Americas War Game

The state of modern offensive line play is a bit rough. It’s a very discipline-heavy practice in general. Building great lines is more about teaching and development than most any other position on the field. The modern requirement1 to put big bodies on the field also drastically reduces the number of qualified applicants for the role.

I’m resisting the temptation to write on the internet’s favorite debate over whether American athletes can play soccer to get back to the next part of our series on the Vegas favorites. Last time we discussed whether the highest odds teams have elite firepower at my two most important positions, wide receiver and defensive tackle. Today we’ll talk about how those same teams look in terms of veteran leadership at the field general positions of quarterback and safety.

I love writing about flag football. It’s fun to tell tales of youth sports and my various successes and failures. The failures are maybe the most cathartic to write and the most enjoyable to read. As a result of having written about flag for well over a year now, I have endless thoughts, plays, essays, and notes within me on what works and doesn’t work in coaching 5-on-5 NFL Flag at various age groups in different leagues.

The USMNT got absolutely boat raced by Belgium the other night. There’s a lot of chatter about it online, but I already said everything we all normally argue over after the men’s team gets whooped by a European squad at some point in the tournament before the opener against Paraguay.

In part I of this series, I broke down some of the main transfers that should factor into the ACC and Big 10’s playoff hunt. There weren’t a ton, because a lot of the contenders up North are rolling with guys they recruited and developed out of high school to play quarterback. I have mixed opinions on how I think that will go for them, mostly contingent on whether those quarterbacks are in years 1-3 or 4-5. Obviously the latter is better.

The last few college football titles have been totally dominated by transfer quarterbacks.1 This was entirely predictable when you consider the nature of the position or examine the impact a single-elimination playoff has on winners and losers in the NFL. The winners are teams who have a precise quarterback who can execute a winning strategy against intense game planning.

Very recently, the old 1988 State Semifinal game between the Permian Panthers of Friday Night Lights fame and the Carter Cowboys of relative ignominy1 became available on YouTube. Of all the games in Texas high school football history, this is probably one of the most famous both because it’s the final game in THE book on Texas high school ball and because it was then portrayed in the movie. Because of the considerable lore around the game, it has a number of narratives and myths around it.

The reason for Brian Kelly’s failure as the head coach of the LSU Tigers was that none of his teams really played like a typical LSU team. A typical LSU team like we’ve all been accustomed to seeing this century is defined by having a very fast, physical defense with an elite secondary prowling around on the back end. Even the 2019 LSU Tigers, while historically brilliant on offense, also had a great secondary and defense.

The redshirt year has been dying a slow and painful death for a few years now. One of the more recent, nearly-lethal blows was when the NCAA ruled that players could exceed the four game limit and preserve their redshirt if some of the games that pushed them over four were incurred in the postseason. It was very reasonably concluded that players shouldn’t be punished if they were pressed into action by a program’s needs during the postseason.

There’s little to say about U6 Flag Football at this point in the season. I’m merely assistant to the head coach with very little real input on the strategy of the team, I’ll just do what I can to help co-coach develop the skills of our players. I think he’ll do a great job of that, especially after our week one 31-8 loss made clear the need to make flag-pulling a major emphasis of practice. However, there’s quite a bit to say about Pop Warner.