully respect him for a coach due to his inability to run almost anything but the bubble screen. Yet, this season he did make a major mid-season adjustment in moving to the four wide set that was successful against OU and hadn’t been seen for over seven years. This change was the basis of our offense for the rest of the season and hadn’t been used before that game.

  6. Facebook User said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 9:20 am

    The evolution of the dots!!! Nice Kindle!

  7. If moving Shipley over to run Irby’s routes and isolating him against OU’s never-heard-from-again, scout team middle linebacker (who probably had to go find his helmet before going into the game) was Greg Davis’ doing, then nice work Greg Davis.

  8. TaylorTRoom said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 9:52 am

    ponderos, it doesn’t count as out-smarting when Bobby Jack Wright is on the other side.

  9. The Wood Shed said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 9:59 am

    Unfortunately we won’t have Devon Kennard to play the Brian Orakpo in this scenario. He is headed to USC.

  10. Can you make Ben Alexander a sea lion?

  11. And for Gideon use a picture of CTJ.

  12. G-Man Davis said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Now look here applewood!! I specifically implemented man in motion after one of my summer camp trips.

    What, do you think I’m stupid or something??

  13. SlickStreet said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    justaguy–I’ve been figuring awhile that the cyclical nature of the game will demand that the move to smaller, quicker defenders opens up opportunities for an old fashioned, smash-mouth ground attack.

  14. Good read, CW. You’re also a very weird dude.

  15. You have no idea.

  16. He bleeds for his team. Literally.

  17. Drunken Rooster said:

    January 27th, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    I see our defense evolving to a lighter, faster , swarming type like Will had at Auburn.
    Our personnel this year will fit that mold, imo.

  18. The spread is a gimmick.
    The 46 is a gimmick.
    The WCO is a gimmick.

    Everything since ol’ TR took away my beloved Flying Wedge has just been a gimmick to attract fans by lowering death tolls and inflating scores. A pox be upon his name!

    [/Joe Paterno]

  19. I STILL GOT THE HANDS!

  20. Shrunken Booster said:

    January 28th, 2009 at 9:43 am

    Muschamp is an excellent X’s and O’s coach but not a great recruiter.

  21. RolloTamasi said:

    January 28th, 2009 at 12:20 pm

    I would expect us to be alright with the pass-rushing weapons we’ll have next year. Shouldn’t be insanely difficult for muschamp to find ways to make blocking Kindle and co. hell.
    Against the run though…, maybe we can trust Earl and the corners enough to bring down more 8 man fronts.

  22. CA:

    I hate to sound like a 12-year-old girl, but I just want to take a moment to thank you for doing teh internets a big service. It’s rare to see such quality material on sports pages, and Barking Carnival is quickly becoming my favorite website. And on a site full of insightful writers, I have definitely learned the most from your polka-dotted posts. Reading a handful of your articles has taught me more about the game of football than years of listening to the so-called experts. Thanks, and keep up the good work!

    P.S. Do you still believe you can fly?

  23. Chris Applewhite said:

    January 29th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

    Pssh. Fuck no.

  24. what rc said.

    i can fly; i just don’t want to.

  25. You do realize that Texas had; Muschump, Miller, Orakpo, Kindle, McCoy, Shipley, and Cosby and still lost to that little QB from Ennis that shit his pants in the Senior Bowl right???

    Just making sure, because in reading that one would come away thinking that Muschump was some kind of guru, and no one could score on that defense. 39-33

  26. Ole Miss Rebels said:

    January 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am

    Tim – you do realize that no one reads your posts anymore

  27. Hey Tim – it must really suck to be TT fan. You can only get to talk shit once every 5 years or so ! Here’s to Baylor kicking your asses next year !!

  28. did i tell you about the fecal filter i had installed on my browser? it really does a nice job.

    who is this ‘tim’ you guys are talking about?

  29. Hey Tim, do you have to deal with a lot of OU and Ole Miss fans on your Tech boards? You know, the two teams that beat the everloving piss out of you in your “GREATEST SEASON EVAR!!!!!11!”?

  30. Tim's Bleeding Vagina said:

    January 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am

    texas lost to a system qb in a system that works once every 5 years. to anyone else, a 20% success rate is an abysmal failure. to the cockroaches in lubbock, it is like a ding-dong someone left on the floor.

  31. Actually, Orakpo, Miller and Quan all got hurt against Tech. Way to make yourself look like a complete dipshit Tim.

  32. “Actually, Orakpo, Miller and Quan all got hurt against Tech. Way to make yourself look like a complete dipshit Tim.”

    So you’re saying they didn’t contribute at all? I believe Miller had at least 1 maybe 2 sacks and got hurt in the 4th. If it wasn’t for Miller’s push up the middle Tech wins that game by 21+ easy. Orakpo wasn’t really a factor all night, in his entire career at UT he hasn’t been a factor when facing a half-decent tackle.(Insert all BC bloggers with the daily “he was held all night” comments) Quan going down shouldn’t have been a big deal for ya’ll, the guy has got to be one of the most overrated recevier in the Big 12. That Williams kid ya’ll have has 10 times more talent than Quan Cosby could ever sniff. He did have a hell of a catch at the Fiesta Bowl though, gotta give the ‘old man’ props on that one.

    Besides, Tech lost Michael Crabtree for the entire Baylor game, and Graham Harrell(the one ya’ll call a pussy) broke two fingers in 9 places in the 2nd quarter and we still beat Baylor. I only bring that up because I know everyone over hear considers Baylor equal in talent level to Texas Tech.

    Injuries are only excuses for little bitches. You’re Texas, with the amount of money that flows through that place you should be able to beat Texas Tech by 21 points with your third string.

    Level the playing field; split your Athletic budget, recruiting budget, coaches salaries, and average recruit star ranking down the middle 50/50 w/ Tech and I would bet $10,000 that Mike Leach beats Texas 90% of the time.

  33. tim-

    if coming on here and talking shit for winning one game against texas every seven years makes you feel relevant, then have at it, everybody knows texas doesnt give a shit about ttu, you are a gimmick team who gets lucky every now and then at home

  34. I’m actually starting to like Tim, kind of sucks knowing I won’t get to hear from him again until 2014 or so.

  35. “everybody knows texas doesn’t give a shit about ttu”

    Maybe if you “gave a shit” about Texas Tech, UT would have been playing Florida for the National Championship this year instead of Chokelahoma.

    Like it or not, Texas Tech is a force in the Big 12. Tech stopped OU from a NC shot in 07′ and stopped UT from one in 08′. OU paid Tech back this year and kept them from a title shot, I’m betting the game @ Austin will be the one thing that stops Tech from a National title shot in 09′.

  36. Tim, you should shoot yourself in the face. Seriously. If my post is what pushes you over the edge, I’m willing to live with it.

  37. Bow Shumbuckler said:

    January 31st, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    Your goal in life is to spoil better teams’ shot at national titles? Nice.

  38. “Tim, you should shoot yourself in the face. Seriously. If my post is what pushes you over the edge, I’m willing to live with it.”

    Maybe if your blogs didn’t have gems like, “the point where people think Riley Dodge and Taylor Potts are legitimate prospects at QB. Graham Harrell’s name gets tossed about as a first rounder by men that are paid handsomely to judge such things, then he goes to the Senior Bowl and treats it like an old folk’s home, shitting his pants for literally one straight week.”

    If you’ll notice I rarely come over and comment on random UT stuff, it’s usually when BC bloggers decide to take cheap shots at every thing Texas Tech that you’ll see me.

    I mean you don’t go over to the tortilla retort, and read how big of a bitch Colt McCoy is. Or how overrated Mack Brown is as a coach for the amount of money and talent UT has. You don’t see Dedfischer taking cheap shot after cheap shot at UT do you?

    If BC bloggers would show Texas Tech University and Football program the respect it deserves then you would probably see a lot less of me. The basketball team is free to poke fun at though, I really have no material to defend them with.

    Simple formula, quit disrespecting Texas Tech = see less of Tim’s comments on your blog.

  39. Big ups and mad respect to Tech.

  40. Tim, you clearly don’t understand something about UT fans. They are some of the most pompous jackasses of any fanbase in college football. But wait, it gets much worse.

    What’s worse is that they’re representing a legitmately elite academic university that’s exactly one “unfortunate accident” [coughing]Muschamp cuts Davis’ brake line[/coughing] from being the new USC that outrecruits and outplays EVERYONE and spends halftime nailing their achingly hot cheer squad because they don’t need to make adjustments. In other words, their pompous jackassery is most often justifiable. You are a Texas Tech fan. Your best team in a decade got buckfutted on national TV in their biggest game EVER. I am an OU fan. I come from a university that only academically reached the realm of the decent and acceptable within the last 10 years and with a football team proudly modeling itself after the Buffalo Bills.

    When you come from that sort of background (born on 3rd base), you’ve got to rationalize any shortcomings. Because, as I’ve posted before here, there is no logical reason for UT to have only one conference title over the past 5 years with the sort of talent they get year in and year out.

    OU outrecruited you for an elite need player? They paid for him. Tech beat you? Injuries and home-field luck.

    It couldn’t be that Mack & Co. got lazy/arrogant in recruiting a Texas player as they’ve been frequently known to do. It couldn’t be that Blake Gideon is a walking disaster in the secondary. Screw that. Now, if you’ll excuse the UT fan, he has to take the Cosby kids to the pool, and he’ll be wiping with $100 bills that you will later beg him for.

  41. Parlin Hall said:

    February 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pm

    NateHeupel wrote a long and rambling post in order to smuggle in, very cleverly, this gem:

    “I am an OU fan. I come from a university that only academically reached the realm of the decent and acceptable within the last 10 years”

    He’s like those children’s artists who draw complicated “What’s Wrong With This Picture?” scenes in order to show you someone with two left shoes. But we’re on to you, Nate.

  42. God, I love playing against this Muschump guy.

  43. But, Brent Venables makes me piss myself. It was all those elephant walks we did on Stoops’ staff. I am scared of anyone that volunteered to be behind Mangino.

  44. Last 10 years? Nate, don’t flatter yourself.

  45. I come from a university that only academically reached the realm of the decent and acceptable within the last 10 years

    Let me guess, Nate … you went to OU within the past 10 years.

  46. CurrentLonghorn said:

    February 3rd, 2009 at 6:22 am

    When OU offers up a Presidential Honors Scholar (or whatever sham they call their cookie jar) slot to Jamarkus McFarland as an INCENTIVE, you know something’s fishy about OU’s academics. I mean, seriously, what was McFarland’s SAT score? Nothing against him, but did he really represent the best and brightest at OU?

    (Nothing against McFarland personally. I only know of a few schools where football players are among the smartest, and these schools are either pitiful or ridiculously good. OU seems to have picked its poison.)

  47. Parlin, I’m glad you’re on to me. I didn’t know if anyone was wise enough to see through my scheme.

    Ponderos, that’s a resounding yes, but that doesn’t make my statement any less true. Boren has done wonders at the ol’ alma mater since he took over back in 1994. Maybe I should’ve said 15 years. No matter, the point is still valid.

    CurrentLonghorn, they’re putting McFarland in what’s called the President’s Leadership Class. This really has nothing to do with academics in specific and gives no support to your insightful theory, but thanks for stopping by. http://www.ou.edu/student/plc/history.htm

  48. Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter are T Boone Honor Scholars.

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    NU’s Ugly Duckling Program

    Read that and you’ll say to yourself “State of the Union of…what??”

    I know that’s what most of you will say. It’s not really shock or surprise that NU has a basketball program, though. It’s that sense of shock and surprise to anyone (especially our Barking Brethren over at OBK) that

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  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post We talkin’ ’bout brackets   2 hours, 23 minutes ago

    I’ll say the same thing I did at March to March…

    I love this Baylor team. They’ve got all the pieces for a run and they’re in a ridiculously underwhlemingly regional, BUT…

    It’s Baylor. They haven’t won a tournament GAME since I think 1950…now we’re expecting them to go out and win 4 in a row?

    Certainly those

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  • Hiphopopotamus commented on the blog post We talkin’ ’bout brackets   2 hours, 23 minutes ago

    I’ll say the same thing I did at March to March…

    I love this Baylor team. They’ve got all the pieces for a run and they’re in a ridiculously underwhlemingly regional, BUT…

    It’s Baylor. They haven’t won a tournament GAME since I think 1950…now we’re expecting them to go out and win 4 in a row?

    Certainly those

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  • Kevin Berger commented on the blog post March Madness Brackets Rackets: Can Las Vegas Pick The Champion?   2 hours, 30 minutes ago

    Triston, wow, that’s a great number. Nice work.

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  • Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket   2 hours, 37 minutes ago

    Speaking of history, when was the last time Duke got out of the round of 16?

    Villanova has something going on underneath the surface. They look beatable.

    Baylor’s playing really good ball with really good players. I guess that’s why I picked them, but I’m probably overthinking things and should have written Duke in.

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  • Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket   2 hours, 40 minutes ago

    Ag in TX, have you watched them play?

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  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket   2 hours, 40 minutes ago

    Exactly, HipHop. It’s a brand recognition issue.

    That’s a truckload of pressure. Maybe they have it. Maybe Scott Drew is the man. I just wouldn’t bet my house on it. But I’d love to see it.

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  • texasengr commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams   3 hours, 12 minutes ago

    I started watching the NCAA tournament in 1997 or 1998 and in 1998, Valpo’s incredible run to the sweet 16 hooked me for life. Since then, I’ve completely ruined a spring break cruise because, let’s face it, the NCAA tournament is way better than sitting by a pool. Now I fully intend to crush my

  • Kevin Berger commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket   3 hours, 13 minutes ago

    Why? Three seeds make it all the time? Put them in a bracket with the weakest 1 seed and one of the weaker 2 seeds and they have a great shot. Especially with two games in Houston.

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  • dutchhorn commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams   3 hours, 19 minutes ago

    nordberg said:
    March 16th, 2010 at 8:32 am
    “Sometimes, I watch the 4th quarter of the title game.”

    The best is when it’s tied at the end of regulation, and they have a shoot-out. And if they’re still tied at the end of that, they play an extra 18 holes the next day. “Extra innings” is what they

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams   3 hours, 20 minutes ago

    Fire Bob Wetlick!

  • BrickHorn commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams   3 hours, 21 minutes ago

    From the perspective of designing a tournament that will efficiently crown the best team as “champion,” expansion is ludicrous. Over the 25-year history of the 64-team field, the statistics clearly show that the tournament is already bloated beyond need. For instance:

    Only 6.5% of teams participating in the Elite Eight round are seeded lower

  • admin commented on the blog post All Signs Point to March Madness Expanding to 96 Teams   3 hours, 23 minutes ago

    Fire Bob Wetlick!

  • Sailor Ripley commented on the blog post Bracket Analysis: The South is a Bear of a Bracket   3 hours, 25 minutes ago

    Dude, Baylor to the Final Four? I just don’t see it.

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  • Magnus Bleuveigner commented on the blog post NFL Draft: A Mockery   3 hours, 26 minutes ago

    Bradford has plenty of arm strength. He’s not Stafford in that department, but he throws darts, or bb’s, or whatever small object one uses to describe zip.

    Of all the attributes you look for in a QB, intelligence has to be the most important. Not the Wonderlic type, the improvisational type. He’s got that. If he

  • Texoz commented on the blog post Texas finishes sweep of Iowa   3 hours, 49 minutes ago

    theoretically, what’s the rotation for the next 4 games?
    Tonight – Dicharry
    Friday – Jungmann
    Sat – ??
    Sun – ??