College Football Week 3 Sept 15, 2012

[TheoSqua]

North Carolina at Louisville
Navy at Penn State
Florida at Tennessee
Arizona State at Missouri
Southern California at Stanford
Notre Dame at Michigan State
Texas at Ole Miss

[slide_into_first]

Notre Dame is joining the ACC except playing a partial conference football sked.

[slide_into_first]

Going to 5 games per year with ACC teams won't change ND's schedule very much, this year they would have 4 games, Miami, BC, Wake Forest and Pitt. Probably they will drop Purdue or Stanford or go to a 2 out of 3 year rotation with the 3 BigTen teams.

[Vidor]

Is it asking too much for UL-Monroe to beat Auburn, too? How awesome would that be?

[fanforever]

Louisville
Navy
Florida
ASU
Southern California
Notre Dame
Texas

changed from Penn State to Navy and Missouri to Arizona State University

[slide_into_first]

I finally found a description of the differences in coaching techniques that Wisconsin's O line could not adapt to and led to Mike Markuson's firing:

http://buckyville.yuku.com/topic/56007/ ... FH00VEkqSp

Bostad Approach/Power Blocking for Run Plays:
Leverage is the name of the game. Having your feet in the right position underneath your body is critical, because you are driving your opponent out of an area almost entirely with lower body strength. Strength is greatly favored over speed and mobility.

Each play has a specific hole/gap that the ball carrier is running through and the linemen create that space via wedging two defensive linemen apart, double-teaming one lineman into the second level, or hooking the defensive end from keeping contain on the outside (or if that isn't possible, string him out to the sideline and let the back go inside of you). The type of defensive front will always modify which defender the lineman will block. As a tackle, my primary blocking responsibility could be double team on a defensive tackle, double team on an defensive end, down or cut block a defensive tackle, hook a defensive end, or flow up to the second level and take on a linebacker on any given play depending on the defensive front 7 and if I had a tight end next to me or not. And these blocking assignments are locked in stone. A defensive stunt won't alter them.

Here's a standard way that the aforementioned gaps are determined below. So a play we had was called "Rip 24 Power". "Rip" meant the I-formation with the tight end on the right, "24" meant the tailback was getting the ball and was running for the space between the guard and tackle, and the "power" meant that the guard and tackle double-teams the defensive tackle and then the tackle can slip off to take a linebacker if possible (all assuming there is a defensive lineman somewhere between the center and tackle).
9 TE 7 T 5 G 3 1C0 2 G 4 T 6 TE 8

Pass Blocking: This is probably a lot more varied from coach to coach. But in pass blocking, I was taught a very similar thing to the leverage for running plays. First and foremost, make sure that you are well-balanced. If you aren't sturdy, any push from the defensive player will make you even more off-balanced and likely out of position. The next thing (for tackles and guards anyway), is to immediately take a step backwards. You don't necessarily have to even engage the defensive player. Mirroring him and getting in his way is just as good as stopping him at the line of scrimmage if you aren't backing up into the QB. The only time you should be aggressive instead of passive while pass blocking is if the player is trying to bullrush through you or run around you.

Markuson Approach/Zone Blocking: The objective is to create non-specific lanes for the running back. Plays are called to general areas rather than specific gaps. The three basic plays are inside zone, outside zone, and stretch. Inside means that the ball carrier will likely find a seam between the center and the guard, outside between the guard and the tight end, and the stretch beyond the tackle or tight end. Rather than the offensive blocking scheme dictating where the runner should go, the runner reacts to what opens up from the defense moving against the blocks. As the name implies, linemen block whoever is in their zone, rather than lock into a specific player. This scheme rewards speed and mobility over strength.

Pass Blocking: I'm not even going to pretend I know what I'm talking about here.


Overall: I think a valid analogy to each philosophy are these... Bostad wants his blockers to be road graders that pancake defenders on the ground and move on to the next one. Markuson wants his blockers to be walls that make temporary hallways for the runner to go through. I don't want to come off as knocking zone-blocking though. Mike Shanahan has had dominant run games using it exclusively.

[JL21]

Full disclosure: I just changed my Notre Dame- Michigan St. pick. The pick is now Notre Dame.

[st.lewis11]

North Carolina at Louisville
Navy at Penn State
Florida at Tennessee
Arizona State at Missouri
Southern California at Stanford
Notre Dame at Michigan State
Texas at Ole Miss

[fanforever]

Brian Edwards Sports ‏@vegasbedwards

With #Missouri QB James Franklin downgraded to 'doubtful,' the Tigers are now favored by 3.5 or 4 at most books (line was previously 6).

[Sutter'sBeard]

North Carolina at Louisville
Navy at Penn State
Florida at Tennessee
Arizona State at Missouri
Southern California at Stanford
Notre Dame at Michigan State
Texas at Ole Mis