Pac-12 Football Links 7/26/2019
We are previewing the 2019 season already and we have some Pac-12 rankings:
2019 Conference Comparison and Expected Wins
Check out this sort-able table that allows you to dynamically change year and drill down to conference!
Arizona
Not all of these are things we learned at Pac-12 media days, for example Arizona was going to have some free snaps at WR, but there were some good nuggets collected here. 2018 was probably a good thing development wise to Tate, who got away with pure ability in 2017, and had to buckle down and become a better QB who can play within the offense in the off-season.
Arizona State
Herm Edwards was pretty candid discussing the ASU QB competition with the media, but I would also note that Edwards is adept at saying less than you thought in a great many words. Eno Benjamin has more interest in thumbing his nose at opponents and fan-bases than being a star in the traditional SID driven sense. I personally approve of the trash talk, but I also think the bigger the bat flip the better the baseball.
Cal
The Bears landed a bunch of defenders on the Pac-12 preseason teams. The Bears project to have the best defense in the conference next season so it's well deserved.
Colorado
Darrin Chiaverini was promoted to assistant head coach. I think he has some growing to do before he lands another OC gig, but he's a very good recruiter and position coach and keeping him was sharp by Tucker.
Oregon
The Ducks have been in the midst of a culture shift to a more physical style of football under Cristobal and we'll get to see it in action against Auburn; who definitely has a physical defensive front.
Oregon State
The Oregonian is running through the most important Beavers heading into fall and you can catch up all the way at #2 is Jermar Jefferson and #1 is Jake Luton. If the Beavers suprise this season it'll be a defensive player as MIP in the look back.
Stanford
Stanford content, and good Cal content, are always a chore to find, so here is yet another preview from an opponent site.
UCLA
The UCLA defense hasn't been good since 2016, but they did improve against the run last season; after and abysmal 2017. The flip side is that now people have noticed that the pass defense isn't great.
USC
Clay Helton is hitting his players with some tough love after last season; given the immense gap between the talent on the roster and coaching salaries vs. other Pac-12 programs versus the on-field results I don't think anything less than pretty direct feedback makes sense.
Utah
The Utes were picked to win the Pac-12 and I think that is the correct take if you understand joint probability and realize winning the Pac-12 is probability of winning division x winning championship game. I personally think Oregon and Washington have higher ceilings than the Utes, but the Utes have the higher floor with so much returning and so many knowns.
Washington
I think Husky fans are building up their expectations to dangerous levels with Jacob Eason, I say dangerous because the blowback on Eason if he's merely as good as 4 year starter Jake Browning is going to be immense; anyway here is a QB preview.
Washington State
I want to see the Cougars offense without Dillard and Minshew before I buy fully into them this season, Minshew got the ball out quick to cover some of the line deficiencies, but I love what they have at the skill positions. Mike Leach's cup runneth over however.
Football Thing:
Offensive lineman use a variety of techniques to keep a defender off them also keep on balance, but the punch/strike is one of the most important to keep defenders from getting inside your hands.
Non-Football Things:
This is a good book.
This is a good song. Maybe it's not good, but it is fun.
This is good to know. If you want a nice way to do data visuals that you can display on the web I do recommend Data Studio from Google. You can get started easily and it is free. I do most all of my coding in Python these days so freeing myself from writing Python engines to generate HTML and Java Script is pretty nice.