Welp. It happened. The Warriors overran the Alamo. I guess it's a good thing I don't get paid for my NBA predictions.
Its played out kinda like 300. Some dude told them about that secret mountain pass and suddenly it was too much.
— FearTheSword (@FearTheSword) June 17, 2015
I assume it was Kelly Olynyk that gave away the mountain pass hustle route, but congrats to the Warriors on easily being the worst NBA champion in recent memory.
... Ok, I think I've exorcised the salt from my body.
(That sound you're hearing, by the way, is the Cleveland Browns' war machine heating up. The NFL better not mess around and let Josh McCown get into the playoffs.)
THE HOKIES' KEY TO BEATING OSU. The Bear front defense became all the rage after Virginia Tech upset Ohio State in the Horseshoe. Literally every opponent thereafter deployed some version of the front at some point against the Buckeyes, and literally every one of them failed.
But there were other things that Bud Foster's defense did to stymy stymie Ohio State's offense.
From french60wasp of TheKeyPlay.com:
Talking heads love highlighting how the Virginia Tech corners play "zero" or "man coverage". Often the Hokie corners play on an island, but rarely are they responsible for tracking a wide receiver no matter where they go. Instead, the Virginia Tech defensive backs are taught to play either inside or outside leverage. Playing leverage is a coverage technique in which a defender overplays half of a wide receiver's pass route options. By taking away routes through alignment and technique, the quarterback is forced to throw lower percentage passes and the defensive support (often a safety) can easily identify where a pass is likely to be thrown.
Against Ohio State, the Hokie corners used inside leverage to squash many of the route options discussed by Ohio State analysts before they even happened. When playing inside leverage, the defender aligns inside his man, angling towards the sidelines, and while it looks like man-to-man, his real assignment is to prevent any receiver from running an inside breaking pass route (cross, slant or post). A route like a slant is almost impossible because the corner is interposed in between the receiver and the delivery point for the football. Instead, the alignment invites the receiver to release to the outside on out routes, out and go's and outside release go routes.
[...]
Inside leverage was a huge difference maker against Ohio State. Easier throws like slants and crossing routes were essentially taken away when the Hokies played inside leverage. Meanwhile, the Hokie corners ability to turn and run kept the Buckeyes from making big plays down field on outside releases. Since I started writing at TKP, the one technique question that I get more than any other is "Why do the Virginia Tech defensive backs not turn around and find the football?" I posed the question to Virginia Tech defensive backs coach Torrian Gray at the recent Northern Virginia Hokie Club Chalk Talk, and Gray indicated that he felt looking back for the ball caused the cover man to lose a step. Losing a step created separation that allowed the receiver to make the play.
(I recommend the piece in full, because french60wasp is the real deal and The Key Play is a great source for all things Hokies.)
We'll see what happens in Blacksburg, but Virginia Tech won't be facing a rookie at quarterback or a green offensive line. The big-pawed puppy the Hokes felled last September will be the junkyard dog this time around.
It also seems to me — if I'm understanding what french60wasp is putting down — that J.T. Barrett would be the best Pokémon to deploy against this kind of defense.
Makes you think, that's for sure.
(EASTERN) MICHIGAN MAN MIGHT BE HIGH ON PEYOTE. Kids, don't do peyote. It sounds cool... until you're 46-years-old and your brains are battered like Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton's.
Via Chris Vannini of CoachingSearch.com (emphasis mine):
“Part of my professional development this year, I spoke with Joe Novak, the former head coach at Northern Illinois,” Creighton said onThe Drive with Jack Ebling. “He told me, halfway through his fourth year, he was 3-33, before they went on a string of present-day Northern Illinois. We had a 45-minute talk. It was fantastic. I asked him to write a letter to the team, which he’s putting together right now and we’re going to read during camp.
“I wrote Art Briles at Baylor, and he wrote me back and wrote a letter to the team. I wrote David Cutcliffe at Duke, he wrote a letter. The other one is Coach Snyder at Kansas State. We have such a great profession. All of those guys took the time to write our team a letter.
“To me, those are all programs that were not at the top of the heap and are now and have sustained success,” Creighton said. “I would also argue, whoever won the national championship, Ohio State, there’s a lot of confetti and it’s a great accomplishment, but to me, not greater than what Baylor, Kansas State, Duke and Northern Illinois have accomplished."
What is it that Baylor, Kansas, Duke, and Northern Illinois have done that Ohio State hasn't? As far as I can tell, the only difference (besides titles) is they employ coaches that aren't too busy to respond to a letter — what sort of monster is sending a letter in this day and age? — to a MAC coach who went 2-10 in his first year.
Congratulations to Chris Creighton, though. Today marks the first mention of Eastern Michigan football in a Skull Session since some guy named "Poguemahone" wrote these things in 2010. We'll see the Eagles again in 2020, when I've outsourced my writing to an intern and Chris Creighton is back coaching in the Pioneer League.
MORE GRIND VIDEOS. Build a statue outside the WHAC for the man/lady that thought of these "Grind" videos:
Go instead where there is no path #TheGrind pic.twitter.com/0voJSIffSM
— EzekielElliott#15 (@EzekielElliott) June 16, 2015
"Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way." #TheGrind pic.twitter.com/uiT3fdkPwo
— Urban Meyer (@OSUCoachMeyer) June 16, 2015
I miss football.
SILK ZEROED IN ON THE LAKERS? D'Angelo Russell already cancelled a workout with the Philadelphia 76ers, but it looks like Patient 0 will indeed workout one more time for the team with the No. 3 pick in next week's NBA Draft.
Sources: D'Angelo Russell will have a workout with the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday. #NBADraft
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) June 16, 2015
Russell really wants to go to the Lakers though, according to this man on Twitter:
Lol only team to be retweeted by D'angelo Russell are the Lakers hmmmmmmmmmm pic.twitter.com/6l63PaMPQf
— Kobe Kazimi (@StayKaziming) June 16, 2015
D'angelo Russell retweeted this lakers draft vid https://t.co/n4k6aLwND1
— Kobe Kazimi (@StayKaziming) June 16, 2015
*hits corncob pipe* That's quality sleuthing, gumshoe.
LET'S WATCH DARRON LEE PUT A NAIL IN MICHIGAN'S COFFIN. Say, friend, what if I offered you a chance to watch Darron Lee inflict pain and suffering on Michigan? Is that something you might be interested in?
If it wasn't over before, it was after Darron Lee did this! Watch @OhioStAthletics' 2014 rivalry win at 8 ET on BTN. http://t.co/mKkkZGaupk
— Ohio State on BTN (@OhioStateOnBTN) June 16, 2015
Darron Lee: Giving hope to three-star recruits across the country.
THOSE WMDs. Via BKshepherd: ROLL TIDE... Uh, that's bad... Hulk Hogan is fighting for the privacy of the world’s sex tapes... Sinatra Song Often Strikes Deadly Chord... 18 Hunter S. Thompson Stories from His Stint as a Foreign Correspondent... /salute to Jimmy Goldstein... Passphrases that can be memorized but not guessed... The Cardinal Way!
