Tag: Dave Aranda

Big 12 coaches ranked by career win percentage

With turnover of three of the conference’s programs, here’s a look at how the current Big 12 coaches stack up in win percentage.

The Big 12 saw some head coach turnover from the 2021 season. Gone are Lincoln Riley, Matt Wells, and Gary Patterson and in are Brent Venables, Joey McGuire, and Sonny Dykes.

Dykes is the only one of the three with head coaching experience having spent time at Louisiana Tech, Cal, and SMU before taking over the TCU Horned Frogs. For much of the 2021 season, SMU looked to be the biggest threat to Cincinnati’s AAC title and playoff aspirations before a late-season collapse allowed Houston to challenge the Bearcats in the AAC title game.

McGuire made a name for himself in the Texas high school football ranks. He led Cedar Hill to three state championships in his tenure. After that he spent time on Baylor’s staff as an assistant before landing at Texas Tech. He might have limited college experience, but he’s a well respected name in Texas high school circles that should give the Red Raiders a boost on the recruiting trail.

Venables is arguably the most successful defensive coordinator of the last decade, helping Clemson win two national titles and predicting countless NFL prospects. No team had more sacks than the Tigers in the last decade in Venables pressure scheme. Bringing back Venables, the Sooners hope to recreate that success in Norman ahead of a future move to the SEC.

Former LSU defensive coordinator gets a contract extension in new gig

At least one branch of the Ed Orgeron coaching tree seems to be flourishing.

Former LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda has done well for himself since taking over as the head coach at Baylor in 2020.

His first season with the Bears was disappointing, as they finished 2-7. That led to the team parting ways with their offensive coordinator, Larry Fedora, who was replaced by Jeff Grimes from BYU.

Fast forward to 2021, Aranda led the Bears to their best season in school history with a 12-2 finish. They spent most of the season ranked in the top 25 and even had an outside shot at getting into the College Football Playoff. They won the Big 12 title and beat the Ole Miss Rebels 21-7 in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Now, Aranda is being rewarded in the form of a contract extension through 2029. The extension was rumored near the end of the season when Aranda spurned interest from other jobs, and the Baylor brass made it official on Tuesday.

“I am incredibly grateful for Dave’s outstanding leadership of our football program and student-athletes through his commitment to preparing champions for life,” athletics director Mack B. Rhoades said in a statement. “Dave has brought unprecedented success to our football program both on and off the field. He has brought tremendous national exposure and acclaim to our institution and the greater Waco community. We look forward to the future with Dave, his wife, Dione, and their children and the continued growth of our football program, student-athletes, and fan support under his exceptional leadership. Dave is, without question, one of the most brilliant minds in college football across the country.”

In addition to his defensive coordinator role while at LSU, Aranda served as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach from 2016-19. During his time at LSU, the defense was rated as high as fifth in the nation for total defense, 10th for rushing defense, and 14th in passing defense.

In his first three years as defensive coordinator, Aranda saw nine of his players selected in the NFL Draft, two each in the first and second rounds. In addition to that, six more of his players made NFL rosters as free agents. The Tigers were 42-11 while he was on the Bayou. He played a pivotal role in creating the smothering 2019 National Championship defense.

Now, he’s well on his way to rebuilding Baylor’s program, and it seems he’ll be around for the long haul in Waco.

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Ranking the Big 12 coaches in the conference this season

Who is the best coach in the Big 12 now that Lincoln Riley has left?

The Big 12 conference is full of head coaches that have potential to be really great.

For the first time since 2017, there is no clear cut No. 1 coach in the conference. The reason for this being the departure of Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley, who took his talents out West to coach at USC.

This means there is now a battle among the coaches for the best coach in the conference, and while coaches like Texas’ Steve Sarkisian or TCU’s Sonny Dykes have the chance to one day be considered among the top spot, there is currently a three horse race for No. 1 this year.

These rankings will factor in past success, projected future success, and their ability to recruit, which also means they can vary after the next season.

Here are the current rankings from worst to best of the coaches in the Big 12 conference heading into 2022.

Athlon Sports ranks the Sooners roster 2nd in the Big 12 going into 2022

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, Athlon Sports ranks the Oklahoma Sooners roster the second best in the Big 12

There’s no denying the amount of talent the Oklahoma Sooners lost from their 2021 squad. It’s significant even when you takeaway the transfer portal defenctions to USC. The Sooners have 12 players alone declared for the 2022 NFL draft. And while they’ve tried to mitigate those losses through the transfer portal, the reality is it will take in-house options to replace a guy like Nik Bonitto.

The Sooners are hoping Marcus Stripling, Clayton Smith, Reggie Grimes, or Ethan Downs are able to take a step forward to lead the Sooners pass rush off the edge. But as we sit here in February, it’s still a question mark.

There isn’t a question mark at quarterback, however, as Dillon Gabriel’s been named the starter. No more faux-quarterback competitions.

The Sooners have a solid tandem in Eric Gray and Marcus Major and talented incoming freshman Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk to replace Kennedy Brooks.

Even though they lost Mario Williams and Jadon Haselwood, the Sooners have Marvin Mims, Theo Wease returned and they have talented players like Jalil Farooq and Cody Jackson ready to burst onto the scene.

Despite the losses, they still have a talented roster with guys like Jeffrey Johnson, Jonah Laulu, Trey Morrison, and McKade Mettauer adding veteran depth through the transfer portal.

Taking a look at the Big 12 rosters for 2022, Kevin McGuire of Athlon Sports used 247Sports Composite Team Rankings  over the last five seasons to determine which team has the most talented roster heading into 2022.

The Texas Longhorns come up number one according to McGuire and the Oklahoma Sooners come in second.

The Sooners are about to undergo its biggest transition in quite some time. With Lincoln Riley leaving for USC and the transfer portal leading quarterback Caleb Williams to the Trojans with him, new head coach Brent Venables is in a tough spot in year one. Of course, he still has a solid roster, all things considered, against his new Big 12 peers, but there will be a bunch of work to do right away in 2022 and moving forward into the SEC. – McGuire, Athlon Sports

McGuire admits “as last year demonstrated, it takes more than talent to win the Big 12 crown.” The Longhorns have finished No. 1 in the Big 12 in 247Sports team composite rankings nine times since 2010. Unfortunately for the Horns, that recruiting success hasn’t led to any championships. Their last Big 12 title came in 2009.

Recruiting rankings matter, but what matters most is what a player does once they get on campus. A guy like Orlando Brown can be a three-star recruit and end up in the NFL playing for one of the best offenses in the league. While Texas has done a good job at recruiting the lack of development and coaching hasn’t allowed that talent to reveal itself on the field.

Oklahoma’s assistants did a fantastic job developing Oklahoma’s recruiting class. It’s more evident today as 11 players were invited to the NFL Draft combine. Only one of those players, Michael Woods, was a transfer player. The rest were high school recruits that Oklahoma targeted, signed, and developed. Texas, on the other hand, has just two players attending the combine.

McGuire admits that his rankings don’t account for roster attrition. And at the same time, every team deals with roster turnover to some extent. The Sooners have done an excellent job retooling for 2022 via the transfer portal and with their recruiting class in just two months on the job.

The Oklahoma Sooners are in a good spot to take their title back in 2022 after the Baylor Bears turned around a 2-win team from 202 into a Big 12 champion in just Dave Aranda’s second season.

Led by Dillon Gabriel, Marvin Mims, and a mostly new and reinvigorated coaching, the Sooners have more than enough talent to be big winners in 2022.

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Oklahoma’s 2022 schedule with game-by-game score predictions

And early look at the Oklahoma Sooners 2022 football schedule with game-by-game score predictions.

A lot of things have changed this offseason for the Oklahoma Sooners. While a lot of the college football world appears to be underrating the Sooners, they seem to be in a great spot to get back to the top of the Big 12 and national conversation.

Turnover hits every team, and while losing talented players always hurts, they seem to have mitigated those losses with several key additions in the transfer portal.

Though people will want to argue differently, the Sooners upgraded their coaching situation simply from a cultural and defensive standpoint. Granted, Venables will have to learn how to manage the gameday operation and in-game decision-making from the head coaching position. However, based on the way he and his coaching staff have attacked the offseason thus far, I have complete confidence that he’ll be prepared for his new role as the head coach.

Venables is a fantastic motivator and leader. He’s drawn rave reviews out of  Norman from players, recruits, and families and there’s a tremendous sense of buy-in to the new culture. His program will be locked in and engaged each and every week, not allowing the Sooners to have any emotional letdowns or flat performances.

In an early look at the Oklahoma Sooners 2022 schedule, there’s a real chance the Oklahoma Sooners could go undefeated. They’ll host Oklahoma State, Baylor, and Kansas State at home. Road trips to Fort Worth, Ames, Morgantown, and Lubbock will prove difficult and there’s always the Red River Showdown, which can be unpredictable.

The Oklahoma Sooners look like a team that’s capable of winning every game on their schedule, but that’s been the case in years past and they’ve found a way to lose one that most people thought they should win.

With that said, let’s take an early look at the 2022 schedule for the Oklahoma Sooners and go game-by-game to see how the Sooners might fare.

Athlon Sports picks the Oklahoma Sooners to finish second in the Big 12 in early 2022 projections

Looking ahead to the 2022 season, the Oklahoma Sooners were picked to finish second in Athlon Sports early Big 12 predictions.

Change isn’t always a bad thing. It comes with questions and some uncertainty, but the new can often be better than what you had or where you were.

That’s what the Oklahoma Sooners are facing heading into the 2022 offseason: A year of change and transition. Out is Lincoln Riley and in is Brent Venables, Jeff Lebby and a new defensive staff. Venables wants to make the Sooners fast and physical on defense while they run the football and controll the pace on offense.

Despite all of the changes, the program has much to be optimistic about this offseason. Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports has the Oklahoma Sooners picked to finish second in the Big 12 in his early 2022 predictions.

Lassan admits the league is pretty wide open.

“The Big 12 should feature a wide-open race to win the conference in 2022. A strong argument could be made for Baylor, Oklahoma or Oklahoma State as the early No. 1 pick in the league, but regardless of which team is the favorite, the gap among those programs is small.”

Here’s what he had to say about the Oklahoma Sooners.

It’s been a busy offseason in Norman, but new coach Brent Venables has the pieces in place to push for a Big 12 title. Assuming Caleb Williams doesn’t return, UCF transfer Dillon Gabriel should take over the quarterback spot and reunite with his former coach (and coordinator) in Jeff Lebby. The Sooners lost running back Kennedy Brooks and a couple of linemen to the NFL, but Gabriel’s arrival should keep this offense near the top of the conference. Venables was one of the nation’s top defensive signal-callers at Clemson and should make an impact right away on this side of the ball for the Sooners. – Lassan, Athlon Sports

It’s incredibly early the Oklahoma Sooners will worry about proving it on the field. What’s evident is the top of the Big 12 will be competitive once again. Baylor and Oklahoma State should be strong contenders for the conference title again in 2022. Oklahoma looks to rebound and get back into the Big 12 title game. And you never know what you’re going to get with Texas. After a terrible year, the Longhorns could bounce back and find themselves in the Big 12 race as well.

Here’s how Lassan ranked the Big 12 members.

Tigers in the NFL year in review: Cleveland’s Greedy Williams

His stock is rising after a productive 2021 campaign.

Greedy Williams’ 2018 season at LSU was about as good a season as any LSU cornerback has had. Playing opposite of Kristian Fulton, he played a large role in LSU having one of the best defenses in the country.

The Browns selected him in the second round with the 46th overall pick. Unfortunately, he did not pan out his first couple years in the NFL. He struggled in 2019 and was hurt in 2020, not seeing a single snap.

2021 was a different story for Williams as he finally started to look closer to the player he was at LSU. Williams saw limited action the first few weeks of the season but finally got an opportunity in week four when the Browns faced the Vikings.

Williams picked off his first career pass. According to Pro Football Reference, he was targeted five times and allowed just a 34.2 quarterback rating on those targets. Williams played in 100% of the defensive snaps. A big step for a player coming off an injury.

Williams then struggled in his next couple of games. A pair of games that saw the Browns defense give up a combined 84 points.

He bounced back from that slump though, allowing just five catches on 13 targets in his next four games, breaking up three passes in that stretch.

Over the last few weeks of the year, Williams was somewhat inconsistent, but still good. Against the Raiders, he broke up two passes while picking off another, helping a depleted Browns team win a defensive battle.

He didn’t play a ton against Pittsburgh in week 17’s Monday night game, but he was good when he did, allowing just three yards on two targets.

All things considered; Williams had a pretty good year. Coming into week 18, he was in the top 20% of cornerbacks when it came to passer rating when targeted.

Williams 2021 was a pleasant surprise for some who thought he may have been a bust. It didn’t look promising after his first couple years in the league. If Williams builds on his 2021 in 2022, he has a chance to be seen in the same light as some other LSU cornerbacks who have gone on to be really good NFL players.

Looking back on Cordale Flott’s LSU career

It appears that Cordale Flott will head to the pro level.

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Earlier this week, it was reported that junior cornerback Cordale Flott would forgo his senior year and enter the LSU draft.

It was not unexpected after the year Flott had, but he’s not the level of prospect that declares no matter what, so there was still some intrigue into whether or not he’d be back. One has to think LSU’s total turnover on the defensive staff didn’t help when it came to recruiting Flott back.

Flott came in as a three-star from Alabama in the 2019 class. At the time, Flott didn’t make a ton of headlines. The 2019 class included Derek Stingley and a few other corners ranked higher than Flott.

Flott made quite the impression on the LSU coaching staff when he got to campus. By November of 2019, Flott was drawing rave reviews from then LSU defensive coordinator Dave Aranda. Flott also played a factor in LSU’s monumental win in Tuscaloosa that fall.

Despite not getting a ton of playing time in 2019, Flott still broke up five passes on 25 targets. He proved to be versatile, lining up on the outside and in the slot. He even took a few snaps at free safety.

2020 was a different story. Much like the entire LSU team, Flott took a step back. 2020 featured one of the worst LSU pass defenses in school history.

Flott allowed a ton of yards and according to Pro Football Focus, he allowed close to a perfect passer rating when targeted. It wasn’t pretty. The Alabama game in 2020 was by far the worst game of Flott’s career.

In 2020, the whole defense was mismanaged and a lot of the faults should fall on the coaches. Flott, as well as every other defensive back on the team, was put in difficult positions week after week. It was a group that allowed blown coverage after blown coverage.

If 2020 was a sophomore slump for Flott, 2021 was anything but. He had his best year yet. Stingley and Eli Ricks were seen as one of the best cornerback duos in college football entering 2021. They both dealt with injuries which meant Flott had to lead the group.

AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis

Against Mississippi State, Flott had one of the best games of his career. He had a pick and made some big tackles as well.

Flott’s tackling ability was always underrated. Even in 2020 when he struggled in pass coverage, he was a good tackler, eventually for someone his size. That tackling ability shined more in 2021.

The interception against Mississippi State was Flott’s only interception of the year, but he was really good in pass coverage throughout and was a top-three player on the defense. He was a significant factor in LSU not repeating the horrors of 2020.

Winners and losers from the college football coaching carousel

Which teams hit home runs and which teams got hurt the most in the coaching carousel so far?

The 2021 coaching carousel has been one of the more wild ones in college football history.

We have seen a little bit of everything this offseason. Successful coaches at premier jobs bolted to other major programs, Miami publicly looked to hire Mario Cristobal while the position was still filled and TCU hired Sonny Dykes from rival SMU from right down the road.

This year’s coaching carousel has already almost doubled the number of coaching changes we saw in 2020. There have been 28 coaching changes made with more likely to come after the bowl season.

All these coaches on the move have made a big impact on the transfer portal and recruiting. More and more players have entered the transfer portal to explore their options for the upcoming seasons.

Much of the future of college football will be defined by the decisions made during this offseason. Take a look at some of the winners and losers of this years coaching cycle:

How social media reacted to Baylor’s win over Oklahoma State in the Big 12 Championship

It was a tight ball game that came within inches of a different outcome, but Baylor held on to beat Oklahoma State to win the Big 12 title.

Coming off of an impressive win over the Oklahoma Sooners in Bedlam, the Oklahoma State Cowboys figured to be in line to win their first Big 12 title. Blake Shapen and the Baylor Bears had other plans as they jumped out to a 21-3 lead in the first half off of the true freshman quarterback’s impressive performance.

Coming into this contest, the Oklahoma State Cowboys had allowed just nine passing touchdowns on the season, but Shapen threw three in the first half to give the Bears their big lead.

For the second straight week, the Cowboys’ defense held the opposing offense scoreless, but the Bears’ defense was able to hold on in the second half despite a serious comeback effort from Spencer Sanders and the Cowboys.

Sanders, who threw four interceptions in this game, was great in the final three minutes, leading the Cowboys to first and goal inside the five-yard line against Baylor. Baylor’s defense, as they had all game long, held strong at the goal line to preserve the win.

Though it’s not a Sooners win, Oklahoma fans were tuned into this contest, and here are some of the best social media reactions from the Baylor Bears 23-16 Big 12 championship win over Oklahoma State.