- Our LB crew reminds me of that scene in Zero Dark Thirty where the CIA guy goes to interview the terrorist and starts the conversation off with "I'm not gonna lie to you, man. I'm bad f***ing news." They are the best I've seen in conference to date and, make no mistake about it, would be logging snaps at places like Ohio State, USC and LSU. They are that good.
- Dakota Allen was the defensive MVP by a significant margin and he grades out similarly every week to Zach Thomas. One of the best in program history already and will be a candidate for future Tech hall of famer. Conference hasn't started but I would say he's the leader in the clubhouse for 1st team all conference and defensive newcomer of the year as we get started.
- Dorsey might be in the running for newcomer of the year, if Allen wasn't on our squad. We need this guy to stay healthy. Best DB on the roster.
- Mych Thomas continues to play out of his mind. While Ed Oliver deservedly received a lot of attention throughout the broadcast, Thomas was equally dominant in destroying any semblance of a run game by the Cougars.
- I think those three guys above are your playmakers at each level, which means talents like Washington, Howard, Gilmore, Barnes, Jones, Brooks, Lane, Sykes, Morgan, Johnson, Smith, Coleman, Fields and the newly minted Jeffers are your role players. There are some pretty good "role" players in that group. That's why we're playing like an average Big 12 defense right now. Kudos to Gibbs and Spavital for the tremendous transformation of this roster. They might have saved everyone's job in just the nic of time.
- Interesting to see Fields and Jeffers log as many critical snaps as they did and I don't think that's a bad thing.
- The OL really struggled adjusting to the speed of the Cougar front. Oliver is cat quick and #3 was stealing Bruffy's candy for most of the 1st quarter. However, I thought they settled in nicely and outplayed their counterparts. We managed 3 plays over 70 yards with 2 of them being well-blocked run plays.
- The increased mobility all the way across the line has allowed Brandon Jones to add a staple Bill Snyder power play pulling both the guard and tackle (reference long King run). It should be familiar to Raider fans as it's the same play that little RB with the hairnet from KSU scored on from 70 out on the first play of the game in Lubbock a few years back. It won't continue to work quite as well for us since the role of our QB isn't to double as a fullback, but it's nice to know we've applied a strategy that is capable of punishing defensive fronts that disrespect our run game. I would think Dana Holgerson might be the inspiration here.
- Shimonek was just as shaky as the OL in the first quarter, but settled down nicely. I'm not really sure he's made a mistake this year.
- Keke Coutee might be a lot better than I ever thought. He looks faster than everyone else and was the offensive MVP.
- Dakota Allen was the defensive MVP by a significant margin and he grades out similarly every week to Zach Thomas. One of the best in program history already and will be a candidate for future Tech hall of famer. Conference hasn't started but I would say he's the leader in the clubhouse for 1st team all conference and defensive newcomer of the year as we get started.
- Dorsey might be in the running for newcomer of the year, if Allen wasn't on our squad. We need this guy to stay healthy. Best DB on the roster.
- Mych Thomas continues to play out of his mind. While Ed Oliver deservedly received a lot of attention throughout the broadcast, Thomas was equally dominant in destroying any semblance of a run game by the Cougars.
- I think those three guys above are your playmakers at each level, which means talents like Washington, Howard, Gilmore, Barnes, Jones, Brooks, Lane, Sykes, Morgan, Johnson, Smith, Coleman, Fields and the newly minted Jeffers are your role players. There are some pretty good "role" players in that group. That's why we're playing like an average Big 12 defense right now. Kudos to Gibbs and Spavital for the tremendous transformation of this roster. They might have saved everyone's job in just the nic of time.
- Interesting to see Fields and Jeffers log as many critical snaps as they did and I don't think that's a bad thing.
- The OL really struggled adjusting to the speed of the Cougar front. Oliver is cat quick and #3 was stealing Bruffy's candy for most of the 1st quarter. However, I thought they settled in nicely and outplayed their counterparts. We managed 3 plays over 70 yards with 2 of them being well-blocked run plays.
- The increased mobility all the way across the line has allowed Brandon Jones to add a staple Bill Snyder power play pulling both the guard and tackle (reference long King run). It should be familiar to Raider fans as it's the same play that little RB with the hairnet from KSU scored on from 70 out on the first play of the game in Lubbock a few years back. It won't continue to work quite as well for us since the role of our QB isn't to double as a fullback, but it's nice to know we've applied a strategy that is capable of punishing defensive fronts that disrespect our run game. I would think Dana Holgerson might be the inspiration here.
- Shimonek was just as shaky as the OL in the first quarter, but settled down nicely. I'm not really sure he's made a mistake this year.
- Keke Coutee might be a lot better than I ever thought. He looks faster than everyone else and was the offensive MVP.
