Tag: Air Raid

Analyst ranks Badgers offensive coordinator as top in Big Ten

Badgers have top OC in the Big Ten

The upcoming Badgers football season is one of the most anticipated in the history of the program, partly due to new offensive coordinator Phil Longo. Adam Breneman, host of the “Next Up with Adam Breneman” podcast ranks Longo as the best OC in the conference.

Longo brings his “Air Raid” offense that made him a national name at North Carolina to Madison. He’s worked with top quarterbacks Sam Howell (now with the Washington Commanders) and Drake Maye (one of the top Heisman candidates).

He will now operate a Badgers offense that struggled in the passing game last year, ranking 114th in the country with 183.8 passing yards per game.

Paired with transfer quarterback Tanner Mordecai (SMU) in Madison under head coach Luke Fickell, Longo will look to reinvent their passing approach.

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WATCH: Behind the scenes of team photo shoot

The Badgers are gearing up for arguably their most anticipated season in program history as Luke Fickell takes over at head coach.

The Badgers are gearing up for arguably their most anticipated season in program history as Luke Fickell takes over at head coach. The team recently released images from their photo shoot and Friday, a behind the scenes video reel was dropped.

With the new coaching staff in town, there has been an influx of transfer additions as well as a spike in recruiting success moving forward. Most notable for 2023 though, was the addition of quarterback Tanner Mordecai (SMU).

Paired with offensive coordinator Phil Longo (UNC) and his “Air Raid” offense, Wisconsin’s passing game could look much improved in 2023, which is something Badger fans have been begging for.

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Texas Longhorns vs Texas Tech: QB Tale of the Tape

The Texas Longhorns travel to play Texas Tech next Saturday. We look at the quarterbacks in our tale of the tape.

One week from Saturday the Texas Longhorns will travel to Lubbock for the Big 12 opener against Texas Tech at Jones AT&T Stadium. For the Longhorns this will their earliest trip to Lubbock since the 2010 season. That year they won 24-14. It was a sloppy game from quarterback Garrett Gilbert who threw three interceptions in that game but the Longhorns never trailed.

This will be the first time that Alan Bowman will face Texas as he has been injured the last two times these teams faced off. That is the biggest concern for Red Raider fans, can Bowman play an entire season? He has shown promise in two seasons but staying healthy and consistent is what Texas Tech needs from their passer. They struggled last weekend against Houston Baptist, but not necessarily Bowman’s fault. The defense was as effective as a wet paper bag.

On the other hand you have the Big 12’s leading passer (touchdowns) in Sam Ehlinger. He is the opposite in that he doesn’t miss football games. A true gamer with an immense competitive drive. Last week against UTEP, he got off to a hot start from the first play on. Set school records for passing yards and touchdowns in the first half. Had he played the second half like he did the first, he would have obliterated any school records for one game.

Bowman will likely test this Texas defense with the amount of times they will throw the ball. On the other side, Ehlinger is looking at this defense and salivating. If Texas continues with their own version of the ‘air raid’ attack, Matt Wells defense could be in for a long game next Saturday.

Sam Ehlinger vs Alan Bowman
6-3 Ht 6-3
225 Wt 216
Sr Yr Jr
26 Comp 38
33 Att 52
12.9 YPA 8.3
426 Yards 430
5 TDs 2
0 INTs 1
234.2 Rating 151.4

 

Should we expect Seahawks running backs to get more carries?

Should we expect the Seattle Seahawks running backs to get more carries or will Pete Carroll continue to let quarterback Russell Wilson cook?

Quarterback Russell Wilson was the star of the show on Sunday, completing 31 of 35 passes attempted for 322 yards and four touchdowns through the air against the Atlanta Falcons. Seattle posted just 20 total carries, with only 13 of those shared between running backs Chris Carson and Carlos Hyde.

Should we start to expect the Seahawks to feature more of a passing attack – letting Russ continue to cook – or will Seattle return to more of a run-heavy offense? Coach Pete Carroll certainly isn’t going to cough up his game plan that easily, but he does hope to get his backs some more time.

“Seven and six carries wasn’t enough for our guys, we need to get more,” Carroll said Monday. “We were at 20, we want to get more than that in general, but when Russ is completing every pass, we weren’t discouraged about the movement of the football. But we love running the ball, we always have, and those guys will get more carries, as we move down through the schedule.”

So, for now, you’ll just have to tune in on Sundays to see what Carroll, Wilson and the running back have cooked up for the week.

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Texas QB Sam Ehlinger named Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week

The Walter Camp Foundation named Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger the Offensive Player of the Week. He had a monster night in Austin.

Saturday was a big night for Texas Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger. Some feel that he can put on a Heisman worthy campaign this year and it was off to a roaring start. So much so that he was named Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week for his performance.

Comp Att YPA Yards TD INT Rating
25 33 12.9 426 5 0 234.2

The 426 yards passing and five touchdown passes were both career highs for the senior from Austin, Texas. Which says a lot about the new offensive scheme under Mike Yurcich since Ehlinger did most of that damage in the first half while building a 45-3 lead.

This marked the second time in Ehlinger’s career that he was named Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week. The last time it came when Ehlinger led the Longhorns offense to 386 yards of total offense and five touchdowns in their 48-45 win over Oklahoma.

According to the release by Texas Athletics, Ehlinger is the second Big 12 quarterback to throw for 420 yards and five touchdowns in an opening week win. Will Grier (WVU) was the last to do it in 2018. Ehlinger could be in store for big things this year, with how the offense looked in week one.

Next up for Ehlinger and the offense is Texas Tech on Sept. 26. The Red Raiders defense was torched by Houston Baptist to the tune of 572 passing yards and 600 yards of total offense. HBU had three receivers go for 100 yards or more. Which included Caden Sterns’ younger brothers. Josh and Jerreth combined for 17 receptions for 339 yards and three touchdowns.

If Yurcich keeps with the same style of gameplan versus Tech, look for Ehlinger to put up monster numbers again in two weeks.

Georgia football: This George Pickens stat will get you excited about 2020

This stat about Georgia WR George Pickens will get you excited about the UGA football offense in 2020.

According to Pro Football Focus (PFF) Georgia wide receiver George Pickens is the only returning receiver with 75 plus targets and zero drops in all of college football.

Pickens was a freshman phenom for the Bulldogs last year. In a run dominant offense, he caught 49 passes for 727 yards and 8 touchdowns, which earned him Coaches’ Freshman All-SEC Team honors.

A former 5-star recruit from Hoover, Alabama, in the 2019 recruiting class, Pickens was originally committed to the Auburn Tigers until flipping to the Bulldogs on signing day. He was tabbed as the No. 4 receiver in the country and the No. 1 player in Alabama, which helped make the 2019 Georgia class the No. 1 class in the country for the second year in a row.

The sky is the limit for Pickens in 2020. Georgia made two huge off-season moves for the Bulldogs’ passing game with the singing of Wake Forest transfer quarterback Jamie Newman, who is known for a great deep ball and the hiring of offensive coordinator Todd Monken, known for his air-raid passing attack.

DawgNation should be excited for what is to come for this young offense. Injuries and drops plagued the Georgia receiving group in 2019, but Pickens should have some more help around him in 2020. Sophomore receiver Dominick Blaylock looks to return from an ACL tear and Kirby Smart and staff added four 4-star receivers in this year’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class. Not to mention 5-star 2020 TE signee Darnell Washington (6-8, 261).

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