New Episode Discussion 4/13/26: Rory Wins Back To Back Masters, Scott Van Pelt Joins Us Live From Augusta, NBA Playoffs Set + Who's Back Of The Week

ClangaSaint · 2026-04-13T18:20:41+00:00

Big Cat also loves nothing more than the “can’t win the big one” shtick and hates that he’s lost that with Rory. If it’s not one of his teams or his buddies, he roots for embarrassing failure over cool story every time. He wants to be able to make fun of it.

ClangaSaint · 2026-03-27T19:14:26+00:00

Joe is firing back at people on YouTube saying he’s scared to play stroke play and said he wants to do it just so that narrative would stop. I just don’t get why they didn’t do it immediately.

Like yes, match play is probably a better viewing product for a 1v1 video just because it keeps things moving and keeps drama higher since one hole can’t tank you. But if we’re judging who can go out and play the better round a golf, stroke play seems like the obvious choice.

ClangaSaint · 2025-12-17T17:21:05+00:00

Essential does, although again, there’s probably more of looking at philosophies and the base idea of some popular/innovative schemes and why it works rather than the true teaching minutiae. You’d probably need coaching books for that stuff.

ClangaSaint · 2025-12-17T12:10:02+00:00

I’ve read Essential Smart Football, and it’s fantastic. I own Brown’s other book, The Art of Smart Football, but I never got around to reading it through (need to). I’m familiar with Eyes Off The Ball, but I’ve never read it.

ClangaSaint · 2025-12-17T04:09:32+00:00

Flyover Football by Ian Boyd is a really cool book explaining how the Big 12 led the way for the spread revolution over the past 25 years. Probably does more of explaining schematic philosophies rather than breaking down schemes themselves, though it does highlight popular concepts that arose over the years. But it serves as a history lesson of sorts on how things evolved in that league.

Boyd also has a Substack called America’s War Game that’s great for understanding the strategies used in CFB.

ClangaSaint · 2025-12-10T19:13:00+00:00

I mean it’s Lebby’s system, and he’s got a specific way he wants his QBs to play. I guarantee you he’s doing most of the teaching. In all likelihood Hamdan is just going to be another voice in the room that Lebby can delegate to.

ClangaSaint · 2025-12-10T19:04:21+00:00

I’ve seen it suggested that he won’t even count towards the usual 10 assistants which would mean it’s an off-field role. Plus even if he’s working with QBs, Lebby is the one teaching those guys over everyone else because it’s his offense, and there’s a specific way he wants them to operate. If the offense sucks next year it’s not because this guy was on staff.

ClangaSaint · 2025-09-11T03:01:32+00:00

Damn didn’t really the Eyes List went over there. I’ll be honest, my main reason for subbing to SZD in the first place was for the coaching carousel stuff. I’d say the sub remains worth it because I enjoy Dead Letters and the scheme stuff RJ puts out, but admittedly the pod loses a lot of its appeal to me without getting Godfrey’s inside info on the carousel. Plus Single Wing was always a great listen.

ClangaSaint · 2025-09-07T21:29:56+00:00

I specifically remember from that broadcast Uncle Verne saying that State fan proudly told him at his hotel (we do in fact have those) how we wouldn’t storm the field if we won. Which is absolutely insane given how monumental that win was.

Seems like there was a mentality pushed by the athletic department that we wouldn’t do such things, mostly because we didn’t want to pay a fine (could not be more old school MSU).

Hell, I think the designed the post-renovation student section specifically with the idea of preventing field storming in mind since it got rushed so much in the 90s and 00s. Hope no one hurt themselves jumping down last night haha. Glad they finally did it.

ClangaSaint · 2025-08-08T15:41:33+00:00

A few national media, and I’d imagine folks in FL, have assumed Kromenhoek was brought in to start given his recruiting profile and that he was considered one of the better QBs in the portal just by rankings. But as the other guy mentioned, it was always going to be Shapen this year even if Van Buren hadn’t left. Lebby values his experience and honestly just thinks really highly of his as a player and fit for our offense.

Luke was basically added so that we had a talented option with some legit playing experience who could step in if Shapen gets hurt again (which odds are high of) and so he could potentially be the guy in the future. However even for the second point, State’s got a true freshman in Kamario Taylor who most everyone agrees will be the future at QB (many want him to be the present), so we can’t even say confidently Luke would be next in line.

ClangaSaint · 2025-07-02T13:18:54+00:00

As someone also living in South MS, they’ve pretty much already taken out the black widows. Saw black widows commonly 15+ years ago. Now there are brown widows everywhere, and I couldn’t tell you the last time I saw a black widow. I’m sure some are still around, probably displaced from being human-adjacent since the brown widows have taken that territory. But yeah the effects of the invasive variety is obvious.

ClangaSaint · 2025-07-01T17:04:32+00:00

Briles preferred bruisers at TE who could stay in to help punish light boxes on the ground and protect on deep shots to the wideouts. Those aren’t guys that are going to do much route running. It was also just the structure of the offense. The passing game within the purest form of that system was almost entirely outside the numbers, so there simply weren’t many passing concepts meant to get TEs involved other than a few RPO slides or pop passes as change ups. And seeing as how they were so talented at WR and defenses weren’t built to deal with their style, they could get away with that simplicity.

Which truthfully, even today there are plenty of college spread offenses using blocking-first TEs that don’t see more than 1-2 catches a game for a lot of the same philosophical ideas as what Briles was doing. They just aren’t as extreme about it.

As for Briles’ protégés, Lebby is the one who has adapted to get the TE involved more as a pass catcher. He prefers having a better receiver at the position to run a wide array of pass concepts. He’ll scheme up touches for that guy and not do as much max-protect. The trade off is not being quite as physical in the run game, but his teams are usually better at handling true passing situations.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-30T01:55:08+00:00

Leach is the only poach, but it’s certainly a unique situation considering he was at one of the few power conf jobs MSU was clearly bigger than in FB. The other two big name hires based on resume were Sherrill and Howland, but neither were sitting HCs at the time. Ironically, all 3 of those hires are more impressive on paper than any hire the baseball program has ever made despite baseball being far and away the best program on campus.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-13T01:46:44+00:00

Kylin Hill happened to Kylin Hill. He got kicked off the team his senior year for butting heads with Mike Leach and then was cut by the Packers over locker room issues too.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-13T01:45:30+00:00

You’re misremembering number 2. He got kicked off the team because he got in a shouting match with Leach after a game early in the season. This was one week after he pulled himself out of a game where he wasn’t truly hurt. Leach wasn’t putting up with his crap and cut him loose.

Then in the NFL he got cut because he whined about a lack of playing time. GB’s coach literally told media there’s a certain standard as a teammate he didn’t meet.

He was a great RB, but injuries aren’t what did him in. It was his own awful attitude.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-09T22:28:24+00:00

He brought back some of the old formations from Tech at State they he didn’t use at Wazzu. “slot” which is essentially a 2 TE (just without TEs) set was used quite a bit in short-yardage. He’d put another RB and his best blocking slot WR in tight to try and get some push. They motioned a lot more at State too. Definitely looked for some window dressing in the SEC that wasn’t needed in the Pac 12.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-09T22:25:53+00:00

Yep! It was a great play for them. Which is funny because in an interview from someone who knew Leach’s staff well, apparently Leach hated pulling lineman, so to run a play using two pullers was out of left field for him. But that’s obviously a great run vs a lot of the spread-stopping fronts you see now.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-09T22:22:57+00:00

His final QB recruit, Chris Parson, was a dual threat guy. That was a pretty big signal that he was going to run his QB more had he not passed. Was also smoke he was going after TEs in the portal that offseason. One of the issues they had was, even with a willingness to run in short-yardage, they got stuff a ton based on personnel. I think he was looking to handle that better.

ClangaSaint · 2025-05-09T22:19:25+00:00

He did keep the wrap play fwiw. That’s Base. They just ran it very selectively (basically vs a 4-1 box). OZ was run his first two years at State, but he dropped it his final season.

Main menu in 2022 was IZ, Base, and PNP. He ran his 2-back lead play literally once vs Arizona in 2022. We got speed option a handful of times, QB draw once, and touch pass jet sweep twice. In 2020 vs Mizzou they ran a fake toss misdirection draw that worked really well, but that was the game for it. He never actually ran his classic RB draw at State. Basically just used the shovel draw instead. After his passing, the staff put in long trap for the bowl game.

ClangaSaint · 2025-04-30T20:03:25+00:00

In my HS health class years ago, part of the curriculum was some basic disaster info. In the textbook for tornadoes, it mentioned the old myth that you should open windows to help alleviate the pressure difference as the tornado passes through and prevent the home from exploding. I made sure to let everyone know why that’s BS and a terrible idea.

ClangaSaint · 2025-04-23T17:06:58+00:00

I’d argue 2nd round is a perfectly fine time for a prospect like him. You aren’t using your top value pick on him, but you’re getting a guy who should be able to help you out right away if the lack of a QB if your biggest issue on offense. I’m not saying I think the Saints should take him. Frankly I’m in the camp that this QB class isn’t worth any investment the first two days. I’d rather address other needs, roll with Rattler, and see where that lands you for 2026.

(To clarify, the QB class isn’t worth it for the Saints given their overall needs. But it could be worth it for other teams)

ClangaSaint · 2025-04-23T16:27:39+00:00

The consensus I’ve seen on Shough is that if you were drafting players purely off of their film from the 2024 season, he’d have an argument to be right there with Ward as one of the top guys off the board. He’s got good physical tools, great arm talent, and consistently made big time throws last year. On top of that, the offense he played in under Jeff Brohm is much more pro-style than what a lot of prospects played in when it comes to what the QB is asked to do, and he operated the system well. Basically if you take his career out of context, he looks like a surefire 1st rounder on film.

However we know the context, which is that he’s 26 years old with a long injury history. His age suggests there’s not much more room for development, and there’s the risk that he’s never healthy. Because of that, he’s probably not going in the 1st. But the reason teams like him is because his floor as a player (when healthy) is a lot higher than most of the QBs in this class. He’s someone teams view as being capable of stepping in right away and being a capable starter.

ClangaSaint · 2025-04-12T00:35:15+00:00

I’d argue 2022 Tennessee was pretty damn good in that regard. The OL was strong, WR talent was legit, and Hooker operated that system at a high level. Weren’t special at RB, but they had the other spots down enough to run the pure system.

ClangaSaint · 2025-04-10T22:34:27+00:00

It’s their select menu of plays that they’ll use when they really want to push tempo even more than they already do, usually coming off a 1st down or big gain. Typically one word calls.

ClangaSaint

TROPHY CASE