Category: Sports

Blogs, Sports

Ranking the 2023 College Football Coach Hires the Smart Way

Posted on by Elijah Teague

Part One: The Good

Now that the coaching carousel is officially over (thanks for making me wait Harbaugh), we can look back at and evaluate each hire. We can’t evaluate whether these hires are good or bad because that’s impossible this early. It takes years to decide that, as “home run hires” like Scott Frost have proven. It’s even too early to make any definitive statements on last year’s list. Instead of handing out grades, I ranked each coaching hire based on how well it fits. It’s pointless trying to grade schools like Nebraska and Western Michigan the same way because they need entirely different things from a coach. Sorting coaches based on fit alleviates most of these problems. As it turns out, there was a lot going on this cycle, so I split the rankings into two separates posts. This post includes the first four tiers, all of which I consider to be the good hires of the year. Continue reading →

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Blogs, Sports

Trying to Draft a Star QB? Better Start Tanking

Posted on by Elijah Teague

The quarterback is always the most important player on a football field. No other position has such a strong influence on the outcome of every single play. Finding the right QB is the top priority for every NFL team. It’s why top-tier coaches like Sean Payton and Jim Harbaugh are fighting over the chance to coach raging dumpster fire that is the Denver Broncos. It’s also why teams have to mortgage their entire future to trade for a proven QB. Most of the time, this doesn’t work out. Not everyone can be the Rams. Instead of paying that exorbitant price, most teams try and draft their quarterback of the future. It’s seen as the safer bet, but is it? Drafting in general is a crap shoot. On average, over half of each year’s first round picks will never make a Pro Bowl, which is a relatively low bar. Is there anything a team can do to improve their chances of selecting their franchise savior? The past fifteen years of data can provide the answers. Continue reading →

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Blogs, Sports

Special Teams Matter

Posted on by Elijah Teague

Everyone loves to watch an explosive offense. “Defense wins championships” is one of the oldest adages in the sport. These opposing phases of football dominate the conversation, and rightfully so. They do make up the vast majority of every game. Meanwhile, there’s a third phase of the game that endures nothing but ridicule. I’m talking about football’s red headed stepchild: special teams. Every few years, some Skip Bayless type talking head will say that kickers and punters aren’t football players, all the other shows will turn it into a few days of content, and Pat McAfee will be the only one defending the specialists. Even though it’s easy to make fun of college kickers, the results don’t lie. Good special teams is a requirement to win a championship. Continue reading →

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Blogs, Sports

Who Were 2022’s Surprise Teams?

Posted on by Elijah Teague

Bowl season is finally upon us. It’s the glorious time of year where we all sit down to watch teams you haven’t heard of play in a city you otherwise wouldn’t know exists in a game named after a sketchy tech company; all so we can avoid interacting with our loved ones during the holidays. It’s a perfect time begin looking back on the regular season. Let’s start by looking at ten of the year’s most surprising teams, half of which were pleasant surprises, and the other half not so much. These teams were selected based on the change in their composite rankings, nerd stats that predict how much better or worse a team is compared to the average, from the start of the year to the end. I did not pick these teams myself. There are 131 FBS teams. That’s a lot to sort through for subjective rankings. I want to make sure that you understand that, because there is one very conspicuous omission from this list, and I don’t want to get yelled at. I want to be optimistic, so let’s start with the good and end with the bad. Continue reading →

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Blogs, Sports

College Football Week 13 Recap

Posted on by Elijah Teague

It’s the most bittersweet weekend of the year. It’s the last week of the college football regular season. The thing we’ve all been waiting nine months for is finally over. To soften the blow, the football gods bless us with the greatest week of the season: rivalry week. There were too many amazing games to cover all in one piece, so let’s jump in and look back at some of the best of the best from this past week. Continue reading →

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Blogs, Sports

College Football Week 7 Recap

Posted on by Elijah Teague

I’m sure I’ve said this before, but this past Saturday was honestly the greatest day of college football I have ever seen. Almost all of the big games lived up to the hype, we had some thrillers in the G5, and, most importantly, we had actual rivalry games. It was the kind of weekend that reminds you why you put up with all the garbage and outside noise that comes with this sport. Nothing compares to the pure emotion and pageantry that is college football. So, let’s take a look back this incredible week with the usual categories. Continue reading →

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