Toe

A year ago I was saying to people "Don't expect Freedom and the other D-linemen to make as many plays in a system like Diaco's - they're mostly there to eat up blocks, while the OLBs are the ones that get to be the big attack dogs bringing pressure." Turns out I was wrong: the OLBs were never allowed to attack, either. I still wonder what we would've seen out of Parella's crew if he'd been working under a better DC. Supposedly he wanted to be much more aggressive than Diaco would permit (same with D. Williams). I do think we've got a reasonably good crew up front. I don't think the team's talent level has really fallen off. Well, it has compared to the mid-90s, but it's about the same as it was in the Bo era. It's like we're a team made up of nothing but promising freshmen: talented, but really under-coached.

Same with NFL guys coaching college teams, really.

Just remember the messages like this we were seeing a year ago...

Personally, I wouldn't have really minded if Riley brought in someone else to start over Armstrong in his first year, as I was never all that high on him. In the end, though, I don't think changing any details like that would have changed the overall outcome - the only real way to fix the Riley era would have been to not hire Mike Riley in the first place.

Lookin' good!

Eh, Pelini's teams tended to end the season ranked about the same as his recruiting classes did: hovering right around the edge of the top 25. That's the thing about these defensive coordinators that get so obsessed with never giving up big plays. They basically say "You're not gonna get the home run on us, can you put together a long, sustained drive without making any mistakes?" It can suffocate offenses that require occasional big plays to 'open things up'. But when you put them up against any team that can execute consistently, that offense just says "OK, we can and we will!" And yet Harbaugh still hasn't been able to get a QB to play particularly well...

I can tell I'm gonna get a lot of use out of this. Mad scientist, in the best way.

Hasn't coached since 2015, has never been a head coach, and hasn't held anything higher than a position coach job in over a decade. Must have been looking for the next Herm Edwards. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Lewis

Four hours?! He's giving them a goddamn ACT test!

I think they're planning to play in the Alamo Dome, ie they're playing full-size fields, not a smaller Arena-size fields. Spurrier is supposed to be coaching the Orlando team in this league, and they'll be playing at UCF's stadium. Of course, all of this assumes that the league actually gets off the ground. Remember when Eric Crouch signed with the All-American Football League, which ended up never playing a single game?

Thanks, Thanks!

The 2016 squad finished the season ranked #30 for total defense and #33 for scoring defense. This year's schedule is tougher, but I'd say a D ranked in the 30s is a perfectly reasonable goal.

Here's what Sam suggested: Yeah, no.

To get a little of the history right, it was Mike Corgan who was sent to the store by Devaney one day in 1964 to buy some new practice jerseys. There were different colors for first-string and second-string defense, and also for first- vs second-string offense. First mention of the Blackshirts in a Nebraska was in 1969 (a few years before Kiffin was made DC, I believe).

Also useful for when there's late-year injuries, you've got another option for depth.

Beckton has also said that he felt like Heupel only offered him a job with the new staff down there because he was kinda 'obligated' to do so, whereas Frost made him feel like he was genuinely wanted when he came to UCF.

Kevin Ramaekers was taking it pretty hard from Charlie McBride in a Nebraska defensive film room the Tuesday after a Husker football game in 1991. McBride kept rewinding a play over and over. It always turned out the same. Ramaekers couldn't do anything about it but sink down in his chair. "He called me the Dancing Bear," Ramaekers said. "He said, 'I can't believe I have a starting Dancing Bear on my squad."' That was nothing compared to what would happen a few hours later to the defensive tackle from Norfolk, Neb. Ramaekers repeated the same mistake in practice and McBride, the Huskers' long-time defensive coordinator, was coming with something way more damaging than a cutesy nick-name. Ramaekers was about to forfeit his "Blackshirt" practice jersey. Words could not describe what that meant to a 20-year-old sophomore who had wept only months before when he first found it hanging in his locker. "Coach McBride grabbed me by the neck and said, 'Take that off right now and give it to Jamie (Liewer),"' Ramaekers said. "If you were going to mess up, he wanted you going about 120 mph and I was going about 50. Talk about humbling. I walked down to the scout team and people were standing around thinking, 'This guy was a Blackshirt, and he just gave it away."' http://www.kearneyhub.com/huskersnews/past-players-say-defense-lacks-the-old-swagger/article_dc951890-57f3-5432-9d7c-6e10f0091c8e.html

"We" didn't really have anything to do with it. Perlman hired Eichorst because Perlman.

Always weird when you stop and think, "Wait, Drew Brees played for Purdue?!"

Ahh, I remember my days of working sales in a clothing store. And how they turned my designated area of the store the dumping ground for clearance clothes that were about 5 months out of season. Great environment for trying to make your sales quota!

He's from Dallas, might have just wanted to be closer to home.

Couldn't have happened to a nicer school.