Linking Up: Maximum Air Raid
Been a while since I hit y'all with some recommended reading. Let's rectify.
*If you have an hour or two, I highly recommend Chris Brown's magnum opus on the Air Raid offense at Smart Football. Aside from all the footage you could want of Josh Heupel running Mike Leach's then-revolutionary aerial attack, Brown lays out the rudiments of the scheme that has captured the imagination of the football world. He also previews where it is heading under tacticians such as Dana Holgorsen.
*I'll have a podcast up soon on this with Andy Iskoe of Pregame.com, but I gave my 10 favorite plays from the college football win totals released by Cantor Gaming last week. Cantor set Oklahoma at 9.5, and I expect the Sooners to go over that total. The problem is that the over is priced at -190, and I just can't lay that kind of juice on double-digit wins.
*Texas-centric site Barking Carnival examines the identity of the Big 12, asking if the conference truly is a "passing league." The primary conclusion: Avoiding turnovers and protecting the ball takes precedence over piling up yards.
I hate to pull out a coaching cliché, but I think the truth is that if you can't turn your passing game and running game into credible threats, you can never assume long-term success at a high level.
*Columnist David Teel of looks at strength of schedule and its role in the BCS rankings, ignoring the data to come up with an incorrect conclusion about SoS. Teel is correct in arguing that SoS has helped put teams over the top in the rankings in the past, but he assumes that means that teams that schedule aggressively outside of conference play have been rewarded. Conference strength matters far more, though. The reason is simple: Conference games make up more of the schedule.
If you want to know why schools like Florida St. would consider leaving the ACC, look no further.
*Sooner legend Adrian Peterson has hired famed courtroom brawler Rusty Hardin as his counsel in the matter of his arrest over the weekend on charges of resisting arrest. (Private dick Bomani Jones has already done plenty of legwork on the case.) I'm in favor of anything that gets Hardin more face time.
*I can't believe the inquiry into potential academic fraud at North Carolina isn't getting more publicity nationally. Guess if it doesn't involve payola and kids going wild no one cares.