Here for the Wins

I certainly understand people playing off the ball and underneath throws converting the first as frustrating. Some of that to me falls on the player. Just because we’re off the ball doesn’t mean you can’t attack the ball or receiver. Certainly with that comes risk. I always refer back to Rod Woodson with the Steelers. He played off quite a bit, but he was aggressive downfield. He was susceptible to double moves at times for this reason. I don’t recall complaints about their defense lacking aggression. Different era though so that plays into it. I was very hopeful that Will would have become coach those many years ago. I’d love to have played for him. If I thought about that, he might be my number 1 choice of all time in that regard. So that’s how I feel about him.

I’ve come to appreciate Wisner more over time. You highlighted the big games, but his effort was pretty consistent. Believe two years ago he was top 3 in yards per carry in the conference. I have a different view of PK. I don’t view taking away the big play as bend but don’t break. We don’t concede the run and have been top 25 in 3rd down conversion rate the past 3 years. I’d venture to say he mixes it up quite a bit. No, he’s not a press man coverage guy. That is difficult to find 3, 4 guys that do it well enough consistently so for many teams it’s better to make that the change of pace than the base defense. This season the change at both spots will likely downplay Wisner and PK. Thats not to say that’s not part of the reason, but we’re primed to be better this season had those changes not been made. I do think the schedule allows us to ease into the season a bit better than last year too. I’d say 10-2 regular season is the minimum number of wins.

The distribution of home versus road/neutral is far more favorable than last year. There’s a good chance there’s a UF on this years schedule - high hopes, decent talent, that somewhat falls apart. We effectively played 3 road games that our opponent had an off week to prepare for us. The OU played one of the worst teams in the country leading up to our game. We are a deeper team. A more mature team. There is quite a bit of talk about the offense. But what’s not mentioned much in that regard is that returning home likely was very impactful. Sark called games better. The 4th quarter versus MSU was the start. Sark also entered the season with roster preservation in mind. That also impacted the offense. The first five games his gameplan was too volatile. Run oriented versus UTEP, somewhat run oriented versus OSU early, then deep ball oriented versus UF and cautious versus OU so our rhythm was disjointed which was made worse with the offensive turnover from the prior year. It is all looking to point in the right direction this year.

Did you know that OU won it all with a 2nd baseman that hit .222 and an OPS of like .636. He started 61 games. I’m not certain he even had double digit XBH. is that a hole or no?

We have more depth this year. I’m not sure it’s that close. Few of the non-starters were impactful at Texas much less the NFL. The redshirts were great, but they weren’t playing. The starters were great, but there was a falloff. The portal makes much of that possible.

Need a side by side with LSU for comparison purposes

Since when is DH 9? And well all the others. A whole nother source of confusion.

Penn State lost to UCLA and gave up 42 in doing so. Collectively UCLA scored 43 versus Utah, UNLV and New Mexico and lost all 3. PSU gave up 36 points and 500+ yards to Rutgers. They did win but that’s a poor Rutgers team. PSU had enough ugly to question what team you were getting.

It would seem there was some befuddlement.

Here’s an interesting stat. Texas averaged more yards per rush and had more yards rushing than anyone versus Ohio State. Within those numbers several teams broke a longer run so their runs games were less consistent, more volatile. i am quite curious as to several actions within the season. These numbers bring into question some of those actions. I also think Sark is getting a pass for some of the offenses shortcomings regarding preparation and play calling. And my appreciation for Wisner grows. Not a game breaker, but he’s pretty consistent. And in retrospect I think him missing the non-P5 games may have hurt our consistency and confidence.

Some, yes. Two early-ish 3rd downs we blitzed to no avail. Believe that long throw to Brown for 60 was a blitz with a safety brought down. They had some run success early. We brought McDonald down both times from recall. One was in the red zone. The other was press coverage - a first time starter at CB. I get the tendency to drop a safety for the run game. That’s overly aggressive in my book. I’d need to look again at the information, but we blitzed a fairly a high rate to no avail. 40+%. Miami gave UF problems, they weren’t typically a high blitz team. I don’t think LSU did either and made Lagway think. And from my recollection that was one of Lagway quickest average time to throw. My preference is that when you have a Simmons you let him work. Often that is made more difficult when you bring an extra guy or two because the read is easier so the ball is out quick. My view of overly aggressive is likely more subtle than most others view.

No one runs man all the time. He’s 70 years old so at best he was a short term solution. His heyday was in a different era that was not predominantly 3-3-5 or 4-2-5. What 15-20 years ago? Defenses have evolved a great deal. From what I see, Arizona was 103 in DFEI in 2024. 14th in 2025. Without looking it up, Stanford wasn’t worth much during his tenure. A dude doesn’t get run after a year of there weren’t signs leading into it. Texas and money. Odd choice.

Akina was an odd choice. I was not here so no idea if there was discussion regarding the whys of bringing him back. I thought he and Nansen were familiar with each other and was likely a positive in bringing Akina back. For much of 2024, the schedule had offensive incompetence on the opposite sideline. There’s a reason Clemson, ASU and OSU had some success. We also were relatively healthy in 2024. Good health, simplistic offenses, limited offenses generally make for easier defense. UTSA, Colo State, ULM were all in the 100s in OFEI. Michigan was 61. OU was 80. Florida was 49, but that was built on Lagway. The Ivy League transfer likely has them worse. Kentucky was 73. Mississippi State was 31, but they did have a backup QB making his first start. Georgia was 13 so that was for a decent offense. Vandy was 27, Arkansas 48. A&M 29th. So those first 5 P5 teams were either unsettled at QB or had injured QBs when we played. in 2025, the non-P5s were in the 100s. Vandy 1st. Ohio State 8th. Georgia 9th. a&M 15th. Arkansas 16th. MSU 42nd. OU 54th. UF 61st. Kentucky 84th. So the P4 teams that got worse in OFEI were home games in 2024 and road games in 2025. Two of those were also the 3rd and 4th games in a row away from home. Also two of the 3 started backup QBs in 2024.

I’d be interested to know. I like the numbers. UF had quite a few interesting elements. V Brown had his longest run and longest catch of the season. The run was his only carry of the season, believe it was on 3rd too. D. Wilson threw Black down on one TD, maybe press coverage. The other may have been because of their run game success and we brought McDonald to the box. Since that was D Wilson’sfirst game, it was difficult to know how they’d use him. I don’t recall the exact specifics, but Lagway didn’t take long to get rid of the ball amongst the quickest all year. I put that partly attributable to being overly aggressive.

Where does one find good data on blitz rate and man coverage? What I had seen shows our personnel typically ran man 5-10 percent more in 2025 than 2024. Yet probably not many dudes would choose 25 over 24. What percentage of man coverage would you like to see?