Doing a pod cast tonight for your listening enjoyment tomorrow. As a preview, I am calling the North Division "Nothing Else Matters" because that division is crazy....stupid loaded W&M, N. Iowa and Samford oh my. Add in solid, under the radar teams like EKU and YSU both with great coaches....this is going to get crazy.

My final four has a #6, #4, #1, and #3 seed. Cut and paste your guesses below.

#1 Seed is ____________
#3 Seed is ____________
#4 Seed is ____________
#6 Seed is ____________

Winner will be announced on the show later tonight (assuming anyone actually responds) ;)

nitros (James)

#1 = Georgia Southern
#3 = Northern Iowa
#4 = Tennessee Tech
#6 = Texas State

#1 = William & Mary
#3 = St Mary's
#4 = Weber St
#6 = Texas State

#1 = Arkansas Pine Bluff
#3 = Northern Iowa
#4 = SFA
#6 = Weber State

This is wishful thinking for me at least haha.

Actual Final Four:

William & Mary
Georgia Southern
Texas Southern
Marist

#1 = Arkansas Pine Bluff
#3 = Texas Southern
#4 = SFA
#6 = Texas State

No way Texas Southern goes to the final 4.

#1 - WM
#3 - St. Mary's
#4 - JSU
#6 - WCU

Surprised nitros doesn't have Marist coming out of the West.

Here is the podcast.

https://wilktalks.podbean.com/e/season-136-playoffs/

My picks:

North - W&M #1
South - JSU #4
East - Texas State #6
West - St. Mary's #3

Good luck coaches!

nitros (James)

First Rounds thoughts after the first half:

1. Grambling St is much better than you think.
2. The game of the day, Texas Southern vs. Texas State is interesting Texas State is up 38 to 7. Phim is going all pass. Can the Champ come back? Better watch the TSU vs. Grambling game if you think the Champ can't come back.
3. Holy Sam Houston State University batman! Maine is in a real battle with SHSU and coach bama. Bama is controlling the ball and scoring through the air, and would probably be winning the game but for 2 INT's. Chetty is in a dog fight in the first round.
4. Sternes says "Upset this nitros" and lays some wood to EKU in the first half.
5. Ok, if you are a coach that is beginning to really look at gameplanning, here is some homework for you:

A. Go look at the Weber vs. Princeton game. Seth vs. dmobely. One coach is running a unique gameplan for this game (seth) and dmobely is running the same gameplan that he used in several (maybe all) of his regular season games. That is not a knock on dmobley, because I picked this game so that you could see two interesting approaches. Basically you have (i) throw to the RB/TE vs. (ii) outside run and throw deep.

B. Now, why is seth only throwing to RB/TE? What is he seeing on defense that would cause that gameplan?
C. Would you continue that approach in the second half?
D. How does seth stop the deep/long pass in the second half? What adjustments can he make to offset that particular attack?

Answers after the first round games!

Statement: Surprised nitros doesn't have Marist coming out of the West.

Answer: Massive respect for orangepace and, in fact, I pay attention to every word OP says in any forum post (so should you). Dude is amazing.

However, my analysis says that his QB FIQ is too low to win a NC this year. That has been my opinion from my first podcast discussing my "contenders". I have St. Mary's knocking him out but really that is a coinflip game IMO when they meet. Mike (schoolWE/ME) coach runs a very particular system that I think will have success against an OP coached team.

Remember that St. Mary's is also on my "Contenders" list...so the talent level is within a range of "equal" between the two teams. That will be a really fun game to watch. I feel a bit bad for Mike because now I have focused OP on that game...and when OP focuses and gameplans...maybe no one can stop him with equal talent!

Like I said, this playoff season is amazing! Really fun to watch.

nitros

B. Now, why is seth only throwing to RB/TE? What is he seeing on defense that would cause that gameplan?
Answer: Princeton is weak(er) with his LB's than his DB's. LB's defend LB/RB except in the deep zone.

C. Would you continue that approach in the second half?
Answer: Yes. Check out the second half, seth made some real hay with these plays.

D. How does seth stop the deep/long pass in the second half? What adjustments can he make to offset that particular attack?
Answer: The long/deep pass is coming into vogue a bit over the last couple of seasons. S's defend against this pass (no matter if to RB/TE/WR) at least with 4-3 and 3-4 (not sure about dime/nickel). So, step one is to have your best DB's in the S position. Deep/long passes take a long time to develop, so I recommend blitzing on these plays with defenders not involved in the offensive routes. If the offensive player is also running the outside run, you can kill two birds with one stone by blitzing your OLB (which will place them on the line to defend against the run and put pressure on the QB).

Hopefully this is helpful and is fairly basic information.

Good luck coaches.

nitros (James)

Great show as always nitros. Love the analysis and knowledge you drop. Newbies should be taking notes.