Published continually since 1998, "NEWS YOU CAN USE" was a Blog before "Blog" was even a word! Its intention has been to help inform the football coach and the interested football observer on a wide variety of topics, usually - but not always - related in some way to coaching or leadership. It contains news and views often (trigger alert!) highly opinionated but intended to be thought-provoking. Subjects cover but aren't limited to coaching, leadership, character, football history and current football happenings, education, parenting, citizenship and patriotism, other sports, and even, sometimes, my offense.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2025 "If you find yourself in a fair fight, you didn't plan your mission properly.” David Hackworth
"THANK YOU FOR WATCHING OVER OUR COUNTRY"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Goverments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
NEXT ZOOM CLINIC - NUMBER 170 - TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2025 at 5 PM PACIFIC TIME, 8 PM EASTERN
TO GET ON THE INVITE LIST: coachhw@mac.com
"FROM THIS MOMENT ON, AMERICA'S DECLINE IS OVER!"
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: I had not been back in my hotel room long when I got a call from one of the players. He said a teammate was ill and asked me to come downstairs to the lobby to help figure out what to do. One of our major boosters, Stan Williams, was there, and we speculated that there had been some celebrating and the "sick" player was not ill at all.
When I got off the elevator, I was surprised to see the whole team waiting, wearing big grins. They grabbed me and pitched me into the hotel swimming pool, clothes and all. It was the kind of wet celebration I preferred for my athletes. Yes, they were excited. Some had been involved from the start of that lengthy string of setbacks. They were overdue for something other than heartbreak and head hanging.
Our next-door neighbor in Fort Collins, Ralph Kotich, and several of his buddies were so encouraged by the victory they decided to sneak a flask of booze into the home games and take a swig every time Colorado State scored a touchdown. This tradition would begin the next week against the Air Force Academy.
Unfortunately, Air Force whipped us, 69–0. Ralph told me the next day: "we gave up on you and decided to take a drink every time Air Force scored. We were feeling no pain.“
In that same game I found out what it feels like to have somebody run up the score. I lost a lot of respect for Ben Martin, the Air Force coach. Dominating us all afternoon wasn't enough for the Falcons. They not only scored on the final play of the game, they elected to go for a two-point conversion after time had run out.
Homer Smith, one of their assistants, tried to explain to me later in the dressing room that Martin was under pressure and “We needed to do something to maybe help him save his job.” I responded, "What about Mike Lude? What about his job?” In the emotion of the loss I told Homer, “Some day this will come back to you.” And it did.
*********** Canadian Taylor Elgersma got his chance at quarterback in Saturday’s Senior Bowl, and he didn’t disappoint. Elgersma, who played the 12-man Canadian game at Wilfrid Laurier University (in Waterloo, Ontario) got the call from the Senior Bowl when Ohio State’s Will Howard backed out. Seeing action in the third period, Elgersma showed that he could play under center or in shotgun, survive a blitz and still get a pass off, take a sack, show good footwork (if only fair speed) on a bootleg, throw on the run, and “drop a dime” - completing a high-arching 43-yard beauty.
It’s not as if Elgersma just fell off the turnip truck and found himself lost in the big city. While this was his first exposure to the American game, he had a leg up on his American counterparts in terms of exposure to professional coaching and professional competition. That’s because Canadian rules allow college players to attend CFL summer training camps, and he’s been through three of them - two with the Toronto Argonauts and one with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. In addition, he did have a little private coaching on the side from an American coach.
(CFL training camps start in May and don’t interfere in any way with college schedules. The CFL - and Canadian colleges - obviously see this as a way to develop more Canadian players for a league whose teams are limited in the number of American “imports” they’re allowed to carry on their rosters.)
Whether NFL people now consider him draft-worthy remains to be seen, but if he does wind up being drafted, he would be the first QB from a Canadian college to be drafted in 43 years - since 1982, when a player named Dan Ferraday was taken by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 12th round.
*********** It was pretty cool that Riley Leonard of Notre Dame and Duke, Duke, Duke (he played three years at Duke and just one year at Notre Dame) got to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, which is almost his hometown. He’s from Fair Hope, Alabama, which is about 20 miles from Mobile, and to welcome him back, his high school held a pep rally in his honor.
*********** Bet the farm on Alabama next year. In what at least one reporter has called the “least surprising news of the offseason,” Alabama has hired Ryan Grubb as its offensive coordinator, reuniting him and Bama head coach Kalen DeBoer.
It was Grubb who as Washington’s OC (along with Michael Penix and three of the best wide receivers you’ll ever see on the same college team) created an explosive offense that took the Huskies to last year’s national championship game.
When DeBoer was hired away by Alabama, Grubb chose to stay in Seattle as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator, but one season was all it took for Seahawks’ first-year head coach Mike Macdonald to decide that Grubb wasn’t his man.
Tsk, tsk. Take that as Macdonald’s opinion, and not in any way an evaluation of Grubb’s worth.
Macdonald, a career defensive guy with one year’s experience as a head coach and just three as a coordinator, still has plenty to prove.
Grubb, on the other hand, has spent much of his career with DeBoer as his OC at Sioux Falls, Fresno State and Washington, and they’ve enjoyed considerable success together.
DeBoer does have one slight issue: this past season, Bama had co-offensive coordinators; they made a combined salary of $2.45 million, and they’re both on multi-year contracts.
But what the hell. It’s only money. “High Tide!”
************ I wrote an article on Friday stating that there may not be a better instance anywhere of a sports team’s ability to knit together the widely varied (and often at odds with each other) components of a major metropolitan area than the Philadelphia Eagles and the greater Philly area..
I included a link to film of a celebration of an Eagles’ win at the intersection of Frankford and Cottman Avenues in the Mayfair section of the city - not that far, coincidentally, from the Frankford section of Philly, where the forerunners of the present-day Eagles, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, once represented the area in the NFL.
Also not that far - and less than a mile - it turns out, from the scene at Cottman Avenue and Roosevelt Boulevard (in “Philly tawk” it’s either “ROSE-a-velt Boulevard” or simply “The Boulevard”), where a medevac jet crashed right after takeoff, killing seven people, injuring many others, and destroying several homes.
My wife and I, knowing the area fairly well, watched all the stuff on TV, especially saddened that two of those killed were a little girl and her mother. The little girl had just spent four months in a Philadelphia hospital and, evidently cured, was on her way back home to Mexico.
Philadelphia is a city of a great number of distinct “sections,” many of them still very tight-knit and still based on ethnic - mostly Irish, Italian and Polish - closeness, as is Mayfair, where the plane crash occurred.
A number of the people we heard interviewed mentioned the Eagles, and said it was especially sad that the plane crash and the pain it was causing the community had come at a time when everyone was so happy at the thought of the Eagles playing in the Super Bowl.
*********** As all-star games continue to lose their luster, one thing I won’t miss is the stupid sharing of helmet decals that results in, say, a kid from NC State with a Miami “U” on one side of his helmet and a Syracuse “S” on the other.
It sure would piss me off if I had donated money to a collective so it could pay a player a million or so to “represent” us, and then, after the guy was selected to play in an all-star game - on national television - the dumbass went and took our decals off his helmet.
*********** Considering some of the stuff I’m hearing from Belichick now that he’s a college coach, I find myself wishing he was back in the NFL, stiffing reporters with mumbling one-word answers to their questions.
I’m pretty sure he was joking - bet you didn’t know he could do that, did you? - when he suggested that since coaches can’t win Super Bowls without players, instead of awarding the Super Bowl winner the Lombardi Trophy, “Maybe they should name it the Brady Trophy. He won seven of them.”
Thanks, Bill. Uh, shouldn’t you be watching film or texting high school players?
*********** Sent to me by longtime wing-T/Double Wing coach Mark Kaczmarek, of Davenport Iowa, who says, “Looks like 88-O to me.”
https://x.com/CoachDanCasey/status/1886498719106748899
I’d have to say Coach Kaz is spot-on.
*********** The Stanley Cup-winning Florida Panthers visit the White House. (Look at all the red ties.)
*********** Chip Kelly’s headed to Las Vegas to be the Raiders’ offensive coordinator.
Why? you ask.
In order of importance (my opinion):
No need to teach the offense to a new roster every year; the players you need/want are locked in by contract.
No recruiting.
Tens of thousands of rabid Buckeyes fans, a large percentage of which, win or lose, live to make a coach’s life miserable.
More money. (Actually, maybe I should move this one up higher on the list after reading that John Canzano says he’s going to be paid SIX MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR TO CALL PLAYS!!!!!)
Concerning Chip Kelly’s value to Pete Carroll, Canzano also notes:
The 2009 season was Carroll’s final year at USC and Kelly’s first season at Oregon as the head coach.
Remember the 2009 USC vs. Oregon game?
The Ducks clobbered the Trojans 47-20. At the time, it was the most points that Oregon had ever scored vs. USC in more than 50 meetings. It was also the most points that a Carroll-coached team had ever given up in a football game. The next season, Carroll left for the NFL to be coach of the Seahawks.
*********** Early in my first career, not long after graduating from college, I sold corrugated packaging for a large paper company called Union-Camp. It was a southern company. Its largest mill was in Savannah, and a lot of its higher-ups were southerners.
Southerners, in writing and in speech, have always fascinated me with their facility with the English language, and one of them whom I greatly admired was a company vice-president named Jerome Pinckney.
He was a South Carolinian, and I think I recall his saying that he was descended from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, a general in Washington’s army and a signer of the Constitution.
He was an impressive man. He was big. He had played tackle for Georgia just before the War. (World War II.)
He was educated and eloquent - great with words - and I loved to listen to his low-country accent.
I was reminded of him recently when I read something about tariffs, and the fact that items under a certain value were considered “de minimis.”
I studied Latin for five years, and I know what it means, but any time I hear it I think of Jerome Pinckney.
I don’t know what he was talking about, but he used the phrase. Then, realizing that he might be talking over the heads of some of his audience, he paused and said, “That’s Latin for ‘too small to f—k with.’”
*********** Now, look - YOU know that Saquon Barkley is the league’s MVP, and so do I.
But we both know he won’t win the award.
After all, the running game - and the running back position - has been so devalued that no running back has been the MVP since Adrian Peterson in 2012.
Suppose Barkley should run for 250 yards and three touchdowns in the Super Bowl?
Won’t make a bit of difference. You see, the NFL MVP has already been chosen - by a panel of sportswriters who made their choice AFTER the end of the regular season but BEFORE the playoffs.
That means that it could very well go to either Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson, both good players, but neither one with any involvement in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
Given the importance the NFL (and TV) place on the damn playoffs, shouldn’t performance in the post-season be a factor in determining the MVP?
*********** Q: My coaches are unsure about flipping players instead of the traditional left guard and right guard etc., They feel it may be more complicated for players although I think the opposite. I personally am concerned with good coaches catching on to having the same numbered lineman on the side you run to. What are thoughts in regards to these concerns?
A. Who says you’re going to be running to the “side you run to?” Can’t you run a counter?
It cuts your teaching time in half because you don’t have to teach a play to the right and then teach everybody a different assignment when you run it to the left. You teach the same assignment, and that’s it - whether you’re running the play right or left.
It makes things MUCH easier for players because they learn ONE assignment for each play, which they use to the right or to the left. I have NEVER had a lineman who didn’t prefer flipping.
Your best runner will always be the guy running your best play, with the best possible blocking - in either direction. Isn’t that better than not being as good to one side as to the other?
If a defense is noticeably weaker on one kid than the other, you have the ability to put your best people up against their weakest - or else force them to flip-flop along with you, forcing them to play an unfamiliar position.
Even If defenses were know what you were doing, what would they do with that info? In preparing for you, are they going to teach their kids to flip-flop? In just three days’ time?
I can’t coach your team. I can only share my experience. But I would caution your staff members not to get too set in their ways. Unless you have been quite successful, they shouldn’t be at all resistant to an idea that might make you better just because they have no experience with it. I was plenty experienced myself - over 75 - when I found that flip-flopping worked for me.
*********** The Canadian kid going to the Senior Bowl? The globalists in the world of CFB making a statement? Maybe, but could be also that the Bowl committee couldn't find any real seniors left in the US.
I ain't feeling charitable today. Morons like the dummy climbing the greased light pole...go for it. Pay the price for stupidity. And Mr. Genius Nyzier Fourquerean, you too, pal, grow up and discover you're the only one who sees dollar signs in your NIL future.
Answer = Chuck Amato. Time does fly...I watched him on FSU sidelines as head coach of NCSU, but had forgotten that must've been 20 years ago.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
I was touched by the Black Lion legacy story, and at the same time reminded of what an old fart I am!
Like Mr. Mike Lude many of us have been on both sides of that win/loss fence, and for some of us…further away from it on the loss side!
I just have a really hard time understanding “fans”. As much as I cherish ND (and have since I was a kid), and known to have partaken in beverage celebrations every so often, finding poles to climb to show my support has not been something I would ever try to accomplish.
I became more familiar with the Wing-T while serving as an assistant at Columbus Academy in ‘08. So much so I attended the National Wing-T Clinic in Pittsburgh, and heard Randy Blankenship. He was considered a Wing-T guru on the West Coast (California). Ever hear of him? I picked up some good stuff from him I was able to marry with the DW.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Randy Blankenship was famous for what I guess he called the “Fool Me” Drill: His backs stayed after practice and ran plays while he stood on the other side of the line of scrimmage. They could go in when their execution of plays was so good that they had fooled him a specified number of times.
*********** QUIZ: Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, he played high school football and wrestled at Easton Area High School. One of his high school classmates was future heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes, aka the “Easton Assassin.”
At North Carolina State, as he had in high school, he played football and wrestled. As a linebacker, he lettered for three years and helped lead the Wolfpack to a share of the ACC title as a sophomore. As a wrestler, he won two ACC titles, one as a heavyweight his sophomore year, and one at 191 his senior year.
He graduated from NC State with a BS in mathematics.
After two years as a high school assistant coach back in Easton, he returned to NC State as a graduate assistant. After two years as a G.A., during which he got his master’s degree, he was hired as a full-time assistant, and spent five more years at State, under Lou Holtz and then Bo Rein.
When the Wolfpack won the ACC title in 1969, Rein was hired by LSU, and our guy was hired at Arizona by Larry Smith.
He spent two years coaching linebackers at Arizona and then he was hired by Bobby Bowden at Florida State. He would stay there for eighteen years, the first four as defensive line coach, and the final 14 coaching first the defensive line and then linebackers, along with the additional title of “assistant head coach.”
In 2000, he became a head coach for the first time - at his alma mater, NC State. He had been an assistant for 29 years, and in all that time had coached at only two other places.
He won right out of the gate, going 8-4, 7-5, 11-3 and 8-5 in his first four years in Raleigh, and going 3-1 in bowl games. His 2002 team remains the greatest in Wolfpack history in terms of wins (11) and national ranking (12th), and culminated in a 28-6 Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame. It didn’t hurt that his quarterback all four years was Philip Rivers.
After Rivers left for the NFL, replacing him proved impossible. The Pack went 5-6 the first year, and then 7-5, and when they fell to 3-9 in 2006, dropping their last seven games in a row, our guy was fired.
His overall record at N.C. State was 49-37, and his record in bowl games was 4-1. The enthusiasm generated by his initial four-year run made possible an $87 million renovation of State’s Carter-Finlay Stadium.
It didn’t take long for Bobby Bowden to welcome him back, as linebacker coach and “executive assistant head coach” (whatever that means). He held that position for three years, until Bowden retired, but Bowden’s successor Jimbo Fisher chose not to retain him.
After two years out of coaching because of a bout with cancer of the neck and throat, he returned to coaching in 2012 at Akron, when Terry Bowden was hired there as head coach. He served as Bowden’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator until he retired following the 2017 season.
PS: He was often referred to as “The Chest.” Everybody knew who it meant.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31, 2025 “Give me a 75% idea executed at 100% instead of a 100% idea executed at 75%." Phil Marineau, former North American Marketing Chief, PepsiCo
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: My head coaching career started off like a Boeing jetliner taxiing halfway to San Francisco before it finally got off the ground.
By the start of my second season I had achieved the distinction of coaching the college football team with the longest current losing streak in the country – twenty-six games without success. Yes, it was something I'd just as soon forget, and, no, it was not a situation I ever could have imagined when I became the head coach at Colorado State University.
The squad I inherited at Fort Collins in 1962 had been drubbed, thumped, and hammered for sixteen consecutive defeats before I arrived. I tacked ten more defeats onto the streak in my rookie head coaching season (1961) before we found a team we could beat.
Finally, on a warm September night in Stockton, California, I reached that milestone first victory as a head coach, when Colorado State defeated University of the Pacific, 20–0.
Losing was not something I found easy to tolerate. As a player and an assistant coach at three different universities, all of the teams had been successful. Even back in high school in Vicksburg, Michigan, we won most of our games. Going out and getting beat up for ten consecutive Saturdays was difficult to stomach. For the first time I could identify with what other coaches who were mired in losing streaks – even two or three games – had felt when they said they didn't think they'd ever win again. In my case, since my record was 0–10 I kind of wondered if I'd ever win, period.
What perplexed me was how my team reacted when the losing streak ended. If there was any sort of a big celebration or emotional expression – even relief – it wasn't apparent in our locker room in Stockton. It wasn't what I had expected.
We had just put an end to Football's most enduring period of disgrace, so where's the whooping and hollering?
*********** From behind the pay wall at The Athletic comes the story of Taylor Elgersma, the first quarterback from a Canadian College (where they play 12-man football) to play in the Senior Bowl (this Saturday, in Mobile). He’s big, and I hear that he’s got a big arm, but while I’d rather not ruin a good story, there are big guys with big arms all over FBS, much of FCS, and a lot of Division II and unlike Taylor Elgersma, they’ve been playing 11-man football since they were little. Elgersma, on the other hand, has been playing a game with 12 men to a side, multiple men in motion, three downs to get ten yards, on a MUCH wider field - and against competition that would struggle to compete at the FCS level.
And, although this is not considered a strong quarterback draft class, he’s still going up against the likes of Jaxson Dart, Dillon Gabriel, Riley Leonard and Jalen Milroe.
************ Say this for the Philadelphia Eagles - there may not be a better instance anywhere of a sports team’s ability to knit together the widely varied (and often at odds with each other) components of a major metropolitan area.
A local personality of sorts who calls himself The Philly Captain shot some scenes of the ad hoc celebration Sunday evening following the Eagles’ defeat of the Washington Team Formerly Known as the Redskins.
In his unique unique Philly accent - a sort of cockney - he shows, as the game winds to an end, how the celebration begins, at the intersection of Frankford and Cotton Avenues in the Mayfair section of the city. It’s not that far, coincidentally, from the Frankford section of Philly, where the forerunners of the present-day Eagles, the Frankford Yellow Jackets, once represented the area in the NFL.
Win or lose, the cops obviously expected some action, because the streets have been blocked off, and as the game ends, the streets begin to fill with people.
The location is the center of an old, working-class neighborhood, sort of at the dividing line where the North Philly ghetto gives way to the traditionally white “Northeast,” and for a city that once was as segregated as any place in the South ever was, the crowd is remarkably mixed racially.
The video is fairly long, but to me it’s a lot of fun seeing “my people” having a street party, Dressed in all sorts of Eagles’ apparel, there’s dancing, singing (“Fly, Eagles Fly”), and, yes, drinking. Every few minutes somebody starts to spell out “Eagles” (E-A-G-L-E-S, if you’re reading this, Madam Mayor), and everywhere you hear “Go Birds!”
And, as the alcohol and testosterone reach critical levels, there’s pole climbing. Downtown (“Center City”) it gets really bad, with crazy yahoos jumping up and down on the crossbeams holding traffic lights.
Since climbing the poles is obviously dangerous, somebody at City Hall decided to be proactive and grease them before big Eagles’ games. There. That ought to put a stop to pole climbing, right?
Well, no. Never underestimate the power of alcohol. Now, it simply means that celebrants climb poles that are far slipperier, which means they’re much slower going up - but much faster coming down. Which is what happened Sunday evening to a Temple University student who - not in any way suggesting that alcohol was involved in his case - came down way too fast, and died from his injuries two days later.
Despite that tragedy, the truly amazing thing is how peaceful and joyful things are overall.
Actually, it’s kind of scary. Too much fun and not enough violence can give people the wrong idea about Philly fans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eRqv_qboN4
*********** Bill Belichick may or may not have had anything to do with it - they say the decision was made “in consultation” with him - but this week North Carolina began converting its football field back to natural grass.
The whole deal, we are told, will require the installation of 67,000 square feet of sod, with another 36,000 square feet of articifial turf around the perimeter of the field.
*********** The ACC attained a good bit of stability Thursday with the announcement by ESPN and the conference that the network was picking up its option to continue showing ACC games until 2036.
*********** The Black Lion Award, which dates to 2001, may have achieved a milestone when an Illinois youth program presented its Black Lion Award to a player whose dad won it in 2001.
The youngster’s coach, Richard Barski, of Roselle, Illinois, explained:
Coach,
Please see attached picture of our Black Lion award, this is the legacy player with his dad and the coaches. To remind you, Jeff Ball was the Black Lion recipient in 2001 while playing for coach John Urbaniak on the Hanover Park Hurricanes.
This season he recruited Coach John (Urbaniak) to be our offensive coordinator and bring the Black Lion award to the Bloomingdale Bears. Brandon, Jeff’s son, displayed all the qualities of a Black Lion on and off the field, it was a great honor to name Brandon for this award.
During our varsity end of the year banquet, we had Coach John give the history of Don Holleder and the Black Lion award.
Jeff, being a Black Lion, was designated to be the coach to present the award and did not know who the recipient was beforehand. As he read aloud from the certificate, he saw Brandon’s name and gleamed with pride, making this the first legacy Black Lion award given out.
It was a great honor for me to carry on the tradition of this award, and as a head coach to give my boys another example of how to carry themselves throughout their lifetime.
Coaches' names from left to right Jeffery Ball (Assistant Coach), John Urbaniak (Offensive Coordinator), Brandon Ball (2024 Black Lion), Richard Barski (Head Coach, Michael Mazza (Defensive Coordinator).
Dad and son - both Black Lions. Jeff Ball (2001); Brandon Ball (2024).
*********** An 11-year-old kid in California got hold of some one-of-a-kind Paul Skenes Topps gum rookie card and evidently at some point - maybe now - it will be worth more than the Hope Diamond. (That’s all I know about it.)
Skenes could turn out to be one of the greatest baseball pitchers of all time, and The Pittsburgh Pirates, for whom he plays, wanted the card. Badly.
They offered him a million dollars - cash.
But in case he didn’t want the money - what the hell is an 11-year old kid going to do with all that cash? - they gave him an alternative:
A pair of season tickets behind home plate at Pirates’ games for the next 30 years.
Participation in pre-game warmups.
A softball game for him and 20 or 30 of his friends in the Pirates’ Park.
And a chance to watch a game with Paul Skenes’ girlfriend in her personal luxury suite (at the stadium). Maybe you’ve heard of her. Her name is Livvy Dunne.
He turned it down and decided to auction off the card instead. That’s how I know he’s only 11. I bet his mom talked him out of taking the Pirates’ deal as soon as she heard about the watch party with Livvy Dunne.
*********** Remember Diego Pavia’s argument - successful, as it turned out - that his time playing JC ball shouldn’t count against his college eligibility?
Now we’ve got a kid from Wisconsin who’s suing the NCAA, claiming that his two seasons in Division II (at Grand Valley State) shouldn’t count, either - that doing so denies him a chance to profit from his name, image and likeness.
“Profit from his name, image and likeness?” He’s a cornerback named Nyzier Fourqurean. Anybody heard of him?
*********** In Colorado, prior to a high school basketball game, a basketball coach at one of the schools - Lotus School for Excellence by name - hung up a “Palestinian flag” in the gym, and then, following the game (against a Jewish school named Denver Torah), draped the flag around his neck while making a point of not shaking hands with the opposing coaches.
The offending (also offensive) coach was suspended.
1. How in the f—k do people like that get hired for a position that can influence young people.
2. Wasn’t there a single person in the gym with the balls to confront that creep?
*********** Think it’s “too late?”
Wrote the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan: “A man in his early 80s told my friend, who is his psychotherapist, that what he really wanted to do was learn Italian, but that’s absurd, he said - he’ll likely be dead in 10 years. What would he do with it? The therapist said, “Well you can die knowing Italian or die not knowing Italian. Which is better?” So the old man studied Italian, happily. It’s never too late.”
*********** Those of us who might now be classified as “True Believers” have seen way too much incompetence in short yardage situations. It’s time to do something! Time to bang on the door of an NFL coach - knock the door down, if necessary. Time to show them real short yardage stuff!
Mais non, my friends. You don’t know what you’re going up against. You might as well be trying to tell a CEO of an automobile company that people wold rather buy cars with internal combustion engines.
As the great Dr. Fauci used to say, “The science is settled.”
The resistance to what we propose to do is so deeply embedded in the coaching of the offensive line at the professional and major college levels that there's just too much for us to have to fix. Zone blocking has so captured the offensive coordinator market that very few teams would be able to teach a fire-out drive block even if they really wanted to. They seldom use pads big enough to block with, and they don't “get welded” and “drive for 12.” They have no idea how to prevent penetration. They take big splits and get up on the ball, and their stances are built for pass protection, the exact opposite of what we teach, which is gap protection. Their first step is normally one side or another, instead of directly at the opponent. Their down blocking and double-teams and their attempts at wedge blocking are a joke.
Other than that, they’re just waiting for us to show them how…
*********** I was looking at some clinic notes from years back and I came across a presentation from a coach named Dwain Hatch. He was coaching at Bellevue, Washington High and he won a state title running the Wing-T. His team was good, obviously.
And of course, being one of the few guys in Washington running the Wing-T myself, I was interested in what he had to say. And he had some really astute things to say.
Here were two of the most important things I outlined, things that have stuck with me over the years:
“If you can control the football and keep your defense off the field, then you are going to be in every contest.”
"Sticking to the basics and doing them well will take up most of your time.”
*********** RE: O-A head coach Larry Allen.
Asked if I could teach him a little about how we did things as he wanted a way to become more competitive with his group. He was a really good man so I said sure. KNOWING we had to play him at least 2 more times in district football.
First year post him and his team coming to camp we beat them. Fairly handily.
2004- GH 40 OA 0
2005- GH 6 OA 24
Uncharacteristic for GH we turned the ball over 7 times (4 lost fumbles and 3 INTs)
OA 310 yards of offense GH 175 yards.
We stayed on pace rushing with them. But they had a QB and a quality TE and outgained us by 120 yards in the passing game.
We learned and got better from this loss and ended up as the district runner up and a playoff qualifier after graduating a bunch of REALLY good football players in 2004. That was the
Otto- qb - Hustedt- C back - Gebers- A Back - Platt- B Back
Heitman/Schoer/Broesder/Waller/Todd offensive line (3 seniors a junior and a soph)
with 2 TE's being seniors and the other TE being a junior and future C back as well)
Great memories. Larry was a good coach and better human. His wife was the district football secretary.
No shock Larry is having continued success.
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
*********** Hugh,
As much as I love running the wedge play I think the Bills WAY over did it! The Chiefs had it wired. QB Allen favored their “tush push” over his left guard. That bad spot would have never been an issue if they would have mixed the play-calling up a bit.
I found out a year after I was hired at one particular school that their first choice had initially turned them down, but they were still after him even while I was their coach!
At the end of my second year I went to the AD to let him know I knew, and he could bring the other guy in now that I was leaving.
Josh Allen’s story is why I’ve been pulling for him. He’s from a small farming community (Firebaugh) on the west side of Fresno County. Set all kinds of passing records in high school yet didn’t get any looks. Went to Reedley JC (just outside of Fresno) and continued running up impressive stats. Still not considered D1 because of his size (even Fresno State passed on him!). Only Wyoming offered him and he was off to Laramie. As a Cowboy Allen had a significant growth spurt and talent to get drafted to the NFL.
Needless to say I’ll be pulling for the E-L-G-S-E-S - Eagles and Saquon Barkley in the SB!
I’ve noticed that the pros don’t appear to be wearing those “shorts” exposing the knees like the collegians do, but they both wear those same tiny SP’s!
Also have seen more VICIS helmets and Schutt F7’s being worn at both levels.
I’m assuming we will now see a lot more poor tackling techniques used by the Raiders with Mr. “Hawk Tackling” in charge.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: On this hot September night, Number 22 walked through the door of the gymnasium with his 50 or so teammates. He stood there beyond the end zone and waited with them to run onto the field. They were a small-town Mississippi football team.
The stadium behind the old brick high school was crowded with 4000 people. There was a pale quarter-moon on the horizon. A train whistle from the Illinois Central echoed across from independence Quarters, and crickets chirped from a nearby hollow. The grass was moist from yesterday’s rains.
He was big. He was carrying his helmet, which he put on now over a copious Afro haircut kept in place by a red hairnet. He was 17 years old and he was wearing glasses.
***
I had heard about him for many months, ever since I came back from the North to live in Mississippi. Going into his senior year, he was the most sought-after and acclaimed high school football player in America, a swift and powerful running back whom many were already comparing with the legendary Herschel Walker of Georgia.
So did well-known author Willie Morris, himself a Mississippi native, begin “The Courting of Marcus Dupree,” a best-selling book about the recruiting of a small-town high school phenom.
In Philadelphia, Mississippi everybody in town knew from the time Marcus Dupree was a young boy that he was going to be good. Really good. That’s the way things work in small towns.
The very first time he touched a football in his high school career - as a 210-pound freshman who had already been timed at 4.4 seconds in the 40 - he returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Playing wide receiver, he scored five touchdowns for the season.
As a sophomore, playing running back, he rushed for 1,850 yards and 28 touchdowns, and as a junior he rushed for 1,550 yards and 25 touchdowns.
In his senior year, he rushed for 2,955 yards and 36 touchdowns. In his high school career, he rushed for 7,355 yards (averaging 8.3 yards per carry) and 87 touchdowns, the latter mark breaking Herschel Walker’s national high school record.
To college recruiters, he was “the second coming of Earl Campbell… the heir apparent to Herschel Walker.”
Big? He was 6-3, 240.
Strong? College coaches who visited his school marveled at watching him bench-press 400 pounds 10 times before going outside to run a 40 for them.
Fast? He’d run 4.3/4.4 since he was a freshman.
Wrote one sports reporter, he had “the strength of Zeus, the vision of Artemis, the speed of Hermes and the controlled rage of Ares.”
And that, in those days - after the last game of his senior season - , was when the recruiting began
LSU, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, UCLA, Pitt and Oklahoma - everybody was after him.
The recruiting became so interesting that it - and the coincidental fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi was the site, years earlier, of the brutal murder of three civil rights workers - was the inspiration for Willie Morris’ book.
Although Oklahoma assistant coach Lucious Selmon - a former OU All-American - had camped out in a motel room in Philadelphia for six weeks, our guy gave a verbal commitment to Texas. But Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, not to be denied, arranged for former OU star (and Heisman Trophy winner) Billy Sims to fly into Philadelphia to try to change our guy’s mind, and when Sims left town, he had closed the deal: Marcus Dupree was going to OU.
A major factor in the decision to switch? Oklahoma had a game scheduled in Hawaii the next season. Texas? “The only place Texas goes,” he told Sports Illustrated, “is Arkansas.”
How big a deal was his signing?
So big that after three games of Dupree’s freshman year, Switzer abandoned the wishbone that had been so good to him, and changed to the I formation.
Dupree didn’t see extensive action until the fifth game with the Sooners 2-2. In mid-October against Texas, his 63-yard touchdown run made the difference in a 28-22 Sooners win. The next week, against Kansas, was his first start, and he rushed for 158 yards and earned Big 8 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Starting the final seven games, he rushed for a total of 1,144 yards, and became the first freshman ever to lead OU in rushing. He had nine runs of 48 yards or more.
He scored 13 touchdowns and led all freshmen in rushing, and was All-Big 8 and named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year.
In the 1983 Fiesta Bowl against Arizona State, playing less than half the game - he pulled his hamstring in the second quarter - he set a new Fiesta Bowl record with 239 yards on 17 carries and was named game MVP.
But there were problems on the horizon.
A Sports Illustrated cover story the following summer questioned whether the star runner and Coach Switzer could coexist.
Marcus Dupree was good, for sure. The problem was, he knew it, and took advantage. He practiced indifferently, and other players resented what seemed to be the way Switzer accommodated him. The Sooners had a very good running back named Stanley Wilson who against his wishes was moved to fullback (aka blocking back) because Dupree had made it clear that there was no way HE was going to play fullback.
He was not by any means a good student. "I don't really like school, "he said. "College isn't for everybody, and I guess it's just not for me. All I want is to try to make life simple, mind my own business and try to make things fun. "
And then there was his weight. Switzer had reportedly been on him about it, telling others that his star was overweight and lazy.
He was probably right about the overweight part. In the SI article, writer Douglas Looney wrote, Dupree “tends to eat not just too much but way too much. He loves squash and hates peas, but more than anything he looks for chances to wade into hamburgers, ribs, french fries and chicken nuggets.”
Said his mother, “In our family nobody eats breakfast. But after noon, the kill is on. We just sit and eat until we go to bed. "
And he made it clear that he didn’t like Switzer’s style of coaching.
“I had the impression,” he said, “Before I went to Oklahoma from just watching Coach Switzer on TV that he's a hard guy and that he treats his players hard. That turns out to be true. I think I'll play this year, but it could be my last. Coach Switzer says I don't practice that well. The problem is, it's not like high school when Coach Wood made it fun. At Oklahoma, it's not fun. I don't know.”
Five games into the 1983 season, after a 28-16 loss to Texas, the Sooners were 3-2. And their best player, Marcus Dupree, had gone missing.
A week later, it was announced that he’d flown home to Mississippi and wasn’t returning to OU.
He enrolled at Southern Mississippi, but he not only had to miss the remainder of the 1983 season but also, under the transfer rules then in effect, had to sit out the next season too.
Rather than wait it out, he chose to turn pro. Still off-limits to the NFL because he had only spent two years at college, he signed instead with the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL.
He had a decent first year, but in his second year - the Breakers having moved to Portland, Oregon - he suffered a severe knee injury that effectively ended his career. He did make an attempt at a comeback with the Los Angeles Rams after a four-year layoff (he had to lose 100 pounds in three months to do so) , but he was never the same again.
Marcus Dupree was featured in a “30 For 30” documentary entitled “The Best That Never Was.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MARCUS DUPREE
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
Joe Gutilla - Granbury, Texas
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
Ossie Osmundson - Woodland, Washington
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Brad Knight - Clarinda, Iowa
John Rothwell, Corpus Christi, Texas
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
*********** QUIZ: Born in Easton, Pennsylvania, he played high school football and wrestled at Easton Area High School. One of his high school classmates was future heavyweight boxing champion Larry Holmes, aka the “Easton Assassin.”
At North Carolina State, as he had in high school, he played football and wrestled. As a linebacker, he lettered for three years and helped lead the Wolfpack to a share of the ACC title as a sophomore. As a wrestler, he won two ACC titles, one as a heavyweight his sophomore year, and one at 191 his senior year.
He graduated from NC State with a BS in mathematics.
After two years as a high school assistant coach back in Easton, he returned to NC State as a graduate assistant. After two years as a G.A., during which he got his master’s degree, he was hired as a full-time assistant, and spent five more years at State, under Lou Holtz and then Bo Rein.
When the Wolfpack won the ACC title in 1969, Rein was hired by LSU, and our guy was hired at Arizona by Larry Smith.
He spent two years coaching linebackers at Arizona and then he was hired by Bobby Bowden at Florida State. He would stay there for eighteen years, the first four as defensive line coach, and the final 14 coaching first the defensive line and then linebackers, along with the additional title of “assistant head coach.”
In 2000, he became a head coach for the first time - at his alma mater, NC State. He had been an assistant for 29 years, and in all that time had coached at only two other places.
He won right out of the gate, going 8-4, 7-5, 11-3 and 8-5 in his first four years in Raleigh, and going 3-1 in bowl games. His 2002 team remains the greatest in Wolfpack history in terms of wins (11) and national ranking (12th), and culminated in a 28-6 Gator Bowl win over Notre Dame. It didn’t hurt that his quarterback all four years was Philip Rivers.
After Rivers left for the NFL, replacing him proved impossible. The Pack went 5-6 the first year, and then 7-5, and when they fell to 3-9 in 2006, dropping their last seven games in a row, our guy was fired.
His overall record at N.C. State was 49-37, and his record in bowl games was 4-1. The enthusiasm generated by his initial four-year run made possible an $87 million renovation of State’s Carter-Finlay Stadium.
It didn’t take long for Bobby Bowden to welcome him back, as linebacker coach and “executive assistant head coach” (whatever that means). He held that position for three years, until Bowden retired, but Bowden’s successor Jimbo Fisher chose not to retain him.
After two years out of coaching because of a bout with cancer of the neck and throat, he returned to coaching in 2012 at Akron, when Terry Bowden was hired there as head coach. He served as Bowden’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator until he retired following the 2017 season.
PS: He was often referred to as “The Chest.” Everybody knew who it meant.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2025 “The trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” Bertrand Russell
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: When a head coach starts getting attention as Dave Nelson did at Delaware, his assistants normally become targets of athletic directors looking for would-be head coaches. It was an exhilarating experience.
At one point I was offered the Bucknell job, but Nelson pointed out that I'd be facing Delaware every year. I wasn't sure I wanted that. Dave said, be patient; other jobs would come along. Later he recommended me for the Colgate job, but they picked someone else. I was interviewed for the University of Massachusetts job, but the salary was less than I was making as an assistant. Tulane pushed hard to bring me in as an assistant, and New Orleans was an attractive lure. But I wanted my own team.
In the late 1950s, at the national coaches’ convention in Cincinnati, Tad Wieman, the AD at Maine when I was there, wanted me to come to Denver University as his head coach. Let's talk some more tomorrow, he said. I was starting to get excited. That same night, the school president at Denver made the decision to drop football. That's how fast job offers can disappear.
After the 1961 football season, Colorado State fired Tuffy Mullison. In his search for Mullison’s replacement, Bob Davis, the CSU athletic Director, asked Wieman if he had any suggestions. Tad related the story of how he had offered me the job at Denver University before the president dropped the football program. Davis liked the idea of hiring me, and I was headed for Fort Collins and my first job as a head coach.
*********** Did the Chiefs look like a Super Bowl team to you? They didn’t, to me. But then, neither did the Bills. In fact, the Bills looked as if they had no business being in a game of that magnitude, and I found myself really sorry that I rooted for them against Baltimore. The loss to the Bills deprived Lamar Jackson of a chance to show off his talents on the big stage. (Not to mention winning a Super Bowl.)
I don’t know when I’ve seen a worse short-yardage performance by a team - at any level - than by the Bills on Sunday. Where was a fullback? Where were the three (or even two) tight end sets? Where was this “jumbo” package - the six offense linemen set - that I’d read so much about?
And - worst of all - where was this quarterback who’s supposed to be one of the best in the game? While I really like his story - the small-town quarterback that nobody wanted who managed through sheer hard work and belief in himself to make it to the heights of the game - I’m having a hard time seeing Josh Allen as the superstar he’s been made out to be.
*********** I like what a guy wrote on Reddit:
I’ve always thought it was wild we rely on these old men to eyeball where the ball ended up on any given play, and then when sh— gets real we break out a chain to measure inches like it’s an exact science.
Did you think that the Bills got that first down? I did.
Either way, isn’t it time, knowing that the technology exists, that the ball be spotted robotically?
There’s a “game-is-fixed” train that seems to be picking up passengers at every station. I’m not on it. Yet. But while I may not believe that wrongdoing is taking place, I do believe in human incompetence. And when incompetence can be so easily mistaken for malfeasance, and it’s so easily eliminated - what’s the holdup?
*********** The Redskins picked a bad time to come apart, but come apart they did, against the Eagles. Four turnovers? Yikes. Almost all turnovers are avoidable but one Washington turnover especially interested me. The runner appeared to be carrying the ball responsibly, if one-handed - when he took a helmet to his upper biceps. I’m theorizing that that blow was what caused him to loosen his grip on the ball, and that the blow was damaging only because he was not wearing the type of shoulder pad that would have absorbed it. On my Zoom clinic last week I showed a clip where a Green Bay guard was injured simply because he blocked someone using his shoulder - while wearing shoulder pads so puny you wouldn’t put them on a 12-year-old.
Ironic that these guys who pay so much attention to their bodies with proper training and nutrition can be so foolish when it comes to properly equipping themselves.
*********** It’s not often that you have a chance to see a great athlete in the flesh, and then, when you do, his performance meets - even exceeds - your expectations. For me, there was Johnny Lattner of Notre Dame.
I remember as a kid going to see a Penn-Notre Dame game. It was 1953. The place was sold out - 74,000 tickets sold - but a severe snowstorm hit the Philadelphia area the day before the game, and as a result, “only” 69,000 people showed up at Penn’s Franklin Field for the opening kickoff. That was my first introduction to the drawing power of Notre Dame, because where we sat, in the upper deck behind the end zone, my buddy and I (both Penn fans) got the feeling that we had crashed a Notre Dame home game.
It was early November, and the Irish were undefeated. They had been ranked number one since the start of the season. Lattner, their left halfback (they ran mostly from the “full house” T formation), had been a unanimous All-American the year before, and had won the Maxwell Award. (Given by Philadelphia’s own Maxwell Football Club, it was, at the time, on a par with the Heisman Trophy.) He was playing at the same high level this year, and that very week he had been on the cover of TIME Magazine, an unusual honor for an athlete.
Penn, an 18-point underdog, shocked everyone - and gave us Penn fans hope - when it received and drove for the first score. The Irish fans around us were quieted, but their silence didn’t last long, when Lattner took the Penn kickoff on his ten and returned it 90 yards to tie the game.
The Quakers made a game of it, but Lattner was everywhere, and doing everything. He returned another Penn kickoff 58 yards, and he returned a punt for 36 yards before being knocked out of bounds by the last man with a chance to stop him. Sharing the running duties with two other backs plus quarterback Ralph Guglielmi, he rushed for close to 100 yards, and - playing both ways - made a number of tackles, and made a last-minute interception on the goal line to seal the Irish 28-20 win.
I wasn’t pleased with the result. I wasn’t happy with Lattner’s performance. Not then. Only years later, after I’d done a little growing up, did I realize what an honor it had been to witness it.
Famed New York sportswriter Red Smith, covering the game, wrote of Lattner’s performance, “Not Franklin Field or any other stadium is likely to see a more rousing individual performance this season.”
Lattner would win the Heisman Trophy that season.
Which brings me to the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley. You go to watch him, and he delivers.
Midway through the first quarter of the Eagles-Redskins game, he broke a couple of tackles and was off on a 60-yard touchdown run. It was his seventh touchdown run this season of 50 yards or more - an NFL record.
He scored another touchdown in the first quarter, and wound up with three for the game, He carried the ball 15 times for 118 yards - an average of 7.9 yards per carry.
He’s a threat to go all the way any time he touches the ball. Even in a Super Bowl. And we’re privileged to see it.
*********** I personally think it’s a healthy sign that we could be in the process of putting the matter of race behind us when two young guys in the Eagles’ secondary - Reed Blankenship and Cooper DeJean - are referred to as the “exciting whites” and there’s no adverse comment.
DeJean (it’s undoubtedly French but it’s pronounced De-GENE) is an amazing story. He’s from a town in Iowa - Odebolt - that I know a little bit about because my friend Brad Knight used to coach in that area and I used to visit there.
As small Midwest farm towns have lost population, they’ve had to combine schools in order to continue playing eleven-man football.
At the time I was doing camps out there, Brad Knight was coaching at Galva-Holstein High, and Odebolt had combined with the nearby town of Arthur, to play as Odebolt-Arthur. Another pair of nearby towns, Battle Creek and Ida Grove, had combined as well. As the four towns’ populations continued to decline, they had to consolidate further, and Cooper DeJean wound up playing for Odebolt-Arthur-Battle Creek-Ida Grove (shortened, for headline purposes, to OABCIG).
At OABCIG, DeJean played quarterback and defensive back. In his senior season, he passed for 3,447 yards and 35 touchdowns and ran for 1,235 yards and 24 touchdowns. He was the named the All-American Bowl Player of the Year.
At Iowa, he played on defense and special teams, and was named All-American and All-Big Ten as a junior. He declared early for the NFL draft, and was taken in the second round by the Eagles. He’s been a defensive fixture as a rookie.
*********** If they make prospective NFL players take tests to measure their intelligence, shouldn’t they do the same with the people who broadcast the games?
Tony Romo, talking before the game about Josh Allen: "I believe he actually believes they can win this."
Sideline reporter, letting us in on Kansas City DC Steve Spagnuolo’s talk with his players: “He told the defense, ‘We must stop the run.’”
*********** Damn shame the Buffalo DC forgot to remind his players not to let Mahomes get outside the edge man.
*********** When the Bills’ Christian Benford was carted off after taking a helmet to the head, did you, like me, question whether he should have even been playing after suffering a concussion just a week earlier?
*********** Considering the way Saquon Barkley exposes the poor tackling that takes place in the open field, it would sure seem to me to be worth (1) doing more with the running game to get runners into the open field and (2) practicing tackling.
*********** The last we heard, Ohio State’s defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was all ready to pack up and move to Oklahoma as OU’s defensive coordinator. It sounded strange to those of us who knew that his last job before Ohio State was Oklahoma - Oklahoma State, that is. But there was a story going around that he had become engaged to a woman in Oklahoma, and she didn’t want to move, and - whaddaya know - the DC position at OU was open, so…
And then, as the Buckeyes celebrated their recently-won national title, Jim Knowles was nowhere to be be found. Had he jumped to Oklahoma?
Nope. Worse than that. A LOT worse.
To Penn State. Where evidently he’s become the highest-paid coordinator in all of college football.
Want another rumor? Evidently there have been hard feelings between Knowles and head coach Ryan Day since Ohio State’s midseason loss to Oregon. The Buckeyes gave up 496 yards in offense and didn’t get to Ducks’ QB Dillon Gabriel a single time, and it’s said that Day’s order afterward to “fix it” wasn’t received well.
Whatever happened, though, it had the desired effect on the Buckeyes’ defensive play - and as a result, the Buckeyes won the national title, and Jim Knowles is now the highest-paid assistant college football coach in America. At Penn State.
*********** A couple of weeks ago, before the Eagles-Rams playoff game, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker held a press conference at City Hall with city officials to discuss snow preparations, and urge fans to drive safely.
And then, after doling out that good advice on travel, she concluded with some bad advice on cheering.
Leading everyone in the spell-it-out cheer that follows the playing of the team’s fight song, she shouted
“E-L-G-S-E-S, Eagles!”
*********** Ever apply for a job and not get it, and come away with the feeling that all along the job was wired - that they knew who they wanted right from the jump - and you were just a bit player in the show?
The Bears interviewed SEVENTEEN people for their head coaching job - but then, no sooner were the Detroit Lions eliminated from the playoffs, than the Bears announced they’d hired the Lions’ offensive coordinator, Ben Johnson.
You get the idea that he was their man all along, and the whole interview thing was just a charade until their man was finally free to leave the Lions?
It probably was a slimy way to treat the guys who didn’t get offered the job - although there may have been one or two who used the announcement that the Bears had talked to them as leverage to get a raise out of their current employers. But at least, if I were a Bears fan, if that’s what actually happened it would give me some confidence that the team might actually know what it was doing. Otherwise, to bring in 17 guys without having any idea who they really wanted was a sign of a totally f—ked up organization.
*********** JOHN CANZANO - Are the Power Four spreading their wings to take in March Madness?
The Power Four conferences recently submitted a proposal to the NCAA that would give them greater control over championship events.
It sounds like the worst idea ever.
A decision is expected this summer.
Stu Jackson, the WCC commissioner, told me on Friday the proposal raised eyebrows and concerns among those who watched the “Power Four” seize control of the revenue for the College Football Playoff and dictate terms of the House v. NCAA settlement without seeking input from the rest of college athletics.
Said Jackson: “They told the rest of the FBS world how it was going to be.”
Make no mistake, this is a business decision by the “haves” of college athletics. They’d like control of the championship events — including the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament. And that includes being in charge of the revenue distributions.
“Tampering with the men’s basketball tournament and the women’s basketball tournament is a bigger issue even than the CFP process,” Jackson told me. “That tournament and the revenue that’s garnered from that tournament affects far many more NCAA member institutions than does the CFP distribution process.
“That tournament funds a great many institutions and athletic programs across the country. Many people — not only men’s and women’s basketball — rely on that revenue, as do the Olympic sports. And potentially, there are a lot of student-athletes services, experiences, a championship, and their care that will be affected if those tournaments are tampered with, particularly not knowing what their intention is.”
*********** John Canzano writes, “Chad Bowden leaves Notre Dame, where he was making $300,000 a year, to go to USC, where he’s reportedly getting around $1 million. He’ll be the general manager, in charge of roster building. It’s a heavy investment but much cheaper than the $80 million needed to fire (Lincoln) Riley right now.”
*********** Watched some great 30 for 30 documentaries this past weekend:
Requiem for the Big East (The birth and death of an amazing basketball league)
Dickie V (The announcer who made big-time college basketball what it is today)
The Band That Wouldn’t Die (The Baltimore Colts Marching Band)
Trojan War (The rise of USC during the Pete Carroll era)
*********** Good morning, Corch. The greatest among us (as Rush could) had honed the ability to reduce the complex to something all can understand. The Washington apothegm you picked for today is something Bishop Budde (did she play for the Chiefs decades ago?) might have woven into a genuine Gospel message blessing of the President and his family.
Harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality.
The answer is Marcus Dupree. ESPN has always been better at documentaries than sports analysis and live broadcasting. I'll bet most NYCU followers saw that excellent story on Marcus.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Enjoyed your news as always. Some great commentary.
Yes, we have the NFL conference championships, and Super Bowl remaining. Admittedly both games should be good ones between good teams.
Speaking of the Super Bowl…have you seen the ads for the halftime show? WTF?
Not that I’m going to watch it, but I’ve never heard of either of those “artists” and can say for certain I don’t care if I ever do! NFL…still woke.
Good news is we won’t have to wait long to satisfy our football fix. UFL starts in March. Eh…it’s football, and it beats watching basketball. Give me hockey!
New Fresno State HC Matt Entz has hired South Dakota OC Josh Davis., and NIU DC Nick Benedetto. Those hires reinforce his intentions to turn the Bulldogs into the most physical football team on the West Coast. Also, the Dogs reeled in QB E.J. Warner (son of Kurt Warner) through the portal. Warner was the starting QB at Rice, and at Temple. He has 2 years left.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
PS: First time I’ve liked what a pro football player (Saquon Barkley) had to say about his team, and the game in general. Scoring 55 points running the football down their throats!
*********** QUIZ: On this hot September night, Number 22 walked through the door of the gymnasium with his 50 or so teammates. He stood there beyond the end zone and waited with them to run onto the field. They were a small-town Mississippi football team.
The stadium behind the old brick high school was crowded with 4000 people. There was a pale quarter-moon on the horizon. A train whistle from the Illinois Central echoed across from independence Quarters, and crickets chirped from a nearby hollow. The grass was moist from yesterday’s rains.
He was big. He was carrying his helmet, which he put on now over a copious Afro haircut kept in place by a red hairnet. He was 17 years old and he was wearing glasses.
***
I had heard about him for many months, ever since I came back from the North to live in Mississippi. Going into his senior year, he was the most sought-after and acclaimed high school football player in America, a swift and powerful running back whom many were already comparing with the legendary Herschel Walker of Georgia.
So did well-known author Willie Morris, himself a Mississippi native, begin a best-selling book about the recruiting of this small-town high school phenom.
In Philadelphia, Mississippi everybody in town knew from the time he was a young boy that he was going to be good. Really good. That’s the way things work in a small town.
The very first time he touched a football in his high school career - as a 210-pound freshman who had already been timed at 4.4 seconds in the 40 - he returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Playing wide receiver, he scored five touchdowns for the season.
As a sophomore, playing running back, he rushed for 1,850 yards and 28 touchdowns, and as a junior he rushed for 1,550 yards and 25 touchdowns.
In his senior year, he rushed for 2,955 yards and 36 touchdowns. In his high school career, he rushed for 7,355 yards (averaging 8.3 yards per carry) and 87 touchdowns, the latter mark breaking Herschel Walker’s national high school record.
To college recruiters, he was “the second coming of Earl Campbell… the heir apparent to Herschel Walker.”
Big? He was 6-3, 240.
Strong? College coaches who visited his school marveled at watching him bench-press 400 pounds 10 times before going outside to run a 40 for them.
Fast? He’d run 4.3/4.4 since he was a freshman.
Wrote one sports reporter, he had “the strength of Zeus, the vision of Artemis, the speed of Hermes and the controlled rage of Ares.”
And that, in those days - after the last game of his senior season - , was when the recruiting began
LSU, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, UCLA, Pitt and Oklahoma - everybody was after him.
The recruiting became so interesting that it - and the coincidental fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi was the site, years earlier, of the brutal murder of three civil rights workers - was the inspiration for Willie Morris’ book.
Although Oklahoma assistant coach Lucious Selmon - a former OU All-American - had camped out in a motel room in Philadelphia for six weeks, our guy gave a verbal commitment to Texas. But Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, not to be denied, arranged for former OU star (and Heisman Trophy winner) Billy Sims to fly into Philadelphia to try to change our guy’s mind, and when Sims left town, he had closed the deal: our guy was going to OU.
A major factor in the decision to switch? Oklahoma had a game scheduled in Hawaii the next season. Texas? “The only place Texas goes,” he told Sports Illustrated, “is Arkansas.”
How big a deal was his signing?
So big that after three games of our guy’s freshman year, Switzer abandoned the wishbone that had been so good to him, and changed to the I formation.
Our guy didn’t see extensive action until the fifth game with the Sooners 2-2. In mid-October against Texas, his 63-yard touchdown run made the difference in a 28-22 Sooners win. The next week, against Kansas, was his first start, and he rushed for 158 yards and earned Big 8 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Starting the final seven games, he rushed for a total of 1,144 yards, and became the first freshman ever to lead OU in rushing. He had nine runs of 48 yards or more.
He scored 13 touchdowns and led all freshmen in rushing, and was All-Big 8 and named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year.
In the 1983 Fiesta Bowl against Arizona State, playing less than half the game - he pulled his hamstring in the second quarter - he set a new Fiesta Bowl record with 239 yards on 17 carries and was named game MVP.
But there were problems on the horizon.
A Sports Illustrated cover story the following summer questioned whether the star runner and Coach Switzer could coexist.
Our guy was good, for sure. The problem was, he knew it, and took advantage. He practiced indifferently, and other players resented what seemed to be the way Switzer accommodated him. The Sooners had a very good running back named Stanley Wilson who against his wishes was moved to fullback (aka blocking back) because our guy had made it clear that there was no way HE was going to play fullback.
He was not by any means a good student. "I don't really like school, "he said. "College isn't for everybody, and I guess it's just not for me. All I want is to try to make life simple, mind my own business and try to make things fun. "
And then there was his weight. Switzer had reportedly been on him about it, telling others that his star was overweight and lazy.
He was probably right about the overweight part. In the SI article, writer Douglas Looney wrote, our guy “tends to eat not just too much but way too much. He loves squash and hates peas, but more than anything he looks for chances to wade into hamburgers, ribs, french fries and chicken nuggets.”
Said his mother, “In our family nobody eats breakfast. But after noon, the kill is on. We just sit and eat until we go to bed. "
And he made it clear that he didn’t like Switzer’s style of coaching.
“I had the impression,” he said, “Before I went to Oklahoma from just watching Coach Switzer on TV that he's a hard guy and that he treats his players hard. That turns out to be true. I think I'll play this year, but it could be my last. Coach Switzer says I don't practice that well. The problem is, it's not like high school when Coach Wood made it fun. At Oklahoma, it's not fun. I don't know.”
Five games into the 1983 season, after a 28-16 loss to Texas, the Sooners were 3-2. And their best player, their star runner, had gone missing.
A week later, it was announced that he’d flown home to Mississippi and wasn’t returning to OU.
He enrolled at Southern Mississippi, but he not only had to miss the remainder of the 1983 season but also, under the transfer rules then in effect, had to sit out the next season too.
Rather than wait it out, he chose to turn pro. Still off-limits to the NFL because he had only spent two years at college, he signed instead with the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL.
He had a decent first year, but in his second year - the Breakers having moved to Portland, Oregon - he suffered a severe knee injury that effectively ended his career. He did make an attempt at a comeback with the Los Angeles Rams after a four-year layoff (he had to lose 100 pounds in three months to do so) , but he was never the same again.
He was featured in a “30 For 30” documentary entitled “The Best That Never Was.”
FRIDAY, JANUARY 24, 2025 “Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry, and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people." George Washington
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: Those Delaware teams rarely lost, and I guess I can take the heat for one of those defeats, a 24–20 setback against West Chester in 1952. On the day of the game Dave Nelson was involved in a neighborhood automobile mishap. Dave was shaken by the incident, and I was delegated to be the acting head coach that night. Late in the game, with Delaware leading, 20–17, the West Chester tailback ran off tackle on fourth down. He fumbled the ball, and it went forward into the end zone, where an end recovered. It was an illegal forward fumble – I am certain the play was designed that way by Coach Glen Killinger – but the officials didn't make the call. So we ended up losing.
In my recruiting responsibilities I worked with the college’s director of admissions and served on the student personnel committee that looked at discipline situations. I was also involved in setting up a scholarship program for athletes that put me in touch with some of the Delaware supporters and members of the board of trustees. One of these was Bob Carpenter, son of a prominent and affluent family. As a summer job I tutored his son, Ruly (R.R.M. Carpenter III), on the fundamentals of football.
Ruly was a solid high school player and picked Yale for college. After his freshman year, Bob called me and said Ruly was disenchanted and wanted to quit Yale. It was during two-a-day practices. He didn't like the coaches and football wasn't fun. He was ready to transfer to Delaware. I told Ruly if he came to Delaware the coaches would be just as tough, just as demanding, and that he wouldn't like me, either. "Go back, suck it up, hang with it, and you'll be OK,” was my message. Ruly went back, played four years, and graduated from Yale as the team captain. He later became a Delaware trustee.
Bob Carpenter gave me two jobs with the Philadelphia Phillies, the baseball team he owned at the time. One summer I scouted the Alabama-Florida league, bouncing between the six small towns of Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, Pensacola, Montgomery, Selma, and Dothan. Later I set up a group called Friends of the Phillies, which was basically made up of high school coaches. I organized a network of scouts in surrounding states – Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, and Virginia – to single out baseball prospects in those areas.
MY NOTE: Ruly Carpenter was two years behind me at Yale and as a teammate I knew him and liked him a lot. There I was, a Philly kid on scholarship, and there he was, son of the owner of the damn Phillies, but he just a regular guy from back home that I could talk baseball with. He was a very good athlete who lettered in both baseball and football. ONE MINOR QUIBBLE: (the liberal media would call it “fact-checking”): Ruly was not captain of the Yale football team - but he was captain of the baseball team. Minor mistake.
*********** “Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.” So said the great Samuel Johnson when his biographer, James Boswell, said he had been to a Quaker meeting and had heard a women preach.
So there was the Presidential party at the National Cathedral Tuesday morning, for a so-called “National Prayer Service,” when a female bishop turned it into a National Ambush, proceeding to lecture the President on behalf of transsexuals and illegal immigrants.
It’s an abuse of God’s house for a person who has been accorded the respect owed to a clergyman to stand in the pulpit and directly address any member, much less in an adversarial, accusatorial way. And certainly not when that person is the President of the United States.
The Reverend Lorenzo Sewell, who gave the benediction at the inauguration, was present at the “Prayer” Service and referred to what had transpired as “Theological malpractice.”
This bishop had a chance to speak on behalf of a rebirth of faith in America and she blew it. But then, Episcopalians (I was once one) aren’t interested in that Gospel stuff. Instead, she showed one and all a major reason why the Episcopal Church, of which she is a bishop, has lost nearly 500,000 members in the last ten years: promotion of female clergy and gay marriage.
But here’s my question - two questions, actually: one, what kind of presidential assistant, knowing in advance the background and political leanings of this “bishop” (who has made her views clear through assorted speeches and writings) would have gone ahead with the service and submitted the President to such an indignity? And two, how much severance did they give that person?
*********** There’s nobody to blame for Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State. The better team won. The two Irish scores at the end gave a nice cosmetic look to the final score, but it was actually a decisive beating. It was the 16th freaking game for both teams, and - at least for the Irish - on the offensive and defensive lines it showed. (And if either of the teams had played in a conference championship game, it could have meant 17 games played.)
Sorry, but that’s too damn much football, even if those “scholar-athletes” are now de facto pros.
Too long a season? Remember when Thanksgiving was once the traditional end of the season for everybody except for bowl-bound teams (back before there were close to 50 bowls), Army-Navy (the next weekend) or Texas-Texas A & M (the next day). Thanksgiving this year was TWO MONTHS ago.
Think about this for a minute:
The entire bowl structure could have been kept intact, exactly as it had been for years - and on January 2 the College Playoff Committee (or somebody) could have chosen the best four teams from all the bowls and - the next week - started a four-team playoff.
That is, if we really needed to have a playoff at all.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Our way - the 12-team playoff way - ESPN got more games, which meant more commercials to sell and - best of all - it got to keep the money, instead of it going to those bowl people.
Personally, I’ve spoken to a lot of serious college football fans who had run out of enthusiasm by that final Monday night. (Speaking of which - did it seem to you that Monday night was the dark corner of the room that the colleges were sent off to by the NFL, now that it’s taken control of all the weekend time slots?)
*********** I’ve often thought of Duke basketball and Notre Dame football as kindred programs. They both have long histories of success and they both have huge national followings of people who never attended either school. Any time Duke is in town to play the local team - doesn’t matter where it is - the place sells out. Same with Notre Dame football.
The two programs have something else in common, too - they both have large numbers of people who “hate” them. See, they win too much, they’re on TV too much, they beat my favorite team, their fans are obnoxious (ahem: I’m a Duke fan). Who knows why else?
But for me, not much of a Notre Dame fan for most of my years, this past season I found myself actually pulling (ever so slightly) for the Irish. I’ve noticed the same sort of change in others I know, and I suspect it’s for the same reason: Marcus Freeman. He appears to be a class person and he handles himself especially well, considering the goldfish bowl that the job puts a guy in. I hope he can win enough games to keep the Irish fanatics off his case, because as former Notre Dame coach Dan Devine - who won a national title there - once said, "There are two kinds of people in the world, Notre Dame lovers and Notre Dame haters. And, quite frankly, they're both a pain in the ass."
*********** Speaking of Notre Dame, this is why it’s hard to build a dynasty: no sooner was the Irish season over than their DC, Al Golden, who did a terrific job for them, than he was snatched up by the Cincinnati Bengals.
************ And speaking of the Bengals, those Chilean “tourists” who have allegedly been traveling around the country breaking into the houses of the rich and famous?
They may be vicious… they may be cruel… they may be cold-blooded… they may be devious…
But the sonsabitches aren’t very smart.
When they were pulled over by police, they immediately became “persons of interest” in the break-in of Joe Burrow’s home. Why? One of them was wearing a Bengals’ hat and there was an LSU shirt in the car.
*********** Chris Vannini of The Athletic, ranks all 134 FBS teams throughout the season, and this is his final Top Ten.
He explains his reasoning, which I found very interesting and persuasive:
Immediately, I realized how difficult this exercise would be when I concluded Oregon should be No. 2. I had Notre Dame here initially, as the final AP Top 25 did. But as I went back through, the Oregon case was fairly simple on paper. Oregon has a win over Ohio State, unlike Notre Dame. It has four top-15 wins in total and has the fewest losses, none of which came against Northern Illinois. The 41-21 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State may ultimately be how people remember this Oregon team, but the regular season still matters, to me at least.
Notre Dame’s run to the final was thrilling, impressive and earned. But the rest of the Irish resume was lacking. Oregon didn’t win a CFP game but had three wins over CFP teams (Ohio State, Penn State and Boise State), same as Notre Dame. Against common opponents (Ohio State and Penn State), Oregon looked better, and the Rose Bowl blowout loss to Ohio State is still better than the home loss to Northern Illinois, in my opinion. The new CFP bracket could make this part hard every year, but that’s my explanation.
No. 4 Penn State finished with one top-10 win here but had the same number of top-15 wins as Georgia, nearly beat Notre Dame in the semifinals and only lost to the top three teams.
The Bulldogs stay ahead of Texas because they beat the Longhorns twice.
Tennessee drops behind Arizona State to No. 8 because its resume hinged solely on an Alabama win that got worse with time.
No. 7 ASU finished with wins against BYU, Iowa State and Kansas State.
Boise State slips to No. 9 after a competitive loss to Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl.
It turns out No. 10 Indiana’s only losses came to the two national championship game participants, though neither game was all that competitive. The Hoosiers deserved their Playoff spot and still deserve an apology from Kirk Herbstreit and others. The win over Michigan looks better now and counts as a top 25 victory here.
*********** The feature attraction this weekend in the NFL will be the Chiefs-Bills matchup - the Chiefs going for a three-peat (your check’s in the mail, Pat Riley), the Bills going for that highly-elusive Super Bowl. For what it’s worth, I’m pulling for the Bills.
But the more interesting game, to me, is the Washington-Eagles game. (No, you can’t make me say “Commanders,” that stupid tribute to wokeness.) If you saw my Zoom this past Tuesday (or its recording) you know how excited I am about the Redskins’ offensive scheme and their rookie quarterback, Jayden Daniels. On the other hand, it is Philly, and they’re the Iggles, and Saquon Barkley is having a season for the ages. He has had eight runs of 50 yards or more, and six of them were for touchdowns - the most 50+ yard touchdown runs in one season in NFL history. He is actually making the running game exciting again.
*********** I have no use for NBA, and guys like the Miami Heat’s Jimmy Butler are a major reason why The guy wants out of Miami and by way of making this known he’s been making himself obnoxious. After retuning from a seven-game suspension, he was suspended again for missing a team flight, or, in the team’s words: "Continued pattern of disregard of team rules, insubordinate conduct, and conduct detrimental to the team, including missing Wednesday's team flight to Milwaukee. “
Asked what he told the other players, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said, “The point that I made to our team is get used to it. Get over it. This is the NBA life; this is the life we chose. If you think it's going to be predictable, you're really mistaken.”
*********** In making its season ticket pitch, Army just sent out the 2025 home schedule
• vs. Tarleton State (Date TBA)
• vs. Charlotte (Date TBA)
• vs. North Texas (Date TBA)
• vs. Temple (Date TBA)
• vs. Tulsa (Date TBA)
Wow. Sign me up for ten seats.
On second thought, so many people I know would like to see those teams - better make that a luxury suite.
*********** According to ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, the conference is looking at two interesting proposals to change its current conference championship game format.
First proposal: Regular-season 1 gets the automatic playoff spot; regular-season umbers 2 and 3 play for the (likely) second playoff spot
Second proposal: Keep the championship game, but…
In the final week of the regular season, 1 plays 4 and 2 plays 3
and the winners meet in the conference championship game
(I have no idea what the regularly-scheduled opponents of teams 1,2,3,4 are supposed to do on that final weekend.)
*********** Thought of you as I was reading this
The Ancient Eight: College Football’s Ivy League and the Game They Play Today by John Feinstein
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/209456191
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
Of course I bought it. (I like John Feinstein’ work.)
*********** Coach, I’m still having to do this by dictation so your editor, Miss Connie, might have work to do.
Now to your page today: I loved it. I loved it. I loved it. Like you, once I tuned in to the inauguration I couldn’t take my eyes away. It was one of those things that if you had a close friend you could talk for many hours about what you saw taking place on that screen yesterday.
Bold leader, bold message, all business. This was a leader taking charge. And to think that Joe Biden not only lived in this country, but advanced to the highest levels of government in a country populated by the likes of Mike Lude is just not right. Let this scumbag pardon, preemptively, multiple people as Trump was speaking - about as low as you can go in continually lowering the bar of ordinary human decency.
At least it is reported that Milley‘s photograph was removed from the Pentagon‘s gallery of former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I’m sure he was concerned highly about his retirement pay and it’s too bad because I was hoping that Trump would take it from Millie‘s grasp.
You’re right about seeing a government that could react quickly and do things right but I still had a couple of minor quibbles with conducted ceremonies. One was the Israel hostages behind him who stood there for so long without being recognized properly, in my opinion. Another was the military inspection setup. I thought it was wrong, and I thought that whoever was leading him on in the ceremony was gonna get his butt chewed because Trump had no chance to speak, and I thought Trump was expecting to speak. In fact, I think any time the President is before any formation of soldiers he should be allowed or even encouraged to speak to the troops no matter how briefly.
But overall, it was brilliant and there were so many - like America’s tenor singing “America.” Oh my goodness that was brilliant, as was the minister. He was a fine man, but all of them were - there just were so many good people speaking good things, meaningful things yesterday that it was hard to keep up - which is why I, like you, taped the entire inauguration so that I can see it what I want in its entirety.
Well, I wanted Notre Dame to win last night and they didn’t but I’m I’m proud of them. I, like you, also have nothing against Ohio State in this case, although ordinarily I root against Ohio State in every game.
I’ve gone on too long coach, and given your editor too much work to do.
Thanks for your uplifting page. As DJT concluded yesterday, it’s Liberation Day for every one of us.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Regarding the National Championship:
Credit and congrats to OSU. ND fought back from a large deficit, tried like hell to make a game of it despite some questionable coaching decisions, and proved they too are building a championship level program.
Questionable coaching decisions? How about getting away from what worked in the first offensive series? How does one of the best RB’s in the country only get 4 carries during the course of the entire game? How about the defense getting away from what got them there in the first place? Why wasn’t our best corner in press man coverage on arguably the best WR in the country at a crucial moment in the 4th quarter? Why, with late offensive momentum, kick a FG instead of going for it inside the 15 when you would still be down by two?
Oh well, woulda-shoulda-coulda. Not all was lost. We finally have a real President running our country again! Thank God!
Think the NFL isn’t conscientious about betting lines? How about the KC Chiefs’ late game safety?
The Redskins (er, “Commanders”) have a good team. QB Daniels is for real. The “Iggles” and RB Saquon Barkley will be a test for the young D.C. defense.
Go Bills! I’m a Josh Allen fan. He played for Reedley JC (just outside Fresno) where I played and coached JC ball (WAY before he was there!).
A longtime basketball coaching buddy of mine told me a long time ago we would see a large influx of foreign players in this country. “They practice more than they play, and they practice fundamentals on a regular basis. They will be as good if not better than our guys. Recruiting will become international.”
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
It really shows in basketball, where they - at least the Europeans - still work on skills and drills. We, on the other hand, thanks to the AAU-influence, play. And play. And play. Who needs practice?
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: No Bronco will ever again wear Craig Morton’s Number 7. Actually, though, it’s not HIS number 7 that was retired. The number 7 that was retired happened to belong to his successor as Broncos’ QB - John Elway.
Nevertheless, Craig Morton is honored and remembered by Denver fans as the first quarterback to take their Broncos to the Super Bowl.
He played his high school football in Campbell, California, where he was all-state in football, basketball and baseball.
At Cal, he played under head coach Marv Levy and a young offensive coach named Bill Walsh. He played on losing teams all three years he was eligible, but he held up his end: in one stretch between his junior and senior years, he threw at least one touchdown pass in 16 straight games. As a senior, he set Pac-8 records for pass attempts (308), pass completions (185) and passing yards (2,121), and was the recipient of the Pop Warner Trophy, given to the most valuable player on the Pacific Coast. Although the Bears went 3-7 that year, he made several All-America teams, and finished seventh in the Heisman voting, ahead of such future immortals as Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.
When he graduated he held just about every Cal passing record. (Actually, he had set most of them by the end of his junior season.)
He was the fifth player taken overall in the 1965 draft (by Dallas) and he would spend 10 seasons with Cowboys (1965-74). Those ten seasons could be broken into three phases:
Phase 1 - Backing up Don Meredith
Phase 2 - Starting - he led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl following the 1970 season (they lost to the Baltimore Colts).
Beginning the next year -
Phase 3 - The Quarterback Controversy - his competition with Roger Staubach. In one game against the Chicago Bears, Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry actually had his two quarterbacks alternating plays.
In 1974, having lost the QB competition with Staubach, he asked for a trade, and signed a contract with the World Football League Houston Texans to play for them in 1975 (after he would become a free agent). But shortly into the 1974 season, he was traded to the New York Giants. In return, the Giants sent the Cowboys their 1975 Number One draft choice (which Dallas would use to take Randy White).
His three years in New York were a nightmare. Actually, they were scarcely spent in New York at all. In 1974 the Giants played their home schedule in New Haven, Connecticut, in the Yale Bowl. They lost all seven home games and finished 2-12. In 1975, they played home games in Shea Stadium - home of the Jets - and went 5-9. In 1976, installed in all-new Giants Stadium in New Jersey, they started out losing their first nine games and finished 2-12. Head coach Bill Arnsparger was fired at the 0-7 mark.
In the off-season he was traded to Denver, and he would later recall his response on learning that he had been traded to Denver: “God, thank you very, very much.”
In 1977, with new coach Red Miller and their new quarterback, the Broncos went 12-2 and made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. He became the first quarterback to start in a Super Bowl for two different teams. (Since then, he would be joined by Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady).
He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Year and also NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
In his first five years in Denver, the Broncos won 50 games, as he and wide receiver Haven Moses became known as the “M & M Connection.”
In his next-to-last season, at the age of 38, he had one of his best seasons statistically, throwing for 3,195 yards and 21 touchdowns. His 8.5 yards per attempt is still a team record. But he was sacked 54 times - a team record that lasted for another 41 years.
He played just three games in the strike-shortened season of 1982, then retired.
Following his playing career, he served as head coach of the Denver Gold of the original USFL.
Craig Morton is in the Colorado Hall of Fame, the Broncos’ Ring of Honor, the Cal Sports Hall of Fame, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CRAIG MORTON
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
John Rothwell, Corpus Christi, Texas
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Ossie Osmundson - Woodland, Washington
Joe Gutilla - Granbury, Texas
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: On this hot September night, Number 22 walked through the door of the gymnasium with his 50 or so teammates. He stood there beyond the end zone and waited with them to run onto the field. They were a small-town Mississippi football team.
The stadium behind the old brick high school was crowded with 4000 people. There was a pale quarter-moon on the horizon. A train whistle from the Illinois Central echoed across from independence Quarters, and crickets chirped from a nearby hollow. The grass was moist from yesterday’s rains.
He was big. He was carrying his helmet, which he put on now over a copious Afro haircut kept in place by a red hairnet. He was 17 years old and he was wearing glasses.
***
I had heard about him for many months, ever since I came back from the North to live in Mississippi. Going into his senior year, he was the most sought-after and acclaimed high school football player in America, a swift and powerful running back whom many were already comparing with the legendary Herschel Walker of Georgia.
So did well-known author Willie Morris, himself a Mississippi native, begin a best-selling book about the recruiting of this small-town high school phenom.
In Philadelphia, Mississippi everybody in town knew from the time he was a young boy that he was going to be good. Really good. That’s the way things work in a small town.
The very first time he touched a football in his high school career - as a 210-pound freshman who had already been timed at 4.4 seconds in the 40 - he returned the opening kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Playing wide receiver, he scored five touchdowns for the season.
As a sophomore, playing running back, he rushed for 1,850 yards and 28 touchdowns, and as a junior he rushed for 1,550 yards and 25 touchdowns.
In his senior year, he rushed for 2,955 yards and 36 touchdowns. In his high school career, he rushed for 7,355 yards (averaging 8.3 yards per carry) and 87 touchdowns, the latter mark breaking Herschel Walker’s national high school record.
To college recruiters, he was “the second coming of Earl Campbell… the heir apparent to Herschel Walker.”
Big? He was 6-3, 240.
Strong? College coaches who visited his school marveled at watching him bench-press 400 pounds 10 times before going outside to run a 40 for them.
Fast? He’d run 4.3/4.4 since he was a freshman.
Wrote one sports reporter, he had “the strength of Zeus, the vision of Artemis, the speed of Hermes and the controlled rage of Ares.”
And that, in those days - after the last game of his senior season - , was when the recruiting began
LSU, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Southern Miss, UCLA, Pitt and Oklahoma - everybody was after him.
The recruiting became so interesting that it - and the coincidental fact that Philadelphia, Mississippi was the site, years earlier, of the brutal murder of three civil rights workers - was the inspiration for Willie Morris’ book.
Although Oklahoma assistant coach Lucious Selmon - a former OU All-American - had camped out in a motel room in Philadelphia for six weeks, our guy gave a verbal commitment to Texas. But Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer, not to be denied, arranged for former OU star (and Heisman Trophy winner) Billy Sims to fly into Philadelphia to try to change our guy’s mind, and when Sims left town, he had closed the deal: our guy was going to OU.
A major factor in the decision to switch? Oklahoma had a game scheduled in Hawaii the next season. Texas? “The only place Texas goes,” he told Sports Illustrated, “is Arkansas.”
How big a deal was his signing?
So big that after three games of our guy’s freshman year, Switzer abandoned the wishbone that had been so good to him, and changed to the I formation.
Our guy didn’t see extensive action until the fifth game with the Sooners 2-2. In mid-October against Texas, his 63-yard touchdown run made the difference in a 28-22 Sooners win. The next week, against Kansas, was his first start, and he rushed for 158 yards and earned Big 8 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
Starting the final seven games, he rushed for a total of 1,144 yards, and became the first freshman ever to lead OU in rushing. He had nine runs of 48 yards or more.
He scored 13 touchdowns and led all freshmen in rushing, and was All-Big 8 and named Big 8 Newcomer of the Year.
In the 1983 Fiesta Bowl against Arizona State, playing less than half the game - he pulled his hamstring in the second quarter - he set a new Fiesta Bowl record with 239 yards on 17 carries and was named game MVP.
But there were problems on the horizon.
A Sports Illustrated cover story the following summer questioned whether the star runner and Coach Switzer could coexist.
Our guy was good, for sure. The problem was, he knew it, and took advantage. He practiced indifferently, and other players resented what seemed to be the way Switzer accommodated him. The Sooners had a very good running back named Stanley Wilson who against his wishes was moved to fullback (aka blocking back) because our guy had made it clear that there was no way HE was going to play fullback.
He was not by any means a good student. "I don't really like school, "he said. "College isn't for everybody, and I guess it's just not for me. All I want is to try to make life simple, mind my own business and try to make things fun. "
And then there was his weight. Switzer had reportedly been on him about it, telling others that his star was overweight and lazy.
He was probably right about the overweight part. In the SI article, writer Douglas Looney wrote, our guy “tends to eat not just too much but way too much. He loves squash and hates peas, but more than anything he looks for chances to wade into hamburgers, ribs, french fries and chicken nuggets.”
Said his mother, “In our family nobody eats breakfast. But after noon, the kill is on. We just sit and eat until we go to bed. "
And he made it clear that he didn’t like Switzer’s style of coaching.
“I had the impression,” he said, “Before I went to Oklahoma from just watching Coach Switzer on TV that he's a hard guy and that he treats his players hard. That turns out to be true. I think I'll play this year, but it could be my last. Coach Switzer says I don't practice that well. The problem is, it's not like high school when Coach Wood made it fun. At Oklahoma, it's not fun. I don't know.”
Five games into the 1983 season, after a 28-16 loss to Texas, the Sooners were 3-2. And their best player, their star runner, had gone missing.
A week later, it was announced that he’d flown home to Mississippi and wasn’t returning to OU.
He enrolled at Southern Mississippi, but he not only had to miss the remainder of the 1983 season but also, under the transfer rules then in effect, had to sit out the next season too.
Rather than wait it out, he chose to turn pro. Still off-limits to the NFL because he had only spent two years at college, he signed instead with the New Orleans Breakers of the USFL.
He had a decent first year, but in his second year - the Breakers having moved to Portland, Oregon - he suffered a severe knee injury that effectively ended his career. He did make an attempt at a comeback with the Los Angeles Rams after a four-year layoff (he had to lose 100 pounds in three months to do so) , but he was never the same again.
He was featured in a “30 For 30” documentary entitled “The Best That Never Was.”
TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2025 "My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed, their freedom. From this moment on, America’s decline is over.
Our liberties and our nation’s glorious destiny will no longer be denied. And we will immediately restore the integrity, competency and loyalty of America’s government." PRESIDENT Donald J. Trump
*********** I confess that watching Monday’s inauguration (think of it - a real, honest-to-God President!) and the events associated with it took precedence over preparing today’s page. I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. So please indulge me and my restored hope that our country still has a chance, and forgive me if the page might seem a bit light in content.
Considering the time constraints that faced the Republicans in changing the inauguration arrangements (from outdoors to indoors), the precision with which they brought everything off is a good sign for those of us who remember a time when our government actually got things done right and on time.
High on the list of my favorite types of music is marches, and a major government event - one in which the military and its bands take part - is the time to hear them.
I loved the pomp. I loved the awesome beauty of the Capitol Rotunda. I loved the President’s speech.
And Lord, I loved to see to all those smiling people. Thank for that, Joe Biden. You did that. By leaving town.
Meantime, if you hadn’t noticed - THE FLAG IS NO LONGER UPSIDE-DOWN!
********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: I learned about selling our program to parents as well as the athletes. Ronnie McCoy of Smyrna was a good prospect whose father was a state police captain. He took me goose hunting about 4:30 AM one day, and after bagging several geese we returned to the McCoy home for breakfast. The doorbell rang and it was a rival recruiter, MIke Cooley, an assistant coach at Lehigh. I went out to the door and grinned: "Coach, you just gotta get up early in the morning in this game. Ronnie has decided to become a Fightin’ Blue Hen and be with us at Delaware.“
That nickname often triggered snide comments from our opponents and snickers from outsiders who thought it lacked the tough, aggressive image normally associated with such labels. During the Revolutionary War, troops from the Delaware colony carried fighting cocks, and between battles they’d match the birds in deadly combat. The blue hen was considered the most ferocious strain of these cocks. That historical link led to the university’s nickname.
In the early 1950s I was approached at a football clinic in Atlantic City by a young coach named Tommy Phillips at Struthers high school in Ohio. He asked if he could visit our spring practice. Tommy came back for about six years. He ended up staying at our house and babysat our kids. He developed a top quarterback named John Mackovic when he coached at Barberton. Phillips predicted that Mackovic one day would be an outstanding head football coach. I tried to recruit him but he picked Wake Forest. John went on to coach at his alma mater, then Illinois, University of Texas and more recently the University of Arizona. Phillips later was an assistant when I was AD at Kent State where he had a heart attack. He was concerned I wasn't going to keep him on staff. I told him that as long as I had a job there would be a place for him at Kent State.
Delaware had become a comfortable situation, in my job and with my family. After a year, Rena and I bought our first home, three bedrooms with one bath and a carport, located in a tract of new houses on the outskirts of Newark. The price was $9,900. Janann, our second daughter, was born November 5, 1953, followed by Jill, January 31, 1956. Three years later we moved into a two-story colonial in the Fairfield Crest area. Hard work and success were starting to pay dividends.
It took four days and overcoming the hazards of a fierce snowstorm before I made it to the hospital to see Janann for the first time. It started snowing the night she was born, and all the roads were impossible to navigate. I walked three miles to get to the office, and our weekend game was eventually called off because all the trains were shut down.
*********** Thank God this “Biden” creature is gone from our lives. “His” last-minute pardons of Fauci, Milley and Schiff are the sleaziest thing I’ve ever seen done by a president (or whoever’s behind the curtain). If it matters that much that Fauci, Milley and Schiff pay for their misdeeds, Trump probably knows some fellas in NYC who'd be glad to whack the three of them for free, as a favor to their country.
*********** GO IRISH! GO BUCKEYES! I admire both programs and I hope that they’ll both be able to give it their best shot and that tonight’s better team will win. And I’ll feel bad for whichever team loses.
*********** Think the 12-game college playoff has made the season long? Writes John Canzano…
It’s going to get even longer for the 2026 season when they increase the field to 14 teams.
Chip Kelly made some comments this week about how Ohio State managed the length of the season. The Buckeyes were intentional about managing the pace of games. Kelly said he wanted to limit the number of snaps and take some wear and tear off his players.
Said Kelly: “We were a little bit more slowed down on offense. And there was a reason; we knew we were going to play in a 16-game schedule. You just can’t run 100 snaps in every game during the regular season and expect to be fresh during the end of the season. We planned on that.”
Just another reason for “slowing the game down” on offense. Translation: running the ball.
I have to admit to being bemused by the “play fast” fad. I consider every play precious, and I hold to the belief that fewer plays run with the aim of perfection are more likely to be successful than a whole lot of plays run fast but run haphazardly.
*********** Xavier Lucas, once a DB from Wisconsin, gave up on entering the transfer portal when - he says - the school failed to enter his name, and now he’s simply transferring to Miami - without going through the portal. (He’s got a lawyer.)
Wisconsin - the entire Big Ten, as a matter of fact - is accusing Miami of tampering, but who’s supposed to enforce any rules against that? The NCAA?
The NCAA issued a statement on Friday saying, "NCAA rules do not prevent a student-athlete from unenrolling from an institution, enrolling at a new institution and competing immediately.”
You got that? THIS IS BIG and somehow it’s gone largely unnoticed.
So, says the NCAA, players (sorry - “student-athletes”) can transfer any time they want - without going through the portal - and be immediately eligible.
One problem solved: no more worrying about windows before or after the bowls or spring practice. One window or two? Who Cares? Who needs windows?
Hell, if a kid doesn’t think he’s being thrown to enough, what’s to stop him if he decides at halftime to go over to the other team’s locker room and put their jersey on?
Not the NCAA. Not the people who used to put schools on probation for buying a kid a cheeseburger.
*********** Not saying that Lions’ coach Dan Campbell would let the pursuit of “EQUITY” get in the way of his game preparations - he wears whatever they give him to wear - but my son-in-law Rob Tiffany happened to catch this while we were watching the game - the inside of the bill of his cap shows that , while all over America companies are turning their backs on DEI, the NFL, aka The League of Yard-Sign Slogans (“Choose Love,” “Be Love,” “Stop Hate,” “Inspire Change”) is still at it.
*********** CHIEFS 23, TEXAS 14 - Years ago, Steelers’ linebacker Jack Lambert said that the way the rules (and officials) protected quarterbacks, they might as well have them wear dresses.
I’m not going to get after NFL officials, but I do wonder what Lambert would think about the way Patrick Mahomes seems to be coddled. I sense a large and growing number of fans resent this, and I hate to see this happening because I like the way Mahomes plays.
*********** REDSKINS 45, LIONS 31 - I have to say that this was one of the best, most interesting NFL games I’ve seen in years. A main reason: The Washington Team that Will Remain Unnamed ran a nice college-type offense (running the ball, using assorted options and blocking schemes) and made use of the unique talents of Jayden Daniels, one of the most impressive rookie QBs we’ll ever see. Before dumping Jared Goff, as so many dejected Lions’ fans suggest, I’d suggest taking another look at why he was brutally hit in the head on an interception play - in which he is supposed to be treated as a defenseless player - and there was no penalty assessed on the perp. Goff returned to the game after going through concussion protocol, but had to have been affected the rest of the way by that shot he took. Sorry about all the fuss being made about how long it had been since the Redskins were in the playoffs, when the Lions haven’t won a championship since 1957 - ten years before there even was a Super Bowl.
*********** EAGLES 28, RAMS 22 - In the snow, the Eagles’ Saquon Barkley rushed for 205 yards and two TDs, averaging 7.9 yards per carry and Jalen Hurts, although throwing for just 128 yards, ran for 70. The Rams’ Matthew Stafford, 26 of 44 for 324 yards and two TDs, led a comeback that fell just short.
*********** BILLS 27, RAVENS 25 - The Ravens outgained the Bills, 416 to 271. Lamar Jackson had a great game - 18 of 25 passing for 254 yards and two TDs, and 39 yards rushing on six carries, but he made a few mistakes, and his pass for a two-point conversion in the closing seconds was dropped by normally sure-handed tight end Mark Andrews. The Bills’ offense was anemic - Jared Allen’s 127 yards passing (16 completions out of 22 attempts) was less than six yards per attempt, and he ran for just 20 yards.
*********** Wayne Tinkle, Oregon State’s basketball coach, has been on the hot seat, and his team’s huge 97-89 upset of Gonzaga last Thursday led to an interesting revelation, as he confided in John Canzano:
Oregon State is a team of foreigners.
On his roster are players from Turkey, Iran, Germany, France, England, Denmark, France, Germany, Iran, Lithuania, Turkey and the UK. among other countries. Seven different languages are spoken in the locker room.
It was no accident. He built the team that way. Why?
First of all, college athletes on student visas are extremely limited in their ability to work in the US - which includes getting NIL payments.
In addition, Tinkle and his staff have found that “international” players are generally coachable and willing to share the ball - unlike a lot of American kids - and in addition, their parents are interested in their sons’ educations.
Finally, there’s loyalty - a disappearing commodity thanks to the NIL/Transfer Portal combination. Said Tinkle, “There’s a lot more loyalty over there than what we see in the states these days.”
*********** I suppose there’s no way to avoid distractions. First, there was the rumor that the Bears were interested in interviewing Marcus Freeman. (What the hell - they’ve got some 17 guys on their wish list, so what’s the harm in one more?)
But then came the story a few years ago that Oklahoma was interested in Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Knowles is already making more than $2 million at Ohio State (he’s earning it - in his three years at Ohio State he’s had the Buckeyes’ defense ranked nationally).
So, Oklahoma State did you say? Well, no, even though that’s where he was coaching when Ohio State called.
No, we’re talking OU - and not as their head coach, either - they’ve already got on in Brent Venables, and he’s got an enormous buyout, so he isn’t going anywhere. Venables lost his DC to West Virginia back before New Year’s, and the fact that he’s been waiting this long when he’s already got a well-qualified man on his staff might indicate that he’s been waiting until Knowles can move.
Why would he leave Ohio State?
I read that he recently became engaged to a woman who lives in Oklahoma and she has kids and doesn’t want to move.
*********** Coach,
Just finished a book called the Boys from Riverside. It is about the California School of the Deaf in Riverside and their winning the 2022 8 man CIF title in the southern section. In the book they mention that the Huddle was invented by Gallaudet University on the East Coast. I checked the internet and it mentions it was done in 1894.
We changed the game.
In 1894, the Gallaudet football team was playing against another deaf team. Paul Hubbard, the quarterback, didn’t want to risk the other team seeing him use American Sign Language (ASL) to explain the play to his teammates, so he asked them to form a tight circle formation, now known as a huddle.
Today, the huddle is used all over the world, in a wide variety of team sports, such as baseball, football, basketball, soccer, lacrosse and many other sports.
Tom Davis
San Marcos, California
My reply…
It appears that there was (and likely still is) some controversy concerning the origin of the huddle, with numerous claimants to be the originator.
Illinois Coach Bob Zuppke, as I wrote, is generally considered to be the originator of the huddle.
There is considerable discussion on the subject and the issue remains inconclusive, but while Gallaudet may in fact have a bona fide claim to being the first, their evidence appears to be lacking.
In Allison Danzig’s magnficent “The History of American Football,” there is almost an entire page devoted to the topic of the huddle with this conclusion: “the weight of evidence and opinion credits Zuppke as the first.”
I’ll see if I can find the time to reprint that portion of the book.
***
I happen to have had some connection with Gallaudet, a college for the deaf (or, as they said when I was young, “deaf and dumb”), When I played for the Frederick (Maryland) Falcons in 1968 and 1969, we had a few players on our team who were teachers at the Maryland School for the Deaf (located in Frederick), and they had played at Gallaudet.
One of them, Ed Gobble, had played four years at Gallaudet, and then the year before joining us, had played for a very good minor league (ACFL) team called the Virginia Sailors. He was 6-1, 230 and very quick and he could knock your ass off, and he quickly established himself as our middle linebacker.
Communication was no problem at all. In fact, he called our defenses using sign language, simplified enough so that the rest of us could understand.
He was a hell of a player and a great guy. I’ll never forget the look of delight on his face when my eight-year-old son said “Hi” to him in American sign language.
*********** Our first President gave you the perfect quotation for today.
Sorry to say Sen Jack Reed (jagoff inquirer) was in my company at West Point. You're the last person who should ask such a question, Jackie.
I'm not ready to concede the title to the Buckeyes. Says here the Irish pull the upset. I wish college athletic decisionmakers--whoever they are nowadays--would heed your caution about the noisiness and flashiness of CFB today. Many of us want to watch football, and don't give a damn about the glitzy halftime show they pay millions for.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
My daughter (ND-St. Mary’s alumna) looked into going to Atlanta to see the big game and take part in all the festivities. Took about 20 minutes for her to change her mind! “Dad, I really want to be there, but it hit me, I’m not at that level yet!
I still have a few kids I worked with who are grad students at ND. The group of them couldn’t sniff tickets to the game.
From what my daughter tells me large contingents of ND alums (and “subway alums”) will be gathering in cities across the country at local Irish “game-watch” party locations (sponsored by local ND Alumni Clubs directly affiliated with the University), to cheer on the Fighting Irish. She is a past president of the Austin Club.
To win the national championship ND will HAVE to control the ball on offense and end time consuming drives with TD’s.
The defense will HAVE to be great open field tacklers, limit explosive plays, and create turnovers. IF they can do that, and avoid mistakes, ND special teams will determine the outcome of the game.
Would enjoy the NFL playoffs much more drinking my Heineken NA if the Lions and Eagles play for the NFC title, and the Chiefs play the Bills for the AFC.
Glad to read that John V. is on the mend!
I thoroughly enjoy his views on your news, AND…his take on the big game! Go Irish! ☘️ ☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️☘️
Enjoy the weekend, and the games!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
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*********** QUIZ: No Bronco will ever again wear his Number 7. Actually, though, it’s not HIS number 7 that was retired. The number 7 that was retired happened to belong to his successor as Broncos’ QB - John Elway.
Nevertheless, this guy is honored and remembered by Denver fans as the first quarterback to take their Broncos to the Super Bowl.
He played his high school football in Campbell, California, where he was all-state in football, basketball and baseball.
At Cal, he played under head coach Marv Levy and a young offensive coach named Bill Walsh. He played on losing teams all three years he was eligible, but he held up his end: in one stretch between his junior and senior years, he threw at least one touchdown pass in 16 straight games. As a senior, he set Pac-8 records for pass attempts (308), pass completions (185) and passing yards (2,121), and was the recipient of the Pop Warner Trophy, given to the most valuable player on the Pacific Coast. Although the Bears went 3-7 that year, he made several All-America teams, and finished seventh in the Heisman voting, ahead of such future immortals as Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.
When he graduated he held just about every Cal passing record. (Actually, he had set most of them by the end of his junior season.)
He was the fifth player taken overall in the 1965 draft (by Dallas) and he would spend 10 seasons with Cowboys (1965-74). Those ten seasons could be broken into three phases:
Phase 1 - Backing up Don Meredith
Phase 2 - Starting - he led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl following the 1970 season (they lost to the Baltimore Colts).
Beginning the next year -
Phase 3 - The Quarterback Controversy, in competition with Roger Staubach. In one game against the Chicago Bears, Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry actually had his two quarterbacks alternating plays.
In 1974, having lost the QB competition with Staubach, he asked for a trade, and signed a contract with the World Football League Houston Texans to play for them in 1975 (after he would become a free agent). But shortly into the 1974 season, he was traded to the New York Giants. In return, the Giants sent the Cowboys their 1975 Number One draft choice (which Dallas would use to take Randy White).
His three years in New York were a nightmare. Actually, they were scarcely spent in New York at all. In 1974 the Giants played their home schedule in New Haven, Connecticut, in the Yale Bowl. They lost all seven home games and finished 2-12. In 1975, they played home games in Shea Stadium - home of the Jets - and went 5-9. In 1976, installed in all-new Giants Stadium in New Jersey, they started out losing their first nine games and finished 2-12. Head coach Bill Arnsparger was fired at the 0-7 mark.
In the off-season he was traded to Denver, and he would later recall his response on learning that he had been traded to Denver: “God, thank you very, very much.”
In 1977, with new coach Red Miller and their new quarterback, the Broncos went 12-2 and made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. He became the first quarterback to start in a Super Bowl for two different teams. (Since then, he would be joined by Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady).
He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Year and also NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
In his first five years in Denver, the Broncos won 50 games, as he and wide receiver Haven Moses became known as the “M & M Connection.”
In his next-to-last season, at the age of 38, he had one of his best seasons statistically, throwing for 3,195 yards and 21 touchdowns. His 8.5 yards per attempt is still a team record. But he was sacked 54 times - a team record that lasted for another 41 years.
He played just three games in the strike-shortened season of 1982, then retired.
Following his playing career, he served as head coach of the Denver Gold of the original USFL.
He is in the Colorado Hall of Fame, the Broncos’ Ring of Honor, the Cal Sports Hall of Fame, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 17, 2025 "Government is not reason. Government is not eloquence. It is force. And, like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." George Washington
RIP BOB UECKER: "I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for $3,000. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough to pay out. But eventually he scraped it up.
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: Irv Wisniewski, another former Michigan player, joined the staff in 1952 as end coach, and he was a very positive contributor to the development of the Wing-T. So was Ed Maley. Both “Whiz” and Maley retired at Delaware.
While Nelson was a fierce competitor, he was not without mercy when an opponent was outclassed. I remember a game in 1959 against Temple when we were six or seven touchdowns ahead. I was upstairs in the press box when Dave got me on the phone and said, "MIke, what do you think about sending the manager over to their coach to ask if we could keep the clock running with no timeouts for incomplete passes or out-of-bounds plays?” I agreed it would be a good idea. So he sent the manager to the visiting bench and he returned quickly. "What did he say? "I asked Dave. "The coach said please.” And that's the way it ended.
High school coaches were joining the parade to the Wing-T. One day a short, plump man, a coach in Eunice Louisiana, walked into my office, wanting to learn about the system. Faize Mahfouz became a close friend. I spoke at his clinics in Eunice and in New Iberia when he moved there and at meetings of the Louisiana State Coaches Association.
Those contacts were helpful in one of my other responsibilities at Delaware, running our recruiting efforts. In those years I had the privilege of selling our football program to hundreds of players, and so many of them have kept in touch with me over the years.
My first Delaware recruit was Jimmy Flynn, a running back I went after when I was still at Maine. His coach at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh was Nick Skorich, a former professional player with the Steelers and a classmate of mine in graduate school at Michigan State University. When the Maine coaching staff departed for Delaware, Jimmy called me and said, "What happens to me?” I told him he was obligated to stay at Maine. He replied, "Well, Coach Skorich said that wherever Coach Lude goes, I go too.” He got a release from Maine and became an outstanding tailback and a sprinter at Delaware.
My first quarterback recruit was Don Miller from Prospect Park (Pennsylvania) High School, who was a perfect fit for the system we used at Delaware. Besides being a talented passer, he was a standout ball handler whose deception and handing off the ball to his running backs perplexed rival defenses.
*********** OHIO STATE-NOTRE DAME
Of course I’ll watch. I like both teams.
But if you had any doubts about where all this playoff sh— is headed: the word is that each of the two schools has been allocated a grand total of 500 tickets for students.
The game, you see, is the focal point of the American obsession with always being bigger, flashier, noisier - and definitely more expensive - than whatever came before.
Students? Purists? lovers of the game? Screw you. Go watch it on TV.
Why, thank you. I think I will.
I’ll save on air fare, lodging, tickets, parking, and overpriced beer and food.
I won’t have to listen to obnoxious “music” over the P-A, between announcements that it’s thir-r-r-r-r-d down. (As message boards say MAKE NOISE)
I won’t have people squeezing past me, blocking my view as they make their way to restrooms or concession stands.
And while you dupes sit there doing absolutely nothing until that guy out there in the red hat lets the teams know that the TV commercials are over and it’s permissible to play football once again, I’ll use the bathroom or go get a drink or a snack.
I’ll do my best to enjoy the game, despite the over-the-top pre-game buildup… the multiple-grammy award-winning “performing” of what they insist on claiming is “our national anthem”… the grotesque halftime show that has zero connection whatsoever with either of the participating schools or, for that matter, the game of football itself … the five-minute-long commercial breaks at every change of possession…
And when the game’s over, I’ll watch the confetti cannons make a mess of everything and listen to the coaches and key players tell sideline reporters “what it means” to have won the title. SPOILER ALERT: “It means everything.”
And then, since I’m already home, I’ll go to bed.
Meanwhile, not done yet with proving that Barnum was right (“there’s a sucker born every minute”) you sit in the parking lot, waiting for an opening…
*********** By now, NFL games ought to be worth watching…
SAT - TEXANS - CHIEFS (1:30 EST) - Can anybody beat the Chiefs? Will Taylor swift be there? I like Andy Reid and I like Patrick Mahomes and I’m not ready to see the Chiefs’ run come to an end.
SAT - COMMANDERS - LIONS (5:00 EST) - Lions appear unbeatable, but Washington QB Jayden Daniels is worth watching. He’s one heckuva rookie. But I have to go with the Lions - a team that hasn’t won a championship since I was in college.
SUN - RAMS - EAGLES (3:00 EST) - E-A-G-L-E-S-EAGLES! I like Jalen Hurts and I like Saquon Barkley. And I’ve still got some Philly in me (too much, some would say).
SUN - RAVENS - BILLS (6:30 EST) - Damn shame this game has to come so early in the going because these are two of the top three or four teams in the league. We lived in Maryland for 14 years, and in Baltimore for five of them, but those were the days of the Baltimore COLTS. I’ve gotten to know a lot of Buffalo guys and I like them and I like the town and I know how much a win would mean to them. So - Go Bills.
*********** Uhhhh… While you and I took our eyes off the ball, seems like Deion and Jerry done sat down and talked.
*********** To be successful…
Famed Army coach Earl “Red” Blaik: “You have to pay the price.”
Old strength-training cliche: “No pain, no gain.”
Jensen Huang, founder of Nvidia (and now one of the world’s wealthiest men: “I wish upon you ample doses of pain and suffering.”
*********** Thinking about taking your team to an overnight camp, were you? You didn’t have enough to worry about with the kids and hazing. Now you have to worry about your coaches.
By Aimee Green | The Oregonian/OregonLive
The Beaverton School District has agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the mother of a Westview High School football player who claimed he was abruptly awoken in the middle of the night during a summer sports camp and slapped in the face by his coach.
The 17-year-old football player, now in his senior year, was among a dozen teens attending the overnight sports camp in June 2024 when prosecutors allege they were slapped, grabbed or otherwise harassed by their coach, Jamal Jones, as the players slept in a gym at Linfield University in McMinnville. According to court papers, Jones told police he had downed four beers before embarking on the 1 a.m. spree, which startled players and prompted them to pack up and leave.
*********** I read someplace where Bill Belichick (you know - the new football coach at North Carolina) told Pat McAfee that he would run a college program exactly like a pro team, and turn it into a “pipeline to the NFL.”
Uhhh… isn’t that pretty much what Herm Edwards said back when he took over at Arizona State?
Uhhh… did those guys mean like ANY pro team? Even the Jaguars? Panthers? Titans?
Shouldn’t they have said, “Like a REALLY GOOD pro team?”
I mean, there are so many crummy pro football teams, that it would make just as much sense to me to go into one of those loser franchises and announce that you’re going to run things exactly as you would with a really good college team.
*********** The Oregon Ducks have signed a wide receiver named Malik Benson.
Was someone supposed to get excited?
He spent two years at Hutchinson (Kansas) Community College… then a year at Alabama… then a year at Florida State…
And now, after the Pavia ruling (holding that junior college play should not count against a player’s NCAA eligibility) he’s a Duck.
Nothing against Malik Benson, you understand… but wasn’t it great back when a guy grew up in your favorite college program? Remember watching him arrive as a freshman and then develop over the years? Remember looking forward to how good he’d be as a senior?
(WHICH BRINGS UP THE QUESTION: What, exactly, IS a college “senior” these days?)
*********** During Pete Hegseth's Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Senator Jack Reed (D-Rhode Island) asked Hegseth to explain the term “jagoff."
Now, If I were prompting Pete Hegseth, I’d have had him saying, “Well, Senator, let’s put it this way - you probably ought to stay out of Pittsburgh.”
********* In Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing - he’s been nominated to be Secretary of Defense - I bet I heard the term “warfighter” used several dozen times, when “soldiers” or “sailors” or “Marines” or “service members” would have worked.
It’s a rather new term, undoubtedly invented for a reason, and when I asked a friend - a veteran - what he thought, he said right away that he figured it was so that the speaker wouldn’t get accused of offending females by using a term that was considered masculine.
*********** Tom Clements, once a great Notre Dame quarterback but in recent years the quarterback coach of the Packers - he coached Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Jordan Love - is retiring.
He’s 71, and in addition to the Packers he’s coached for the Saints, Chiefs, Steelers, and Bills.
*********** I read this in Oregon live…
Oregon State defensive coordinator Keith Heyward has resigned after one year with the Beavers’ football staff.
A source confirmed to The Oregonian/OregonLive that Heyward is no longer with the football program. No reason was given for Heyward’s resignation.
Under Heyward during the 2024 season, Oregon State gave up an average of 399.9 yards and 29.9 points a game. Heyward also helped coach defensive backs.
Such is the state of journalism today. After just reading that last paragraph, I could have sworn I read, in the paragraph just before it, “No reason was given for Heyward’s resignation.”
*********** According to the Brewers Association, a national trade group, in 2024, for the first time in nearly two decades, the U.S. saw more craft breweries close (399) than open (335).
1. Too many people got into the business because it’s relatively easy to do
2. Americans are drinking less beer (they’re switching to spirits, hard cider, hard seltzers)
3. Americans are drinking less alcohol in general (One reason is the legalization of marijuana).
*********** I’m by no means a quarterback whisperer, but I do know a little about the fundamentals of coaching quarterbacks, and over the last few years I’ve become quite the fan of Tom House. Tom House, for those of you who’ve never heard of him, was a major league pitcher for eight seasons, who retired with a won-lost record of 29-23.
And then he became a pitching coach - a pretty good one.
At his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, Nolan Ryan had this to say about him…
While I was [with the Rangers] I was very fortunate to have a pitching coach by the name of Tom House. And Tom and I are of the same age and Tom is a coach that is always on the cutting edge. And I really enjoyed our association together and he would always come up with new training techniques that we would try and see how they would work in to my routine. And because of our friendship and Tom pushing me, I think I got in the best shape of my life during the years that I was with the Rangers.
He was the guy who taught the young cricket players how to throw a baseball, the basis of the movie.”Million Dollar Arm.”
He was in the bullpen when Hank Aaron hit his 715th home run, and he caught it on the fly.
In the belief that as “rotational athletes” pitchers and quarterbacks have so much in common, he expanded his work to include quarterbacks. Starting with Drew Brees (who was a neighbor), he has worked with Dak Prescott, Tom Brady and Jared Goff, among others.
I came across this fascinating interview of Tom House and I couldn’t stop watching it.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=tom+house+film#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:a2a1aa16,vid:9iuohCIAUFs,st:0
*********** Tell John Vermillion I'll get around to reading the rest of his books (which, so far, are GREAT, btw)
AFTER I finish
"Tactical Implications of the Adoption of
AUFTRAGSTAKTIK
for Command and Control on the AirLand Battlefield"
So far, I'm not much past the title, though.
John Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
*********** Coach: Thanks for the kind words. I AM on the way back to my previous state of normalcy.
I've never spent much time exploring downtown Philly, but sometime in the early 70s I agreed to visit Wanamaker's with someone who regarded it as one of the wonders of the modern world. This was during the Christmas holiday, and I can say neither Disney nor any similar theme park enchanted me as much as John Wanamaker's. It was a Hollywood production where commerce occurred. As an outsized toy train rumbled past, and surrounded by a special Christmas presentation, I felt I was in a movie. Macy's was a poor substitute, I have no doubt, but still, it's disheartening to discover that link with JW is now itself gone.
Army didn't put its best foot forward against Notre Dame, but a wise man on the Army message board at the time cautioned our fans to wait until the season wound down before passing final judgment on the Irish. As I recall, he believed they might have enough talent and coaching to run the table. I hope ND rolls OSU...I don't expect that outcome, but I can hope--reasonably, I think--that Notre Dame wins.
Speaking of Herb Kirkstreit, that sure looks like him on one of the games shown on your NFL Films photo.
Instant Portal, NIL, disregard of established rules: who might succeed at restoring order to CFB? Maybe Tommy Tuberville will accept the job as a side gig?
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
You, and many of your readers who know me, know how ecstatic I am that my most favorite college football team Notre Dame will play for the national championship. It’s a dream come true. Yet, I am a retired football coach and the coach in me is still alive and well.
After evaluating both the Georgia and Penn State games there is no way on God’s green earth the Irish will beat either Texas or Ohio State playing offense the way they have. No way. OC Denbrock does not give me the warm and fuzzies with his play-calling. Never has.
Frankly, the defense has continually bailed us out of a number of close games that should’ve never been close to begin with.
BUT…I always hold on to hope that things will improve, and the Irish win the “natty!”
Surprised me to see the MWC bring on Northern Illinois. I thought NDSU would be a more likely candidate.
I still think UNLV will be the next new member of the new PAC. Followed by UTSA.
Never could figure out where George Carlin was coming from as a kid. Do now!
Hook ‘em! (Will NEVER pull for Ohio State)
Enjoy your weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: At Salem, New Jersey High Lydell Mitchell was an All-South Jersey running back as a sophomore and - after being injured his junior year - as a senior.
At Penn State he shared the backfield with a fellow South Jersey native, Franco Harris, with whom he became lifelong friends. In his three years of eligibility (1969-1971) the Nittany Lions went 29-4, with wins in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl. (As a result of his MVP performance in the Lions’ win over Texas, he is in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.)
In his senior year he was a first-team All-America selection and finished fifth in the Heisman balloting, after breaking three NCAA single-season records: touchdowns (29), touchdowns rushing (26) and points scored (174).
He ran for 1,567 yards, a school season record that stood for more than 30 years, and his career rushing yardage record broke that of all-time Nittany Lion great Lenny Moore.
Drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Colts in 1972, he went on to play in the NFL for 10 seasons - seven with the Colts, two with the Chargers, and part of one with the Rams.
He was 5-11, 205 and tough. In 1974 he established an NFL record with 40 carries against the Jets. (The record would last for just two years until it was broken by - of all people - his former college running mate, Franco Harris, then with the Steelers.)
In 1975, under new coach Ted Marchibroda, the Colts made the playoffs, and Mitchell was a major factor. He became the first running back in Colt history to rush for 1,000 yards, gaining 1,193 yards on 289 carries.
It would be the first of three straight 1000-yard-plus seasons for him (14-game seasons, it should be noted) and he was named to the Pro Bowl all three years.
In 1977 he set a new team all-time rushing record, and play was stopped as the Baltimore fans stood and cheered him - and the man whose record he’d just broken - Hall of Famer Lenny Moore.
“I don't remember anything else about that game,” he said later, “except that, at that moment, Lenny came out on the field and presented me with the football and told me ‘You deserve this.’ That was big, man, when you break a legend's record - especially since we were both from Penn State.”
On the way to setting the new team record, he gained 1159 yards on 301 carries. But in addition, he led the NFL in pass receptions with 72. It was no fluke - it was the second time he had led the league in receptions.
Although he was coming off his best season, a contract dispute with Colts’ ownership (those damned Irsays wouldn’t give him a $100,000 raise) resulted in his holding out during the 1978 training camp, and his being traded to the Chargers.
He played two more years with the Chargers and part of one with the Rams and retired.
He and Franco Harris remained close friends (“We finished each others’ sentences”) until Harris’s death, and he partnered with Harris in a Pittsburgh bakery and in the rescue of Baltimore-based Parks Sausage Company, at the time one of the nation’s largest minority-owned companies.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
In his pro career, Lydell Mitchell played in 111 games and started in 84 of them. In all, he carried 1,675 times for 6,534 yards and 30 TDs. For a running back, he was an exceptionally good receiver, with 376 receptions for 3,203 yards and 17 TDs.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING LYDELL MITCHELL
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Joe Gutilla - Granbury, Texas
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
Tim Brown - Florence, Alabama
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
Ossie Osmundson - Woodland, Washington
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Rothwell, Corpus Christi, Texas -
David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky
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*********** QUIZ: No Bronco will ever again wear his Number 7. Actually, though, it’s not HIS number 7 that was retired. The number 7 that was retired happened to belong to his successor as Broncos’ QB - John Elway.
Nevertheless, this guy is honored and remembered by Denver fans as the first quarterback to take their Broncos to the Super Bowl.
He played his high school football in Campbell, California, where he was all-state in football, basketball and baseball.
At Cal, he played under head coach Marv Levy and a young offensive coach named Bill Walsh. He played on losing teams all three years he was eligible, but he held up his end: in one stretch between his junior and senior years, he threw at least one touchdown pass in 16 straight games. As a senior, he set Pac-8 records for pass attempts (308), pass completions (185) and passing yards (2,121), and was the recipient of the Pop Warner Trophy, given to the most valuable player on the Pacific Coast. Although the Bears went 3-7 that year, he made several All-America teams, and finished seventh in the Heisman voting, ahead of such future immortals as Joe Namath and Gale Sayers.
When he graduated he held just about every Cal passing record. (Actually, he had set most of them by the end of his junior season.)
He was the fifth player taken overall in the 1965 draft (by Dallas) and he would spend 10 seasons with Cowboys (1965-74). Those ten seasons could be broken into three phases:
Phase 1 - Backing up Don Meredith
Phase 2 - Starting - he led the Cowboys to the Super Bowl following the 1970 season (they lost to the Baltimore Colts).
Beginning the next year -
Phase 3 - The Quarterback Controversy, in competition with Roger Staubach. In one game against the Chicago Bears, Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry actually had his two quarterbacks alternating plays.
In 1974, having lost the QB competition with Staubach, he asked for a trade, and signed a contract with the World Football League Houston Texans to play for them in 1975 (after he would become a free agent). But shortly into the 1974 season, he was traded to the New York Giants. In return, the Giants sent the Cowboys their 1975 Number One draft choice (which Dallas would use to take Randy White).
His three years in New York were a nightmare. Actually, they were scarcely spent in New York at all. In 1974 the Giants played their home schedule in New Haven, Connecticut, in the Yale Bowl. They lost all seven home games and finished 2-12. In 1975, they played home games in Shea Stadium - home of the Jets - and went 5-9. In 1976, installed in all-new Giants Stadium in New Jersey, they started out losing their first nine games and finished 2-12. Head coach Bill Arnsparger was fired at the 0-7 mark.
In the off-season he was traded to Denver, and he would later recall his response on learning that he had been traded to Denver: “God, thank you very, very much.”
In 1977, with new coach Red Miller and their new quarterback, the Broncos went 12-2 and made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. He became the first quarterback to start in a Super Bowl for two different teams. (Since then, he would be joined by Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner and Tom Brady).
He was named AFC Offensive Player of the Year and also NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
In his first five years in Denver, the Broncos won 50 games, as he and wide receiver Haven Moses became known as the “M & M Connection.”
In his next-to-last season, at the age of 38, he had one of his best seasons statistically, throwing for 3,195 yards and 21 touchdowns. His 8.5 yards per attempt is still a team record. But he was sacked 54 times - a team record that lasted for another 41 years.
He played just three games in the strike-shortened season of 1982, then retired.
Following his playing career, he served as head coach of the Denver Gold of the original USFL.
He is in the Colorado Hall of Fame, the Broncos’ Ring of Honor, the Cal Sports Hall of Fame, the San Jose Sports Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2025 “Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.” General George S. Patton, Jr.
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Dave Nelson was a brilliant, innovative football coach. He was able to take features of arguably the two most effective offensive systems of roughly a century of football – the single wing and the T-formation – and create a hybrid, the Wing-T. With all the patience of an inventor, he tinkered and mixed different elements to improve the product. He took immense pride when the system produced successful teams.
“At times Dave could be somewhat distant or seem preoccupied. He knew how critical recruiting was to the success of any college program, but it wasn't his favorite part of the job. Like most former running backs, he was more interested in the offensive side of the game than defense.
“By contrast, I liked the recruiting experience, meeting athletes and their families and making the sale. I think I am a good salesman. And I loved defense, the total team aspect of that side of football. Perhaps that's why Dave and I were a good combination.
“He could be demanding. He was patient but he wouldn't settle for an inferior performance. If you blundered you could expect to hear about it. Although I know how much he appreciated what every person on his staff did for the program, he rarely handed out praise.
“Harold (Tubby) Raymond, who joined the Delaware staff in 1954, was one of our neighbors in the Brookside area of Newark, and we often carpooled to work. During those drives Tubby would ask me, ‘Mike, does Dave like me?’ Or ‘Does he like the job I'm doing?’
“I always had the same response. ‘Well, Tubby, has Dave ever told you that he doesn't like you or doesn't like what you're doing?' He said no, that wasn't the case. I said, ‘I have worked for Dave since 1947, and he has never told me that he liked me or liked what I was doing. He told me I had enthusiasm and not to ever lose that enthusiasm.’ But Dave Nelson is one of those people who, if you did a great job for him, he would seldom give you a compliment. You would know, however, if you screwed up.
“Obviously, he liked Tubby because when he retired from coaching Dave picked Tubby as his successor as head coach and Tubby lasted for 36 years.”
*********** PLAYOFF SNAPSHOTS
NOTRE DAME - PENN STATE
While everybody is still ganging up on Penn State QB Drew Allar - only two of his completions were to wide receivers (don’t the receivers bear some of the responsibility for that?) and he threw his last pass - an interception - blindly to the backside.
Post-game, during the award ceremony, ND head coach Marcus Freeman had to deal with this: “Coach, I know you’re all about team but I want to give a moment for everyone here to be able to celebrate you because you are the first black head coach to go to a national championship game in college football… How much does this mean to you?”
His answer (to his everlasting credit): “I don’t ever want to take attention away from the team…this ain’t about me. This is about us.” (He might have said, “I’m also the first Asian head coach (his mother is South Korean) to go to a national championship game in college football.”)
OHIO STATE-TEXAS
A tale of two calls, both in the fourth quarter.
1 Ohio State Fourth and three in Texas territory - score tied 14-14. Ohio State’s Chip Kelly calls QB Power and Will Howard goes for 15. Ohio State goes in to score.
2 Texas Second and goal on the one. Ohio State 21, Texas 14. After getting stuffed up the middle on first down (Who hands the ball to a back who’s lined up EIGHT YARDS DEEP?) Texas’ Steve Sarkisian calls for a toss play wide to the left. When the dust clears, its third-and-eight.
Asked about it afterward, Sarkisian said this: “But that's one of those plays, if you block it all right, you get in the end zone, and we didn't, and we lose quite a bit of yardage.”
Uh, Steve… you couldn’t possibly have blocked it “all right,” because they had you outnumbered by two men. Ohio State couldn’t have played it better if they’d called the play themselves.
Kirk Herbstreit (before second-guessing Sarkisian): “I”m not gonna second-guess any coach…”
*********** NFL WILD CARDS
Ravens - Steelers: Steelers had two first downs in the first half. One-two punch of Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry might be the NFL’s best. Jackson has made the Tom Brady-style stand-up quarterback obsolete.
Bills-Broncos: Broncos just aren’t ready yet. Damn shame the Bills and Ravens have to meet next week.
Eagles-Packers: Saquon Barkley made the biggest play of the day when he broke into the clear in the fourth quarter and chose to dive instead of scoring, much to the chagrin of all the dupes who’d bet on him to score a touchdown.
Texans - Chargers: I love Justin Herbert, but he did throw four interceptions (at least two of which were the fault of receivers who can’t catch). And since he can’t run, it’s kind of important for somebody else to do so, but come on, Harbaugh - 18 rushing attempts? For 50 yards? Have you already forgotten Michigan?
Commanders - Buccaneers - All that needs to be said: Jayden Daniels is a franchise-builder. He is one exciting football player.
*********** Former Georgia QB Carson Beck is said to be going to Miami (the University, not the Dolphins) for $4 million. While I find it hard to believe that there really are people willing to blow that kind of money on one year of a football player’s services without anything of value in return, it means (if it’s true), that Beck will make more money next year than a typical rookie quarterback in the NFL.
And that means that college football, in effect, is waging war on the NFL. And that’s going to cost the NFL money - at least temporarily. Big Football doesn’t like that. Good luck with this one, college guys. In my experience (having been collateral damage in a war between the NFL and a rival league) taking on Mister Big is not a winning proposition.
*********** Considering that Indiana’s only two losses came against the two teams now playing for the national title, maybe it’s time we all went back to where we were before the Playoff - giving the Hoosiers well-deserved credit for a great season.
*********** South Dakota State QB Mark Gronowski, who led the Jackrabbits to two straight FCS national titles, has announced he’s transferring to Iowa. I think it’s a great get for the Hawkeyes.
*********** Mike McCarthy appears to be officially out as head coach of the Cowboys. What’s the over/under on the days it will take him to land another NFL head coaching position?
*********** Just about this time a year ago, the Washington Huskies were licking their wounds after losing in the title game to Michigan. But what a run it had been for the Huskies!
They had perhaps the best set of receivers in the country, and a great passer in Michael Penix.
Their performance was so impressive that it undoubtedly was the major factor in getting their coach, Kalen DeBoer, the Alabama job when Nick Saban retired.
Another thing they had - unquestionably, one of the main reasons for the Huskies’ success - was their offensive coordinator, Ryan Grubb. But rather than accompany DeBoer to Tuscaloosa as many expected, he stayed in Seattle, hired by the Seahawks and their new head coach, Mike MacDonald.
Last week, after just one season, Ryan Grubb was out of work, fired by the Seahawks. It appears that his devotion to the passing game clashed with Macdonald’s background as a defensive coach who favors the running game.
Ryan Grubb is one bright dude and he’s available. Could he wind up at Alabama?
*********** I loved Riley Leonard when he was at Duke and I still like him a lot now that he’s peddled his talents to South Bend. But I struggle with the fact that while I deplored Auburn’s renting the services of a hired gun (Cam Newton) for one stinking year, here’s Notre Dame doing basically the same thing, just slightly sanitized by the sham of NIL and instant transfer.
(1) Have we seen the end of the days when top teams recruited and developed their own QBs?
(2) If the colleges are going to emulate the pros, shouldn’t a Wake Forest or a Duke that recruits and develops a QB, be compensated when someone poaches/signs one of their players.
*********** Unless you grew up in Philadelphia, it’s impossible for you to understand the sadness of the news that Macy’s is closing its downtown (in Philly, they say “Center City”) store.
Not that losing Macy’s is that big of a crusher. Macy’s is a New York store anyhow, and it’s not exactly what you’d call a top-of-the-line store.
It’s the fact that Macy’s occupied the building - right smack in the heart of Center City Philly, cater-cornered across from City Hall at 13th and Market - that was originally John Wanamaker and Company.
“Wanamaker’s” as everybody called it, was a true department store - a 12-story building occupying an entire downtown city block, with different departments on different floors, every floor (accessed by elevators, or course) an adventure to a little kid being dragged around by his mother.
At the heart of the store was a massive center court several stories high, and at the heart of the heart, right down on the main floor, was an enormous bronze statue of an eagle. (No relation to the football team - the Wanamaker’s eagle was there for years before there was even an NFL. It was originally used to represent Germany at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, and it was acquired after the fair closed by the merchant John Wanamaker.
So it’s been there on the main floor of Wanamaker’s since about 1905.
At a time when it was common for people to do their major shopping downtown, the Wanamaker’s eagle became the de factor city center - the place where people coming via train, trolley or bus from Philadelphia’s many neighborhoods and suburbs and far-flung area towns to center city would arrange to meet; everyone in the Philadelphia area knew the phrase “Meet you at the eagle.”
Wanamaker’s also became famous for its Christmas light show, which drew thousands - many of them presumably shoppers - to the center court every winter, and for its massive pipe organ, one of the largest in the world.
Like other once-wonderful big city department stores, Wanamaker’s was gobbled up by a large national chain - in this case, Macy’s - and in recent years it lost a lot of its luster. That, combined with online shopping, spelled death to Macy’s if it had any intentions of carrying on the Wanamaker’s tradition.
So Macy’s is gone. But the building remains. And so do the eagle, the pipe organ and the center court. They’re now national historic sites. But their futures are not assured.
To the extent that I’m one of those lazy modern-day shoppers who would just as soon sit on my ass and order things from Amazon, I guess I’m partly guilty for Macy’s financial ills. But still - screw them.
*********** Maybe you’re heard of the LSU wide receiver, Kyren Lacy, whose “allegedly” atrocious driving “allegedly” caused the death of another driver in an accident from which he “allegedly” fled, not to surface until he’d first declared for the NFL draft.
Needless to say, whatever the outcome of the case against him, an NFL that has room for a Tyreek Hill has room for Kyren Lacy.
But I did appreciate the take of one poster on Reddit:
Imagine, for a moment, you are a selfish, socially maladjusted, borderline uneducated star athlete who’s been paid millions of dollars to play a game and who is surrounded by enablers and sycophants pumping your ego 24/7. Can you see now how that person kills someone in a crash because they were too impatient to wait for traffic then flees the scene of their crime?
He is responsible for his actions, but his actions are unsurprising. He is the consequence of a society which has allowed him to be utterly selfish and completely inconsiderate of everyone around him, a society which has rewarded him for this and overlooked his glaring failures as a human because he can run fast and jump high. It’s the same reason why Deshaun Watson sexually assaulted all those masseuses, or why Chris Brown assaulted Rihana, or why any of these stars / celebrities / musicians / athletes end up destroying other people’s lives with so little remorse.
The silver lining is that prison will do a lot to reform all that selfishness which our society and the glorification of athletes enabled in the first place, because being inconsiderate of your neighbor in prison has some pretty stark consequences when the head football coach can’t step in to get you off.
************ About ten years ago, my son and I were given a tour of NFL Films Headquarters, in Mount Laurel, New Jersey. While most definitely a workplace that churns out great product, it also serves as a museum of football memorabilia, most of it collected by the late Steve Sabol. Its halls were lined with historic photos and posters and program covers (I suspect that the frames alone were worth seven figures). And the piece de resistance had to be an entire room dedicated to Sabol’s collection of football games.
If I’d only known at the time, I’d have been sure to check for this game:
The “Howard H. Jones Collegiate Football Game,” a 1930s board game developed by the USC coach, featured a mechanical device that launched a tiny ball for punts, kickoffs and field goals. Players spun arrows to determine the results of plays.
*********** FROM THE BABYLON BEE
LOS ANGELES, CA — Girl firefighter Melissa Sandros risked life and limb yesterday as she entered a burning building to tell a victim that he was too heavy for her to carry, but that the real firemen would be there in about fifteen minutes or so.
************ I’m no super patriot, but I bet I love our country as much as anyone I know.
Still, that doesn’t mean I have to love the things that “performers” invariably do to trash our national anthem before games. In fact, I find most versions so offensive that I’d rather not hear the anthem before games.
(I’d make an exception for college bands of at least 100 members.)
Interestingly, while here in the states I’ve even heard the national anthem sung before JV football games, I spent seven seasons coaching in Finland, and I heard their national anthem (a beautiful piece of music, by the way) just once - before an international contest. And lemme tell you - those people love their country every bit as much as we do.
*********** Overlooking the fact that it’s a pretty slimy thing to do to Marcus Freeman at a time when he’s sorta busy with other things, if there’s any truth to the rumor that the Bears might be interested in him, he would cement his legacy at Notre Dame if he could somehow manage to say something like, “Notre Dame is where I want to be and Notre Dame is where I hope to spend the rest of my career.”
*********** I love the dog food commercial where the guys straight out of the Sopranos are seated at a table and some underling says something disrespectful about the Big Guy’s little brown and white cocker spaniel. I’m not sure, but I think the guy is suggesting that the Boss might be spending too much money on food for just a dog.
Uh-oh. Cut to a shot from inside the trunk of a car as the lid closes and the fellas (all but one) walk away.
Cut to the next scene. As the little dog happily chows down on his meal, the Boss, not averse to a little witness tampering, says to the pooch, “Anybody asks… you were at Grandma’s.”
*********** Thank you for the last Zoom recording. I'll get to it today.
Amen to your opening words. I needn't comment on the SoCal fires, which your readers understand resulted in no small measure from mismanagement by elected officials. Nonetheless, there isn't enough money to care for many whose lives have been damaged. Determining how to allocate the funds that are available will require the wisdom of Solomon. Thanks Joe for dumping this on the lap of President Trump.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
(John Vermillion has been absent from these pages for a few weeks because of a health setback, but he’s on the mend and it’s great to see him back. Make him feel REALLY LOVED- read one of his books!
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B00JGC4FSG/about?ccs_id=28612e96-bc72-4e39-9dcd-8a789a4cb7ff
*********** Hugh,
BEFORE:
You, and many of your readers who know me, know how ecstatic I am that my most favorite college football team Notre Dame will play for the national championship. It’s a dream come true. Yet, I am a retired football coach and the coach in me is still alive and well.
After evaluating both the Georgia and Penn State games there is no way on God’s green earth the Irish will beat either Texas or Ohio State playing offense the way they have. No way. OC Denbrock does not give me the warm and fuzzies with his play-calling. Never has.
Frankly, the defense has continually bailed us out of a number of close games that should’ve never been close to begin with.
BUT…I always hold on to hope that things will improve, and the Irish win the “natty!”
Surprised me to see the MWC bring on Northern Illinois. I thought NDSU would be a more likely candidate.
I still think UNLV will be the next new member of the new PAC. Followed by UTSA.
Never could figure out where George Carlin was coming from as a kid. Do now!
Hook ‘em! (Will NEVER pull for Ohio State)
AFTER
Well…as John Madden said, “…you have to be able to run the football…” Maybe you should send that video to Sarkisian so he can go back to the future and recruit RB’s like Earl Campbell or Ricky Williams in order for Texas to be able to run the ball into the end zone from the one yard line!
January 20th will be HUUGE in more ways than one. Inauguration Day, and Notre Dame vs Ohio State for the national championship. WOW.
Buckeyes already a 9.5 point favorite, and Notre Dame licking their chops at being the underdog once again, and getting some payback for that heartbreaking loss two years ago. Should be a good old slobberknocker!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ: At Salem, New Jersey High he was an All-South Jersey running back as a sophomore and - after being injured his junior year - as a senior.
At Penn State he shared the backfield with a fellow South Jersey native, Franco Harris, with who he became lifelong friends. In his three years of eligibility (1969-1971) the Nittany Lions went 29-4, with wins in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl. (As a result of his MVP performance in the Lions’ win over Texas, he is in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.)
In his senior year he was a first-team All-America selection and finished fifth in the Heisman balloting, after breaking three NCAA single-season records: touchdowns (29), touchdowns rushing (26) and points scored (174).
He ran for 1,567 yards, a school season record that stood for more than 30 years, and his career rushing yardage record broke that of all-time Nittany Lion great Lenny Moore.
Drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Colts in 1972, he went on to play in the NFL for 10 seasons - seven with the Colts, two with the Chargers, and part of one with the Rams.
He was 5-11, 205 and tough. In 1974 he established an NFL record with 40 carries against the Jets. (The record would last for just two years until it was broken by - of all people - his former college running mate, Franco Harris, then with the Steelers.)
In 1975, under new coach Ted Marchibroda, the Colts made the playoffs, and our guy was a major factor. He became the first running back in Colt history to rush for 1,000 yards, gaining 1,193 yards on 289 carries.
It would be the first of three straight 1000-yard-plus seasons for him (14-game seasons, it should be noted) and he was named to the Pro Bowl all three years.
In 1977 he set a new team all-time rushing record, and play was stopped as the Baltimore fans stood and cheered him - and the man whose record he’d just broken - Hall of Famer Lenny Moore.
“I don't remember anything else about that game,” he said later, “except that, at that moment, Lenny came out on the field and presented me with the football and told me ‘You deserve this.’ That was big, man, when you break a legend's record - especially since we were both from Penn State.”
On the way to setting the new team record, he gained 1159 yards on 301 carries. But in addition, he led the NFL in pass receptions with 72. It was no fluke - it was the second time he had led the league in receptions.
Although he was coming off his best season, a contract dispute with Colts’ ownership (those damned Irsays wouldn’t give him a $100,000 raise) resulted in his holding out during the 1978 training camp, and his being traded to the Chargers.
He played two more years with the Chargers and part of one with the Rams and retired.
He and Franco Harris remained close friends (“We finished each others’ sentences”) until Harris’s death, and he partnered with Harris in a Pittsburgh bakery and in the rescue of Baltimore-based Parks Sausage Company, at the time one of the nation’s largest minority-owned companies.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
In his pro career, he played in 111 games and started in 84 of them. In all, he carried 1,675 times for 6,534 yards and 30 TDs. For a running back, he was an exceptionally good receiver, with 376 receptions for 3,203 yards and 17 TDs.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 2025 “No matter how good your plan is, at some point you need to stop and look at the results.” Winston Churchill
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “(Frank) Broyles, who became a lifetime friend as a coach and later athletic director, sounded frantic when he called Dave Nelson one spring day. He told Dave, ‘Look, my line coach, Dixie White, is ill. He has fluid on the lungs and can't coach at all in spring practice. Can I borrow Mike Lude for spring practice?’ Dave said it was OK with him, if it was OK with me and as long as I had a good handle on my recruiting responsibilities.
“So I said, ‘Fine. I'll be there before the week’s out.’ That may be the only lend-lease deal in college football history.
“I spent the next sixteen days in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and it was a great time. The center of that Arkansas team was Barry Switzer, who later coached Big Eight championship teams at Oklahoma. The coaching staff included Doug Dickey, later head coach at Florida and Tennessee and athletic director at Tennessee, as well as Jim McKenzie, who later coached at Oklahoma.
“One of the genuine characters on the Arkansas staff was Wilson Matthews, a former drill instructor who had come through the prep ranks in Little Rock, Arkansas. We all worked well past midnight every night, installing the new offense. One night we had worked late and the coaches were getting weary of the long hours. Matthews got up and paced around the table.
“Broyles spoke up. ‘Wilson, aren't you interested in what Mike is doing and what we’ll be doing tomorrow at practice?’ Matthews responded, ‘Yes sir, Coach, I am. I know how important this is; I really do. But, Coach, my wife is fixing to have love made to her tonight, and, if possible, I'd like to be there.’ After the laughs subsided, Broyles called it a night and sent us home.
“Wilson was a colorful guy who loved the game. When a defender came through with a fierce hit he called it a slobberknocker. I borrowed the phrase and used it at Delaware and Colorado State University when I became a head coach.”
*********** THE PLAYOFF? Who cares? Just give us some good games.
*********** FCS - Good game. I was impressed by the way North Dakota State took control. I like Montana State but I’m convinced the Bison are better.
I sure wouldn’t mind seeing the FCS schedule moved to the spring.
*********** I will always be a huddle guy. I don’t really give a sh— how many plays we run. My concern is that the ones we do run are run as well as we can possibly run them.
I’m also one of the old farts who remembers when football was a team game. And to me, nothing symbolizes the idea of “team” more than assembling before the play, then reassembling afterward. There’s not a whole lot said in the short time that a team huddles, but sometimes what IS - and sometimes what ISN’T - said in a huddle can be extremely profound. And only the guys in the huddle know what it is.
It’s something that coaches as wise as Ryan Day and Chip Kelly seem to be discovering.
Says Day, about the fact that Ohio State is huddling more…
"Getting in a huddle and having Will Howard look 10 guys in the eye, break the huddle, kind of grew as the season went on. It was a little bit of a part that we felt gave us a little bit of an edge. We broke the huddle together. It's almost like going back in time, but it's sort of a new thing, really.”
Yeah, really new. Bob Zuppke of Illinois is given credit for inventing the huddle, and he claims, in his book, “Coaching Football,” that he first ran it against South Dakota, in October, 1921.
Actually, as with anything in football, there’s “new,” and there’s “new to you.”
*********** JOHN CANZANO on the state of the “Pac-12”…
Readers keep asking me about a $100 million payday Oregon State and Washington State will collect from the Rose Bowl over the next two years.
Is it true?
Also, they want to know — what’s the latest with conference expansion?
It’s not “new” money, but the Rose Bowl payday part is true. Two $50 million payments (this year and next) are part of the settlement the two schools won in December 2023 from the 10 departing members of the conference.
That settlement protected the two schools against liabilities involving ongoing lawsuits and gave them $190 million in future conference revenue (Rose Bowl payments + NCAA Tournament units + other revenue).
The deal also provided a total of $65 million from the 10 departing schools. The 10 schools agreed to pay OSU and WSU $6.5 million each in installments due in 2024 and 2025. Why spread it over two years? Some of the departing schools took reduced media rights distributions to join their new conferences and were in dire financial positions.
Anyway — the total Pac-12 haul is $255 million.
It’s often referred to as a “war chest” but the two schools and their conference hate that term. (It’s not always helpful to have your finances out there when you’re trying to litigate or negotiate expansion deals.)
Teresa Gould, the Pac-12 commissioner, told me on the day she was promoted that $65 million in payments from the departing members was specifically earmarked for expansion.
One campus source joked with me this week that it’s not like the conference has $255 million sitting in a bank and Scrooge McDuck is in the vault swimming in the bills.
Still, the settlement provided OSU and WSU with a badly needed subsidy given that they didn’t have a media rights deal, and were left facing a massive hole in their athletic department budgets when the Pac-12 splintered.
Kirk Schulz, the president at WSU, explained to me last summer that the $255 million would be used for operational expenses at the Pac-12 offices, looming expansion, scheduling agreement costs, and to help replace the divot left by no media deal.
Said Schulz: “You can burn through it pretty quickly.”
Oregon State AD Scott Barnes sat down with me in his office last spring for a similar talk. He pointed to the hidden costs of doing business in college athletics and said: “We need that revenue to operate.”
What happens next?
A few thoughts:
• The new-world Pac-12 still needs at least one “all-sports” member to join before July 1, 2026, to reach the NCAA minimum. The conference can’t wait that long to make an addition because of transition time, but that’s the deadline.
• The Pac-12 remains immersed in selling its media rights. The new media partner will cast an important vote about which school gets added next, be sure.
• The Pac-12 kicked the tires on Tulane and Memphis last September. I’m told the conference never made a formal offer to the schools but tried to open discussions and presented some terms that were supposed to serve as a starting point. The American Athletic Conference members then surprised the Pac-12 by publicly announcing they were staying put. I’m not convinced the door is shut. Stay tuned, especially if the media partners value inventory in a new time zone.
• I’m not convinced the Pac-12 ideally wants to look eastward for members, however. The new-world conference has a tight geographic base right now and several of the athletic directors have described the mission of the future Pac-12 to be viewed as “the best in the West.”
• That thought always brings me back to UNLV. The Rebels signed a Memorandum of Understanding to remain in the Mountain West in September. There were significant financial promises made by the MW to UNLV. However, the terms of that deal and uncertainty after lawsuits between the Pac-12 and MW may leave some wiggle room.
*********** Northern Illinois will be joining the Mountain West in 2026
John Canzano’s take:
The expansion move raised eyebrows. It doesn’t add media value and increases travel costs for MW schools.
Said one industry source: “They’re becoming more geographically dispersed and not any stronger as a conference. I can’t understand how this benefits them.”
Adding Northern Illinois gives MW Commissioner Gloria Nevarez nine football schools and helps with scheduling. But the addition this week was greeted with some puzzling reactions. More than one told me they saw it as a defensive move, designed to give the MW a cushion should it lose another member.
As one media-world source told me this week: “I still think they have some exposure with UNLV going to the Pac-12.”
*********** When I’m not grieving over the death of the Pac-12, I can think offhand of two consolations…
1. It was a stiff price, true, but at least we got rid of Colorado.
2. It would have been a historically-bad bowl season, one that we’d never have heard the end of:
PAC 12’s bowl record: 1-6 (5 did not become bowl-eligible)
WINNER: USC
LOSERS: Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Washington State
NOT BOWL ELIGIBLE: Arizona, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA, Utah
(Geez, it used to be so cool the way the Pac-12 schools were paired geographically. It sure did make the basketball season easy to follow, as - for example - the two Washington schools would spend a weekend in Northern California playing Stanford and Cal, while at the same time the two Arizona schools would spend the weekend in Oregon playing Oregon and Oregon State and the two Rocky Mountain schools would be in Southern California playing UCLA and USC.)
Washington: UW, WSU
Oregon: UO, OSU
Northern Calif: Cal, Stanford
Southern Calif: UCLA, USC
Arizona: ASU, U of A
Rockies: Colorado, Utah
*********** For three straight years - 1935, 1936 and 1937 - three straight sell-out crowds in New York's Polo Grounds watched Pitt and Fordham, both nationally ranked, play three straight scoreless ties. (One New York sportswriter, in the days when most sportswriters at least knew who Shakespeare was, referred to the series as “Much Ado About Nothing to Nothing”).
In 1937 Pitt probably would have won had it not lost eight fumbles.
Five of the Panthers’ fumbles were by their great halfback Curley Stebbins, and after the game , when a writer dared to ask Pitt coach Jock Sutherland why he hadn't removed Stebbins after his fourth fumble, the coach, who could be a bit sarcastic, replied, “I'd no way of knowing that he was going to fumble a fifth time.”
*********** Got a text from my friend, Ralph Balducci. Ralph and I go way back, to 1980 when I was helping coach a local semi-pro team called the VanPort (Vancouver-Portland - get it?) Thunderbirds and he was an offensive lineman. I liked his style - we had a few bigmouths on the team and Ralph didn’t take any sh— off anybody.
Ralph really knows his football and I’ve always thought I’d love to have had him as an assistant, but he had to make a living. Still, he’s managed to keep his hand in coaching, both at the high school level and at the youth level.
His son, Alex, was a very good college football player - he started at nose guard for Oregon, with Arik Armstead on one side of him and DeForest Buckner on the other.
Anyhow, Ralph’s text read, “Alex’s girlfriend got me the book “War as They Knew It.” Alex told her how much I loved Woody Hayes so she bought the book.
Wow, thought I. “THAT girl,” I texted Ralph, “sounds like a keeper!”
*********** Joe Gutilla and I mentioned on Tuesday the recurring problem of officials’ excusing targetting, and I thought it might be time to mention another couple of areas in which football is becoming more and more lawless.
If you saw the Notre Dame- Georgia game, you might have wondered (as I did) how bad the hit on a punter has to be in order to get the officials to call roughing. As with targeting (“did he actually hit him with the crown???”) we’re now splitting hairs, trying to determine which one of the punter’s legs the guy has to fracture before it’s roughing - or running into - the kicker.
And then, there’s pass interference, which, like holding by offensive linemen, seems to occur on nearly every play and is commonly dismissed by announcers as “maybe a little contact.”
*********** WHEN THEY MAKE ME KING
PROBLEM: Blocking in the back is illegal, right? But it’s evidently okay to run into a standing pile and, in some cases, hit an opponent in the back. Allowing the pile to take on a life of its own encourages all sorts of hits in the back, not to mention pushing and pulling.
SOLUTION: Even if the pile is still moving, the play becomes dead the instant any player not originally in the pile joins it.
PROBLEM: Punching another player will get a player ejected from the game, right? Yet punching the ball is tolerated, even encouraged, because it can sometimes cause an opponent to fumble.
SOLUTION: Punching at any part of an opponent in any way, shape or form shall be illegal. (Sooner or later, if nothing is done, a misdirected punch, although probably thrown with the intention of hitting the ball, is going to cause a brawl.)
*********** While debating “rest versus rust” - whether the playoff’s bye hurts a team - I was reminded of something that happened several years ago at LSU.
My friend and former boss, Bob Brodhead, was the AD at LSU, and he’d hired Bill Arnsparger to be his head coach. The hire was criticized in some quarters because while Arnsparger had been a head coach in the NFL, it has been quite some time before he’d coached at the college level.
It was his first year at LSU, 1984, and the Tigers, playing Vanderbilt, led after three quarters, 34-6.
So he substituted - pulled his starters - and Vanderbilt, going against LSU’s backups, scored.
And then they stopped the Tigers and scored again.
So back into the game went the LSU starters.
But Vanderbilt stopped them and scored yet again - 21 straight points - to make the score 34-27.
The Tigers managed to hold on for the win, and Arnsparger admitted to Bob that he’d learned a lesson:
That if you pull pros out of a game and then put them back in, they can flip the switch and get right back into “play” mode.
Not so, as he found out that day, with college kids.
Just something to think about when your opponent has played a game while you’ve had the week off.
*********** Life in Reverse, By George Carlin
In my next life I want to live my life backwards.
You start out dead and get that out of the way.
Then you wake up in an old people’s home
feeling better every day.
You get kicked out for being too healthy,
go collect your pension,
and then when you start work,
you get a gold watch and a party on your first day.
You work 40 years
until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement.
You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous,
then you are ready for high school.
You then go to primary school,
you become a kid,
you play.
You have no responsibilities,
you become a baby until you are born.
And then you spend your last 9 months
floating in luxurious spa-like conditions
with central heating and room service on tap,
larger quarters every day and then Voila!
You finish off as an orgasm.
I rest my case.
*********** Hugh,
My fear a few years after 9/11 was that many Americans would get over their anger and eventually forget. There are still many of us who are angry, and will NEVER forget! Yet there are those who consider what happened on January 6th to be worse than 9/11. WTF??
Have seen a lot of good young players in the bowl games I’ve watched thanks to the selfish opts outs.
Two of the best QB’s in college football reside in Fargo, ND and Bozeman, MT. Either of them could play for most FBS schools.
Would relish an ND-Ohio State rematch from 2023 in this year’s national championship game. The “Luckeyes” stole a 17-14 win from ND which to today still sticks in the craws of every Irish fan.
QUIZ: Who won the Rose Bowl as the interim HC?
Enjoy the games! Go Irish!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: At Yale, Howard Jones never played in a losing game and he played on three national championship teams.
He coached at Syracuse, Yale, Ohio State, Yale (again), Iowa, Duke, and USC - six major colleges - and had winning records at all but Duke (a single season in which he went 4-5).
He won national titles at three different schools: Yale (1909), Iowa (1921), USC (1928, 1931, 1932, 1939( - six in all.
He won two Big Ten titles and seven Pacific Coast Conference (forerunner of the Pac-12) titles. And he won five Rose Bowls without losing any.
He is the coach who made USC a major power.
After playing at Yale, he coached Syracuse to a 6-3-1 record, then returned to Yale and coached them to a 10-0 season and yet another national championship in 1909. As a player or a coach, he had yet to lose at Yale.
After one year as Yale’s unpaid coach, he was hired by Ohio State, and stayed there just one season. It was a successful season: the Buckeyes went 6-1-3, and most important of all, a 3-3 tie that ended a nine-game losing streak to Michigan.
He left coaching for two years, but returned to Yale in 1913, and became the Eli’s first paid coach at $2,500 a year. This time he went 5-2-3, and then once again left coaching briefly.
In 1916 Iowa hired him away for $4,500 a year for five years, the most money they’d ever committed to pay a coach. Iowa had not won a Big Ten title in 15 years and In his first year he lost to Minnesota 67-0 and to Nebraska, 47-0. It took him six years, but in 1921 the Hawkeyes went unbeaten and won the Big Ten title outright. The biggest win was a 10-7 triumph over Notre Dame. His first of what would be many meetings against Knute Rockne, it ended a 20-game Notre Dame winning streak, the longest of Rockne's career.
In 1922. Iowa again went undefeated, the only time in Iowa history that the Hawkeyes have won back-to-back conference titles. The most notable win of the season came over Yale, coached by his brother, Tad. It was the first time a "western" team had defeated Yale in New Haven. From 1920-1923 Iowa ran up a 20-game win streak
After a falling-out with the higher-ups at the Iowa, he resigned and took the head coaching job at Trinity College, now known as Duke University.
He stayed there just one season with a 4-5 record, and then was hired to coach Southern California. It has been said that one of the factors in his getting the job was the recommendation of Rockne. (Notre Dame had just agreed to play a series of games with USC, and it was important to Rockne, who valued the West Coast trips, that USC be a strong opponent.)
In 16 years as the Trojans’ coach, he would win 121 games, losing 36 and tieing 13. Of all USC coaches, only John McKay has won more (127)
There was one spell, from 1934-1937 when the Trojans went 17-19-6, but he managed to right the ship and win his sixth national title in 1939.
One of his most famous Rose Bowl wins was in 1939, when a last-second minute play scored the first touchdown Duke had given up all season, beating Wade Wallace’s “Iron Dukes,” 7-3.
His final Rose Bowl win was in 1940. The following summer, he died of a heart attack. He was only 55.
His career college coaching record was 194-64-21.
Largely as a result of the USC-Notre Dame series, begun when he took over at USC, he came to be considered, along with Knute Rockne, one of the two top coaches of his era.
The two schools first met in 1926, a 13-12 Notre Dame win in front of 75,000 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that Rockne would call the greatest game he ever saw. The 1927 game, a 7-6 Irish win, was played in Chicago’s new Soldier Field, in front of an estimated 120,000 people.
USC finally won in 1928, the year they won their first national title, and over a five year span, the national championship would be won by either USC (1928, 1931, 1932) or Notre Dame (1929 and 1930).
The 1929 game, played at Soldier Field, drew 112,912.
Notre Dame won again in 1930, its 19th game in a row and with it, the national title. As it was traditionally the final game of the season, it would turn out to be Rockne’s last game.
The following season, 1931, following Rockne’s death in a plane crash in March, would be Notre Dame’s first since 1918 without Rockne on its sideline, and a USC field goal with a minute to play gave the Trojans a 16-14 win, a national title, and their first win ever in South Bend, ending the Irish 15-game wining streak.
In the locker room after the game, seeing a national sports figure on hand to present the national title trophy, Jones asked him if he knew where Rockne was buried. The man said yes, and then, putting aside the celebration of the win over Notre Dame and the national title, less than an hour later the entire USC team assembled at Knute Rockne’s graveside, where Coach Jones conducted a service honoring his fallen rival.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING HOWARD JONES
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Rothwell, Corpus Christi, Texas -
1. I share the same birthDAY with this amazing coach.
2. He coached John Wayne at USC!
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Joe Gutilla - Granbury, Texas
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky
Ossie Osmundson - Woodland, Washington
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT HOWARD JONES:
1. He was the immortal Duke Slater’s coach at Iowa; at USC he coached John Wayne and Ward (“Wagon Train”) Bond
2. He would carry poker chips in his pocket so that when the opportunity presented itself, he would place them on tables and use them to demonstrate plays.
3. After losing in his first season to Pop Warner’s Carlisle Indians, he enjoyed great success against Warner the rest of his career.
4. In 1923 he published a book titled, “How to Coach and Play Football” (beating Warner to the market by four years).
5. The 1931 USC-Notre Dame game was the first time an entire football game was filmed as a feature film, with a professional voice-over, and when it was shown at the biggest theatre in Los Angeles, it broke all the house records.
6. He was so fixated with football that frequently “he ignored traffic signals and other cars as he drove. He lost socks and keys, forgot appointments, left members of his family stranded, forgot his way home. When his wife asked a question, she was apt to have to wait an hour for the reply: ‘did you say something, dear? I was thinking of a play.’”
7. In back-to-back Rose Bowls, his USC Trojans beat teams that came into the game unbeaten and unscored-on: Duke in 1938, and Tennessee in 1939.
8. Key Howard Jones quote: “The worst mistake a coach can make is to get caught without material.”
*********** QUIZ: At Salem, New Jersey High he was an All-South Jersey running back as a sophomore and - after being injured his junior year - as a senior.
At Penn State he shared the backfield with a fellow South Jersey native, Franco Harris, and they became lifelong friends. In his three years of eligibility (1969-1971) the Nittany Lions went 29-4, with wins in the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl. (As a result of his MVP performance in the Lions’ win over Texas, he is in the Cotton Bowl Hall of Fame.)
In his senior year he was a first-team All-America selection and finished fifth in the Heisman balloting, after breaking three NCAA single-season records: touchdowns (29), touchdowns rushing (26) and points scored (174).
He ran for 1,567 yards, a school season record that stood for more than 30 years, and his career rushing yardage record broke that of all-time Nittany Lion great Lenny Moore.
Drafted in the second round by the Baltimore Colts in 1972, he went on to play in the NFL for 10 seasons - seven with the Colts, two with the Chargers, and part of one with the Rams.
He was 5-11, 205 and tough. In 1974 he established an NFL record with 40 carries against the Jets. (The record would last for just two years until it was broken by - of all people - his former college running mate, Franco Harris, then with the Steelers.)
In 1975, under new coach Ted Marchibroda, the Colts made the playoffs, and our guy was a major factor. He became the first running back in Colt history to rush for 1,000 yards, gaining 1,193 yards on 289 carries.
It would be the first of three straight 1000-yard-plus seasons for him (14-game seasons, it should be noted) and he was named to the Pro Bowl all three years.
In 1977 he set a new team all-time rushing record, and play was stopped as the Baltimore fans stood and cheered him - and the man whose record he’d just broken - Hall of Famer Lenny Moore.
“I don't remember anything else about that game,” he said later, “except that, at that moment, Lenny came out on the field and presented me with the football and told me ‘You deserve this.’ That was big, man, when you break a legend's record - especially since we were both from Penn State.”
On the way to setting the new team record, he gained 1159 yards on 301 carries. But in addition, he led the NFL in pass receptions with 72. It was no fluke - it was the second time he had led the league in receptions.
Although he was coming off his best season, a contract dispute with Colts’ ownership (those damned Irsays wouldn’t give him a $100,000 raise) resulted in his holding out during the 1978 training camp, and his being traded to the Chargers.
He played two more years with the Chargers and part of one with the Rams and retired.
He and Franco Harris remained close friends (“We finished each others’ sentences”) until Harris’s death, and he partnered with Harris in a Pittsburgh bakery and in the rescue of Baltimore-based Parks Sausage Company, at the time one of the nation’s largest minority-owned companies.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
In his pro career, he played in 111 games and started in 84 of them. In all, he carried 1,675 times for 6,534 yards and 30 TDs. For a running back, he was an exceptionally good receiver, with 376 receptions for 3,203 yards and 17 TDs.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2025 “Men more frequently require to be reminded than informed.” Samuel Johnson
WHERE IS THE RAGE? The terrorist attack on our country is a great national tragedy, possibly the greatest in my lifetime (and I was alive in 1941), and maybe even in our entire history. It is also possibly the greatest outrage in my lifetime. But I was home all day Tuesday, and what I seemed to see on TV as the news began to sink in was mostly expressions of grief and fear. But no anger. Yes, it's sad. Unbelievably sad. It's awful thinking of those innocent people whose lives were snuffed out, and of their families. And of the brave, dedicated rescue workers and firefighters who also perished. And, yes, there is some reason for all of us to be afraid. But where, I thought, is the anger - where is the rage? I don't think I saw a single person interviewed on TV who appeared angry - really angry. Where was the anger at the kind of scum who would fly planes full of innocent people into buildings full of innocent people? Where were the people, like the ones I talked to and the others I heard from, ones who sounded ready to suit up right now if that's what it takes to rid the world of those bastards? Have we turned into such a nation of eunuchs - such a bunch of sensitive Alan Aldas - that we'll wring our hands and hug and cry, and worry about what to tell the children, and try to figure out what could possibly make people so angry that they'd lash out at us like that? This was not the way Americans reacted to Pearl Harbor. Are we going to let our leaders get us involved in some do-nothing "coalition" with our gutless European pals, the ones who love to have us defend them in return for the right to criticize us? Are we going to sit passively and listen while the peace-at-any-costers tell us that violence on our part will just beget more violence? While politicians babble about bringing the perpetrators to "justice?" Bring them to justice, you say? You mean the way we brought the killers of the Marines in Lebanon, or the bombers of the USS Cole to justice? Justice, you say? American justice? The kind that allows a foreign court to deliver a slap on the wrist to the Lockerbie bombers? The kind that leaves no stone unturned in its search for an excuse for the most heinous of crimes, and turns proven killers loose on technicalities? The kind that does everything it can to deprive society of any chance to display its outrage? Isn't anybody else, finally, angry?
.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been more than 23 years since I wrote this (on September 12, 2001), but here we are again. I'm already sick of hearing all the talk about the “tragedy” of New Orleans, and of all the “brief moments of silence,” and I'm convinced that we’ve lost our capacity for anger - real anger.
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “As the offense became better known and more successful, I became one of the Wing-T offense’s busiest advocates. I had the opportunity to speak at football clinics around the country, spreading the word among coaches, especially in the East and the South. I put on a clinic at the national convention of the American Football Coaches Association in Philadelphia. We had players in pads to demonstrate what we were teaching. I lectured at clinics in New York, Maryland, Tennessee, Kentucky, New Jersey, Louisiana, and Ohio.
“I worked with Dietzel putting in the offense at LSU, spending hours with Carl Maddox, the LSU backfield coach, and Bill Peterson, the line coach. Peterson later became head coach at Florida State, and one of his assistants was Don James, later my head coach at Kent State and Washington. In Frank Broyles’ first year as head coach at Arkansas, I helped him install the Wing-T, long before he became athletic director.
“Peterson, who later was head coach of the Houston Oilers, called me when I was taking part in a clinic at Southern University in Baton Rouge. He wanted me to come to the LSU campus, in the same city, to help sort out the system’s principles of line play and blocking. My schedule was tight, so I suggested he attend sessions that already were planned. He explained that because LSU had just been integrated it would not be appropriate for him to go to Southern U, an all black school at the time.
“I spent a few days helping the LSU staff install the Wing-T offense, and that job grew into a full-season exercise. Each week the offensive coaching staff would call me to go over their game plan and the defense they would be facing. After the scrimmage on Tuesday, I'd get a call Wednesday to advise them about any needed changes. On Thursday they’d put the game plan to bed.
“Louisiana State went unbeaten that season and won the national championship. In his book, “The Wing-T and the Chinese Bandits,” Coach Paul Dietzel gave me credit in the foreword for the success of the LSU offense.”
(Mike enjoyed telling me about the clinic at Southern U. It was an all-day deal, in the dead of a Louisiana summer, and there was no air conditioning in the conference room. He and another coach - who was talking on another subject - took turns presenting, one lecturing for an hour while the other cooled off in the pool at their hotel.)
*********** THE PLAYOFF? MY PICKS…
NOTRE DAME OVER PENN STATE
OHIO STATE OVER TEXAS
*********** Still sticking in my craw is the fact that Silas Bolden, whose 75-yard punt return gave Texas a 14-3 lead over Arizona State, played three years at Oregon State - and not a mention was made of it on TV. Not only was he a Beaver, but so was his older brother, Victor.
*********** How can Georgia, a school that once churned out great running backs, be held to only 62 yards rushing?
*********** Bill Oram, columnist for The (Portland) Oregonian, said it well…
And let’s be clear: The Ducks were beaten by Ohio State, not by the CFP committee or the bracket.
But in this case two things are simultaneously true.
One, that Oregon was thoroughly outclassed in the Rose Bowl and, two, that the Ducks were not adequately rewarded for posting the nation’s only undefeated regular season and winning their conference championship.
Oregon’s regular season success already feels emptier because of what happened in Pasadena. But winning in the regular season has been completely devalued by a system that actually better rewards teams that suffer a loss or two than one that manages to run the table.
*********** JOHN CANZANO writes…
None of the final four (Penn State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Texas) would have even made the four-team playoff under the old format. We’re on new ground.
The national champion will either be: A) Ohio State, which lost to 7-5 Michigan; or B) Texas, which lost twice to Georgia; or C) A two-loss Penn State team; or D) Notre Dame, which lost to Northern Illinois. It’s starting to look more and more like the NFL, isn’t it?
*********** Maybe the bowls are dying, maybe not. Certainly not with me. I want to keep believing I’m watching guys who are still playing for their teammates and for the love of the game.
As long as I keep seeing kids - none of whom will ever sign an NFL contract - exuberantly celebrating bowl wins with their teammates and coaches, I’ll watch a bowl game over a playoff game anytime.
*********** Back before they were allowed to pay players… Did anybody consider asking the players if they wanted to (1) forego the fun of a bowl game experience and a chance to end the season with a win, or (2) still be practicing in earnest, weeks after the regular season was over, on the extremely outside chance of winning a national championship.
*********** I read this morning that Tyreek Hill is unhappy with his role as a Miami Dolphin, and wants out. I despise the guy, but for some reason, I read on. Big mistake.
As I read on in the article (in ESPN.com) I came upon this: “Hill and the Dolphins restructured his contract before the season began, bringing the total guaranteed money on his five year contract to $106.5 million.” I almost lost it.
Our cities’ streets have potholes and our bridges are collapsing. Few municipal police forces are fully staffed. Budget problems cause inner-city swimming pools to stay closed.
Hell - in Aberdeen, Washington, where I coach, it rains a lot in the winter months, so it sure would be cool to have an indoor practice facility.
But we don’t have the money for those extravagances. Not when we have necessities like paying a Tyreek Hill what used to be enough money to build a f—king stadium.
Just a thought... If the Dolphins really think that guy is worth that kind of money, how much ransom do you suppose they'd pay? Hmmm.
*********** The capacity of our football players to absorb the shock and pain of violent physical contact without wincing, and to rally strongly and courageously in the face of misfortune and adversity is familiar to all who know the game. The football player accepts blows from Fate and his adversary as part and parcel of the game and stays in there swinging. He combines fortitude and strength with bodily skill and agility, and these facts with split-second thinking and reactions. These are the same qualities that make our fighting men the toughest and best in the world.
Admiral Jonas Ingram, 1943
From The Melbourne (Australia) Age - by Australian Phil Dye, author of "The Father Lode; a New Look at Becoming and Being a Dad." He speculates that in the process of filling our kids' heads with all that "you are special" stuff, we have failed to teach them one very important skill: the ability to lose. Yeah, yeah, I know - "show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser," and all that crap. But 20 years ago, did we have the expression "going postal?" Did fired workers return and shoot up the workplace?
Here is what author Dye has to say: "children have entered a period of being constant winners. Every child is a winner at just about everything, or at least worthy of immense praise for just taking part." (Trophies for everybody?) And as a result, losing - or falling short - comes as a total shock. Mr. Dye mentions his days as a teacher, when everything on a report card had to be positive, and every teacher was given a list of phrases - all positive, some more positive than others - to soften the impact of what the teacher really wanted to say. "Will achieve her best with a little more effort," was one example, when what probably would have served the child a whole lot better was a frank statement that she was goofing off.
We have to stop trying to manipulate outcomes so that no one is a loser, and prepare kids to deal with the fact that some of us are just plain better - or worse - than others at certain things, and all the efforts of parents and teachers and coaches can't change that fact. I personally think that we have created a lot of problems in our kids with our "you can be anything you want to be" motivational mumbo-jumbo. It's just not so.
"It is the reality of life," Mr. Dye says, "that while we may all be equal, we are all very different. We can't be good at all things. While we may be able to fool ourselves some of the time, when the crunch comes, it will hit us very hard indeed." (So why, as educators, are we wasting so much time fooling kids by telling them how wonderful they are just exactly as they are - no changes necessary - instead of helping them to deal with reality, and improve or adapt? It's a major reason, I believe, why kids roll their eyes when a teacher asks them to redo a paper, or bristle when a coach corrects them; it's why they quit the team - or call in Mom and Dad - when they’re asked to play another position, or told that the coach thinks somebody else at their position is better.)
Mr. Dye mentions other ways in which learning to lose is important, as well. For example, if kids never experience loss - "if all we have for comparison is the ecstasy of previous wins" - they'll never be satisfied. Instead, they'll continually search for greater thrills than merely winning can provide. If today's children don't know how to lose, Mr. Dye says, it may be because today's parents are so busy "putting children first" - trying to be their kids' friends - that they have abdicated their roles as leaders.
Parents, he says, have got to return to risking being unpopular with their children, and learning to say one magic word - NO. "The 'no' word is being lost from a parent's vocabulary," he says, and what we have produced is what he calls the "yes" generation - kids who can't tolerate deprivation or loss. We must begin to teach kids to deal with losing - with reality - and that's going to require parents (and educators, too) with the strength and courage (call it "stones") to "present the raw truth or use the “NO” word a little more often.”
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5824316
*********** My son, Ed,who lives in Melbourne, Australia, informs me that three of the final four Playoff teams have punters from Melbourne - all trained by now-famous ProKick.
Kudos to Texas for hiring a red-blooded American to do a real American job. JUST KIDDING!!! JUST KIDDING!!!
Ohio State’s punter, Joe McGuire, is the son of Eddie McGuire, who may very well be the best known person in all of Australia. He has been active in sports, serving as president of Collingwood Football Club (an Australian Rules power) and in politics, and he has been on every sort of TV show imaginable, leading to his being called, in typical Aussie good humor, “Eddie Everywhere.”
*********** Peggy Noonan, writing in the Wall Street Journal, said that a successful artist told her how he handles invitations and requests for his time. He puts a post-it on his phone: “Do I have to? Do I want to?”
In other words -
(1) Is it a matter of personal or professional obligation ?
(2) Will the event be a source of joy or pleasure?
If either is “yes,” then yes.
If neither is “yes,” then no.
*********** Washington hired a new defensive coordinator: Ryan Walters, recently fired by Purdue after only two years as its head coach.
Walters replaces Steve Belichick, who left to take the same job under his father , at North Carolina.
According to the USA Today network, the two-year deal calls for a salary of $1.4 million in 2025 and $1.5 million in 2026.
Purdue has to pay Walters about $9.5 million to cover the remaining three years on his contract, and since his contract did not include an “offset” provision, his Washington salary will not decrease the amount that Purdue owes.
*********** Writes contributor Joe Gutilla, “I’m convinced there is no such thing as “targeting” in football after seeing that no call in the ASU-Texas game. If THAT hit wasn’t the very type of contact being prohibited it just doesn’t exist.”
The exoneration of the Texas player accused of targeting an opponent from Arizona State - hitting him in the head with his helmet - has caused a number of people to wonder, like me, it college football is really that interested in stamping out this menace to our game.
College football’s pathetic, half-ass “war on targeting” is a mirror image of the soft-on-crime policies of our big cities, where cops make the arrests, but DA’s simply refuse to punish the criminals.
It’s seems to me that we’re more concerned that the “accused” gets “due process” than we are about eliminating this serious threat to football.
The instant that a player is accused of targeting, a team of Philadelphia lawyers arrives to determine whether the victim of the hit really was “defenseless,” or whether the blow was struck by the “crown” of the helmet - a circular area said to be approximately 15 centimeters in diameter - or whether the perpetrator was the product of a dysfunctional upbringing. (Okay, I made some of that up, but that’s how lawyerly it sometimes sounds.)
If found guilty of targeting, the perp is “ejected.” But only technically. Actually, the “hasn’t he already suffered enough?” do-gooders have arranged for him to be allowed to remain on the sideline. Instead of being sent off the field in shame, he remains with his team, where he can be consoled (even lauded) by his teammates.
Put yourself in the place of a mother who might have been watching that Texas-Arizona State playoff game and saw that hit - consider for a moment if you’d want your young son playing a game in which they take such a casual approach to such dangerous play.
If they’re really serious, they’ll have a team of three high school coaches on hand to rule whether what appears to be targeting really is targeting. I’d venture to say that in roughly 90 per cent of all cases they’ll rule for ejection.
If it's even close, the guy is gone. “Any doubt? Throw him out.”
Two players ejected in any game would cause ejection of the head coach, with a fine to accompany it. Plus - this is what they’d really hate - no return from suspension without their submitting a detailed Plan for Improvement. (Coaches hate that sh—.)
Only then, facing a much stronger possibility of ejection for hitting with the helmet, will coaches begin to take seriously their responsibility to eliminate this obnoxious tactic.
*********** I was talking over the weekend with an old high school classmate and teammate, Hap Gwynn. Hap still lives in Philly, and naturally we got to talking about the Iggles. He said his son might be the only guy in the whole area who’s not excited about the Birds being in the playoffs. That’s because he’s a Philly cop, and he knows that for any Eagles games being played in Philly, he’ll be on duty - not the most desirable assignment when you consider how much of the crowd’s fanaticism will be alcohol-fueled.
*********** If it seems that this years NFL race to the bottom wasn’t as spirited as most years, it’s because there’s no Caleb Williams in this year’s quarterback group. First quarterback taken is a tossup between Cam (“I only play the first half”) Ward, Shedeur (”Watch me turn a third-and-three into a fourth-and-23”) Sanders, and Jalen (“You should have seen me a a freshman!”) Milroe.
*********** “Mike Buddie (Army AD who recently left to take the job at TCU) has been an extraordinary teammate, truly committed to the ideals of Duty, Honor, Country," said Lt. Gen. Steven W. Gilland, the West Point Superintendent.
"He has made a lasting impact on Army Athletics, including the Michie Stadium Preservation Project, Army Football's move to the American Athletic Conference, and numerous conference championships and postseason appearances.
“Yet, his true legacy over the past five and a half years is the thousands of cadet-athletes who developed into leaders of character for our Nation.”
Are you serious, General Gilland? An AD did that?
Really?
Then why are we taxpayers spending all that money at West Point on coaches, faculty and staff members?
*********** Hugh,
I’m convinced there is no such thing as “targeting” in football after seeing that no call in the ASU-Texas game. If THAT hit wasn’t the very type of contact being prohibited it just doesn’t exist.
As much as I hate to admit it “THE” Ohio State football team is playing the best football of the four semifinalists. Your description of the Texas Longhorns is spot on.
ND will have to play its absolute best to beat a very good Penn State team. The Irish will have to overcome the loss of a few key players due to injury to stay close. But, we may have an edge with our HC Marcus Freeman.
Remember this name: KOI PERICH. He is the true freshman FS for Minnesota. This kid is special. Can play any position on the field so don’t be surprised to see him play on both sides of the ball, and special teams, next year for the Golden Gophers.
Off topic. George Soros receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom?? WT-?
Only 15 more days. Can’t get here soon enough!!
Have a great week.
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
I noticed Koi Perich in the Minnesota-Virginia Tech game. Really good-looking kid!
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING OUR QUIZ SUBJECT SO FAR (ANSWER ON FRIDAY)
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Rothwell, Corpus Christi, Texas
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Joe Gutilla - Granbury, Texas
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
David Crumo - Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: At Yale, he never played in a losing game and he played on three national championship teams.
He coached at Syracuse, Yale, Ohio State, Yale (again), Iowa, Duke, and USC - six major colleges - and had winning records at all but Duke (a single season in which he went 4-5).
He won national titles at three different schools: Yale (1909), Iowa (1921), USC (1928, 1931, 1932, 1939( - six in all.
He won two Big Ten titles and seven Pacific Coast Conference (forerunner of the Pac-12) titles. And he won five Rose Bowls without losing any.
He is the coach who made USC a major power.
After playing at Yale, he coached Syracuse to a 6-3-1 record, then returned to Yale and coached them to a 10-0 season and yet another national championship in 1909. As a player or a coach, he had yet to lose at Yale.
After one year as Yale’s unpaid coach, he was hired by Ohio State, and stayed there just one season. It was a successful season: the Buckeyes went 6-1-3, and most important of all, a 3-3 tie that ended a nine-game losing streak to Michigan.
He left coaching for two years, but returned to Yale in 1913, and became the Eli’s first paid coach at $2,500 a year. This time he we nt 5-2-3, and then once again left coaching briefly.
In 1916 Iowa hired him away for $4,500 a year for five years, the most money they’d ever committed to pay a coach. Iowa had not won a Big Ten title in 15 years and In his first year he lost to Minnesota 67-0 and to Nebraska, 47-0. It took him six years, but in 1921 the Hawkeyes went unbeaten and won the Big Ten title outright. The biggest win was a 10-7 triumph over Notre Dame. His first of what would be many meetings against Knute Rockne, it ended a 20-game Notre Dame winning streak, the longest of Rockne's career.
In 1922. Iowa again went undefeated, the only time in Iowa history that the Hawkeyes have won back-to-back conference titles. The most notable win of the season came over Yale, coached by his brother, Tad. It was the first time a "western" team had defeated Yale in New Haven. From 1920-1923 Iowa ran up a 20-game win streak
After a falling-out with the higher-ups at the Iowa, he resigned and took the head coaching job at Trinity College, now known as Duke University.
He stayed there just one season with a 4-5 record, and then was hired to coach Southern California. It has been said that one of the factors in his getting the job was the recommendation of Rockne. (Notre Dame had just agreed to play a series of games with USC, and it was important to Rockne, who valued the West Coast trips, that USC be a strong opponent.)
In 16 years as the Trojans’ coach, he would win 121 games, losing 36 and tieing 13. Of all USC coaches, only John McKay has won more (127)
There was one spell, from 1934-1937 when the Trojans went 17-19-6, but he managed to right the ship and win his sixth national title in 1939.
One of his most famous Rose Bowl wins was in 1939, when a last-second minute play scored the first touchdown Duke had given up all season, beating Wade Wallace’s “Iron Dukes,” 7-3.
His final Rose Bowl win was in 1940. The following summer, he died of a heart attack. He was only 55.
His career college coaching record was 194-64-21.
Largely as a result of the USC-Notre Dame series, begun when he took over at USC, he came to be considered, along with Knute Rockne, one of the two top coaches of his era.
The two schools first met in 1926, a 13-12 Notre Dame win in front of 75,000 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that Rockne would call the greatest game he ever saw. The 1927 game, a 7-6 Irish win, was played in Chicago’s new Soldier Field, in front of an estimated 120,000 people.
USC finally won in 1928, the year they won their first national title, and over a five year span, the national championship would be won by either USC (1928, 1931, 1932) or Notre Dame (1929 and 1930).
The 1929 game, played at Soldier Field, drew 112,912.
Notre Dame won again in 1930, its 19th game in a row and with it, the national title. As it was traditionally the final game of the season, it would turn out to be Rockne’s last game.
The following season, 1931, following Rockne’s death in a plane crash in March, would be Notre Dame’s first since 1918 without Rockne on its sideline, and a USC field goal with a minute to play gave the Trojans a 16-14 win, a national title, and their first win ever in South Bend, ending the Irish 15-game wining streak.
In the locker room after the game, seeing a national sports figure on hand to present the national title trophy, our guy asked him if he knew where Rockne was buried. The man said yes, and then, putting aside the celebration of the win over Notre Dame and the national title, less than an hour later the entire USC team assembled at Knute Rockne’s graveside, where their coach conducted a service honoring his fallen rival.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 2025 “War is such a dangerous business that the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst.” Carl von Clausewitz
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Forrest Evashevski, the Iowa coaching guru, wanted the Wing-T. Paul Dietzel of Louisiana State University couldn't wait to learn all of its intricacies. Ditto for Frank Broyles at Arkansas and Eddie Robinson at Grambling.
“As the offensive system known as the Wing-T became a national phenomenon, my job as an assistant coach at the University of Delaware took me far beyond the campus in Newark, situated in northern Delaware near I-95, between Philadelphia and Baltimore.
“Dave Nelson, my head coach, had created the Winged-T in 1950 at the University of Maine. The name was simplified to Wing-T as it became the offense of choice for many football teams across America. I taught the blocking schemes to our offensive linemen that first season and helped Dave perfect the system in future years after we moved to Delaware.
“Evashevski played a major role in the wide recognition and acceptance of the wing–T. One of the first coaches at a major school to employ the system, he gave it a huge boost by winning a national championship. Dave went to Iowa City and worked closely with his former University of Michigan teammate to teach the coaching staff and the Iowa players every detail of the offensive formation.
“With Evashevski as co-author, Nelson produced a highly successful book, ‘Scoring Power with the Winged T Offense, which became a bible for coaches at all levels who were switching to the new system. The book contained detailed diagrams and photographs to explain how the formation worked. I appreciate Coach Nelson's crediting me, along with his other assistant, Harold Westerman, as one who ‘helped originate the system.’”
*********** THE PLAYOFF?
PENN STATE VS BOISE STATE - Boise State may have had the best runner, but Penn State had the best - and most - talent. Boise would have had a chance if the Broncos had played error-free football - and tackled better - and the layoff may have had something to do with their rather sloppy play. Boise State didn’t make enough mistakes as it was, but in this game they put one of the worst exhibitions of tackling I’ve seen all year. Still, Penn State was clearly the better team.
NOTRE DAME VS GEORGIA - Hate to say it, UGA, but maybe there’s still time to cancel that statue of Saint Kirby, because he sure did get outcoached by Marcus Freeman. That team, as it turns out, was very fragile, built on the talent of one man - a quarterback - who unfortunately was lost to a season-ending injury. Did Saint Kirby - given time to adjust to his backup quarterback’s abilities - do anything different? Maybe try to put together a running game I-formation and all that? Nah - let’s just stick the kid in there and expect him to do things he just can’t do. Sure does expose a coach that’s used to beating people with talent - when the talent runs out.
TEXAS VS ARIZONA STATE - The Sun Devils wound up controlling the game, and if they’d gotten off to a better start - there’s that layoff factor - they might have wound up hammering Texas. I am amazed at how a team with Texas’ talent underperforms.
OHIO STATE VS OREGON - It’s hard to beat a good team a second time, especially one as talented as Ohio State. And, as it’s beginning to appear, the first-round bye is NOT an advantage. I’m happy for the Ohio State staff and I think they’re the best team in the Playoff - by far. More on Oregon’s Dan Lanning, the James Franklin of the West, down below.
*********** So much for automatic qualifiers and first-round byes. There’s not a single conference champion left in the Playoff.
*********** Not to say that the Playoff games have pretty much sucked as entertaining football, but if you like a back-and-forth game…
In all eight playoff games, there have been just four lead changes.
Three involved Texas. In the Texas-Clemson first-round game, the Tigers took an early 7-0 lead, but it only lasted for 12 minutes until Texas took a lead it never lost.
In Texas’ game against Arizona State the lead never changed during regulation. ASU actually took the lead for the first time in the top half of the first overtime period, but Texas tied it up in the bottom half and then regained the lead for good in the top half of second overtime.
In the Georgia-Notre Dame game, the Bulldogs went out in front, 3-0, early in the game, but Notre Dame had the lead before the first period was over and then never gave it up.
Eight games - and only three of them saw even one lead change. Be still, my beating heart.
*********** Did I say excitement? With the point spread on the Georgia-Notre Dame game flipping almost overnight to making Notre Dame a one-point favorite, every single Playoff game has been won by the favorite. Not only that, but the favorite has covered in seven of the eight games - all except Texas, favored by 13.5 over Arizona State.
*********** 1:27 left in the Gator Bowl game and Jaxon Dart has just thrown his fourth touchdown pass. That’s 52 points for Ole Miss. Dart had played the entire game. When they got the ball one more time, a new QB came in - and on the last play of the game, he threw long. Kiffin, you prick, I was actually starting to like you. But after this dishonoring of your bowl game opponent, the only way I’d ever want to see your sorry ass in the playoff would be if there were some way we could match you up with Ohio State and get you a good ass whipping. (Question: Does this guy have a single friend?)
*********** Let the rumors begin: Oregon’s Dan Lanning is headed for the NFL. For the Bears. Or the Cowboys. Who knows? The fact that there might be some truth to the rumors might help explain why Lanning’s team got so badly mishandled by Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.
Wouldn’t surprise me to learn the rumors were started by fans of a certain nearby school that knows what it’s like to be victimized by a coach who put pursuit of another job ahead of preparing his team for a big game. Call them Beavers.
They’re Oregon Staters, and this time last year they were rocked by the departure of their coach, Jonathan Smith - an OSU alumnus, for God’s sake! - to Michigan State. While his responsibility to Oregon State was to have them ready for their big game with Oregon, he was closing on his deal with the Spartans. The Beavers got killed by the Ducks, and It’s been tough sledding for them ever since. Meantime, while Oregon State struggled, less than an hour away the Oregon Ducks spent most of the past season ranked number one, a fact their fans have enjoyed pointing out to Beavers’ fans.
So if anybody knows what it’s like to be jilted, it’s the fans of Oregon State. And if their rivals get stiffed by a guy whose whole career has been spent in pursuit of the main chance, I for one will certainly forgive them for their schadenfreude.
I’m no fan of the guy anyhow, so AMF. Go follow in the distinguished footsteps of Willie Taggart and Mario Cristobal, two ex-Duck coaches who thought they were leaving for something better.
*********** Can we have a do-over on the Heisman? Travis Hunter may be very, very good at two positions and all that, but it’s not often that you’ll see a player other than a quarterback affect a big game the way Cam Skattebo did. Maybe if his coach had been willing to neglect his coaching duties in order to lobby for him with the Heisman voters…
*********** HEY HERBIE - After watching Alabama and South Carolina in their bowl games… I realize that you’re owned by ESPN, just like the SEC is, but do you still think they belonged in the playoff ahead of, say, Indiana? I mean, Indiana lost to Notre Dame by fewer points than your conference champion.
*********** Still not entirely sure what the Bielema-Beamer kerfuffle was all about, and I don’t much care, but it sure was a bad look for a guy who’s expected to be a model of conduct for young men to totally lose it over what seemed like a lack or respect. Doesn’t it concern him that one of his players might lose it like that? Isn’t that phony “he disrespected me” macho crap the very thing that gets young men killed?
*********** Former Princeton wide receiver Tiger Bech, an All-Ivy League performer, was identified as one of the victims of the mass truck attack in New Orleans. Bech is the older brother of Jack Bech, a standout wide receiver at TCU in 2024. Tiger was taken to a New Orleans hospital with critical injuries from the attack before dying on Wednesday, according to Kim Broussard, the athletic director at St. Thomas More Catholic High School. Bech was 28. Tiger Bech played high school football at St. Thomas More Catholic High School in Lafayette, Louisiana before earning a scholarship to the Ivy League's Princeton. He twice earned All-Ivy League honors as a return specialist and caught 53 passes for 825 yards and three touchdowns in his career. After graduating from Princeton in 2021, he worked as a trader at Seaport Global, a New York brokerage firm.
Yes, Brian Flinn, Princeton’s passing game coordinator and a guest-presenter on my Zooms, coached him.
*********** West Point (aka Army) AD Mike Buddie has taken the AD job at TCU, effective immediately.
He did two things in his tenure at Army for which he’ll be remembered - for better or worse:
(1) He pushed through the Michie Stadium “Preservation Project,” essentially forcing Army to play in a sub-capacity stadium while a new grandstand is added, consisting mostly of luxury boxes.
(2) He took Army, long an independent, into the American Athletic Conference, making his scheduling job easier but locking the US Military Academy into games against teams of no interest to Army fans, and creating the real possibility of two Army-Navy games in the same season.
The jury is still out on both of them.
Also, I still harbor a suspicion that Jeff Monken’s failed “updated offense” experiment in 2023 might at least partly have been “suggested” by Buddie, to overcome AAC coaches’ objections to adding a triple option team.
This is a very important hire.
Navy’s concluding a 10-win season with a bowl win over a Power-4 opponent, and Air Force’s strong finish (four straight wins) both show that it’s important for Army to keep the foot on the gas.
(For all the grief that he took after firing Ken Niumatololo, it would seem that Chet Gladchuk knew what he was doing at Navy.)
Scary thought: the Biden administration still has a couple of weeks left to get a transgender AD into place at West Point.
*********** If anybody ever asks what was the most-attended single sports event in 2024 - maybe of all time - wait until everybody else has guessed “Super Bowl,” or “Indianapolis 500,” or “Kentucky Derby,” or whatever.
Then inform them it was a cricket match.
A “test match,” as they call it. That means an international match. In this case, it was between Australia and India.
A few weeks ago, it drew 373,691 fans to the Melbourne Cricket Ground, more commonly known as the MCG or, to Aussies, “The G.”
The G holds 100,000 people, which is a lot, but not enough to accommodate a crowd of 373,691.
The tricky answer to this tricky question is that while a test match is one sporting event, it may take place over three, and sometimes as many as five, days.
This one took place over five days in The G, and drew daily crowds of
87,242
85,147
83,073
43,867
74,362
Those numbers amount to 373,691 separate admissions.
Matches began every day at 10:30 AM and went to about 6 PM, with a few breaks along the way.
Normally, my son (who lives in Melbourne) tells me, the first two or three days draw the biggest crowds, and then attendance will drop off some, but in this case, the combination of a really competitive match, the fact that India was playing (Indians are huge cricket fans), and the pleasant - it being the southern hemisphere- summer weather combined to break the all-time MCG record.
For those eager to find out how this one came out, here’s a brief write-up from an Indian paper:
Nitish, Washington register second highest 8th-wicket partnership for India in Australia. Nitish and Washington got together at 221 for seven when Nathan Lyon pinned Ravindra Jadeja in front with the side still in a deficit of 253 runs.
(Got that?)
*********** Hugh,
Coach Wyatt! Pulling for Notre Dame?? As Redd Foxx’s character on his TV show used to say when he was shocked hearing something he never thought he would hear as he held his hands to his chest, I’m saying, “Elizabeth…Elizabeth, this is it…this is the big one!”
Navy was impressive in their final two games. Great way to end a great season.
Thought I saw Army run some counter plays against LA Tech. Where were those plays against Navy??
Vandy coach Clark Lea must be ecstatic knowing he’ll have his QB Diego Pavia back for 3 more years.
New Fresno State coach Matt Entz will most likely be looking for another FG kicker. His NDSU kickers were always reliable.
Enjoyed watching Iowa State take Miami down, and BYU thrash Colorado. Like you I missed a bunch of “other” bowl games this year.
Give me Texas facing Oregon, and Penn State taking on Notre Dame in the semis.
If that Ohio State team that handled Tennessee shows up Oregon could be in trouble. But I just can’t bring myself to pull for the Buckeyes…EVER! Go Ducks!
I don’t think Skattebo will be enough for ASU to overcome Texas, and Jeanty not enough for Boise State to take down a really strong Penn State defensive front.
Most pundits aren’t giving ND any love over Georgia. Not so fast my friend!! The Irish will win a close one.
QUIZ: Army, Navy, Air Force, Clemson
Happy New Year, and enjoy the games!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
THIS PAST SEASON THERE WERE JUST FOUR FBS TEAMS THAT DID NOT USE THE TRANSFER PORTAL AT ALL, AND THREE OF THEM WON TEN OR MORE GAMES.
WHAT WERE THE FOUR TEAMS, AND WHICH WERE THE THREE THAT WON TEN OR MORE GAMES?
TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE CREDITED WITH YOUR ANSWER PLEASE BE SURE TO TYPE QUIZ IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR ANSWER
THREE SERVICE ACADEMIES PLUS CLEMSON (ONLY AIR FORCE DID NOT FINISH WITH TEN WINS)
QUIZ CORRECTLY ANSWERED BY:
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Joe Guttila - Granbury, Texas
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
Tom Walls - Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: A native of Corning, New York, Bob Higgins played college football at Penn State, where he was a two-time All-America, lettering in football, baseball, boxing and wrestling.
He played at Penn State from 1914 to 1917, and was first named an All-American in 1915 - the second Penn Stater to be so honored. During World War I he left Penn State to serve as a U.S. Army officer in France, and after his discharge, he returned to Penn State to captain its football team and earn All-America honors for a second time.
After graduation, he began his coaching career at West Virginia Wesleyan, while at the same time playing professionally with the NFL Canton Bulldogs (1920-1921).
In 1925 he moved to Washington University in St. Louis, and in 1928 he returned to Penn State as an assistant.
He was named the Lion head coach in 1930 and served in that capacity for the next 19 years.
It was not easy going. He succeeded Hugo Bezdek, who had been his coach in 1919, and who in 12 years at State College had gone 65-30-11, with only one losing season in that time. Bezdek remained as athletic director, and there seems to be some evidence that he was less than completely supportive of his successor.
It wasn’t until Higgins’ eighth season that he finally posted a winning record. Perhaps it was coincidental, but that was 1937, which was also the year that Bezdek was dismissed as athletic director.
Over the next 11 seasons, he would have just one losing season.
His best season was after World War II, 1947, when he led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten, untied regular-season record in the school's history. The Lions finished 9-0, shutting out six opponents along the way. They tied Southern Methodist, 13-13, in the 1948 Cotton Bowl, in only the second time that Penn State had played in a bowl game.
When the Lions finished the season ranked #4 - behind Notre Dame, Michigan and SMU - it marked the first time a Penn State football team had been ranked in the Top Ten.
During his time as head coach, Wally Triplett became the first black player to start a game at Penn State, and became the first black man to play in the Cotton Bowl.
The now-famous “We Are… Penn State!" cheer dates to November, 1946, when Penn State’s players learned that Miami, the final game on the Penn State schedule, had declined to let Penn State’s two black players (one of whom was Wally Triplett) play. “We are Penn State!” said the team captain, Steve Suhey, a World War II vet. “It’ll be all or none.” He called for a team vote and it was unanimous: forfeit the game. And so it appears in the official records: “cancelled.” Legend has it that Miami then contacted Syracuse about replacing Penn State and the Orange declined.
When poor health forced him to retire in 1948, his record at Penn State was 91-57-11, and his all-time record was 123-83-16.
Bob Higgins’ daughter, Virginia (“Ginger”), married Steve Suhey, the captain and an All-American guard on the unbeaten 1947 Cotton Bowl squad.
The Suheys had four sons, three of whom - Larry, Paul and Matt - lettered in football at Penn State between 1975 and 1979.
Matt played for 10 years with the Chicago Bears in the National Football League and is a member of the Pennsylvania football all-century team.
Two great-grandsons, Joe and Kevin, have also played for Penn State.
For good reason, the Suhey family - going all the way back to Ginger’s father - is considered the First Family of Penn State Football.
Bob Higgins was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
He died in 1969.
After he retired as Penn State’s head coach, he was succeeded by Joe Bedenk, a longtime assistant and the head baseball coach, who wound up coaching for one year.
Bedenk was succeeded by Rip Engle, who coached for 16 years before turning the job over to his chief assistant, Joe Paterno, who was Penn State’s coach for 46 years.
When Paterno first arrived at Penn State in 1950, after having been Engle’s quarterback at Brown, he lived for a year with Ginger and Steve Suhey.
QUIZ CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING BOB HIGGINS:
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
Joe Guttila - Granbury, Texas
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
Mike Foristiere - Marsing, Idaho
Tom Walls - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Ossie Osmundson - Woodland, Washington
David Crump - Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: At Yale, he never played in a losing game and he played on three national championship teams.
He coached at Syracuse, Yale, Ohio State, Yale (again), Iowa, Duke, and USC - six major colleges - and had winning records at all but Duke (a single season in which he went 4-5).
He won national titles at three different schools: Yale (1909), Iowa (1921), USC (1928, 1931, 1932, 1939( - six in all.
He won two Big Ten titles and seven Pacific Coast Conference (forerunner of the Pac-12) titles. And he won five Rose Bowls without losing any.
He is the coach who made USC a major power.
After playing at Yale, he coached Syracuse to a 6-3-1 record, then returned to Yale and coached them to a 10-0 season and yet another national championship in 1909. As a player or a coach, he had yet to lose at Yale.
After one year as Yale’s unpaid coach, he was hired by Ohio State, and stayed there just one season. It was a successful season: the Buckeyes went 6-1-3, and most important of all, a 3-3 tie that ended a nine-game losing streak to Michigan.
He left coaching for two years, but returned to Yale in 1913, and became the Eli’s first paid coach at $2,500 a year. This time he we nt 5-2-3, and then once again left coaching briefly.
In 1916 Iowa hired him away for $4,500 a year for five years, the most money they’d ever committed to pay a coach. Iowa had not won a Big Ten title in 15 years and In his first year he lost to Minnesota 67-0 and to Nebraska, 47-0. It took him six years, but in 1921 the Hawkeyes went unbeaten and won the Big Ten title outright. The biggest win was a 10-7 triumph over Notre Dame. His first of what would be many meetings against Knute Rockne, it ended a 20-game Notre Dame winning streak, the longest of Rockne's career.
In 1922. Iowa again went undefeated, the only time in Iowa history that the Hawkeyes have won back-to-back conference titles. The most notable win of the season came over Yale, coached by his brother, Tad. It was the first time a "western" team had defeated Yale in New Haven. From 1920-1923 Iowa ran up a 20-game win streak
After a falling-out with the higher-ups at the Iowa, he resigned and took the head coaching job at Trinity College, now known as Duke University.
He stayed there just one season with a 4-5 record, and then was hired to coach Southern California. It has been said that one of the factors in his getting the job was the recommendation of Rockne. (Notre Dame had just agreed to play a series of games with USC, and it was important to Rockne, who valued the West Coast trips, that USC be a strong opponent.)
In 16 years as the Trojans’ coach, he would win 121 games, losing 36 and tieing 13. Of all USC coaches, only John McKay has won more (127)
There was one spell, from 1934-1937 when the Trojans went 17-19-6, but he managed to right the ship and win his sixth national title in 1939.
One of his most famous Rose Bowl wins was in 1939, when a last-second minute play scored the first touchdown Duke had given up all season, beating Wade Wallace’s “Iron Dukes,” 7-3.
His final Rose Bowl win was in 1940. The following summer, he died of a heart attack. He was only 55.
His career college coaching record was 194-64-21.
Largely as a result of the USC-Notre Dame series, begun when he took over at USC, he came to be considered, along with Knute Rockne, one of the two top coaches of his era.
The two schools first met in 1926, a 13-12 Notre Dame win in front of 75,000 in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum that Rockne would call the greatest game he ever saw. The 1927 game, a 7-6 Irish win, was played in Chicago’s new Soldier Field, in front of an estimated 120,000 people.
USC finally won in 1928, the year they won their first national title, and over a five year span, the national championship would be won by either USC (1928, 1931, 1932) or Notre Dame (1929 and 1930).
The 1929 game, played at Soldier Field, drew 112,912.
Notre Dame won again in 1930, its 19th game in a row and with it, the national title. As it was traditionally the final game of the season, it would turn out to be Rockne’s last game.
The following season, 1931, following Rockne’s death in a plane crash in March, would be Notre Dame’s first since 1918 without Rockne on its sideline, and a USC field goal with a minute to play gave the Trojans a 16-14 win, a national title, and their first win ever in South Bend, ending the Irish 15-game wining streak.
In the locker room after the game, seeing a national sports figure on hand to present the national title trophy, our guy asked him if he knew where Rockne was buried. The man said yes, and then, putting aside the celebration of the win over Notre Dame and the national title, less than an hour later the entire USC team assembled at Knute Rockne’s graveside, where their coach conducted a service honoring his fallen rival.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2024 “If you understand it, it is not God.” St. Augustine
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Fresh seafood, not too easy to find in Michigan, was readily available in Maine, and Rena and I enjoyed buying clams and lobsters straight from the sea. We would have picnics on the rocky shore. Most of the restaurants featured sandwiches they called lobster rolls. The bread resembled a hot dog bun, toasted on the outside, only it featured lobster instead of a frankfurter.
“Meanwhile, I took graduate courses at Maine. One of my professors was Rome Rankin, the head basketball coach and a great storyteller. He helped me get involved in sports psychology. I created a test that measures the reaction times of football and baseball players and it proved to be a good coaching support. A few years later I finish my masters degree during the summer at Michigan State University.
“One unforgettable character at Maine was the campus snowplow driver. The only name I knew him by was Sparky, but for some reason he got very attached to me. During a severe storm he called me aside. "Coach Lude, will you come with me to see my boss?” I asked what the problem was. He explained that he had worked completely around the clock in the snow and marked twenty-five hours on his time card. "But the boss wouldn't let me do that,” he said. I asked, "Sparky, how did you figure those twenty-five hours in one day?’ He explained patiently. "Well, I didn't stop for anything. I worked right through my lunch time and my dinner time, a half hour for each, and that's an additional hour. It comes out to 25 hours.” Sparky should have checked with the math department.
“When Bill Murray took the head football coaching job at Duke, there was considerable speculation over whom Dr. John Perkins, the president at the University of Delaware, would hire as Murray's replacement. Perkins called the coach at his alma mater, Michigan, and Fritz Crisler recommended Dave Nelson. I was asked to go along as an assistant coach. Nelson also would serve as athletic director.
“So in July 1951, Rena, Cynthia and I moved from Orono, Maine, to Newark, Delaware. We would end up spending 11 years there, using it as the stepping stone to what had become my ultimate goal: a head-coaching job.”
*********** WHAT THE PLAYOFF NOW LOOKS LIKE…AND MY PICKS (REGARDLESS OF SENTIMENT)
PENN STATE OVER BOISE STATE - I will root for Boise State. Boise State has the best runner, but Penn State has the most talent.
NOTRE DAME OVER GEORGIA - I will root for Notre Dame. I think Notre Dame is good enough to win, no matter who plays QB for the Bulldogs. So I won’t blame Gunner Stockton.
TEXAS OVER ARIZONA STATE - I will root for Arizona State. Arizona State has some talented players, but Texas has far more.
OHIO STATE OVER OREGON - I will root for Oregon. It’s hard to beat a good team a second time, and I think that this time the decision - a close one - goes to the Buckeyes.
WHAT THE PLAYOFF WOULD LOOK LIKE IF THEY’D ONLY LET ME RE-SEED IT AFTER THE FIRST ROUND…(AND MY PICKS)
OREGON VS ARIZONA STATE - OREGON
PENN STATE VS GEORGIA - GEORGIA
TEXAS VS NOTRE DAME - NOTRE DAME
OHIO STATE VS BOISE STATE - OHIO STATE
*********** My favorite bowls, based on the excitement or interest or pleasure its result provided. Please don’t make me try to remember the name of the bowl.
1. BYU 36, Colorado 14 - If every other bowl game had been a disappointment, the result of this game alone would have made the whole bowl season a successful one for me. Not even the open support of the ESPN flacks in the broadcast booth was enough to keep Coach Prime and his Precious Ones from laying a monster egg. ESPN made such a big deal about the fact that this was the Last Hurrah of the Sanders Clan that there’s little likelihood we’ll have to go through this crap again next year. Of course, with today’s college football, you never know.
2. Navy 21, Oklahoma 20 - Courtney Lyle (“The Voice of NCAA Volleyball”) did the play-by-play and was unlistenable. When OU scored their second touchdown, she shrieked.
Navy has had its share of great runners - including Heisman Trophy winners Joe Bellino and Roger Staubach - but until Middies’ QB Blake Horvath did it against the Sooners, no Navy player had ever run as much as 95 yards for a touchdown.
We heard a lot of whining about all the players that Oklahoma was playing without, but that doesn’t mean that the players they did have playing were junk. They still had a bunch of guys that Navy never had a chance at recruiting, and conversely, there probably wasn’t a player on the Navy team that Oklahoma would have considered good enough for them to recruit. If the Sooners weren’t properly prepared to play, that’s on coaching.
3. Iowa State 42, Miami 41 - How sweet is it to watch a bought team crumble? When/how was the decision made not to play Cam Ward in the second half? Although it appeared to be a complete surprise to the broadcast crew, they went along with the whole sham as if the absence of a Heisman Trophy finalist was scarcely worth mentioning.
Now, if I had been the sideline reporter, with Ward standing on the sideline, without his helmet, I’d have asked him…
When was it decided you weren’t going to play any more, and whose decision was it?
What, exactly was the “record” that we were told you were trying to break?
Who cares? (I might not ask that one.)
What was the name of the team you played for this year?
What was the name of your center?
Is it good or bad to be called a mercenary?
In the aftermath of the game, I loved Iowa State’s explanation that the key to success in this stage of college football is getting the right kind of people: “Ames, Iowa isn’t for everybody.”
4. Kansas State 44, Rutgers 41 - K-State had to come from behind, something they’re used to doing. Down 41-29 early in the fourth quarter, they scored 14 points in the last eight minutes. The Wildcats rushed for 347 yards, led by 5-7, 170 pound Dylan Edwards, who had 18 carries for 196 yards and 2 TDs.
With the win - their ninth - the Wildcats joined an elite group of just five Power 4 football teams that have had 3 straight 9-win seasons, along with at least one conference title:
Alabama
Clemson
Georgia
Oregon
Kansas State
5. East Carolina 26, North Carolina State 21 - The game ended with some very nasty skirmishes that resulted in an official’s face being gashed. Damn shame that the brawl stole the headline from ECU’s Rahjai Harris, whose shocking 86-yard scoring burst with 1:40 to play gave the Pirates the comeback win. (Harris finished the day with 214 yards rushing.)
The two teams will open against each other next season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the bad blood will carry over, because as ECU coach Blake Harrell pointed out post-game, by then both teams will have completely different rosters.
6. Toledo 48, Pitt 46 (6 OTs) - Back and forth. Back and forth. Great game. BUT: Third and goal from the one and down by three in second OT after having held Toledo to a field goal - Pitt, which had averaged 5.6 yards per carry on the ground, tried a tricky-ass play that called for their tight end to take the snap and throw the ball. It was incomplete. Lesson learned. No more trick plays. Unfortunately, no more plays, at all- on fourth and one, they kicked the field goal to send it into a third overtime.
After losing in six overtimes, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi left the field without shaking hands. Classless. I found it especially interesting after remembering how a few years back he got all pissed off at Georgia Tech’s Jeff Collins for giving him only a perfunctory post-game shake.
He may try saying that he was headed in to lead his players off the field, but that one falls flat because it’s his responsibility to make sure that all his players are off the field before he heads for the locker room, and his place was out there on that field. There was bad blood throughout the game, and if anything had broken out while Narduzzi was in the locker room, he wouldn’t have been able to defend his absence.
7. Vanderbilt 35, Georgia Tech 27 - Vanderbilt winning a bowl game? Impossible. What the hell’s Vanderbilt doing in a bowl game in the first place? Answer: Diego Pavia. All he did was account for all of Vandy’s touchdowns, throwing for three and running for two. He is that rare guy who can make the team around him better.
8. Northern Illinois 28, Fresno State 20 (2 OTs) - A very exciting win for a team that earlier in the season had given Notre Dame its only loss; and a very sad loss for a Fresno team hoping to win for interim coach Tim Skipper. The game went into OT after both teams missed last-minute field goal attempts.
9. South Florida 41 San Jose State 39 (5 OTs) - USF made the longest trip of any college team this season in order to play in the game (in Hawaii). Both teams finished 7-6.
10. UConn 27, North Carolina 14 - Remember how bad the Huskies were just a few years ago? This was their ninth win! How much longer can they keep Jim Mora? How bad was Carolina? The sideline reporter (since it was in Fenway Park, both teams were on the same sideline) told us that their coaches were “working on fundamentals.” I guess it’s never too late, even in the middle of your bowl game, to discover that the fundamentals are sort of important.
11. USC 35, Texas A & M 31 - An incredible comeback by the Trojans, who were down 24-7 with 5 minutes left in the third quarter, and scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. And a terrible letdown for the Aggies, who lost their last three games. It was a late-night game, and I lost interest at halftime, when it was tied, 7-7.
12. Syracuse 52, Washington State 35 - As a WSU Cougar fan, I was really proud of the way they stepped up and accepted their bowl challenge. After their OC and their QB left for Oklahoma and their HC left for Wake Forest, they lost a total of 26 players to the transfer portal, including 11 of the 22 who had started in their last regular season game. Syracuse was the better team and earned the win, but WSU played them tough and had their chances. I was especially impressed by the job they did getting their backup QB ready to play.
Special kudos to interim head coach Pete Kaligis, a career assistant and - ironically - a former Washington Huskies offensive lineman along with the guy I work for, Todd Bridge. Pete Kaligis did a terrific job on very short notice of rallying the team to play hard, play well and play together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUWkqSsWy54
13. Army 27, Louisiana Tech 6 - For anybody not an Army fan it would be considered dull. What a dogass conference the AAC is: it sends its number 2, 3 and 4 teams to play Power 4 opponents - Tulane to play Florida, Memphis to play West Virginia, and Navy to play Oklahoma - but it commits its champion to play Marshall, another Group of 5 team which everybody knew was likely to lose its coach and, consequently, a lot of players. Sure enough, Marshall crapped out of the Independence Bowl, and fortunately for all, Louisiana Tech stepped up.
Enough complaining. Army’s win made it the first 12-win team in Army football’s long history.
And no matter who you are and who you’re playing, it’s a well-coached team that can put on a 21-play drive covering 75 yards and consuming 12:21 of clock! (The 21-play drive against Tech ties an earlier Army drive against North Texas for longest in FBS this season.)
Credit to Army for a solid performance in a game that it had to be hard to get excited about, and to Louisiana Tech’s players for showing up and helping their school earn a paycheck as a last-minute substitute.
And credit to the 34,000-some said to be in attendance on a cold, rainy night.
14. Memphis 42, West Virginia 37 - With Rich Rod coming to town, the Mountaineers were hemorrhaging players. The Tigers finished 11-2 and 6-2 in the AAC. They lost only to Navy and UTSA, and their 34-24 defeat of Tulane knocked the Green Wave out of playoff contention. I don’t like seeing West Virginia lose but I liked the Memphis QB, Seth Hennigan. Get this - he stayed at Memphis for flour years. In those four years he threw for 14,278 yards and 104 touchdowns, and in his final two years he led the Tigers to a 21-5 record.
LOST INTEREST
UNLV 24, Cal 13 - That a$$hole Fernando Mendoza. Good luck at Indiana next year.
Nebraska 20, Boston College 15 - Not very interesting. Don’t let the close score fool you.
TCU 34, Louisiana 3 - Ugly, ugly, ugly.
LAST PLACE
(Four-way tie) All of the Playoff games so far
DIDN’T WATCH
Arkansas 39, Texas Tech 26
Arkansas State 38, Bowling Green 31
Florida 33, Tulane 8
James Madison 27, Western Kentucky 17
Miami (O) 43, Colorado State 17
Ohio 30, Jacksonville State 27
Sam Houston 31, Georgia Southern 26
South Alabama 30, Western Michigan 23
UTSA 44, Coastal Carolina 15
*********** Coach Scott Mallien, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, was in Shreveport, Louisiana over the holidays visiting his son, and he stopped by to watch an Army practice. He had his picture taken with Army’s star QB Bryson Daily and was kind enough to send it to me. (He and his son also attended the Army-Louisiana Tech Independence Bowl game in Shreveport.)
In the game, Bryson Daily scored three TDs, giving him 32 for the season, which is the most for any FBS QB ever. His 32 rushing TDs tie him for third place among all FBS players. His 129 yards rushing in this bowl game gave him 11 games rushing for at least 100 yards.
Although Army was playing without leading running back Kanye Udoh, who has already signed with Arizona State, junior Hayden Reed was more than adequate as a replacement, carrying 20 times for 114 yards and a TD.
*********** New Coaches moving up from FCS…
Fresno State - North Dakota State head coach Matt Entz. First there was Craig Bohl, going to Wyoming. Then there was Chris Klieman at Kansas State. Not a bad record for former Bison coaches.
Washington State - South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers.
I like the Cougars, and I like this hire. I like what I’ve seen of the South Dakota State Jackrabbits, and I like the fact that some of their players could wind up in Pullman, including their QB, Mark Gronowski.
WSU lost both coordinators in addition to their head coach, so it’s possible that Coach Rogers will bring one or both of SDSU’s coordinators with him. If either one doesn’t come with him, it’s probably because he’ll have been offered the head job at SDSU.
My only concern about Rogers is admittedly a very picky one: while his record at SDSU is outstanding - 27-3 - he’s only been a head coach for two seasons, and this season’s 12-3 record actually was a fall-off from 2023, when the Jackrabbits went 15-0 and won the FCS title. How much of his success, you have to wonder, was owing to the fact that he succeeded the legendary John Stiegelmeier, who in 26 years went 199-112. In his final three years at SDSU, he went to the national NFC semifinals once, and to the finals twice, winning the FCS title in his last game as the Jackrabbits’ head coach. (How tough must it have been to retire just one game shy of 200 wins?)
*********** ESPN is catching hell from viewers - and rightly so - for the way its announcers, Dave Pasch and Dusty Dvoracek, (and, obviously, its director) used the Colorado-BYU broadcast to try to advance the myth of Coach Prime and the Prime Time Players he brought forth.
Gasp! “Hunter may be the best two-way player in history!” (My ass.)
Gasp! “Shedeur Sanders may be the best college quarterback in America!” (My ass.)
Gasp! “This is their last game playing together!” (Promise?)
Gasp! “And aren’t they wonderful? They’re actually playing in a bowl game!” (Later - after word got around about Miami’s Cam Ward opting out at halftime - “Aren’t they wonderful? They’re still playing!”)
It was, in sum, a new low in sports broadcasting. I’ve been copying some of the more fulsome moments of the broadcast for potential use on my Zoom.
As usual, ESPN came into the game with a story line. But then, when BYU upset the applecart, that story line was all they had. So they pressed on with it, even when it was obvious what they were doing. When Colorado finally scored with six minutes left in the third quarter, they almost wet their pants, telling us that Colorado had “cut the BYU lead.” Yeah - “cut it” to 27-7.
Right from the start, I knew something was fishy when they said the crowd was “mostly Colorado fans.”
Impossible, I thought. Not with BYU in the house.
BYU will draw a crowd anywhere in the country.
And sure enough, I saw a LOT of blue in that crowd.
*********** A man a plan a canal Panama. Maybe you’ve seen that palindrome (a word or phrase that’s spelled the same, forward or backward).
It’s sort of funny that no sooner does President Trump raise the subject of our taking back the canal, than Jimmy Carter, the president who turned it over to Panama in the first place, dies.
The canal was handed over in 1977.
When the subject of transferring ownership of the canal had come up the year before, Republican Senator S. I. Hayakawa of California opposed it, famously saying, “We should keep the Panama Canal. After all, we stole it fair and square.”
*********** Frank Hinkey played at Yale from 1891-1894. He was a four-year All-American, and he was captain of th Yale team his junior and senior years. In those early days, the captain ran the football team, as this article about Hinkey explains:
Being a captain at Yale in those days meant something. It meant that he was supreme on the field and off. He selected the coaches and accepted or rejected their recommendations as he saw fit. He determined the type of play and he ran the game.
*********** Alex Kroll died last week. He was 87.
He was a year ahead of me at Yale, and he was a very good football player.
He may very well have been the last Yale football player to become an All-American. The only problem was, he won that honor at Rutgers, not at Yale.
He was born and raised in western Pennsylvania, in the small town of Leechburg, where his father spent 45 years as a steelworker for Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Corp.
He was captain of his high school football team and class salutatorian, graduating second in his class.
He passed up other college offers and chose to attend Yale.
At a time of freshman ineligibility, as a sophomore he started every game at center on Yale’s 1956 Ivy League championship team.
Alas, that winter, following a traffic accident. he physically assaulted (“slugged” as we all heard it put at the time) someone who turned out to be an associate professor, an act for which he was expelled. “I was nineteen,” he said, years later. “It’s one of the regrettable incidents of my life.”
Enlisting in the Army, he served two years as an MP, then enrolled at Rutgers. In his two years as a starting center in their single wing offense, the Scarlet Knights went 17-1. In his senior season, 1961, they were unbeaten, and he was a near-unanimous All-American - Rutgers’ first since Paul Robeson in 1918.
As he had at Yale, he participated at Rutgers in boxing, wrestling and rugby in addition to football, and he graduated as a Henry Rutgers Scholar - a senior who completed an “outstanding independent research project leading to a thesis.”
Looking forward to a professional football career, he signed to play with the New York Titans of the AFL, forerunners of today’s Jets.
But while still at Rutgers, he was contacted by an alumnus who was a senior vice-president of Young & Rubicam (Y & R), a large New York advertising agency, who arranged a job interview for him.
At the conclusion of the interview, they made him a proposal: he would play pro football for two seasons, and intern for Y & R in the off-season, and at the end of two seasons, he would choose either pro football or Y & R.
It took him only one year to decide: he found he liked the advertising business. As for football, according to New York Magazine, he was the “last person carried unconscious off the playing field at the Polo Grounds.”
And, too, as he put it in a 1982 interview with the same magazine, “I didn’t want to tell my children I made my living bending over in front of Joe Namath.”
Ah, the children. He was married by that point. He had married his high school sweetheart, but had to elope to do it, because her family was opposed: he was a steelworker’s kid, and she was the only child of a vice-president of the steel company. They were married during the North-South game festivities following his senior season, and his best man was the North coach, Duffy Daugherty. (They remained married until his death.)
He had a talent for the advertising business, and his ascent in Y & R was rapid.
Beginning as a copywriter, he rose to the position of Executive Vice-President and Creative Director by the time he was 33.
In 1985 he became CEO of Y & R, by then the largest advertising agency in the world, and he served in that position for ten years.
During that time, Y & R was responsible for handling the advertising of such clients as KFC (Y & R came up with “We do chicken right”), Oil of Olay, Proctor and Gamble, AT & T, Lincoln-Mercury, Right Guard, 7-11, Hallmark Cards, and Gannett Publishing (and its introduction of USA Today), and many, many more.
Recognized as a legend in the advertising industry, he often referred to his sports background as good preparation for a business well known for its ups and downs.
In that 1982 New York Magazine article, he recalled his high school coach, an ex-World War II Marine: “His one motto was to ‘run it off.’ I used to think he was a sadist, but the older I get, the more I see the logic. If you lie there, your bruises congeal. If you get up and run, you’re moving toward something else.”
He often noted parallels between sports and the advertising business:
“Advertising is very much like the sports I played in college; all require discipline and personal goal-setting.”
“Athletics is great training for advertising. You find out how hard it is to win and how good it feels.”
“Advertising is not a business you can ever take for granted. It keeps you hungry. Take it for granted and you get hit in the chops.”
He received numerous prestigious awards, among them the Walter Camp Distinguished American Award, the NCAA Silver Medal for Excellence, the American Jewish Committee's National Human Relations Award and the Horatio Alger Award (for outstanding Americans who exemplify dedication, purpose and perseverance in their personal and professional lives). In addition to the College Football Hall of Fame, he has been inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame and the Rutgers Athletics Hall of Fame.
*********** Penn State quarterback Drew Allar attributes the successful year he - and the Nittany Lions - have had to the way he’s handled social media. He’s shut it off.
"If we had a nickel for every time there was a Monday morning quarterback saying some BS stuff, we'd all be pretty rich," offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said. "I think part of being a quarterback, especially at Penn State but really anywhere, is how you respond to and manage criticism."
The 20-year-old Allar has made strides in that department after a trying 2023 season that finished with a 10-3 record. He says that's largely because once fall camp started back in August, he logged off the social media platform X.
Allar said negative online experiences wore on him last year, and his phone number was leaked a few times, which added to the stress. He finally realized that controlling outside narratives was impossible, so the best course of action was to eliminate a needless distraction.
"I've been more mentally free, as much as that sounds crazy," Allar said. "I think that's been a huge difference for me this year.”
*********** Georgia QB Gunner Stockton will be getting his first career start Wednesday against Notre Dame.
His is a great story. Small town boy makes good? How about a kid from Tiger, Georgia, a town of a little more than 500 people in the mountains of North Georgia?
He drives his grandfather’s 1985 Ford pickup.
His girlfriend once complained that all he cared about was hunting, fishing and football.
In high school (Rabun County) he broke Trevor Lawrence’s state record for career passing yards, and Deshaun Watson’s state record for touchdown passes. And, being bigger than a lot of kids in smaller high schools at 6-1, 215, he ran for more than 4,000 yards.
But Georgia and the SEC was vastly different, and there he was, a redshirt sophomore (in his third year of college football) who seldom saw any action. And suddenly, when starter Carson Beck was injured, against Texas, he got the call.
He made some mistakes, as would be expected, but he played well enough to save the day for Georgia.
Said Georgia coach Kirby Smart afterwards, “The players believe in Gunner. They love Gunner.”
That’s because they admire his attitude as a team man. And his toughness.
Said his high school coach, “When he was being recruited, ‘toughness’ came out of my mouth within the first two or three sentences.”
Said his father, “It's not easy when you've never been a back up your entire life to then be a back up. When you know how to be a good teammate, you know how to support by standing in the shadows.”
(MY SOURCE FOR THIS WAS A GREAT ARTICLE IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL BY LAINE HIGGINS)
*********** I saw a player in a bowl game fail to make a first down because he was pulled back - reeled in, you might say - by a defender who had hold of his shirt tail, which by the time the play was whistled dead had been stretched until it was six feet long.
Wait, I can hear you say - the way these jerseys are cut to fit now, there’s no way a guy could grab that much jersey.
Oh, no? Then you haven’t been paying attention to all these fashionistas whose tee shirts billow out from under their game jerseys almost like little tu-tus.
It’s slovenly, and it tells me something about a coach’s concern for detail, but it’s not against the rules.
But there are guys whose mouthpieces dangle from their face masks, in clear defiance of the rules requiring them to be in the players’ mouths. (Yes, there are a few guys so into fashion statements that they actually wear a mouthpiece but still have a second one dangling on the outside for effect.)
And then there are the guys who wear what amount to shorts, completely in violation of the rule stipulating that they must have a knee pad covering the knee. (Some punters wear shorts cut so high that the “knee pads” they contain are above mid-thigh.)
Why isn’t something done about blatant equipment violations? Simple, but shocking: I heard a high school official, asked about these concerns, tell a group of coaches, “We’re not going to be fashion police.”
So there you have it. WE OFFICIALS are more important than the game and the rules we’re expected to enforce. So go ahead - pass all the rules you want - but WE’LL decide which ones we choose to enforce.
Funny that he used the term “police,” as if our actual police were actually all that concerned about enforcing all of our laws.
It’s no secret that there’s general disorder in our society, and a major reason is that there are a lot of things our police simply won’t deal with. In some cases I suspect it’s simply because they just can’t be bothered with small stuff, but in others because they fear the repercussions that might come from doing their jobs in a society that’s becoming downright unruly.
*********** Hugh,
“King” James needs to shut his big yapper. Christmas Day now belongs to football. Four NBA Christmas games fell way short of two NFL games in Christmas Day TV viewership numbers. While both pro leagues are woke, the NBA and its “icon”, along with a few of its head coaches are more woke than the NFL. Frankly, I didn’t watch ANY of ‘em!
Still on basketball…longtime college and current University of Miami coach Jim Larranaga called it quits. When asked why he replied, “I’m exhausted.” Citing NIL and Transfer Portal as the main culprits.
“It has become professional.” Like many of his college football counterparts he certainly won’t be the last to get out in college basketball.
Those Dakota schools apparently know how to recruit some hard-nosed, tough as nails hombres! Montana State HC Brent Vigen who was the OC at NDSU under Craig Bohl for a number of years must have brought that recipe with him to Big Sky country! Can’t wait to see MSU and NDSU square off!
Do you think Jeff Monken will leave Army to take a shot at another less restrictive G5 school to show he has the chops to match his old Navy nemesis Ken Niumatalolo?
Why do guys like Kirk Herbstreit continually apologize for remarks they make about issues (not others) that are true? What is so offensive about speaking the truth?
Can’t wait for January 20th!
Enjoy the weekend! Happy New Year!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
I think that Ken Niumatololo has an edge because he has shown that he can "open it up" and be successful at it.
QUIZ: What unique career move do the following college coaches have in common?
They all had two different stays as the head coach at a major college school
Johnny Majors - Pitt
John Robinson - USC
Mack Brown - North Carolina
Greg Schiano - Rutgers
QUIZ CORRECTLY ANSWERED BY:
Josh Montgomery - Berwick, Louisiana
Greg Koenig - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Adam Wesoloski - Pulaski, Wisconsin
Mike Framke - Green Bay, Wisconsin
Tom Davis - San Marcos, California
John Vermillion - St. Petersburg, Florida
Scott Mallien - Green Bay, Wisconsin
John Bothe - Oregon, Illinois
Tom Walls - Winnipeg, Manitoba
QUIZ: I’M SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATING GOING TO ONE “QUIZ” SUBJECT PER WEEK. NEXT QUIZ ON FRIDAY
BUT IN THE MEANTIME, HERE’S ANOTHER GOOD ONE FER YA:
THIS PAST SEASON THERE WERE JUST FOUR FBS TEAMS THAT DID NOT USE THE TRANSFER PORTAL AT ALL, AND THREE OF THEM WON TEN OR MORE GAMES.
WHAT WERE THE FOUR TEAMS, AND WHICH WERE THE THREE THAT WON TEN OR MORE GAMES?
TO MAKE SURE YOU’RE CREDITED WITH YOUR ANSWER PLEASE BE SURE TO TYPE QUIZ IN THE SUBJECT LINE OF YOUR ANSWER
ANSWER ON FRIDAY…
*********** QUIZ: A native of Corning, New York, he played college football at Penn State, where he was a two-time All-America, lettering in football, baseball, boxing and wrestling.
He played at Penn State from 1914 to 1917, and was first named an All-American in 1915 - the second Penn Stater to be so honored. During World War I he left Penn State to serve as a U.S. Army officer in France, and after his discharge, he returned to Penn State to captain its football team and earn All-America honors for a second time.
After graduation, he began his coaching career at West Virginia Wesleyan, while at the same time playing professionally with the NFL Canton Bulldogs (1920-1921).
In 1925 he moved to Washington University in St. Louis, and in 1928 he returned to Penn State as an assistant.
He was named the Lion head coach in 1930 and served in that capacity for the next 19 years.
It was not easy going. He succeeded Hugo Bezdek, who had been his coach in 1919, and who in 12 years at State College had gone 65-30-11, with only one losing season in that time. Bezdek remained as athletic director, and there seems to be some evidence that he was less than completely supportive of his successor.
It wasn’t until our guy’s eighth season that he finally posted a winning record. Perhaps it was coincidental, but that was 1937, which was also the year that Bezdek was dismissed as athletic director.
Over the next 11 seasons, he would have just one losing season.
His best season was after World War II, 1947, when he led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten, untied regular-season record in the school's history. The Lions finished 9-0, shutting out six opponents along the way. They tied Southern Methodist, 13-13, in the 1948 Cotton Bowl, in only the second time that Penn State had played in a bowl game.
When the Lions finished the season ranked #4 - behind Notre Dame, Michigan and SMU - it marked the first time a Penn State football team had been ranked in the Top Ten.
During his time as head coach, Wally Triplett became the first black player to start a game at Penn State, and became the first black man to play in the Cotton Bowl.
The now-famous “We Are… Penn State!" cheer dates to November, 1946, when Penn State’s players learned that Miami, the final game on the Penn State schedule, had declined to let Penn State’s two black players (one of whom was Wally Triplett) play. “We are Penn State!” said the team captain, Steve Suhey, a World War II vet. “It’ll be all or none.” He called for a team vote and it was unanimous: forfeit the game. And so it appears in the official records: “cancelled.” Legend has it that Miami then contacted Syracuse about replacing Penn State and the Orange declined.
When poor health forced him to retire in 1948, his record at Penn State was 91-57-11, and his all-time record was 123-83-16.
His daughter, Virginia (“Ginger”), married Steve Suhey, the captain and an All-American guard on the unbeaten 1947 Cotton Bowl squad.
The Suheys had four sons, three of whom - Larry, Paul and Matt - lettered in football at Penn State between 1975 and 1979.
Matt played for 10 years with the Chicago Bears in the National Football League and is a member of the Pennsylvania football all-century team.
Two great-grandsons, Joe and Kevin, have also played for Penn State.
For good reason, the Suhey family - going all the way back to Ginger’s father - is considered the First Family of Penn State Football.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
He died in 1969.
After he retired as Penn State’s head coach, he was succeeded by Joe Bedenk, a longtime assistant and the head baseball coach, who wound up coaching for one year.
Bedenk was succeeded by Rip Engle, who coached for 16 years before turning the job over to his chief assistant, Joe Paterno, who was Penn State’s coach for 46 years.
When Paterno first arrived at Penn State in 1950, after having been Engle’s quarterback at Brown, he lived for a year with Ginger and Steve Suhey.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2024 “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” St. Thomas Aquinas
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “The solution, of course, would be a preseason trip to warmer climes. Many northern schools do that routinely to escape the snow and cold, but it was unheard of for Maine baseball teams. I talked to Tad Wieman about it, but he said there was no money. I tried to raise some cash, with little success. Then I suggested staying at the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and playing some games in the Washington, D.C. area against schools like George Washington, Georgetown, and Hampden-Sydney in Virginia.
“One of our neighbors in student housing was Jed Brewster, the nephew of Maine senator Owen Brewster. Maybe the senator could use his influence to let my team stay at the Academy in New London? He did precisely that and we used private automobiles to provide the transportation for Maine’s first “Southern” baseball trip.
“We won the Yankee Conference championship that season, and I spent the summer coaching a team in a league sponsored by the Bangor newspaper and the Boston Braves. One of my star players was a young pitcher named Carlton Willey from Cherryfield, a town that still calls itself the blueberry capital of the world. Willey had an amazing fastball which caught the attention of the Braves. He played for them in Boston and Milwaukee, when the team moved there, then finished his major league career with the New York Mets.
“A couple of important milestones came in 1950, one before and one after the first football season at Maine. Just before practices started in August, Cynthia Ruth Lude, our first daughter, was born in Bangor. We took her home to a modest rental house. It was small but it had a heat duct in the living room and a vent up in the master bedroom.
“After the season, I attended my first American Football Coaches Association convention and the Coach of the Year dinner. Dave Nelson, Tad Wieman and I – plus our wives – drove to New York. I was dazzled. I had the chance to talk with Army Coach Earl (Red) Blaik, who had six unbeaten seasons in 17 years at the US Military Academy, Bud Wilkinson of Oklahoma, Bobby Dodd of Georgia Tech, and many others. Those great coaches took time to share some of their expertise with newcomers like me. The Coach of the Year dinner was my first visit to the original Mama Leone's restaurant. What a great time.”
*********** Chris Vannini, The Athletic…
"So two NFL games today between playoff teams and both had lopsided results. Weird how that happens."
(Christmas Day NFL doubleheader: Kansas City 29, Pittsburgh 10; Baltimore 31, Houston 2)
*********** WHAT THE PLAYOFF NOW LOOKS LIKE…
NOTRE DAME VS GEORGIA -
PENN STATE VS BOISE STATE -
TEXAS VS ARIZONA STATE
OHIO STATE VS OREGON
WHAT THE PLAYOFF WOULD LOOK LIKE IF THEY’D ONLY LET ME RE-SEED IT AFTER THE FIRST ROUND…
OREGON VS ARIZONA STATE
PENN STATE VS GEORGIA
TEXAS VS NOTRE DAME
OHIO STATE VS BOISE STATE
*********** During Valdosta State’s Division II semifinal win over Minnesota State, they asked Valdosta State’s head coach, Tremaine Jackson about Alfonso Jackson, one of the most exciting running backs I’ve seen all season, any level.
Said Coach Jackson, “He’s a DOG!”
And then, quickly, to make sure he wasn’t misunderstood, explained, “Discipline, Obedience, Grit.”
*********** Old friend Sam Knopik, long time coach at Kansas City’s Pembroke-Hill School, knows that I’m a collector of football books, and was kind enough to send me this story about Bill Belichick and his football book collection.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2015/01/28/bill-belichick-library-steve-belichick-naval-academy
*********** Clearly, Ken Niumatololo is no longer a one-trick pony.
From 2007 through 2022, he was Navy’s head coach. In 16 years, he won 109 games, and took the Middies to nine bowl games. Most impressive of all, he was 11-5 against Army. (He won his first nine games against the Black Knights, a far longer streak than any other Navy coach.)
He did it all with the triple option that he learned under Paul Johnson. And while his offense - heavy on the run and light on the pass - was perfect at the Naval Academy, it almost certainly eliminated him as a candidate for other jobs he might have been interested in. For a number of reasons, today’s big-time athletic directors simply won’t hire a coach who won’t air it out.
But this past season, his first at San Jose State, he’s shown the football world a Ken Niumatololo they’d never seen before - a pass-first, run-second Ken Niumatololo.
This past year, his Spartans threw 552 times as opposed to 324 rushing attempts.
The passing game produced 4,183 yards versus 1,138 on the ground, and 31 touchdowns as opposed to 13. The Spartans averaged 7.6 yards per per pass attempt versus 3.5 yards per carry.
You’d have to see it to believe it - his offensive linemen never put a hand down. They go the whole way in two-point stances.
It looks very run-and-shootish to me. They seldom use a tight end and I haven’t seen them mess with any of that H-Back or sniffer or pistol stuff.
Aesthetically and professionally I don’t care for it, but I understand: you can’t run any offense if you don’t have a job, and there just aren’t a lot of job openings for out-of-work triple option coaches.
*********** Evidently the word is out that Pete Carroll is interested in the Chicago Bears job. They could do a lot worse than a guy who’s won a National Championship and a Super Bowl. (He’s one of just three to do that - besides him, there’s just Barry Switzer and Jimmy Johnson.)
Carroll’s 74. If he were to get the Bears’ job (or, now that we know he’s back in play, some other NFL job) he would become the oldest NFL head coach ever, beating out Romeo Crenell, who was 73 when he took over as interim coach of the Texans in 2020.
*********** Saturday’s two NFL games drew larger viewing audiences than any of the college football playoff games, and they trounced the two playoff games that opposed them in the same time slots.
Figures shown are the average of viewer numbers at different points in a game
Playoff Games up against NFL games
SMU vs Penn State: 6.4 million
Texans vs Chiefs: 15.5 million
***
Clemson vs Texas: 8.6 million
Steelers vs Ravens: 15.4 million
Playoff Games with no NFL competition
Indiana vs Notre Dame: 13.4 million
***
Tennessee vs Ohio State: 14.3 million
Not that the college games were flops: the overall average of the four games was 10.6 million viewers, which was more than all but four college games this past season
Georgia-Texas: 13.2 million
Michigan-Ohio State: 12.3 million
Georgia-Alabama: 12.0 million
Alabama-Tennessee: 11.5 million
NOW - ARE YOU READY FOR THE REAL SHOCKER?
I forgot to add that SMU-Penn State and Clemson-Texas had some additional competition beside the NFL games:
SMU vs Penn State: 6.4 million
South Dakota State vs North Dakota State: 1.6 million
***
Clemson vs Texas: 8.6 million
South Dakota vs Montana State: 1.4 million
DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS? WITH ZERO PROMOTION, GOING UP AGAINST THE PLAYOFF, SOMETHING THAT’S BEEN HEAVILY PROMOTED SINCE THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON, ONE FCS SEMIFINAL GAME DREW ONE- FOURTH THE AUDIENCE THAT SMU-PENN STATE DREW, AND THE OTHER DREW ONE SIXTH THE AUDIENCE THAT CLEMSON-PENN STATE DREW
SHEER GENIUS: ESPN IS PAYING ABOUT $1.3 BILLION PER YEAR FOR THE RIGHT TO TELEVISE THE PLAYOFF - NEXT TO NOTHING TO TELEVISE THE FCS SEMIFINALS AND FINALS
*********** I’ve found that analogies are great ways to help me teach - to explain something to players by comparing it to something else that they might be more likely to be familiar with.
I came across a great one recently while reading in the Wall Street Journal the obituary of a man named Clifton Wharton. Mr. Wharton had a long, varied and distinguished career - as president of Michigan State University (becoming the first black president of a major university), chancellor of SUNY (State University of New York) with its 64 campuses, chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation, Deputy Secretary of State, and Co-Chairman of the Knight Commission on College Athletics.
His obituary noted that in his autobiography he had advised any leader coming into a new organization to resist the temptation to immediately begin making big changes. He compared it to trying to “change the fan belt while the engine is still running.”
*********** The way I always heard it was that old Jewish ladies, asked whether chicken soup could actually cure various ailments, would reply, “It can’t hurt.”
Similarly, while you may not believe in the power of prayer - “it can’t hurt.”
I came across this article in the Wall Street Journal telling how in 1944, as the opening rounds of what came to be called the Battle of the Bulge were fired, General George S. Patton implored American soldiers to pray…
Eighty years ago, with the Allies stalled at Germany’s western frontier, another bloody winter loomed. Even the usually ebullient Gen. George Patton, commander of the U.S. Third Army, was in a funk. His forces, which had slashed across France months earlier, were suffering and stuck in the mud.
On Dec. 8, an exasperated Patton asked his chief chaplain, James H. O’Neill, to compose a prayer for good weather. He ordered 250,000 copies to be distributed to every man in the Third Army. By Dec. 14 prayer cards were scattered among more than 20 divisions.
The timing was perfect. Two days later, the Germans began a terrifying barrage of Allied lines in the densely forested Ardennes, marking the opening salvos of World War II’s deadliest campaign, the Battle of the Bulge. Hitler’s aim was to split Allied forces, reach the port of Antwerp, and perhaps force a negotiated end to the war on the western front.
The ensuing fight would cost the U.S. some 19,000 men and wound nearly 50,000. As they battled amid atrocious conditions, many in summer clothing, the young Americans needed something to hold on to besides a rifle or friend in a foxhole. According to surveys from the U.S. Army’s Information and Education Division, almost three-quarters of U.S. soldiers turned to prayer in especially frightening combat. Faith mattered to men confronting death.
Patton instructed his men: “Pray when driving. Pray when fighting. Pray alone. Pray with others. Pray by night and pray by day.” He believed the Third Army’s nearly 500 chaplains, representing 32 denominations, were as critical to victory as his tank commanders. “He wanted a chaplain to be above average in courage,” O’Neill recalled. “In time of battle, he wanted the chaplains up front, where the men were dying. And that’s where the Third Army chaplains went—up front. We lost more chaplains, proportionately, than any other group.”
Patton relied on his faith more than most commanders did. Brig. Gen. Harry H. Semmes wrote that Patton “always read the Bible, particularly the life of Christ and the wars of the Old Testament. He knew by heart the order of morning prayer of the Episcopal Church. His thoughts, as demonstrated daily to those close to him, repeatedly indicated that his life was dominated by a feeling of dependence on God.” Semmes added that “Patton was an unusual mixture of a profane and highly religious man.”
Gen. Omar Bradley concurred: “He was profane, but he was also reverent. He strutted imperiously as a commander, but he knelt humbly before his God.” This was certainly the case during Patton’s finest moment in the Ardennes. “Destiny sent for me in a hurry when things got tight,” he wrote at the height of the battle. “Perhaps God saved me for this effort.” He also noted: “We can and will win, God helping. . . . Give us the Victory, Lord.”
The Almighty obliged despite Patton’s frequent profanity. (The Third Army commander is said to have believed that to make his men “remember something important” it was necessary to “give it to them double dirty.”) On Dec. 23, the skies cleared, allowing a massive Allied air force to wreak havoc on German forces and supply lines. “What a glorious day for killing Germans!” Patton wrote in his diary.
By late January 1945, Hitler’s last great strike in the West had ended in abject failure. The winter combat, as Winston Churchill stressed, was “the greatest American battle of the war.” In Luxembourg, shortly after the ordeal ended, a prominent clergyman, Daniel A. Poling, encountered some of Patton’s weary soldiers with their prayer cards. In an icy hell, their faith had been strengthened or renewed and then rewarded. As Poling recalled, they “believed—firmly believed—that God stopped the rain in answer to their prayers.”
By spring 1945, Patton had crossed the Rhine with an unstoppable army. After the guns fell silent in Europe that May, Patton hoped he might be sent to the Pacific. Instead, he became the military governor of Bavaria, a role unsuited to the bellicose warlord. In September 1945, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower removed him from that position after he made one too many impolitic statements to the press. “It is rather sad to me to think that my last opportunity for earning my pay has passed,” Patton wrote. “At least, I have done my best as God gave me the chance.”
The end was nigh. Patton was injured in a car accident on Dec. 9, 1945, and died 12 days later at age 60. He was buried on Christmas Eve in the American cemetery in Luxembourg, alongside a Third Army soldier who perished in the Battle of the Bulge.
His celebrated prayer asked for good weather, but it also implored God to “crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies” and establish justice among men. All who cherish freedom should thank the Lord for righteous blasphemers like Gen. Patton and the legions of God-fearing Americans he led to victory over evil.
*********** I was pleased to hear that Diego Pavia was granted an injunction allowing him more college eligibility.
The ruling, which applies only to him but soon, it would seem, could apply to others, was that the season(s) he spent in junior college should not count against his seasons of NCAA eligibility. His attorneys argued that it unfairly impacted his ability to market his name, image and likeness.
Considering that the NCAA now seems to grant extra eligibility for almost any reason (there are now guys playing football as sixth- and seventh-year players), it seems absurd that Pavia’s having played football at a level totally unconnected with the NCAA should count against his years of eligibility at a college.
For many years, athletes have attended prep schools for a year (or even two) after high school, at no cost to their college eligibility. They can step right into a college program as freshmen, with four years of eligibility.
But if athletes go to junior college and spend the usual two years there, they enter four year colleges as juniors, with only two years of eligibility remaining.
Here’s where It’s hard to reconcile the differences between these two situations, prep schools and junior colleges:
As an example of a prep school, at least half of the freshmen football players at Army will have spent a year at the US Military Academy Prep School (USMAPS). It’s designed to help prepare kids coming out of high schools for the academic rigor and strict cadet life of West Point, but it also provides them an extra year of (technically) high school football. When they arrive at West Point as plebes (freshmen) they have four years of college eligibility.
But when you look at the USMAPS football schedule you see that at least three of the teams on the prep school’s schedule are junior colleges. Why should those JC kids lose college eligibility while the guys they’re playing against don’t?
*********** In a book called “The Golden Age of Pro Football,” by Mickey Herskowitz (a Houston sportswriter who should be forever recognized as the man who gave the wishbone its name) I found this little gem about legendary defensive back Dick “Night Train” Lane…
He was an expert at the clothesline, or necktie, tackle, and yanking a ball carrier down by his face mask, until the NFL legislated against this little gesture. It was suggested, in fact, that Lane's head hunting had inspired the action. Train took the position that if a player couldn't take getting his neck wrung, he shouldn't be playing.
Even after law and order became the rule, Lane continued to tackle high. "My object,” he said, "was to stop the guy before he gained another inch. I was usually dealing with ends who were trying to catch passes, and if I hit them in the legs they would fall forward for a first down. There was nothing I hated worse than a first down. It meant I had to stay out there for three more plays. I grabbed them around the neck so I could get back to the bench and sit down.”
***********QUIZ: WITH THE CHRISTMAS RUSH, I FELT THAT THIS MAN DESERVED MORE TIME TO BE RECOGNIZED;
ACTUALLY, I’M SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATING GOING TO ONE “QUIZ” SUBJECT PER WEEK.
BUT IN THE MEANTIME, HERE’S A GOOD ONE FER YA:
What unusual career move do the following college coaches have in common?
Johnny Majors
John Robinson
Mack Brown
Greg Schiano
*********** QUIZ: A native of Corning, New York, he played college football at Penn State, where he was a two-time All-America, lettering in football, baseball, boxing and wrestling.
He played at Penn State from 1914 to 1917, and was first named an All-American in 1915 - the second Penn Stater to be so honored. During World War I he left Penn State to serve as a U.S. Army officer in France, and after his discharge, he returned to Penn State to captain its football team and earn All-America honors for a second time.
After graduation, he began his coaching career at West Virginia Wesleyan, while at the same time playing professionally with the NFL Canton Bulldogs (1920-1921).
In 1925 he moved to Washington University in St. Louis, and in 1928 he returned to Penn State as an assistant.
He was named the Lion head coach in 1930 and served in that capacity for the next 19 years.
It was not easy going. He succeeded Hugo Bezdek, who had been his coach in 1919, and who in 12 years at State College had gone 65-30-11, with only one losing season in that time. Bezdek remained as athletic director, and there seems to be some evidence that he was less than completely supportive of his successor.
It wasn’t until our guy’s eighth season that he finally posted a winning record. Perhaps it was coincidental, but that was 1937, which was also the year that Bezdek was dismissed as athletic director.
Over the next 11 seasons, he would have just one losing season.
His best season was after World War II, 1947, when he led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten, untied regular-season record in the school's history. The Lions finished 9-0, shutting out six opponents along the way. They tied Southern Methodist, 13-13, in the 1948 Cotton Bowl, in only the second time that Penn State had played in a bowl game.
When the Lions finished the season ranked #4 - behind Notre Dame, Michigan and SMU - it marked the first time a Penn State football team had been ranked in the Top Ten.
During his time as head coach, Wally Triplett became the first black player to start a game at Penn State, and became the first black man to play in the Cotton Bowl.
The now-famous “We Are… Penn State!" cheer dates to November, 1946, when Penn State’s players learned that Miami, the final game on the Penn State schedule, had declined to let Penn State’s two black players (one of whom was Wally Triplett) play. “We are Penn State!” said the team captain, Steve Suhey, a World War II vet. “It’ll be all or none.” He called for a team vote and it was unanimous: forfeit the game. And so it appears in the official records: “cancelled.” Legend has it that Miami then contacted Syracuse about replacing Penn State and the Orange declined.
When poor health forced him to retire in 1948, his record at Penn State was 91-57-11, and his all-time record was 123-83-16.
His daughter, Virginia (“Ginger”), married Steve Suhey, the captain and an All-American guard on the unbeaten 1947 Cotton Bowl squad.
The Suheys had four sons, three of whom - Larry, Paul and Matt - lettered in football at Penn State between 1975 and 1979.
Matt played for 10 years with the Chicago Bears in the National Football League and is a member of the Pennsylvania football all-century team.
Two great-grandsons, Joe and Kevin, have also played for Penn State.
For good reason, the Suhey family - going all the way back to Ginger’s father - is considered the First Family of Penn State Football.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
He died in 1969.
After he retired as Penn State’s head coach, he was succeeded by Joe Bedenk, a longtime assistant and the head baseball coach, who wound up coaching for one year.
Bedenk was succeeded by Rip Engle, who coached for 16 years before turning the job over to his chief assistant, Joe Paterno, who was Penn State’s coach for 46 years.
When Paterno first arrived at Penn State in 1950, after having been Engle’s quarterback at Brown, he lived for a year with Ginger and Steve Suhey.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2024 "Destiny sent for me in a hurry when things got tight.” George S Patton
MY ANNUAL CHRISTMAS WISH FOR FOOTBALL COACHES EVERYWHERE (First printed in 2000, and every Christmas since, with annual revisions as needed):
May you have.... Players' Parents who recognize that you are the football expert; who stand back and let you coach their kids; who know their kids' limitations and don't expect them to start unless in your opinion they're better than the other kids; who don't sit in the stands and openly criticize their kids' teammates; who don't think it's your job to get their kid an athletic scholarship; who schedule their vacations so their kids won't miss any practices; who know that your rules apply to everybody, and are not designed just to pick on their kid...
A community that can recognize a year when even Vince Lombardi himself would have trouble getting those kids to line up straight... Opponents who are fun to play against; who love and respect the game and its rules as much as you do, and refuse to let their kids act like jerks... Students who want to be in your class and want to learn; who laugh at your jokes and turn their work in on time... who listen carefully, hear everything you say and understand all instructions the first time...Officials who will address you and your kids respectfully; who know and respect the rulebook; who will have as little effect on the game as possible; who will let you step a yard onto the playing field without snarling at you... Newspaper reporters who understand the game, always quote you accurately, and know when not to quote you at all...
A school district that provides you with a budget sufficient to run a competitive program... A superintendent (or principal) who schedules teachers' workdays so that coaches don't have to miss any practices... An athletic director who has been a coach himself (or herself!) and knows what you need to be successful and knows that one of those things is not another head coach in the AD's office; who can say "No" to the bigger schools that want you on their schedules; who understands deep down that despite Title IX, all sports are not equal... Assistants who love the game as much as you do, buy completely into your philosophy, put in the time in the off-season, and are eager to learn everything they can about what you're doing. And why! And if they disagree with you, will tell you - and nobody else... A booster club that puts its money back into the sports that earn it, and doesn't demand a voice in your team's operation... A principal who believes that when there's a teachers' position open, the applicant who is qualified to be an assistant coach deserves extra consideration; who doesn't come in to evaluate you on game day; who gives you weight training classes, and makes those weight-training classes available to football players first, before opening them up to the general student body; who knows that during the season you are very busy, and heads off parent complaints so that you don't have to waste your time dealing with them; who can tell you in the morning in five minutes what took place in yesterday afternoon's two-hour-long faculty meeting that you missed because you had practice... A faculty that will notify you as soon as a player starts screwing off or causing problems in class, and will trust you to handle it without having to notify the administration... A baseball coach who encourages kids to play football and doesn't have them involved in tournaments that are still going on into late August... A basketball coach who encourages kids to play football and doesn't discourage them from lifting, and doesn't hold "open gym" every night after late-season football practices ... A wrestling coach who encourages kids to play football and doesn't ask your promising 215-pound sophomore guard to wrestle at 178...
A class schedule that gives you and at least your top assistant the same prep period... Doctors that don't automatically tell kids with little aches and pains to stay out of football for two weeks, even when they know there's nothing seriously wrong with them... Cheerleaders who occasionally turn their backs to the crowd and actually watch the game; who understand the game - and like it... A couple of transfers - move-ins to your district - who play just the positions where you need help... A country that appreciates football and football coaches - and realizes what good it can do for its young men... A chance, like the one I've had, to get to know coaches and friends of football all over the country and find out what great people they are... The wisdom to "Make the Big Time Where You Are" - to stop worrying about the next job and appreciate the one you have ... Children of your own who love, respect and try to bring honor to their family in everything they do... A wife (like mine), who understands how much football means to you... Motivated, disciplined, coachable players who love the game of football and love being around other guys who do, too - players like the ones I've been blessed with....
For all assistants - A head coach whose values and philosophy you can support
They're the things I've been blessed with - may you be blessed with them, too.
And one special wish for those coaching brothers who find themselves "between positions" at this time of year - May your Christmas joy not be dimmed by the fact that you're temporarily without a team, and instead may it be brightened by faith that your next job is just around the corner. (If my experience is any indicator, it will be a far better one than the last one, anyhow!)
FINALLY...
A nation at peace - a peace that exists thanks to a strong and dedicated military that defends us while we sleep.
A nation whose people love it and what it represents, and respect the people who came before us and made it all possible
A nation whose leaders love it more than they love power and personal enrichment.
*********** A Christmas thought...
I have only one firm belief about the American political system, and that is this: God is a Republican and Santa Claus is a Democrat.
God is an elderly or, at any rate, middle aged male, a stern fellow, patriarchal rather than paternal and a great believer in rules and regulations. He holds men accountable for their actions. He has little apparent concern for the material well being of the disadvantaged. He is politically connected, socially powerful and holds the mortgage on literally everything in the world. God is difficult. God is unsentimental. It is very hard to get into God's heavenly country club.
Santa Claus is another matter. He's cute. He's nonthreatening. He's always cheerful. And he loves animals. He may know who's been naughty and who's been nice, but he never does anything about it. He gives everyone everything they want without the thought of quid pro quo. He works hard for charities, and he's famously generous to the poor. Santa Claus is preferable to God in every way but one: There is no such thing as Santa Claus.
From "A Parliament of Whores - A Lone Humorist Attempts To Explain The Entire U. S. Government ," by PJ O'Rourke, 1991
********** WHAT DO I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS? There's nothing material that I need or want. My request of God - not Santa Claus - is that I'll wake up on Christmas morning and be back in America again. Actually, I'm going to wake up tomorrow morning with the fulfillment of my wish just four weeks away.
MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR HOME TO YOURS
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Maine's new coaching brain trust took a season to get adjusted. We assumed that the four larger schools on our Yankee conference schedule – the Universities of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Connecticut – would be our biggest rivals. So we focused on those games and won the conference. We shrugged off the advice of the locals who kept telling us that success or failure at Maine was measured by games against traditional rivals we had never heard of – Bates, Bowdoin and Colby – in what was called the State Series. We lost all three of those games in 1950. Former Yale coach Ducky Pond was at Bates; the coach at Bowdoin was Adam Walsh, the center at Notre Dame when the legendary Four Horsemen played in the backfield. I can't recall who was at Colby. No matter. These guys taught us something about coaching.
“We played only seven games, and I lobbied Dave to schedule eight or nine, as many other schools did. He was skeptical, pointing out that we didn't get paid any more for coaching eight or nine games, and if we lost, it would only put more pressure on what we were trying to accomplish.
“Orono, the small town just north of Bangor where the Maine campus is located, had one thing in common with Hillsdale, Michigan: bitterly cold winters. Unable to find any other place that we could afford, Rena and I lived in student housing. The apartment units had been converted from World War II barracks. Our place had walls like cardboard and a space heater. We cooked on a kitchen range that had been converted from wood to oil. In those severe winters I remember walking 150 yards to an oil shack to get a refill for the heater. You would take a breath, and your nostrils would stick together and immediately freeze.
“When Dave Nelson was hiring me as his line coach at Maine he mentioned to Tad Wieman, the athletic Director, that I had coached baseball at Hillsdale. Coincidentally, Maine's baseball coach had just left. The job was mine.
“Most of our baseball practices that spring were held indoors. We had hitting cages for batting practice, and we ran bases and did other drills in a big fieldhouse. Occasionally, the snowplows would clear a parking lot, and I was able to take our players outside long enough to hit fly balls to the outfielders and infielders.”
*********** If the purpose of The Playoff is to produce a “true national champion,” the CFP committee did its job, mainly by eliminating four teams that had no absolutely zero chance of winning four straight games against the kind of competition they faced this past weekend.
If it’s to produce entertaining games - which used to be a major goal of bowl games - it was a colossal failure. After a season of so many unbelievably exciting college football games, The Playoff provided us with four real dogs.
The conflicting goals represent a dilemma for ESPN, which - let’s face it - has for years been the engine driving college football madly down the track to a larger and larger playoff format. But will the public keep watching?
Yes, there is a significant portion of the TV audience that will watch any game at all. All you have to do is keep telling them and telling them and telling them how important it is. But even these dupes aren't so stupid that they don’t recognize a bad game when they see one. There’s also a fairly large number of actual football fans, and they don’t take long at all to recognize a stinker. And then there are the dyed-in-the-wool followers of the two teams involved: The fans of the obviously stronger team will watch to the bitter end. But how quickly will the fans of the losers-to-be bail?
It will be interesting to see the TV ratings to see how dramatically the viewership fell off by halftime.
*********** “If James Franklin is winning playoff games, you have too many teams in the playoffs.” Stugotz
*********** NOTRE DAME 27, INDIANA 17 - Great atmosphere, or so it seemed. But not much of a game. We see it all the time in high school, whenever the undefeated AAA power goes up against the one-loss AAAA champ. I respect the job that Kurt Cignetti has done at Indiana, but his cockiness - and at such an early stage, yet - is unbecoming of a coach. (If by some chance you left early, don’t let the score fool you, It was 27-3 with 1:27 left to play. Game over. That’s when Indiana - its starters still in - scored twice to make things look a lot more respectable than they actually were.)
PENN STATE 38, SMU 10 - College Football Game Day did a feature on D’Eriq King, former vagabond college QB who’s now the 27-year-old quarterback coach at SMU. And then they had to go and spoil everything by showing a national TV audience what kind of job he’d done with Mustangs’ quarterback Kevin Jennings. Aargh. Possibly the worst performance by a quarterback in a post-season game in all my years of watching. Yes, he can throw the ball 65 yards with a flick of the wrist. But he carries the ball one-handed and well below the elbow, he throws off balance and across his body, and passed up a sure first down in order to attempt to make a heroic play.
TEXAS 38, CLEMSON 24 - At least the Tigers refused to quit, coming back from three scores down to make it a one-score game early in the fourth quarter. But that brings up this question: Considering that Clemson was the “last team in,” barely a winner over SMU thanks to a last-second field goal, how good, then, is Texas?
OHIO STATE 42, TENNESSEE 17 - It must have killed those a$$hole fans in Columbus who wanted the Buckeyes to lose so they’d finally be rid of Ryan Day - the ones who sold their tickets to Tennessee fans - to watch the Buckeyes’ trouncing of Tennessee. You had to chuckle at those derisive “SEC! SEC! SEC!” chants coming from the Buckeyes’ fans. And at the absolute silence from all those SEC “fan bases” that felt entitled to spots in The Playoff because, well, “It Just means More.”
*********** My Power Ratings, based on what I’ve seen so far…
1. (TIE) Ohio State, Oregon
3. Notre Dame
4. Penn State
5. Georgia
6. Texas
7. Arizona State
8. Boise State
*********** Don’t look now, but of the eight teams left in The Playoff, three are Big Ten teams (okay - one, Oregon, is a recent acquisition) but only two are SEC teams (if you count Texas).
*********** It won’t surprise me to find the Buckeyes favored over Oregon in the Rose Bowl. Which brings me to the need to re-seed after the first round. Any fool could have foreseen the need to keep the top two seeds from meeting in the quarter-final round.
*********** Next time we hear someone whining about how much they “deserve” a spot in the playoff, as if we’re still giving out participation trophies, we shouldn’t forget that the Playoff Committee kept Florida State out last year precisely to avoid a game like Indiana-Notre Dame, or SMU-Penn State, as deserving as Indiana and SMU might have been. The CFP people caught hell for it because, we kept hearing, "Florida State is deserving." Maybe next year coaches should be required to write an essay titled "Why I Would Like to be in The Playoff.” (I’m just kidding. There’s probably not one coach of a playoff team who’s ever written an essay. Besides, they have GAs and ChatGPT.)
*********** Montana State, ranked number one in FCS, made it to the final game with a convincing 31-17 win over South Dakota in Bozeman, Montana. In the other semifinal, North Dakota State kept South Dakota State from winning its third straight FCS title, beating the Jackrabbits, 28-21, in the FargoDome.
Let’s face it - as whorish as FBS is becoming, its refreshing to watch an FCS game without having to kid ourselves about whether the guys playing actually care about the game or their teammates or are even college students.
But as long as we’re on the subject of playoffs…
Back when there was still a debate over the “need” for a playoff, we kept hearing that “FCS manages to have a playoff…” and so forth.
Ahem. They have a 32-team playoff - but it seems to me it doesn’t work all that well. Every year they play for four or five weeks and still wind up with pretty much the same bunch of teams.
*********** When I heard that Fernando Mendoza had entered the transfer portal, I almost gagged. You’d have to see the act he put on in the postgame interview after Cal came from behind to beat Stanford. The word for it is fulsome: disgustingly excessive. But despite the tears and the undying love for his brothers, blah, blah, blah - he’s now in the Transfer Portal, debating whether to sign with Georgia, Indiana, UCLA or Wisconsin. (This from a guy who had ZERO offers coming out of high school and was all set to go to Yale when along came the offer from Cal.)
*********** Between injuries, opt-outs and the Transfer Portal, we’re seeing a lot of backup quarterbacks playing on short notice, in colleges and the pros. Most of the time, sadly, they suck.
Hey - in the case of colleges, you have to assume that the guys were all recruited. Somebody, at some point, thought they were worth spending a scholarship on. And in the NFL, they’ve all had decent college careers - some of them NFL careers.
Makes you wonder: don’t they get ANY coaching?
*********** As the clock wound down on the Ohio State-Tennessee game, I saw Seth McLaughlin down on the Buckeyes’ sideline, smoking a cigar. Tsk, tsk. Didn’t anybody tell him that The Shoe is a no-smoking zone?
Actually, after all that he’s been through, if I had been there, I’d have gotten to him before he lit up and handed him a Padron and lit it for him.
Just about this time a year ago, Seth McLaughlin was Alabama’s center, and he was in the process of being crucified by the TV guys - and then by Bama fans - for single-handedly costing the Tide their playoff game against Michigan.
It got brutal, which may have been part of the reason why he hit the Transfer Portal after the game.
I believed that the criticism was unjust, and I felt the need to come to his defense…
I WROTE THIS LAST JANUARY 5-
Except possibly in the case of Jason Kelce, playing center is one of the most thankless and anonymous jobs in all of sports.
But it’s one of the toughest. And one of the most important.
Quarterbacks can throw 35 or 40 passes a game, and people will marvel at 70 per cent accuracy.
But today’s centers throw 60 or more passes a game - between their legs, without even looking - and if they happen to miss their target just once a game they’re the object of scorn and derision.
Once a quarterback throws a pass he immediately joins a protected class. Let a defender so much as look at him cockeyed and there’s hell to pay.
But a center has two jobs. He throws his pass - that’s his first job - and then his second job begins.
After he’s thrown his pass, he’s not shielded from contact the way the quarterback is. In fact, as often as not, he instantly becomes the personal target of the biggest, strongest man on the opponent’s defense - the opposing nose guard. And in the cases when he’s not, he has to go find someone to block. Maybe, if he’s as athletic as Kelce, he’ll even pull out and lead a runner.
Most coaches understand how difficult a center’s job is.
But most fans don’t, as in the aftermath of the Alabama-Michigan game so many of them seem to be blaming Bama’s loss on their center.
Granted, Bama’s snaps weren’t perfect, but they weren’t as bad as the amateur experts have been claiming. Yes, there was an errant snap that cost the Tide 13 yards. It was slightly off center, but it would have been catchable had it not been snapped before the QB - and the rest of the team - was ready. Ever snapped a ball with 100,000 fans screaming? Me neither. So I can’t say how tough it is to snap the ball at the proper time under those conditions. But from what I’ve been reading - one mistake out of 66 snaps? String him up!
I undertook to look at every one of Alabama’s snaps - all 66 of them - in slow motion, side view and top view, and I’m here to say that in my judgement Alabama’s center, Seth McLaughlin, is getting WAY too much blame for Alabama’s poor performance.
Yes, there was the one snap that was uncatchable. And he was guilty of one false start when he moved the ball slightly.
At most I saw three other snaps that the QB, Milroe, had to make any extra effort to catch. But - none of the TV guys mentioned this - there were several decent snaps that Milroe mishandled, chiefly because of his highly unorthodox manner of catching them.
Hey, Alabama - if that’s the best way to be catching snaps (hands apart, one hand over the other, trying to clamp the ball between them as it arrives) how come you’re not teaching that technique to your receivers?
Maybe you’re on to something, but now that I’ve printed the photos, your secret’s out. And who knows - maybe next year every quarterback will be catching snaps this way. But I doubt it.
Check out next Tuesday’s Zoom and see what I mean.
Back to the present day... Once in the portal, he was picked up by Ohio State, which ought to tell you something about the judgement of all those yahoos who wanted him drawn and quartered.
He wound up starting for the Buckeyes and playing very well until a late-season injury laid him low. Many think that his not being in the lineup against Michigan was a major factor in the Buckeyes’ shocking upset loss.
Ironically, his cigar smoking could be interpreted as meaning he held no hard feelings toward Alabama, since it’s a tradition for the winners in Alabama-Tennessee games to light up in celebration. On the other hand, it could also have been an in-your-face reminder that he, at least, got to beat Tennessee this year, even if they didn’t.
*********** Emmanuel Acho, on X:
There are 3-5 elite CFB teams annually. Another 4-5 really good ones, everyone else is just, “good.”
Adding more playoff games just exposes the reality of CFB. The gap between the 6th best team and the 11th best is the size of the Atlantic Ocean.
*********** I’m not a huge volleyball fan but I like the sport, and one of my daughters coaches it.
So I know that Penn State’s women won the NCAA title - their eighth - by beating Louisville.
Here’s what’s amazing, considering all the years since Title IX: Penn State’s Katie Schumacher-Cawley became the first woman to coach a team to a Division I volleyball title.
Every bit as impressive - She coached the team while undergoing chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer and never missed a practice.
*********** If the 49ers don’t get things straightened out, it’s a good thing that Kyle Shanahan won’t have to go out and get a real job because he looks like he’s just wandered away from a homeless camp.
*********** Phil Longo, who left North Carolina as OC to become OC at Wisconsin, is now off the sinking ship and head coach at Sam Houston State.
*********** In all my years of coaching, I have yet to hear another coach call ANY play an “end-around.” I know what an “end around” is, but it’s a play - and a term - that’s so old it’s almost totally obsolete. In fact, at a time when a “tight end” might line up almost anywhere, even in the backfield, there’s almost no such thing as an “end” anymore. At least on offense. So why, when broadcasters normally try to sound as if they actually know the game, do they insist on calling a reverse or a jet sweep an “end around?”
(I was shocked to hear an announcer named Dave Fleming, calling the Montana State game, say “Jet Sweep!”)
*********** Mark Jones is such a jackass with his insistence of using name suffixes: “A catch by Wallace the third!”
*********** Who was the last Ohio State coach to leave of his own volition?
*********** With guys attending two and three colleges, will “Senior Day” go the way of Lincoln’s Birthday?
*********** Watching the Ohio State Band (“TBDBITL” as Woody hayes used to call it) do the “Script Ohio” used to be a halftime must whenever an Ohio State home game was televised. It’s an almost unbelievable feat of precision marching, with some honored individual getting to carry a sousaphone and “dot the i” at the end.
But that was then. Saturday night, the fools they hired to televise a college game obviously had no idea what was going on, so they kept the cameras at field level - the worst place imaginable to watch the band perform - and let the frat boys in the booth yuck, yuck, yuck.
*********** You had to see College Game Day’s special edition on Friday afternoon/evening to see a comedian named Shane Gillis get under Nick Saban’s skin. Gillis is a Notre Dame fan, and he started by saying that it was great now that Notre Dame could pay players “just like everyone else.” It was obvious that King Saban, who’s lived in his royal bubble for years now, did not enjoy having someone taking shots at him, and he proved very testy and humorless in trying to respond to Gillis’ barbs. (I’m still trying to figure out how the number of players Alabama has in the NFL is proof that they “did things right” and didn’t pay players.) The best was when Gillis, referring to Saban’s Indiana Jones hat, called him “Alabama Jones.”
*********** Coach,
I hope you are well and the Christmas season is shaping up to be a joyous one for you.
I am very late with my nomination for the Black Lion. I hope it can still be considered.
The Trojans had another good season, in large part to the double wing. We finished 9-2, winning our first playoff game since 2017. We knew who we were (not a passing team), and ended up producing over 4000 yards of rushing offense and 40+ points per game. Both wings were all-state (1st team and honorable mention). As you know, the line deserves far more recognition than they will ever get, except in film sessions. Those backs know who got them to the endzone, though.
As I enter the twilight of my career, I find myself more and more thankful for the box of videos I found in 2001 that had Dynamics in it. I was going through a stack of books the other day and found the Dynamics VHS tape, the playbook, and Don Capaldo's handout from a clinic at Augustana in 2000. I showed them to my sons and said "guys, if I hadn't come across these, I wouldn't be where I am today." They were fascinated. As always, thank you.
Merry Christmas,
Todd Hollis
Elmwood, Illinois
For you, nominations are still open! Send it! (Coach Hollis is a recent inductee into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame.)
*********** And now Coach Dickert is leaving Wazzu for Wake Forest. He grew up 30 minutes north of Green Bay and a UW-Stevens Point grad.
I thought when you wrote this Tuesday that it was so true — "When the college football bubble bursts - and I pray that I’ll live to see the day - there’ll still be FCS and Division II and Division III, so I’ll be okay."
What a mess. It's so stupid what they're doing. Just watching the Badgers trying to navigate this new world and it's been weird. They recruit a QB each season and both have potential but neither will be ready to play, so will they enter the portal? If so, which portal window period? The one right after the regular season that messes up bowl and playoff teams or the second one? So many players just keep bouncing school to school.
You don't want to play the rent-a-QB game but they kind of have to at the moment until their young QBs are ready. So difficult for the coaches to retain and build a program. Seems so reactive instead. We've seen basketball coaches get out the game as a result and I think there's football coaches who will as well. Perhaps Coach Clawson is one who has had enough.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
There is no doubt in my mind that Coach Clawson has had enough. He’s an educated guy - a Williams grad - and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him next at a D-III school.
*********** Hugh, Notre Dame vs. Georgia in the Sugar Bowl SHOULD be a good one. BUT, Georgia is NOT Indiana. I’m still not convinced Irish OC Mike Denbrock is the play calling guru the talking heads claim he is.
Texas has all the tools to be national champs but they are SO inconsistent! They need more practice under center! If they continue playing that way Arizona State has a shot.
Penn State is still an unknown commodity having gone through their CFP scrimmage with SMU. They’ll get a test from Boise.
As of this correspondence THE Ohio State Buckeyes are having their way with Tennessee. Go Ducks!!
Best game of the day on Saturday was the FCS semi-final between NDSU and SDSU.
The Bison are back! The championship game in Frisco, TX with Montana State could be epic.
Speaking of NDSU…Fresno State’s new HC is former NDSU HC Matt Entz. Dog fans better get ready for some good old fashioned physical football for a change, instead of the basketball on grass they’ve seen over the last decade.
Now that the Ivy League has decided to take part in the FCS playoffs I wonder how a Dartmouth-Villanova first round matchup would end up?
Merry Christmas!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Joe, I would say that Villanova’s league - the Coastal Athletic Association - is third toughest in FCS - after the Missouri Valley Football Conference (NDSU, etc) and the Big Sky (Montana State, etc.). Those conferences give football scholarships and they tend to play at least one game a year against at least one tough FBS school. The Ivy League is competitive, but it places certain restrictions on its members that put them in a class or two below the Villanovas, North Dakota States, and Montana States.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: In the 1960s the Cowboys, trying to get the jump on the rest of the NFL, spent considerable time and effort looking for the “best athlete available,” rather than the usual “best player available.”
They looked carefully at guys who were good in other sports such as baseball, basketball and track. (Since they didn’t share the information, they didn’t have to use draft choices on them.)
The Cowboys and their personnel director Gil Brandt, valuing raw athletic ability as almost on a par with football ability, saw one particular basketball player and his rebounding ability and saw potential as a defensive back: Cornell Green.
He had never played a down of college football. In fact, wanting to concentrate on basketball and baseball, he had played only one year of high school football.
At El Cerrito High in Richmond, California, he was a standout basketball player, and at Utah State he was a two-time All-American. He was Skyline Conference MVP his senior year, and left as the Aggies’ all-time leading rebounder. (He’s in the Utah State Hall of Fame, and his number 24 is retired.)
Offered a free agent contract by Dallas, he signed, figuring he would go to training camp, and then, after getting cut, he’d report to the NBA team that had drafted him.
But he didn’t get cut. Instead, he made the team and became a starting cornerback as a rookie, and wound up playing 13 seasons with the Cowboys.
Just three years earlier, his older brother “Pumpsie” (real name Elijah) had become the first black player to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last major-league team to integrate.
Big (6-3, 210) and fast, with great leaping ability, he gained a reputation as one of the earliest of pro football’s “cover corners.” Said Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry, “He’s the guy who covers the Bobby Mitchells of the league,” referring to the Washington Redskins’ great wide receiver.
He also gained a reputation for toughness and durability. Including playoffs, he started 186 games. At one point, he started 145 consecutive games, the third best in Cowboys’ history.
He was three times named first team All-Pro, and once named to the second team.
He was selected to five Pro Bowls, and is one of the few defensive backs in NFL history to earn Pro Bowl invitations as both a cornerback and a safety.
The Cowboys won 63 percent of the games that he played in, winning seven division titles, two NFC championships and one Super Bowl. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1971, the year of that Super Bowl victory.
Cornell Green was named to the Cowboys’ 25th Anniversary team, and is still considered the best Cowboy ever to wear the number 34.
After his playing days, he spent 35 years as an NFL scout, 28 of them with the Denver Broncos.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CORNELL GREEN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
JOHN ROTHWELL - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
TOM DAVIS - SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: A native of Corning, New York, he played college football at Penn State, where he was a two-time All-America, lettering in football, baseball, boxing and wrestling.
He played at Penn State from 1914 to 1917, and was first named an All-American in 1915 - the second Penn Stater to be so honored. During World War I he left Penn State to serve as a U.S. Army officer in France, and after his discharge, he returned to Penn State to captain its football team and earn All-America honors for a second time.
After graduation, he began his coaching career at West Virginia Wesleyan, while at the same time playing professionally with the NFL Canton Bulldogs (1920-1921).
In 1925 he moved to Washington University in St. Louis, and in 1928 he returned to Penn State as an assistant.
He was named the Lion head coach in 1930 and served in that capacity for the next 19 years.
It was not easy going. He succeeded Hugo Bezdek, who had been his coach in 1919, and who in 12 years at State College had gone 65-30-11, with only one losing season in that time. Bezdek remained as athletic director, and there seems to be some evidence that he was less than completely supportive of his successor.
It wasn’t until our guy’s eighth season that he finally posted a winning record. Perhaps it was coincidental, but that was 1937, which was also the year that Bezdek was dismissed as athletic director.
Over the next 11 seasons, he would have just one losing season.
His best season was after World War II, 1947, when he led the Nittany Lions to only the second unbeaten, untied regular-season record in the school's history. The Lions finished 9-0, shutting out six opponents along the way. They tied Southern Methodist, 13-13, in the 1948 Cotton Bowl, in only the second time that Penn State had played in a bowl game.
When the Lions finished the season ranked #4 - behind Notre Dame, Michigan and SMU - it marked the first time a Penn State football team had been ranked in the Top Ten.
During his time as head coach, Wally Triplett became the first black player to start a game at Penn State, and became the first black man to play in the Cotton Bowl.
The now-famous “We Are… Penn State!" cheer dates to November, 1946, when Penn State’s players learned that Miami, the final game on the Penn State schedule, had declined to let Penn State’s two black players (one of whom was Wally Triplett) play. “We are Penn State!” said the team captain, Steve Suhey, a World War II vet. “It’ll be all or none.” He called for a team vote and it was unanimous: forfeit the game. And so it appears in the official records: “cancelled.” Legend has it that Miami then contacted Syracuse about replacing Penn State and the Orange declined.
When poor health forced him to retire in 1948, his record at Penn State was 91-57-11, and his all-time record was 123-83-16.
His daughter, Virginia (“Ginger”), married Steve Suhey, the captain and an All-American guard on the unbeaten 1947 Cotton Bowl squad.
The Suheys had four sons, three of whom - Larry, Paul and Matt - lettered in football at Penn State between 1975 and 1979.
Matt played for 10 years with the Chicago Bears in the National Football League and is a member of the Pennsylvania football all-century team.
Two great-grandsons, Joe and Kevin, have also played for Penn State.
For good reason, the Suhey family - going all the way back to Ginger’s father - is considered the First Family of Penn State Football.
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.
He died in 1969.
After he retired as Penn State’s head coach, he was succeeded by Joe Bedenk, a longtime assistant and the head baseball coach, who wound up coaching for one year.
Bedenk was succeeded by Rip Engle, who coached for 16 years before turning the job over to his chief assistant, Joe Paterno, who was Penn State’s coach for 46 years.
When Paterno first arrived at Penn State in 1950, after having been Engle’s quarterback at Brown, he lived for a year with Ginger and Steve Suhey.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2024 "I think this man (Obama) really does believe he can change the world, and people like that are infinitely more dangerous than mere crooked politicians.” Thomas Sowell
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “In that first season we ran the Michigan Single Wing offense, but our tailbacks were constantly getting hurt, including a serious shoulder injury to our star, Harold Marden. We finally decided to convert to the T-formation, with the quarterback taking a direct snap from the center on every play. We hoped this would prevent further injury to Marden, who later became an executive with one of the world’s largest chemical firms.
“Before the 1950 season Nelson sent Westerman, our backfield coach, to Notre Dame to pick the brain of Frank Leahy, the noted coach of the fighting Irish and a T-formation master. Dave had conferred earlier with Rip Engle, then at Brown University, another pioneer in that offense.
“Then Dave did his own innovating, working his red and blue pencils to stubs; those modifications produced the Winged-T. Our offense would feature a balanced line (equal number of players on each side of the center in the offensive line) with a wingback in the backfield. We tried to keep the blocking principles of the Single Wing. Simply, instead of just shoving a defending player away as most blocking is practiced now, our goal was to have the blocker stay welded to his opponent and sustain that move.
“At 2 AM the night before the players were scheduled to report for the start of two-a-day practices we still hadn't made a final decision to make the change. Finally, Nelson said, "Let's not lose our guts; let's go with it. Let's go home and get a few hours sleep, and come back here and get ready to coach it tomorrow.” And we did.
“That was the beginning of the famous Winged-T offense. We used it successfully that season at the University of Maine. But the formation’s popularity didn't take off until Nelson, accompanied by me as his line coach, moved to the University of Delaware the following season (1951).”
*********** Mike Lude’s been gone since March, and there’s still scarcely a day that goes by that I don’t think about him - so many things go on in the world of college football that remind me of him and what he might be saying about them.
Most of what he’d have to say, I can assure you, would be negative - and this, from the most positive person I’ve ever known.
Just imagine devoting your life to the game - first as a coach (Hillsdale, Maine, Delaware,, Colorado State), but then especially as an administrator (Kent State, Washington, Auburn), working for the common good and, above all, for order, and then seeing the state of disorder that it’s in.. He saw the Pac-8 grow to ten teams (he was opposed) and then to 12 teams, and then, finally, disintegrate.
i dearly miss talking with him - he’d have loved to listen to me tell about this past season at Aberdeen, and he would have been delighted at the outcome of our recent election - but I know how much it would hurt him to see what’s happened to the college football he worked so hard to help build.
*********** INDIANA AT NOTRE DAME (FRIDAY NIGHT) - Go Hoosiers. Go Irish. I don’t have a serious rooting interest here. Part of me wants to see the underdog Hoosiers move on, part of me wants to see Notre Dame become Notre Dame again. That latter part of me somehow has been able to forget the Irish neighborhood I grew up in, and how obnoxious the so-called subway alumni were when Notre Dame was a national power. I think that Notre Dame has the better chance in the next round, but on the other hand, with a big win finally in hand the Hoosiers could be tough.
SMU AT PENN STATE - The team that was given the death penalty against the team that the NCAA wanted to give the death penalty to. For a long time, I LOVED the Nittany Lions. Loved Joe Paterno. But then they told us that Joe Paterno was a bad guy. Tried to erase their history because he was a bad guy. Fired him because he was a bad guy. Pulled down his statue because he was a bad guy. Ever since then I’ve had a hard time rooting for Penn State because I didn’t believe he was a bad guy - still don’t - and I don’t like the kind of people who think that by pulling down statues they can change history. So I wouldn’t mind seeing SMU win. But regardless of my prejudices, I think that if Penn State can play the way they did against Oregon in the Big Ten title game, the Lions will win.
CLEMSON AT TEXAS - I know a lot of Clemson people and I like Dabo Swinney. I despised Sarkisian when he was at Washington and then USC but maybe he really has reformed. Still, I like the Tigers. The two starting QBs- Clemson’s Cade Klubnik and Texas’ Quinn Ewers - have met before, in the 2021 Texas state Class 6A championship game, won by Klubnik’s Southlake Carroll High over Ewers’ Austin Westlake, 52-34. Fans of both QBs might have to miss this game, because while Klubnik and Ewers are going at it, their two high schools will be playing for state titles at the same time. Of course, there’s always the chance that Sarkisian will realize that he could use a little running from his quarterback and decide to give Arch Manning more than a play or two.
TENNESSEE AT OHIO STATE - This ought to be a good game and ordinarily it wouldn’t bother me if Tennessee were to win. In fact, it might please me to see the spoiled Ohio State fans’ Christmases ruined. But I’m not ready for the chaos that’s going to ensue in Columbus if the Buckeyes should lose. A playoff loss on top of another loss to Michigan would likely be cause for one or more public hangings, so I think you’ll find me pulling for O-HI-O.
*********** Hey TV announcers - unless it has a roof over it, a stadium is not a building.
*********** Years ago, I was back at Yale for a reunion, and a few of us had a chance to meet with the head coach at the time, Jack Siedlecki.
Someone asked why the Ivy League champion didn’t take part in the post-season football playoffs, and Coach Siedlecki explained to us that the league’s presidents did not want anything to impinge (he didn’t use that word) on the league’s traditional end-of-season rivalries, many of which dated to the nineteenth century - Harvard-Yale, for example.
They felt that should be enough.
It actually made some sense to me. Shouldn’t Harvard-Yale be enough? Army-Navy? Ohio State-Michigan? UCLA-USC? South Carolina-Clemson? Auburn-Alabama?
Wouldn’t winning the game against your archrival be the right way to end the season?
But that was then, and this is now, and this week the high and mighty poohbahs of the Ivy League went back on themselves - and agreed to participate in the NCAA Division I FCS playoffs, starting next season.
It means that now an Ivy League team can play for a national title. Sure. And a Conference USA team can win The Playoff.
Ivy League Football is not bad. It’s not a joke, as some wise guys would like us to think. But the step up in FCS from Yale to North Dakota State is about the same as the step up in FBS from Ball State to Alabama.
One thing is worth considering. If some of those Ivy League hedge fund guys ever decide to get serious about their NIL collectives - and who’s going to stop them? - the current FCS powers in Montana and the Dakotas won’t know what hit them.
To me, the really interesting thing is that many of the presidents who approved this move to add some emphasis to football are the same ones who just a few years ago cancelled an entire season.
*********** Army’s star running back Kanye Udoh has entered the Transfer Portal.
Just a few years ago, another very good Army player did the same thing but then, perhaps finding out that the grass over on the other side wasn’t that green, he decided to stay at Army and presumably all was forgiven.
What, someone recently asked on an Army board, should happen if Udoh were to decide to return?
The first answer I saw had to have come from a career Army guy, and it represents the kind of hard-nosed thinking I grew up around, with World War II vets as my teachers and coaches:
In my opinion, regardless of his outcome, Udoh should never play Army football again.
There should be something called team loyalty.
I agree that it will be a huge loss for Army in one sense, but I disagree in another sense that he will have lost respect among his teammates which will negatively affect his play.
I ask you: would you want to go into battle with this person, or anyone like him?
You wouldn't know if he would run to save his skin and leave you hanging or not.
*********** Malik Murphy did a nice job for Duke this season after leaving Texas, and it surprised me to hear that he’d entered the Transfer Portal. But “surprise” scarcely describes my reaction to the news that he’s going to - Oregon State.
Cool. I do remember hearing that after leaving Texas last year he’d had a good visit to OSU before deciding on Duke.
I’ll bet that what swung the deal this time was Oregon State’s forestry program.
*********** I made a huge mistake recently when I somehow overlooked Mick Yanke’s correct identifying of Duke Slater.
Coach Yanke, from Cokato, Minnesota, is a longtime reader.
As he put it, “Your page has been a 20 year source of knowledge, entertainment and fellowship for me and your readers.”
So first of all, an apology.
Bur second of all, I missed out - and so did all the readers - on a very significant piece of information he provided:
Duke Slater, Coach Yanke pointed out, was also a good track man.
Results from the 1921 NCAA Track Championships
HAMMER THROW
1. Charles Redmon, Chicago
2. Blackwood, Northwestern
3. Duke Slater, Iowa
4. Skidmore, Southern Illinois
DISCUS
1. Gus Pope, Washington
2. Blackwood, Northwestern
3. Praeger, Kalamazoo
4. Duke Slater, Iowa
Many thanks to Coach Yanke for the research.
*********** Adam Wesoloski, of Pulaski, Wisconsin, passed along what I think was meant as a joke :
I am being told that Dave Clawson put his letter of resignation in the Wake Forest A.D's hand but held onto it for five additional minutes to honor the slow mesh.But while we’re on that subject, I wonder what will happen to Warren Ruggiero, who’s been with Dave Clawson for the last 15 years as his OC. He’s the inventor of Wake’s slow-mesh and they’ve been very secretive about its workings.
*********** Dr. John Rothwell, from Corpus Christi, noted when identifying Joe Carr, that another good topic for my QUIZ would be the Nesser brothers - seven brothers from Columbus, Ohio (a couple of them were born in Germany) who gained fame in the early days of pro football, such as it was. It’s a great suggestion but I doubt that I could make it much of a challenge, given that their story is so unique.
Anyhow, you may want to read about them…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nesser_brothers
John also made a significant addition to today’s QUIZ subject, Stan Hindman, with the story - still a legend at Ole Miss - of how he ran down from behind LSU speedster Joe LaBruzzo (whom he outweighed by 60 pounds), downing him just short of a touchdown.
http://southdocs.org/the-rundown/
*********** I really like Wake Forest. A grandson is a Wake grad. It’s a very good school with a beautiful campus in a nice southern city. Although it’s the smallest school in all Power 4 conferences, it has still managed to be competitive in all major sports.
But increasingly, Dear Old Wake Forest is beginning to look like The House of Broken Dreams
First they lost Kenneth Walker to Michigan State. (Where he wound up finishing sixth in the Heisman voting.)
Then they lost Sam Hartman to Notre Dame. (Maybe he didn’t have such a great year at Notre Dame, but they’d have known how to use him at Wake Forest.)
And recently they lost their coach, Dave Clawson, who evidently, after 11 years, came to the conclusion that he was fighting a losing battle there.
Next up? Jake Dickert, who’s been at Washington State. Ironically, he gave up on the WSU job the day after his QB, John Mateer, entered the Transfer Portal.
I wish Wake well and I wish Jake Dickert well. He’s a good man. I just wonder if he did his due diligence and still thinks he can change the law of gravity.
Or were things really getting that bad in Pullman, Washington?
Meanwhile, back in the Pacific Northwest, John Canzano has a list of suspects for the WSU job:
Brent Vigan (Montana State), Tim Plough (UC Davis), Ken Niumatalolo (San Jose State), Paul Chryst (ex-Wisconsin head coach)
And get this one: “I’d interview Rick Neuheisel.”
********* Isn’t it interesting how quickly after some guys enter the Transfer Portal we hear where they’re headed?
They - and the schools they sign with - must be incredibly quick at doing their research and negotiating, because as we all know, it’s not permissible for other schools to talk to players in advance - before they enter the transfer portal. They wouldn’t dare, knowing that if they did, they’d get a strongly-worded letter from the NCAA.
*********** JOHN CANZANO ON THE COUGS...
Jake Dickert is leaving Washington State to become the head football coach at Wake Forest. Nobody should be shocked, which is only to say that most of us understand that a person can only take so much.
Dickert was abandoned by the athletic director who hired him, repeatedly ditched by his coordinators, and just watched his star quarterback, John Mateer, and 19 other teammates scramble into the transfer portal, causing a bottleneck.
What?
You had Dickert down as a forever guy in Pullman?
WSU’s 41-year-old coach publicly said he wanted to work for 10 more years and then retire. I didn’t have his “dream job” penciled in as a modest address on Tobacco Road, but these are the times — and college football is broken.
NIL, the transfer portal, realignment, an invasion of street agents, an absence of guidelines, no consequence for rule breakers — the shocking thing is that Dickert didn’t throw in the keys last December when his other star quarterback, Cam Ward, announced he was leaving.
Ward head-faked like he was declaring for the NFL Draft last spring, then landed at Miami, where he cashed a seven-figure NIL check and became a Heisman finalist.
I cautioned WSU multiple times in print over the last few months that it needed to lock Dickert down with a lifetime contract. Yes, even amid his team’s late-season swoon. He was a growing flight risk, in part because he cared so much and the world around him was wobbling.
The Cougars should have thrown their best contract pitch at Dickert while they still had the chance. There were multiple discussions during the season between Dickert’s agent and WSU Athletic Director Anne McCoy, per sources. But insiders told me there were concerns about pushback from the university trustees, who had recently scolded the athletic department for overspending and slashed $11 million from the budget.
It takes money to win football games, folks.
It’s like Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said this season: “Pay the man his money.
ASU’s athletic department, incidentally, spent $121 million on all sports in the last fiscal year. That ranks second-to-last among the 10 public schools that made the College Football Playoff and No. 33 in the country. Give Dillingham a ‘high-five’ for beating the odds.
Ohio State spent $72 million on football alone in the same fiscal year.
Washington State’s entire annual athletic department budget is $74 million. Boise State, which spent “only” $24 million on football, is proof winning can be accomplished on the cheap with a good culture and an unusually loyal 2,000-yard running back. But we need to get real — the financial gap is widening with every season, and the playing field is tilted in a way that flies in the face of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
The SEC and Big Ten will receive a combined 58 percent of the College Football Playoff revenue. Those two conferences also have media rights contracts that pay them tens of millions more annually than peer conferences. The math only makes sense if the objective is to leave the SEC and Big Ten as the only two conferences eventually standing.
It’s an anti-competitive market. The financials create an unreasonable restraint on the competition. By definition, it’s an antitrust issue. Washington State won’t be the only school left to fight donor apathy and the sinking feeling of alienation. It’s coming eventually for others, including the Big 12 and ACC.
NIL?
The transfer portal?
They’re wonderful tools for athletes, theoretically. But those things should have been onboarded years ago by the NCAA in a methodical, thoughtful, rational manner. There should have been collective bargaining and parameters designed to protect both sides. Instead, it was a rushed and unregulated mess.
I spoke with several high-level WSU donors in the last two weeks. Boosters who fund the Cougar Collective met twice to cobble together their best NIL offer to Mateer. “Mom-and-pop” business in Pullman chipped in. Donors reached deep. They came up with a NIL package that was worth more than $1 million and presented it to Mateer along with a video from ex-Cougar greats Ryan Leaf and Jack Thompson.
The message from the two former NFL QBs to Mateer: “You could stay here and be the very best of all of us.”
The thing is, Mateer had a $1.5 million offer from an SEC school on the table. There was also a deal in the works from the collective of another school that would be worth as much as $3 million. The Cougars didn’t have a chance. Not even armed with a seven-figure package and some sincerity.
One long-time WSU donor told me: “I only have so many of these left in me. This is ridiculous. This s—t has got to change.”
Dickert sounded understandably down about things this week. He said: “I think the first step is realizing there are no rules. That’s the first step. I mean, tampering is now part of it… if you’re not recruiting other people’s rosters, it feels like in today’s world that... you’re going to fall behind.”
Then, Dickert walked into the portal himself.
John Mateer told his team that he was entering the transfer portal. (Photo: Geoff Crimmins)
Another Division I head football coach reached out to me on Tuesday with some numbers. There are 6,658 football players in the transfer portal in all divisions of football. On Monday and Tuesday, 300 new players entered the transfer portal. All other sports combined have 15,121 athletes in the system.
Two transfer windows in football? One of which opened on Dec. 9, before the football postseason even started? The other football transfer window comes in the spring? Where a starting player can theoretically leave his team in a lurch if he gets a better offer from someone with a big pile of money? It makes no sense unless the desired outcome is chaos.
I know some who are eager to see NCAA President Charlie Baker and the major conference commissioners dragged in front of a congressional committee to answer antitrust questions about college football. It would be good theater, but I’d also like to see the bigwigs at FOX and ESPN get some airtime on C-SPAN, too.
Is this what the networks had in mind when they consolidated the college football inventory and dismantled a 108-year-old conference? They “parted out” the Pac-12, snatching the LA market, Oregon’s brand, and some TV households in Phoenix, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. It’s not the job of television executives to think about the consequences on the left-behind campuses, I guess, but I wonder if they realize the role they played.
Dickert’s family is packing up and moving to Winston-Salem, N.C.
Which means Rylee, his daughter, is going, too. One of the first messages I got on Wednesday after the news broke was from Matthew McNelly, a church pastor who works down the street from WSU’s campus.
His daughter is friends with Rylee.
“I’m heartbroken for my kid,” the pastor wrote. “She has lost so many friends these last nine months.”
*********** Mountain West Report - from our Melbourne, Australia Bureau
UNLV lost a good football coach.
They’ve also found a good football coach.
Barry Odom, who revitalized the Rebels’ program is off to try to do the same thing at Purdue. UNLV didn’t miss a beat, luring Dan Mullen out of retirement – or should I say TV land – to continue what Odom has built.
Mullen’s pedigree is solid, a 103-61 record as a head coach at Mississippi State and Florida,a 7-3 bowl record and two BCS national championships as an offensive coordinator.
UNLV will pay Mullen a Mountain West-record $3.5 million per year on a five-year deal. That’s more than twice what Odom was paid, and close to double what Colorado State pays Jay Norvell, previously the conference’s highest-earning coach.
Dampier Gone
As predicted, it was too difficult for New Mexico to hang on to star quarterback Devon Dampier, who is headed to the University of Utah. The Lobos – who surprisingly nearly made a bowl game this season – have lost head coach Bronco Mendenhall (to Utah State) and offensive coordinator Jason Beck, who will take Dampier with him to Utah.
Actually, our Melbourne, Australia Bureau is staffed - and headed - by my son, Ed Wyatt, who finds that Australia is a great vantage point to keep an eye on Mountain West sports (I avoid accusations of nepotism by making sure he’s the only one on staff)
*********** Hello Coach,
Well, we wrapped up our season last week with a 12-2 record (4th round game). Great season and great group of kids.
I have a quick question about blocking back with the center.
When facing odd fronts, (which became almost weekly) We started out the year basing the nose and allowing our TE to cut/gate/hinge block the 4i. We ended up playing some great defensive linemen and they made us pay. We did have a large and not that athletic sophomore TE attempting this block but regardless we had a lot of run though.
We ended up towards the end of the season blocking back with center on the 4i and the playside guard blocked down on the nose. It’s seemed to clean things up for us. I wanted to hear your thoughts on this. Our backside cut block is some old Paul Johnson 45,60, 90 3 step drive to the front knee and get them down, kind of block. Look forward to hearing from you.
I also enjoy going back and watching the podcasts, Thanks
Tim Grady
Head Football Coach
Athletic Director
B.A (Born Again)
James Kenan High School
Warsaw, North Carolina
Hi Coach,
Congratulations on a great season.
To answer your question:
First of all, it sounds as if we’re on the same page.
We don’t normally have problems with the TE doing his “replace and turn back” (R & T) as long as we’re very careful to make sure of the “Holy Trinity” of tight gaps, back off the ball as much as possible, and inside hand down.
I avoid any low blocks on the backside because with our tight splits I’m concerned that at some point we’ll get called for a chop block.
Against a lot of odd fronts, mostly 3-5-3 or some variation of a 5-3, when that tackle is closer to the center than he is to the TE, I will do one of three things:
(This is all explained on page 56 of the playbook)
66 Super Power Dog 66 Super-O Dog (Backside Tackle doesn’t pull)
These drawings aren’t shown against an odd front, but the principle is the same.
1. DOG: Down block across the front; TE: R & T
2. O: Block as usual but don’t pull the backside tackle; TE and T: both R & T
3. O-DOG: Down block AND don’t pull the backside tackle
So as I say, it appears that we see eye to eye on the down blocking. We disagree on the low blocking on the backside but that’s okay. There's no question about its effectiveness - just so long as you don’t run into the wrong refs!
Merry Christmas!
Hugh Wyatt
*********** Most know Harold Bloom as an influential literary critic. I know him as Yale's greatest football player.
For obvious reasons I haven't wanted to discuss the A-N game. Your list is accurate. I also kept a list. It began with the out-of-bounds KO. Then the phantom tackling. KO coverage was atrocious. Worley had nothing to go to when the planned offense failed. My list says no screens, no misdirection, no changeup in splits...oh, what the heck, it was poor preparation, which I insist falls under the rubric of Leadership.Our HC, OC, and DC were defeated in detail by their Navy counterparts. I'm watching to observe what they learned. (Dr. Johnson: "Man requires not so much to be taught as to be reminded.")
I hope CFB collapses quickly so it can similarly find a new way more quickly.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
I completely agree with your assessments on this week’s edition of the “news.”
Navy-Army: The Mids sang second, AND, get first billing, deservedly so. They were ready, they were steady, they outplayed and outcoached the Army! Kudos to coach Newberry. On the other hand…
There is something else going on with Jeff Monken and the entire program. Losing a player like Udoh to the portal is not a good sign.
Marshall is the first school, and certainly won’t be the last school, to suffer from the pangs of what I call “AAU Transfers” as long as the Transfer Portal remains to run amok in the world of college athletics.
Combined, the portal and NIL is killing college football. It will certainly widen the gap between the haves and have nots. I can see schools like Wake Forest initiating a new organization of schools that place limits on Transfers and NIL money.
Frankly, at some point I truly see the demise of these super conferences reorganized into more of an NFL model. Those who are willing to pay for that model will play in that model. I’m certain it will include player contracts of some sort, and marketing fees to the schools to pay for the rights of name usage. AND…this won’t just apply to football. This will become a joint venture for the NFL and the NBA.
The NCAA has lost all control of its initial purpose. From the top down, all the way to the enforcement of its own rules. All the way down to how players should wear their uniforms!
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: He played his college football in Mississippi… was a Number One draft choice of the 49ers… Wore number 80.
But no, he wasn’t Jerry Rice. He was Stan Hindman - and he was 19 years before Jerry Rice.
At Newton (Mississippi) High School he earned all-southern and all-state honors as a lineman, and earned three letters in football, five in track, two in basketball and one in baseball.
Although heavily recruited by most schools in the South, he chose to go to West Point. But when he discovered quite early that cadet life was not for him, he called Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught to ask if there was still a scholarship available for him.
There was one, indeed, and Coach Vaught immediately summoned another freshman player, one who knew Hindman from competing against him in high school track, and informed him that he was going to be getting a new roommate.
But, the freshman told the coach, he already had a roommate, a friend from his hometown. Replied Coach Vaught, “As I told you, I want you to room with Stab Hindman.”
They roomed together for four years and, said the roommate, “I can honestly say we never had a harsh word, not one.”
In addition to being a very good football player, he was a straight-A student. “(He)wasn’t like the rest of us,” recalled his roommate. “He studied all the time. Stan loved school. He loved to learn.”
“I started out at Ole Miss thinking I'd like to become a doctor,” he recalled years later. “But premed and football are a little tough to take together. Besides, I found myself hanging around the fine arts building more and more, and I became increasingly interested in what was going on. Finally I switched my major to fine arts.”
“In the back of my mind, I suppose I always had an interest in art, because as a kid I can remember always doodling. Later in high school I drew a lot. Drew pictures of almost anything. My uncle had some art books and I used to borrow them."
He was good enough as a two-way lineman to be drafted Number One by both the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and the AFL’s Houston Oilers. He signed with San Francisco.
He signed a $350,000 contract - total - spread out over 13 years.
He was originally forecast to be an offensive lineman, but the team needed help on defense, and his unusual speed for a big man made him an outstanding defensive end. After a serious knee injury suffered during his fourth season slowed him down, he moved inside to defensive tackle.
He retired after the 1971 season, but came back a year later to help the 49ers after injuries nearly wiped out their defensive line.
By that time, he had become known for his art - particularly sculpture - but chose not to have any public showings because he wanted his art to stand on its own merits, and not as something done by a well-known football player.
He had also in his final pro years begun studying architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.
Torn briefly between pure art and the more commercial architecture, he chose the latter. “I love the gathering of the information, creating the seed of what the building is going to look like,” he said. “Then getting the sense of what it can be from an architectural standpoint and achieving it.”
After working for several Bay Area architectural firms, he received his architectural license in 1989 and began to work on his own, mostly designing homes.
He had a very successful practice, and when asked years later whether he defined himself by football or by architecture, he said architecture. “It’s something I’ve been doing for a longer time.”
But, he added, “Part of me is being an athlete. I owe football a lot.”
He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. He was chosen as an SEC Legend in 2014 and is a member of Ole Miss “Team of the Century” (1893‑1992).
Asked in 2007 for any advice that he would give to current draftees, he said, “You should really dedicate yourself to getting better at what you do, so that you can have pride in it later on. That means really training and working on whatever technique it takes to perfect it. In that way, it’s like art.”
Stan Hindman died in July, 2020.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING STAN HINDMAN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JASON MENSING - ENGLEWOOD, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN ROTHWELL - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: In the 1960s the Cowboys, trying to get the jump on the rest of the NFL, spent considerable time and effort looking for the “best athlete available,” rather than the usual “best player available.”
They looked carefully at guys who were good in other sports such as baseball, basketball and track. (Since they didn’t share the information, they didn’t have to use draft choices on them.)
The Cowboys and their personnel director Gil Brandt, valuing raw athletic ability as almost on a par with football ability, saw one particular basketball player and his rebounding ability and saw potential as a defensive back.
He had never played a down of college football. In fact, wanting to concentrate on basketball and baseball, he had played only one year of high school football.
At El Cerrito High in Richmond, California, he was a standout basketball player, and at Utah State he was a two-time All-American. He was Skyline Conference MVP his senior year, and left as the Aggies’ all-time leading rebounder. (He’s in the Utah State Hall of Fame, and his number 24 is retired.)
Offered a free agent contract by Dallas, he signed, figuring he would go to training camp, and then, after getting cut, he’d report to the NBA team that had drafted him.
But he didn’t get cut. Instead, he made the team and became a starting cornerback as a rookie, and wound up playing 13 seasons with the Cowboys.
Just three years earlier, his older brother “Pumpsie” (real name Elijah) had become the first black player to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last major-league team to integrate.
Big (6-3, 210) and fast, with great leaping ability, he gained a reputation as one of the earliest of pro football’s “cover corners.” Said Cowboys’ coach Tom Landry, “He’s the guy who covers the Bobby Mitchells of the league,” referring to the Washington Redskins’ great wide receiver.
He also gained a reputation for toughness and durability. Including playoffs, he started 186 games. At one point, he started 145 consecutive games, the third best in Cowboys’ history.
He was three times named first team All-Pro, and once named to the second team.
He was selected to five Pro Bowls, and is one of the few defensive backs in NFL history to earn Pro Bowl invitations as both a cornerback and a safety.
The Cowboys won 63 percent of the games that he played in, winning seven division titles, two NFC championships and one Super Bowl. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1971, the year of that Super Bowl victory.
He was named to the Cowboys’ 25th Anniversary team, and is still considered the best Cowboy ever to wear the number 34.
After his playing days, he spent 35 years as an NFL scout, 28 of them with the Denver Broncos.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2024 “Everyone wants a prodigy to fail; it makes our mediocrity more bearable.” Harold Bloom
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “The offensive formation called the Wing-T had a profound, widespread influence on the game of football at all levels. High-profile coaches at national college powers used this offensive system with enormous success. Many high school teams ran it and won state championships. Some high school programs still do.
“During the peak of the Wing-T's popularity, the system – a hybrid mix of the quarterback snap and handoff of the T-formation and the blocking schemes of the single wing formation – was referred to as the Delaware Winged-T.
“That's because the mastermind of the system, Dave Nelson, was head football coach at the University of Delaware, which was somewhat isolated from the well-known collegiate football powerhouses of that era (Notre Dame, USC, Michigan, Alabama, etc.)
“What most of the fans and serious practitioners of the offense didn't know was that the "Delaware" Winged-T actually was launched at the University of Maine. I was there as a member of Dave Nelson’s coaching staff when it all happened. The birth name of Nelson's innovation was Winged-T; as the popularity of his creation increased the name evolved and was simplified to Wing-T.
“If Nelson was the father of the Winged-T, then Harold Westerman and I ought to be considered at least illegitimate sons. Harold and I were on Nelson's coaching staff at Hillsdale and when Nelson was hired at Maine in 1949 he asked us to rejoin him there.”
*********** MY QUICK DISSECTION OF THE ARMY-NAVY GAME
Army was not only upset; Army had its ass kicked.
In one afternoon Army pissed away its best season since 1958.
Army blew a rare chance at a national ranking.
Why?
* Army was not properly prepared
* Army left its best game on the field last week against Tulane - in the unwanted championship game of a stupid conference
* It had been a tough four-week slog, starting with the loss to Notre Dame.
* Army coach Jeff Monken had allowed his name to be associated with openings at P4 schools, almost surely a distraction from the job at hand.
* As little offensive imagination as Army showed against Notre Dame, it showed even less against Navy
* The Army offense was mostly single wing in its most primitive form - tailback off tackle.
* Army showed no misdirection: no counter, no bootleg, no screen
* Army’s defense played as if no one had told them that Navy’s QB could run
* Navy undoubtedly had a belly full of Army this and Army that, Bryson Daily this and Bryson Daily that, Joe Moore Award this and Joe Moore Award that.
TO SUM IT ALL UP - NAVY OUTCOACHED ARMY
I have to confess that I took some guilty pleasure at watching that Navy offense.
The scheme was beautiful and well-executed. Wing-T guys everywhere had to enjoy watching it. I have to admit that I did.
It’s not as if Navy had been hiding any of this. Army’s people had to know what Navy would do. The Middies had four main weapons - QB Blake Horvath, Slotback Eli Heidenreich, RB Alex Tecza, Slotback Brandon Chatman. That’s it. That’s the way it’s been all season. But Army looked as if they’d never even watched film of the Middies.
Navy’s overall battle plan appeared to be to score first and make Army play from behind. To let it all hang out on the first drive and put Army behind - something they hadn’t experienced much all season - and it worked. On defense they planned - correctly - to make Army play left-handed: to take away Daily’s running and force them to do some things they didn’t do well. It seemed as if they knew that Army refused to run counters and traps. The triple option? It was a ruse. They junked that long ago. As Gary Danielson noted, Army didn’t run a single triple option play all game. The result was an anemic running game and a passing game that yielded three interceptions. In fact, two of Army’s most effective plays were incomplete passes that resulted in pass interference.
Don’t even get me going on the fake punt.
As if the loss to Navy wasn’t depressing enough to last a whole year, before the day was over Army was hit with the news that its bowl opponent, Marshall, was backing out, and its leading running back, Kanye Udoh, was entering the Transfer Portal.
*********** ESPN’s Max Olson, writing on X
Of the first 1,500 FBS scholarship players who've entered the portal, 31% are repeat transfers looking to join their 3rd or 4th school.
More than half of them do not have their degree.
*********** ESPN’s Max Olson, writing in ESPN+
In recent weeks, we've seen a bunch of Power 4 starters announce they're returning to their team in 2025, including Kevin Jennings (SMU), Garrett Nussmeier (LSU), Kyron Drones (Virginia Tech), Jalon Daniels (Kansas), Rocco Becht (Iowa State), Brendan Sorsby (Cincinnati), Luke Altmyer (Illinois) and CJ Bailey (NC State).
Sources at several Power 4 schools told ESPN that the price for re-signing a proven starter this offseason is typically exceeding $1 million.
*********** Penn State ran it up against Maryland by letting backup QB Beau Pribula throw a touchdown pass against Maryland with :04 remaining and Maryland down, 38-7.
To show his gratitude, Pribula has entered the Transfer Portal and won’t be playing in the Lions’ playoff game.
He blames the whole thing on the NCAA for presenting him with “an impossible decision.”
Horse puckey, writes Matt Hayes in USA Today.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2024/12/16/college-football-playoff-transfer-portal-beau-pribula-penn-state/77025982007/
*********** John Mateer, Washington State QB, spent two years backing up Cam Ward, who as we all know transferred to Miami for this season and wound up in New York at the Heisman dinner Saturday night. The Cougs tried, but couldn’t come up with enough moolah to keep him. (How degrading is it, anyhow, to beg for money to give to a college kid?) Where’s he going to go? Well, his Washington State OC this past year is now at Oklahoma, so…
*********** Dave Clawson at Wake Forest has thrown in the towel, finally frustrated at his school’s inability to keep up with the big spenders. This is greatly disturbing to me, because I have made no secret of the fact that I admired him more than any other coach in America.
I am sick. College football is sick. I don’t think it can last much longer without turning into something like the NFL, only without the leadership and marketing brains. It won’t break my heart if and when the bubble bursts.
Dave Clawson is a bright guy - a Williams College grad.
He’s the only coach to have won ten or more games at four different colleges: Fordham, Richmond, Bowling Green, Wake Forest
He spent 11 years at Wake. I know that he tuned down numerous offers in that time.
Imagine yourself in this position:
For the 2023 season, Wake Forest star quarterback Sam Hartman left to play his final season of eligibility at Notre Dame. Clawson needled Notre Dame for a video tribute to Hartman on Senior Night, saying, "Here's a guy that we recruited and we developed and they're putting a video on him saying, 'We will always love you.'"
He added: "You only dated him a couple of months. It can't be love. We're the ones that love him. We had five years with him. You rented him for a season. ... When that video played, it was like, 'Holy cow, this is where college football is.'"
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/43008306/sources-wake-forest-dave-clawson-stepping-coach
*********** Now showing:
“We Are Marshall,” the stirring, heartwarming story of a school and its entire community and how they rallied to revive their football program after a disastrous plane crash.
“We Were Marshall,” the dark, depressing story of college football players betraying their school and the community by deserting both in the vain hope of fame and riches someplace else.
*********** Michael Vick’s name is being mentioned as a possible coach at Sacramento State. What the hell - why not? He’s never coached, but he’s just as entitled to the job as some guy who’s spent the last 20 years working his way up the ladder, learning his craft. And besides, he’s better known, which will help them with recruiting, blah, blah, blah.
*********** Jack Patera, the Seahawks’ original head coach, preferred that his players call him “Jack,” and any time a player would call him “coach,” he’d respond by calling the guy “player.”
*********** What is the effect on our economy - and on our society - of taking money from people used to spending it on a variety of things and instead using it to pay large sums of money to uneducated, otherwise unemployable young males to play college football - something that until quite recently those young males were eager to do for free?
Is that any more productive a use of that money than gambling? Actually, no. It’s not. When you gamble, there’s always an outside chance you’ll get a return on your money.
*********** When the college football bubble bursts - and I pray that I’ll live to see the day - there’ll still be FCS and Division II and Division III, so I’ll be okay.
*********** In the East, where there are few junior colleges playing football, it's not that uncommon for high school kids to spend a post-graduate year between high school and college at a prep school. It’s not cheap - a year at some of these places starts at $50,000 - but in comparison with Jucos, prep schools offer far superior academic preparation, and they don’t cost players any college eligibility.
But Friday night, I had to hit rewind to make sure I’d heard correctly when the announcers told us that a Montana State player named Brody Grebe - from Roundup, Montana - had gone to Choate-Rosemary Hall. I know Choate-Rosemary Hall. It’s in Wallingford, Connecticut. We lived in Wallingford briefly after I graduated from college. A year’s tuition there is $69,700.
But maybe it was worth it. After all, Brody Grebe was just named Big Sky Conference Defensive Player of the Year, and - who knows? - maybe it was the year at Choate-Rosemary Hall that made the difference.
*********** I heard the TV guys say that Montana State QB Tommy Mellott drinks two gallons of water a day.
There. I set you up. You provide the punch line.
*********** Is there no getting away from it? As they prepared for a football game I heard, in the background, “We-e ready… We-e ready… We ready… fo-or y’all.”
In Brookings, South Dakota.
*********** Latest addition to the Football Coach’s Book of Handy Cliches… “We gotta execute.”
Also: after it was added to the football vocabulary last year, have you noticed how common “complementary football” has become?
It basically means offense and defense working together cooperatively, helping each other out, in the way a ball-control offense helps the defense by keeping the other team’s offense off the field.
The spelling of the word is crucial.
“Complementary” (with an “e”) comes from “complete.”
“Complimentary” comes from the word “compliment”: “Nice going offense. Way to turn the ball over.”
*********** According to Randy Moss - and I have no reason to disbelieve him - he has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In more than 95 per cent of cases, this means death within five years. He said that he had undergone a Whipple procedure - an extremely complicated operation that requires hours in the operating room. Recovery from Whipple surgery will be long and difficult, but if it’s successful the five-year recovery rate can jump from 5 per cent to 25 per cent. No one in this life is immune to these things, and I’ll pray for the guy.
*********** Back in 2021, Washington State football coach NIck Rolovich refused to take the Covid shot. In the Peoples Gulag of Washington, that made him Public Enemy Number One, and as a state employee that meant that he had to lose his job.
Now that the whole vaccine business appears to have been exposed as something of a hoax, perhaps perpetrated for the benefit of a large pharmaceutical concern, Rolovich has been offered his head coaching job back, with back pay and generous compensation for the damage done to his reputation.
Okay. I lied. (Come on - liberals NEVER admit they were wrong.) But Rolovich is coaching again, hired as an assistant by Cal.
*********** It’s easier to get a visa to visit North Korea than it is for the NFL to get a compliment out of me, but here goes -
The Seahawks-Packers game Sunday night - at least at the start - was the first example I’ve seen in years of both teams - all eleven on each team - dressed in full uniform, stem to stern, every man alike. Every Packer wearing the same color shoes and socks, and all stockings the same height. Ditto every Seahawk. Not a single man on either team with a shirt hanging out, not a single one with a white tee-shirt flowing out below his jersey.
WTF is going on?
Oh - I did overlook the Seahawks in that ghastly green, looking like a bunch of highway flaggers who’d had chartreuse for lunch; and the Packers, wearing white helmets to show the football world that that Lombardi guy was so 1960s.
As I said, WTF is going on?
*********** Sunday night… 8:44 left in the third quarter… Packers face 3rd and 1.
They get stuffed.
I get a text from Scott Mallien, a Green Bay guy and (duh) a Packers’ fan.
Coach you need to teach the Packers how to run the wedge in short yardage.
I texted back:
Coach, just finished watching the recording. First thing we need to get them to do is close down those splits. (They were HUGE) Then we teach them the wedge concept. Then we show them how to block using their pads.
*********** I was eating somewhere where they were showing a No Fun League game, and noticed a new "rule" concerning onside kicks.
YOU HAVE TO NOTIFY THE OTHER TEAM THAT YOU ARE ATTEMPTING AN ONSIDE KICK!
MORONS!
(reason #4,869 why 'pro football' is unwatchable these days - ugh!)
John Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
*********** Before dabbling in Double Wing…
My opinion anyway
1. Stances
2. Splits
3. Play calling verbiage (easier to ask questions/get feedback)
4. Details (1st step, angles, etc)
5. Assignments (as is because they are right and effective)
6. Do NOT dabble in it. It IS your offense (not a part of it)
7. REPS are what make you efficient (more reps = better production)
8. Block the way recommended. Do not think you can switch to the grab-and-steer method.
9. NO TURNOVERS and NO STUPID PENALTIES
As far as the box feeling loaded, I have a theory.
On offense we always hear about getting our best athletes in space.
Well defensively they want the same thing...separation. Engage, extend, get off blocks.
SO the box being loaded and the way we block doesn't give them a chance to get the space they want on defense. Find a running back who can "embrace" the chaos inside the box. There is space there...a good back doesn't need much. If you don't have one of them BLUDGEON people for 3-4 yards a run. (those are fun too)
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
The interesting thing to me is how over the past couple of years the pros have come to realize that they can create “space” by lining up tight, like us. But to show that they’re so-o-o much smarter than us, they call them “compressed formations.”
*********** Just spitballin': so now we're in one of the portal periods. Let's say a kid who just had a very fine freshman season threw his name in the transfer hopper, and decides to leave right away. He thus does not take semester exams, which further means he's earned no academic credits. In theory, this guy could repeat the process a half-dozen times while having achieved zero credits. I'm surely incorrect for numerous reasons, but my point is CFB has turned into such a farce I'm entitled to think this way. In a similar fashion, it's not farfetched to think Army might wind up without a bowl opponent. There has been talk that the entire Marshall squad of starters might transfer to Southern Miss along with their coach. Some schools picked for bowls already have prepared their excuses: "It'll take a miracle for us to win now that our top five WRs have gone into the portal." As you said on today's page, the bowl system will die soon without major changes.
The "assigned at birth" language has torqued me from the moment I first heard it a couple years ago. The hubris of these professor wannabes is indescribable. Picture the doctor asking the new father and mother, "Now it's time for you to tell me which gender to assign the baby."
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, FL
Since this was written, Marshall - the entire school - has opted out.
*********** Hugh,
Hey, did you catch that NFL “thriller” with the 49ers and Rams?
Army-Georgia Tech would have been a better bowl game! And not inviting Army QB Bryson Daily to NYC for the Heisman ceremony is a travesty.
Since college athletics is now all about the $$ I won’t be surprised if the new PAC offers Cal and UCLA the opportunity to return for all sports in the next couple of years. Add Gonzaga and Creighton to enhance basketball revenue and VOILA!!
Enjoy the weekend! Go Army! Beat Navy!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** (QUIZ ANSWER):In its history, the NFL has been led by three “presidents” (from 1920-1941) and five “commissioners” (1941 to the present).
Joe Carr was one of the presidents. He held the job for 19 years, from 1921 to 1939. He has been called “The Father of the NFL,” and “The Father of Professional Football.” Certainly, more than any other individual, he was responsible for keeping the NFL alive in its formative years and through the Depression, and forging much of the structure that today’s NFL stands on.
Born in Columbus Ohio in 1880, he was working as assistant sports editor of the Ohio State Journal when he organized a baseball team made up of employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s “Panhandle Division,” and later a football team, both teams known as the Columbus Panhandles.
The football Panhandles featured the six Nesser brothers, all of them boilermakers for the railroad. Because the Panhandles’ players were all railroad employees, they had free passes which enabled them to travel far and wide at no expense to the team. Consequently, the Panhandles played most of their games on the road, not only in order to save on expenses, but to make scheduling games easier.
At that time it was common for players to jump from team to team, playing for the highest bidder. In fact the Panhandles actually played against Knute Rockne six times in one season; each time, he was playing for a different team.
It was also common for college players to play for their colleges on Saturdays and then, using assumed names, play on Sundays for professional teams.
It was the desire by Carr and other owners to put an end to these practices that was a major factor in the founding of the National Football League
On September 17, 1920, a group of team representatives met in an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio for the purpose of forming a league, which they called the American Football Association.
When Carr was asked to serve as its president, he declined, reportedly saying, “No, I’m an unknown. This league should be headed by the biggest name in football - Jim Thorpe,” whereupon Big Jim was elected president.
The following April, after one season of play, the league met again in Canton. The name of the league was changed to the National Football League. And our guy was named president, replacing Thorpe, at a salary of $1,000 a year.
He wasn't on the job long before he had to come down hard on a team for using college players under phony names. Handed proof that the Green Bay team was guilty of the practice, he ordered the franchise vacated and returned to the league. (A year later, a Green Bay team reorganized under the leadership of Curly Lambeau would be readmitted to the league.)
In 1925 the new president was faced with the league’s first real crisis when the Chicago Bears signed - and played - Red Grange immediately following the end of his college season, and then, shortly after that, the Duluth Eskimos signed Stanford star Ernie Nevers.
There was considerable public outcry, not to mention rage among college coaches, and at the president’s insistence, the owners adopted a resolution that read:
The National Football League places itself on record as unalterably opposed to any encroachment upon college football and hereby pledges its hearty support to college authorities in maintaining and advancing interest in college football and in preserving the amateur standing of all college athletes.
We believe there is a public demand for professional football… And to the end that this league may not jeopardize the amateur standing of any college player, it is the unanimous decision of this meeting that every member of the National Football League be positively prohibited from inducing or attempting to induce any college player to engage in professional football until his class at college shall have graduated, and any member violating this rule be fined not less than $1000 or loss of its franchise, or both.
Through much of his time in the presidency, he had to deal with rival leagues, as well as the comings and goings of lesser-funded teams, most of them in smaller cities. He had had considerable experience with organized baseball and, convinced that the NFL needed to emulate major league baseball in locating in larger cities, he sold Tim Mara a franchise in New York (the Giants), persuaded George Preston Marshall to put a team in Boston (the Redskins, which would soon be moved to Washington), and arranged for the Portsmouth, Ohio team to be relocated to Detroit. He sold Art Rooney a franchise in Pittsburgh (originally called the Pirates) and brought in Bert Bell in Philadelphia to take over the Frankford Yellow Jackets and rebrand them as the Eagles.
As NFL president, he oversaw the introduction of many of the rules that have helped bring about the great fan interest and the competitive parity that today’s league enjoys, including the rearrangement of the league into divisions and conferences, the resultant post-season playoffs, the player draft, and the waiver rule.
In all, he served from 1921 until his death in 1939. By that time, the NFL had strengthened itself through “addition by subtraction”: where in 1926 it had as many as 22 members, by 1939 it was down to ten members. But all - except for Green Bay - were now in “major league” cities. Thanks in large part to his direction, the NFL was strong enough to survive the Depression and what was to come: World War II, and the post-war challenge of the All-American Football Conference.
In 1963, Joe Carr was a member of the very first class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He did all this while also serving as president of the professional American Basketball League - a forerunner of the NBA - and running the Columbus minor league baseball team and helping organize baseball’s minor league structure. At the time of his death, there were 37 minor leagues in America, and 26 of them owed their existence to him.
Joe Carr was once approached by baseball great Branch Rickey about a job in major league baseball. “If you give up football,” Rickey said, “I’ll make you the biggest man in baseball.”
His answer: “If that’s the price I’d have to pay, I want no part of it.”
FAIR WARNING: If your answer includes the first name “JOSEPH” you won’t get credit. That may have been what his mother and father called him when they were angry, but it was NEVER how he was known publicly. Blame it on Wikipedia, and what it’s doing to sports history.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOE CARR
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN ROTHWELL - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He played his college football in Mississippi… was a Number One draft choice of the 49ers… Wore number 80.
But no, he wasn’t Jerry Rice. He was 19 years before Jerry Rice.
At Newton (Mississippi) High School he earned all-southern and all-state honors as a lineman, and earned three letters in football, five in track, two in basketball and one in baseball.
Although heavily recruited by most schools in the South, he chose to go to West Point. But when he discovered quite early that cadet life was not for him, he called Ole Miss coach Johnny Vaught to ask if there was still a scholarship available for him.
There was one, indeed, and Coach Vaught immediately summoned another freshman player, one who knew our guy from competing against him in high school track, and informed him that he was going to be getting a new roommate.
But, the freshman told the coach, he already had a roommate, a friend from his hometown. Replied Coach Vaught, “As I told you, I want you to room with (our guy).”
They roomed together for four years and, said the roommate, “I can honestly say we never had a harsh word, not one.”
In addition to being a very good football player, he was a straight-A student. “(He)wasn’t like the rest of us,” recalled his roommate. “He studied all the time. (He) loved school. He loved to learn.”
“I started out at Ole Miss thinking I'd like to become a doctor,” he recalled years later. “But premed and football are a little tough to take together. Besides, I found myself hanging around the fine arts building more and more, and I became increasingly interested in what was going on. Finally I switched my major to fine arts.”
“In the back of my mind, I suppose I always had an interest in art, because as a kid I can remember always doodling. Later in high school I drew a lot. Drew pictures of almost anything. My uncle had some art books and I used to borrow them."
He was good enough as a two-way lineman to be drafted Number One by both the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers and the AFL’s Houston Oilers. He signed with San Francisco.
He signed a $350,000 contract - total - spread out over 13 years.
He was originally forecast to be an offensive lineman, but the team needed help on defense, and his unusual speed for a big man made him an outstanding defensive end. After a serious knee injury suffered during his fourth season slowed him down, he moved inside to defensive tackle.
He retired after the 1971 season, but came back a year later to help the 49ers after injuries nearly wiped out their defensive line.
By that time, he had become known for his art - particularly sculpture - but chose not to have any public showings because he wanted his art to stand on its own merits, and not as something done by a well-known football player.
He had also in his final pro years begun studying architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.
Torn briefly between pure art and the more commercial architecture, he chose the latter. “I love the gathering of the information, creating the seed of what the building is going to look like,” he said. “Then getting the sense of what it can be from an architectural standpoint and achieving it.”
After working for several Bay Area architectural firms, he received his architectural license in 1989 and began to work on his own, mostly designing homes.
He had a very successful practice, and when asked years later whether he defined himself by football or by architecture, he said architecture. “It’s something I’ve been doing for a longer time.”
But, he added, “Part of me is being an athlete. I owe football a lot.”
He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992. He was chosen as an SEC Legend in 2014 and is a member of Ole Miss “Team of the Century” (1893‑1992).
Asked in 2007 for any advice that he would give to current draftees, he said, “You should really dedicate yourself to getting better at what you do, so that you can have pride in it later on. That means really training and working on whatever technique it takes to perfect it. In that way, it’s like art.”
He died in July, 2020.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2024 “I don’t want to be surrounded by yes men. I want men who tell me the truth, even if it will cost them their jobs.” Samuel Goldwyn
GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!
************ Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Back to my career in baseball. I had played from the time I was the first baseman on the town team in Fulton when I was in high school, through college, and in the Marines in Maui. But I had never coached the game. I wasn't all that confident I understood the nuances of baseball. I got some advice from John Williams, a Hillsdale man who had played in the New York Yankee farm system. Another helpful source was a textbook on baseball written by former Duke coach Jack Coombs. That was my bible.
Surprisingly, we won the MIAA baseball championship that first season. My strategy moves, such as when to replace a struggling pitcher or when to use the hit and run, seemed to be working. One of our best players was shortstop Bill Young, who split time with the baseball team and the track squad, where he was an outstanding sprinter. A few other key players included Tommy McCarthy, who later signed with the Yankees; outfielder Terry Thomas, first baseman Rod Oberlin, and infielder Merv Holbeck. We repeated as conference champs in 1949, improving the team with several talented additions.
During those first two years coaching at Hillsdale, Rena and I lived in what had been her family's summer cottage at a nearby lake. Because no one had ever occupied the place in the winter, the sewer pipes and water pipes occasionally froze, and we would move into town with Rena's parents until it warmed up. Her dad, Earl Pifer, encouraged me to get my masters degree, so I spent the summer of 1949 back in the classroom at Michigan State, working toward the advanced degree I received five years later.
Meanwhile, Dave Nelson was ready to make another move. After one year at Harvard he was offered the head coaching job at the University of Maine. When the athletic Director, Elton (Tad) Wieman, picked Nelson, Dave called his former Hillsdale assistants, Harold Westerman and me. "I've got the job and I want you two guys to join me,” he told us over the phone. "Can you come tomorrow?”
Harold wore just as many hats at Hillsdale as I did; he was the backfield coach in football, head basketball coach, and head track coach in the spring. But he slipped away during our spring break to help Nelson get settled in Maine, and I wasn't far behind as soon as the baseball season ended.
I was on the coaching carousel now, and I never knew when or where it might stop. I just knew I didn't want to get off.
*********** When the Army Cadets stormed the field at West Point on Friday night, after Army’s 35-14 win over Tulane, we knew that Dave Schorr was smiling.
Dave, who passed away last Thursday night, was as devout an Army supporter as there’s ever been.
I’ll let his obituary below serve to tell about him - wait till you read what he wrote to his future parents-in-law - and just simply say that he was a wonderful man in every respect.
Consider this: Dave spent four years on the football team at West Point, one as a plebe - when freshmen weren’t eligible - and three as an upperclassman. For his entire upperclass career, he was on the “B Squad” - the scout team. Not once did he get into a varsity game. In fact, not once did he even dress for a varsity game. But he was an Army Football Player - and he remained one for life.
While a teacher at West Point, he and his wife, Patty were quartered in a faculty residence that Dave christened the “BEAT NAVY HOUSE.” It remains so to this day.
His dogged determination as a football player carried over to his support for the Army team. For years he and Patty, had season tickets, and they hosted a very popular pre- and post-game tailgate. He never missed an Army-Navy game, and was known for the party bus he’d provide to take fellow Army fans to the game.
He was one of the most positive people I’ve ever met. A dear friend, John Simar, who as a plebe at West Point had him as a math teacher, then reconnected with him years later when John was AD at the Lawrenceville School and Dave was teaching math there, said that even during the darkest days of Army football, when people were wearing badges that said, “GO ARMY! BEAT SOMEBODY!” Dave would say, before almost every game, “You, know, I have a good feeling about this one.”
When I used to do clinics in Philly, Dave and John would make it a point to drive down from Lawrenceville to have breakfast before the clinic with my wife and me and several of the coaches. (Two regulars were Brian Mackell and Jason Clarke, from Baltimore.)
One of the many great things about Dave was his modesty. West Pointers don’t boast, so it was only after his death that I learned that he had earned the Silver Star, the Army’s second-highest honor. When I asked another friend, Tom Hinger, himself a Silver Star recipient and also a friend of Dave’s, if he’d known about Dave’s Silver Star, he replied, “Of course not.”
Rest in Peace, Dave.
PS: In Dave’s photo above as an Army colonel, I don’t know the meanings of the ribbons on his chest, but three things jump right out at me:
At the Top of his left breast:
* The CIB (Combat Infantryman’s Badge) - the blue rectangle with the rifle and the silver wreath.
It’s awarded to infantrymen and Special Forces soldiers - colonel and below - who have fought in active ground combat. It is one of the most prized of all military awards because there’s no other way to earn it than to be right there, on the ground, when the bullets start flying.
At the bottom of his left breast
* The Jump Wings (Parachutist Badge) - It looks from here like an upside-down silver crescent
It states that the soldier is a trained military parachutist
Top of his left sleeve, just below the shoulder
* The Ranger Tab - Signifies that the wearer has graduated from Ranger School
Extremely difficult to qualify for Ranger School, extremely difficult to graduate
While holding the hand of his beloved wife of 66 years, Colonel David E. Schorr (U.S. Army, Retired) passed away on December 5. He was born on March 15, 1935 to Brigadier General David Peter and Mrs. Mary B. Schorr. In 1957, he graduated from the United States Military Academy where he played football for the Black Knights. After completing basic training and earning his Ranger tab and Jump Wings, he served as an active-duty Infantry Officer for 27 years.
He distinguished himself through exceptional valor and gallantry on the battlefield during two separate combat tours of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit (2OLC), the Bronze Star with Valor, the Army Commendation Medal with Valor, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. Due to extraordinary service later in his career, he also received the Defense Superior Service Medal. During his active-duty career, he earned a master’s degree in nuclear physics from Tulane University, and he had the great privilege of teaching Math to cadets at the United States Military Academy for three years.
After retiring from active-duty, he accepted a position as a Teacher and the Director of Building and Grounds at the Lawrenceville School where he worked for 16 years. Students, faculty and school employees alike all affectionately knew him as “The Colonel”. For many years, he coached the Mighty Big Blue Hamill House football team whose members had the special privilege of benefiting from his lifelong passion for football. He also served as the Director of the Lawrenceville School Camp in northwest New Jersey where he and Lawrenceville students provided a free multi-week overnight outdoor summer camp experience for underprivileged youth. Students elected him as an Honorary Member of the Lawrenceville classes of 1988, 1997 and 2002. The School bestowed upon him the Masters Award in recognition of his excellence as a Math teacher. The many students who he taught, coached, mentored and inspired all hold fond memories of him.
On November 29, 1958, the date of the Army/Navy game, he attended the only event that could have ever possibly prevented him from going to the game – his marriage to Margaret Patricia Peck (Patty), the love of his life. Shortly before his marriage, as a 23 year-old Second Lieutenant assigned to the 101st Airborne Division, he included the following sentence in a letter to his future parents-in-law: “In the course of twenty-three years, God, in his infinite kindness, has given me gifts of immeasurable value. I include therein the gifts of my religion, my mother, my father, my sister, and now he has given me the greatest gift of all, your Patty.” His selfless and unwavering devotion to his faith, Patty and his family was the greatest of the innumerable abundant gifts that he provided throughout the course of his life.
He is survived by his wife, Patty, their daughter and her husband, their three sons and their wives, and 12 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A funeral Mass offered in thanksgiving for his life was celebrated at Saint Ann’s Church, 1253 Lawrenceville Rd., at 11 AM on Thursday, December 12.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor may be made to Army Football or Saint Ann’s parish in Lawrenceville.
*********** Headlines in The Athletic:
Dolphins, Bills Sell Stakes in Teams to Private Equity Firms
NFL Owners Approve 15% Sale of Raiders
NFL Owners Approve 8% Sale of Eagles to Investment Groups
Why, you ask, does anyone want, say, eight per cent of a team, when you’re not going to have any say whatsoever in the way it’s run?
Simple. I assume that you, like me, are not in the market for a piece of an NFL club, but for someone who can afford it, it’s almost scary what can happen to your investment.
Eagles’ owner Jeffrey Lurie paid $185 million for the Eagles in 1994 - and most people thought he’d overpaid.
But based on what two different groups paid for what amounts to eight per cent of the team, the franchise is now valued at $8.3 BILLION!
Do the math: Mr. Lurie just received eight per cent of $8.3 billion - or $664 million. Now, after taxes and commissions and legal fees and whatnot, he’s still going to have a lot of money.
Not that he needs more money - right now - but he’s wise enough to know that the time will come when he’s going to want this children (actually, I don’t even know if he has any) to inherit the team, and he wants to prevent a situation where they have to sell the team to pay the inheritance tax.
(At least that’s what I suspect is happening.)
One thing’s for sure - the NFL had to change its policies to allow investment groups to purchase pieces of teams because the values of the franchises have increased to the point where they’re running out of people who can afford to buy teams in their entirety.
*********** Good-bye, beach volleyball. According to this article in The Athletic, additional spending on employees - er, student-athletes - as a result of the recent House decision (requiring colleges to share revenues with their athletes) could mean doom for “Olympic” (once known as “minor”) sports. Colleges, which have played a major role in development of athletes (not just USA athletes, either) in Olympic sports may no longer be able to fund them.
For years, leaders in the Olympic and Paralympic movement have lobbied colleges and universities to preserve their broad-based sports programs.
To and through its Collegiate Advisory Council, with the NCAA, in Congress and during the Games, they have shared the necessity of the collegiate pipeline in training Team USA athletes.
On Tuesday, LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman made clear the existential threat in a room of college athletics administrators at the SBJ's Intercollegiate Athletics Forum, presented by Learfield, reports SBJ's Rachel Axon.
“That fork in the road is if football leaves the system and the money leaves the system, Team USA is over,” Wasserman said. “We can pretend like that's not the case. That is unequivocally the case. You add $20 million of expense to the athletic department. What's the first thing you cut? ... Olympic sports, non-revenue sports. You cut the sports that cost money that don't generate revenue.”
That threat has hung over the movement like a Sword of Damocles for the better part of a decade as the collegiate sports system has gone through iterative, substantial changes.
Up next is the adoption of the settlement in the House v. NCAA anti-trust litigation, which is expected to be approved next year and includes, among its provisions, a revenue sharing portion that Power Four schools anticipate adding around $20 million annually’
The changes to finances at the collegiate level have spelled concerns in the Olympic sports -- and, to a far lesser degree, the Paralympic sports -- world. Many of them saw cuts to programs the last time college athletics saw a significant impact on finances in the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the system is the lifeblood not just of Team USA, but of athletes internationally -- a fact Wasserman underscored at IAF.
More than 75% of Team USA athletes competed and trained collegiately, and more than 1,000 current and former NCAA athletes competed for more than 100 countries.
Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and the National Football Foundation highlighted the connection between the two, hosting the Team USA Collegiate Recognition Awards.
“A lot of schools will hang in, not just in California, but in the country, until 2028, until the games are in L.A.,” Wasserman said. “And after that, you're going to see a lot more schools have SEC number of teams than former Pac-12 numbers of teams. The days of 25 and 30 teams are over. So now you're going to have 15 to 17.”
Hmmm. Maybe instead of pleading to Congress (aka the American taxpayer), they ought to try hitting up the NFL, which has been busy plowing money into a sport which it almost singlehandedly made into an Olympic sport - flag football.
*********** Proposed amendment to the WIAA handbook:
Participation in girls sports would be limited to students assigned female at birth.
Now, who the hell came up with this “assigned female” garbage? Talk about woke nonsense. Unless, that is, they consider God to be the one doing the “assigning.”
(If I could find a bookie who’d take the bet, I’d wager that in Washington, a state so dominated by a fanatical liberal majority in just one large county, this amendment won’t pass anyhow.)
*********** With colleges now paying players upwards of a million dollars to play “college” football, with colleges (or, technically their “collectives” ) bidding against each other for players, how much longer will it be before the NFL gets in on the auction?
In 1925, when the Chicago Bears signed Red Grange to play for them just weeks after his eligibility at Illinois had come come to an end, college coaches raised so much hell that the NFL (which was hardly strong enough then to take on the colleges) passed a rule:
"It is the unanimous decision of this meeting that every member of the National Football League be positively prohibited from inducing or attempting to induce any college player to engage in professional football until his class at college shall have graduated..."
The penalty for a violation was harsh: a one-thousand-dollar fine!
The rule has changed slightly over the years, but the principle remains the same: only the NFL itself stands in the way of its signing any player it wishes. Were it to decide this winter to draft and sign college underclassmen, colleges would be powerless to stop it.
Should the NFL vote to do so, it seems likely that any attempt by colleges - now de facto professionals themselves - to stand in the way would be seen as an illegal attempt to deny a player the opportunity to sell his talents to the highest bidder.
It wouldn’t even require action by the whole league - just one renegade owner acting on his own. (Is there another Al Davis?) Or one college player who’s had a successful freshman season and wants to make more money than the colleges are offering. The lawsuit(s), I’m as certain as I can be, would be successful.
The colleges, besides openly paying players, have created the conditions making it possible. They've blown their cover of amateurism. And with players hanging around for five and six years and graduate transfers making the concept of eligibility a thing of the past, with multiple transfers all but making a mockery of degree requirements, they’ve forfeited any claim they might have once had that players needed to stay in college for a specified period of time.
*********** So. Bill Belichick is going to be a Tar Heel. My wife and I just finished watching the 30 for 30 “Two Bills.”
Belichick to UNC sounds interesting. At least at first.
There’s the name, a la Deion Sanders. But Sanders is a salesman and he’s very outgoing. Belichick is not. How far does a name go in giving a coach a recruiting advantage? Answer” not very. Belichick’s name notwithstanding, UNC is still going to have to greatly increase their NIL funding because his name won’t recruit kids the way money will.
Belichick had the advantage of an owner who gave him free rein and left him alone, while at UNC there appears to be a huge and nasty power struggle going on between the athletics department and the board of trustees.
Forget the idea that “managing” college kids is going to be easier than pros. With NIL and multiple transfers, today’s college football players are becoming even less manageable than pros.
There is not - yet - one example of a former NFL coach being greatly successful in college without prior college experience. (Saban don’t forget, was a successful college coach before going to the Dolphins.)
Conferring “coach in waiting” stature on his son is insane. The woods are not exactly full of sons of successful coaches who have succeeded their fathers and been successful themselves. I don’t even think it’s a good idea for a school to lock itself into an existing coach for more than five years, let alone to his son.
With all those negatives, though, Belichick is a different guy. He’s very smart, he really knows the game, and he’s certainly earned his status as one of the greatest coaches of all time. Pro coaches, that is.
But college football and pro football are not the same game, and I wonder if somehow he let himself get blinded to that fact.
And then there’s the wild card. Elderly Coach Belichick is said to have a “close friendship” with a 23-year-old woman. She evidently has no understanding of how difficult the life of a college coach’s wife can be - when her husband’s life is not his own. The demands on his time and energy are endless. Belichick and his young friend haven’t been together that long, so it seems to me there’s a good chance she has no idea how neglected a college coach’s wife can feel once football season rolls around. Was there not one person in North Carolina’s decision-making circle who saw this warning flag?
*********** We purchased your videos and used them to install the system. We had more success than in previous years. At the end of the day, the bigger, faster teams gave us problems, but we were competitive unlike years past.
I have a question about splits. We went zero splits. I liked the proximity to double teams, but it also brought a lot of defenders to the power hole.
Have you widened your splits to get those overloaded boxes spread out a bit? And if so, how far?
Thanks in advance
Hi Coach -
Good question. It’s hard to find one I haven’t been asked, and this is one I’ve been asked often.
The short answer is that once I made the decision to close ‘em up I never went back. The longer answer is that while I may on occasion split a man slightly to gain an advantage on a particular play, I’ve never adjusted splits in response to something the defense has done.
To me those splits are the basis of my offense, and I don’t budge on that. I don’t think I need to go into all the reasons why that is. A major reason, though, is to make us better at protecting our inside gaps, and if that were all that zero splits did, that would be enough for me.
For sure, they are a real pain in the ass for defenses.
If things are unusually crowded between the tackles, it means they are wasting people in the box. So I will run outside. It sounds simple, and like everything else about the Double Wing, nothing is as simple as it looks, but it’s always been important to me to have the threat of a good sweep to keep people honest.
Be sure to get back to me if you’d like me to clarify anything. I don’t mind. My interest is in helping you be successful.
*********** When Luigi the rich kid, the (alleged) New York murderer, got recognized - and caught - in Altoona, Pennsylvania, the first thing I thought was, “He’s never spent any time in a small town.”
Now, Altoona, with 60,000 people or so isn’t necessarily small, but there’s a world of difference between it and a city of several hundred thousand or more.
In New York City, Luigi could have painted his face blue and carried a poleaxe into a McDonalds and nobody would have paid him a bit of attention - maybe because they were afraid of angering him by staring, but more likely because in a city like New York, where people are used to seeing almost anything, NOTHING seems out of place.
Not so in a smaller town. I’ve lived in some small cities and I’ve coached in some really tiny places. And one thing anybody who’s lived in such places knows is that people notice. And they’re hyper alert to anomalies - things (or people) who just seem out of place.
If Luigi the (alleged) killer had only known that, he'd have known better than to go into a small-town McDonalds wearing a hoodie and a surgical mask and then sit in the back of the store tapping away at his laptop, as if the people behind the counter see that sort of stuff from strangers every day.
Of course, he did plenty of other stupid “arrest me” things, which really pisses me off because now here he is, a guy who went to a private prep school where the tuition is $40,000 a year, yet claims that he needs a public defender. Shouldn't he at least have tried to hide, or wear a disguise, or look innocent?
*********** Jimmy Conzelman, longtime coach of the Chicago Cardinals, told about his first game as the Cardinals’ coach, which happened to be against the crosstown rival Bears.
“I had a naked reverse play that worked very well. As soon as I took over the Cardinals, I put it into the offense. Right after we got that first touchdown we got the ball again and our quarterback called a reverse play. Lloyd Madden, a rookie back from the Colorado School of Mines, got the ball and broke into the clear. Lloyd, fresh out of college, didn't realize that in our game the goal posts were on the goal line. He stopped running 10 yards away from the goal post and the Bears clobbered him.”
*********** Greasy Neale, who coached the Philadelphia Eagles to NFL titles in 1949 and 1950, gave an example, years later, of the lengths to which coaches would go to get information.
I began thinking about installing the T formation. I was naturally impressed with that 73 to 0 beating the Bears had pinned on the Redskins the year before (in the NFL title game - HW) and I wanted to know more about how they did it.
One day I got hold of a newsreel fellow and had him run off his reel of the game. When he finished, I said, “How is it that your cameras were shooting only when they were making the spectacular plays?”
He laughed and said, "We shot the whole game. Then we edited the footage so we could show all the big plays in a short time in the movie houses. We have the whole game on film.”
"What will it cost me?” I asked.
“I'll sell you a print for $156,” he said.
I gave him the money and took the film. Five hours every day during the next five months, I studied that movie and I found a way to improve on the Bears’ offense.”
*********** After nine years as Washington State’s president, Kirk Schultz will retire this summer, and I happened to find something interesting he said in an interview in our local paper:
How would you describe the future of WSU Athletics?
It's a complicated question. So now we have a rebuilt PAC-12, and I am going to be the first to admit, I've tried to tell all of our groups, I am under no illusion that the rebuilt PAC-12 is like the old PAC-12. And sometimes fans will go, "Oh, it's not the same.” Well, you're right – it's not the same.
But if you look at all these other conferences out there, you look at what the SEC was eight years ago, you look at what the Big 12 was eight years ago – all these conferences have changed, and I think that's OK.
And to be honest, the rebuilt PAC-12 has a lot more schools that look a lot more like Washington State University, land-grant universities with similar academic and research profiles, like Colorado State, Utah State and so forth.
So I actually think the future in terms of our conference affiliation looks really bright for us, and I think we're going to be very competitive athletically in that particular conference. We are going to be in the western half of the United States; that footprint feels good. We are not sending our student athletes to Chapel Hill or wherever on a regular basis to have to compete. And I just think at the end of the day, as they get their degrees, this is a far better place for them to be. So that’s all the positives.
WSU got used to, for many years, getting a very large check annually from the Pac 12 conference. You know, $35–$36 million came in. And largely, if you say, how did we financially support our athletic program? It was off PAC-12 revenues. Our donors were modest. You know, our ticket sales were good but not great. And that was the way we kind of funded athletics programs.
Well, now with the new PAC-12, when we get a new media deal done, there's going to be instead of $35–$36 million, maybe we get $18 million each year, or $16 million, and what you wind up having is now a $20 million hole between what you used to get and what you have to get moving forward. So we're going to have to get creative about how we close that $20 million gap.
So what he’s saying is that only real problem is money. Isn’t that what it’s been all along?
*********** The great Duke Slater!!!!
Clinton was a good old fashioned railroad and river town. Had to be tough to live there! Still do.
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
*********** That relief of Duke Slater is an outstanding work of art!
Nice video here: https://facilities.uiowa.edu/art-on-campus/artwork/duke-slater-groundbreaker-and-champion
The video talks about how the iconic photo, of a helmetless Slater blocking 3 Notre Damers, acted as the inspiration for the relief.
The photo is about halfway down the page here:
https://ouriowaheritage.com/our-iowa-heritage-duke-slater/
John Rothwell
Corpus Christi, Texas
*********** Every person can state personal views about where we are in 'postseason' CFB, but for me it stinks. This committee has created a bigger mess than ever. And, yeah, I've read the putative reasons Army will play Marshall (and I absolutely don't intend to denigrate the Herd), but still, Army won the conference with an undefeated record, yet two other members, Tulane and Navy, play Florida and Oklahoma, respectively. Where's the reward for winning the AAC? And, btw, the Army game will kick off at 2115 (9:15). As I said, it stinks. Is Chet Gladchuck running the show?
All quiz subjects are interesting, but Duke Slater is fascinating. Great pick.
I have GEHA insurance. Never used it. Might get rid of it after finding out it has replaced Arrowhead, as good and fitting a name as any in the country.
Loved the coaching carousel commentary. In mentioning Charlotte, however, you failed to mention we'll be losing the answer to a recent Wyatt Quiz. The big fellow patrolling the sideline in his ripped T-shirts is no more.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
Biff Poggi, I imagine, will soon be back in Baltimore, where he knows how to win as a high school coach. Of course, not everyone there agrees with his methods.
By the way, he was once the very successful head coach at Baltimore’s Gilman School, his alma mater and also that of Luigi the (alleged) killer.
*********** Hugh,
The current CFP won’t last. Whether it’s seeding every team without automatic byes for conference champs, or increasing the number of teams to 16, or to a complete overhaul of the entire system I’ll bet what we see in the post-season next year will be a change from this year.
The bowl games: Too many, and many made meaningless with the specter of the portal/NIL hanging over our heads. Until something is done about this the bowl games will become defunct.
How about Kenny Dillingham’s approach to the portal when it comes to his players?
Declare for the portal you can still be on the team, go to meetings, practice, play in the game, and we’ll do everything we can to help you get to your destination. Huh?
More conference games? Nick Saban thinks so.
Sorry, but this whole mess was created by becoming more greedy than King Midas himself. The MEDIA, idea of these stupid super conferences, the crazy realignments, NIL, and the portal have all contributed to professionalizing the game.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Bowl games, did you say? Remember the days when players were excited to play in them - and get swag bags worth as much as $300?
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Duke Slater (his given name was Frederick, but he somehow got the nickname because that was the name of the family dog) was born in Normal, Illinois but when he was 13, his family moved to Clinton, Iowa, when his father became pastor of Bethel AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church there.
Although his father refused to let him play football, considering it a sport for “roughnecks,” he went out for the local high school team anyhow, as a sophomore. When his Dad discovered his wife repairing a torn football jersey, he got wise to what was going on and cracked down further. But after the son went on a hunger strike, Dad agreed to let him play - on the condition that he not get hurt.
From then on, he made it a point never to mention any bumps and bruises.
Another potential hurdle came when players had to furnish their own equipment. The family didn’t have the money to buy him both shoes AND a helmet, and when his father asked him which he needed more, he chose the shoes. Thereafter, for his entire high school career and much of his college career, he played helmetless.
After he helped lead Clinton High to two (mythical) state titles, his play came to the attention of University of Iowa alumni who persuaded him to become a Hawkeye.
Black players were rare on college rosters at that time, but Iowa was an exception, having already had some standout black players. Our guy was big for his time (6-1, 215) and with him on the line, Iowa enjoyed success it hadn’t known before.
He became Iowa’s first black All-American player as a sophomore and was honored again as a senior, when Iowa went unbeaten and won its first-ever Big Ten title.
Chicago’s Fritz Crisler, who would go on to become a legend as a coach, called him “the best tackle I ever played against.”
Said Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne, “No better tackle ever trod a western gridiron.”
After his senior season he enrolled in Iowa Law School, and after holding a variety of jobs to pay his tuition, he signed to play professional football with the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents, in the then two-year-old National Football League, for $1,500. (That’s for the season.) And he became the first Black lineman in NFL history.
He put his law school plans on hold, but in 1925 he resumed pursuit of his law degree, taking classes in the morning in Iowa City and then practicing with Rock Island in the afternoon.
In 10 NFL seasons, he made seven all-pro teams as a member of the Independents and then the Chicago Cardinals. For a good part of his career, he was the NFL’s only black player.
How good was he? Recalled the Chicago Bear’s George Halas years later, “They talked about Fordham's famous Seven Blocks of Granite in the mid-1930s and what a line that was. Well, (he) was a One Man Line a decade before that.”
He retired in 1931 “when I realized that football is a young man’s game,” but after moving to Chicago to practice law, he continued to play with the Chicago Blackhawks, a team made up entirely of Black players.
He became an assistant district attorney and, in 1948, a municipal court judge, and in 1960 he became the first black judge on the Superior Court of Chicago.
In 1951, as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. he became the first black man so honored.
He is in the Iowa High School Football Hall of Fame and the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1946, he was one of 11 players chosen to an all-time college football All-American team and in 1969, he was as one of 44 players chosen to an all-century team commemorating 100 years of college football.
In 1989 he was selected as a tackle on Iowa’s 100th anniversary team.
In 2020 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Duke Slater Field at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium is named in his honor, and outside the stadium, he’s honored by a huge bronze relief showing him in action - without a helmet.
Years later, remembering his helmetless days, he joked, “In thinking back, I’m sure Dad made a mistake. I wear size 14 shoes, and he would have saved money if he had bought the helmet.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DUKE SLATER
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
BRAD KNIGHT - CLARINDA, IOWA
JOHN ROTHWELL - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
*********** QUIZ):In its history, the NFL has been led by three “presidents” (from 1920-1941) and five “commissioners” (1941 to the present).
Our guy was one of the presidents. He held the job for 19 years, from 1921 to 1939. He has been called “The Father of the NFL,” and “The Father of Professional Football.” Certainly, more than any other individual, he was responsible for keeping the NFL alive in its formative years and through the Depression, and forging much of the structure that today’s NFL stands on.
Born in Columbus Ohio in 1880, he was working as assistant sports editor of the Ohio State Journal when he organized a baseball team made up of employees of the Pennsylvania Railroad’s “Panhandle Division,” and later a football team, both teams known as the Columbus Panhandles.
The football Panhandles featured the six Nesser brothers, all of them boilermakers for the railroad. Because the Panhandles’ players were all railroad employees, they had free passes which enabled them to travel far and wide at no expense to the team. Consequently, the Panhandles played most of their games on the road, not only in order to save on expenses, but to make scheduling games easier.
At that time it was common for players to jump from team to team, playing for the highest bidder. In fact the Panhandles actually played against Knute Rockne six times in one season; each time, he was playing for a different team.
It was also common for college players to play for their colleges on Saturdays and then, using assumed names, play on Sundays for professional teams.
The desire by our guy and other owners to put an end to these practices was a major factor in the founding of the National Football League
On September 17, 1920, a group of team representatives met in an automobile showroom in Canton, Ohio for the purpose of forming a league, which they called the American Football Association.
When our guy was asked to serve as its president, he declined, reportedly saying, “No, I’m an unknown. This league should be headed by the biggest name in football - Jim Thorpe,” whereupon Big Jim was elected president.
The following April, after one season of play, the league met again in Canton. The name of the league was changed to the National Football League. And our guy was named president, replacing Thorpe, at a salary of $1,000 a year.
He wasn't on the job long before he had to come down hard on a team for using college players under phony names. Handed proof that the Green Bay team was guilty of the practice, he ordered the franchise vacated and returned to the league. (A year later, a Green Bay team reorganized under the leadership of Curly Lambeau would be readmitted to the league.)
In 1925 the new president was faced with the league’s first real crisis when the Chicago Bears signed - and played - Red Grange immediately following the end of his college season, and then, shortly after that, the Duluth Eskimos signed Stanford star Ernie Nevers.
There was considerable public outcry, not to mention rage among college coaches, and at the president’s insistence, the owners adopted a resolution that read:
The National Football League places itself on record as unalterably opposed to any encroachment upon college football and hereby pledges its hearty support to college authorities in maintaining and advancing interest in college football and in preserving the amateur standing of all college athletes.
We believe there is a public demand for professional football… And to the end that this league may not jeopardize the amateur standing of any college player, it is the unanimous decision of this meeting that every member of the National Football League be positively prohibited from inducing or attempting to induce any college player to engage in professional football until his class at college shall have graduated, and any member violating this rule be fined not less than $1000 or loss of its franchise, or both.
Through much of his time in the presidency, he had to deal with rival leagues, as well as the comings and goings of lesser-funded teams, most of them in smaller cities. He had had considerable experience with organized baseball and, convinced that the NFL needed to emulate major league baseball in locating in larger cities, he sold Tim Mara a franchise in New York (the Giants), persuaded George Preston Marshall to put a team in Boston (the Redskins, which would soon be moved to Washington), and arranged for the Portsmouth, Ohio team to be relocated to Detroit. He sold Art Rooney a franchise in Pittsburgh (originally called the Pirates) and brought in Bert Bell in Philadelphia to take over the Frankford Yellow Jackets and rebrand them as the Eagles.
As NFL president, he oversaw the introduction of many of the rules that have helped bring about the great fan interest and the competitive parity that today’s league enjoys, including the rearrangement of the league into divisions and conferences, the resultant post-season playoffs, the player draft, and the waiver rule.
In all, he served from 1921 until his death in 1939. By that time, the NFL had strengthened itself through “addition by subtraction”: where in 1926 it had as many as 22 members, by 1939 it was down to ten members. But all - except for Green Bay - were now in “major league” cities. Thanks in large part to his direction, the NFL was strong enough to survive the Depression and what was to come: World War II, and the post-war challenge of the All-American Football Conference.
In 1963, he was a member of the very first class inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He did all this while also serving as president of the professional American Basketball League - a forerunner of the NBA - and running the Columbus minor league baseball team and helping organize baseball’s minor league structure. At the time of his death, there were 37 minor leagues in America, and 26 of them owed their existence to him.
He was once approached by baseball great Branch Rickey about a job in major league baseball. “If you give up football,” Rickey said, “I’ll make you the biggest man in baseball.”
His answer: “If that’s the price I’d have to pay, I want no part of it.”
FAIR WARNING: If your answer includes the first name “JOSEPH” you won’t get credit. That may have been what his mother and father called him when they were angry, but it was NEVER how he was known publicly. Blame it on Wikipedia, and what it’s doing to sports history.
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2024 “Facts can be ignored, but their consequences cannot be escaped.” Thomas Sowell
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “We went through my first season as a coach undefeated, with two ties. I tried to make up in enthusiasm and dedication what I lacked in coaching experience and expertise. Coaching a bunch of linemen who just the year before were my side-by-side teammates wasn't always easy, but most of the time they at least pretended to listen. I thought I might miss the satisfaction of making a key tackle or throwing a block on a big play, but I was so fired up about getting a chance to coach that I didn't worry about being retired as a player.
“Because I had played in Nelson's system – we used the single wing he had played in at Michigan – making the transition to coaching was relatively easy. But I soaked up everything I could from the head coach. He was the boss, and he was becoming a respected friend.
“After my rookie season as an assistant coach, I came down with the mumps, and Dave came to visit during the Christmas break. I had been in agony when one of my testicles had swollen up about the size of a grapefruit. I couldn't even roll over in bed. Dave handed me a championship gold football and said, "Mike, I don't know what's going to happen to you, but I want you to have this gold ball because every man needs two.”
“After two successful seasons at Hillsdale, Dave Nelson was targeted by other, larger schools. That spring, while I was busy coaching the baseball team, Dave told me he was accepting the job of backfield coach at Harvard. President Turner brought in James (Gib) Holgate, another University of Michigan product, as our new coach. He asked Harold Westerman, the other assistant on Nelson’s staff, and me to stay on. We had another good season, scoring 287 points and holding opponents to 67, but we missed a third straight MIAA championship with two losses and a tie.”
*********** CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS WEEKEND
FRIDAY
CONFERENCE USA
JACKSONVILLE STATE (9-4) 52, WESTERN KENTUCKY (8-5) 12 - JACKSONVILLE STATE WAS FAVORED BY 3 -
I didn’t watch it. My eyes were fixed on the Army game. Is Rich Rod (Jacksonville State’s coach) on his way back to West Virginia?
***
MOUNTAIN WEST
BOISE STATE (12-1) 21, UNLV (10-2) 7 - BOISE STATE WAS FAVORED BY 4
Ditto: I was glued to the Army game.
***
AMERICAN ATHLETIC
ARMY (11-1) 35, TULANE (9-4) 13 - TULANE WAS FAVORED BY 4.5 -
Army wanted to play; Tulane didn’t. In my opinion, they folded their tents after losing to Memphis (and losing their shot at a playoff spot).
Army’s coach had his team prepared; Tulane’s coach didn’t. There are those who think he spent too much time dickering over the North Carolina job.
Army went through the entire game without a penalty, a punt or a turnover.
They were 4/5 on first down plays. Army put the game away with a third-and-fourth quarter drive that carried 84 yards in 16 plays and - making sure to use the maximum amount of clock on every play - consumed 10 minutes and 44 seconds.
In its first year in the AAC, Army won the first conference championship in its 125-year football history.
Army QB Bryan Daily is what the Heisman Trophy was designed to honor. If Army were in a power 4 conference, he would have the Heisman locked up.
I’ve been critical of Army coach Jeff Monken, mainly over the way he tried to sell last year’s disastrous move to a shotgun offense, but I have to salute the way he kept the Army team focused and fighting after the disheartening loss to Notre Dame and, with it, any shot at a playoff spot. Granted, he is working with a special type of person, but it still took a remarkable job of coaching to keep that one huge disappointing loss from upsetting the entire season.
SATURDAY
BIG-12
ARIZONA STATE (11-2) 45, IOWA STATE (10-3) 19 - ARIZONA STATE WAS FAVORED BY 2.5
245 yards rushing - the Sun Devils’ total - will win most games. If the Playoff Committee was really honest about looking at every week as a blank slate, they might have ASU as their Number One team based on this one. The way these guys are playing, they are as tough as anybody.
MAC
OHIO (10-3) 38, MIAMI (8-5) 3 - MIAMI WAS FAVORED BY 2.5 -
After 56 years and five losses in conference championship games, the Ohio Bobcats finally won a MAC title. They have now had three straight double-digit-win seasons.
Sure hope that’s enough to keep them happy, because before the sun went down Saturday, their coach, Tim Albin, who came to Ohio with former coach Frank Solich and spent 20 seasons there, took the Charlotte job.
SEC
GEORGIA (11-2) 22, TEXAS (11-2) 19 OT - TEXAS WAS FAVORED BY 2.5 -
Maybe it’s just me, but I thought this game was the SEC at its best - or, really, its worst. With the score 10-6 and 40 seconds left in the third quarter, it was, the astute announcing crew told us, “a low-scoring game.”
Boring? It was about as exciting as your usual run-of-the-mill NFL game.
In fact, we may have had a sneak peek at the future of big-time college football. I guess the networks and the Super Conferences think the American public will learn to like 60 minute games consisting of two touchdowns and SIX field goals.
And more dropped passes than you’ll see in a season of high school games.
Coach Sark is about to become acquainted with alumni who fired a guy that produced results like this. But at least that guy - Mack Brown - won a national title. He says ,“Welcome to my world.”
I was hoping that Georgia would win, but just barely, and with its starting quarterback, Carson Beck, injured, the Playoff Committee would be forced to do to Georgia what it did to Florida State last year, using the same reasoning.
But no… the UGA backup, Gunner Stockton, more than showed that he can carry the team. And he can run, even!
Texas, meanwhile, showed us all we needed to see of Quinn Ewers, the million dollar quarterback who can’t run and throws lollipops. And can’t act very well on Dr. Pepper commericals, either. Arch Manning mustn’t be as good as Quinn Ewers because he only got in for a play (or was it two?).
Hey, Arch - I see that Ewers is coming back next year. You’ve put in your time and proved you’re a team guy. But now it’s time to do something besides ride the pines. Can I be your agent?
***
SUNBELT - 7:30 PM EASTERN
MARSHALL (9-3) AT LOUISIANA (10-2) - LOUISIANA FAVORED BY 3.5 -
I didn’t watch a down. I suppose I should have, since Army will be playing Marshall in the Independence Bowl, but then, after losing its coach (to Southern Miss) and losing plenty of guys to the Transfer Portal, it’s not going to be the same Marshall team that shellacked Louisiana anyhow.
***
BIG TEN
OREGON (13-0) 45 VS PENN STATE (11-2) 32 - OREGON WAS FAVORED BY 3.5
It started out like a Ducks’ blowout, but Penn State refused to fold, and made it a good game.
Penn State could definitely win it all, but you don’t win big ones when you commit four personal fouls in the first half.
By the end of the first quarter, the two teams had already scored more touchdowns than Texas and Georgia are able to produce in an entire regulation game.
James Franklin sure could have used that run-it-up, last-play touchdown he allowed against Maryland in last week’s game. Too bad. Instead, his record against top-five teams is now 1-14.
ACC - 8 PM EASTERN
CLEMSON (10-3) 34, SMU (11-2) 31 - SMU WAS FAVORED BY 2.5
A really good game. As it had done the last time out, Clemson folded at the end (or, if you wish, SMU came on furiously), but then the Tigers miraculously pulled out a win with a 56-yard last-second field goal.
Dabo Swinney (post-game): “Thank you, Jesus.”
Jesus (as I picture Him): “For what, Coach? By the way, didn’t you have a game today? How’d it go?”
Somebody must have turned over a rock somewhere and when they saw Craig James was under it they asked him if he’d like to stand on the SMU sideline during a game and act as if he’d never done anything to earn the enmity of a nation of college football fans. (Wonder how that kid of his wound up.)
*********** I’m tired of reading about “strength of schedule.” To me, the most important consideration is the reflection of a team’s record on the Playoff’s credibility when it proposes to give us a “true national champion.”
It seems to me that if a team goes undefeated - or perhaps loses one or even two close games - in the regular season and then wins it all in the Playoff, the public will accept its claim to be the “national champion.”
But if those one or two losses should be bad - the kind that no national champion would ever have had on its record back in the dark days of AP-poll-elected champions - then no matter that the team goes on to win the playoff. The loss(es) would forever taint the title itself.
For example: should SMU somehow emerge the Playoff winner, its close losses (to BYU early in the season and to Clemson in the ACC championship game) will not in any way diminish the title.
But another example: had Alabama been included in the playoff field and then gone on to win the playoff, its two really bad losses (40-35 to Vanderbilt, 24-3 to Oklahoma, enough in the AP-poll days, to keep it from winning a national title) would have brought its “championship” into question.
Do I hear a cry for a 128-team playoff?
Great idea! Let’s settle it on the playing field! Let ‘em all play! (All, that is, except Kent State, Tulsa, Southern Miss, Middle Tennessee, Kennesaw State, New Mexico State, UMass, UTEP, Temple. Sorry about that.)
Of course, such a playoff would take seven weeks. But in the eyes of the TV people and the Big Ten/SEC cartel, that’s not so bad, because after the first two weeks, 96 teams’ seasons would be over and they could all kick back and watch what remained of The Playoff. Isn’t that what the cartel wants?
*********** The day may come when people will get used to college football players playing six and seven years.
But I’m shocked that anyone with any understanding of the college game could write this sentence: “Staubach played just three seasons at Navy…”
Yeah, I thought. “Just” three seasons.
HISTORY LESSON FOR THE WRITER: When Staubach played, freshmen weren’t eligible for varsity play. And there was no such thing as a redshirt. Or a “graduate transfer.”
Translation: EVERYBODY played “just three seasons.”
All of us. No exceptions. And then, our eligibility exhausted, those of us not good enough to play in the 12-team NFL (40-man rosters) got on with our lives, as men had been doing since the earliest days of college football.
*********** I’m not a big fan of Joe Tessitore and the way he tends to overdramatize things - and insisting on calling certain plays “easy” (as if anything about football is ever easy) but in calling the Big 12 title game, he noted that last year, a star player like Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo would undoubtedly opt out of whatever bowl game the Sun Devils were in.
But let’s not give The Playoff too much credit for this. The Playoff has all but killed the Bowls As We Know Them. It’s just that it’s provided a few more games that guys won’t opt out of. (At least until they form a union.)
Actually, Skattebo may not have been the best example. The way he plays the game, and the way he’s played his way up from FCS Sacramento State, it’s possible that he really does like playing enough that he wouldn’t opt out of a bowl game.
*********** One-third of the teams in the playoff field got in without having to play a 13th game:
Indiana, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Tennessee
*********** I’m more and more convinced that a lot of the “RPOs” we see are really predetermined - which makes them just plain, old-fashioned play-action passes.
*********** Interesting back story on Arizona State receiver Xavier Guillory. From Spokane, Washington, he started out at Idaho State, where he established himself as one of the best receivers in FCS. He’s a native, a member of the Nez Perce Tribe (for those of you who know the story of Chief Joseph).
*********** The SEC championship game was the only game all weekend that had the entire TV audience all to itself. So, when they announce the ratings, they can brag about how many millions watched the Texas-Georgia snoozer. Of course they did - because it just means more.
*********** Whew. CBS extended its Army-Navy Game Television Agreement For 10 More Years, until 2038.
Thank goodness.
That one single game means so much to the two academies. The revenue from it is enough to fund most of their athletic budgets, which at Army includes 26 intercollegiate sports. (It might surprise people to know that no federal taxpayer dollars go to support sports at any of the service academies.)
*********** Coaching carousel - North Carolina - Not that they’d have had him anyway, after the way his team played at Army on Friday, but Jon Sumrall’s out of the running after Tulane gave him an extension (!). They’ve been talking seriously with Bill Belichick, and part of the deal, it appears, would be bringing in his son, now the DC at U of Washington, as head coach-in-waiting. I would love to see this happen.
*********** Coaching carousel - West Virginia - Rich Rodriguez took the Mountaineers to three straight top-10 seasons (2005-6-7), took Arizona to a Pac-12 Championship Game and just took Jacksonville State (9-4) to a Conference USA title - in the program’s second season in the FBS. He’s 61 now, and perhaps wiser. Will the Mountaineers have him back?
*********** Coaching carousel - UCF - Scott Frost is back. He parlayed his undefeated 2017 UCF “national championship” season into his “dream job” at Nebraska, where he wound up with a 16-31 record, a firing, and all sorts of accusations of erratic behavior. This past season he’s been working as an “analyst” with the LA Rams. It’s sad to see the way this UCF program declined since he left. To Frost’s credit, he left the Knights on good terms.
*********** Coaching carousel - Purdue - Barry Odom, who did a great job at UNLV (and didn’t do that bad a job at Missouri) is really into the heavy lifting now, taking on the Purdue job. . Purdue finished 1-11 this year. Odom was 25-25 at Missouri, and 19-8 in his two seasons with UNLV (10-3 this year). A big asset at UNLV was his OC, Brennan Marion, and he’d be a big asset at Purdue as well, but he’s reported to be first in line for the now-vacant UNLV job
*********** Coaching carousel - Central Michigan - Army assistant Matt Drinkall replaces Jim McElwain, who retired from coaching after his six seasons at CMU. Drinkall came to Army as TE coach when they scarcely used tight ends, and he almost certainly was part of last year’s abortive move to a shotgun offense. He’s been serving as offensive line coach this season.
Before Army, he had a 42-17 record as the head coach at Kansas Wesleyan from 2014-18, and reached the NAIA semifinals in 2018.
*********** Coaching carousel - Southern Miss - Charles Huff finally pulled the plug at Marshall as soon as his Thundering Herd beat Louisiana in the Sun Belt championship game.
*********** Coaching carousel - Marshall - NC State DC Tony Gibson has taken the Marshall job.
*********** Coaching carousel - Charlotte - Ohio’s Tim Albin leaves after winning the Bobcats’ first-ever MAC championship. Good luck at a place that hasn’t been easy.
*********** Coaching carousel - Temple - K.C. Keeler, who has had success at Rowan College in New Jersey, then at Delaware, and most recently at Sam Houston State, has returned to his home area (he’s a native of Emmaus, Pennsylvania) to coach the Owls. This is a serious hire, a much better one than I thought Temple was capable of. It shows they mean business. HIs overall record is 271-112-1, and he’s the only coach to win FCS titles at two different schools (Delaware and Sam Houston State). He took Sam Houston State from FCS to FBS - in his first year the Bearkats were 3-9, but this year (their second) they went 9-3. He wasn’t born yesterday, so he won’t come in expecting the same sort of support he had at Sam Houston State. Or even Delaware.
K.C. Keeler, speaking at his introductory press conference, on the importance of culture:
“ I believe that if you just are always taking transfers to fill every gap and hole, it’s tough to really develop a culture.
“So many times, coaches will rush in and try to just accumulate talent. Talent’s great. I love talent, but I want culture. I do a lot of cross-pollination. I (have) a lot of defensive coaches doing stuff with the offensive guys and offensive coaches doing stuff with the defensive guys because when you’re in the hotel or you’re on the plane or, more importantly, you’re on the sideline, you need to be able to know everybody and trust each other. So again, I do some unique things, and I think those things have moved this in a direction where our culture has been the foundation.”
*********** Hey, Kansas City - What’s with this “GEHA Field” crap? What did you do with Arrowhead Stadium?
*********** Nebraska and Ohio State:
Most disgusting fan bases ever. Anything but a national title and/or a win over the rival is unacceptable.
Nebraska still thinking it is the days of Tom Osborne.
tOSU riding Ryan Day to death
Both need some "dark days" or several in a row (see FSU) to come back down to earth.
Nebraska has had many in a row and it still hasn't gotten them off the high horse
Rhule has them bowl eligible and that isn't good enough any more even though they went 7 years not qualifying. They still claim their "national titles make them the greatest ever" even after 20 years or more.
They make their "excuses" such as officials or crowd or whatever and yet Iowa with LESS has beaten them 9 of the last 10 years.
Nebraska is going to “Nebraska” every time we play them.
tOSU is snake bitten vs. Michigan.
BUT Day brought this one on himself. a 22 million dollar roster....22 million being paid to players should equate to a win. SHOULD. So I do not feel sorry for him.
Let's face it...college football has "evened" up talent wise. Kids want to play sooner. They are looking for "the bag", there is no loyalty, or “help me to develop so I can play as a junior or senior.”
We reap what we sow.
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
PS: Pass along a “well done” to Tom Walls. I loved his newsletter. His comments are spot on. Football (and wrestling) prepared me for life. Life has a way of kicking you in the teeth (death/divorce/etc) and I remain standing today because I refused to stay down. While I am not currently coaching football I am trying to deliver the same "message" to the girls on my softball team. There is NO ADVERSITY ever that can keep you down if you don't let it.
*********** Glad to see my 'newspaper' was waiting at the doorstep this morning.
You mentioned Ryan Day connected with da Bears. Another coach even closer to Chitown has also: Marcus Freeman. Coach Gutilla has submitted a strong letter recommending Freeman.
Great story about John Mackey. That kind of attitude might have earned a Mackey in his younger years a Black Lion nod.
I very much hope Andrew Luck can do good things at Stanford. I want to believe his father's skill in sports administration have taken root in the son.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
I do hope that Marcus Freeman stays at Notre Dame. Thanks to him - I hope I’m not wrong about him - the Irish are growing on me.
And although I keep seeing Oliver Luck’s name mentioned for this big job or that, nothing seems to happen. He sure has got the resume.
*********** Hugh
I guess there are still many young people in this country that embrace their responsibilities and obligations, instead of their rights and privileges. I am reminded of it when I watch the military academies play football, and honor those who went before them showing their respect and reverence standing at attention for the playing of their alma maters. Truly inspiring.
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Joe, I didn’t even go to West Point, but I get chills when I hear the alma mater. It was especially impressive after Friday night’s win - with the Corps of Cadets down on the field (I guess you could say they “stormed it”) you could hear them singing it.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: As a defensive line coach, Jack Patera coached the Fearsome Foursome when he was with the Rams, and he coached the Purple People Eaters when he was with the Vikings. If that wasn’t enough, he was the first coach the Seattle Seahawks ever had.
He was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, but he played his high school ball in Portland, Oregon, where he was an all-city tackle. He played his college ball at the University of Oregon under the great Len Casanova, and later recalled, “Cas probably influenced my life the most. His dedication to coaching, to the U of O, and to life in general has certainly affected me for the better, I hope.”
A four-year letterman at Oregon, he was named All-Coast, and played in the East-West Shrine Game, the Hula Bowl, and the College All-Star Game.
He was drafted in the fourth round by the Baltimore Colts, and after starting out as a guard was moved to middle linebacker after an injury to the starter.
After three seasons at middle linebacker, he resisted when moved back to guard, and he was cut. Two days later he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, and played two seasons for them.
In 1960, he was taken by the brand-new Dallas Cowboys in their expansion draft, and became the first middle linebacker in Cowboys’ history. But he was injured in the fourth game of the season, and never fully recovered. He stayed with the Cowboys for two seasons before retiring.
He apparently worked well with Cowboys’ new coach Tom Landry, saying, “Landry was more like Cas (Oregon’s Len Casanova) than other coaches I was associated with and that was probably why we got along so well. I probably learned as much in that first year with Dallas as I learned during my previous six years.”
In 1963, when Harland Svare became the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, he was then, at 31, the youngest head coach in NFL history. And he assembled a staff at least as young as he was, including Jack Patera, at 30. Part of the reason was his experience running Tom Landry’s defense; it was the same defense Svare ran when he coached under Landry in New York and then succeeded him as the Giants’ DC.
Patera coached the defensive line, and he had some pretty good ones: Rosey Grier, Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Merlin Olsen - the Fearsome Foursome. He stayed with the Rams for four years - three under Svare and one under George Allen - then moved to New York to spend two seasons under Allie Sherman.
And then he moved to Minnesota, where he worked under the great Bud Grant and once more he had the privilege of coaching one of the NFL’s great defensive lines - the so-called Purple People Eaters: Carl Eller, Gary Larsen, Jim Marshall and Alan Page.
In his seven years in Minnesota, the Vikings played in four NFL championship games and three Super Bowls, and when he finally left the Vikings, Grant told him, “You were really a key figure in our success.”
He left the Vikings because he was hired as the coach of the brand-new Seattle Seahawks.
Because, as with most NFL expansion teams, the Seahawks were undertalented, his approach was tough - because that was his way. Said offensive lineman Ron August, he “was really old-school. We were probably the last team to have a strength and conditioning coach, we were probably the last team to allow water at practice. He was old-school, but he was a great coach.”
But also, his approach was to try to do all sorts of things on offense, which proved to provide entertaining football.
By his third season, the Seahawks went 9-7 and they did the same the next year.
But back-to-back bad seasons, combined with a difficult time during a players’ strike, and an increasingly hostile relationship with the Seattle media cost him his job two games into his seventh season.
He was just 50, but he never coached again.
Recalled receiver Steve Largent, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Seahawks, “Jack was a guy who was kind of a hard guy, he had a plan, he had a way he thought you should run a team. He wanted a certain kind of player and he tried to get those players. His hands were tied by the way the league allowed teams to enter in the league. It was much harder then than it is now with free agency. But even with that, Jack was fairly successful for the way you had to build a team in those days.
"It really was a fun time period for the team. We didn't have the kind of success we wanted to have, but we were more successful than anyone else had been in the same circumstances. We just had the type of guys on our team who were really quality people, who had a lot of character and who were players who knew how to win."
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JACK PATERA
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was born in Normal, Illinois but when he was 13, his family moved to Clinton, Iowa, when his father became pastor of Bethel AME (African Methodist Episcopal) Church there.
Although his father refused to let him play football, considering it a sport for “roughnecks,” he went out for the local high school team anyhow, as a sophomore. When his Dad discovered his wife repairing a torn football jersey, he got wise to what was going on and cracked down further. But after the son went on a hunger strike, Dad agreed to let him play - on the condition that he not get hurt.
From then on, he made it a point never to mention any bumps and bruises.
Another potential hurdle came when players had to furnish their own equipment. The family didn’t have the money to buy him both shoes AND a helmet, and when his father asked him which he needed more, he chose the shoes. Thereafter, for his entire high school career and much of his college career, he played helmetless.
After he helped lead Clinton High to two (mythical) state titles, his play came to the attention of University of Iowa alumni who persuaded him to become a Hawkeye.
Black players were rare on college rosters at that time, but Iowa was an exception, having already had some standout black players. Our guy was big for his time (6-1, 215) and with him on the line, Iowa enjoyed success it hadn’t known before.
He became Iowa’s first black All-American player as a sophomore and was honored again as a senior, when Iowa went unbeaten and won its first-ever Big Ten title.
Chicago’s Fritz Crisler, who would go on to become a legend as a coach, called him “the best tackle I ever played against.”
Said Notre Dame’s Knute Rockne, “No better tackle ever trod a western gridiron.”
After his senior season he enrolled in Iowa Law School, and after holding a variety of jobs to pay his tuition, he signed to play professional football with the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents, in the then two-year-old National Football League, for $1,500. (That’s for the season.) And he became the first Black lineman in NFL history.
He put his law school plans on hold, but in 1925 he resumed pursuit of his law degree, taking classes in the morning in Iowa City and then practicing with Rock Island in the afternoon.
In 10 NFL seasons, he made seven all-pro teams as a member of the Independents and then the Chicago Cardinals. For a good part of his career, he was the NFL’s only black player.
How good was he? Recalled the Chicago Bear’s George Halas years later, “They talked about Fordham's famous Seven Blocks of Granite in the mid-1930s and what a line that was. Well, (he) was a One Man Line a decade before that.”
He retired in 1931 “when I realized that football is a young man’s game,” but after moving to Chicago to practice law, he continued to play with the Chicago Blackhawks, a team made up entirely of Black players.
He became an assistant district attorney and, in 1948, a municipal court judge, and in 1960 he became the first black judge on the Superior Court of Chicago.
In 1951, as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class. he became the first black man so honored.
He is in the Iowa High School Football Hall of Fame and the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1946, he was one of 11 players chosen to an all-time college football All-American team and in 1969, he was as one of 44 players chosen to an all-century team commemorating 100 years of college football.
In 1989 he was selected as a tackle on Iowa’s 100th anniversary team.
In 2020 he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
The field at Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium is named in his honor, and outside the stadium, he’s honored by a huge bronze relief showing him in action - without a helmet.
Years later, remembering his helmetless days, he joked, “In thinking back, I’m sure Dad made a mistake. I wear size 14 shoes, and he would have saved money if he had bought the helmet.”
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2024 ““I have made life harder than it’s needed to be.” Josh Brolin
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: Rena and I had returned to Hillsdale for a weekend in late August, when the football team was getting ready to start practice. We stopped by to visit Dave and his wife, Shirley. He didn't mince any words in our conversation. "I kept telling you that at some point I'd like to have you as an assistant football coach,” he said. Iremember him saying that before, but I hadn't thought he was serious. Now he was offering me a job on his staff as line coach.
I told him, "Dave, if you're not kidding you may have just hired an assistant football coach.” I had hoped by the time I was 40 years old my alma mater might hire me as a coach.
There were a few obstacles, though, before I could join Nelson's staff. I had to talk to Harvey Turner, the Hillsdale president, who was concerned about the ethics of my breaking the contract I had in Port Huron. Turner's approval was contingent on getting a release from the superintendent of schools in Port Huron; the superintendent was very understanding, but Brick Fowler, his athletic Director, was not. He ripped me every bit as effectively as I had been by some senior Marine officers. But finally he said, “Well, I can't stop you if the superintendent has given you the OK.”
So, three months out of college, I was on the Hillsdale payroll for the 1947–48 school year as offensive and defensive line coach, trainer, director of intramurals and physical education instructor. After the end of football season Dave Nelson said being football coach and athletic director was taking all his time so he was appointing me head baseball coach. All these responsibilities for a salary of $2,400 - that’s for a year not a month.
I had a hard time comprehending such an unbelievable, incredible, wonderful, astonishing thing had happened to me. If I looked just a little bit smug would you blame me?
*********** CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS WEEKEND
Before we start: I am rooting - bigly - for all the “NEW GUYS” - Oregon, Texas, SMU and Arizona State to come in and win their conferences’ titles in their first years as members. (ARMY, TOO, FOR THAT MATTER.)
FRIDAY
CONFERENCE USA - 7 PM EASTERN
WESTERN KENTUCKY (8-4) AT JACKSONVILLE STATE (8-4) - JACKSONVILLE STATE FAVORED BY 3 -
I don’t know enough about either team but I do know that Rich Rod has done a really good job at Jacksonville and he might be hoping that not everybody in West Virginia (where the job is now open) still hates him for the way he jilted them
***
MOUNTAIN WEST - 8 PM EASTERN
UNLV (10-2) AT BOISE STATE (11-1) - BOISE STATE FAVORED BY 4 -
For lots of reasons. I have to go with the Broncos. I like Ashton Jeanty; the people at Boise were so gracious when we took my grandson from Australia to visit the blue field; and the Broncos are going to be Pac-12 members. PLUS - they played Oregon tougher than anybody in the hoity-toity Big Ten.
***
AMERICAN ATHLETIC - 8 PM EASTERN
TULANE (9-3) AT ARMY (10-1) - TULANE FAVORED BY 4.5 -
Of course I’ll go with Army and Bryson Daily - and take the points. Yes, I remember the way Tulane shut down Navy not so long ago. And I remember what Notre Dame did to Army a few weeks ago. But Tulane, while good, is not Notre Dame. I’m hoping that Tulane will be distracted by the talk of their coach, Jon Sumrall, possibly heading to North Carolina (after ONE F—KING YEAR). And I’m hoping that an 8 PM game in the Hudson Valley in December will freeze those southern boys’ asses off.
SATURDAY
BIG-12 - NOON EASTERN
IOWA STATE (10-2) AT ARIZONA STATE (10-2) - ARIZONA STATE FAVORED BY 2.5
Arizona State is really hot. I like the QB, Sam Leavitt, because he’s an Oregon kid and an old coaching associate, Jon Eagle, was his high school coach. And I really like their running back, Cam Skattebo, because he’s a throwback to the days when everybody had a tough dude like him at running back.
***
MAC - NOON EASTERN
OHIO (9-3) AT MIAMI (8-4) - MIAMI FAVORED BY 2.5 -
I’ll take Ohio U because, like Aberdeen, Washington - they’re the Bobcats. I know - that’s no better reason than my wife picking a horse because it’s gray.
***
SEC - - 4 PM EASTERN
TEXAS (11-1) VS GEORGIA (10-2) AT ATLANTA - TEXAS FAVORED BY 2.5 -
Thinking back to the Georgia Tech game, will we see “First Half Georgia” or “Second Half Georgia?” Or - what if Georgia plays less than its best for TWO halves? While waiting for answers, I think Texas wins this one. Texas, as they say in baseball, is due.
***
SUNBELT - 7:30 PM EASTERN
MARSHALL (9-3) AT LOUISIANA (10-2) - LOUISIANA FAVORED BY 3.5 -
Marshall did a great job of beating James Madison in OT to get to this game. But Marshall’s Charles Huff has basically been working without a contract, and there are strong rumors that he’s headed to Southern Miss. For that reason alone, I have to go with the Cajuns.
***
BIG TEN - 8 PM EASTERN
OREGON (12-0) VS PENN STATE (11-1) AT INDIANAPOLIS - OREGON FAVORED BY 3.5
Last time they met was 1994, in the Rose Bowl. It was Penn State’s first year in the Big Ten. (Actually, that made it the Big Eleven, but who’s counting anymore?) The question here is - it’s not Ohio State, but is this game big enough that James Franklin freezes? Ducks - because Oregon has weapons, and also a very tough defense. And Penn State has James “Run ‘Em Up” Franklin.
***
ACC - 8 PM EASTERN
CLEMSON (9-3) VS SMU (11-1) AT CHARLOTTE - SMU FAVORED BY 2.5 -
I would ordinarily go for Clemson and I still might, but I was very disappointed in the way they pissed away the South Carolina game. The only thing that keeps me from going for SMU is that I keep hearing what obnoxious rich bastards they can be.
*********** When we talk about the greatness of certain players, we sometimes can get too carried away with stats. Unfortunately, there’s no way of measuring - and therefore no way of letting others know - the value of a man to his team.
It’s not that the Baltimore Colts’ John Mackey didn’t have the stats to justify his being considered one of the greatest tight ends ever to play the game. But he did so much more for his team just by being the man he was.
In a book I was perusing - “Sundays at 2:00 With the Baltimore Colts” - former Colts’ General Manager Ernie Accorsi recalled how much Mackey meant to the team.
“John just exuded leadership qualities. He lifted everybody, although he may not be recognized so much for that. Facing a tough road game, you'd see John get on the bus and you knew things were going to be all right.”
Accorsi went on,
In 1970 we traded for wide receiver Roy Jefferson, who had a reputation for trouble in Pittsburgh.
Coach Don McCafferty told (assistant coach) Dick Bielski, "Run him. I want to see how fast he is.”
I was in McCafferty's office when Dick came back. “What did he run?” Don asked.
"He wouldn't run. He told me to go to hell.“
About three minutes later, John Mackey walked in and said, "Coach, room him with me. I want him to realize how we do things here. “
How did that work out? The Colts won the Super Bowl that season. And, noted Accorsi, without Jefferson, “We wouldn’t have smelled the Super Bowl.”
*********** I was talking with a friend who said, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the Bears hired Ryan Day?”
Yes, I said, it would be very cool. And so richly deserved by those “fans” in Columbus.
Ohio State chews up coaches and spits them out.
And we're not talking bad coaches doing bad jobs.
Other than Luke Fickell, who had the job on an interim basis after Jim Tressel was let go, only one coach at Ohio State since 1951 has had a winning percentage less than .750 - and that was John Cooper, at .715.
Yet not one of them got to leave Columbus of his own volition.
To find the last one who did, you have to go back to 1943, when Paul Brown left to join the Navy during World War II. When the War ended, he did come back to Ohio - but to Cleveland, as the first coach of the Browns.
Since Paul Brown…
Carroll Widdoes
Paul Bixler
Wes Fesler
Woody Hayes
Earle Bruce
John Cooper
Jim Tressel
Luke Fickell
Urban Meyer
Ryan Day
*********** You heard it from me, and I heard it from my son, Ed, who lives in Melbourne, Australia (and has to be the Mountain West’s most far-flung reporter): New Mexico’s Devon Dampier (remember seeing him on my last Zoom?) may be about to be snatched up by a Power 4 school.
Utah is said to be closing in on hiring Jason Beck, New Mexico’s offensive coordinator, and I can’t believe that Utah would hire the guy without the QB accompanying him. Nor can I believe he would take a job without bringing Dampier along. (Transfer Portal opens Monday.)
Me - I hope the story’s true. Getting a QB like Dampier would light any coach’s fire.
I like Utah’s Kyle Whittingham, and I’ve hated seeing him looking beaten down this season.
*********** The Baltimore Ravens suspended wide receiver Diontae Johnson for one game because he refused to go into the game against the Eagles.
What’s the big deal? College players routinely refuse to even suit up for bowl games, and nothing happens to them. No repercussions at all. Many of them are actually allowed to stand on the sidelines at the bowl games in street clothes, as if they were still full-fledged members of their teams. I don’t know whether they still keep their scholarships - including room and board - but I do know that many of those bowl holdouts are still able to take part in their schools’ pro days. So some on, Ravens - lighten up on old Diontae.
*********** For years, Oregon’s high school sports governing body listened to coaches’ complaints about the lopsided scores of first-round playoff games, especially in the largest classification, 6A.
Finally, they decided to do something about it, but as a result, they wound up with two 6A state championships:
(1) The 6A Open championship. It’s not unlike the College Football Playoff, with the top 12 teams in the final rankings, adjusted as necessary to make sure all six 6A league champions get in. The top four seeds get a first-round bye. The winner is the “Class 6A Open Champion.”
(2) The 6A State championship: 16 teams - seeds 13-28 - are placed in a bracket and play for the “state championship.” The winner is the “Class 6A State champion,” and the winning team’s trophy looks identical to the ones given out to all the state champions in all the other classes.
Yeah. But what about seeds 29 and higher? Don’t they deserve a trophy, too?
*********** Oregon State coach Dee Andros believed in power football - he wrote a book (a pretty good one) titled “Power T Football.”
His philosophy? “Run the ball up the gut and rely on a rugged defense.”
He once ran his fullback, Pete Pifer, 17 straight times in a win over Syracuse in 1965.
He believed in recruiting the best athletes on their team, regardless of position, and as a result, one of his Oregon State teams had 17 starters who had played either fullback or quarterback on their high school teams.
*********** Credit Stanford for realizing they had to do something.
The last time they were mired like this, in 2006, they hired a real AD - Bob Bowslby - who hired Jim Harbaugh.
Recently, coming off a 3-9 season (their second in a row), Stanford didn’t hire an AD. Not exactly. But they did hire a guy who, it appears, will have the power to do exactly what Bob Bowlsby did.
The guy is Andrew Luck. He’s been hired as “General Manager.” But the question is - will he do what Bowlsby did?
The situation is dire: Stanford hasn’t won more than four games in a season since 2018, when David Shaw, after a great eight-year run in which the Card went 82-25 (with no season worse than 8-5) and played in three Rose Bowls, saw his program take a nose dive. His last four years at Stanford were 4-8, 4-2 (Covid), 3-9 and 3-9.
His replacement, Troy Taylor, has done no better. He’s had back-to-back 3-9 seasons. Other than an amazing comeback against Colorado in 2023 and a shocking upset of Louisville this season, Stanford football under him has been, well, dismal.
What worries me about Andrew Luck is one of the things I heard him say about Troy Taylor: “He’s had incredible success everywhere he’s been.”
Now, maybe Andrew Luck is including his record as a high school coach, and I guess he was pretty good, but he’s only been a head coach at two colleges - one of them FCS Sacramento State - for a total of five years, and his record at Stanford is 6-18.
When they hired Troy Taylor, I remember thinking, “Is this the best you can do? Really?” It appeared to me that they hired on the cheap.
Think of that for a minute - this is one of the world’s great universities. When they have an opening in their economics department, or their physics department, or their music department, they’re able to hire from the very best applicants in the field. And, presumably (taking DEI into account) they do.
Why shouldn’t football be the same? Hire the best football coach in America and give him a large enough budget and then - just as Stanford’s academics lure students from all over the world - attract football players by showing them that in addition to the value of a Stanford diploma, they’ll prepare players for a potential NFL career by providing them with the very best coaching available anywhere. Are you listening, Coach Belichick?
*********** Pitt’s Pat Narduzzi is said to be very excited about the recruiting class that the Panthers just signed:
Pitt recruits
Name, previous school, Pos., Ht./Wt., Stars (Rivals)
Mason Alexander, Hamilton Southeastern (Ind.), DB, 6-0/180, 4
Julian Anderson, Blair Academy (N.J.), ATH, 6-4/215, 3
Jaylin Brown, Cardinal Newman (Fla.), RB, 5-11/185, 3
Torian Chester, Westover (Ga.), OL, 6-5/320, 3
Denim Cook, Bishop Hartley (Ohio), LB, 6-4/245, 3
Akram Elnagmi, UK/NFL Academy (UK), OL, 6-6/295, 3
Jordan Fields, North Shore (Texas), OL, 6-6/265, 3
Joshua Guerrier, Ocoee (Fla.), ATH, 5-11/170, 3
Mason Heintschel, Clay (Ohio), QB, 6-2/200, 3
Max Hunt, Plant (Fla.), TE, 6-5/210, 3
Tony Kinsler, Spruce Creek (Fla.), RB, 5-11/165, 3
Shawn Lee, Milford Academy (N.Y.), ATH, 6-1/180, 3
Cameron Sapp, Miami Palmetto (Fla.), WR, 5-9/165, 3
Synkwan Smith, Roswell (Ga.), 5-9/165, 3
Trevor Sommers, St. Thomas Aquinas (Fla.), DE, 6-3/255, 3
Emmanuel Taylor, Green Run (Va.), WR, 6-2/200, 3
Justin Thompson, Good Counsel (Md.), LB, 6-3/225, 3
*Shep Turk, Thomas Jefferson, OL, 6-5/275, 3
Ja'Kyrian Turner, South Sumter (Fla.), WR, 5-10/170, 3
Cole Woodson, Battlefield (Va.), DB, 6-0/190, 3
Bryce Yates, Matoaca (Va.), WR, 6-0/165, 3
Notice anything strange?
Although Pittsburgh is in the heart of Western Pennsylvania, long a recruiting hotbed, the Panthers signed just one Pennsylvanian - Shep Turk, from suburban Clairton
*********** Instead of pumping all this money into promoting a softer type of football (“flag”), the NFL should get off its ass and get busy making real football safer.
*********** The Following is a reprint of Bill Battle’s obituary by the National Football Foundation. After becoming a big-time head coach at a very young age, and then becoming an ex-head football coach at a very young age, he did a remarkable job of reinventing himself.
Bill Battle, the 2008 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award recipient who played at Alabama, coached at Tennessee and founded the Collegiate Licensing Company, passed away Nov. 28. He was 82.
After accepting the NFF OCAF Award in 2008, Battle joined the NFF Board of Trustees, serving in emeritus capacity until his passing. He also served as the athletics director at Alabama from 2013 to 2017.
"Bill Battle did it all in the world of college athletics, and he did it with class and style," said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. "A player, coach, administrator, and marketing innovator, Bill Battle ranks among the most influential figures of his generation in college athletics. He knew how to motivate on the playing field and in the boardroom, and he was one of the people who understood the future of college athletics, helping lay the foundation for many of the advances which we all enjoy today. We were particularly grateful for his service on the NFF Board of Trustees, and we are deeply saddened by his loss. He was a friend to all and a wonderful man and great American."
A legend in the world of collegiate marketing, Bill Battle leveraged his experiences as a player for Bear Bryant at Alabama and as a head coach at Tennessee to build the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) into a major force in the multi-billion-dollar annual market for collegiate merchandise, earning hundreds of million in royalties for his clients over the years.
His passion for collegiate athletics and a strong interest in marketing led him to launch Golden Eagle Enterprises in 1981, and he landed his coach, Bear Bryant, and alma mater, Alabama, as his first licensing client.
By 1983, Battle had signed eight other schools and moved the renamed Collegiate Licensing Company to Atlanta, Georgia from Selma, Alabama. With an unrelenting focus on providing his clients with greater exposure and the broadest range of licensing services, Battle built CLC into a national leader in the multi-billion annual market for collegiate licensed merchandise. Battle sold the enterprise to IMG in 2007. At the time, his client list encompassed more than 200 colleges, universities, bowls and conferences, representing more than 75 percent of the annual market at the time of the sale.
A member of Hall of Fame Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's first national championship team in 1961, Battle was a three-year starter from 1960-62 for the Crimson Tide, earning spots on the UA All-Decade Team for the 1960s as first-team tight end and second-team defensive end.
Battle followed his playing days by entering the coaching profession as an assistant at the University of Oklahoma under Hall of Fame Coach Bud Wilkinson. From 1964-1965, he served at the U.S. Military Academy, including work as an assistant football coach under Paul Dietzel.
He arrived at the University of Tennessee in 1966 as an assistant to Hall of Fame Coach Doug Dickey, and in 1970, when Dickey left for Florida, Battle, 28 years-old, assumed the head coaching position, becoming the youngest coach at the time, tallying a 59-22-2 record and five straight bowl appearances with three squads finishing in the top ten. His 55 wins rank fourth all-time in UT history, while his .723 winning percentage is sixth in Vol annals.
Following the sale of CLC to IMG, Battle returned to his alma mater in 2013 to serve as director of athletics for four years. During his tenure, Alabama produced three NCAA team national championships (including football in 2015), 10 SEC team championships in five different sports,15 NCAA individual champions, 43 Academic All-Americans, including six Academic All-Americans of the Year and 16 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship awardees.
Following his tenure as AD, Battle continued on at UA as special assistant to The University of Alabama president where he assisted Dr. Stuart R. Bell in a variety of initiatives benefiting the University and the Department of Athletics.
A native of Birmingham, Ala., Battle was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of fame in 1981 and was the first member inducted into the National Collegiate Licensing Association Hall of Fame in 2000. He was named one of Street & Smith's 20 Most Influential People in College Athletics.
He has also been inducted into the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers' Association Hall of Fame (2008), the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators Hall of Fame (2010), Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame (2011), the Sporting Goods Industry Hall of Fame (2016) and the Alabama Business Hall of Fame (2017).
He served on the boards of Birmingham Southern College, the Bryant-Jordan Student-Athlete Foundation, The University of Alabama A-Club Educational & Charitable Foundation, the Crimson Tide Foundation and along with his wife, Mary,on UAB's Stem Cell Institute Board.
Battle earned a master's degree from the University of Oklahoma and a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from The University of Alabama and an Honorary Doctor of Law from Birmingham Southern College.
With all his other accomplishments, let’s not forget that Bill Battle was the head coach at Tennessee who recruited a kid from Huntsville, Alabama named Condredge Holloway, and enabled him to become the first black quarterback in the SEC.
*********** Tom Walls started and built a strong high school football program (with significant assistance from his wife, Shandy) at Springfield Collegiate Institute, in suburban Winnipeg, Canada. A major strength of the program is the job Tom does of keeping lots of people involved and keeping them informed year-round. One of the major ways he does it is through his newsletter, and I thought you might enjoy his latest…
https://22.files.edl.io/2db8/12/05/24/202435-5ca38d94-1121-4fb6-adb0-10f56c0b8a6b.pdf
*********** It wasn’t that long ago that Eric Bienemy was being passed over for jobs, and woke sportswriters were climbing all over each other to find different ways of suggesting that racism had to be at play. So what do you suppose they’ll be saying after today’s news that he was just fired by UCLA, whose head coach, DeShaun Foster, is a black man?
*********** We all see the horrible state of CFB. Four times Saturday we witnessed the stupid attempted "planting" of school flags. We saw a few cops outnumbered in some cases by 20:1. At some point those cops will need more than pepper spray. To combat the nasty stuff happening on the field, I would jack up the fine from 100,000 to one million for the school or schools responsible AND sideline the QB and head coaches for, let's say, three games. But that proposal stands near no chance of implementation because the NCAA is virtually impotent. What we've been seeing and you've been reporting for a long while is important in prime part because the players are being trained to be good citizens and good neighbors. I contrast the way today's CFB players are handled with the way the Hillsdale faculty and family treated young Mike Lude.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
While I believe Travis Hunter will win the Heisman (after all he IS the best ALL-AROUND football player in the country based upon the original intention of what the award was to represent). Two-way starter, great receiver, great DB, and a great special team player. BUT…based upon results over the last 20 years Jeanty is just as deserving.
Army-Tulane: The Green Wave can still take home the AAC Championship with a win, and go to a bowl game. Army can also win it. Army still has Navy and the CIC Championship. (I’m wondering which of the two trophies will carry the most weight?). Army will also look forward to a bowl. The AAC championship will be held at frosty West Point. Friday night’s high will be in the high 20’s!
The Golden Gophers brought home Paul Bunyan’s axe! As Coach PJ Fleck says after a win… Row the boat! Go Gophers!
Ski-U-Mah!!
ND earned a home playoff game. Likely a sun belt school. No matter who it is South Bend in December?? Good luck wit dat! UNLESS… the playoff committee decides Indiana travels a short drive north to make it a money game.
Speaking of money… word has it Michigan offered LSU “commit” Bryce Underwood over 6 million to “flip” his “commitment.” I guess those words truly don’t have the same meaning they used to.
The Ohio State-Michigan post-game brawl, along with what we saw in a few other games leads me to the following:
As Lou Holtz once stated (and I’m paraphrasing) …Used to be we were more concerned with responsibilities and obligations. Now it’s all about rights and privileges.
West Virginia HC candidates… my money is on Jimbo Fisher or Rich Rodriguez.
We lost another coaching legend last week with the passing of former Tennessee Vol Bill Battle. RIP Coach.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
I would like to see Jeanty win the Heisman if only to help put a lid on the transfers of kids who are being told that they won’t get noticed at a Group of 5 school
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Charlie Caldwell was born on “the Virginia side” of Bristol Virginia-Tennessee.
He was an outstanding football player at Princeton, but he was also an outstanding baseball and basketball player, and he spent a year with the New York Yankees before deciding that he had no future in baseball. As a college player, though, he actually had a higher batting average than a player at rival Columbia - Lou Gehrig. It may be legend, but according to some, it was his beaning of Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp that led to the headache that caused Pipp to be removed from the lineup and replaced by Gehrig.
Offered a job at Princeton by his former head coach, Bill Roper, he stayed there for three years, mostly coaching the freshmen, but also scouting, which enabled him to travel to places in the Midwest and East and observe many aspects of the game.
After three years, he was offered the head coaching job at Williams College, in Massachusetts, where for much of his time there he coached football, baseball and basketball.
He stayed at Williams for 13 years, and his football teams, running his single wing, compiled an overall record of 76-37-6. (His three-sport overall record was 254-177-6.)
Williams had to give up football for two years during World War II, and unable to serve in the armed forces because of nearsightedness, he got a leave of absence from Williams so that he could assist at Yale, and he also served as a scout for Army coach Earl Blaik.
And then, as World War II was ending, in 1945 he was hired by his alma mater as its head coach. The program was down, but by 1950 his Tigers - and their single wing - were gaining national recognition. From October, 1949 until November, 1952, Princeton won 30 of 31 games, and they were undefeated in both 1950 and 1951.
In 1950 he was named AFCA Coach of the Year, and his tailback, Dick Kazmaier, won the Heisman Trophy.
In 1957, while still the head coach at Princeton, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and had to step down from his position. He died in November of that year, at the age of 55. (I was a sophomore at Yale at the time, and I remember hearing the news that the head coach of our nemesis, the Princeton Tigers, had cancer.)
In Charlie Caldwell's book, Modern Single Wing Football, published in 1950, he told of what - and who - inspired him to become a coach:
The longer I coach, the more I work with boys, the more clearly I understand that the seemingly small incidents – often chance happenings – are largely responsible for those decisions that shape an individual’s career. In my own case, it took a great team, and the master coach of them all, Knute Rockne, to convince me that football was for me, that coaching was a profession requiring the same kind of intense study and lifelong devotion demanded of teachers, lawyers and even of doctors.
No, I never played for Rockne. I played against him, or against his 1924 team that included the celebrated four Horsemen, Elmer Layden, Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley and Don Miller. It happened in Palmer Stadium on a sunny October twenty-fifth, and never before in my life had I spent such a frustrating, disappointing afternoon. We were beaten, 12-0, and the final score could've been 28-0, or possibly higher. The score didn't bother me – it was the way in which Rockne's men handled us, particularly me.
The 1924 Princeton team was a better-than-average Princeton team. We had beaten Navy, we later turned back Harvard, 34 to 0 and lost to a sound Yale team, 10-0. Yet against Notre Dame I felt as if we were being toyed with. I was backing up the line and I don't believe I made a clean tackle all afternoon. There would come Layden, or Miller, or someone. I would get set to drop the ball carrier in his tracks and someone would give me a nudge, just enough to throw me off balance, just enough pressure to make me miss. I played the whole game that way, giving a completely lackluster performance.
We were walking up the chute to the dressing rooms after the game and I actually felt ready for another two hours of contact. I wasn't tired, nor was I beaten down physically as I generally was after a big game. Others walking with me agreed. As we pieced together our individual reactions to our defeat, we began to see that we had met something new, something we had never anticipated. We, and I am writing this in retrospect, had been subjected to our first lesson in what might be called the science of football.
These Rockne inspired thoughts stayed with me for a long, long time.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CHARLIE CALDWELL
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
JOE BREMER - WEST SENECA, NEW YORK
TOM DAVIS - SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA - Tried to read his book, one of the most difficult books on Football I ever read.
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: As a defensive line coach, he coached the Fearsome Foursome when he was with the Rams, and he coached the Purple People Eaters when he was with the Vikings. If that wasn’t enough, he was the first coach the Seattle Seahawks ever had.
He was born in Bismarck, North Dakota, but he played his high school ball in Portland, Oregon, where he was an all-city tackle. He played his college ball at the University of Oregon under the great Len Casanova, and later recalled, “Cas probably influenced my life the most. His dedication to coaching, to the U of O, and to life in general has certainly affected me for the better, I hope.”
A four-year letterman at Oregon, he was named All-Coast, and played in the East-West Shrine Game, the Hula Bowl, and the College All-Star Game.
He was drafted in the fourth round by the Baltimore Colts, and after starting out as a guard was moved to middle linebacker after an injury to the starter.
After three seasons at middle linebacker, he resisted when moved back to guard, and he was cut. Two days later he was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals, and played two seasons for them.
In 1960, he was taken by the brand-new Dallas Cowboys in their expansion draft, and became the first middle linebacker in Cowboys’ history. But he was injured in the fourth game of the season, and never fully recovered. He stayed with the Cowboys for two seasons before retiring.
He apparently worked well with Cowboys’ new coach Tom Landry, saying, “Landry was more like Cas (Oregon’s Len Casanova) than other coaches I was associated with and that was probably why we got along so well. I probably learned as much in that first year with Dallas as I learned during my previous six years.”
In 1963, when Harland Svare became the head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, he was then, at 31, the youngest head coach in NFL history. And he assembled a staff at least as young as he was, including our guy, at 30. Part of the reason was his experience running Tom Landry’s defense; it was the same defense Svare ran when he coached under Landry in New York and then succeeded him as the Giants’ DC.
Our guy coached the defensive line, and he had some pretty good ones: Rosey Grier, Deacon Jones, Lamar Lundy and Merlin Olsen - the Fearsome Foursome. He stayed with the Rams for four years - three under Svare and one under George Allen - then moved to New York to spend two seasons under Allie Sherman.
And then he moved to Minnesota, where he worked under the great Bud Grant and once more he had the privilege of coaching one of the NFL’s great defensive lines - the so-called Purple People Eaters: Carl Eller, Gary Larsen, Jim Marshall and Alan Page.
In his seven years in Minnesota, the Vikings played in four NFL championship games and three Super Bowls, and when he finally left the Vikings, Grant told him, “You were really a key figure in our success.”
He left the Vikings because he was hired as the coach of the brand-new Seattle Seahawks.
Because, as with most NFL expansion teams, the Seahawks were undertalented, his approach was tough - because that was his way. Said offensive lineman Ron August, he “was really old-school. We were probably the last team to have a strength and conditioning coach, we were probably the last team to allow water at practice. He was old-school, but he was a great coach.”
But also, his approach was to try to do all sorts of things on offense, which proved to provide entertaining football.
By his third season, the Seahawks went 9-7 and they did the same the next year.
But back-to-back bad seasons, combined with a difficult time during a players’ strike, and an increasingly hostile relationship with the Seattle media cost him his job two games into his seventh season.
He was just 50, but he never coached again.
Recalled receiver Steve Largent, who would go on to have a Hall of Fame career with the Seahawks, “(He) was a guy who was kind of a hard guy, he had a plan, he had a way he thought you should run a team. He wanted a certain kind of player and he tried to get those players. His hands were tied by the way the league allowed teams to enter in the league. It was much harder then than it is now with free agency. But even with that, (he) was fairly successful for the way you had to build a team in those days.
"It really was a fun time period for the team. We didn't have the kind of success we wanted to have, but we were more successful than anyone else had been in the same circumstances. We just had the type of guys on our team who were really quality people, who had a lot of character and who were players who knew how to win."
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2024 “If I were to be born again, I would like to be born in the United States.” Winston Churchill
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Dave Nelson's inaugural season as a head coach was successful. Our Hillsdale college team lost just one game, a 13-6 setback at the hands of Albion, one of the school’s longtime rivals in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. We were co-champions of the MIAA, and no one took more pride in that season than I did. Besides serving as team captain, I played almost every down at guard.
“Nelson commanded our respect from the start of two-a-day practices going into the 1946 season. The team was a mix of returning veterans and an assortment of talent Nelson had recruited to play the same Michigan Single Wing formation he competed in as a pre-war Wolverine. Nelson wasn't more than a few years older than those of us who had returned from World War II, so we developed a special rapport with our new coach. Yet he could be tough and demanding, a strong leader who never lost the reins of control.
“We had two outstanding running backs, Tom Wood from Imlay City, Michigan, and Bill Young from the Detroit area. Other standouts on the team included Dick Pifer, a Hillsdale product and brother of Rena; center Alex Clelland from Detroit, and Carl Sweig, a transfer who had played at Albion before the war.
“In the classroom, I was much improved. Good grades came a lot easier now that I had learned to study and prioritize my time. The biology department was proud of me. I was having a great year, with one exception. Rena Pifer, the love interest in my life, had received a scholarship to a preschool education specialty institution in Detroit, during spring semester. That was a downer, but the romance still thrived. Just a few days after our graduation ceremony we were married in Rena’s Hillsdale Presbyterian Church, on June 5, 1947. After a short honeymoon in Chicago we headed for Port Huron, Michigan, where we had jobs in the city’s summer recreation program. In September Rena would teach kindergarten and I would become a high school assistant football and head baseball coach.
“Then Dave Nelson threw me a curveball.
“He offered me a job.”
*********** THINK THIS DOESN’T GO OVER WELL WITH SUPERINTENDENTS AND PRINCIPALS?
For several years the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association and the Washington Officials Association (WIAA – WOA) have placed an emphasis on sportsmanship in High School sports throughout the state.
The South Sound Football Officials Association (SSFOA) took this initiative very seriously and in 1998 we created a sportsmanship/scholarship program. Eligibility for our sportsmanship/scholarship program centers on schools in our service area, players, coaches and fans which exemplify sportsmanship in their football programs. Since 1998 we have provided over $68,000 in scholarships to help young men and women further their education at the next level.
Our members selected Aberdeen (2A, 3A and 4A schools) and Montesano (1B, 2B and 1A schools) to receive the South Sound Football Officials Association Sportsmanship Award for 2024 season. Each school will select two students to receive our scholarship award, each student will receive a $1,000 scholarship to help further their education at the next level.
Our officials donate money from their game fees to cover the cost of these scholarships along with a generous donation of $2,500.00 from Dr. Mark Simmonds of Simmonds Chiropractic who is excited to support the program. We as an Association believe strongly in giving back to communities and this is one way that we can have a positive impact.
Congratulations to all the schools this year for an outstanding season, and especially to this year's winners, Aberdeen and Montesano.
*********** Brad Knight’s and my picks - many of them emotionally based, few of them backed by hard analysis, a couple of them downright idiotic.
THURSDAY - AS I WENT TO PRESS, SO IT WENT UNPREDICTED…
MEMPHIS 34, TULANE 24 - UH-OH. There went any chance that Tulane had of making the Playoff as the best Group of Five team. And there, too, went any chance of anyone other than the Army Corps of Cadets being on hand to watch next Saturday, when Tulane visits West Point to play Army for the AAC championship. Until Memphis’ upset, Tulane was ranked higher than any Big-12 team, which would have given it an automatic Playoff berth.
FRIDAY
BOISE STATE 34, OREGON STATE 18 - Jeanty 200 and 3 scores. Or more (if they keep him in the game) If he does not win the Heisman it is a sham. He won't...but he should. Will be a nice consolation prize to see a non QB win for a change if we get so lucky. (ME) Watch out, Broncos - the Beavers played very well in beating Washington State last week. This one is DEFINITELY a trap. But I’m pulling for Jeanty for the Heisman - imagine one from a Group of 5 school!
IN SUM: Did Jeanty lose the Heisman? Yes, he may have rushed for 226. But he had “only” one TD. And he fumbled! Yes, it was only his second of the year, but still… OSU, meanwhile, misses out on a bowl game.
COLORADO 52, OKLAHOMA STATE 0 - Will see if the Buffs can rebound after being humbled by the Jayhawks. I think Okie St is bad...I'll take the Buffs. Colorado will attempt to make a statement that their losses should not disqualify them from playoff contention. ME: Have to take the Buffs, now that the Big 12 has decided that it was okay for Shedeur to shove that ref.
IN SUM: Will Shedeur and Hunter pass on the Buffs’ bowl game? Will “Coach Prime” be back or is he just another daddy coach? What’s the over/under on the number of assistants Mike Gundy will have to replace?
MINNESOTA 24, WISCONSIN 7 - Give me Wiscy since I hate the NOPHERS. Sorry to my friend Joe Gutilla. The feeling between Nophers and Hawkeyes is mutual hatred. I'll pick against PJ and the Nophers unless they play Nebraska or Iowa State. Man I do kinda miss Kinnick North. And it still wasn't a fair catch. ME: Gophers all the way. Just watched Nebraska and Wisconsin in its entirety on Tuesday night, and Fickell picked a hell of a time to let his OC go. If the Badgers lose, Fickell won’t even collect his (very sizable) bowl bonus this year.
IN SUM: Badgers have now lost five straight. Who would have thought that Barry Alvarez’ legacy would be a Wisconsin football team that rushed for 36 yards against that state to the west?
NAVY 34, EAST CAROLINA 20 - Give me the Midshipmen. I kinda want to pick the Pirates (since I once was a Pirate, and Coach Leach loved Pirates) but I think the MIddies are better. ME: I’ve seen the Pirates the last couple of games and - with an interim coach - they’ve played well. I’m going to take a chance and go ECU.
IN SUM: Navy QB Blake Horvath unavailable? No problem. Up steps Sophomore Braxton Woodson, 6-3, 215, completing 12 of 19 for 165 and a TD and carrying 15 times for 125 yards and two TDs. Sure hope Army noticed that it is possible to give a backup quarterback enough practice reps that he can run your whole offense.
OLE MISS 26, MISSISSIPPI STATE 14 - Give me the Rebs...BIG. All 3 loss SEC teams are going to try to make a statement that they should be in the playoff mix. Kiffin's team was embarrassed by an unrated team last week. Maybe they choose to show up and not throw 3 INT's in 4 plays at the end of the game. ME: There’s a lot of emotion in this one but Mississippi State just doesn’t have it. Rebels by a lot.
IN SUM: State, playing their best game of the year, made it a lot closer than anyone expected.
COLORADO STATE 42, UTAH STATE 37 - This one has a chance to be a really decent game. I like the Aggies to win a close one, late. This is my favorite of the Aggies. Had a buddy who coached there for a short while. ME: Aggies. CSU finally got brought down to earth last week by Fresn
IN SUM: Down 30-13 after three quarters, Rams scored 29 straight points in the fourth. Aggies finally managed a TD with :14 left to make it close.
SAN JOSE STATE 34, STANFORD 31- San Jose State drubs Stanford. UNLESS Stanford plays like they did against Louisville. (or be honest if San Jose plays like Lousiville did against Stanford. I'll take SJSU. And hope they can outplay Louisville who played O'Possum (dead) against Stanford. ME: Lots of Bay Area kids on that SJSU team that would love to beat Stanford. The game might not matter as much to the Stanford kids after their total fold last week against Cal. But I’m gonna take a chance and say Stanford.
IN SUM: Stanford wins this year’s Choker Award. Stanford scored twice in the fourth quarter to take a 31-27 lead, but after a very controversial interception, San Jose State went ahead at 1:55 remaining, and then Stanford’s final comeback attempt ended when the QB fumbled.
GEORGIA 44, GEORGIA TECH 42 (8 OTS) - Georgia in the rivalry game. I really want to pick Tech because I love their QB. BUT GA has too much on the line. Once considered out of the playoff now they are back in with a chance to move up. ME: Clean, old-fashioned hate. Since this one’s being played between the hedges, I have to go with UGA. But give ‘em a game, Tech!
IN SUM: Absolutely amazing game - first because Georgia didn't seem serious; then, because Georgia did; and then because the two teams went toe-to-toe..
IOWA 13, NEBRASKA 10 - HAWKEYES ALL DAY. Only team I dislike more than ISU is Nebraska. A steady dose of KJ against their 3-5 defense and Iowa wins. KJ should be invited to NY. He won't be....but I sure hope he sticks around for another year at Iowa. ME: Look out, Knighter - I saw what Holgorsen did for NU against Wisconsin - they look like a new team. Playing offense. Moving the ball. Scoring points, even. This is my upset pick.
IN SUM: Nebraska put on the tough guy act, refusing to shake hands, but they couldn't back it up. Huskers' fans deserve better.
UTAH 28, UCF 14 - I'll take the Utes in the battle of the dumpster fires. Utah gave ISU all they wanted a week ago. Whittingham possibly leaving? Hearing rumors. Not sure I believe any of them. But this Utes team has been a disappointment for sure. ME: I HAVE to take the Utes. This could be Kyle Whittingham’s last game. (A HUGE loss for football if it is.)
IN SUM: It was Gus Malzahn's last game as UCF head coach. This program is a sleeping giant.
SATURDAY
MICHIGAN 13, OHIO STATE 10- tOSU wins again FINALLY. But I do expect Michigan to play better than they have all season long. tOSU but close. No dog in the fight, secretly hoping Michigan wins again so i can see the pain on Day's face after spending 22 million to pay this group. ME: I happen to LIKE Ryan Day and I’d hate for him to have to go through another off-season with a loss to Michigan on his back. So, too, would Buckeyes’ fans. who will scream for his neck. Go Buckeyes!
IN SUM: I don’t see how you could watch this and not believe in jinxes. Ohio State, literally the best team that money can buy, got its ass whipped by a sub-par Michigan team. The Buckeyes scored just one touchdown and rushed for 77 yards. Truthfully, it was a boring game. The only thing that kept it “exciting” was the suspenseful wait to see if Ohio State could actually manage to lose this thing.
TENNESSEE 36 VANDERBILT 23 - Tennessee Vols win. Vandy disappointed me last week. I am off the Vandy bandwagon. I should like Tenn. more. Heupel's dad was the coach at Northern when I was in South Dakota. He was a good guy. I think his kid is as well. ME: Vandy will NOT beat Tennessee. I think General Neyland passed a law back in the 1930s making it illegal.
IN SUM: Vandy gave them a good game - led 17-7 after one period, thanks to a 100-yard return of the opening kickoff - but the Vols held them to one TD in the entire second half.
SOUTH CAROLINA 17, CLEMSON 14 - I'll take the Cocks to shock the Dabos. RUN THE BALL. Sellers is a stud. AND Clemson deserves to be a little bit humbled. They started this DJ Ukelele mess. Or whatever this toxic qb's name is (will he transfer again? from Florida State and ruin another program) ME: Clemson is 8-1 over the last nine meetings but those days might be over. On the other hand, the Gamecocks have to go into Death Valley, where it’s hard to beat the Tigers. My ACC blood says Clemson.
IN SUM: South Carolina scored to go ahead with 1:08 left to play. Clemson drove - only needed a field goal to go into OT - but got impatient and threw - an interception.
ARMY 29, UTSA 24 - Army…if and only if they run more than "hey diddle diddle up the middle". I think they rebound. But unfortunately the ND loss keeps them from playoff consideration. Imagine a week to try to get ready to see ground and pound? ME: Army’s a 7-point favorute. But since a one-point loss to Tulsa back in October, Roadrunners have won three in a row - including a 44-36 win over Memphis. I think Notre Dame could wind up beating Army twice
IN SUM: Bryson Daily scored twice within two minutes of play early in the fourth period to give Army a 12-point lead that enabled the Cadets to hang on. Daily was 10 of 17 for 190 yards and a TD passing, and he carried 27 times for 147 yards and two TDs. One thing hasn’t changed since last week’s Notre Dame shellacking: Daily either ran or passed on 59 per cent of Army’s plays.
ILLINOIS 38, NORTHWESTERN 28 - Illini are way too physical for the Nerds of Northwestern. Illinois has had a very solid season. NW is a MESS. Fitz is likely happy to be gone. ME: Years ago, a smartass reporter called them the Mildcats.
IN SUM: I definitely thought this would be worse.
LOUISVILLE 41, KENTUCKY 14- Louisville UNLESS they play like they did against Stanford. I don't think they will. But one never knows. ME: It’s at Kentucky. I’ll take the Wildcats. Besides, it’s the SEC, where IT JUST MEANS MORE.
IN SUM: If you’re a Kentucky fan, there’s no other way to say it: this was BAD. It was 20-0 at the half. The Cardinals rushed for 358 yards. Kentucky turned the ball over five times - two fumbles and three interceptions.
DUKE 23, WAKE FOREST 17- I'll take DUKE....I think Duke is just better than WF. They surprised me. I thought when coach bailed to A&M (who wouldn't for that money and recruiting grounds at a FB school) Duke would fall off. They certainly have not. ME: Both schools are in the family - hard for me to root against either. So I won’t root. But Duke is a LOT better.
IN SUM: With eight seconds left and the game tied, 17-17, Duke’s Maalik Murphy dropped back to pass. It was second down and there was still time to kick the winning field goal - if he threw it fast enough. But no - he bounced around there in the pocket, and I’m yelling “throw the ball!” He finally did - too late, I thought - and it went for a 39-yard TD.
BAYLOR 45, KANSAS 17 - No shock, I'll stay with the hottest team in the country to win and make a bowl game. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! Daniels and Neal. Difference makers, and good kids. Go get that Bowl game so we can wave the wheat some more. ME: I also say ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! How about this bit of trivia: Kansas has played more ranked teams than Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana - combined!
IN SUM: A Baylor win would have been a surprise (to me). But to do it the way they did was a shocker: 603 yards of offense, almost evenly divided between rushing and passing. The Bears put it away with a 21-7 third quarter. How about some love for Dave Aranda: after a 2-4 start, Baylor reeled off six straight wins.
TEXAS TECH 52, WEST VIRGINIA 15 - If it was at WV I'd take the Mountaineers. But at TT? Give me the Red Raiders. Even though I hate what the administration did to Mike Leach. I'll never forgive them for that. ME: I hate ‘em for what they did to Leach, too - except that’s what made him available when Washington State came calling on him in Key West. GO MOUNTAINEERS!
IN SUM: The Mountaineers lost a fumble and threw two interceptions. They were down, 35-3, at the half. They’re now looking for a head coach.
BOSTON COLLEGE 34, PITT 23 - The fighting O'Briens beat the Fighting Narduzzis. Pittsburgh has let me down too many times. I won't pick Pitt again this year unless we talk about best helmets...and maybe I'd consider them. ME: Hate to see Pitt on the way down, but that’s what seems to be happening, and BC is definitely on the climb. Eagles.
IN SUM: In five weeks, Pitt went from 7-0 to 7-5. Against BC, they had an almost unbelievable - this is Pittsburgh, remember - 23 yards rushing. BC also finishes 7-5, but three of their last four games were wins, and the loss was to ACC leader SMU, 38-28.
PENN STATE 44, MARYLAND 7 - Nittany Kittens. Maryland showed a week ago they are not good at backup QB. Penn State is just too close to being playoff bound to lose to Maryland. ME: As Beano Cook once said, after picking Penn State: “Why? Because Penn State ALWAYS beats Maryland.”
IN SUM: With the score 38-7 and Penn State on the Maryland 15 with time for just one more play, what would YOU have done? I bet that 90 per cent of you out there would say, “Take a knee.” Not James Franklin. 38-7 wasn’t enough. He wanted more. But when you’re on the 15 with time for just one play, you almost have to pass, right? Well, what the hell - let’s throw it. Actually, they’d thrown an incomplete pass the play before. This time - what do you know? - it’s complete for a TD. Yay, Nittany Lions. And wouldn’t you know it - Mike Locksley, Maryland’s coach, called it “bullsh—.” What a sorehead, huh? Franklin? He said, “I’m good with it. Anybody that's not, that's their problem.”
MORE FRANKLIN: The main reason why I dislike James Franklin dates back to 2017, when he called a timeout with eleven seconds left in order to ice Georgia State’s field goal kicker and get Penn State’s field-goal-block unit on the field. Penn State led, 56-0. Guy’s a prick.
Said New York sports guy Mike Francesa at the time (2017)
“It’s 56-0, let him kick the ball! And then try to lie about it. What a stooge. What he hasn’t got is any class, because why would you do that to a kid up 56-0?! ‘We had our fourth team on the field, we didn’t have a fourth-team field-goal block.’ What the heck do you need to block it for?! Let the ball go through the uprights, you jerk. So he calls timeout to get the second-team field-goal block in. What a bunch of garbage that is. He sells you that, he’ll sell you anything. The guy iced him, plain and simple, because he wanted a shutout.”
NOTRE DAME 49, USC 35 - ND will roll USC. ND is physically better. USC may have better athletic ability BUT ND will beat them up. And be the 5 seed. Too bad they didn't join a conference...they would likely be a higher seed. Oh that and losing to NIU? WTF? ME: It’s in the Coliseum and USC has been playing better. This one could make the Trojans’ season. I’ll forecast a USC upset.
IN SUM: It was a pretty good game. Except for a minute or so at the end when Notre Dame scored to lead 49-28, the two teams were never separated by more than two scores. An interesting - and disappointing - thing to me was some examples of dirty play by the Irish. notably a punch thrown at a downed Trojan by ND’s number 88.
ALABAMA 28, AUBURN 14 - A wounded BAMA and J. Milroe win the rivalry game. Another 3 loss SEC team trying to prove worthy of playoff entry. Something tells me if ESPN can find a way Bama makes it in. ME: An Auburn win can’t be allowed to happen. ESPN won’t have it. You explained why I MUST forecast a Bama win. Big. ESPN has willed it. Bama will play the way they played against Georgia, not against Oklahoma.
IN SUM: Maybe it was because the two teams had ten losses between them, but this one just didn’t have the feel of your typical Iron Bowl. It seldom commanded my attention - other than when there was a bit of a fracas on the Auburn sideline in the third period. I was rooting for Auburn simply because Alabama is ESPN’s darling and I just know they’re going to find a way into the Playoff.
SYRACUSE 42, MIAMI 38 - the U wins. Just better than Cuse. Maybe the U is back. This year should certainly help recruiting as they are nOT too far from being back to the Jimmy Johnson days of old. ME: The Orange, hot off a win over mighty UConn, sends the ACC reeling with a win over the Canes.
IN SUM: Was anybody else out there rooting for Syracuse? How’d you like to have been Syracuse QB Kyle McCord on Saturday? He was sort of dumped by Ohio State after last season, and acquired by Syracuse. Under new coach Fran Brown, the Orange has gone 9-3, and he’s been a major reason. Saturday, going against Heisman candidate Cam Ward, he not only wound up on the winning side, he had better stats: McCord: 26/36/380 and 3 TDs; Ward: 25/36/34 and 2 TDs. And instead of standing in The Shoe being booed by 100,000 or so angry Buckeye “faithful,” he was the toast of 45,000 Syracuse fans.
SMU 38, CAL 6 - SMU wins and assures themselves a shot to be playoff bound IF they win the Conf Champ game. (this is dumb to say but I can see smaller market teams being bumped if they lose championship weekend in an effort to load SEC and B1G teams into the 12 team field) ME: If SMU can beat Cal AND win the ACC title game, they may suddenly find themselves the darlings of a VERY big market (the way the Cowboys are playing). They will win this one, for sure.
IN SUM: After a rough start with a one-point loss to BYU and a narrow win over Nevada, only Duke, in a one-point OT loss has come close to the Mustangs. Now, in the ACC title game, SMU, the new member that had to buy its way into the conference , faces Clemson a team that tried to buy its way OUT.
ARIZONA STATE 49, ARIZONA 7- Arizona State. Impressive season for the "baby" coach. Hope he doesn't have another tantrum. If they win out they may see playoffs in their future. ME: Strange things happen in this “Territorial Cup” game, but I don’t think the Wildcats have what it takes to pull off an upset.
IN SUM: Sun Devils are in the Big-12 championship game. Sam Leavitt completed 17 of 22 for 291 and three TDs; Cam Skattebo carried 21 times for 177 and three TDs.
MISSOURI 28, ARKANSAS 21- As a "pseudo" JAYHAWK I have to hate Mizzou. Give me Arkansas in an upset. ME: Not that big a fan of Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz, and a BIG fan of Arkansas’ Sam Pittman. So wo-o-o-o-o PIG.
IN SUM: Missouri scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, the last eight coming on a Brady Cook run with 1:53 left to kill the Razorbacks’ upset hopes.
RUTGERS 41, MICHIGAN STATE 14 - I'll take Rutgers. I dislike Sparty. BUT I do think they have been better than expected this year. I'd love to see a coach who bailed on the Beavs lose again. ME: Used to like Michigan State, before the last couple of hires. I like Greg Schiano. Rutgers.
IN SUM: Jonathan Smith finished his first season at MSU 5-7, and very few people back in Corvallis, Oregon feel bad about it. This time last year, after a week of dickering with the Michigan State people instead of preparing Oregon State for their game with Oregon, he was off to East Lansing in the clumsiest, most ungracious way imaginable. For the third straight year, the Spartans will stay home during bowl season.
UCLA 20, FRESNO STATE 13 - Love the matchup. Maybe. UCLA beats Fresno State giving Iowa a quality loss and a chance to be in the 12 team playoff. LOL Purely kidding. I'll take UCLA who possibly has some things figured out. Maybe Foster will be a better speaker at B1G media days next year. ME: This has more meaning to the Fresno kids than to the Bruins. But UCLA should have beaten USC and they’ll win this one.
IN SUM: Believe it or not, UCLA hadn’t beaten Fresno State since 2000, but after a roller-coaster season, the Bruins found a way to win this one. They finish 5-7 under first-year coach DeShaun Foster. The Bulldogs finished 6-6 under interim head coach Tim Skipper.
NC STATE 35, NORTH CAROLINA 30- Another rivalry...does Mack Brown have one more win in him? I believe he does. Does Mack Brown come back for another year? That is the even bigger question. ME: Since press time, Mack was let go. This will probably be his last game coaching the Tar Heels. NC State has won the last three games and will win this one. Go Pack!
IN SUM: At least Mack Brown managed to coach this one last time - the bastards wanted him gone last Monday - but his kids couldn’t get the win for him. The Tar Heels went ahead, 30-29, with 1:51 to play, but the Wolfpack drove for the winning score with :25 left.
WYOMING 15, WASHINGTON STATE 14 - Wash. State trounces Wyoming. The Cowboys are just BAD. ME: WSU has lost two in a row and dropped out of the rankings, but they’re still pretty good - a LOT better than the Cowboys.
IN SUM: Cougars lost their final three games - and their national ranking - dropping this one in the final seconds to one of the Mountain West’s worst teams - a team that the Pac-12 deemed unworthy of membership in their conference.
INDIANA 66, PURDUE 0 - Cignetti wins. Google him. Indiana thumps Purdue. In large part because Purdue is putrid this year. Purdon't might lose a scrimmage. To themselves. ME: Indiana is still pretty good and might have given Ohio State a better game. I think that Indiana at its worst can still beat Purdue at its best.
IN SUM: It’s hard to imagine a worse beating in such a long rivalry. Indiana had 582 yards of total offense. Purdue had just 67 yards total. The Boilermakers finished 1-11, and that was enough to cost Ryan Walters his job - and Purdue in excess of $10 million in buyout money for Walters and his staff.
FLORIDA 31, FLORIDA STATE 11- Florida. (Napier has kept his bunch together while Florida State continues to flame out). I've been impressed with Florida's continued improvement when everyone left them for dead. I also think they have gotten healthy finally. ME: Florida food its QB in DJ Lagway. Now, I hear he may be hurt. If he plays, Florida wins big. If he doesn’t, Florida wins.
IN SUM: Floriida has made one of the season's most amazing turnarounds.
LSU 37, OKLAHOMA 17 - Sooners are hungover. LSU wins a battle of teams I dislike. Can Boomer go back to the Bone? Bring Switzer back. NIL deals and triple option qb's were his specialty before NIL deals were legal. ME: OU played their asses off and beat Bama; LSU went through the motions and beat Vanderbilt by a score. I say LSU is still in a daze and OU runs over them.
IN SUM: Tigers still have it. A big question is whether Nussmeier (QB) is badly hurt.
OREGON 49, WASHINGTON 21 - DUCKS. Washington has surprised me. Didn't think they would win at all. But Oregon is way too good to lose now. The only team that can beat the Ducks is the Ducks currently. ME: This is a real, host-to-God rivalry game. Washington is not close to the team that twice took it to a (possibly) superior Oregon team last year, but Oregon is still coached by the guy that did shake-your-head stupid things and passed it off as “because we’re aggressive.” What I’m saying is, I’m picking Oregon - bit Oregon is good at finding ways to lose to Washington.
IN SUM: Who were those guys in the black and silver playing against the Washington Huskies? The Oakland Raiders? No, it was the Oregon “Dress for Success” Ducks, in their 574th different uniform since August. Seldom noted is the fact that these guys can play some defense - when all the sack yardage was subtracted (the Ducks had 16 tackles for loss) Washington wound up with 43 yards rushing.
TEXAS 17, TEXAS A&M 7- I am not sold on Texas. I am inclined to take A&M because they have played a much tougher schedule. Give me the Aggies in an upset. ME: You got here first, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take the Aggies, too. Gig ‘em!
IN SUM: This may have been Texas’ best game of the year, and it landed them a spot in the SEC title game (in case anyone’s interested in a redo of their earlier game with Georgia). Defensively, the Longhorns held the Aggies to only 146 yards passing and 102 yards rushing.
IOWA STATE 29, KANSAS STATE 21 - WildKitties...even though I'm forbidden to pick them (rival). I can't pick ISU. I'm so torn. Hailee will forgive me. ME: An explanation: Hailee is Brad’s daughter. She’s a sophomore at KU. So of course she has to hate the Wildcats. This is a tough call. Earlier in the season I’d have said K-State by a lot. I’ll root for K-State but I’d bet on the Cyclones.
IN SUM: It’s another 10-win season for the Cyclones and a spot in the Big-12 title game. K-State finishes 8-4 after a hot start that had them leading the conference earlier in the season.
UNLV 38, NEVADA 14 - UNLV wins this one. And Las Vegas rejoices as if everyone hit the multiplier on the penny slot machines. ME: Oh, please. Should be easy for UNLV, then on to the MW final against Boise State.
IN SUM: Easy, peasy. Rebels rushed for 351 yards, totaled 519 yards in offense (8.2 yards per play).
VIRGINIA TECH 37, VIRGINIA 17 - Give me the Hokies. I do not think Virginia can compete yet. ME: HOKIE, HOKIE, HOKIE HY! TECH, TECH, V-P-I! The folks from the hills take it to the silk stocking types.
IN SUM: This was a battle for bowl eligibility and the Hokies won it, in front of the customary packed house. Tech running back Bhayshul Tuten carried 18 times for 124 yards and two TDs.
BYU 30, HOUSTON 18 - BYU gets it figured out this week. Beats Houston but close. ME: BYU has had a couple of tough ones and ought to welcome Houston.
IN SUM: In a sloppy game (three fumbles lost by BYU, two fumbles and two interceptions by Houston), the Cougars beat the Cougars to finish 10-2, just out of the running for the Big 12 title game.
AIR FORCE 31, SAN DIEGO STATE 20 - San Diego State because that is who Ron Burgundy would pick. Stay classy San Diego? ME: I think San Diego State is worse than Air Force. How can that be?
IN SUM: AF: 276 rushing, 128 passing; SDSU: 236 passing, 120 rushing. The Falcons didn’t have to work very hard for their passing yards: they passed just twice. Both passes were completed, one of them for a 76-yard TD. (How’s 64 yards per attempt sound?) After losing seven in a row, the Falcons ended their season with four straight wins.
BIG LATE-NIGHT SHOCKER FROM THE PACIFIC: HAWAII 38, NEW MEXICO 30
*********** Stanford made a very common mistake - one made by so many coaches - in thinking that the Double Wing is just a formation and that all you have to do is line up in it and start running plays. After successfully throwing a halfback pass from “our” formation last week against Cal, this past weekend Stanford tried running good old “66 Super Power” against San Jose State. It was a disaster. And like most people who try to do what they did, they almost certainly don’t know why. But they have a pretty good idea why it didn’t work. I can hear it now, the common refrain among the many who, like Stanford, thought they could get away with half-assing the Double Wing: “this sh— doesn’t work.”
*********** A sure sign that something’s wrong: Not one single Stanford running back has scored a touchdown this season.
*********** I imagine that a lot of you saw that for the last 23 Michigan-Ohio State games, the team with more rushing yards has won the game.
*********** The real loser this past weekend was sportsmanship.
(1) Everybody knows about the scuffle that took place following the Ohio State-Michigan game, and I found it interesting that the Fox Network allowed a Michigan player to say, condescendingly, "some people" should learn how to lose” without challenging him and pointing out that "some people should learn how to win.”
For a while it was a scary scene. Fortunately, it’s not the sort of thing that could happen when thousands of students storm the field, because (usually) students only storm the field when the home team wins, and when the home team wins, there’s no reason for the visitors to “plant” their flag in the middle of the home team’s logo.
What was disgusting to me was that neither of those coaching staffs, whose aggregate salaries were in the multi-millions, had done a damn thing to prepare their players in the proper post-game protocol. It was especially disgusting because I’ve known hundreds of high school coaches whose players would never have acted like those big-timers at Ohio State and Michigan.
(2) A Colorado receiver celebrated a touchdown by getting down on all fours, then lifting a leg, simulating a dog pissing on the football. Stay classy, Deion.
(3) Iowa players are claiming that Nebraska coach Matt Rhule walked through their area of the field as they were warming up before the game. Now - to you casual fans who don’t understand football protocol - it is long-accepted practice for the two teams playing in the game to warm up on their respective sides of the 50-yard line. No trespassing. No exceptions. You don’t run pass patterns that cross over onto the other team’s side, and if you have receivers lining up to catch passes, their lineup does not extend across the 50. No exceptions. No, it’s not a felony, so enough of the lame jokes about sending Matt Rhule to prison. Enough of fans pooh-poohing it. It’s a matter of mutual respect, and any willful violation of the protocol is clearly an expression of disrespect. I know that respect is becoming rarer and rarer, but that still doesn’t make the person who walks through the other team any less of a sh—head.
(4) It’s been claimed - and not denied (and there are photos that seem to show) that Nebraska’s captains refused to shake hands at the coin toss with their Iowa counterparts. I’m not sure WTF is wrong with a referee who would see this and not immediately hit the Nebraska coach with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. I do recall some other asshole coach having his players do this a few years ago, and the conference hitting the team with a $10,000 fine. Of course, in today’s game, at least in the Big 12, it’s okay to push a referee, so I suppose there’s no sense getting all upset about a silly handshake?
*********** The Michigan-Ohio State postgame fracas is why Saban's gone. Not the fight itself, but the reason why it took place.
The reason? Players have the upper hand. You operate at their pleasure. All you have to do is look at the way teams dress nowadays - no two players on the same team dressed exactly alike - to know who’s in charge.
Why? Simple. Thanks to the Transfer Portal, players are in control, and as a result coaches are afraid to do what coaches once did as a matter of routine - to correct players and enforce team discipline - lest they create an atmosphere that drives their players to the portal and a place where they can run the show.
*********** I actually heard Kirk Herbstreit call Deion Sanders “Coach Prime.” Do you really think that he’d say that if he wasn’t paid to?
*********** Are owls unlucky?
There are four FBS teams nicknamed “Owls”:
Florida Atlantic, Kennesaw State, Rice and Temple.
Until December 1 - when Kennesaw State announced the hiring of Jerry Mack - all four of them were looking for coaches.
*********** When Notre Dame played USC on NBC - who were all those clowns on the NBC halftime show?
*********** Amazing what one part of the wardrobe can do, but when Iowa, which to me is one of the best-dressed teams in football, came out wearing black pants instead of the usual gold, it looked like they were wearing pajamas.
*********** They’ve got to do something about the college overtime. Once the best of any sport (except maybe baseball’s extra innings), as a result of a handful of games that went overly long it’s been twisted and tweaked to the point where it’s beginning to look like a soccer shootout.
The Georgia-Georgia Tech game sure was exciting, but as it neared the end, it wasn’t football. Football is a game of strategy - of one play setting up another, of deciding whether to “go for it” or just try to keep moving the ball. The further we get from the idea of four downs (or more) to make something happen, the more we turn the game into a farce.
Where, in a country that hasn’t won a war since 1945, is it written that every contest MUST have a winner?
I once asked Mike Lude what he thought about overtime, and I wrote it down. It’s still on a white board that I can see as I write this: “I can coach better on Sunday after a tie.”
*********** I don’t particularly like Kirby Smart, and he pissed me off when he referred at halftime to Georgia Tech’s offense “nickel-and-diming.”
Surely he has access to the stats that showed that at that point Tech had had four plays of 20 yards or more.
*********** Hi Hugh,
Not sure if you saw the Syracuse/ Miami game , it was a good one. An upset Syracuse win but the reason I am writing is because of the Syracuse goal line attack. They lined up in an I wing. They blocked everyone down, pulled a guard who kicked out and led through with the FB and Miami had no answer! I cheered at the TV, finally someone who knew how to run a short yardage power play!
Happy Holidays,
Jack Tourtillotte
Boothbay, Maine
Damned if they didn’t run it, exactly as Jack describes - 9:16 left in the 4th quarte
*********** Hugh,
I miss handing out the Black Lion Award.
There’s one HS game I’d like to see but will be missing. My part-time PE job school (Grace Classical Christian Academy) will play for their state association (TAIAO) Division 3 six-man state championship on Saturday. They started the playoffs with a 2-7 record (every team gets in), and have won three straight to make it into the final.
Their opponent is 10-2.
Unfortunately Coach Jeff Monken may have painted himself into a corner. No doubt he is a good coach, but in today’s big-time college football world where P4 is the be all end all, and NONE of those schools and their athletes are interested in the type of offense Monken is an expert, the chances of him getting hired by ANY of them is virtually slim and none.
Apparently Ivy League presidents are more tolerant of sowing the BS going on at their campuses, and giving them a national black eye, than what they can reap from the game of football.
My version of the axis of evil:
THE Suckeyes
U of Spoiled Children
Meesheegun
Bucky
Bumblebees (sorry Brad, but sometimes the refs just miss!)
Enjoy the weekend’s games!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: They called him "Cactus Jack.” Some people called him "Mister Forward Pass." Jack Curtice coached two college teams - one at Utah and one at Stanford - to national passing titles.
Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, he played football, basketball and baseball and ran track at famed Louisville Male High School.
He went on to Transylvania College and played three sports, starting at quarterback for four years.
For the next eight years he coached high schools in Kentucky. He spent two years at Elizabethtown as its football and basketball coach, and then six years as head football coach and athletic director at Owensboro High. His overall high school record was 32-22-3.
In 1938 he was hired as an assistant coach at West Texas State. He was promoted after two years to the head coach position and in two years as the head coach his record was 15-5.
With World War II going on, he joined the Navy, and spent most of his time coaching different sports at different Navy bases.
Following the war, he coached at Texas Western (now UTEP), and in four years there his teams went 24-13-3.
That got him the job at Utah, where in eight years his teams went 45-32-4, and won four Skyline Conference championships.
In 1957 his quarterback, Lee Grosscup, was the nation's leading passer, completing 61 per cent of his passes, then a single-season record. He made good use of a delayed shovel pass, a sort of middle screen, that became known at the time as the "Utah Pass."
By the time he left Utah, all the teams in the Skyline Conference had begun to emulate his pass-first style of offense, and he had begun to find himself having to face his own offense every week.
In 1958, he was hired by Stanford, where he would coach for five seasons.
His 1959 Stanford team set a new college record for passes completed in a single season. All-American end Chris Burford - who went on to an outstanding career in pro football, - led the nation in receiving with 61 catches for 756 yards, and QB Dick Norman, who completed 152 of 263 passes for 1963 yards - huge numbers at the time - led the nation in passing and total offense.
Unfortunately, he did not win at Stanford, actually going 0-10 in 1960, and in 1961, despite having the best passing team in the country, going 4-6. Following the 1962 season, although Stanford had improved to 5-5 with a 30-13 season-ending victory over arch-rival Cal, his contract was not renewed. In five years at The Farm, his record was 14-36.
The following season, he signed on as head coach at UC Santa Barbara, playing in the “college division,” as FCS was called then.
In seven years there, his teams went 37-29-1.
His career record was 135-115-2, and despite his reputation as a wide-open passing guru, his teams won two national rushing titles, making him the first college coach to win two national rushing titles as well as two national passing titles.
Jack Curtice served for several years as chairman of the college football rules committee, and in 1961 as president of the American Football Coaches Association.
His 1961 book, "The Passing Game in Football," was considered a major contribution to the modern passing game.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CACTUS JACK CURTICE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was born on “the Virginia side” of Bristol Virginia-Tennessee.
He was an outstanding football player at Princeton, but he was also an outstanding baseball and basketball player, and he spent a year with the New York Yankees before deciding that he had no future in baseball. As a college player, though, he actually had a higher batting average than a player at rival Columbia - Lou Gehrig. It may be legend, but according to some, it was his beaning of Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp that led to the headache that caused Pipp to be removed from the lineup and replaced by Gehrig.
Offered a job at Princeton by his former head coach, Bill Roper, he stayed there for three years, mostly coaching the freshmen, but also scouting, which enabled him to travel to places in the Midwest and East and observe many aspects of the game.
After three years, he was offered the head coaching job at Williams College, in Massachusetts, where for much of his time there he coached football, baseball and basketball.
He stayed at Williams for 13 years, and his football teams, running his single wing, compiled an overall record of 76-37-6. (His three-sport overall record was 254-177-6.)
Williams had to give up football for two years during World War II, and unable to serve in the armed forces because of nearsightedness, he got a leave of absence from Williams so that he could assist at Yale, and he also served as a scout for Army coach Earl Blaik.
And then, as World War II was ending, in 1945 he was hired by his alma mater as its head coach. The program was down, but by 1950 his Tigers - and their single wing - were gaining national recognition. From October, 1949 until November, 1952, Princeton won 30 of 31 games, and they were undefeated in both 1950 and 1951.
In 1950 he was named AFCA Coach of the Year, and his tailback, Dick Kazmaier, won the Heisman Trophy.
In 1957, while still the head coach at Princeton, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer and had to step down from his position. He died in November of that year, at the age of 55. (I was a sophomore at Yale at the time, and I remember hearing the news that the head coach of our nemesis, the Princeton Tigers, had cancer.)
In his book, Modern Single Wing Football, published in 1950, he told of what - and who - inspired him to become a coach:
The longer I coach, the more I work with boys, the more clearly I understand that the seemingly small incidents – often chance happenings – are largely responsible for those decisions that shape an individual’s career. In my own case, it took a great team, and the master coach of them all, Knute Rockne, to convince me that football was for me, that coaching was a profession requiring the same kind of intense study and lifelong devotion demanded of teachers, lawyers and even of doctors.
No, I never played for Rockne. I played against him, or against his 1924 team that included the celebrated four Horsemen, Elmer Layden, Harry Stuhldreher, Jim Crowley and Don Miller. It happened in Palmer Stadium on a sunny October twenty-fifth, and never before in my life had I spent such a frustrating, disappointing afternoon. We were beaten, 12-0, and the final score could've been 28-0, or possibly higher. The score didn't bother me – it was the way in which Rockne's men handled us, particularly me.
The 1924 Princeton team was a better-than-average Princeton team. We had beaten Navy, we later turned back Harvard, 34 to 0 and lost to a sound Yale team, 10-0. Yet against Notre Dame I felt as if we were being toyed with. I was backing up the line and I don't believe I made a clean tackle all afternoon. There would come Layden, or Miller, or someone. I would get set to drop the ball carrier in his tracks and someone would give me a nudge, just enough to throw me off balance, just enough pressure to make me miss. I played the whole game that way, giving a completely lackluster performance.
We were walking up the chute to the dressing rooms after the game and I actually felt ready for another two hours of contact. I wasn't tired, nor was I beaten down physically as I generally was after a big game. Others walking with me agreed. As we pieced together our individual reactions to our defeat, we began to see that we had met something new, something we had never anticipated. We, and I am writing this in retrospect, had been subjected to our first lesson in what might be called the science of football.
These Rockne inspired thoughts stayed with me for a long, long time.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2024 "If critics could write, they'd write. But they can't, so they're critics." Tom Clancy
************ Chicago Bears’ coach Matt Eberflus may already be their former coach by the time you read this, but he ought to be way ahead of all contenders for the NFL’s Man of the Year Award.
His almost incomprehensible mismanagement of the clock at the end of the Bears-Lions game Thursday saved countless families all over the country by pushing aside the recent election as the topic of their Thanksgiving-dinner conversations.
A grateful nation thanks you, Coach.
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “I had returned to Hillsdale from a three-year stint in the Marine Corps in World War II in 1946 to finish my senior year and, almost as important, my final season of college football.
“When my former coach, Dwight Harwood, retired after a long career, Dave Nelson was lured to Hillsdale as his replacement. Nelson had played wingback at the University of Michigan for legendary coach Fritz Crisler during the careers of better-known teammates Tom Harmon, an All-American running back, and Forrest Evashevski, who became even more famous as a national championship coach at the University of Iowa. Nelson was named Hillsdale athletic director as well as head football coach.
“Like most campuses after World War II, Hillsdale was crowded with returning military veterans. They were, of course, older, more confident, and more serious about doing whatever it took to collect a diploma and get on with their lives.
“I was no exception. I wanted my bachelor of science degree, majoring in biology. The next step, I hoped, would be a coaching job, probably at the high school level.
“There was another new person in my life, a college coed named Rena Pifer who, like me, would be a Hillsdale senior in the fall. That summer I worked on a Kalamazoo County road crew, driving a tractor and mowing the sides of County roads. I had saved enough money from the Marine Corps to buy a new car, and I put on a lot of mileage between Vicksburg and Hillsdale, where the lovely Rena lived with her family.”
*********** We held our awards banquet at Aberdeen (Washington) High on Sunday night, and as might be expected with a team that gave out more than 70 letters - freshman, JV and Varsity - there were a lot of people on hand, first for the meal, then the awarding of the letters (with something relevant said about every player) and then the individual awards. The whole deal took a little over three hours, but it’s fair to say that as important as all the conditioning, camps, practices and meetings are, this one evening of recognition might be the most important of all the expenditures of a coach’s time.
Having established the Black Lion Award in 2001 and administered it since then, I had the great honor of presenting our Black Lion Award to junior Luke Martin.
New to Aberdeen as its quarterbacks coach, I found myself last summer with two candidates for the position. Both were underclassmen. Both were already pretty good, with high upsides. In all my years of coaching high school kids, I’d seldom been gifted with one quarterback as good as either one of them, let alone two of their caliber at the same time.
Making a choice between them was going to be difficult, I knew, and we actually went into our first game planning on alternating series between the two.
Circumstances wound up making the choice for us. Luke was needed at free safety. Since having to play two ways was going to have an adverse effect on his play at quarterback, and since we already had another quarterback quite capable of taking over the job, the decision was made that Luke would start at safety and back-up at quarterback.
Without hesitation, Luke accepted the decision. I knew how badly he wanted to be our starting quarterback, and I knew how hard he’d worked to earn that spot - but I never heard him say a word and I never saw any indication of disappointment on his part.
On defense, with a new defensive coordinator and a new scheme, Luke’s value to the team at free safety was almost immediate as he became “quarterback" of the unit. Its leader. In the words of Dave Tarrence, our DC, Luke “knew the defense better than anyone,” and was “one of the biggest reasons our defense performed so well.”
To Luke’s credit, he continued to work and compete at the quarterback position just as if he were going to be the starter on Friday night, and he celebrated our quarterback’s successes just as if they were his.
Luke’s conspicuous demonstration of putting the team ahead of himself, without even giving it a second thought, made him the unanimous choice of our coaching staff to be our Black Lion Award winner.
*********** Brad Knight’s and my picks - many of them emotionally based, few of them backed by hard analysis, a couple of them downright idiotic.
BRAD SOUNDED A BIT SHEEPISH WHEN HE SENT ME THIS WEEK’S “PICKS,” CONCERNED THAT HE HAD PICKED SO MANY LOSERS LAST WEEK. I HAD TO BREAK THE NEWS TO HIM HIM THAT HE WAS DOING FINE - THAT HE WAS NOW IN THE ENTERTAINMENT BUSINESS, AND THAT IF OUR READERS WANTED “EXPERT” PICKS THEY HAD ONLY TO OPEN A NEWSPAPER OR GO ONLINE. WHAT THEY WANTED, I TOLD HIM, WAS TO BE ENTERTAINED, AND AS LONG AS HE KEPT DOING WHAT HE WAS DOING, HE HAD A JOB HERE. (PLUS, I CAN’T AFFORD HIS BUYOUT.)
FRIDAY
OREGON STATE AT BOISE STATE- Jeanty 200 and 3 scores. Or more (if they keep him in the game) If he does not win the Heisman it is a sham. He won't...but he should. Will be a nice consolation prize to see a non QB win for a change if we get so lucky. (ME) Watch out, Broncos - the Beavers played very well in beating Washington State last week. This one is DEFINITELY a trap. But I’m pulling for Jeanty for the Heisman - imagine one from a Group of 5 school!
OKLAHOMA STATE AT COLORADO- Will see if the Buffs can rebound after being humbled by the Jayhawks. I think Okie St is bad...I'll take the Buffs. Colorado will attempt to make a statement that their losses should not disqualify them from playoff contention. ME: Have to take the Buffs, now that the Big 12 has decided that it was okay for Shedeur to shove that ref.
MINNESOTA AT WISCONSIN- Give me Wiscy since I hate the NOPHERS. Sorry to my friend Joe Gutilla. The feeling between Nophers and Hawkeyes is mutual hatred. I'll pick against PJ and the Nophers unless they play Nebraska or Iowa State. Man I do kinda miss Kinnick North. And it still wasn't a fair catch. ME: Gophers all the way. Just watched Nebraska and Wisconsin in its entirety on Tuesday night, and Fickell picked a hell of a time to let his OC go. If the Badgers lose, Fickell won’t even collect his (very sizable) bowl bonus this year.
NAVY AT EAST CAROLINA- Give me the Midshipmen. I kinda want to pick the Pirates (since I once was a Pirate, and Coach Leach loved Pirates) but I think the MIddies are better. ME: I’ve seen the Pirates the last couple of games and - with an interim coach - they’ve played well. I’m going to take a chance and go ECU.
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT OLE MISS- Give me the Rebs...BIG. All 3 loss SEC teams are going to try to make a statement that they should be in the playoff mix. Kiffin's team was embarrassed by an unrated team last week. Maybe they choose to show up and not throw 3 INT's in 4 plays at the end of the game. ME: There’s a lot of emotion in this one but Mississippi State just doesn’t have it. Rebels by a lot.
UTAH STATE AT COLORADO STATE- This one has a chance to be a really decent game. I like the Aggies to win a close one, late. This is my favorite of the Aggies. Had a buddy who coached there for a short while. ME: Aggies. They’re not. CSU finally got brought down to earth last week by Fresno.
STANFORD AT SAN JOSE STATE- San Jose State drubs Stanford. UNLESS Stanford plays like they did against Louisville. (or be honest if San Jose plays like Lousiville did against Stanford. I'll take SJSU. And hope they can outplay Louisville who played O'Possum (dead) against Stanford. ME: Lots of Bay Area kids on that SJSU team that would love to beat Stanford. The game might not matter as much to the Stanford kids after their total fold last week against Cal. But I’m gonna take a chance and say Stanford.
GEORGIA TECH AT GEORGIA- Georgia in the rivalry game. I really want to pick Tech because I love their QB. BUT GA has too much on the line. Once considered out of the playoff now they are back in with a chance to move up. ME: Clean, old-fashioned hate. Since this one’s being played between the hedges, I have to go with UGA. But give ‘em a game, Tech!
NEBRASKA AT IOWA- HAWKEYES ALL DAY. Only team I dislike more than ISU is Nebraska. A steady dose of KJ against their 3-5 defense and Iowa wins. KJ should be invited to NY. He won't be....but I sure hope he sticks around for another year at Iowa. ME: Look out, Knighter - I saw what Holgorsen did for NU against Wisconsin - they look like a new team. Playing offense. Moving the ball. Scoring points, even. This is my upset pick.
UTAH AT UCF- I'll take the Utes in the battle of the dumpster fires. Utah gave ISU all they wanted a week ago. Whittingham possibly leaving? Hearing rumors. Not sure I believe any of them. But this Utes team has been a disappointment for sure. ME: I HAVE to take the Utes. This could be Kyle Whittingham’s last game. (A HUGE loss for football if it is.)
SATURDAY
MICHIGAN AT OHIO STATE- tOSU wins again FINALLY. But I do expect Michigan to play better than they have all season long. tOSU but close. No dog in the fight, secretly hoping Michigan wins again so i can see the pain on Day's face after spending 22 million to pay this group. ME: I happen to LIKE Ryan Day and I’d hate for him to have to go through another off-season with a loss to Michigan on his back. So, too, would Buckeyes’ fans, who will scream for his neck. Go Buckeyes!
TENNESSEE AT VANDERBILT- Tennessee Vols win. Vandy disappointed me last week. I am off the Vandy bandwagon. I should like Tenn. more. Heupel's dad was the coach at Northern when I was in South Dakota. He was a good guy. I think his kid is as well. ME: Vandy will NOT beat Tennessee. I think General Neyland passed a law back in the 1930s making it illegal.
SOUTH CAROLINA AT CLEMSON- I'll take the Cocks to shock the Dabos. RUN THE BALL. Sellers is a stud. AND Clemson deserves to be a little bit humbled. They started this DJ Ukelele mess. Or whatever this toxic qb's name is (will he transfer again? from Florida State and ruin another program) ME: Clemson is 8-1 over the last nine meetings but those days might be over. On the other hand, the Gamecocks have to go into Death Valley, where it’s hard to beat the Tigers. My ACC blood says Clemson.
UTSA AT ARMY- Army...if and only if they run more than "hey diddle diddle up the middle". I think they rebound. But unfortunately the ND loss keeps them from playoff consideration. Imagine a week to try to get ready to see ground and pound? ME: Army’s a 7-point favorute. But since a one-point loss to Tulsa back in October, Roadrunners have won three in a row - including a 44-36 win over Memphis. I think Notre Dame could wind up beating Army twice.
ILLINOIS AT NORTHWESTERN- Illini are way too physical for the Nerds of Northwestern. Illinois has had a very solid season. NW is a MESS. Fitz is likely happy to be gone. ME: Years ago, a smartass reporter called them the Mildcats.
LOUISVILLE AT KENTUCKY- Louisville UNLESS they play like they did against Stanford. I don't think they will. But one never knows. ME: It’s at Kentucky. I’ll take the Wildcats. Besides, it’s the SEC, where IT JUST MEANS MORE.
DUKE AT WAKE FOREST- I'll take DUKE....I think Duke is just better than WF. They surprised me. I thought when coach bailed to A&M (who wouldn't for that money and recruiting grounds at a FB school) Duke would fall off. They certainly have not. ME: Both schools are in the family - hard for me to root against either. So I won’t root. But Duke is a LOT better.
KANSAS AT BAYLOR- No shock, I'll stay with the hottest team in the country to win and make a bowl game. ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! Daniels and Neal. Difference makers, and good kids. Go get that Bowl game so we can wave the wheat some more. ME: I also say ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!! How about this bit of trivia: Kansas has played more ranked teams than Oregon, Ohio State and Indiana - combined!
WEST VIRGINIA AT TEXAS TECH- If it was at WV I'd take the Mountaineers. But at TT? Give me the Red Raiders. Even though I hate what the administration did to Mike Leach. I'll never forgive them for that. ME: I hate ‘em for what they did to Leach, too - except that’s what made him available when Washington State came calling on him in Key West. GO MOUNTAINEERS!
PITT AT BOSTON COLLEGE- The fighting O'Briens beat the Fighting Narduzzis. Pittsburgh has let me down too many times. I won't pick Pitt again this year unless we talk about best helmets...and maybe I'd consider them. ME: Hate to see Pitt on the way down, but that’s what seems to be happening, and BC is definitely on the climb. Eagles.
MARYLAND AT PENN STATE- Nittany Kittens. Maryland showed a week ago they are not good at backup QB. Penn State is just too close to being playoff bound to lose to Maryland. ME: As Beano Cook once said, after picking Penn State: “Why? Because Penn State ALWAYS beats Maryland.”
NOTRE DAME AT USC- ND will roll USC. ND is physically better. USC may have better athletic ability BUT ND will beat them up. And be the 5 seed. Too bad they didn't join a conference...they would likely be a higher seed. Oh that and losing to NIU? WTF? ME: It’s in the Coliseum and USC has been playing better. This one could make the Trojans’ season. I’ll forecast a USC upset.
AUBURN AT ALABAMA- A wounded BAMA and J. Milroe win the rivalry game. Another 3 loss SEC team trying to prove worthy of playoff entry. Something tells me if ESPN can find a way Bama makes it in. ME: An Auburn win can’t be allowed to happen. ESPN won’t have it. You explained why I MUST forecast a Bama win. Big. ESPN has willed it. Bama will play the way they played against Georgia, not against Oklahoma.
MIAMI AT SYRACUSE- the U wins. Just better than Cuse. Maybe the U is back. This year should certainly help recruiting as they are not too far from being back to the Jimmy Johnson days of old. ME: The Orange, hot off a win over mighty UConn, sends the ACC reeling with a win over the Canes.
CAL AT SMU- SMU wins and assures themselves a shot to be playoff bound IF they win the Conf Champ game. (this is dumb to say but I can see smaller market teams being bumped if they lose championship weekend in an effort to load SEC and B1G teams into the 12 team field) ME: If SMU can beat Cal AND win the ACC title game, they may suddenly find themselves the darlings of a VERY big market (the way the Cowboys are playing). They will win this one, for sure.
ARIZONA STATE AT ARIZONA- Arizona State. Impressive season for the "baby" coach. Hope he doesn't have another tantrum. If they win out they may see playoffs in their future. ME: Strange things happen in this “Territorial Cup” game, but I don’t think the Wildcats have what it takes to pull off an upset.
ARKANSAS AT MISSOURI- As a "pseudo" JAYHAWK I have to hate Mizzou. Give me Arkansas in an upset. ME: Not that big a fan of Mizzou’s Eli Drinkwitz, and a BIG fan of Arkansas’ Sam Pittman. So wo-o-o-o-o PIG.
RUTGERS AT MICHIGAN STATE- I'll take Rutgers. I dislike Sparty. BUT I do think they have been better than expected this year. I'd love to see a coach who bailed on the Beavs lose again. ME: Used to like Michigan State, before the last couple of hires. I like Greg Schiano. Rutgers.
FRESNO STATE AT UCLA- Love the matchup. Maybe. UCLA beats Fresno State giving Iowa a quality loss and a chance to be in the 12 team playoff. LOL Purely kidding. I'll take UCLA who possibly has some things figured out. Maybe Foster will be a better speaker at B1G media days next year. ME: This has more meaning to the Fresno kids than to the Bruins. But UCLA should have beaten USC and they’ll win this one.
NC STATE AT NORTH CAROLINA- Another rivalry...does Mack Brown have one more win in him? I believe he does. Does Mack Brown come back for another year? That is the even bigger question. ME: Since press time, Mack was let go. This will probably be his last game coaching the Tar Heels. NC State has won the last three games and will win this one. Go Pack!
WYOMING AT WASHINGTON STATE- Wash. State trounces Wyoming. The Cowboys are just BAD. ME: WSU has lost two in a row and dropped out of the rankings, but they’re still pretty good - a LOT better than the Cowboys.
PURDUE AT INDIANA- Cignetti wins. Google him. Indiana thumps Purdue. In large part because Purdue is putrid this year. Purdon't might lose a scrimmage. To themselves. ME: Indiana is still pretty good and might have given Ohio State a better game. I think that Indiana at its worst can still beat Purdue at its best.
FLORIDA AT FLORIDA STATE- Florida. (Napier has kept his bunch together while Florida State continues to flame out). I've been impressed with Florida's continued improvement when everyone left them for dead. I also think they have gotten healthy finally. ME: Florida found its QB in DJ Lagway. Now, I hear he may be hurt. If he plays, Florida wins big. If he doesn’t, Florida wins.
OKLAHOMA AT LSU- Sooners are hungover. LSU wins a battle of teams I dislike. Can Boomer go back to the Bone? Bring Switzer back. NIL deals and triple option qb's were his specialty before NIL deals were legal. ME: OU played their asses off and beat Bama; LSU went through the motions and beat Vanderbilt by a score. I say LSU is still in a daze and OU runs over them.
WASHINGTON AT OREGON- DUCKS. Washington has surprised me. Didn't think they would win at all. But Oregon is way too good to lose now. The only team that can beat the Ducks is the Ducks currently. ME: This is a real, host-to-God rivalry game. Washington is not close to the team that twice took it to a (possibly) superior Oregon team last year, but Oregon is still coached by the guy that did shake-your-head stupid things and passed it off as "being aggressive.” What I’m saying is, I’m picking Oregon - but Oregon is good at finding ways to lose to Washington.
TEXAS AT TEXAS A&M- I am not sold on Texas. I am inclined to take A&M because they have played a much tougher schedule. Give me the Aggies in an upset. ME: You got here first, but that doesn’t mean I can’t take the Aggies, too. Gig ‘em!
KANSAS STATE AT IOWA STATE- WildKitties...even though I'm forbidden to pick them (rival). I can't pick ISU. I'm so torn. Hailee will forgive me. ME: An explanation: Hailee is Brad’s daughter. She’s a sophomore at KU. So of course she has to hate the Wildcats. This is a tough call. Earlier in the season I’d have said K-State by a lot. I’ll root for K-State but I’d bet on the Cyclones.
NEVADA AT UNLV- UNLV wins this one. And Las Vegas rejoices as if everyone hit the multiplier on the penny slot machines. ME: Oh, please. Should be easy for UNLV, then on to the MW final against Boise State.
VIRGINIA AT VIRGINIA TECH- Give me the Hokies. I do not think Virginia can compete yet. ME: HOKIE, HOKIE, HOKIE HY! TECH, TECH, V-P-I! The folks from the hills take it to the silk stocking types.
HOUSTON AT BYU- BYU gets it figured out this week. Beats Houston but close. ME: BYU has had a couple of tough ones and ought to welcome Houston.
AIR FORCE AT SAN DIEGO STATE- San Diego State because that is who Ron Burgundy would pick. Stay classy San Diego? ME: I think San Diego State is worse than Air Force. How can that be?
*********** UMass is playing UConn this Saturday. It’s at UMass, and last I heard, it was going to be “Senior Day.” It could take a while.
Interestingly, when the people at UMass first announced their plans, they put the word “seniors” in quotes. That’s because, thanks to today’s liberal transfer rules, they have 54 guys who at least in terms of college eligibility are called “seniors. ” But in actuality, very few of them fit the conventional definition of a senior - someone who has spent five years in the program.
Me? With rare exceptions, I’ve never considered a guy - high school or college - to be a “senior,” with all the honors and privileges accorded one, unless it was his second year in a program.
*********** On Saturday, two teams from our league, both of whom spanked us this season, will be playing in the Washington Class 2A semifinal games. W.F. West of Chehalis, our #2 team, will play Anacortes, and Tumwater - our #1 team as well as the state’s #1 team, will play Archbishop Murphy, of Everett. Tumwater, one of the best high school teams I’ve seen in quite some time, has given up just 15 points in its last seven games, while scoring 342. Last week, in the state quarterfinal, the Thunderbirds beat Sehome High, of Bellingham, 70-7. They’ve scored more than 50 points eight times.
*********** Football originally was a gentleman’s game, played by college boys at a time when only the wealthy could afford to send their sons to college.
Over the years, the game became more democratic, as it spread to the west and south, to the sons of miners and farmers and factory workers.
Now, interestingly, in many places in the country it appears to be becoming once again a game for the rich.
In many states in the country, the best teams typically represent either private schools or public schools from an affluent suburb.
The Portland area is a great example of this.
In the Class 6A (largest classification) final this Saturday, the game pits schools from Portland's two most affluent suburbs, Lake Oswego (11-0) and West Linn (10-1).
And across the Columbia River from Portland, its most affluent suburb on the Washington side, Camas (12-0), goes into Saturday’s semifinals against Gonzaga Prep of Spokane (also 12-0) as the Number One seed in Class 4A (Washington’s largest).
An old friend, Jon Eagle, is looking for his second Oregon state title at West Linn. He’s already won two Washington titles at Camas. I don’t know of anyone who has won titles in both states.
*********** North Medford and South Medford will meet Saturday in the finals of an Oregon state title game.
It took them long enough.
As far as I know, they have never met in a state final.
Medford, is about four hours south of Portland, not far from the California line. When Fred Spiegelberg arrived there in 1952 it had about 20,000 people, and one high school.
He was its head coach for the next 31 years.
During that time, the Medford Black Tornado was a force in Oregon football:
21 Southern Oregon championships
14 Oregon semi-final appearances
9 Oregon final game appearances
4 Oregon state championships
Over the years, Medford’s population exploded:
1960: 24,000
1970: 29,000
1980: 40,000
And as the town grew, so did Medford’s football program. Crowds of 10,000 or more at games were commonplace.
Rather than accommodate the growth and build a new high school - potentially diluting Medford’s position as a state power - the town fathers built a new school building that served as a “mid high,” serving ninth and tenth graders. The eleventh and twelfth graders remained in “Medford High School.”
It was fairly common knowledge around the state that so long as “Spieg” was the coach, there would not be two high schools in Medford.
And then following the 1982 season, Spieg retired.
In 1986, Medford finally split into two high schools - North Medford and South Medford.
People predicted that Medford would never see another state title, and truthfully, I’m not aware of either of them winning one in the years since.
Medford now has close to 90,000 people, and the two high schools each have almost 2,000 students. They’ve had good seasons over the years, but - both of them in the final game? What are the odds? Yet here they are, meeting Saturday in a state final.
I can see a return Saturday, however briefly, to the days when Spieg was coaching there, and there were 10,000 people in the stands to watch the Black Tornado.
*********** Usually Army’s Jeff Monken waits until the season’s over to see if there’s anyone else outside of a service academy looking for a head coach whose career has been built on triple option offense. But this year, the search started early with an article in the Athletic on the Thursday before Army’s game with Notre Dame.
Brian Hamilton
Thursday Nov 21
The Athletic
“I could argue that I’m having more of an impact on people here than I could have anywhere else,” Monken says. “But personally – personally – I want to go play for a national championship. I’m not sure that can be done at an academy. Maybe it can. Maybe we can be the top Group of 5 and get into the playoff. But I can’t control that.”
***
“I’d like to have an opportunity to have that challenge at the highest level,” Monken says. “This is a hard job. People talk about other Power 4 (schools) – ‘That’s a hard job.’ Harder than the one I’ve got? What’s harder than this job? Which one?”
***
It’s not a complaint. He enlisted in his own way, though Johnson (Paul Johnson, under whom Monken coached at Navy- HW) at the time did tell his former assistant that the Army job would afford Monken patience and a better salary. And Monken had the blueprint from his time at Navy, to boot. “Where he is,” Johnson says, “is a really good fit for him.” The results prove that. Over time, there have been conversations and maybe even close calls with schools inquiring about his services.
***
And Jeff Monken is still the Army football coach.
“If he gets the opportunity and it’s the right one, he’ll pursue it,” Buddie (Army AD Mike Buddie - HW) says. “He’s in Year 11. He’s earned that opportunity.”
***
The part about the right one matters. Some places aren’t for Jeff Monken and Jeff Monken might not be for some places. The coach and his athletic director have discussed that very topic. Why haven’t there been any right ones, though? There’s loyalty involved – Johnson just about kicked Monken out of his office when Monken told him he might stay at Georgia Tech instead of taking the Georgia Southern job – and there are also biases and boosters and message boards afflicting the people doing the hiring.
***
I see. He’ll pursue it? He’s earned that opportunity?
So the AD seems to be fine with his coach looking around? What kind of an AD talks like that?
*********** After the 1955 Rose Bowl game, Ohio State’s Woody Hayes, fresh off a 20-7 win over USC, decided to rub salt in the wounds by telling the world, “Big Ten teams are better in the Rose Bowl because they are raised on tougher competition.”
Hmmm. Mind if we check that out, Woody?
So. After the next 25 Rose Bowls, the “less tough” Pacific 10 schools held a 15-10 edge over the “tougher” Big Ten;
And after 35 Rose Bowls, the softie Westerners’ edge had grown to 22-13.
*********** Hi Coach,
Hope you are enjoying winding down after your season. We had a rough one over at West Hempstead going 4-5, with two winnable losses costing us the playoff berth.
On a lighter note thought you'd enjoy this little anecdote from Saturday night. Coach Dom Carre and the rest of the staff were in line to get into Yankee Stadium (disaster - took over an hour), when a “lets go Army” chant broke out. We joined in and the folks next to us decked out in West Point gear ask "Where ya'll from?" We reply “Long Island, what about you? Certainly not Long Island with that twang" To which they responded "Texas"
After some talking one young girl exclaimed "My brother is the quarterback." Yes, we were hanging with the Daily family getting into the game. What a fantastic family, and it is evident that they have raised a true leader and outstanding young man.
The story gets better, Mr. Daily then tells us he is with #87's family to which I responded "You mean #4. This grabbed attention of Mr. Reynolds and he says " How do you know my sons High School number ?" "Well, that X -now screen your son took to the house on the first play of the ¼ finals two years ago still stings."
Casey Reynolds the starting WR for Army was a player in our small Long Island Conference at Cold Spring Harbor High School and is now a two sport athlete for the Knights. After sharing more stories it was nothing but respect around.
As for the game, what I noticed from the nosebleeds is that Notre Dame's speed indeed was evident whenever Army attempted to bounce the ball. The true adage of "Spill to Kill" was alive and well in the Bronx. From that vantage point ND would have 2-3 defenders chasing the spill and shutting the edge.
Again hope all is well with you and the family.
Regards,
Dean Bourazeris
West Hempstead, New York
*********** Wisconsin Badgers football is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get. I'm starting to think Luke Fickell is a good recruiter but not a good coach.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
*********** Corch:
Today's answer is Tim Mara. Outside of actress Mara, not many in the family have much to crow about these days. The Giants have more problems than even the Jets. But we can't lay today's Giants' problems at Tim's feet. All we can say is he invested wisely.
Beautiful page, Coach. I especially refer to your personal recollections of special Thanksgiving. And many times I heard Rush with his annual Thanksgiving message. I hope for rich blessings upon you, Connie, and all your followers.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Agreed. Thanksgiving Day has always been my favorite holiday. Used to be even better when colleges played their rivals that day, and that weekend. It was the day my buddies and I played our own “Turkey Bowl” in the empty lot down the street.
Add the meal of turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberries, potatoes, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, and other goodies and WOW!
I was as dumbfounded as you watching the Army-ND game. The “Daily” show wasn’t quite what I expected. Yes, he’s their main guy, but in previous games Army at least showed a more diverse scheme.
Minnesota let that Penn State game get away from them.
Fresno State must have watched the start of one of your Tuesday clinics.
They ran the ball successfully which led to that upset of Colorado State.
I read somewhere that the Ivy League is considering allowing their schools to participate in the FCS playoffs next year.
Is that just more leftist propaganda??
Happy Thanksgiving to y’all.
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
I rather doubt that the Ivies will ever make a move toward EMPHASIZING football. The major reason initially was that the presidents didn't want to do anything to minimize the importance of the end-of-season rivalry games. Most people would understand.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Tim Mara was born poor on New York’s Lower East Side, the son of an Irish policeman. He would wind up owning the New York Giants - or, as it was once necessary to say, the New York FOOTBALL Giants.
At 13 he dropped out of school to help support his family.
While working as a “newsboy” (selling newspapers on street corners), he became well-acquainted with bookies, and soon began working for them as a “runner” (taking bets and paying off winners, who often tipped him). By the time he was 18, he was a full-fledged bookie himself.
In 1925, with the five-year-old National Football League in search of someone to operate a franchise in New York City, he put up $500 (about $7,500 in today’s money) to buy the rights. He didn’t know much about football but he was reported to have told people that an exclusive franchise to do anything in New York was worth $500.
At first, things did not go well for him financially. New York was then a college football town, and pro football had little following. But when the Chicago Bears, having just signed Illinois star Red Grange, came to town, our guy rented the Polo Grounds, and the huge crowd that attended brought in $143,000 at the gate, putting the Giants in the black for the season.
The next year, Grange and his agent, C. C. Pyle, formed a rival league, the American Football League, and put a franchise in New York called the Yankees. And when Mara’s coach and one of his standout linemen left to join the Philadelphia Quakers franchise in the new league, Mara was forced to give raises to all his remaining players and sign them to season-long contracts.
He lost a lot of money as a result, but at the end of the season he challenged the American League champion, the Philadelphia Quakers, to a post-season game, and when they accepted, the Giants wound up beating them, 31-0. So much for the AFL.
In 1927, the Giants won their first NFL championship. They would win three more championships during his lifetime.
He had to fight off numerous challengers to his hold on New York pro football, probably the toughest of which came after World War II with the start of the All-America Football Conference. During the AAFC’s existence, from 1946 to 1949, he had to compete with AAFC teams in both New York (the Yankees) and Brooklyn (the Dodgers), but when the leagues “merged,” the Giants were left as the only team in New York.
He died in 1959 at the age of 71, leaving the Giants to his two sons, Jack and Wellington.
Jack’s grandson would ultimately sell his side of the family’s fifty per cent share in the team, but Wellington’s side of the family still owns its half of the club. Wellington’s grandson, John, is the current president of the Giants.
Only the Halas family of Chicago has owned an NFL team for a longer time than the Mara family.
In 1963, Tim Mara was among the first 17 members inducted into the Pro Football Hall of fame in its charter class.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING TIM MARA
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: They called him "Cactus Jack.” Some people called him "Mister Forward Pass." He coached two college teams - one at Utah and one at Stanford - to national passing titles.
Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, he played football, basketball and baseball and ran track at famed Louisville Male High School.
He went on to Transylvania College and played three sports, starting at quarterback for four years.
For the next eight years he coached high schools in Kentucky. He spent two years at Elizabethtown as its football and basketball coach, and then six years as head football coach and athletic director at Owensboro High. His overall high school record was 32-22-3.
In 1938 he was hired as an assistant coach at West Texas State. He was promoted after two years to the head coach position and in two years as the head coach his record was 15-5.
With World War II going on, he joined the Navy, and spent most of his time coaching different sports at different Navy bases.
Following the war, he coached at Texas Western (now UTEP), and in four years there his teams went 24-13-3.
That got him the job at Utah, where in eight years his teams went 45-32-4, and won four Skyline Conference championships.
In 1957 his quarterback, Lee Grosscup, was the nation's leading passer, completing 61 per cent of his passes, then a single-season record. He made good use of a delayed shovel pass, a sort of middle screen, that became known at the time as the "Utah Pass."
By the time he left Utah, all the teams in the Skyline Conference had begun to emulate his pass-first style of offense, and he had begun to find himself having to face his own offense every week.
In 1958, he was hired by Stanford, where he would coach for five seasons.
His 1959 Stanford team set a new college record for passes completed in a single season. All-American end Chris Burford - who went on to an outstanding career in pro football, - led the nation in receiving with 61 catches for 756 yards, and QB Dick Norman, who completed 152 of 263 passes for 1963 yards - huge numbers at the time - led the nation in passing and total offense.
Unfortunately, he did not win at Stanford, actually going 0-10 in 1960, and in 1961, despite having the best passing team in the country, going 4-6. Following the 1962 season, although Stanford had improved to 5-5 with a 30-13 season-ending victory over arch-rival Cal, his contract was not renewed. In five years at The Farm, his record was 14-36.
The following season, he signed on as head coach at UC Santa Barbara, playing in the “college division,” as FCS was called then.
In seven years there, his teams went 37-29-1.
His career record was 135-115-2, and despite his reputation as a wide-open passing guru, his teams won two national rushing titles, making him the first college coach to win two national rushing titles as well as two national passing titles.
He served for several years as chairman of the college football rules committee, and in 1961 as president of the American Football Coaches Association.
His 1961 book, "The Passing Game in Football," was considered a major contribution to the modern passing game.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2024 "Trust everybody, but cut the cards." Finley Peter Dunne
*********** In their rush to sell us stuff, the merchants and the media appear to be preparing to bypass Thanksgiving. Too bad. Thanksgiving will always be special for me.
Thanksgiving, 1945 - I saw my first football game. In Pennsylvania, as in many eastern states, it was customary in those days for high schools to play their Big Game on Thanksgiving day - usually in the morning, while back at home the turkey was in the oven. My brother was nine years older than me, and his high school, Germantown High, was playing at Norristown High. I don’t remember who won - probably Norristown, because Germantown wasn’t very good then - but I do remember how cold my feet got. Funny the things you remember. No matter - it was the start for me of a long tradition of football on Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving, 1958 - A few weeks earlier, at the Yale-Princeton game, I had just met the girl who would become my wife. We were both from the Philly area and were home for Thanksgiving. I met her parents and her brother and liked them - and I guess they liked me. She met my parents and liked them, and they loved her. In keeping with a Thanksgiving tradition for many Philadelphians back then, we went to the Penn-Cornell game, where I proudly introduced her to my favorite aunt and uncle, who were huge Penn supporters. They loved her, too. My aunt even had a mum for her. (That’s short for chrysanthemum, a flower which in those days was almost a compulsory part of every woman’s attire at football games in the fall.) The next July, we were married.
Thanksgiving, 1989 - We had just moved into our home in Camas, Washington a few days before. It’s the only home we’ve ever owned. We’d looked all over Southwest Washington before finally finding this one, and it suited us so well that we’ve lived in it ever since. Thirty-five years in the same house! One sad note - Jerry Foley, a transplanted New York Irishman who as our realtor was tireless in his efforts to help us find the right place, passed away last year. God bless him.
*********** On this Thanksgiving, I’m thankful...
That I was born and grew up in the most wonderful country imaginable. I was born during the Depression, and when I started school, World War II was still going on, but because of people - relatives, neighbors, teachers, coaches - who endured the hardships of those difficult times, I was blessed to grow up in the America I remember…
For having parents, teachers and coaches who must have seen something better in me than just a smartass, hyperactive kid who couldn’t stay out of trouble…
That I met and married a girl who loved me for who I was and, simply by being herself, motivated me to try to become as good a person as she was…
For the unforgettable experience of seeing our children grow into good responsible adults, of seeing them marry wonderful people and bring them into the family, and of getting to know and love the eleven wonderful grandchildren they’ve given us - and, now, the grandchildren’s spouses and, this year, the first of what we hope will be a score of great-grandchildren.
For the way events worked together so that I have been able to spend more than 50 years in the job of my dreams - football coaching - and as a result, to have been able to meet so many great people whom I would never have met otherwise…
Finally, I’m thankful that the same God who watched over the Pilgrims still watches over us all.
*********** This week, as it has done every Thanksgiving since 1961, the Wall Street Journal will publish two pieces:
First, “The Desolate Wilderness,” an account of the Pilgrims’ journey to America.
And then, “The Fair Land,” written by Vermont Royster, who held many positions at the the WSJ, including editor from 1959 to 1971, during which time he started the annual tradition of publishing the two pieces on Thanksgiving.
In it, he reminds us “That for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators.”
Mr. Royster was more than a “journalist.” During World War II, he was captain of a US Navy destroyer in the Pacific. After engaging in combat, in September 1945 he was among the first Americans to see first-hand the results of the atomic bomb that hit Nagasaki.
Back at the WSJ in 1953, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing, and in 1984, he received another Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
A native North Carolinian, he retired from the WSJ in 1996 and became Kenan Professor of Journalism and Public Affairs at the University of North Carolina.
Every year, a re-reading (and re-printing) of these two writings is an essential part of my Thanksgiving. Maybe I can help make it a part of yours.
The Desolate Wilderness
Here beginneth the chronicle of those memorable circumstances of the year 1620, as recorded by Nathaniel Morton , keeper of the records of Plymouth Colony, based on the account of William Bradford , sometime governor thereof:
So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, which had been their resting-place for above eleven years, but they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. XI, 16), and therein quieted their spirits.
When they came to Delfs-Haven they found the ship and all things ready, and such of their friends as could not come with them followed after them, and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly doleful was the sight of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and sobs and prayers did sound amongst them; what tears did gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each other’s heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the quay as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loath to depart, their Reverend Pastor, falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks commended them with the most fervent prayers unto the Lord and His blessing; and then with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.
Being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea of troubles before them in expectations, they had now no friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair unto to seek for succour; and for the season it was winter, and they that know the winters of the country know them to be sharp and violent, subject to cruel and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown coasts.
Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts and wilde men? and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all things stand in appearance with a weatherbeaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hew.
If they looked behind them, there was a mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.
The Fair Land
Any one whose labors take him into the far reaches of the country, as ours lately have done, is bound to mark how the years have made the land grow fruitful.
This is indeed a big country, a rich country, in a way no array of figures can measure and so in a way past belief of those who have not seen it. Even those who journey through its Northeastern complex, into the Southern lands, across the central plains and to its Western slopes can only glimpse a measure of the bounty of America.
And a traveler cannot but be struck on his journey by the thought that this country, one day, can be even greater. America, though many know it not, is one of the great underdeveloped countries of the world; what it reaches for exceeds by far what it has grasped.
So the visitor returns thankful for much of what he has seen, and, in spite of everything, an optimist about what his country might be. Yet the visitor, if he is to make an honest report, must also note the air of unease that hangs everywhere.
For the traveler, as travelers have been always, is as much questioned as questioning. And for all the abundance he sees, he finds the questions put to him ask where men may repair for succor from the troubles that beset them.
His countrymen cannot forget the savage face of war. Too often they have been asked to fight in strange and distant places, for no clear purpose they could see and for no accomplishment they can measure. Their spirits are not quieted by the thought that the good and pleasant bounty that surrounds them can be destroyed in an instant by a single bomb. Yet they find no escape, for their survival and comfort now depend on unpredictable strangers in far-off corners of the globe.
How can they turn from melancholy when at home they see young arrayed against old, black against white, neighbor against neighbor, so that they stand in peril of social discord? Or not despair when they see that the cities and countryside are in need of repair, yet find themselves threatened by scarcities of the resources that sustain their way of life? Or when, in the face of these challenges, they turn for leadership to men in high places—only to find those men as frail as any others?
So sometimes the traveler is asked whence will come their succor. What is to preserve their abundance, or even their civility? How can they pass on to their children a nation as strong and free as the one they inherited from their forefathers? How is their country to endure these cruel storms that beset it from without and from within?
Of course the stranger cannot quiet their spirits. For it is true that everywhere men turn their eyes today much of the world has a truly wild and savage hue. No man, if he be truthful, can say that the specter of war is banished. Nor can he say that when men or communities are put upon their own resources they are sure of solace; nor be sure that men of diverse kinds and diverse views can live peaceably together in a time of troubles.
But we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere—in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.
*********** I don’t remember a whole lot about my college graduation, but according to the program I still have, those of us in attendance sang this old hymn, suggesting that the people who came before us and helped make us what we are gave God appropriate credit. It acknowledges that after “our exiled fathers crossed the sea,” and “trod the wintry strand,” they worshipped God “with prayer and psalm.”
O God, beneath Thy guiding hand
Our exiled fathers crossed the sea,
And when they trod the wintry strand,
With prayer and psalm they worshiped Thee.
Thou heard'st, well pleased, the song, the prayer;
Thy blessing came, and still its pow'r
Shall onward through all ages bear
The memory of that holy hour.
Laws, freedom, truth, and faith in God
Came with those exiles o'er the waves,
And where their pilgrim feet have trod,
The God they trusted guards their graves.
(There is zero chance that today’s Yale, infected by rot like much of the rest of today’s society, would risk offending anyone by including a Christian hymn in its graduation ceremony.)
*********** Rush Limbaugh will have been gone four years this coming February, and I can’t help thinking that his absence for almost the entire Biden presidency was the main reason why the Mainstream Media and the Party in Power were able to maintain the pretense of a sentient President as long as it did.
It’s also conceivable that it was the vacuum created by his absence that presented the opportunity for Donald Trump to return to power.
I still miss El Rushbo, and I invite you to enjoy his “The True Story of Thanksgiving”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAyvTCaoFA0
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Dave Nelson, who won widespread fame and recognition as one of the most cerebral and creative college football coaches in history, was an untried rookie when I first met him at Hillsdale College.
“Hillsdale was Nelson's first stop in a coaching career that was eminently successful and somewhat remarkable because none of the schools where he practiced his trade and made such innovative waves were big-time programs in huge media markets. They didn't compete in the Big 10, the Pac-10 or the Southeastern Conference.
“I was the captain of Dave Nelson's first team as a head coach.
“Then, for most of the next fifteen years at Hillsdale College, the University of Maine and the University of Delaware, I had the good fortune to serve as an assistant coach with Nelson; I was a trusted strategist and disciple of the man who created and taught the Winged-T offense. We spread the Winged-T gospel at hundreds of clinics and blackboard sessions in football war rooms in universities across the country.
“But I am getting ahead of myself here. I had returned to Hillsdale from a three-year stint in the Marine Corps in World War II in 1946 to finish my senior year and, almost as important, my final season of college football.”
*********** Brad Knight’s and my picks - many of them emotionally based, few of them backed by hard analysis, a couple of them downright idiotic.
We may even give you a reason to be interested in a particular game.
Here are the results of the games and, in the interest of strict accountability, our “predictions."
FRIDAY
MICHIGAN STATE 24, PURDUE 17 – The Spartans...big. Purdue is TERRIBLE. ME: Could this be the one? Could this be the Boilermakers’ win? What the hell - I’m going to start the weekend off with a BIG upset. (Okay, okay. They almost pulled it off. Anybody find out who that was, dressed in black pants and black helmets and “midnight green” jerseys, claiming to be the Spartans?)
UNLV 27, SAN JOSE STATE 16 – I like San Jose State in this one. I just think both teams are decent, and the game is on the road for the UNLV Fighting Mafia. ME: I like Ken Niumatololo and the job he’s done at SJSU, but UNLV is fighting for a spot in the MW championship game against Boise State, and they’re not going to go limp. (They didn’t.)
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE 38, INDIANA 15 – I'll take the UPSET! Indiana might shock the country. Plus I hate the Buckeyes. ME: Maybe it’s because I root for hated Duke in basketball, but I just can’t hate the Buckeyes. They’re good and they consistently meet a high standard. But I’m going to root for Indiana because I already have a book written about their miracle 14-0 season, including their last-second kickoff return touchdown to beat Texas in the National Championship game. I do insist on playing Kurt Cignetti in the movie version, but they keep telling me I’m not “Italian enough.” (Except for Michigan’s down season, the Big Ten is pretty much back to business as usual, with the Buckeyes in control of things.)
MIAMI 42, WAKE FOREST 14 – Hurricanes....need this one to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. Perhaps a loss was good for them to refocus. ME: I like Wake but Miami isn’t going to fold now. Especially in front of one of their huge home “crowds.” (As usually, Wake made it a game - until it wasn’t.)
FLORIDA 24, OLE MISS 17 – FLA played well a week ago....but Kiff will have his guys ready. Defensively the Rebs have gotten much MUCH better. ME: Ole Miss wins. Rebels still have hopes of a Playoff berth. (We both whiffed on this one. Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart had a good day - 24/41 for 323 yards and two TDs - but he threw two INTs, both in the closing minutes as the Rebels fought to tie things up.)
SMU 33, VIRGINIA 7 – SMU is just too good. ME: Agreed. SMU can beat Miami. Or even Clemson. (Enough said.)
ILLINOIS 38, RUTGERS – I'll take the Bielema boys to beat up on the Knights. In this game anyway. Jerzee and Hailee and I could take him! ME: Illinois is 7-3 and I think they’re better. But Rutgers is 6-4. I’m going out on a limb and taking the Jersey Boys. (Heck of a game - 37 points scored in the fourth quarter. Rutgers took a one-point lead with 1:08, Illini won with a 40-yard pass with :04 left.)
IOWA 29, MARYLAND 13 – Iowa...with the mystery qb. Get the ball to KJ. Play defense. Iowa wins this one. ME: There’s Iowa with their classic uniform against Maryland and their “look what they’re making us wear this week” attire. Motivation: Loser has to wear the other team’s uniforms in their next game. That’s why I know Iowa will win. (Maryland actually dressed like a real big-time college team, so Iowa had nothing to worry about, as it turned out.)
BOSTON COLLEGE 41, NORTH CAROLINA 21 – BC with internal issue and a QB who is disgruntled. I'll take Mack Brown and the NC Tarheels. ME: After watching UNC running back Omarion Hampton against Wake Forest last week, I hesitate to pick BC, but I think that O’Brien has the QB situation under control. So BC. (Surprised it was by this much)
TEXAS 31, KENTUCKY 14 – Texas gets knocked off by Stoops. Kentucky in a shocker. ME: Just one more in the string of weak teams that Texas has feasted on this year. (Ditto.)
PENN STATE 26, MINNESOTA 25 – The Nittany Kittens eat the Gophers. Still need Sanderson to coach in big games. ME: I would call for an upset except that Franklin does pretty well in games where Penn State’s favored. (Great game. Penn State fake punt helps them control the ball and run out the clock.)
ARIZONA STATE 28, BYU 23 – Game of the week maybe...AzState playing well. BYU coming off a huge loss. Give me the Sun Devils. ME: Sun Devils for sure. Between runner Cam Skattebo - a human bowling ball - and QB Sam Leavitt (an Oregon kid), and ASU coach Kenny Dillingham’s mind, Sun Devils may have the best offense in the Big 12. (Took ‘em a while to clear the prematurely-stormed field. Skattebo - 28/147/3 TDs.)
KANSAS 37, COLORADO 21 – I won't pick against the JAYHAWKS again. Hailee will stab me if I do. Kansas is the hottest team in the country at the moment. Bowl game is not impossible. ME: Unlike some bandwagon jumpers, I’m picking Kansas for the second straight week. (Watching the Buffs some back down to earth was fun to watch. And Kansas is definitely on fire.)
MICHIGAN 50, NORTHWESTERN 6 – Michigan...because Northwestern is just bad. ME: Northwestern thought that they’d dodged all the bullets after they fired Pat Fitzegerald, but they haven’t seen anything yet. (Bring back Pat Fitzgerald.)
NEBRASKA 44, WISCONSIN 28 – Wisconsin wins this one. The Badgers are improving and Nebraska isn't used to Holgerson's offensive philosophy yet. Plus I dislike Nebraska. ME: Based on Holgorsen’s far greater experience at his position (two weeks) vs whoever will be calling Wisconsin’s plays (less than a week), I have to go with the Huskers. Plus there’s something about Luke Fickell that I just don’t like and I can’t put my finger on it. (Guess maybe the Badgers pulled the trigger on offensive coordinator Phil Longo a little too soon.)
CAL 24, STANFORD 21 – The winner can claim "most liberal school". Should be a battle. But Stanford is not good. I will take the fighting democrats of CAL. ME: I like Cal’s Justin Wilcox but I’m a proud Stanford dad and this is Big Game. So go Card. And in case you haven’t been watching: Stanford had shown that it can come back; Cal has shown that it can’t hold leads. (WHO did I say couldn’t hold leads??? Aargh.)
TEXAS TECH 56, OKLAHOMA STATE 48b – Tech blasts Gundy. Okie State is just not good at all. ME: Win or lose, Cowboys are headed for a losing season. With everyone jumping on Gundy, it’s only fair to point out that their last losing season was his very first one at Stillwater - 19 seasons ago. (C’mon Cowboys!)
WEST VIRGINIA 31, UCF 21 – The Mountaineers win a shootout. And burn some couches. ME: Got to agree. Throw the couches in the blazing dumpster that is Central Florida. (Which they would have done if it were in Morgantown.)
UTAH STATE 41, SAN DIEGO STATE 20 – Tough one here. I like the other Aggies. But I think San Diego State is better. San Diego State wins. And we all know the meaning Ron Burgundy has for San Diego. Stay classy! ME: The Aggies, who can stand there after a game and tell stories about adversity that top anybody’s, will be smiling after this one. (Aggies actually ran a criss-cross for a TD)
LOUISVILLE 37, PITT 9 – Time for a physical battle from Narduzzi's bunch. P-Burg wins this one. Give me the Panthers. ME: Pitt. Did Louisville even practice this week? After watching the way they played against Stanford last week, do they ever practice? They have no idea what damage they did to the ACC with the way they played Saturday. (It was a trick. Louisville laid down against Stanford last week just so we’d pick Pitt - Pantheritis and all.)
MISSOURI 39 MISSISSIPPI STATE 20 – Misery....because Mississippi State still angers me for their comments about the Hawkeyes a few years ago. ME: Mississippi State would love right now to be back there a few years ago, when they could actually make disparaging remarks about anybody. Not now. They’re suffering. And so is Missouri, but Missouri is a lot better than they are. (Surely there must be somebody Mississippi State can beat. I have it - let’s get someone from the MAC. How about Toledo? They’ve got an open date.)
ARMY AT NOTRE DAME (AT YANKEE STADIUM) – I dislike ND. I LOVE ARMY. Let's Go BLACK KNIGHTS!!!!! ME: More about this one below.
BOISE STATE 17, WYOMING 13 – I will not pick against Boise State as long as Jeanty is healthy. Give him 200+ and 4 TD's in a route. ME: This is one of the easier calls we’ll ever have to make. (Maybe an easy call, but not an easy game. This one was tied, 10-10 going into the fourth quarter. Ashton Jeanty was “held” to 169 yards.)
OREGON STATE 41, WASHINGTON STATE 38 – Washington State. The BEAVS are bad. ME: Not only are the Beavers bad, but the Cougs are good. They have some weapons, especially their QB, John Mateer. This is considered a Pac-12 game, but by agreement it is NOT for the Pac-12 Championship. (A shocker. A really entertaining game in front of a packed house in Corvallis. The lead changed nine times. OSU, loser of five straight, came back from 38-31 with 2:45 left, kicking the winning field goal with :20 left after a WSU receiver, failing to protect the ball, fumbled with under a minute to play.)
BAYLOR 20, HOUSTON 10 – Houston in a battle of "other" Texas schools. Baylor and Houston are both having okay seasons and can be quite entertaining to watch. Houston misses Holgerson's passing game prowess. ME: While no one was looking, Baylor was beating West Virginia - earning bowl eligibility and saving Dave Aranda’s job. Go Bears! (Great job of saving the season.)
OKLAHOMA 24, ALABAMA 3 – BAMA! ROLL TIDE!!! Oklahoma is wishing it had stayed in the Big 12. ME: I don’t think the OU folks ever imagined that Alabama’s first SEC visit to Norman would look like this. Bama by 10 - at least. (Baylor is 7-4; Houston is 4-7. Hope it was worth it to Willie Fritz to leave Tulane for Houston.) (OU outrushed Bama, 257-70. Is Jalen Milroe - 11/26 for 164 and THREE INTs, SEVEN yards rushing - regressing? Wish I’d been there to hear the OU fans chanting “SEC! SEC! SEC!”)
AUBURN 43, TEXAS A&M 41 (4 OTs) – A&M because AUBURN SUCKS!!! ME: Yes, and Hugh Freeze would make them hard to like even if they were good. But Pop Warner could be coaching them, and A & M would still be a whole lot better. Can’t wait for the Aggies-Longhorns next week! (Since it was such an epic effort by Auburn, will the SEC promoters at ESPN call it a “quality loss” for A & M?)
IOWA STATE 31, UTAH 28 – I will take the Utes in an upset. They will manhandle ISU up front. ME: From my distance, it looks as if the Utes are through. I hate to be the one to tell you that the hated Cyclones aren’t ready to fold just yet. (While we were looking elsewhere, Iowa State has put together another 9-win season.)
LSU 24, VANDERBILT 17 – Give me Vandy. LSU is looking for money to buy Kelly out! ME: Why am I wasting money paying a predictor who would actually think that Vanderbilt can beat LSU? Actually, now that I think about it, after the listless way the Tigers played against Florida, an upset isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But I still don’t have the stones to pick Vandy. (Just as well I didn’t - LSU is bad, but not that bad. A friend who was at the game said he expected more of Vandy’s Diego Pavia than 186 yards passing and 43 yards rushing. Me, too.)
KANSAS STATE 41, CINCINNATI 15 – K State rebounds. In a game that could be close this one won't be. The Wildcats in a rout. ME: If the Wildcats can somehow avoid falling behind 21-0 to start the game (as they didn’t against ASU) they’ll be fine. Sure was surprised to hear some boos from the KSU faithful last week.(Wildcats rushed for 281 yards, exceeded this season only by the 283 against BCS Tennessee-Martin in the season opener.)
DUKE 31, VIRGINIA TECH 38 – Not sure who to pick. Tech needs a win to make a bowl game. Duke needs a win just to get another win. But I think Duke is better. Especially at Duke. ME: This Duke team is pretty good. The Devils are 7-3, and they’ve been in every game they’ve played, including holding a 28-25 lead over Miami until 3:08 left in the third, and having the potential winning field goal against SMU blocked with no time left on the clock. Go Devils. (Duke’s Eli Pancol caught just five passes, but they were for 188 yards - an average 37.6 yards per catch - and three TDs. Get this - he’s been at Duke - same school - for five years. Duke is now 8-3 in Manny Diaz’ first season.)
USC 19, UCLA 13 – The "who cares" bowl. I'll take USC to beat UCLA in a game literally half the country (especially me) cares about. LA can just move to Russia. ME: This game symbolizes to me how far, in many ways, college football has regressed. There was a time for me when I looked forward to this game every year. It was so exotic- there I was, a kid sitting in front of the TV - in Philly where it was already dark outside - watching these two teams playing in bright sunshine, 100,000 people in the Coliseum, each side trying to outdo the other with clever card tricks. Guy with cool names like Aramis Dandoy and Sam Tsagalakis. Unlike Brad Knight, I’m going to pick a winner: USC. (UCLA had its chances. It was a good game with surprisingly few nasty interactions between players. That we could see, that is. One that we couldn’t see occurred as the teams went in at halftime and resulted in the Bruins’ kicking off from their own five to start the second half.)
AIR FORCE 22, NEVADA 19 – I'll take the Zoomies. Against my better judgement. ME: I don’t like the Zoomies, but I think they’ll win. (It was a three-point game until AF scored with 1:11 remaining to make it 22-12.)
FRESNO STATE 28, COLORADO STATE 22 – Have to go with the boys from Fresno State. Not sure I will be right BUT Colorado and California are both leftist hellholes. ME: I have to go with Fresno because if Colorado State wins, they’ll be in the Mountain West title game against Boise State, mainly because they had a pillow-soft schedule that didn’t include either of the conference’s two best teams - Boise State and UNLV. (Whew. For a while there the prospect of Colorado State in the MW championship game scared me. I haven’t checked carefully, but it does appear that this Fresno win means that Boise and UNLV will meet for the MW title.)
*********** There still isn’t a P-4 coaching vacancy yet, but I did fail to mention two others in the Group of 5: Charlotte and Rice.
*********** YOU NEWCOMERS - SURE HOPE YOU DID WELL ON THESE:
UMASS AT GEORGIA – Georgia 59, UMass 21
UTEP AT TENNESSEE – Tennessee 56, UTEP 0
WOFFORD AT SOUTH CAROLINA – South Carolina 56, Wofford 12
*********** First of all, this is not to suggest in any way that Notre Dame is not much, much better than Army. It’s probable that nothing that Army did could have given it a much of a chance against Notre Dame, but…
A word about the Army offense.
Legendary comedian Groucho Marx used to emcee a TV quiz show called “You Bet Your Life,” and whenever someone failed to make any money, he’d tell them he didn’t want them to go away empty handed, so for fifty bucks or so (decent money then), he’d ask, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?”
A similar easy-to-answer question for anybody watching Army-Notre Dame Saturday night would have been (any time Army was on offense), “ Who’s going to carry the ball on the next play?”
(No, the answer’s not “Ulysses Grant.”)
If you’d said, “Bryson Daily,” your chances of getting the answer were quite good. About 70 percent. Of Army’s 67 offensive plays, 39 were runs by Daily and eight were passes by Daily.
Now, Bryson Daily is one terrific football player. And, this being consistent with Army strategy throughout the season, it makes a lot of sense to put the ball in his hands as much as possible.
But Notre Dame wasn’t like the rest of Army’s opponents. Notre Dame was much better - faster and stronger, especially - and it seemed to me it made sense for Army to have played a little “what if?” in advance, and to have had some other weapons ready.
Misdirection? Nowhere to be found. Traps? Ditto
Triple option? Make me laugh.
They did run a couple of plays that could possibly have been called triple option, because that’s what they resembled, but the plain and simple fact, made obvious a couple of weeks ago when Daily couldn’t play against Air Force and his backup didn’t run a single triple option play, is: ARMY DOESN’T RUN TRIPLE OPTION ANY MORE.
They have been running a little of it with Daily under center - enough to mollify the hard core grads - but in reality, whether under center or direct snap, the bulk of the Army offense has become a primitive, off-tackle version of “Hey diddle diddle, We’re comin’ up the middle.”
Primitive? Hey, Irish - here’s who’s going to carry… we’re going to snap it right to him. Where he’s going? Wait a half-step and you’ll see. Okay? Now, then - stop us.
It’s important, of course, to have a signature play - something that opponents know that you’re going to run and that they HAVE to stop or it’s going to be a long day for them.
But with Army, as with those of us who run Double Wing: it is possible for opponents to stop a single play. Then what? What we know from experience is that in order to stop our base play they HAVE to give us something else. What is it? That’s where long experience with the offense comes in handy.
In Army’s case, they didn’t have enough experience with “Daily off-tackle” - specifically with people stopping it - to have anything else ready.
*********** NOW THIS IS HOW YOU START A RIVALRY…
Just in case anybody might have thought the the Washington State-Oregon State game was going to be a “friendly” (a sickening soccer term) between two brothers left orphaned by rest of the family, Washington State coach Jake Dickert dispelled that notion the Monday of game week by saying: “I’ve never gotten into the, like, ‘They’re our buddy.’ Oregon State’s not our buddy. They would’ve left us as fast as we would’ve left them.”
*********** Now that Indiana has a loss, watch as ESPN tries to make a case for a three-loss SEC team to get into the playoff ahead of the Hoosiers - because, you’ll grow tired of hearing, the SEC is so tough that many of those losses are “quality losses.”
They conveniently forget to say that back when this was happening in the Pac-12. Back then, they said it was because the Pac-12 was a weakling conference.
*********** If you’ve watched much weeknight football, you’ve certainly encountered Matt Barrie and Dan Mullen. Mullen’s not bad - former coach, knows his stuff - but Barrie really ruins a broadcast. He has a high-pitched voice and he speaks in machine-gun fashion, spewing all sorts of data and facts and tales, sometimes even touching on the play being run. When he runs out of data and facts, he calls the game, but it’s as if we’re blind and listening to it on the radio. Fewer things are more annoying that having someone assume that you’re a child that can’t see that a passer is dropping back, and so you need to be told. Mainly, he seems committed to making sure that no bit of the broadcast is wasted by silence.
Some of the nonsense he spews is laughable. An example from last week:
“Georgia Tech - a phenomenal institute of technology.”
Well, Matt, if you say so…
*********** Did I say that Matt Barrie is bad? Gus Johnson is worse, but evidently he’s built up a big enough following at Fox headquarters that he gets to call most of the big games.
Besides his motormouth, his biggest failing is his disrespect for football.
He cut his teeth calling NBA games, and he’s never managed to get that out of his system.
But what kills me is when he inflicts soccer talk on us:
“Indiana up, seven-nil,” he said as we went to commercial. Grrrrr. Drop that “nil” sh—. And then, when we came back, he said it again.
*********** Anybody going to be watching Texas-Texas A & M Saturday?
1. Texas Longhorns 6-1 SEC (10-1 overall)
2. Georgia Bulldogs 6-2 (9-2)
3. Tennessee Volunteers 5-2 (9-2)
4. Texas A&M Aggies 5-2 (8-3)
5. South Carolina Gamecocks 5-3 (8-3)
6. Alabama Crimson Tide 4-3 (8-3)
7. LSU Tigers 4-3 (7-4)
8. Missouri Tigers 4-3 (8-3)
9. Ole Miss Rebels 4-3 (8-3)
10. Florida Gators 4-4 (6-5)
11. Arkansas Razorbacks 3-4 (6-5)
12. Vanderbilt Commodores 3-4 (6-5)
13. Oklahoma Sooners 2-5 (6-5)
14. Auburn Tigers 2-5 (5-6)
15. Kentucky Wildcats 1-7 (4-7)
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs 0-7 (2-9)
*********** Of course I watched the Yale-Harvard game Saturday, won by -(ahem) Yale, 34-29. And one of the things I learned - the Ivy League operating in semi-secrecy - is that there’s a three-way tie for first place, among Harvard (which stood to win outright if it could just have beaten Yale), Dartmouth, which has been strong in recent years, and….Columbia.
Yes, Columbia, the place where anti-Israel protests seemed to become a way of life. That Columbia.
The last time Columbia finished in first place in the Ivy League was 1961.
*********** It probably wouldn’t have made any difference, but mishandled snaps on punts played big roles in starting the slide to defeat of both Indiana and Army.
*********** Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham has done a great job. He’s young - 34 years old - and he looks even younger.
But the way he looked Saturday, ranting at the officials on national TV near the end of the BYU game, you’d think he was a LOT younger - like maybe 3 or 4.
*********** Every so often Chris Vannini in The Athletic ranks all 134 FBS teams, from Number One Oregon to Number 134 Kent State (in case you wondered), the only FBS school that has yet to win a game. Their coach, Kenni Burns, doesn’t have enough trouble - he’s also being sued by a Kent Bank that claims he owes $24,000 on his Mastercard. Dude’s making $475,000 a year. Soon it could be a lot less than that.
Anyhow, based on this week’s rankings, here’s how HIS 12-team playoff would look:
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Wow. Boise State… SMU… Arizona State… Indiana… Miami. Think any of them will win a game? No matter. New blood in the mix.
Thank you, twelve-team playoff.
And thank you, Oklahoma, Florida and Auburn.
*********** Good morning, Corch:
I watched a short interview (12 min?) with Army OC Cody Worley yesterday. He echoed your contention that trying out new stuff vs the Irish would be a big mistake. In fact, he said that a couple of times. Hope he and Monken mean that. Your analysis of the Army-ND game is fair. A former Army QB invited me to watch the game at his house in Tampa. We've watched together a few times, but this time I declined, honestly claiming we are too intense. On Brave Old Army Team
Still loving the weekly connection with Coach Lude, as well as the weekly BK-HW picks.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
************ Hugh
Glad to hear you survived the “bomb.”
Am conflicted. I really enjoy watching Army play football. Our buddy Mike’s son graduated from West Point. I’ve been a huge Notre Dame fan for years, daughter is a grad. I’ve decided it would be fair if it was just a great game!
Will also be conflicted for Army-Navy.
Am a big Army fan, but my niece’s daughter is in the Navy and so is Mike’s other son! If Navy QB Horvath is healthy, and if Army QB Dailey can stay healthy after ND, UTSA, and Tulane it will be a close Army win. Otherwise, without Dailey the Middies could pull out the win.
No offense to Knighter but as a Golden Gopher fan I can only pull for those Iowa bumblebees when they play Ohio State and Michigan.
You left one coach out. Biff Poggi was let go at UNC Charlotte.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Woody Green remains one of the greatest high school athletes ever to come out of Portland, Oregon.
As a running back at Jefferson High School, he was first team All-City his junior and senior years, and was first team All-State and High School all-American his senior year.
In his senior year he was second team All-City on the school’s city championship basketball team, and he was state champion in the 100 and 440 in both his junior and senior years.
With size - 6 foot, 205 - and speed, he was a perfect fit at Arizona State and Frank Kush’s run-heavy Wing-T offense.
In his second game, as a sophomore, he ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns against Utah. For the season, he rushed for 1,310 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry, and earned honorable mention All-America honors.
Playing in the very first Fiesta Bowl at the end of the season, he carried 24 times for 101 yards and three TDs as the Sun Devils defeated Florida State, 45-38.
In his junior season, he had the greatest season any ASU running back has ever had, rushing for 1,565 yards and 15 TDs on 234 carries (an average of 6.7 yards per carry).
He had games of 201 yards against San Jose State, 198 against both BYU and Wyoming, 195 against Houston and 172 against Arizona.
He earned consensus All-American honors, becoming only the second Sun Devil to be so honored.
Playing in the Fiesta Bowl again, he rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns as the Sun Devils beat Missouri, 49-35.
In his senior season, he surpassed 1,300 yards for the this straight year, gaining 1,313 yards, and became the first Sun Devil player to earn consecutive consensus All-American selections.
The Sun Devils finished the season 11-1 after a third Fiesta Bowl win, this one over Pitt, with a Number 9 ranking nationally.
He finished eighth in the Heisman balloting.
He set ASU career rushing records that still stand : 4,188 yards and 39 touchdowns. Over the course of his three seasons, he had 21 100-yard rushing games, and during that time the Sun Devils’ record was 32-4 (Two 11-1 seasons and one 10-2).
He was the 1st round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs, and although he had a promising rookie season, he suffered a knee injury that slowed him down and ultimately led to his retirement part way through his third season.
The amazing thing is that he was not an I-back getting a disproportionate share of the carries. Playing in a two- and three-man backfield, he shared the carries. In his sophomore year, Ben Malone rushed for 857 yards; in his junior year, Brent McClanahan rushed for 988 yards; and in his senior year, Malone rushed for 1.129 yards.
In the year that our guy was drafted first, Malone was drafted second, by the Dolphins, and went on to a nine-year NFL career. McClanahan was a year ahead of our guy, and after being drafted by Minnesota, he spent seven seasons with the Vikings.
The Sun Devils’ offense was not exactly as sportswriters often described it: “run, run, run, run, run, maybe think pass, run, run, run…” The 1972 Sun Devils’ team set an NCAA regular-season scoring record with 513 points, and it wasn’t all done on the ground.
Their quarterback, Danny White, whose three-year ASU career paralleled our guy’s, finished with 6,717 passing yards and 64 touchdowns. He was drafted third by the Dallas Cowboys - the same year the Sun Devils had running backs taken in the first and second rounds - and he led them to a Super Bowl win.
Woody Green entered the ASU Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1975.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING WOODY GREEN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was born poor on New York’s Lower East Side, the son of an Irish policeman. He would wind up owning the New York Giants - or, as it was once necessary to say, the New York FOOTBALL Giants.
At 13 he dropped out of school to help support his family.
While working as a “newsboy” (selling newspapers on street corners), he became well-acquainted with bookies, and soon began working for them as a “runner” (taking bets and paying off winners, who often tipped him). By the time he was 18, he was a full-fledged bookie himself.
In 1925, with the five-year-old National Football League in search of someone to operate a franchise in New York City, he was approached to put up $500 (about $7,500 in today’s money) to buy the rights. He didn’t know much about football but he was reported to have told people that an exclusive franchise to do anything in New York was worth $500.
At first, things did not go well for him financially. New York was then a college football town, and pro football had little following. But when the Chicago Bears, having just signed Illinois star Red Grange, came to town, our guy rented the Polo Grounds, and the huge crowd that attended brought in $143,000 at the gate, putting the Giants in the black for the season.
The next year, Grange and his agent, C. C. Pyle, formed a rival league, the American Football League, and put a franchise in New York called the Yankees. And when our guy’s coach and one of his standout linemen left to join the Philadelphia Quakers franchise in the new league, our guy was forced to give raises to all his remaining players and sign them to season-long contracts.
He lost a lot of money as a result, but at the end of the season he challenged the American League champion, the Philadelphia Quakers, to a post-season game, and when they accepted, the Giants wound up beating them, 31-0. So much for the AFL.
In 1927, the Giants won their first NFL championship. They would win three more championships during his lifetime.
He had to fight off numerous challengers to his hold on New York pro football, probably the toughest of which came after World War II with the start of the All-America Football Conference. During the AAFC’s existence, from 1946 to 1949, he had to compete with AAFC teams in both New York (the Yankees) and Brooklyn (the Dodgers), but when the leagues “merged,” the Giants were left as the only team in New York.
He died in 1959 at the age of 71, leaving the Giants to his two sons, Jack and Wellington.
Jack’s grandson would ultimately sell his side of the family’s fifty per cent share in the team, but Wellington’s side of the family still owns its half of the club. Wellington’s grandson, John, is the current president of the Giants.
Only the Halas family of Chicago has owned an NFL team for a longer time.
In 1963, our guy was among the first 17 members inducted into the Pro Football Hall of fame in its charter class. In the photo above, that's his son, Wellington, next to his bust in the Hall of Fame.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2024 “The past isn’t dead. It isn’t even past.” William Faulkner
*********** My wife asked me when I plan on turning the flag right-side-up. I told her - when I hear President Trump say, "So help me God."
*********** Thanks for all your help. You can stop sending us money now. We made it through the Bomb Cyclone just fine. A little rain (it is, after all, the Northwest) and a little wind. Even our place on the Coast is okay.
But there were places in the Northwest that had problems with downed trees and a subsequent loss of power, and the area outside Seattle, near where our daughter and son-in-law live, got hit pretty hard.
On a somewhat associated note, the Pacific Northwest is not exactly Tornado Alley, so when the graphic below was sent to me Tuesday by a friend, my only reaction was “WTF?” A tornado in the Northwest is about like snow in Miami. (On the map, our place is just about at the “a” in “Ocean.” )
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “We planned a party to dedicate the new club, and when Art Hass and I suggested we might even have a little female companionship at the affair, the other officers scoffed. Wagers were placed. Art and I had met a couple of local girls and were able to patch through a phone call to their home to get their parents’ OK to come to the club. I didn't do much dancing because a badly sprained injured ankle had me on crutches. But Art and I each won fifty dollars when we showed up with the local girls.
“I was also learning about the power politics of the military system. Not long after arriving in Hawaii, I was dispatched with a group of sixteen Marines to load 120 new amphibious tractors aboard LSTs and move them from Pearl Harbor to our base of operations in Maui. When we arrived at Pearl, the commanding admiral where I had been sent ordered me to send two of my Marines to kitchen duty as long as we were around.
“I called the Pacific Theater Marine headquarters and talked to the commanding general to complain, citing the pressing time schedule. He agreed, adding: "I outrank him.” So the two-star general told the one-star admiral we would not be furnishing any mess cooks from my detail. We loaded the tractors on the LSTs and got them back to Maui. I never saw the admiral again, but I wasn't looking for him either.
“More than six months after the Japanese surrender I arrived in San Diego and immediately requested two weeks’ leave to visit my family in Michigan. I borrowed Grandpa Lude's 1941 DeSoto coupe and drove to Hillsdale to visit friends. At one of the hangouts near the campus entrance where students would gather between classes for snacks and socializing I spotted an incredibly attractive brunette coed. Her name was Rena Pifer, and I remembered meeting her when I was a sophomore. She was the sister of a fraternity brother, Bill Pifer, a guy I had run into earlier in Honolulu, where he worked with a naval repair unit. After dating Rena the next night I decided she was a very special lady, and that I should do everything I could to recruit her to my program.
“In no time I fell in love with her, and it's been that way for a lifetime.”
*********** Brad Knight’s and my picks - many of them emotionally based, few of them backed by hard analysis, a couple of them downright idiotic.
we might on occasion surprise you with a reason to be interested in a particular game.
FRIDAY
PURDUE AT MICHIGAN STATE – The Spartans...big. Purdue is TERRIBLE. ME: Could this be the one? Could this be the Boilermaker’s win? What the hell - I’m going to start the weekend off with a BIG upset.
UNLV AT SAN JOSE STATE – I like San Jose State in this one. I just think both teams are decent, and the game is on the road for the UNLV Fighting Mafia. ME: I like Ken Niumatololo and the job he’s done at SJSU, but UNLV is fighting for a spot in the MW championship game against Boise State, and they’re not going to go limp.
SATURDAY
INDIANA AT OHIO STATE – I'll take the UPSET! Indiana might shock the country. Plus I hate the Buckeyes. ME: Maybe it’s because I root for hated Duke in basketball, but I just can’t hate the Buckeyes. They’re good and they consistently meet a high standard. But I’m going to root for Indiana because I already have a book written about their miracle 14-0 season, including their last-second kickoff return touchdown to beat Texas in the National Championship game. I do insist on playing Kurt Cignetti in the movie version, but they keep telling me I’m not “Italian enough.”
WAKE FOREST AT MIAMI – Hurricanes....need this one to stay in the hunt for the playoffs. Perhaps a loss was good for them to refocus. ME: I like Wake but Miami isn’t going to fold now. Especially in front of one of their huge home “crowds.”
OLE MISS AT FLORIDA – Fla played well a week ago....but Kiff will have his guys ready. Defensively the Rebs have gotten much MUCH better. ME: Ole Miss wins. Rebels still have hopes of a Playoff berth.
SMU AT VIRGINIA – SMU is just too good. ME: Agreed. SMU can beat Miami. Or even Clemson.
ILLINOIS AT RUTGERS – I'll take the Bielema boys to beat up on the Knights. In this game anyway. Jerzee and Hailee and I could take him! ME: Illinois is 7-3 and I think they’re better. But Rutgers is 6-4. I’m going out on a limb and taking the Jersey Boys.
IOWA AT MARYLAND – Iowa...with the mystery qb. Get the ball to KJ. Play defense. Iowa wins this one. ME: There’s Iowa with their classic uniform against Maryland and their “look what they’re making us wear this week” attire. Motivation: Loser has to wear the other team’s uniforms in their next game. That’s why I know Iowa will win.
NORTH CAROLINA AT BOSTON COLLEGE – BC with internal issue and a QB who is disgruntled. I'll take Mack Brown and the NC Tarheels. ME: After watching UNC running back Omarion Hampton against Wake Forest last week, I hesitate to pick BC, but I think that O’Brien has the QB situation under control. So BC.
KENTUCKY AT TEXAS – Texas gets knocked off by Stoops. Kentucky in a shocker. ME: Just one more in the string of weak teams that Texas has feasted on this year.
PENN STATE AT MINNESOTA – The Nittany Kittens eat the Gophers. Still need Sanderson to coach in big games. ME: I would call for an upset except that Franklin does pretty well in games where Penn State’s favored.
BYU AT ARIZONA STATE – Game of the week maybe...AzState playing well. BYU coming off a huge loss. Give me the Sun Devils. ME: Sun Devils for sure. Between runner Cam Skattebo - a human bowling ball - and QB Sam Leavitt (an Oregon kid), and ASU coach Kenny Dillingham’s mind, Sun Devils may have the best offense in the Big 12.
COLORADO AT KANSAS – I won't pick against the JAYHAWKS again. Hailee will stab me if I do. Kansas is the hottest team in the country at the moment. Bowl game is not impossible. ME: Unlike some bandwagon jumpers, I’m picking Kansas for the second straight week.
NORTHWESTERN AT MICHIGAN – Michigan...because Northwestern is just bad. ME: Northwestern thought that they’d dodged all the bullets after they fired Pat Fitzegerald, but they haven’t seen anything yet.
WISCONSIN AT NEBRASKA – Wisconsin wins this one. The Badgers are improving and Nebraska isn't used to Holgerson's offensive philosophy yet. Plus I dislike Nebraska. ME: Based on Holgorsen’s far greater experience at his position (two weeks) vs whoever will be calling Wisconsin’s plays (less than a week), I have to go with the Huskers. Plus there’s something about Luke Fickell that I just don’t like and I can’t put my finger on it.
STANFORD AT CAL – The winner can claim "most liberal school". Should be a battle. But Stanford is not good. I will take the fighting democrats of CAL. ME: I like Cal’s Justin Wilcox but I’m a proud Stanford dad and this is Big Game. So go Card. And in case you haven’t been watching: Stanford had shown that it can come back; Cal has shown that it can’t hold leads.
TEXAS TECH AT OKLAHOMA STATE – Tech blasts Gundy. Okie State is just not good at all. ME: Win or lose, Cowboys are headed for a losing season. With everyone jumping on Gundy, it’s only fair to point out that their last losing season was his very first one at Stillwater - 19 seasons ago.
UCF AT WEST VIRGINIA – The Mountaineers win a shootout. And burn some couches. ME: Got to agree. Throw the couches in the blazing dumpster that is Central Florida.
SAN DIEGO STATE AT UTAH STATE – Tough one here. I like the other Aggies. But I think San Diego State is better. San Diego State wins. And we all know the meaning Ron Burgundy has for San Diego. Stay classy! ME: The Aggies, who can stand there after a game and tell stories about adversity that top anybody’s, will be smiling after this one.
PITTSBURGH AT LOUISVILLE – Time for a physical battle from Narduzzi's bunch. P-Burg wins this one. Give me the Panthers. ME: Pitt. Did Louisville even practice this week? After watching the way they played against Stanford last week, do they ever practice? They have no idea what damage they did to the ACC with the way they played Saturday.
MISSOURI AT MISSISSIPPI STATE – Misery....because Mississippi State still angers me for their comments about the Hawkeyes a few years ago. ME: Mississippi State would love right now to be back there a few years ago, when they could actually make disparaging remarks about anybody. Not now. They’re suffering. And so is Missouri, but Missouri is a lot better than they are.
ARMY AT NOTRE DAME (AT YANKEE STADIUM) – I dislike ND. I LOVE ARMY. Let's Go BLACK KNIGHTS!!!!! ME: More about this one below.
BOISE STATE AT WYOMING – I will not pick against Boise State as long as Jeanty is healthy. Give him 200+ and 4 TD's in a route. ME: This is one of the easier calls we’ll ever have to make.
WASHINGTON STATE AT OREGON STATE – Washington State. The BEAVS are bad. ME: Not only are the Beavers bad, but the Cougs are good. They have some weapons, especially their QB, John Mateer. This is considered a Pac-12 game, but by agreement it is NOT for the Pac-12 Championship.
BAYLOR AT HOUSTON – Houston in a battle of "other" Texas schools. Baylor and Houston are both having okay seasons and can be quite entertaining to watch. Houston misses Holgerson's passing game prowess. ME: While no one was looking, Baylor was beating West Virginia - earning bowl eligibility and saving Dave Aranda’s job. Go Bears!
ALABAMA AT OKLAHOMA – BAMA! ROLL TIDE!!! Oklahoma is wishing it had stayed in the Big 12. ME: I don’t think the OU folks ever imagined that Alabama’s first SEC visit to Norman would look like this. Bama by 10 - at least.
TEXAS A&M AT AUBURN – A&M because AUBURN SUCKS!!! ME: Yes, and Hugh Freeze would make them hard to like even if they were good. But Pop Warner could be coaching them, and A & M would still be a whole lot better. Can’t wait for the Aggies-Longhorns next week!
IOWA STATE AT UTAH – I will take the Utes in an upset. They will manhandle ISU up front. ME: From my distance, it looks as if the Utes are through. I hate to be the one to tell you that the hated Cyclones aren’t ready to fold just yet.
VANDERBILT AT LSU – Give me Vandy. LSU is looking for money to buy Kelly out! ME: Why am I wasting money paying a predictor who would actually think that Vanderbilt can beat LSU? Actually, now that I think about it, after the listless way the Tigers played against Florida, an upset isn’t out of the realm of possibility. But I still don’t have the stones to pick Vandy.
CINCINNATI AT KANSAS STATE – K State rebounds. In a game that could be close this one won't be. The Wildcats in a rout. ME: If the Wildcats can somehow avoid falling behind 21-0 to start the game (as they didn’t against ASU) they’ll be fine. Sure was surprised to hear some boos from the KSU faithful last week.
VIRGINIA TECH AT DUKE – Not sure who to pick. Tech needs a win to make a bowl game. Duke needs a win just to get another win. But I think Duke is better. Especially at Duke. ME: This Duke team is pretty good. The Devils are 7-3, and they’ve been in every game they’ve played, including holding a 28-25 lead over Miami until 3:08 left in the third, and having the potential winning field goal against SMU blocked with no time left on the clock. Go Devils.
USC AT UCLA – The "who cares" bowl. I'll take USC to beat UCLA in a game literally half the country (especially me) cares about. LA can just move to Russia. ME: This game symbolizes to me how far, in many ways, college football has regressed. There was a time for me when I looked forward to this game every year. It was so exotic- there I was, a kid sitting in front of the TV - in Philly where it was already dark outside - watching these two teams playing in bright sunshine, 100,000 people in the Coliseum, each side trying to outdo the other with clever card tricks. Guy with cool names like Aramis Dandoy and Sam Tsagalakis. I’m going to pick a winner: USC.
AIR FORCE AT NEVADA – I'll take the Zoomies. Against my better judgement. ME: I don’t like the Zoomies, but I think they’ll win.
COLORADO STATE AT FRESNO STATE – Have to go with the boys from Fresno State. Not sure I will be right BUT Colorado and California are both leftist hellholes. ME: I have to go with Fresno because if Colorado State wins, they’ll be in the Mountain West title game against Boise State, mainly because they had a pillow-soft schedule that didn’t include either of the conference’s two best teams (Boise State and UNLV).
BEGINNERS CATEGORY – THANKS TO THE SEC, WE’VE BEEN PROVIDED WITH THE FOLLOWING GAMES FOR YOU TO TRY YOUR PREDICTING SKILLS.
UMASS AT GEORGIA –
UTEP AT TENNESSEE –
WOFFORD AT SOUTH CAROLINA –
*********** Army and Notre Dame meet for the 52nd time Saturday when they face each other in Yankee Stadium.
The games between them began in 1913 and their first game was one of the most famous of their meetings. It was the game in which Notre Dame, then a little-known Catholic school from the Midwest, came east to West Point to play mighty Army, and stunned the football world by upsetting the Cadets, 35-13. It wasn’t just the surprise Irish win that caught the nation’s attention, though - it was the way in which they won, using the precision passing of Gus Dorais to a receiver named Knute Rockne.
Rockne would soon enough become the Irish coach, and his teams enjoyed good success against Army.
With the exception on 1918, during World War I, the two teams met every year from 1913 through 1947.
From 1925 through 1946, the games were all played in New York City, first in the Polo Grounds and then in Yankee Stadium.
Because of the size of Army’s Yankee Stadium, the game has never been played at West Point. Not until 1947 was it played at South Bend.
From 1932 through 1943, Notre Dame never lost in the series; they won 12 games and two were tied.
But then came World War II, and while Notre Dame’s roster, like those of most other colleges, was depleted by the war, Army won two years in a row - and won decisively, by 59-0 in 1944 and 48-0 in 1945. Army won the national title both years.
But in 1946, Notre Dame was back to full strength again, and the two teams played to a historic 0-0 tie in a so-called “Game of the Century.” Between the two teams, there were 11 All-Americans on the field (in a time of two-way football) and four Heisman Trophy winners - Army’s Doc Blanchard had won it in 1945 and Army’s Glenn Davis won it in 1946; Notre Dame QB Johnny Lujack would win it i 1947, and Irish end Leon Hart, who would win it in 1949, played in the game as an eligible freshman.
The 1947 game was an Irish win, 27-7, and it would be the last in the long series for ten years. It is a story for another day, but suffice to say that there were bad feelings between the schools, fed to some extent by the way some Notre Dame fans berated the Army players as draft dodgers.
Then, too, there was the reality that with the war ended and players returning to their colleges - or to those that had offered them the early version of NIL, Army and Navy (there was not yet an Air Force Academy) were the only schools to actually lose talent through graduation.
The two teams began play again, off and on, in 1957.
Since then, they’ve met 18 times and Army has won exactly once - in 1958, the year of the Lonesome End, Army’s last unbeaten team and famed coach Earl Blaik’s last team.
Other than that one win, the closest Army has come since 1957 was a 20-17 loss in 1998.
The last time the two teams met was in 2016, in San Antonio, a 44-6 Irish victory.
The last time they’ve met in Yankee Stadium was 2010, a 27-3 Irish win.
One of the most famous Army-Notre Dame games was the so-called “Win One for the Gipper” game, in 1928.
In December, 1920, famed Notre Dame player George Gipp died, and as Rockne would tell the story years later, his dying words were, “I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy.”
As legend has taken if from there, with Army and Notre Dame tied 0-0 at the half - this is nearly eight years after Gipp’s death, remember - Rockne evidently chose to play the Gipper card.
“On his deathbed,” he supposedly said, “George Gipp told me that someday, when the time came, he wanted me to ask at Notre Dame team to beat the Army for him.”
In an article ghost-written for him two years later, in Collier’s Magazine, Rockne remembered, ”the boys came out for the second half exalted, inspired, overpowering. They won. As (Jack) Chevigny smashed through for the winning touchdown he said: ‘That's one for the Gipper.’”
Interestingly, not until two days after the game was anything said about the “Gipper” story, and not a lot of attention was paid to it.
One wise guy, told about it later, recalled the kind of rounder George Gipp had been and quipped, ”it would've been much more like him to ask Rock to put down a bet for him someday when the Irish were a sure thing.”
Interesingly, too, according to Gipp’s teammates he "never referred to himself as the Gipper.“
In fact, it wasn’t until Hollywood included the story in “Knute Rockne – All American” came out in 1940 (20 years after Gipp’s death) did it become a part of American sports mythology.
But it is a good story and what made it most poignant was the importance to Notre Dame of beating Army. And in New York City, with its huge Irish population, at that. Recalled one Notre Dame player in that 1928 game, "As we approached Yankee Stadium there were Irish cops on every corner hollering, 'Beat Army. Beat Army.' It was terrific and really got us keyed up for the game. “
Actually, the final score was 12-6, Notre Dame, and the game ended with Army on the Notre Dame one-yard line. Any business about winning one for the Gipper took a distant second to a controversy over whether the referee (who then kept the time on his own clock) had ended the game too soon, depriving Army of a chance to score.
*********** Notre Dame is a two-touchdown favorite over Army, and obviously the oddsmakers know what they’re doing.
Given that Notre Dame is more talented and has played a tougher schedule, I suggest that Army’s only chance to win is, as always, to avoid losing: to eliminate turnovers and penalties, to tackle well, to eliminate big plays against them, and to avoid mistakes on special teams.
Oh - and maybe most important of all - to avoid dumbass calls.
In that category, I include “doing something different offensively because we aren’t good enough to beat them with our regular stuff.”
Raise your hand if you’ve ever done that in a big game.
Okay now - put your hands down and now raise them if that strategy has ever worked out for you.
I didn’t think so. I’ve done it and regretted it.
My advice to Army (unsolicited, you understand) -
Capitalize on what makes you different. Don’t change your game. Make THEM change THEIR game. play YOUR game to play you. You have it within your power to do this.
Not good enough? How do you KNOW that you’re not good enough, when Notre Dame hasn’t played anyone like you?
if you play your under-center, ball control game, you have a chance. You’ll move the ball, you’ll keep the Notre Dame offense on the sideline, you’ll stay in the game - and, maybe most important, you’ll wear Notre Dame down physically.
Just. Make. First. Downs.
It’s going to take patience and persistence. And belief in what your guys can do. But you’ve done it before, in similar-type games against Oklahoma and Michigan.
But I can almost guarantee it - the more you go afield, the more you get into something that resembles what everybody does, the more you’re playing into Notre Dame’s hands. And once you’re playing them at their game, we already know they’re better at that than you are.
*********** At this time of year there are usually a considerable number of good jobs open. But not this year. At this point, there are three FBS jobs open, and none would be called primo positions:
FAU - Replacing Tom Herman, who had good success at Houston, not so much success at Texas. Herman joins a fairly long line of well-known predecessors - Howard Schnellenberger, who started the program, Lane Kiffin and Willie Taggart. Ray Lewis says he wants the job. (See what you started, Deion?) Charlie Weis, Jr., now OC at Ole Miss, who was an assistant at FAU under Kiffin, is said to be the favorite. Gee, just think - maybe he can get his dad to help him. For that reason alone I’d suggest they at least talk with Ray Lewis.
TEMPLE - Replacing Stan Drayton. This is a tough job. There are plenty of good football players within 100 miles of its campus - but very few of them want to go there. Part of the reason is that within a half- mile of the campus - in any direction - are some of the most dangerous, crime-ridden sections in any American city. There are also 4 or 5 million people within an easy drive of Temple games - but nobody gives a sh—. The town belongs to the Eagles. Who cares about AAC or MAC or whoever? Then there’s this: Temple plays in the Eagles’ stadium, far from campus, and with no place else to play, Temple is force to pay near-extortionary rent to the Birds. HOWEVER: guys in recent years have won here, and have used their success at Temple to move on to better jobs: Al Golden, Matt Rhule, Steve Addazio, Geoff Collins
UMASS - Replacing Don Brown, a New England legend who just couldn’t get it done. This may be the worst job in all FBS. First of all, New England doesn’t care that much about college football. Other than UConn and Boston College, that’s it. And they struggle. I almost forgot UMass, probably because they’re always stuck down around #130 or so among the 134 teams in FBS. There are good players within 100 miles or so, and the school is just an hour from Bradley Field (Hartford-Springfield). The light at the end of the tunnel: the Minutemen (or, since it’s Massachusetts, it may now the Minutepersons) are set to join the MAC in 2025, which means they’re going to escape the ups and downs of an independent schedule that have had them playing, over the last four weeks, Missouri, Wagner, Mississippi State and Liberty. (This week, they’re at Georgia.)
*********** Oregon is officially in the Big Ten championship game. It used to be a whole lot easier when there are two eight-team divisions. But now, with one giant conference, I read some article in which some genius - or maybe some robot - figured out at last a dozen possibilities for Oregon’s opponent, based on how things go the next two weeks.
And it’s not as if the SEC isn’t facing the same sort of knot.
*********** Chad Chatlos, head of Turnkey Sports, a major executive search firm, noted that this year, not one Power 4 conference coach has been fired.
He suggests that because the imminent legal settlement that’s going to mean that schools can (or will?) share revenue with their athletes is going to cost a LOT of money, schools are reluctant to commit large sums of money to coaches' buyouts.
*********** I got a call on Wednesday from a former player - coached him one year, his senior year, in 1996 - and had a great talk. He’s been successful in business and now he and his wife have been able to move with their two kids to Montana. Among the many things he mentioned was how much he liked the Double Wing. He said how as a guard he appreciated finally getting to do cool things like pull out and kick out, instead of “just pass blocking.”
I told him how I hear coaches say that they play a spread offense because it helps them recruit more players. Yeah. More players. What it does is help them recruit receivers. Want evidentce that it works? Take a look at any spread team’s offensive practice and I guarantee you that 1/3 of the players on the field will be receivers. But how do those numbers help? Sure, a great receiver is gold, but by and large, receivers are a dime a dozen. Yet we cater to them, trying to make the game more “fun” for them. Yeah, for them. But what about the offensive linemen? Five of the eleven offensive players are linemen - that’s as many “receiver” positions there are. Aren’t the linemen supposed to have fun, too? As hard as it is to find and develop linemen, I have yet to hear anyone saying that he runs the offense he does because it helps him recruit linemen.
*********** Coach,
I wanted to let you know that Lucan Leone former Aquinas Black Lion Award recipient was named section V Class AA Defensive Player of the year!
Jay P. Polston ‘90
Office of Advancement
Aquinas Institute
Rochester, New York
Aquinas, Don Holleder’s high school, is now 9-2 and still alive in New York State playoffs.
*********** I’ll bet NFL GMs were thanking their lucky stars that Pac Man Jones is no longer their problem…
Former NFL corner ball Adam “Pac Man" Jones, whose NFL career was not without its share of arrests and suspensions and whatnot, was taken into police custody in Arlington, Texas, not long after the conclusion of the “boxing” match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul.
Police told The Athletic that Jones faces one count of assault on an officer, one count of public intoxication, and charges of evading and resisting arrest.
*********** Bum Phillips, when asked by a reporter what he was going to do about Earl Campbell’s not finishing a mile run, said, "When it's first and a mile, I won't give it to him."
*********** 2024 AFCA Regional Coach of the Year Winners
*********** The Joe Moore Award has named its Semi-Finalists for 2024:
Alabama - CoachChris Kapilovic
Army - Coach Matt Drinkall
Indiana - Coach Bob Bosta
Iowa - George Barnett
Notre Dame - Joe Rudolph
Ohio State - Justin Frye
Oregon - A’lique Terry
Tennessee - Glenn Elarbee
Texas - Kyle Flood
Tulane - Dan Roushar
(I did not write this)
Joe Moore is widely regarded as one of the best offensive line coaches in college football history, most notably for his work at Notre Dame and Pitt. Coach Moore sent 52 players on to the NFL, including Bill Fralic, Mark May, Russ Grimm, Jimbo Covert and others.
In 2014, former Notre Dame lineman Aaron Taylor had an idea to honor Joe Moore, his college coach.
The Joe Moore Award for the Most Outstanding Offensive Line Unit annually recognizes the toughest, most physical offensive line in the country, making it the only major college football award to honor a unit or group.
The voting body of 200-plus members to select the annual recipient of the Joe Moore Award. includes all of the current offensive line coaches at the Division I/FBS level, as well as former players, coaches, colleagues of Coach Moore, select media members and the Joe Moore Award voting committee.
In addition to reviewing game tape every week of the season, the Joe Moore Award voting committee will go through each of the finalists’ season-long highlight reels and multiple back-to-back quarters of game film.
*********** You’re right. Army might wind up 9-5 with a bowl TBD, but as long as I know a win is possible, I'll root for them Saturday. We know the BK can't match ND in talent or size, but as we've said repeatedly, it's a team game. I'm afraid if we lost Daily, we'd be like Navy without Horvath. It's been some time since Army played a game under lights. Go BK! and I don't mean Burger King or Brad Knight.
Little known fact: Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke gave birth to a child, and his name's listed on today's NYCU.
I've thought more than I should about the Paul-Tyson matchup. I think I'm on the side of those who say Paul knew he could've put Mike down, but he didn't. I noticed his words after the fight. He showered Mike with every accolade he could think of. He knows MT is a Legend, and you treat them accordingly. Maybe it sounds odd, but I respect Paul's show of respect for Big Mike.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
Of course I’m rooting for Army and I think they can win - provided they make ND play their game.
My real concern is that Army, having had two weeks to prepare, will go in thinking “we’re not good enough to beat them straight-up; we’ve got to do something different if we expect to have a chance.”
In other words, a lot of shotgun.
To me, that’s the recipe for a blow-out.
I’m familiar with the thinking. I’ve been guilty of it. And it has always turned out the same way: instead of selling ourselves short and looking for some magic trick, we would have had a much better chance doing it OUR way - the way we got there and the way our players believed in.
In sum: If Army plays Army football - AND avoids turnovers and penalties and mistakes in the kicking game - they can win.
Agree with you on Paul’s going easy on Tyson, but I think it was less out of respect for Tyson and more out of fear of the enmity he’d have earned if he’d been seen as treating Tyson disrespectfully - not to mention the elder-abuse aspect. He really was in a delicate spot and I agree with you that he handled it rather well.
I loved this quote from Jake Paul: “I kept trying to show people that I’m a good person. No one was buying it. And then one day I was like, f—k it - I can go heel. And I haven’t looked back.”
*********** Hugh,
Nostalgia buffs will appreciate the fact that at one time the Army-Notre Dame game had as much (if not more) hype than the Army-Navy game. The term “Subway Alumni” (NYC Irish fans who weren’t necessarily grads) was coined by sportswriters in reference to the many Army-Notre Dame games played in New York City. This year’s Army-Notre Dame game will be played in the new Yankee Stadium. The game had been played in the “old’” Yankee Stadium 22 times. The most memorable in 1946 when the teams battled to a 0-0 tie trying to determine a national championship.
The question for Army is can it (and QB Bryson Dailey) even survive its next three games vs. ND, Tulane (AAC championship), and Navy?
Undefeated and 5th ranked Indiana (now there’s a term folks aren’t used to hearing) rolls into Columbus Saturday to take on the 3rd ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. The game will likely go a long way determining which teams will play for the BIG championship. GO HOOSIERS!!
Colorado is suddenly a favorite to make it to the Big 12 title game. UNLESS the Kansas Jayhawks continue to play spoiler and beats the Buffs. I expect a shootout in Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday. ROCK CHALK!!
SMU and Miami in the ACC. Clemson has to hope SMU loses its two remaining games vs Virginia and at Cal to have a chance. NOT happening.
In the SEC, the renewal of the Texas-Texas A&M game will go a long way in determining who plays in the SEC title game. A Longhorns win and they’re in.
Alabama will be likely be their opponent UNLESS, Auburn pulls an Iron Bowl upset.
If that happens it could be Ole Miss.
March Madness…HA!!
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Joe, Don’t forget UTSA. They’re coming to West Point next week, and they’re looking tough
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: From the time Ernie Holmes was little they called him “Fats,’ but he grew up big and “farmer strong” on his family's forty-five-acre farm near tiny Jamestown, in East Texas not far from the Louisiana line. He went to high school in Burkeville.
He played college football at Texas Southern. While there, he married his girlfriend, and they had two children before he graduated.
He was drafted in the eighth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, thanks to scout Bill Nunn, who had developed great knowledge of - and relationships with - black college football programs.
At 6-3, 280, “built like a John Deere tractor” in the words of a teammate, he became a key member of Pittsburgh’s famed “Steel Curtain” defensive line.
It didn’t take him long to gain a reputation as a rather complex individual.
Reporter Paul Zimmerman, who wrote under the pen name “Doctor Z,” said, “There were people who were scared to death of him, others who didn't want to have anything to do with him, still others who liked him as you would a big, galloping Great Dane puppy.”
Scared to death? "He had a look that was really scary," said safety Mike Wagner. "I think he wanted to beat people to death -- within the rules of the game."
Said teammate L.C. Greenwood, “(He) wanted to see blood. He wanted to beat on the guy until he started bleeding, and if he did start bleeding, (He) felt he had done a good day’s work.”
Veteran Steelers offensive linemen would ask him to slow down so they didn't get hurt. "Nobody would line up against him in practice," said Tom Keating, who joined the Steelers from the Raiders in 1973.
Tight end Randy Grossman compared him to the childlike giant Lennie, in Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” telling author Gary Pomerantz in “Their Life’s Work,” (He) was just a lovable, really nice guy but when he was beaned up or fired up, it was frightening. He would be the only guy that I would be afraid of in any combative situation. Anybody else might beat the shit out of me but (he) would really tear me up. He would rip off pieces of meat and throw them somewhere… or eat them.”
It did appear that to an extent paranoia drove him. He would on occasion visit with Steelers’ president Dan Rooney and say that he believed people were out to get him.
And he often made it known that he considered himself unappreciated - not as well-known or celebrated as his line mates, he was the only one of the famed Steel Curtain defensive line who never made the Pro Bowl.
He actually claimed to be as talented as Mean Joe Greene, still considered by many to be the greatest defensive lineman who ever played the game (“Joe Greene made a whole LOT of people think they were better than they were,” said Bill Nunn) but Woody Widenhofer, who coached the Steelers’ linebackers at the time, said there were times when he really was as good as Joe Greene.
"You want to know how good he was, how tough?" Steelers’ head coach Chuck Noll asked. "Take a look at the way the guy who had to play against him looks, coming off the field after the game -- if he was able to finish it."
Everyone, it seemed, had a story about him.
Wrote Pomerantz,
Most (stories about him) could be cataloged under three headlines: “Mood Swings,” “Eating To Excess,” and “Courvoisier."
The most legendary Eating to Excess story of all: that night in 1976 when Perles (defensive line coach George Perles) brought his defensive linemen to a local restaurant for a feast of roast suckling pig. When all the eating was done, Holmes took another swig of Courvoisier and then cracked a knife handle against a pig’s skull. He dug his fingers deep inside, scooped out small pieces of the pig’s brain, and ate them with delight. "Where I come from,” Holmes gushed, brain matter splashing his cheek, "this is a delicacy!”
Evidence of what a court-appointed psychiatrist would call his “acute paranoia psychosis” was an incident in which - explained here way too briefly - angered at being held up by a roadblock, he shot at the tires of trucks on an Ohio highway, then shot at a police helicopter searching for him after he had crashed his car and taken off on foot. It took a lot of effort on the part of Steelers’ management, a lot of money, a lot of testimony by teammates as to his character, and two months in the Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital before he was cleared to return to the Steelers. (Naturally, there were those who claimed that as a professional athlete he’d received preferential treatment.)
Back with the Steelers, now bothered by the fact that everyone on the line had a nickname but him, he shaved his head so that the remaining hair formed an arrowhead (pointing him toward the quarterback, he said) and told Coach Perles, “George, I don’t get any publicity because I don’t have a nickname. From now on, my name is Arrowhead.”
Showing how far ahead of today’s game he was in terms of personal branding, he said, “You have to be commercial in this business to get ahead. You need a gimmick.”
Eventually, his huge appetite got the best of him, and after the Steelers traded him to Tampa Bay, he was cut by the Buccaneers.
After football, he spent some time as a professional wrestler, and became an ordained minister and worked with young people in Texas.
In 2008 Ernie Holmes was killed in a one-car accident near Beaumont, Texas, and was buried in his native Jamestown.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING ERNIE HOLMES
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN IRION - ARGYLE, NEW YORK
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
TOM DAVIS - SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
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*********** QUIZ: He remains one of the greatest high school athletes ever to come out of Portland, Oregon.
As a running back at Jefferson High School, he was first team All-City his junior and senior years, and was first team All-State and High School All-American his senior year.
In his senior year he was second team All-City on the school’s city championship basketball team, and he was state champion in the 100 and 440 in both his junior and senior years.
With size - 6 foot, 205 - and speed, he was a perfect fit at Arizona State and Frank Kush’s run-heavy Wing-T offense.
In his second game, as a sophomore, he ran for 214 yards and two touchdowns against Utah. For the season, he rushed for 1,310 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry, and earned honorable mention All-America honors.
Playing in the very first Fiesta Bowl at the end of the season, he carried 24 times for 101 yards and three TDs as the Sun Devils defeated Florida State, 45-38.
In his junior season, he had the greatest season any ASU running back has ever had, rushing for 1,565 yards and 15 TDs on 234 carries (an average of 6.7 yards per carry).
He had games of 201 yards against San Jose State, 198 against both BYU and Wyoming, 195 against Houston and 172 against Arizona.
He earned consensus All-American honors, becoming only the second Sun Devil to be so honored.
Playing in the Fiesta Bowl again, he rushed for 202 yards and three touchdowns as the Sun Devils beat Missouri, 49-35.
In his senior season, he surpassed 1,300 yards for the third straight year, gaining 1,313 yards, and became the first Sun Devil player to earn consecutive consensus All-American selections.
The Sun Devils finished the season 11-1 after a third Fiesta Bowl win, this one over Pitt, with a Number 9 ranking nationally.
He finished eighth in the Heisman balloting.
He set ASU career rushing records that still stand : 4,188 yards and 39 touchdowns. Over the course of his three seasons, he had 21 100-yard rushing games, and during that time the Sun Devils’ record was 32-4 (Two 11-1 seasons and one 10-2).
He was the 1st round draft choice of the Kansas City Chiefs, and although he had a promising rookie season, he suffered a knee injury that slowed him down and ultimately led to his retirement part way through his third season.
The amazing thing is that he was not an I-back getting a disproportionate share of the carries. Playing in a two- and three-man backfield, he shared the carries. In his sophomore year, Ben Malone rushed for 857 yards; in his junior year, Brent McClanahan rushed for 988 yards; and in his senior year, Malone rushed for 1.129 yards.
In the year that our guy was drafted first, Malone was drafted second, by the Dolphins, and went on to a nine-year NFL career. McClanahan was a year ahead of our guy, and after being drafted by Minnesota, he spent seven seasons with the Vikings.
The Sun Devils’ offense was not exactly as sportswriters often described it: “run, run, run, run, run, maybe think pass, run, run, run…” The 1972 Sun Devils’ team set an NCAA regular-season scoring record with 513 points, and it wasn’t all done on the ground.
Their quarterback, Danny White, whose three-year ASU career paralleled our guy’s, finished with 6,717 passing yards and 64 touchdowns. He was drafted third by the Dallas Cowboys - the same year the Sun Devils had running backs taken in the first and second rounds - and he led them to a Super Bowl win.
Our guy entered the ASU Hall of Fame in its inaugural class in 1975.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2024 “It’s good to have money and the things that money can buy, but it’s good, too, to check up once in a while and make sure that you haven’t lost the things that money can’t buy.” George Lorimer
*********** Hey, all you guys in the South and Midwest and East with all your blizzards and tornadoes and hurricanes and droughts and floods and what-nots - it’s our turn, up here in the upper-left corner, where nothing very exciting ever happens meteorologically. (Unless you count the occasional eruption or tsunami.)
Tomorrow (Tuesday) the Pacific Northwest is due to get hit with a “Bomb Cyclone,” aka a “Category 5 Atmospheric River.” Aieee. We’re all gonna die.
Calm down, folks. The way these weather guys are nowadays, I’m figuring on a rainy day with a little wind. Give it a descriptive title to scare us and get us to watch TV. Details at 11. But they can’t fool me - how scary can it be if when doesn’t even have a f—king name?
(In case you feel like sending me money, I’ll be setting up a GoFundMe account.)
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Major Shead also assigned me the job of building an officer’s club, a retreat where we could sip our regular liquor rations in peace overlooking the ocean. I consider it one of my most creative efforts. I didn't know anything about Construction, but I knew the Seabees (Construction Battalion) had worked wonders under extremely adverse conditions during the war and there was a unit available at division headquarters.
First, I held a strategy session with a platoon sergeant who was a veteran at cutting through red tape. He said, ‘Lieutenant, here's what we've got to do. You get a truck. We have a bunch of obsolete tools down at the tractor maintenance barn. I'll load the tools into the back of the truck. You go around to all the officers and gather up as much liquor as you can from their monthly rations.’
We gathered up about two and one-half cases of hard liquor and an assortment of tools and headed for division headquarters about three o’clock the next morning. The sergeant talked to a chief petty officer in the CB unit. The chief said it would be at least six weeks before his construction specialists could help us. Then the sergeant said, ‘Oh, Lieutenant Lude, don't we have something in the back of our truck that the Seabees might be able to use?’ After looking at the load of tools, the chief said maybe they could do the job in two weeks.
Then my platoon sergeant said, ‘Mr. Lude, could you show the chief what you have in the cab of the truck?’ The chief petty officer took one look at the booze and said, ‘We’ll be there tomorrow morning.’
They arrived about 6 AM, and by the end of the day, using quick – hardening chemicals on the concrete, they had a nice building slapped together on a chunk of property overlooking the ocean. We opened and dedicated it that night. There was no air conditioning, but we had ocean breezes. We lacked food service; that had to come from the galley, which was a big tent. But there was a nice bar at one end of the room, which was about 30 x 70 feet. It had a thatched roof and window coverings on pulleys which could be closed in case of rain or severe wind.
The Seabees did wonders; they were terrific. So was that platoon sergeant who made it happen and made me look good.
*********** HOW’D WE DO THIS PAST WEEKEND? FIRST, BRAD KNIGHT’S PICK, THEN MINE.
REMEMBER - THESE ARE BY NO MEANS COLD, ANALYTICAL PICKS. SOMETIMES THEY ARE, BUT AS OFTEN AS NOT, THEY REFLECT OUR HOPES. I HAVE MY FAVORITES, AND SO DOES BRAD, AND WE DON’T GO OUT OF OUR WAY TO HIDE OUR BIASES.
BUT THERE ARE SOME TIMES WHEN WE MIGHT GIVE YOU A WAY OF LOOKING AT A GAME THAT YOU HADN’T CONSIDERED.
FRIDAY
COLORADO STATE 24, WYOMING 10 – I really want to pick the Cowboys of a state that identifies as what they are and actually vote that way. But I have to pick the liberal infested Rams of Colorado. Wyoming is in a big rebuild. ME: I love the Cowboys and I’m shocked by the poor season they’ve had. I don’t think the Rams are that good, and knowing something about the intensity of the rivalry - the two schools are only about an hour apart, which in the West is like “next door” - I’m going to Cowboy up!
WASHINGTON 31, UCLA 10 – Can UCLA run the ball as they did against the Hawkeyes? If so UCLA wins. I'll take UCLA in a PAC 12...errr B1G matchup. ME: Bow Down to Washington! I’ve heard rumors that Dead - sorry, Jedd - Fisch might be in demand somewhere else, and if a Husky win is what it takes to get him out of Seattle…
ARIZONA 27, HOUSTON 3 – Interesting matchup, two teams fighting to be relevant. I think Houston can win this one, as they have a better shot to become bowl eligible. Give me Planet Houston. ME: Bear Down, Arizona.
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE 31, NORTHWESTERN 7 – This one will be laughable. The Buckeyes will blast the Nerds. Northwestern should really consider making the temporary stadium home. It certainly is beautiful, and they do not have to sell many tickets to fill it. ME: This is my upset of the week: Ohio State, looking ahead to Indiana, won’t beat the spread (28.5)
TEXAS 20, ARKANSAS 10 – The Longhorns win. Tighter than maybe it should be. But winning games is hard. Especially in the SEC. ME: I’d love to see the Hogs get this one, but I don’t see it.
CLEMSON 24, PITT 20 – The fighting Narduzzi's vs. The fighting Dabo's. I think Narduzzi takes Dabo in a fight. I'd pay to watch that. Give me Clemson to win the actual football game. ME: I think that Pitt has begun to “Panther it.”
COLORADO 49, UTAH 24 – I'll keep taking the Buffs largely because I think Coach "Prime" has surrounded himself with some pretty decent assistants. I will not give him the name Coach Sanders until he has earned it. Utah might just smack them in the face however. ME: Unlike certain people I know who’ve jumped on the Coach Prime bandwagon, I’ll go down swinging with Kyle Whittingham and the Utes. (But if I were betting I’d need the points.)
TULANE 35, NAVY 0 – I want to pick Navy. Really, really do. But unlike Army, I do not think Navy's defense can slow down Tulane's offense. I will begrudgingly pick Tulane. ME: I like Navy and I saw them pass their one real test - Memphis - and I think they can upset Tulane (7-point favorite).
ILLINOIS 38, MICHIGAN STATE 16 – The fighting Bielema's have quietly had a pretty solid season. This one will be a good game I think. Michigan State, while not terrific, has continued to improve. But the Illini are too much in the end. ME: Illinois is better. Plus I can’t pass up a chance to see Jonathan Smith get his nose bloodied.
SYRACUSE 33, CAL 25 – I will have to say Syracuse is competitive. So are the Liberal Bears who do not know they are Bears. I think Syracuse wins a close one. ME: Cal. The Bears have got all their receivers now, including local kid Tobias Merriweather, a Notre Dame transfer who’s now healthy.
PENN STATE 49, PURDUE 10 – I'll take the Nittany Kittens. Can Cael Sanderson coach the games against ranked foes? He never loses to anyone. ME: Tough one. Remember when Purdue was good? I do, and it sucks to watch this.
NOTRE DAME 35, VIRGINIA 14 – I'll take the Leprechauns. (is that allowed to be said again?) ND just too much for Virginia. ME: Tony Elliott has finally got the Wahoos playing well but Notre Dame is so close to making the playoff that I don't think they'll let this slip away.
SMU 38, BOSTON COLLEGE 28 – Give me Death Penalty Recovery Part 2. SMU has too many weapons. BC only has one shot...control the clock. And that isn't going to happen. ME: Have to agree. SMU might be the best team in the ACC, which is impressive considering that they had to buy their way in.
FLORIDA 27, LSU 16 – LSU angrily beats the absolute crap out of the Gators this week. Largely because Coach Kelly probably beat the crap out of them after giving up a million yards and 4 TD's to Jalen Milroe a week ago. Nussmeier played as poorly as I'd ever seen. He's better than that. ME: LSU really got exposed against Bama, and they’re only favored by 4, but Florida is not Alabama, and I think the Tigers have enough left to win this one.
STANFORD 38, LOUISVILLE 35 – I'll pick ANYONE to beat Stanford. ANYONE. Sadly, the pound the rock days are gone for the Harvard of the midwest. Louisville BIG. ME - Since when is the Bay Area “Midwest?” Dream on, Iowa guy. But as a Stanford dad, it’s going to take a lot more Midwest - and a lot less Far West - to turn Stanford into an FBS football program again.
AIR FORCE 28, OREGON STATE 0 – I picked against the Air Force a week ago. MISTAKE. I picked the Beavers a week ago as well. Give me the Zoomies in this one. ME: It hurts to say it, but the Beavers suck. How bad do they suck? They won’t even beat Air Force! They’ve lost four straight, and they need to win two of their last three games to be bowl eligible - and it ain’t gonna happen.
USC 28, NEBRASKA 20 – Dana Holgerson in charge of the offense now...interesting. Doesn't change my pick much. I just think USC is better athletically than Nebraska. ME: Lincoln Riley has made USC soft. But they’re still USC and they still have athletes. I think Holgerson is going to make a big difference at NU, and this might be the week. Go Huskers!
BAYLOR 49, WEST VIRGINIA 35 – A battle for a Bowl between 2 5-4 teams. I think West Virginia at home wins a good game. ME: Let’s see… is this the week West Virginia wins or the week they lose? I forget. So I’ll pick the Mountaineers.
SOUTH CAROLINA 34, MISSOURI 30 – I am going to pick the Cocks again. They have identified who they are and are on a roll. ME: It’s the Battle of Columbia! I think the Gamecocks hav been playing so well lately that it’s time for them to disappoint their fans. That’s what they usually do. But they win this one.
RUTGERS 31, MARYLAND 17 – Rutgers....because I like the mascot! ME: Rutgers - because I used to go to the Jersey Shore when I was a kid. Wait - because Rutgers is better.
BOISE STATE 42, SAN JOSE STATE 21 – Jeanty 200+ and 4 TD's. Bank on it. Kid is the real deal. He can carry the rock. Boise State wins. ME: Boise wins and get closer to a Playoff berth.
ARIZONA STATE 24, KANSAS STATE 14 – I'll take the Wild Kitties to win. Can their offense continue to run the ball effectively and pass when they want to? K State...in a good one until the 4th quarter. ME: ASU is dangerous, but I still think K-State is the best team in the Big 12.
OREGON 16, WISCONSIN 13 – I'll take the Ducks to "JUMP AROUND" all over the Badgers. Not sure there is a BIG10 team that can compete with them this year. ME: After a dismal showing at home against Maryland last week, the Ducks need to show me that they’re really deserving of their Number One spot. They will.
GEORGIA 31, TENNESSEE 17 - Will the Dogs be angry? I believe so. Will Tennessee care? Probably not. This could be a great game. I'll take the DAWGS because my little brother is a law school alum there. ME: I’ll take Tennessee because I used to fly in and out of Knoxville. No, actually, I’ll take Georgia because Tennessee isn’t as good as Ole Miss.
IOWA STATE 34, CINCINNATI 17 – I think ISU is DONE. Their spirit is broken. Give me CINCY! In a "mild" upset. ME: I’ll take the Cyclones because Knighter doesn’t like them.
NORTH CAROLINA 31, WAKE FOREST 24 – Neither team is relevant in their conference race. BUT both still playing for a bowl bid. So it could be a quality game. I will take Coach Brown and UNC. ME: As long as it’s coming down to the coaches, I have to go with Dave Clawson, of Wake, who I like as much as any coach in college ball. Plus a grandson is a Wake grad. Go Deacs!
NEW MEXICO 38, WASHINGTON STATE 35 – Washington State is 8-1....after this they will be 9-1. ME: Lobos are getting better - read what my son Ed writes below about Devon Dampier - but the Cougs are good and they have expectations of getting into a really nice bowl.
KANSAS 17, BYU 13 – I'm on the verge of calling Kansas over BYU as my upset special. If it was at Arrowhead I'd probably do so. BUT since it is at BYU I will take BYU but in a very close game. The spread is only 3. The O/U is 55.5. I'd take the over. And BYU to cover. ME: I’ll take Kansas, They’ve been playing lights-out lately, and BYU was lucky - very, very lucky - to come away from Utah with a win.
UNLV 41, SAN DIEGO STATE 20 – Give me the Fighting Tark the Sharks. UNLV is a quality football team. They are having a good season. The Vegas boys have to be happy with them. ME: UNLV wins big.
*********** Army, which had a BYE last weekend is 9-0, and one of three remaining unbeaten FBS teams.
Savor the moment, fellow Army fans: we could conceivably wind up 9-5. They haven’t yet played a single team as tough as what’s coming up:
ARMY’S REMAINING SCHEDULE:
NOTRE DAME (AT YANKEE STADIUM) Irish (9-1) are 14.5 point favorites
UTSA AT WEST POINT - In their last two games UTSA has beaten Memphis (44-36) and North Texas (48-27)
TULANE - CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME - Tulane is 9-2 with Memphis still to play
NAVY - Navy is 7-3, still has to play East Carolina. But Navy is Navy. Enough said
BOWL GAME - Who knows?
*********** NOTABLE GAMES:
SMU 38, BOSTON COLLEGE 28 - BC’s Bill O’Brien demoted QB Thomas Castellanos, who immediately left the team. Yet with backup starter the Eagles gave the Mustangs a game. O’Brien joins Duke’s Manny Diaz and Syracuse’s Fran Brown as my ACC Coach of the Year nominees.
ALABAMA 52, MERCER 7 - Just kidding.
NEW MEXICO 38, WASHINGTON STATE 35 - Lobos scored the winning TD with seconds to play. What a show by the two QBs - WSU’s John Mateer was 25 of 36 for 375 and four TDs, and he ran for 65 more and a fifth TD. NM’s Devon Dampier threw for 174 and a TD and rushed for 193 and three TDs. Lobos lost their first four, and now they’re 5-6 with one game left - at Hawaii.
STANFORD 38, LOUISVILLE 35 - Taking nothing away from a Stanford team that worked hard for the win, this has been called by several reputable writers “the worst loss in the history of the program.” To me, it had all the earmarks of a team with no focus. Imagine a game in which your team commits 13 penalties - 11 against the defense alone… a game in which you lead, 7-0, with 45 seconds to play and one a fourth-and-one you give up a 25-yard touchdown pass… when you’ve got overtime assured if you just run out the clock, and on fourth down at midfield, you take a shot - and leave 5 seconds on the clock… when one of your defenders has to play tough guy and commit an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moves the opponents 15 yards closer… and then, as the opponent lines up for a 57-yard field goal, one of your players jumps offside and makes it “only” a 52-yarder.
CLEMSON 24, PITT 20 - Clemson probably is the better team anyhow, but Pitt should have won - that is, if a team that can line up three times in a row and turn a third-and-goal from the one into third-and-16 can beat any good team.
SOUTH CAROLINA 34, MISSOURI 30 - Mizzou took a 22-21 lead with 9:21 left, but Carolina came back to take a 27-22 lead. The Tigers scored with 1:10 and made the 2-point conversion to lead by three, 30-27, but the Gamecocks drove 80 yards for a touchdown - a 12-yard shovel pass - to win.
FLORIDA 27, LSU 16 - This was a shocker to me, and I’m not sure there’s enough money in Louisiana to pay me to go through what Brian Kelly has to be going through right now. For a number of reasons, this LSU team is not very good. Their QB, Garrett Nussmeier, was sacked seven times. He’d been sacked just six times in all the games prior. Meanwhile, Billy Napier, who not very long ago was a dead man walking, has done a terrific job of keeping the Gators together and playing hard.
TULANE 35, NAVY 0 - As I watched, all I could think of was Army having to play Tulane in the AAC championship game. Navy rushed for 100 yards and passed for - ready for this? - 13. How you gonna beat a team whose QB is so smart his name’s Mensah?
USC 28, NEBRASKA 20 - I take back what I said about a Lincoln Riley team being soft on defense. The Trojans were especially tough on the final play when they were allowed to grab a Cornhusker’s jersey in the end zone, leading to a game-ending interception. I swear I heard an announcer say “You don’t call pass interference on the last play.” Really? Shouldn’t they announce that over the P-A system, or at least let the offense know that? Credit to USC QB Jayden Maiava, a transfer from UNLV making his first start.
KANSAS 17, BYU 13 - The Cougars outgained the Jayhawks, but a lot of their yardage was the useless kind. They put on a long drive at the end of the first half that ended when what I guess was supposed to be a fade into the end zone was intercepted, and another long one at the start of the second half ended in a field goal - the Cougars’ only score of the half. The go-ahead KU score came after their pooch punt hit a Cougar in the back of the helmet and, BYU not evidently having taught their players how to recover a punt, Kansas took possession deep in BYU territory and punched it in. Kansas may have suddenly become the Big 12’s best team. We may find out next weekend when they host - COLORADO!
*********** Actually, the best team in the Big 12 might be… Arizona State.
The Sun Devils are 8-2. Before the season the Las Vegas guys had the over/under on their total wins at 4.5
*********** Awful Announcing needs to come up with an award. My nomination this week was Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt. They just won’t STFU. And somebody needs to tell Johnson that he’s calling football, in which there’s no such metaphor as “putting the biscuit in the basket.”
*********** Worst-dressed team of the week - of every week, for that matter - is Maryland, which seems more preoccupied with how garishly it can dress than how well it can play. As a former Marylander (lived there for 13 years, three of our four kids were born there, started my coaching career there) this program has been an embarrassment ever since an incompetent AD named Kevin Anderson decided he could put a notch on his gun by firing Ralph Friedgen.
*********** We finally joined the Washington State-New Mexico game six minutes into the first period, with the score Lobos already out in from, 7-0.
Sure couldn’t blame FS1 for not wanting to leave the 32-14 Rutgers-Maryland thriller.
*********** Turns out Oregon’s narrow 16-13 win over Wisconsin Saturday wasn’t because of Oregon’s great defensive play after all.
Nope. It ought to be clear to anybody that the fault lay with Phil Longo, the Badgers’ offensive coordinator.
That’s sarcasm, folks. Only two teams - Ohio State and Boise State - have scored more than 18 points against the Ducks. Translation: they’re pretty good on defense.
Actually, the Badgers’ offense has sucked for most of the season, possibly - just possibly - because of the terrible knee injury early in the season that cost them the services of transfer quarterback Tyler Van Dyke.
Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell had to know that when he decided to bring in Longo and his Air Raid offense from North Carolina, making a break with the power football that Barry Alvarez had made a Wisconsin trademark, he was putting all his chips on having a good quarterback. One that would be healthy for the entire season.
Only last Monday, when Longo still had a job, this is how he summed things up for the news media:
“Typically things aren't pristine when you arrive and so right now these last two years Fick has a plan and a vision and he's laid it out and sometimes trying to get to where you want to get to, we all want that to happen tomorrow, but it's a process and it takes a little time.
“I said this last year and I'm going to say it again. When you are building something to sustain success, it's harder. It's more difficult to do that. You can go a certain route with regards to the upgrading or changing of your roster and get an immediate answer for that particular year or you can build something that you want to sustain some success over the long haul, which is the goal here and what Fick wants. We're grinding through that."
*********** Oregon coach Dan Lanning showed that he still has some of the G-D fool in him when with 1:50 to go in the game he tried a fake field goal on fourth and five.
*********** Granted, our national anthem is hard to sing, which is one reason why most can’t sing it well. Another reason, of course, is that we allow people to “perform” it, rather than just sing it. And, too, there’s the current obnoxious American obsession with “Look at me.”
On the other hand, Canada’s national anthem, “O Canada” is seldom monkeyed with. It’s a beautiful tune, and easy to sing. Maybe it’s just that Canadians are more respectful of others and of their country than we are, more reluctant to put themselves out there ahead of their country and its anthem.
There’s also the fact that Canadians take great offense (which they spell”offence” and pronounce “OH-fence”) at any suggestion that they might be copying Americans in doing anything, including butchering their national anthem.
But not to be outdone by the bloody Yanks, right before Sunday’s Grey Cup game they went and showed they were able find at least one Canadian willing to go out on the field and f—k up “O Canada.”
*********** The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup, representative of the championship of the Canadian Football League, defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 41-24.
The MVP was Toronto’s quarterback, Nick Arbuckle.
Wait. Nick Who?
He’s 31-years old. He’s a California kid who played two years of JC ball and then two years of college ball at Georgia State, where in 2015 he was Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year.
But then, in football terms, he sort of disappeared: became a backup QB in Canada.
In six years in the CFL - they didn’t play football in 2020 - he’s been with four different teams and started a total of 25 games.
Prior to Sunday, he had started one game for Toronto this season.
He had signed with the Argonauts last spring as a potential backup to starter Chad Kelly, and that was his job - until Kelly was severely injured in the CFL East Final.
Suddenly, Arbuckle found himself starting at quarterback. In the Grey Cup.
How’d he do? Not bad. He completed 26 of 37 for 252 yards and two TDs. (He did throw two interceptions.)
In truth, the Argos’ defense deserved some sort of award, because they intercepted four Winnipeg passes and returned them a total of 164 yards and one TD.
Three of the interceptions came in the fourth quarter, when Winnipeg quarterback Zach Collaros’ passing was clearly affected by an injury to his throwing hand.
Afterwards, Arbckle admitted that last spring he was ready to give up quarterbacking and look for a coaching job in the US, when the Argos’ offer came.
"If everybody was to know everything, all the things we overcame as a family, from my whole life and football career to be here, it's God's work. I've been so fortunate to have the support and belief in me from my wife and everybody to just keep chasing it and persevering. Look at it now.”
*********** One American who was disappointed by the Winnipeg loss was Jason Kelce. He and his kids were rooting for “Uncle Zach” - Winnipeg QB Zach Collaros, who was Kelce’s roommate at Cincinnati.
*********** They used to call old Yale alums “Old Blues.” Blue, see, has been the school’s color - its only color - since the 1800s. If any of Old Blues still go to Yale football games, they had to be nauseated by the drabness of the Yale uniforms, which looked as if they’d come to New Haven from UnderArmour with a stop off at some laundry in Moscow, which is where they left the blue.
*********** Did I tell you that I watched the fight? The Tyson fight? With the fight due to come on Netflix at 5 PM Pacific, I broke down and bought Netflix at about 4:40.
Not that I needed to hurry - the actual Tyson fight finally came on a little over four hours later, at 9:05.
It had been a while since I’d seen a televised fight, and I have to say that in comparing it with the fights of my youth - when boxing was very big (“The Gillette Cavalcade of Sports is On The Air!”) and the fight itself was paramount - everything nowadays is MORE. More hype, more show, more bombast, more tits. It’s almost a parody.
And there’s less fighting.
Except for the women.
Two women I’d never heard of - Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano - put on one hell of a fight. I have to admit that I wasn’t comfortable watching two women whale the tar out of each other, but if that had been two men, I’d have to call it one of the best fights I’ve ever seen.
As you’ve probably read, the main event was a farce.
For roughly 20 million dollars apiece, Mike Tyson and some clown named Jake Paul went through the motions of a fight for eight two-minute rounds. For the last 5 or so rounds, Mike Tyson did absolutely nothing with his right hand except block a punch or two. He didn’t throw a single punch with that hand, yet not once did the expert announcers make mention of it. You’d think it would have been fairly noticeable to them - he only landed 18 punches in the entire “fight.”
But they got me. And millions of others as well. Plus an announced “live” gate of 72,300 in Jerry World.
So Barnum lives.
*********** Watched the Portland State-Montana game and heard some color guy who sounded like Yosemite Sam. Turned out it was Marty Mornhinweg, former Grizzly QB who had a nice career as an NFL assistant. with two years as head coach of the Detroit Lions.
*********** Considering the fact that most big-time college guys are now making enough to afford a car, and considering what a problem parking is on most college campuses… do you suppose that NIL deals also include special parking passes?
To think that not that many years ago it was a major scandal when UCLA football players were caught using bogus handicapped parking passes.
*********** Corch:
You and BK (same initials as my team too) have a winner with your Huntley-Brinkley picks. I've heard that the 3-4 VIP Vegas pickers have learned to cheat by stealing your choices.
The Norm Maves story is fun and memorable even if it were proved inauthentic.
Those of us who love the DW/OW and ground pounding in general have, I think, something in our psycho makeup that causes us to look askance--or maybe cautiously--at what's in vogue. In various ways you address the issue on your pages. We're suspicious of the popular. We don't listen to the preachers of easy routes to riches. We want to earn what we get, and to feel the satisfaction that comes with it. That's what we get with the slow, plodding, Clydesdale rushing offenses...and I love it. I'm thankful every day that my Army team is what soldiers call a bunch of 'Grunts' (infantrymen).
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
The Utah AD? I KNOW what he was feeling, but WHAT was he thinking??!
NIU found a way to beat ND in South Bend. Could Virginia and former ND star Chris Tyree find it?
Georgia better find a run game soon or it will be running to a bowl game instead of the playoff.
Ohio State faces Northwestern in the “friendly confines” of Wrigley Field to accommodate the whiny OSU fans who couldn’t get enough tickets to NU’s temporary stadium.
5 Longest continuous rivalries in college football are:
Lehigh-Lafayette
Minnesota-Wisconsin
NC State-Wake Forest
Oklahoma-Oklahoma State
Kansas-Kansas State
There are others that were either interrupted by World Wars, Covid, or conference realignment.
I’ve been in league, conference, or district meetings that lasted more than 3 hours!
QUIZ: Gus Dorais (see the movie “Knute Rockne- All- American)
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Gus Dorais (“dor-AY”) was the throwing part of a famed Notre Dame passing combination - with end Knute Rockne as the catching part - and he’s often called “The Father of the Forward Pass.”
Although he did not invent the forward pass, he was a pioneer in popularizing it. The precision throw-and-catch techniques which he and Rockne developed in their off-hours while working in the summer of 1913 at Ohio’s Cedar Point Amusement Park would contribute a few months later to one of the first great football upsets. When little-known Notre Dame upset national power Army 35-13 that November, it not only brought fame to the small Catholic school in the Midwest, but it also created great interest in the forward pass as more than just a gimmick.
He was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother. His given first name was Charles, but he never went by that name.
Although small at 5-7, 150, he starred as a triple- threat high school quarterback, and led Chippewa Falls to the state championship in 1909.
He had hopes of playing college ball at Minnesota, but wound up instead at Notre Dame. There, two games into his freshman season, the head coach set aside reservations about the quarterback’s overhand spiral throwing style and installed him as his starter. Good decision: in four years as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback, he didn’t lose a game.
For the record, in the now-famous win over Army, he completed 14 of 17 attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns.
He was team captain his junior and senior years, and in 1913 became Notre Dame’s first consensus All-American.
After graduation from Notre Dame, he remained active in football for years as a coach and player. HIs first coaching job was at Loras College, a small Catholic school in Dubuque, Iowa, where he coached numerous sports and still managed to play professional football, still in its primitive early days, for teams in Massillon, Ohio and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In four years as a coach, his teams were 17-9-2.
He served in the Army during World War I, spending some of his time running and playing for a service team in Texas, and after the War he spent a year at Notre Dame as an assistant to his old roommate, Rockne, who was now the Irish head coach.
Then he was hired by Gonzaga, a Jesuit college in Spokane, as athletic director and head coach of football, basketball, baseball and track - for the princely sum of $4,000.
After five years in Spokane, he was hired at the University of Detroit, another Catholic school, where he would stay for 18 years.
From 1925 until 1942 - when Detroit dropped football for the duration of World War II - he compiled a record of 113-48-7. In those 18 seasons, he had just one losing season - his second.
In 1943, he was hired by the Detroit Lions as their head coach. In his five years there, the Lions went 20-31-2, and although he was fired, he was paid for the four years remaining on his contract, seemingly making him one of the first coaches to be paid a fairly generous severance package.
Then, along with his son, he ran an automobile dealership in Indiana.
To keep a hand in the game, he spent time as a scout for the AAFC, and in 1952 he came out of retirement for a year to assist John Bach, who had been hired by the Steelers as their head coach. Gus Dorais’ contribution was to help Bach convert the Steelers from the single wing attack they had been running for the previous six years to the T-formation which every other NFL team was by then running.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING GUS DORAIS
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
RODNEY LUNSFORD - WESTFIELD, INDIANA
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: From the time he was little they called him “Fats,’ but he grew up big and “farmer strong” on his family's forty-five-acre farm near tiny Jamestown, in East Texas not far from the Louisiana line. He went to high school in Burkeville.
He played college football at Texas Southern. While there, he married his girlfriend, and they had two children before he graduated.
He was drafted in the eighth round by the Pittsburgh Steelers, thanks to scout Bill Nunn, who had developed great knowledge of - and relationships with - black college football programs.
At 6-3, 280, “built like a John Deere tractor” in the words of a teammate, he became a key member of Pittsburgh’s famed “Steel Curtain” defensive line.
It didn’t take him long to gain a reputation as a rather complex individual.
Reporter Paul Zimmerman, who wrote under the pen name “Doctor Z,” said, “There were people who were scared to death of him, others who didn't want to have anything to do with him, still others who liked him as you would a big, galloping Great Dane puppy.”
Scared to death? "He had a look that was really scary," said safety Mike Wagner. "I think he wanted to beat people to death -- within the rules of the game."
Said teammate L.C. Greenwood, “(He) wanted to see blood. He wanted to beat on the guy until he started bleeding, and if he did start bleeding, (He) felt he had done a good day’s work.”
Veteran Steelers offensive linemen would ask him to slow down so they didn't get hurt. "Nobody would line up against him in practice," said Tom Keating, who joined the Steelers from the Raiders in 1973.
Tight end Randy Grossman compared him to the childlike giant Lennie, in Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” telling author Gary Pomerantz in “Their Life’s Work,” (He) was just a lovable, really nice guy but when he was beaned up or fired up, it was frightening. He would be the only guy that I would be afraid of in any combative situation. Anybody else might beat the shit out of me but (he) would really tear me up. He would rip off pieces of meat and throw them somewhere… or eat them.”
It did appear that to an extent paranoia drove him. He would on occasion visit with Steelers’ president Dan Rooney and say that he believed people were out to get him.
And he often made it known that he considered himself unappreciated - not as well-known or celebrated as his line mates, he was the only one of the famed Steel Curtain defensive line who never made the Pro Bowl.
He actually claimed to be as talented as Mean Joe Greene, still considered by many to be the greatest defensive lineman who ever played the game (“Joe Greene made a whole LOT of people think they were better than they were,” said Bill Nunn) but Woody Widenhofer, who coached the Steelers’ linebackers at the time, said there were times when he really was as good as Joe Greene.
"You want to know how good he was, how tough?" Steelers’ head coach Chuck Noll asked. "Take a look at the way the guy who had to play against him looks, coming off the field after the game -- if he was able to finish it."
Everyone, it seemed, had a story about him.
Wrote Pomerantz,
Most (stories about him) could be cataloged under three headlines: “Mood Swings,” “Eating To Excess,” and “Courvoisier."
The most legendary Eating to Excess story of all: that night in 1976 when Perles (defensive line coach George Perles) brought his defensive linemen to a local restaurant for a feast of roast suckling pig. When all the eating was done, Holmes took another swig of Courvoisier and then cracked a knife handle against a pig’s skull. He dug his fingers deep inside, scooped out small pieces of the pig’s brain, and ate them with delight. "Where I come from,” Holmes gushed, brain matter splashing his cheek, "this is a delicacy!”
Evidence of what a court-appointed psychiatrist would call his “acute paranoia psychosis” was an incident in which - explained here way too briefly - angered at being held up by a roadblock, he shot at the tires of trucks on an Ohio highway, then shot at a police helicopter searching for him after he had crashed his car and taken off on foot. It took a lot of effort on the part of Steelers’ management, a lot of money, a lot of testimony by teammates as to his character, and two months in the Western Pennsylvania Psychiatric Hospital before he was cleared to return to the Steelers. (Naturally, there were those who claimed that as a professional athlete he’d received preferential treatment.)
Back with the Steelers, now bothered by the fact that everyone on the line had a nickname but him, he shaved his head so that the remaining hair formed an arrowhead (pointing him toward the quarterback, he said) and told Coach Perles, “George, I don’t get any publicity because I don’t have a nickname. From now on, my name is Arrowhead.”
Showing how far ahead of today’s game he was in terms of personal branding, he said, “You have to be commercial in this business to get ahead. You need a gimmick.”
Eventually, his huge appetite got the best of him, and after the Steelers traded him to Tampa Bay, he was cut by the Buccaneers.
After football, he spent some time as a professional wrestler, and became an ordained minister and worked with young people in Texas.
In 2008 he was killed in a one-car accident near Beaumont, Texas, and was buried in his native Jamestown.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2024 “I’ve gone from believing that if you ask questions, it meant you’re fundamentally not smart, to believing that the more you ask, the more curious you are, the smarter you get.” Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “But I never got that far after my orders were delayed. When my old battalion returned from the front, several of my former fellow officers told me in no uncertain terms how lucky I was. I don't recall any precise casualty numbers, but it was tough. I was very fortunate indeed.
“When my orders finally caught up with me, they were changed and I was shuffled to Mare Island in the San Francisco area, then to Pearl Harbor and finally to the fifth Amphibious Tractor battalion in Maui. When I arrived at that then primitive Hawaiian outpost, I shared a tent with a survivor of amphibious landings at Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima, each a costly victory for American forces in terms of casualties. Art Hass had played football at Coe College in Iowa and went on to become a successful football coach in Austin, Minnesota. We became lifelong friends; I was best man at his wedding, and Rena and I named our middle daughter Janann, after his wife.
“In the summer of 1945 the dropping of nuclear bombs on two Japanese cities heralded a quick surrender and the end of hostilities. My commanding officer, Major George Shead, wanted to start a sports program for his troops and, knowing about my athletic background, decided I should be involved. We formed a baseball team, with me as the catcher, and played teams from other military groups and civilian teams on Maui. About the same time I tore up an ankle sliding into third base, Major Shead called me in and appointed me coach of his football team, the Fifth Amphibious Tractor Battalion Bulldogs. It was my first role as a football coach, and we played eight games that season on Maui.
“Major Shead wanted to give his troops a chance to have some fun in sports but this cocky, little (five-feet-eight, 155 pounds) career Marine wanted to keep their minds on something other than going home. The war was over but we were still in uniform, still living a military existence, and still a long, long way from rejoining our families and friends. Shead was a good officer and a competent leader, and he had a sense of humor.
“One night Art Hass and I were in our tent talking rather loudly and a faraway voice hollered, ‘Hey, knock it off.’ I figured it was just some wise guy mouthing off, so I yelled back, ‘Blow it out your rear end.’ The voice, as it turned out, had been that of Major Shead. Somehow I still managed to get good fitness reports and remained as coach of the football team.”
*********** Aberdeen update: Our head coach, Todd Bridge, had to waste his Tuesday night doing what most head coaches detest - attending the end-of-year All-League meeting - a get-together where coaches boast about their kids to the point where you start to think that they really must be shi—y coaches to have lost any games at all with talent like that.
I’ve yet to meet a coach who enjoyed these things. Most of the ones I know would just as soon do away with All-Star teams entirely, but they’re here to stay. The parents demand them and if we didn’t select them, the guys at the newspapers would.
Our little five-team league was totally dominated this season by two teams. One of them, Tumwater, finished the season undefeated and ranked Number One in the state. The other, W. F. West High, of Chehalis, lost just one game - to Tumwater.
Having gone through years of listening to guys whose teams finished oh-fer dominate the All-Star meeting, going on and on about how great this guy was and how indispensable that guy was, our league (wisely, I think) decided to base the number of players a team could nominate on the team’s performance during the season.
These were the first team All-League spots to be filled:
Three MVPs (offense, defense, special teams) selected
Eleven Offensive players
Eleven Defensive players
One punter
One kicker.
That’s three MVPs and 24 players - 27 spots in all.
Tumwater got all three MVPs - AND 12 players.
If you’re into math, you may already have done the work in your head: of 27 possible selections, Tumwater got 15.
W. F. West got seven players.
That means that, combined, Tumwater and W. F. West got 22 of 27 players on the first team.
That left five spots for the other three teams. We finished in third place, so we got two spots.
Now, it seems to me that this is where the nerds should get their revenge - where the guys who got their asses beaten during the season to get together at the meeting and say, “Okay, big guy. You had your fun. You ran up the big scores. But now, we’re at the bargaining table where we all have one vote, and there’s more of us than there are of you. Let’s vote.”
Unfortunately, there were only three of us outliers in that position. I suppose that this is one definite way you suffer when you have a small league: there just aren’t enough of you to have any clout.
For those who say "to the victor belong the spoils," I say this:
There’s been just one team in modern NFL history to go unbeaten - the 1972 Dolphins. They went 14-0 in the regular season and 3-0 in the post-season.
And yet, of the 50 or so players named to various All-Pro teams that year, just seven of them were Dolphins:
*Dick Anderson
*Nick Buoniconti
*Larry Csonka
*Larry Little
*Earl Morrall
*Bill Stanfill
*Paul Warfield
*********** BILL BELICHICK HAD TO CANCEL OUT ON ME AT THE LAST MINUTE, AND HE SAID TO SEND YOU ALL HIS REGRETS - SO ONCE AGAIN MY GUEST PICKER IS BRAD KNIGHT, THE PRIDE OF IOWA.
IN THIS WEEK’S RESULTS, I’VE INCLUDED OUR “PREDICTIONS,” FIRST BRAD’S AND THEN MINE.
FRIDAY
WYOMING AT COLORADO STATE – I really want to pick the Cowboys of a state that identifies as what they are and actually vote that way. But I have to pick the liberal infested Rams of Colorado. Wyoming is in a big rebuild. ME: I love the Cowboys and I’m shocked by the poor season they’ve had. I don’t think the Rams are that good, and knowing something about the intensity of the rivalry - the two schools are only about an hour apart, which in the West is like “next door” - I’m going to Cowboy up!
UCLA AT WASHINGTON – Can UCLA run the ball as they did against the Hawkeyes? If so UCLA wins. I'll take UCLA in a PAC 12...errr B1G matchup. ME: Bow Down to Washington! I’ve heard rumors that Dead - sorry, Jedd - Fisch might be in demand somewhere else, and if a Husky win is what it takes to get him out of Seattle…
HOUSTON AT ARIZONA – Interesting matchup, two teams fighting to be relevant. I think Houston can win this one, as they have a better shot to become bowl eligible. Give me Planet Houston. ME: Bear Down, Arizona.
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE AT NORTHWESTERN – This one will be laughable. The Buckeyes will blast the Nerds. Northwestern should really consider making the temporary stadium home. It certainly is beautiful, and they do not have to sell many tickets to fill it. ME: This is my upset of the week: Ohio State, looking ahead to Indiana, won’t beat the spread (28.5)
TEXAS AT ARKANSAS – The Longhorns win. Tighter than maybe it should be. But winning games is hard. Especially in the SEC. ME: I’d love to see the Hogs get this one, but I don’t see it.
CLEMSON AT PITT – The fighting Narduzzi's vs. The fighting Dabo's. I think Narduzzi takes Dabo in a fight. I'd pay to watch that. Give me Clemson to win the actual football game. ME: I think that Pitt has begun to “Panther it.”
UTAH AT COLORADO – I'll keep taking the Buffs largely because I think Coach "Prime" has surrounded himself with some pretty decent assistants. I will not give him the name Coach Sanders until he has earned it. Utah might just smack them in the face however. ME: Unlike certain people I know who’ve jumped on the Coach Prime bandwagon, I’ll go down swinging with Kyle Whittingham and the Utes. (But if I were betting I’d need the points.)
TULANE AT NAVY – I want to pick Navy. Really, really do. But unlike Army, I do not think Navy's defense can slow down Tulane's offense. I will begrudgingly pick Tulane. ME: I like Navy and I saw them pass their one real test - Memphis - and I think they can upset Tulane (7-point favorite).
MICHIGAN STATE AT ILLINOIS – The fighting Bielema's have quietly had a pretty solid season. This one will be a good game I think. Michigan State, while not terrific, has continued to improve. But the Illini are too much in the end. ME: Illinois is better. Plus I can’t pass up a chance to see Jonathan Smith get his nose bloodied.
SYRACUSE AT CAL – I will have to say Syracuse is competitive. So are the Liberal Bears who do not know they are Bears. I think Syracuse wins a close one. ME: Cal. The Bears have got all their receivers now, including local kid Tobias Merriweather, a Notre Dame transfer who’s now healthy.
PENN STATE AT PURDUE – I'll take the Nittany Kittens. Can Cael Sanderson coach the games against ranked foes? He never loses to anyone. ME: Tough one. Remember when Purdue was good? I do, and it sucks to watch this.
VIRGINIA AT NOTRE DAME – I'll take the Leprechauns. (is that allowed to be said again?) ND just too much for Virginia. ME: Tony Elliott has finally got the Wahoos playing well but Notre Dame is so close to making the playoff that I don't think they'll let this slip away.
BOSTON COLLEGE AT SMU – Give me Death Penalty Recovery Part 2. SMU has too many weapons. BC only has one shot...control the clock. And that isn't going to happen. ME: Have to agree. SMU might be the best team in the ACC, which is impressive considering that they had to buy their way in.
LSU AT FLORIDA – LSU angrily beats the absolute crap out of the Gators this week. Largely because Coach Kelly probably beat the crap out of them after giving up a million yards and 4 TD's to Jalen Milroe a week ago. Nussmeier played as poorly as I'd ever seen. He's better than that. ME: LSU really got exposed against Bama, and they’re only favored by 4, but Florida is not Alabama, and I think the Tigers have enough left to win this one.
LOUISVILLE AT STANFORD – I'll pick ANYONE to beat Stanford. ANYONE. Sadly, the pound the rock days are gone for the Harvard of the midwest. Louisville BIG. ME - Since when is th Bay Area “Midwest?” Dream on, Iowa guy. But as a Stanford dad, it’s going to take a lot more Midwest - and a lot less Far West - to turn Stanford into an FBS football program again.
OREGON STATE AT AIR FORCE – I picked against the Air Force a week ago. MISTAKE. I picked the Beavers a week ago as well. Give me the Zoomies in this one. ME: It hurts to say it, but the Beaver suck. How bad do they suck? They won’t even beat Air Force! They’ve lost four straight, and they need to win two of their last three games to be bowl eligible - and it ain’t gonna happen.
NEBRASKA AT USC – Dana Holgerson in charge of the offense now...interesting. Doesn't change my pick much. I just think USC is better athletically than Nebraska. ME: Lincoln Riley has made USC soft. But they’re still USC and they still have athletes. I think Holgerson is going to make a big difference at NU, and this might be the week. Go Huskers!
BAYLOR AT WEST VIRGINIA – A battle for a Bowl between 2 5-4 teams. I think West Virginia at home wins a good game. ME: Let’s see… is this the week West Virginia wins or the week they lose? I forget. So I’ll pick the Mountaineers.
MISSOURI AT SOUTH CAROLINA – I am going to pick the Cocks again. They have identified who they are and are on a roll. ME: It’s the Battle of Columbia! I think the Gamecocks hav been playing so well lately that it’s time for them to disappoint their fans. That’s what they usually do. But they win this one.
RUTGERS AT MARYLAND – Rutgers....because I like the mascot! ME: Rutgers - because I used to go to the Jersey Shore when I was a kid. Wait - because Rutgers is better.
BOISE STATE AT SAN JOSE STATE – Jeanty 200+ and 4 TD's. Bank on it. Kid is the real deal. He can carry the rock. Boise State wins. ME: Boise wins and gets closer to a Playoff berth.
ARIZONA STATE AT KANSAS STATE – I'll take the Wild Kitties to win. Can their offense continue to run the ball effectively and pass when they want to? K State...in a good one until the 4th quarter. ME: ASU is dangerous, but I still think K-State is the best team in the Big 12.
OREGON AT WISCONSIN – I'll take the Ducks to "JUMP AROUND" all over the Badgers. Not sure there is aBIG10 team that can compete with them this year. ME: After a dismal showing at home against Maryland last week, the Ducks need to show me that they’re really deserving of their Number One spot. They will.
TENNESSEE AT GEORGIA- Will the Dogs be angry? I believe so. Will Tennessee care? Probably not. This could be a great game. I'll take the DAWGS because my little brother is a law school alum there. ME: I’ll take Tennessee because I used to fly in and out of Knoxville. No, actually, I’ll take Georgia because Tennessee isn’t as good as Ole Miss.
CINCINNATI AT IOWA STATE – I think ISU is DONE. Their spirit is broken. Give me CINCY! In a "mild" upset. ME: I’ll take the Cyclones because Knighter doesn’t like them.
WAKE FOREST AT NORTH CAROLINA – Neither team is relevant in their conference race. BUT both still playing for a bowl bid. So it could be a quality game. I will take Coach Brown and UNC. ME: As long as it’s coming down to the coaches, I have to go with Dave Clawson, of Wake, who I like as much as any coach in college ball. Plus a grandson is a Wake grad. Go Deacs!
WASHINGTON STATE AT NEW MEXICO – Washington State is 8-1....after this they will be 9-1. ME: Lobos are getting better - read what my son Ed writes below about Devon Dampier - but the Cougs are good and they have expectations of getting into a really nice bowl.
KANSAS AT BYU – I'm on the verge of calling Kansas over BYU as my upset special. If it was at Arrowhead I'd probably do so. BUT since it is at BYU I will take BYU but in a very close game. The spread is only 3. The O/U is 55.5. I'd take the over. And BYU to cover. ME: I’ll take Kansas, They’ve been playing lights-out lately, and BYU was lucky - very, very lucky - to come away from Utah with a win.
SAN DIEGO STATE AT UNLV – Give me the Fighting Tark the Sharks. UNLV is a quality football team. They are having a good season. The Vegas boys have to be happy with them. ME: UNLV wins big.
REMEMBER, IN MANY CASES - MAYBE MOST - MORE THAN INTELLIGENCE AND COLD ANALYSIS HAVE GONE INTO OUR PICKS. SOMETIMES EMOTION HAS PLAYED AN OVERSIZE ROLE. BUT AT LEAST I DIDN’T PICK ANY GAMES SIMPLY BECAUSE ONE OF THE TEAMS’ NICKNAMES HAPPENED TO BE MY LAST NAME.
*********** More, as promised, about the great John Robinson.
Yes, he and John Madden went to the same parochial school.
Yes, he was a great coach at USC and a near-great coach of the Los Angeles Rams. Not many men have been able to get the job done at both levels of the game the way John Robinson did.
But what kind a guy was he? I trust the judgment of Norm Maves, a longtime friend who’s now retired as a Portland sports writer: “John Robinson was also one of the most personable people I ran across in all those years in the biz. He was as likable as they come; he could chat up a total stranger in a heartbeat. And he could tell a funny story at the drop of a helmet.”
Norm told this one, as best he could remember…
One year, when Robinson was an assistant coach at Oregon, he delivered a story that still cracks me up.
He was a reserve on the Ducks' 1958 Rose Bowl team, and warming the bench in the tense 10-7 loss to Ohio State. Oregon Coach Len Casanova, who inspired loyalty from generations of Oregon people, wanted to make sure all his players got into the action.
This is pretty close to the way Robbie told it:
"So Cas turns around, looks at the bench, then points to me and says 'You! Get in there for Robinson.’
"I grab my helmet, head out to the huddle, and stop halfway. I remember that I'm the only Robinson on the team.
"So I turn around and head back to tell Cas that. He greets me with a big smile, pats me on the back on the way back to the bench and says 'Nice game, Robinson.’"
I remember two things about him from clinics:
I remember him telling of the time USC was playing somebody tough, and things were going slower than usual. A few people started to grumble. But Robinson, true to his philosophy, kept running the tailback off-tackle. More grumbling. Finally, Robinson lost his patience and said, “I don’t care what we’re gaining. Just answer me this - are we beating the sh— out of them?” Of course they were. That was John Robinson - playing the long game.
The other thing that sticks with me - I’ve shown it at clinics - was the time he said, “This is our philosophy at USC.” And he turned and drew up a 5—2 defense (what most people now call a 3-4), and said, “this is our opponents.”
And then, starting to draw the offense, he said, “This is US,” and he drew USC’s I-formation offense in symbols three times larger than the defense.
*********** Gerry Faust died last week. He was a good man and a good coach - a VERY good high school coach - who landed his dream job when he was named head coachNotre Dame. But as he learned, the job was far bigger, far more complex, than he was prepared for.
Toward the end of his stay at Notre Dame, he learned that former Irish coach Ara Parseghian had said that no one should be hired to coach at Notre Dame unless he’d had 12 or 13 years’ experience as a college head coach.
In his autobiography, “The Golden Dream,” Faust admitted that he took offense at the time, but, with the perspective of years of coaching behind him, he came to understand:
What Ara said, in essence, is that the job is impossible. I was too naïve to hear that. What he said was that people were seldom happy with a win – unless you weren't supposed to win, which is an oxymoron, because you are always supposed to win. They expect you to win. They expect you to recruit great players. They expect a Notre Dame to have the number one recruiting class each year. You can't do anything that isn't already expected from the man in that position.
I found the concluding words of Gerry Faust’s book, written in 1997, to be moving.
I was the right man, if not the right coach, for Notre Dame.
I seized the day and it has never been a dark one – not even in its darkest moments. I still see the sun glinting off the Golden Dome illuminating my Golden Dream.
The only shortcut I ever took in my life was to Notre Dame. How can that have been a mistake? It gave me a chance to walk the path I believe God intended me to take. I know He never once let go of my hand along the way. And one day, He will let me know how our walk went. I can live with that.
*********** I’ll give our resident Notre Dame expert, Joe Gutilla, the last word on Gerry Faust…
A lot can be said for what Gerry Faust accomplished as a football coach. His Moeller teams were virtually unbeatable, and was the catalyst for his surprising hire at Notre Dame. While he didn’t achieve the same success with the Irish on the football field as his more famous predecessors, those who played for him respected and admired him for what he instilled for them in their personal lives.
Yes, the man loved ND. He had always dreamed of being its HC. I had the privilege to meet him years after he had been let go without a bad thing to say about the school, and his experience there.
Just a really good human being.
*********** If you can’t get your son to let you reprint his stuff, you haven’t done much a job of raising him, have you? My son, Ed, who despite living in Australia manages to keep a close eye on college football - and the Mountain West in general - tells about a player who’s worth our watching…
An exciting quarterback helps a downtrodden New Mexico university to an overachieving season.
Although short in stature compared to the prototypical quarterback, he’s a good runner and a good leader and is one of the more exciting players in the conference.
Are we talking about Diego Pavia? or Devon Dampier?
In 2023, Pavia led an unheralded New Mexico State team to a 10-5 record, throwing for nearly 3,000 yards and 26 touchdowns. He also led the team in rushing, with 923 yards and 7 touchdowns.
This year, Dampier hasn’t quite reached those heights, but he’s helped New Mexico to a 4-6 record, is 4th in the conference in passing (241 ypg, 11 TD) and 5th in rushing (872 yds, 87.2 ypg)
Here’s where the intrigue starts.
If you’re a fan of college football, you probably know that Pavia transfer portalled (I think I’ve invented a new verb) to Vanderbilt, where he engineered a huge upset win over Alabama and has the Commodores bowl eligible for the first time since 2018.
Dampier has also been impressive, not just on the field, but off it, where he made the Mountain West All-Academic team in 2023. In short, he’s the ideal candidate for a bigger program looking to bring in a smart, athletic quarterback.
As a New Mexico fan or a Mountain West fan, you’d hate to see Dampier poached. But this is the reality of college football and I would be stunned if a Big 12 or ACC team doesn’t take a hard look at him.
*********** This year, so far, NFL teams are 24 of 74 on two-point conversion attempts.
That’s a 32.4 per cent success rate.
Last year? It was 55.1 per cent.
Since the NFL adopted the 2-point conversion in 1995? The overall success rate is 47.9.
*********** From another coach…
Q. Do you think misdirection is better under center or in the open wing or wildcat?
A. I think it depends as much on the number and arrangement of the backs as how the quarterback gets the ball but I think it's about equal under center and wildcat, provided the ball is snapped low.
The key to misdirection is hiding the ball, and the conventional high snap of the shotgun eliminates any doubt about where the ball is.
Q. I probably haven't been as good about hiding the ball as I should've been.
A. It’s a great indicator of how deep into detail a coach is willing and able to go. I could do better certainly. We all could. But most guys can't even be bothered.
*********** A friend was asking me about doing something similar to what Army’s doing offensively. I told him,
One advantage they have that most of us don’t is that they get special guys who are smart. They all graduated at the top of their HS classes. They’re also tough and unselfish. From the time they get to West Point they get toughness drilled into them and selfishness flushed out of them and they want to win by whatever means are available. That means you can have an offense where everybody blocks. Even the option QB. And, too, because the Army itself at its base is “boots on the ground” - hard men in hand-to-hand combat - its fan base expects the same of its football team. Army fans don’t shriek with excitement at long incompletions. They get their thrills from long, methodical drives consisting of mostly running plays that punish the enemy.
*********** A little free, unsolicited advice to a coach who just concluded a successful season, his second or third running the Double Wing.
You are to be congratulated for your progress. Mostly, though, it’s for having the “stones” to stay with an unfashionable offense when there is always pressure to do what everyone else is doing. The longer you stay with it, the better you’ll get at it, and the harder you’ll be for other teams to stop.
Just don’t allow yourselves to get bored, because that’s the first step to losing the edge that the Double Wing gives you.
*********** The 16 Campbell Finalists get 18K each? Sounds like too many to me, some with questionable quals.
Surprisingly, the Black Knights did enter the CFP at #15. I won't argue whether that's right, because it won't matter in a month anyhow.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Well… two of my “unless” predictions came true. Haynes King of Georgia Tech played against Miami, and GT upset undefeated Miami. Minnesota, winners of four in a row, forgot how to run the rock and got beat by Rutgers that had lost four in a row. Apparently Alabama didn’t need Nick Saban after all, LSU did!
My Fresno State Bulldogs are in jeopardy of missing out on a bowl game. Talk about forgetting how to run the ball. They had a total of -13 yards rushing in their loss to Air Force!! They have lost two in a row to the two worst teams in the Mountain West. Their remaining games with Colorado State and UCLA certainly don’t improve their chances.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Hugh Campbell went to high school in Saratoga, California, and at Washington State he became - and remains - one of the greatest receivers in school history.
Nicknamed “The Phantom of the Palouse,” in his three-year career (1959-1961), when people weren’t throwing the ball the way they do today, he set a school single-game record for receptions (11), school single-season records for receptions (67) and touchdowns receiving (10), and school career records for receptions (177), yards (2,459) and touchdowns (22).
He was named All-Pacific Coast Conference all three years of his eligibility, and was second team all-American his senior year.
He was awarded the W.J. Voit Trophy, given (from 1951 to 1978) to the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast.
Following his senior year, he played in the Hula Bowl, the College All-Star Game, the Coaches All-American Game, and the East-West Shrine Game. He was named the MVP in both the Coaches All-American and the East-West Shrine Games.
Drafted in the fourth round - 50th player taken - by the 49ers, he chose instead to play in Canada for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He played five seasons with the Riders, then retired to take a job as an assistant at Washington State under Jim Sweeney, but came out of retirement to play one final season in Saskatchewan.
In his six seasons, he caught 321 passes for 5,425 yards and 60 touchdowns. He played on one Grey Cup Championship team. He won Western Conference All-Star honors (oops - “honours”) four times, and was twice named a CFL All-Star.
After retirement as a player, he was hired as head coach at D-III Whitworth College, in Spokane, Washington. After seven years there, during which he was twice named conference Coach of the Year, in 1977 he became head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos.
He took the Eskimos to the Grey Cup game in Montreal in his first year but lost 41–6 to the Montreal Alouettes. It was the only Grey Cup game he would ever lose, as his Eskimos won the next five Grey Cup games.
After the 1982 season, he left the CFL to become head coach of the USFL's Los Angeles Express, and after one season, he was hired by the Houston Oilers, who hoped that his hiring would help them land Warren Moon, then a free agent, who had played for him in Edmonton.
The Oilers then signed Moon, and our guy did last as head coach of the Oilers for two games shy of two seasons before being fired.
He almost immediately returned to the Edmonton as general manager, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2006.
As player, head coach or general manager, Hugh Campbell was a member of 10 Grey Cup championship teams.
His son, Rick, is currently head coach of the CFL BC Lions.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING HUGH CAMPBELL
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORDO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** QUIZ: He was the throwing part of a famed Notre Dame passing combination - with end Knute Rockne as the catching part - and he’s often called “The Father of the Forward Pass.”
Although he did not invent the forward pass, he was a pioneer in popularizing it. The precision throw-and-catch techniques which he and Rockne developed in their off-hours while working in the summer of 1913 at Ohio’s Cedar Point Amusement Park would contribute a few months later to one of the first great football upsets. When little-known Notre Dame upset national power Army 35-13 that November, it not only brought fame to the small Catholic school in the Midwest, but it also created great interest in the forward pass as more than just a gimmick.
He was born in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin to a French-Canadian father and an Irish mother. His given first name was Charles, but he never went by that name.
Although small at 5-7, 150, he starred as a triple- threat high school quarterback, and led Chippewa Falls to the state championship in 1909.
He had hopes of playing college ball at Minnesota, but wound up instead at Notre Dame. There, two games into his freshman season, the head coach set aside reservations about the quarterback’s overhand spiral throwing style and installed him as his starter. Good decision: in four years as Notre Dame’s starting quarterback, he didn’t lose a game.
For the record, in the now-famous win over Army, he completed 14 of 17 attempts for 243 yards and three touchdowns.
He was team captain his junior and senior years, and in 1913 became Notre Dame’s first consensus All-American.
After graduation from Notre Dame, he remained active in football for years as a coach and player. HIs first coaching job was at Loras College, a small Catholic school in Dubuque, Iowa, where he coached numerous sports and still managed to play professional football, still in its primitive early days, for teams in Massillon, Ohio and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In four years as a coach, his teams were 17-9-2.
He served in the Army during World War I, spending some of his time running and playing for a service team in Texas, and after the War he spent a year at Notre Dame as an assistant to his old roommate, Rockne, who was now the Irish head coach.
Then he was hired by Gonzaga, a Jesuit college in Spokane, as athletic director and head coach of football, basketball, baseball and track - for the princely sum of $4,000.
After five years in Spokane, he was hired at the University of Detroit, another Catholic school, where he would stay for 18 years.
From 1925 until 1942 - when Detroit dropped football for the duration of World War II - he compiled a record of 113-48-7. In those 18 seasons, he had just one losing season - his second.
In 1943, he was hired by the Detroit Lions as their head coach. In his five years there, the Lions went 20-31-2, and although he was fired, he was paid for the four years remaining on his contract, seemingly making him one of the first coaches to be paid a fairly generous severance package.
Then, along with his son, he ran an automobile dealership in Indiana.
To keep a hand in the game, he spent time as a scout for the AAFC, and in 1952 he came out of retirement for a year to assist John Bach, who had been hired by the Steelers as their head coach. His contribution was to help Bach convert the Steelers from the single wing attack they had been running for the previous six years to the T-formation which every other NFL team was by then running.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2024 “The bad news is they are insane; the good news is they are insane and impotent.”
Mark Steyn
********** VETERANS DAY: I think that one of the great formative influences in my life was when I first entered Germantown Academy as a 12-year-old seventh-grader, and from that point on, every single one of my teachers and coaches, all the way through to high school graduation, was a man. And, every bit as important, every single one was a veteran - most were veterans of the (fairly recent) Second World War, but some of the older ones were World War One vets.
For men like that, many of whom had seen action overseas (my Latin teacher, Mister Truesdale, had been gassed in World War I and my science teacher, Mister Schrepfer, had had much of his calf shot off in World War II), dealing with a wiseass punk like me was scarcely a challenge. They pretty much kept me in line.
I have few regrets in life, but one is that I never served in the military. I distinctly remember our headmaster, Doctor Day - himself a former paratrooper - telling me at least once that if you didn’t serve, “you weren’t part of your generation.”
That’s no longer so. But at one time, it was true, and America - and all of our institutions, certainly our politics - were better because it was.
The lessons they imparted have stayed with me all my life. Thank you, Veterans, for what you did for this one person.
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “At the time I was at Quantico, there was a major distraction back home in Michigan. Lightning hit our silo and started a fire that swept through the barn. Flames destroyed the farm equipment and all of the buildings except the house. Unable to farm, my father found a job with the Kalamazoo County road commission. With most of the younger men in the military, he was offered a job as a truck driver. My parents moved closer to Vicksburg, and my mother used her cooking skills to get a job at an elementary school lunch room. It was a far easier life than working the farm.
“Of the 226 would-be officers who were in my OCS class at Quantico, 182 were commissioned second lieutenant at a brief ceremony on May 3, 1944. When I was ordered to report for training with the amphibious tractor battalion on the beach at Oceanside, California, it was pretty clear this war was not going to be any picnic. Simply, our job was leading the invasion of enemy-held islands, of which there were many in the South Pacific theater.
“Our boats were called landing vehicle tractors; they were more like tanks that floated, and they were open on the top - at the same time, having the traction to move on land once they hit the beach. They were launched from larger ships offshore, and each carried about thirty Marines. The goal was to get on the beach, often under heavy fire, open the big ramp of the vehicle, and turn the Marines loose.
“A lot of people called the tractors seagoing tomato cans because they had a low profile in the water and little protection. The crew consisted of a boat driver, a gunner manning a 50-caliber machine gun on the top of the cab, and a lieutenant – that's me – in charge of several tractors. We made numerous practice runs in training on the California beaches. Later, back in our quarters, we speculated about our chances of surviving the action under fire.
*********** Aberdeen update: Last Thursday, two days after our season ended, we held our Last Practice.
A practice? After the season’s over? For what?
Last Practice is something that Head coach Todd Bridge and I started several years ago when we were coaching at North Beach High, in Ocean Shores, Washington. Our season had just ended, and several of the players gathered in Coach Bridge’s room at lunch on Monday and said they wished we could still have practice that afternoon. Done. Practice was on. Attendance was 100 per cent. We did a lot of fun things (everything’s more fun in the mud), and at the close, we gathered and expressed a lot of emotions. And then we ended with a “last tackle” (of a dummy) for all the seniors. Oh - and afterward we collected all the gear, so our “last practice” had its practical side as well.
At Aberdeen, our Thursday practice was attended by at least 90 per cent of our kids. (Most of those not in attendance were freshmen, whose season had ended Monday and who hadn’t dressed for Tuesday’s night’s game.)
We started out with Air Raid - a competition among our squadrons to catch balls shot high in the air by our Jugs machine (PHOTO), followed by our daily warmups, then by a 7-on-7 tournament among the squadrons, then by “senior speeches,” and finally by “last tackles.”
Yes, our season ended with a loss - but unless you’re a state champion, every halfway decent team winds up its season that way. We finished 4-6, and every team we lost to made the 32-team playoffs. But our season ended on a high note - with our kids already thinking about next season - because of our last practice.
*********** Columbia River, the team we lost to, 7-6 on Tuesday, lost its Saturday playoff game to Franklin Pierce, of Tacoma, 76-14. Franklin Pierce runs a full-house, double-tight offense.
ABERDEEN OPPONENTS WHO WON
Olympic 45, Washougal 6
Tumwater 70, Renton 8
W. F. West 56, Sequim 3
ABERDEEN OPPONENTS WHO LOST
Prosser 51, Steilacoom 35
Life Christian 36, Rochester 22
*********** COLLEGE GAME DAY HAD PAUL SKENES AND LIVVY DUNNE. FOR THE TIME BEING, I ANSWER WITH BRAD KNIGHT.
WE GO BACK A LONG WAY TOGETHER, TIED AT THE HIP BY THE DOUBLE WING.
BRAD’S HAD SUCCESSFUL COACHING STAYS AT GALVA-HOLSTEIN HIGH IN HOLSTEIN, IOWA AND AT CLARINDA ACADEMY, IN CLARINDA, IOWA, WHERE HE NOW LIVES.
IN RECENT YEARS, HE’S BEEN PARTLY SATISFYING HIS COACHING APPETITE COACHING SOFTBALL AT CLARINDA HIGH. HE IS, YOU MAY HAVE NOTICED, AN IOWA HAWKEYES’ FAN, AND NOT THE WORLD’S BIGGEST IOWA STATE CYCLONES FAN.
IN THIS WEEK’S RESULTS, I’VE INCLUDED OUR “PREDICTIONS,” BRAD’S FIRST AND THEN MINE.
FRIDAY
CAL 46, WAKE FOREST 36 – I'll take the Bears. ME: I’ll take the Deacons.
UCLA 20, IOWA 17 – I will take Iowa. Kaleb Johnson another 130 and 3 TD’s. ME: Of course I’ll take the Hawkeyes. But the Bruins are better, too.
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE 45, PURDUE 0 – The Buckeyes in a rout. ME: I’ll go out on a limb and say “Buckeyes," too.
GEORGIA TECH 28, MIAMI 23 – I'll take the U, maybe they are back? They certainly have found the right guy at QB. ME: This is my big upset pick of the day. Go Jackets! (GT rushed for 271 yards, Miami 88. In the immortal words of John Madden, “I know you think you can win by passing all the time… but you can’t.”)
TEXAS 49, FLORIDA 17 - I'll still take Texas by 10 ME: Make that Texas by 20
RUTGERS 26, MINNESOTA 19 – The Gophers as much as it pains me to pick them. ME: Gophers are hot. Scarlet Knights are not.
BOSTON COLLEGE 37, SYRACUSE 31 – Give me the fighting O'Briens of BC. ME: I was impressed by the Orange against VT last week. (‘Cuse is already bowl-eligible. BC is 5-4 with three tough games remaining: SMU, North Carolina, Pitt.)
WEST VIRGINIA 31, CINCINNATI 24 – Give me Cincy! ME: I’ll take the Mountaineers.
NAVY 28, SOUTH FLORIDA 7 – Navy...no way USF can stop the run game. ME: Navy will NOT lose three in a row.
OLE MISS 28, GEORGIA 10 –Give me UGA but close....less than 10. ME: I’m going to take the Rebels. (Can I still call them that?)
INDIANA 20, MICHIGAN 15 – The Hoosiers coached by Gene Hackman.. ME: Indiana has suffered for years at the hands of Michigan. It’s turnabout time.
KANSAS 45, IOWA STATE 36 – Give me the JAYHAWKS in an upset. ME: I think that Cyclones will snap back after last week’s loss. (Knighter HATES Iowa State.)
ARMY 14, NORTH TEXAS 3 – I think Army is better. ME: I’m going to guess that he (Daily) doesn’t play - that he’s kept out to ready for Notre Dame - and North Texas wins in an upset. (He played, and Army’s ball-control offense crushed a team that had been averaging 40+ points a game)
CLEMSON 24, VIRGINIA TECH 14 – I'll take Dabo to win. ME: Oh, yes, Clemson wins.
DUKE 29, NC STATE 19 – I'll take Duke. ME: I’ll take Duke, I think they’re the better team. (Manny Diaz has already matched Mike Elko’s 2023 regular-season win total. Devils are 7-3, with Virginia Tech and Wake Forest left to play. Elko’s Duke team finished 7-5, then won its bowl game to go 8-5.)
SAN JOSE STATE 24, OREGON STATE 13 – So give me the Beavers to win this one. ME: Go Beavs. But they HAVE lost four in a row. (Make that five in a row.)
COLORADO 41 TEXAS TECH 27 – Buffs win. ME: No way I can root for Colorado, and I will use they/them pronouns before I’l call that clown “Coach Prime.” (Looks like he can coach, but I still detest him.)
SOUTH CAROLINA 28, VANDERBILT 7 – I will take the Cocks to win, but Vandy to cover. ME: Vandy is going to win. Book it. And when they do, they’ll interview Diego Pavia after. Great interview. And he’ll be sure to give thanks to God for giving him the opportunity. Book it. (Maybe the thrill is done.)
OREGON 39, MARYLAND 18 – The Ducks. I won't pick anyone to beat them at home. ME: Welcome to Autzen, Terps. Place is a 60,000-seat sounding board that poses as a stadium. (Actually, I thought the Ducks sucked.)
TENNESSEE 33, MISSISSIPPI STATE 14 – Tennessee... they are better than the Bulldogs. ME: Vols are way too good for the Bulldogs.
ARIZONA STATE 35, UCF 31 – Give me Ariz. State. ME: I’ll take the Knights over the Sun Devils.
TCU 38, OKLAHOMA STATE 13 – Give me the Horned Frogs! ME: I’m betting on Gundy to stop the slide.
NOTRE DAME 52, FLORIDA STATE 3 – Notre Dame... ME: Florida State is Indiana in reverse. (Afterward, FSU Coach Mike Norvell fired his OC and DC - and his wide receivers’ coach. Question: how you gonna hire anybody good when you’re probably on the way out yourself?)
ALABAMA 42, LSU 13 – ROLL TIDE! ME: Tigers win this one. (This was Bama’s 12th win in its last 14 games against LSU. Can you imagine the rage in Tiger Stadium after a day of “preparation” and then having to watch this?)
MISSOURI 30, OKLAHOMA 23 – Mizzou, but close. ME: Missouri BIG. (The way OU lost at the end was an object lesson to QBs who simply refuse to do the old-fashioned thing and protect the ball.)
PENN STATE 35, WASHINGTON 6 – Penn State rebounds and beats Washington. ME: Huskies just aren’t good enough (This was 28-0 at the half. Now, if only some Russian could have hacked into James Franklin’s phone and informed him that Washington was ranked Number Four…)
BOISE STATE 28, NEVADA 21 – Boise State with my Heisman pick toting the rock. ME: Got to go along with that one. (Broncos had a lot of trouble with a team that has yet to win a Mountain West game. But still, Ashton Jeanty rushed 34 times for 209 yards and three TDs.)
VIRGINIA 24, PITT 19 – Pitt rebounds. ME: If it were anyone by UVa, I’d pick Pitt to lose its second in a row, but I don’t think the Cavaliers can do it. (Having lived through many seasons of Washington State “Cougin’ it,” I can’t believe Pittsburghers haven’t invented a similar verb for what the Panthers have been known to do.)
AIR FORCE 36, FRESNO STATE 28 – Air Force is just not good. ME: This is the worst Air Force team I have ever seen. (WRONG: The Falcons rushed for 344 yards to win their second game of the year. The ran 86 plays to Fresno’s 38, and controlled the clock for 45:08 to the Bulldogs’ 14:52.)
BYU 22, UTAH 21 – BYU but close... ME: I don’t think that the Utes have the offense to beat the Cougars. (Absolutely unbelievable ending - a fourth-down sack on the BYU one, nullified by a holding call, followed by a game-winning drive. Followed by some of the harshest criticisms of officials you’ll ever hear. Welcome to the Holy War.)
WASHINGTON STATE 49, UTAH STATE 28 – I'll take Coach Leach's former school, just because I miss his press conferences. ME: Go Cougs.
*********** More on Friday about the great John Robinson, who died today (Monday).
*********** NCAA 2024 College Football Playoff Projection: Week 12 Top 25
These predictions are as of Sunday, November 10.
1. Oregon (10-0) LW: 1 — As long as Oregon keeps winning, the Ducks will stay at the top.
2. Ohio State (8-1) LW: 2 — A shutout win should put to bed any argument over who should be No. 2 in the country.
3. Texas (8-1) LW: 5 — Expect Texas to move into the top three after Georgia and Miami lost.
4. Tennessee (8-1) LW: 7 — Tennessee's win over Alabama got more juice after the Tide beat LSU. That small boost will move Tennessee into the top four for the committee.
5. Penn State (8-1) LW: 6 — Penn State won its whiteout game against Washington and will move into the top five.
6. Indiana (10-0) LW: 8 — Is a win over Michigan enough to move Indiana into the top five? I don't think so, especially not in front of a Tennessee team with a win over Alabama.
7. BYU (9-0) LW: 9 — BYU won a nail-biter over Utah in the Holy War, but I don't think a close win will cause the committee to drop the Cougars below a two-loss team.
8. Alabama (7-2) LW: 11 — Alabama should be the No. 8 team in the country after dominating LSU in Death Valley. Until someone ahead of the Tide loses, I don't think the CFP committee can overlook their two losses.
9. Georgia (7-2) LW: 3 — Georgia was ranked above Miami last week, and it'll stay above the Hurricanes after losing to a ranked opponent. However, the Bulldogs will fall below Alabama because of head-to-head.
10. Miami (9-1) LW: 4 — Miami's loss to Georgia Tech on the road is better than Notre Dame's loss to Northern Illinois at home. Luckily for the Hurricanes, Notre Dame is a floor in these rankings.
11. Ole Miss (7-2) LW: 16 — Ole Miss will be the last at-large team in the bracket this week after handily beating Georgia. South Carolina should be ranked too, giving the Rebels another ranked win on its resume.
12. Notre Dame (8-1) LW: 10 — Notre Dame falls out of the playoff field as Alabama and Ole Miss move in front of it. With only one ranked opponent remaining on the schedule, the committee could send a message about Notre Dame's stability in the bracket this week.
13. Boise State (8-1) LW: 12 — Boise State will stay in the playoffs as the highest projected conference champion remaining, but it won't be one of the 12 best teams after a close win over Nevada.
14. SMU (8-1) LW: 13 — SMU won't move in front of any teams after a bye.
15. Texas A&M (7-2) LW: 14 — Texas A&M won't move in front of any teams after a bye.
16. Kansas State (7-2) LW: 19 — Kansas State had a bye and will move up after three teams ranked ahead of it lost.
17. Colorado (7-2) LW: 20 — Colorado controls its destiny and could make the CFP as a conference champion. However, its path to becoming a top-12 team has a roadblock with a head-to-head loss to Kansas State.
18. Washington State (8-1) LW: 21 — Washington State has a long road ahead to become one of the top-12 teams, but it should move up three spots this week.
19. Louisville (6-3) LW: 22 — Louisville stays above Clemson after the Cardinals had a bye.
20. Clemson (6-2) LW: 23 — Last week's ranking told us that the committee won't put Clemson in front of Louisville after a head-to-head defeat unless the Tigers get a ranked win.
21. Missouri (6-2) LW: 24 — Missouri's win over Oklahoma doesn't hold as much weight as it was thought in the preseason. The Tigers likely have to win an SEC title to make the playoffs based on the committee's first rankings.
22. Army (9-0) LW: 25 — Army's win over North Texas wasn't groundbreaking so the Black Knights won't enter the top 20 yet.
23. LSU (6-3) LW: 15 — Sometimes it's about how you lose just as much as it's about who you lose to. For LSU both will drop the Tigers to the bottom of the top 25. A blowout loss at home is never a good look.
24. South Carolina (6-3) LW: NR — South Carolina beat a good Vanderbilt team a week after beating a ranked Texas A&M team. The Gamecocks will be ranked by the committee this week after feeling snubbed last week.
25. Arizona State (7-2) LW: NR — I think the committee will give Arizona State the final spot in this week's rankings. The Sun Devils should get the spot over fellow Big 12 school Iowa State, even though the Cyclones were ranked last week. Arizona State has won two straight while Iowa State has lost two straight. An argument could be made to rank Tulane, but I don't see the committee ranking two teams from the American in their second rankings.
https://www.ncaa.com/news/football/article/2024-11-10/predicting-college-football-playoff-rankings-bracket-week-12
*********** IRVING, Texas (Oct. 23, 2024) – The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today the finalists for the 2024 William V. Campbell Trophy®, college football's premier scholar-athlete award that annually recognizes an individual as the absolute best in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance and exemplary leadership. The 16 finalists will each receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship as a member of the 2024 NFF National Scholar-Athlete Class Presented by Fidelity Investments®:
• Tahj Brooks, RB – Texas Tech (3.55 GPA – Sport Management)
• Robert Coury, LB – Carnegie Mellon [PA] (3.97 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
• Jaxson Dart, QB – Ole Miss (3.71 GPA – Business) TRANSFER FROM USC
• Beau Freyler, DB – Iowa State (3.91 GPA – Kinesiology)
• Dillon Gabriel, QB – Oregon (3.43 GPA – Multidisciplinary Studies) SIX YEAR STARTER - UCF, OKLAHOMA, OREGON
• Ashton Gillotte, DL – Louisville (3.69 GPA – Communications)
• Brody Grebe, DE – Montana State (3.93 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
• Mark Gronowski, QB – South Dakota State (3.76 GPA – Mechanical Engineering)
• Terrance Hollon, LB – Howard (3.90 GPA – Health Science)
• Jack Kiser, LB – Notre Dame (3.82 GPA – Business Analytics)
• Luke Lehnen, QB – North Central [IL] (3.76 GPA – Exercise Science)
• Brayden Long, QB – Slippery Rock [PA] (4.00 GPA – Sport Management)
• Jake Majors, C – Texas (3.65 GPA – Business Management)
• Seth McLaughlin, C – Ohio State (4.00 GPA – Finance) ALABAMA - FIRST YEAR AT OHIO STATE
• Jalen Milroe, QB – Alabama (3.52 GPA – Management)
• Jackson Woodard, LB – UNLV (3.77 GPA – Kinesiology) ARKANSAS FOR THREE SEASONS
With good reason, you call your award the Academic Heisman. But then you go and devalue it by including the poster child for everything bad that’s happening to college football.
Dillon Gabriel’s pursuit of a million-dollar payoff playing college football is perfectly legal, but come on, man - SIX F—KING YEARS OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL? “MULTIDISCIPLINARY STUDIES?”
And you’re putting him in with honest-to-God college students? Most of the rest are legitimate students pursuing authentic majors, and not something concocted to keep academically aimless jocks eligible. And for many of them, NIL means nothing more than an occasional free cheeseburger and fries at the local hangout.
MY APOLOGY (IN ADVANCE): If anyone was offended by my disparaging of the academic achievements of Dillon Gabriel, I humbly apologize. I had no way that he was hot on the trail of a cancer cure, and was seriously considering giving up football because of the time it requires - time he’d prefer to be spending in the Multidisciplinary Lab, studying ways to make petroleum from seawater, with fresh water as a byproduct.
*********** Miami Coach Mario Cristobal got my attention when he told the sideline bimbo before the start of the second quarter that Georgia Tech was “running that counter right up our nose.”
Raise your hand when you were surprised that he didn’t refer to an orifice somewhat lower on the body.
*********** The act of aiming at an opponent’s head remains the biggest threat to the life of our game, and the people entrusted with our game keep screwing around with all kinds of lawyerly defenses of the creeps that do it. It reminds me of the way our society prizes the criminal over the victim, and it really angers me to see a guy, once he has been “ejected,” standing on the sidelines accepting condolence (and sometimes congratulations) from teammates. It’s time to punish coaches whose players hit with the helmets because I have to be honest and say that I wouldn’t want a son or a grandson playing college football the way it’s currently being allowed to be played.
*********** The Army offense is the football equivalent of running the table in straight pool - rack after rack - while all your opponent can do is sit and watch. (Full disclosure: I have never run more than one rack.) Army put on a second-half drive against North Texas that went 94 yards and consumed almost 14 minutes (13:54 to be exact). Talk about methodical - Army ran 21 plays. There were just two plays of more than 10 yards. There was one pass. Along the way, Army made seven first downs (eight, if you include the TD). There was one penalty - a delay of game caused by taking a little more than the maximum anount of time between plays.
*********** Oh, and PAT SUMMERALL'S DAUGHTER IS THE FIRST FEMALE WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF IN HISTORY!
(But Trump's still a misogynist)
J. Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
It’s true- newly-appointed Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is the daughter of the legendary Pat Summerall.
“Donald Trump - You never see him around strong intelligent women.” Mark Cuban
I have maintained for years that the first female president will be a conservative - because fewer people will question her qualifications for the job. Affirmative action may have helped some in the short term but by calling into question their credentials (for good reason, in far too many cases) it has done great long-term harm to the very people it claims to help.
*********** Answer is Johnny Majors, who I reckon was the player I most often pretended to be while playing our backyard games in Big Stone Gap.
This guest picker thing is pretty cool. Coach/Corch Knight kept my attention. Both you and he were wrong on most of them, but I assume you were just trying to be funny.
Grady Judd is a local point of pride, and a worthy successor to Joe Arpaio as America's titular sheriff.
Slight correction: Joe Biden earned all of his 81+ million votes in 2020, not 2024.
FYKIGM. I love Grunt talk. There's a motto to live by. Lots of superior values imbedded therein.
My only election comment isn't actually political. It is that now that this one is over, the Dem party will reform itself to return to being a party that loves America. I pray for a strong loyal opposition driven by strong values.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Sorry to hear about the result of the play-in game. Nevertheless a strong ending to the season, and should be a solid springboard to next year.
Enjoyed Brad’s and your take on College Gameday predictions.
A few “unless” predictions:
Georgia Tech over Miami UNLESS GT QB Haynes King doesn’t see the field.
Minnesota over Rutgers UNLESS the Gophers forget to run the rock.
N Texas over Army UNLESS the Cadets decide QB Bryson Dailey needs to play.
LSU over Alabama UNLESS Nick Saban shows up on the Alabama sideline.
Cross Billy Napier’s name off the list of coaches on the hot seat. His seat will get hotter next year if the Gators aren’t in the running for a a playoff spot.
As a HC I NEVER coached “Hawk” tackling. I always taught Chin-up, Chest-up, Wrap and Run. My last 3 years coaching as an assistant we were required to teach the “Hawk” method. MY teams were always good tackling teams. As an assistant our teams were pathetic tacklers.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Johnny Majors was one of the last of the great major college single wing tailbacks.
The son of a high school football coach and the oldest of four brothers who all played football - one of them with the Cleveland Browns, he played high school ball for his dad at Huntland, Tennessee. In 1951 - his junior year - they won the state championship.
He was recruited to Tennessee by the legendary General Bob Neyland, famed for his single-wing attack, but he never got to play for the General. Playing under Bowden Wyatt, he was the SEC Player of the Year in both his junior and senior years. In his senior year, he led the Vols to a 10-1 season - and Number 2 national ranking - and was a unanimous All-American. But in possibly the greatest travesty in the history of the Heisman Trophy, he finished second in the balloting to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung. To this day, Hornung, whose Irish finished 2-8 on the season, remains the only Heisman winner from a losing team.
Because of Majors’ position in a then-outmoded offense, he was a poor fit in any pro football offense, and after a year in the CFL, he embarked on a coaching career.
After stops at Tennessee and Mississippi State and four years as an assistant under the great Frank Broyles at Arkansas, he was hired as head coach at Iowa State.
Iowa State was then perhaps the toughest assignment in all of major college football, and although it took him four years to turn in a winning record, when he did so, his Cyclones’ 8 wins were the most in the school’s history. Their bowl appearance (in the Sun Bowl against LSU) was the school’s first ever, and for his efforts, he was named Big Eight Coach of the Year.
After five years at Iowa State, he was hired by Pitt as their head coach, and there he built well: with three-time All-American Tony Dorsett as his main running back, in four years at Pitt he built a national champion. The Panthers won the national title in 1976, and earned him National Coach of the Year honors.
They also got him the head coaching job at his alma mater, Tennessee. It took him four years to get the Vols to a bowl game, but they would play in one in 11 of the next 13 years. He was 7-4 in bowl games.
In 16 years at Tennessee, had six seasons of 9 or more wins, and six nationally-ranked teams, two of them in the top five.
Three of his teams won SEC titles, and in 1985, after his Vols won the SEC title and finished fourth nationally, he was named SEC Coach of the Year.
In 1992, his sixteenth season as Tennessee’s head coach, he had to undergo heart surgery, and while he recovered, his assistant, Philip Fulmer, covered for him as interim head coach. Shortly after his return, he was “asked to resign,” and was succeeded by Fulmer. To this day, the story behind his removal remains open and a matter of great interest and controversy among longtime Volunteers’ fans.
He was immediately snapped up by Pitt, in hopes of a redo of his earlier success there, but it was not to be. In four seasons, his record was 12-32, and that was the end of his long, storied coaching career.
His overall record - Iowa State, Pitt (twice) and Tennessee - was 185-137-10. At Tennessee, it was 116-62-8.
Johnny Majors has a very impressive coaching tree: 25 of his assistant coaches went on to become college or professional head coaches themselves.
Among them:
Dom Capers: Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans
Curt Cignetti: IUP, Elon, James Madison, Indiana
David Cutcliffe: Ole Miss, Duke
Phillip Fulmer: Tennessee
Jon Gruden: Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders
Jimmy Johnson: Oklahoma State, Miami (FL), Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins
Jackie Sherrill: Washington State, Pitt, Texas A&M, Mississippi State
Dave Wannstedt: Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, Pitt
Ron Zook: Florida, Illinois
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOHNNY MAJORS
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN IRION - ARGYLE, NEW YORK
TOM DAVIS - SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** QUIZ: He went to high school in Saratoga, California, and at Washington State he became - and remains - one of the greatest receivers in school history.
Nicknamed “The Phantom of the Palouse,” in his three-year career (1959-1961), when people weren’t throwing the ball the way they do today, he set a school single-game record for receptions (11), school single-season records for receptions (67) and touchdowns receiving (10), and school career records for receptions (177), yards (2,459) and touchdowns (22).
He was named All-Pacific Coast Conference all three years of his eligibility, and was second team all-American his senior year.
He was awarded the W.J. Voit Trophy, given (from 1951 to 1978) to the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast.
Following his senior year, he played in the Hula Bowl, the College All-Star Game, the Coaches All-American Game, and the East-West Shrine Game. He was named the MVP in both the Coaches All-American and the East-West Shrine Games.
Drafted in the fourth round - 50th player taken - by the 49ers, he chose instead to play in Canada for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He played five seasons with the Riders, then retired to take a job as an assistant at Washington State under Jim Sweeney, but came out of retirement after one year to play one final season in Saskatchewan.
In his six seasons, he caught 321 passes for 5,425 yards and 60 touchdowns. He played on one Grey Cup Championship team. He won Western Conference All-Star honors (oops - “honours”) four times, and was twice named a CFL All-Star.
After retirement as a player, he was hired as head coach at D-III Whitworth College, in Spokane, Washington. After seven years there, during which he was twice named conference Coach of the Year, in 1977 he became head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos.
He took the Eskimos to the Grey Cup game in Montreal in his first year but lost 41–6 to the Montreal Alouettes. It was the only Grey Cup game he would ever lose, as his Eskimos won the next five Grey Cup games.
After the 1982 season, he left the CFL to become head coach of the USFL's Los Angeles Express, and after one season, he was hired by the Houston Oilers, who hoped that his hiring would help them land Warren Moon, then a free agent, who had played for him in Edmonton.
The Oilers then signed Moon, and our guy did last as head coach of the Oilers for two games shy of two seasons before being fired.
He almost immediately returned to the Edmonton as general manager, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 2006.
As player, head coach or general manager, he was a member of 10 Grey Cup championship teams.
His son is currently head coach of the CFL BC Lions.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2024 “It is much more important to kill bad bills than to pass good ones.” Calvin Coolidge
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “Every recruit was issued a bucket. It was your stool to sit on. It was where you washed your clothes. You used it when scrubbing the Quonset hut floors with brick and sand. I remember how we were warned to be ready to protect our bucket from someone who had lost his. I remember the old Marine response when somebody asked ‘Where's my bucket?’ The response was ‘Bleep you Jack, I got mine.’ Most guys would shorten the answer to six letters, ‘FYJIGM.’
“To toughen us up they marched us through swamps and made us run for miles at a time. If we slowed down they'd make us drop and do push-ups. There were constant rifle inspections. You had to field strip your rifle and clean it, and it was never clean enough for the DI (Drill Instructor). It was commonplace for a lieutenant walking down the line to grab your rifle, pull it up, and say, "What's that?” and you said, “Sir, that's a front sight,” and he said, ‘That's dust.’
“The next three months at Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, got considerably harder. The program was heavy on academic work, heavy on physical work, and heavy on field training. It was light on sleep. But the last thing you wanted to happen was to stumble on this final step to becoming an officer and be shipped immediately to a replacement unit in the Pacific as a private. During OCS and so many other times during my Marine career I reflect on how fortunate I was to have played football. I’d think, this is tough but it's not any tougher than two-a-day practices in the early fall when it's hot and humid. If I could handle that I can handle this. I was confident the training received at Quantico had absolutely prepared me – mentally, physically, and strategically – to be a Marine Corps leader. I was ready to go to war.
“I felt that I was ready to live up to Grandpa Chris Lude's pep talk about ending up as a general.”
*********** Aberdeen update: Our season’s over. We lost, 7-6, on Tuesday night to Columbia River High of Vancouver.
A “play-in,” it was a “half-game” - two 12-minute halves.
We won the toss and chose to defer. After stopping them on their first drive, we then put on a 62-yard drive to score with 1:59 remaining in the “half.” The drive ate up 8:26.
We missed the extra point, and after stopping them and getting the ball back with a minute or so left, we perhaps got a bit too conservative - a decision I happened to agree with. Knowing that we’d get the ball to start the second half, we chose to protect the ball and go in with a 6-0 lead.
We started the second half deep in our territory and were forced to punt. River started at midfield, where we forced them into a fourth-and-four, but they completed a 32-yard pass for a first down, and then, faced with another fourth-and-four, they completed a touchdown pass into the right corner of the end zone. The extra point made it 7-6.
We took the kick and drove 55 yards to their 15 where, on fourth and four, a high snap ended our drive and, basically, our chances.
I personally think that we were the better team, and that we’d have won in a full-fledged game, but the score remains the same - 7-6 - and River moves on.
We began the season 0-3, with a combined score of 71-13 against us. From there, we went 4-2, and the two losses came against teams ranked in the state’s top five. I could see us getting better every week, and the kids’ attitude and effort in practice indicated that they were seeing it, too.
In a nation whose young people are turning out soft because they’ve been shielded from hardship and protected from failure, our kids got a big dose of both. But I know that the pain they felt from the loss of a game and the end of season won’t scar them for life and will in fact help make them tougher. I think very highly of them, and I’m confident they won’t be pointing fingers of blame at each other, and instead will stay close in support of one another, with a resolve to work at getting better yet.
We started one senior on offense - at guard - and one on defense - at DB - so we’re returning almost our starting entire team. This is a tough bunch of kids. They work hard and they like each other, and knowing the kind of improvement that kids make from junior to senior year, I’d have to say that there’s real potential for Aberdeen to be a very good team next year.
That's our senior guard, Andres Arias, on the left with me and my wife. He was a stalwart on the line, and a real team leader. A class kid in every way.
*********** I'm a dog guy. If you are, too, you'll understand the pain that Kirk Herbstreit has to be feeling with the loss of his beloved dog, Ben. My sympathy to him. Dogs are one of God's greatest gifts to us.
*********** IN MY BEST IMITATION OF COLLEGE GAME DAY, I FOUND MYSELF A GUEST PICKER. HIS NAME IS BRAD KNIGHT AND HE LIVES IN THE DELIGHTFUL SOUTHWEST IOWA TOWN OF CLARINDA. CLARINDA’S PRETTY FAR FROM A MAJOR AIRPORT, AND I CAN’T AFFORD (YET) TO FLY HIM IN ON A PRIVATE JET, SO I SIMPLY EMAIL HIM A LIST OF GAMES AND TAKE THE RISK THAT WHAT HE EMAILS BACK TO ME WON’T OFFEND LARGE NUMBERS OF MY READERS. (ACTUALLY, IF IT DOES, TOUGH TIDDY, AS THEY USED TO SAY.)
HIS DISCLAIMER: “Bet away....if you win send me checks. If you lose it's not MY fault.”
My slight correction: send checks to ME!
FRIDAY
CAL AT WAKE FOREST – will far left Bears be hungover or hungry from the Election Day Massacre? Football players don't care about elections. I'll take the Bears. ME: I’ll take the Deacons.
IOWA AT UCLA – Iowa with Sullivan at QB and the stable of RB's. And an improving defense week after week. The Hawks have hit their stride. I will take Iowa. Kaleb Johnson another 130 and 3 TD’s. ME: Of course I’ll take the Hawkeyes. But the Bruins are better, too. They took it to Nebraska last week.
SATURDAY
PURDUE AT OHIO STATE – The Buckeyes in a rout. ME: I’ll go out on a limb and say “Buckeyes," too.
MIAMI AT GEORGIA TECH – I'll take the U, maybe they are back? They certainly have found the right guy at QB. ME: This is my big upset pick of the day. Go Jackets!
FLORIDA AT TEXAS - Texas is just too good for Florida. Florida did show a little fight last week. Maybe closer than we all think, but I'll still take Texas by 10 ME: Make that Texas by 20.
MINNESOTA AT RUTGERS – The Gophers as much as it pains me to pick them. Hawkeye blood runs deep, and it still wasn't a fair catch. ME: Gophers are hot. Scarlet Knights are not.
SYRACUSE AT BOSTON COLLEGE – Which Syracuse shows up? Give me the fighting O'Briens of BC. ME: I was impressed by the Orange against VT last week.
WEST VIRGINIA AT CINCINNATI – Another head scratcher for me. West Virginia has looked both good and bad, Cincy has looked good and bad. Think WV would love to have Dana H back at the helm. Give me Cincy! ME: I’ll take the Mountaineers.
NAVY AT SOUTH FLORIDA – Navy...no way USF can stop the run game. Can Navy keep USF in check by bleeding the clock is the question. Navy but closer than expected. ME: Navy will NOT lose three in a row.
GEORGIA AT OLE MISS – This might be a fun one. UGA seems to have found a little defense. But UGA also seems to love making the game harder by turning the ball over. Give me UGA but close....less than 10. ME: I’m going to take the Rebels. (Can I still call them that?)
MICHIGAN AT INDIANA – The Hoosiers coached by Gene Hackman. Get the ball to Jimmy! Indiana has been the surprise of the season in my book. ME: Indiana has suffered for years at the hands of Michigan. It’s turnabout time.
IOWA STATE AT KANSAS – Torn here. Really torn. Kansas is the best 2 win team in the country. I think ISU was exposed a little last week. Perhaps it was weather related. Give me the JAYHAWKS in an upset. ME: I think that Cyclones will snap back after last week’s loss. (Knighter HATES Iowa State.)
ARMY AT NORTH TEXAS – could be a decent game. I think Army is better. But can they contain NT? I believe they can, and I do not believe in a week NT can be ready to defend option football. ME: Since whether Army plays option football depends on whether Bryson Daily plays, I’m going to guess that he doesn’t play - that he’s kept out to ready for Notre Dame - and North Texas wins in an upset,
CLEMSON AT VIRGINIA TECH – Clemson will rebound possibly. Not real confident in picking them, but Va Tech has struggled to be consistent this year. So I'll take Dabo to win. ME: Oh, yes, Clemson wins. Tigers still have a shot - but not a good one - at a spot in the ACC title game.
DUKE AT NC STATE – Another game that could be very good. I'll take Duke. ME: I’ll take Duke, I think they’re the better team.
SAN JOSE STATE AT OREGON STATE – Picking this one blindly. Hate what the PAC12 did to the Beavers. So give me the Beavers to win this one. ME: Go Beavs. But they HAVE lost four in a row,
COLORADO AT TEXAS TECH – Has "Prime" become "Coach Sanders"? Too early to tell. But TT will be hungover from celebrating their win in Ames. Buffs win. Hunter and Sanders are a great WR/QB combo, and Hunter is a very very good defender. Heisman worthy? Not the "top" in my book, but it is close. There is a back in Idaho I like better (and a back at Iowa I like better also). ME: No way I can root for Colorado, and I will use they/them pronouns before I’l call that clown “Coach Prime.”
SOUTH CAROLINA AT VANDERBILT – I will take the Cocks to win, but Vandy to cover. ME: Vandy is going to win. Book it. And when they do, they’ll interview Diego Pavia after. Great interview. And he’ll be sure to give thanks to God for giving him the opportunity. Book it.
MARYLAND AT OREGON – The Ducks. I won't pick anyone to beat them at home. ME: Welcome to Autzen, Terps. Place is a 60,000-seat sounding board that poses as a stadium.
MISSISSIPPI STATE AT TENNESSEE – Tennessee...has some issues to straighten out, but they are better than the Bulldogs. ME: Vols are way too good for the Bulldogs.
UCF AT ARIZONA STATE – Give me Ariz. State. UCF has a shot...but not sure they will capitalize on it. ME: After UCF’s performance last week, I’ll take the Knights over the Sun Devils.
OKLAHOMA STATE AT TCU – WOW. Who would have thought this. "I'm a man, I'm 40 " is going to lose to TCU who seems to have figured out their issues. Give me the Horned Frogs! ME: With his back against the wall, I’m betting on Gundy to stop the slide.
FLORIDA STATE AT NOTRE DAME – Notre Dame...Free Shoes Univ is still a train wreck waiting to happen. ME: Florida State is Indiana in reverse.
ALABAMA AT LSU – This will and should be a great game. Has Bama figured out their issues? Is Brian Kelly an as$hole? Yes to both. ROLL TIDE! ME: The answer is “NO” to both questions. Tigers win this one.
OKLAHOMA AT MISSOURI – Mizzou, but close. ME: Missouri BIG.
WASHINGTON AT PENN STATE – Penn State rebounds and beats Washington. ME: Huskies just aren’t good enough, and James Franklin’s problem isn’t beating teams ranked lower than his; it’s beating teams ranked higher.
NEVADA AT BOISE STATE– Boise State with my Heisman pick toting the rock. ME: Got to go along with that one.
VIRGINIA AT PITT– Pitt rebounds. Picked Pitt last week and lost but I believe they are a high quality football team. ME: If it were anyone by UVa, I’d pick Pitt to lose its second in a row, but I don’t think the Cavaliers can do it.
FRESNO STATE AT AIR FORCE – Give me the blue collar fellas of Fresno State. Air Force is just not good. ME: Agreed. This is the worst Air Force team I have ever seen.
BYU AT UTAH – BYU but close...Utah being a rival and all. Can BYU hold up to the physicality Utah brings? ME: HUGE rivalry. Not many people outside the state of Utah understand the depth of the feelings between the two fan bases. I don’t think that the Utes have the offense to beat the Cougars.
UTAH STATE AT WASHINGTON STATE – I'll take Coach Leach's former school, just because I miss his press conferences. ME: Go Cougs. Now then, speaking of a former WSU coach - can the Couags manage to keep Jake Dickert from becoming a former WSU coach, too?
*********** Hey, ALL YOU fans of a super conference! You’ve GOT to love the Playoff rankings! And I imagine those folks at Big Ten and SEC headquarters are happy as pigs in sh— with the 12-team Playoff format, seeing as how it’s enabled them to take up eight of the twelve spots. Oh - and in case any of the current 12 should fall out of the rankings, three of the next four up - Texas A & M, LSU and Ole Miss - are SEC teams. Now aren’t you happy they expanded the Playoff? Hasn’t that made the regular season much more interesting? Me? I can’t wait to find out which four SEC teams get spots, and which Big ten teams do.
(Actually, Give me the old AP poll and the bowl system - bowls the way they used to be, that is, instead of what they are now - showcases for the f—king playoff. And let us bitch and moan for the entire offseason about how our team got screwed by the AP voters.)
College Football Playoff Rankings, Nov. 5
1. Oregon (9-0) | Projected No. 1 seed
2. Ohio State (7-1) | Projected No. 5 seed
3. Georgia (7-1) | Projected No. 2 seed
4. Miami (FL) (9-0) | Projected No. 3 seed
5. Texas (7-1) | Projected No. 6 seed
6. Penn State (7-1) | Projected No. 7 seed
7. Tennessee (7-1) | Projected No. 8 seed
8. Indiana (9-0) | Projected No. 9 seed
9. BYU (8-0) | Projected No. 4 seed
10. Notre Dame (7-1) | Projected No. 10 seed
11. Alabama (6-2) | Projected No. 11 seed
12. Boise State (7-1) | Projected No. 12 seed
13. SMU (8-1)
14. Texas A&M (7-2)
15. LSU (6-2)
16. Ole Miss (7-2)
17. Iowa State (7-1)
18. Pittsburgh (7-1)
19. Kansas State (7-2)
20. Colorado (6-2)
21. Washington State (7-1)
22. Louisville (6-3)
23. Clemson (6-2)
24. Missouri (6-2)
25. Army (8-0)
*********** Ever notice how often people do or say something that makes us go, “Yeah! Right!” and then a day or two later, they meekly apologize?
Sure enough, just days after smashing some a$$hole’s phone when the guy insulted his brother, Travis Kelce has gone and apologized. No doubt his agent told him to do it for the sake of his “brand.”
Makes you wonder - what’s the point of working your ass off to get your “f—k-you money” if, once you’ve finally got it, you won’t go ahead and say "F---k You!" to people who need to hear it?
*********** You’d have to have some experience with Portland, Oregon (Motto: “Keep Portland Weird”) to truly appreciate this “Judgmental Map,” but to someone who’s lived in the area for going on 50 years, I’d say it’s pretty spot-on.
*********** This is about as far as I intend to go politically - unless provoked - but I just can’t ignore the absolute statistical impossibility of Joe Biden’s getting 81 million votes in 2020 without even campaigning, so I had to pass along this unattributed bit of online humor:
Christian leaders have called an emergency meeting to discuss the possibility that the Rapture may have begun to occur after 15 million Democrat voters disappeared overnight without a trace.
*********** Grady Judd, sheriff of Polk County, Florida, is unapologetically tough on crime and criminals, and he’s always ready with a quip on the subject of lawbreakers’ intelligence (or, usually, the lack thereof). This makes him a hero to law enforcement officers around the country, especially those hampered as they are in their duties by reimagining-the-police politicians. He’s beloved by the citizens of Polk County, who just reeelected him by almost 84 per cent of the vote. It’s a wonder that anyone even bothers to oppose him, but I suppose there’s always someone with an axe to grind…
From the Lakeland Ledger…
Grady Judd easily won a sixth four-year term as Polk County sheriff on Tuesday.
Judd took nearly 84% of the vote vs. 16% for Theodore Murray with 166 of 172 precincts reporting.
Murray, 46, filed to run in May against one of the country's most popular personalities in law enforcement, citing issues with the Sheriff's Office and a run-in he had with a department in Franklin County. Murray claimed the Polk agency failed to investigate his allegations that associates forged deeds to take ownership of his properties in Frostproof and in Gulf County in 2022.
He also said he was mistreated by the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in an episode that led to his commitment to a psychiatric facility, then convicted of reckless driving and resisting arrest.
(Oh, and there’s also this - talk about burying the lede) Murray had also been convicted of misdemeanor voyeurism in 2003, according to court records.
*********** If you’re one of those that fell for the “Hawk Tackling” crap that Seahawks’ former coach Pete Carroll tried so hard to foist on gullible high school and youth coaches, you’ll remember that a major part of the selling point was that it had been “proven effective” in rugby.
Maybe it would help if you understand that rugby doesn’t make the demands on the tackler that football does. In rugby, all that matters is that the runner is brought down. That’s it. The tackler gets off him, he releases the ball, and play goes on. It doesn’t matter much where he goes down or where the ball is spotted, because there’s no such thing as “downs,” so there’s no such thing as a “first down.” Which means there’s no concern about yards (or meters) to gain.
Also - and probably more significant in dictating the way they tackle in rugby - it’s illegal in rugby for any part of the tackler to make contact with the runner ABOVE THE BASE OF THE STERNUM.
According to the rules of rugby, the tackling shown below is NOT legal.
But it is the very sort of tackling that I’ve taught since the early 1980s.
In fact, the photos are from an article in a 1976 edition of Scholastic Coach Magazine, once THE publication that all football coaches relied on. It was written by a coach in New York State named Brent Steuerwald, and it started me on a path to researching and developing the tackling method that I still teach today. It starts with a good football position, as shown at left, then progresses through an upward strike - our chest against the runner’s chest - as we “lock him up,” jerk the hips and strive to lift him off his feet. Then - still locked up - we keep our feet driving. We stay on our feet and don’t go down unless the runner is underneath us! (Please don’t write and attempt to argue, because I won’t respond. To use a phrase made famous during the Great Pandemic - The Science is Settled.)
Go ahead if you wish and keep teaching Hawk Tackling. Don’t let me stop you. They tell me it’s safer, but I have yet to see the proof of that. One thing I do know - I can see it with my own eyes, and if you watch much football you see it, too - is that it isn’t worth a damn at stopping runners.
*********** I knew and respected Don Bosseler because (1) his older brother, George, was the captain of the Penn football team (at a time when that was a very big deal in Philly); (2) As Miami’s fullback, he was a very important cog in their belly-T offense; (3) At a time when the Washington Redskins sucked - really sucked - he was just about the only thing Redskins’ fans could count on offensively. Consider this: In his eight years as their fullback, they won just 28 games. So I was saddened to learn of his passing.
From the National Football Federation…
Don "Bull" Bosseler, a 1990 College Football Hall of Fame inductee who was a four-year starter at fullback for the Miami Hurricianes from 1953-56, passed away Nov. 6. He was 88.
"Don Bosseler's talents helped the Miami football program achieve national prominence in the 1950s," said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. " An All-American, he epitomized toughness, earning the nickname 'Bull,' and you can still find his name in the records books at the "U" nearly 70 years later. We are deeply saddened to learn of his passing, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."
Playing for College Football Hall of Fame coach Andy Gustafson, Bosseler gained 1,642 yards rushing in his UM career, which at the time ranked second all-time in school history and places him 21st in UM annals today. He led the team in rushing both in 1956 with 723 yards (4.5-yard average) and in 1955 with 435 yards (4.2-yard average).
In his senior year, 1956, he helped the team to an 8-1-1 record, was named All-America by the Associated Press, and was MVP in the Senior Bowl. Miami placed sixth nationally, its highest ranking until the 1983 national championship season. Bosseler was not only an All-American, but he was the team captain, voted the outstanding player in Florida, the Senior Bowl MVP and picked for the College All-Star game.
Washington drafted him in the first round in 1957, ninth overall. A 1959 Pro Bowl selection, Bosseler played all eight seasons of his professional career with the Redskins, rushing for 3,112 yards and scoring 22 touchdowns from 1957-1964. After his football days, he joined Prudential Bache in Miami and became a vice-president.
Born, Jan. 24, 1936, in Weatherfield, New York, Bosseler played at Batavia High School before being recruited to Miami by Gustafson. Bosseler was inducted into the UM Sports Hall of Fame in 1970, the College Football Hall of Fame in 1990 and the UM Ring of Honor in 1999.
*********** Our season is over here. We lost our playoff game to the Provincial powerhouse St. Pauls, 33-3. The game was much closer, but when you play teams that are just plain faster than you, you find yourself forcing things. Eventually, forcing causes mistakes. We had two pick-sixes and a punt returned for a TD.
That being said we still won our conference and went 5-3 with the closest competition having a student body twice our size. Following the game a parent offered condolences on how the season ended. I was reminded of something that you wrote after an early season at North Beach. I told the dad, no need to feel sorry for me. We had a great season working with good kids. A coach can't ask for much more than that.
5-3 is not bad for a team with two guards both under 180 pounds.:)
Hope to be back to the zoom this week.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Tom, You’re right - no need for condolences.
Every season is a great season and some are better than others - and as long as that’s your attitude, you’ll never suffer burnout.
To me your season was great. My mission is to treat kids right, to hold them to high standards, to teach them more football than they ever imagined possible and to give them an experience they’ll treasure. By that measure, it seems to me you delivered.
*********** That first touchdown (Aberdeen against Tenino) was a 58-yard run, Coach! (not a 57-yarder. No need to be too modest, now...)
Loved the Ben Carson quote - he's one of my heroes.
John Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
Thanks, John!
I will pass that along to Micah Schroeder (good kid) and he’ll appreciate it!
Dr. Carson is a national treasure!
*********** Hugh
Congratulations on your win against Tenino.
I enjoyed watching it.
The opening was beautiful. Very nice run.
I was glad to see that the officials finally gave you the ball on that take away late in the first quarter. The ball carrier was clearly not down and your player took it away from him.
In Kentucky they would have called it an inadvertent whistle and Tenino would have kept the ball.
I think that your kid would have scored had the official not blown the whistle.
It was also a good thing that it happened on your side of the field.
I am sure that coach Bridge and his staff were telling the officials that the runner was not down.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** Today you begin with words from Thomas Jefferson. C'mon, Coach, quote someone reasonably bright. By the way, I believe today we could update his words by saying not just newspaper readers, but news consumers from at least 90% of sources anywhere.
Congratulations on the Bobcats win, and for what remains of your season.
Thanks for the Biff Poggi story. I've seen him on the sidelines with Charlotte maybe three times, and wondered how he got away with that strange attire. Now I get it. Remember another man whose story in one respect (the F.U. Money) mirrored Poggi's? Joe Moglia, the coach who set Coastal Carolina up for the move to FBS.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
Joe Moglia’s is a very interesting story. He paid his dues as an assistant coach in college, then left coaching to enter business, where he became so successful that when he found he still had the urge to coach, he could afford by then to do so.
*********** Hugh,
Congrats to Coach Mike Foristiere at Marsing HS ID, and to Coach Scott Mallien at Southern Door HS WI on putting together outstanding seasons! Both quality coaches and even better men.
As much as I think Jeanty is the best RB in the country, (and his original name may be of Italian origin), Travis Hunter is the epitome of what the Heisman Trophy was originally intended.
The Gophers pulled out a big win over Illinois! Ski-U-Mah!
Hawaii pulled off a late comeback to upset Fresno State, which doesn’t help interim HC Tim Skipper.
Notre Dame didn’t win, or lose, but still fell a couple of places in the AP poll. Go figure.
I expect Oregon, Ohio State, Miami, and Georgia to get the byes in the first CFP rankings. Followed by Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, BYU, Penn State, Notre Dame, SMU, Alabama, Boise State, and not necessarily in that order.
Have a great week, and Good Luck tonight!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: A native Tennessean, Roy Kramer graduated from Maryville College in his home town, then coached high school football in Michigan for 12 years - 11 of them as a head coach.
In one three-year span, he coached three different teams to unbeaten seasons. He spent five seasons as head coach at East Lansing High School, his last in 1964 when he was named Michigan Class A Coach of the Year after East Lansing finished 8-0 and ranked Number 1 in the final Associated Press state poll.
That got him an assistant’s job at Central Michigan, and in two years he became the Chippewas’ head coach.
He stayed at Central Michigan for eleven seasons, compiling a record of 83-32-2. In 1974, his Chippewas went 12-1 and won the NCAA Division II National Championship and he was named Coach of the Year.
As head coach, he played a major role in Central Michigan’s 1975 move to Division I.
In 1978, he returned to his home state of Tennessee as Vanderbilt’s Director of Athletics. There, he was responsible for the renovation of the McGugin Center, but also the construction of Vanderbilt Stadium.
In January 1990, he left Vanderbilt to become Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. In his first year as commissioner, South Carolina and Arkansas were addd to the conference. He led the conference in moving to divisional play and in playing the first major college conference football championship game.
During his time as its commissioner, the SEC won 81 national championships. He negotiated multi-sport national TV packages with CBS and ESPN, and oversaw the distribution of then-record sums of revenue to conference members.
In 1998, Roy Kramer was presented the Distinguished American Award by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
In his induction speech at the College Football Hall of Fame, he spoke of the importance of maintaining football at its grass roots:
"It's great to be at a huge stadium on a Saturday afternoon with 80,000 or 100,000 people, but we also have to realize that on that same Saturday afternoon, that same great game is being played on hundreds of campuses across the country, not in front of 80,000 people but in front of two or three thousand people and the young men playing that game have the same experience as the young men playing it at the very high level that we talk about so much."
And he praised football for the way it brings young men together with a common purpose…
"A Polish left guard and a farmer from Iowa open a hole for an African-American running back to score a touchdown," he said. "That's what life should be, that's what life should be in this country, and football sets that aside better than any other experience that I know of. And somehow, we need to be able to preserve that, not only at the big-time level, but at the high school and college level across the board.
"To be able to maintain the values, the traditions, the learning experience. There's no greater classroom … on any campus anywhere, in high school or college, than what we teach in football."
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING ROY KRAMER
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORDO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** If you don’t have Roy Kramer’s book on the I-formation and you want to learn the ins and outs of the offense - get it.
If you don’t have it and you’re a collector (or an aspiring one) - get it.
It’s the best.
*********** QUIZ: He was one of the last of the great major college single wing tailbacks.
The son of a high school football coach and the oldest of four brothers who all played football - one of them with the Cleveland Browns, he played high school ball for his dad at Huntland, Tennessee. In 1951 - his junior year - they won the state championship.
He was recruited to Tennessee by the legendary General Bob Neyland, famed for his single-wing attack, but he never got to play for the General. Playing under Bowden Wyatt, he was the SEC Player of the Year in both his junior and senior years. In his senior year, he led the Vols to a 10-1 season - and Number 2 national ranking - and was a unanimous All-American. But in possibly the greatest travesty in the history of the Heisman Trophy, he finished second in the balloting to Notre Dame’s Paul Hornung. To this day, Hornung, whose Irish finished 2-8 on the season, remains the only Heisman winner from a losing team.
Because of his position in a then-outmoded offense, he was a poor fit in any pro football offense, and after a year in the CFL, he embarked on a coaching career.
After stops at Tennessee and Mississippi State and four years as an assistant under the great Frank Broyles at Arkansas, he was hired as head coach at Iowa State.
Iowa State was then perhaps the toughest assignment in all of major college football, and although it took him four years to turn in a winning record, when he did so, his Cyclones’ 8 wins were the most in the school’s history. Their bowl appearance (in the Sun Bowl against LSU) was the school’s first ever, and for his efforts, he was named Big Eight Coach of the Year.
After five years at Iowa State, he was hired by Pitt as their head coach, and there he built well: with three-time All-American Tony Dorsett as his main running back, in four years at Pitt he built a national champion. The Panthers won the national title in 1976, and earned him National Coach of the Year honors.
They also got him the head coaching job at his alma mater, Tennessee. It took him four years to get the Vols to a bowl game, but they would play in one in 11 of the next 13 years. He was 7-4 in bowl games.
In 16 years at Tennessee, had six seasons of 9 or more wins, and six nationally-ranked teams, two of them in the top five.
Three of his teams won SEC titles, and in 1985, after his Vols won the SEC title and finished fourth nationally, he was named SEC Coach of the Year.
In 1992, his sixteenth season as Tennessee’s head coach, he had to undergo heart surgery, and while he recovered, his assistant, Philip Fulmer, covered for him as interim head coach. Shortly after his return, he was “asked to resign,” and was succeeded by Fulmer. To this day, the story behind his removal remains open and a matter of great interest and controversy among longtime Volunteers’ fans.
He was immediately snapped up by Pitt, in hopes of a redo of his earlier success there, but it was not to be. In four seasons, his record was 12-32, and that was the end of his long, storied coaching career.
His overall record - Iowa State, Pitt (twice) and Tennessee - was 185-137-10. At Tennessee, it was 116-62-8.
He has a very impressive coaching tree: 25 of his assistant coaches went on to become college or professional head coaches themselves.
Among them:
Dom Capers: Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans
Curt Cignetti: IUP, Elon, James Madison, Indiana
David Cutcliffe: Ole Miss, Duke
Phillip Fulmer: Tennessee
Jon Gruden: Oakland Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Oakland Raiders
Jimmy Johnson: Oklahoma State, Miami (FL), Dallas Cowboys, Miami Dolphins
Jackie Sherrill: Washington State, Pitt, Texas A&M, Mississippi State
Dave Wannstedt: Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, Pitt
Ron Zook: Florida, Illinois
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2024 “The man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them, inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors." Thomas Jefferson
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “The next step was Boot Camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, my real introduction to the Marine Corps. The only way to reach the island was aboard a barge that reminded me of a garbage scow. In fact, it was a garbage Scow. We unloaded from the bus that carried us to the waterfront, grabbed the sea bags that held all of our worldly possessions, and crowded onto the boat. At that time I felt as if I was going to prison, like Alcatraz. Only it was Parris Island and Marine boot camp.
“We were welcomed by a drill instructor, a noncom who was a corporal but who talked to us as if he thought he was a four-star general. He told us bluntly, ‘You college guys aren't half as smart as you think you are,’ making no secret of the fact that the enlisted men didn't have much use for officers-to-be and would make boot training as difficult for us as they could.
“Shock treatment was part of the psychology of the whole routine. I remember a drill instructor approaching me when we were marching in close-order drill, putting his face inches from my ear, and shouting: "Lude, square yourself away; you're bouncing; keep that head still. You look like a bubble on a pisspot.”
“The concepts of discipline – keeping focused on the objectives, physical and mental toughness, and leadership – were stressed in everything we did. I felt the camaraderie with my fellow trainees helped all of us over the rough spots; you could share frustrations and down feelings with your buddies and vice versa.”
AN OLD COACH WITH TWO OF ABERDEEN'S OUTSTANDING RUNNERS - LEGEND VESSEY ON THE LEFT, AND MICAH SCHROEDER ON THE RIGHT.
*********** Aberdeen update:
We won Friday night. Beat Tenino, 22-7. To my way of thinking, we actually won twice: last week, Tenino beat Rochester, 38-24. Five weeks ago, Rochester whipped us, 33-7. So Friday’s win over Tenino at least allows me to think that we’ve improved so much we’d have beaten Rochester, too.
It was a tough game. We scored on the first play from scrimmage - a 57-yard run by junior Micah Schroeder. After they tied it up, we scored once more to go in at the half with a 14-7 lead.
We missed a couple of scoring opportunities presented us by our defense, but managed to punch in a score in the third quarter and after Tenino was penalized on the PAT attempt, we decided to go for two. When we were successful it gave us a slightly more comfortable 15-point lead.
We relied on our ground game the rest of the way to run out the clock and get us win number four. (Not too bad after starting the season 0-3.)
We rushed 36 times for 218 yards, and threw for 79 yards.
Tuesday night, we play a “half game” - two 12-minute “halves” - against Columbia River High of Vancouver. The winner will then have three days to get ready to play the state’s #1-ranked team, the Franklin Pierce Cardinals of Tacoma. If that’s us, we’ll have the dubious honor of having met the state’s number one team twice in a four-week period, having lost earlier, 55-0, to then-number one Tumwater.
Tuesday night’s game will be the first post-season contest played on our home field - historic Stewart Field - since 1997.
Tenino’s recording of Friday night’s game: (check the black turf!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Q4Bv6zN0Gs
*********** Can’t get a much bigger Double Wing matchup than Friday night’s Idaho playoff game between Marsing and Ririe.
Marsing suffered four turnovers in the first half - two at the end of long drives - and fell to Ririe, 28-15.
Noting that Marsing actually outgained favored Ririe, Marsing coach Mike Foristiere said, “the only stat that matters besides the scoreboard is turnovers: we had four and they had zero.”
Despite the loss, Mike’s 6-2 season - his first in Marsing - was an enormous success.
The one consolation for me is that another Double Wing team - Ririe - advances in the playoffs.
*********** What was a great first season as coach at Southern Door (that would be Door County, Wisconsin) High came to an end for Scott Mallien Friday night as his Eagles lost in the second round of the state playoffs and finished 7-4.
What made it especially exciting for me was the fact that Southern Door lost its first three games, then ran off seven straight wins - including an opening-round playoff game - before finally falling.
*********** COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY
BOISE STATE 56, SAN DIEGO STATE 14 - The Broncos led, 35-10 at the half. They’re clearly the best of the Group of 5. They’re 7-1, but their only loss was to unbeaten Oregon, on a field goal at 0:00. Don’t let the geniuses at network headquarters try to sell you the “Ashton Jeanty was kept under control crap. He carried 31 times for 149 yards and 2 TDs. Meanwhile, Broncos QB Maddux Madsen completed 24 of 32 for 307 yards and 4 TDs.
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE 20, PENN STATE 13 - Ohio State stopped Penn State four straight plays inside their five, then had the running game to run out the last 5:13 on the clock. It’s a good thing this Penn State-Ohio State thing - this grudge match between two adjoining states, one that starts with high school all-star game competition - isn’t officially a “rivalry” - you know, like Ohio State-Michigan or Alabama-Auburn. Consider Bill Battle. Heck of a coach. Coached Tennessee fro 1970 through 1976. Record was 59-22-2. 22-18-1 in SEC play. But he had one big problem he just couldn’t overcome - he couldn’t beat Alabama. To make matters worse, he was an Alabama guy - played for the Bear. He beat his old coach his first time out, in 1970. But then he lost six straight to the Tide. And he wasn’t even close to James Franklin - who’s now 1-10 against Ohio State (also1-9 against top-five teams, 1-13 against top-ten teams). He’s lost eight in a row to the Buckeyes. You can tell it’s getting to him, because he actually responded to a taunting fan after Saturday’s game - said to him “If you’re gonna be man enough to talk, what’s your name?” Only a coach who knows his job is secure would be that f—king stupid, and that’s James Franklin. A few years ago he had an AD named Sandy Barbour who WAS f—king stupid, because in 2021, afraid that USC might snatch him up, she gave him a ten-year contract extension. We never did find out that heckler’s name, but if he wants to buy out Franklin, he’d better have some rich friends to help him out, because at the present time it’s going to cost just shy of $57 million. Damn shame they can’t make ole Sandy Barbour - now retired - pay half of that.
MIAMI 53, DUKE 31 - The Devils held on as long as they could, but this Miami team is good. Cam Ward is getting all the pub, but receiver Xavier Restrepo is the real deal. His 66-yard TD reception against the Blue Devils, gave him 2,573 yards in career receptions, putting ahead of former Hurricanes’ all-time leader Santana Moss.The catch also tied Restrepo with Mike Harley’for most career receptions (182).
OLE MISS 63, ARKANSAS 31 - Jaxson Dart was 25 of 31 for 515 yards and SIX TDs. The Rebels averaged 9.1 yards per play.
ARMY 20, AIR FORCE 3 - Army won, and that’s all that matters. I guess. I haven’t been to a concert since I was in college when Fats Domino and Laverne Baker and a bunch of early rock ’n’ roll greats came to the New Haven Arena, but I think I know how I would have felt if I’d found out - AT SHOW TIME - that the Fat Man wasn’t going to perform. But there were the powers that be at West Point, in a world-class PR fumble, informing the people at CBS - whose money they were perfectly happy to take in return for letting it televise their games- that their star quarterback, Bryson Daily, would not be playing. ON THE MORNING OF THE F—KING GAME. The reason? “Undisclosed injury or illness.” Who the hell knows what that means? Sheesh. It had been two weeks since their last game. Army won handily, and it was a nice opportunity for some of its less-publicized players - especially running back Kanye Udoh - to show their stuff. Running out of an ultra-primitive single-wing-style shotgun offense no doubt designed to be run in Daily’s absence, Udoh carried 22 times for 158 yards and both of Army’s TDs. For an Army fan like me, while it was a win, at the same time it was a lost opportunity to show a nation that maybe Army really did deserve to be included in playoff talk. For casual fans who just tuned in because the game was, after all, on CBS, the 6-3 halftime score and the dullness that it represented was probably enough to send them off to another, more interesting game. Does it sound like I’m spoiled? Damn right I am. I think that what this game reveals was that other than the little bit of triple option that Daily sometimes runs, Army isn’t running triple option any more. For shame.
MINNESOTA 25, ILLINOIS 17 - BIG win for the Gophers. Illinois led, 17-16 when Minnesota scored with 5:14 to play, then iced it with a field goal with two minutes remaining.
NORTHWESTERN 26, PURDUE 20 (OT): The Boilermakers rushed 23 times for 47 yards.
NC STATE 59, STANFORD 28 - The Wolfpack handed the Cardinal their sixth straight loss.
SYRACUSE 38, VIRGINIA TECH 31 - An amazing comeback win for the Orange - down 14-3 at the half, they fought to go ahead 24-21 less than a minute into the fourth quarter. But the Hokies pulled ahead and led, 31-24 until the Orange tied it up with a TD with :29 remaining, then won in OT with a nine-yard scoring run.
VANDERBILT 17, AUBURN 7 - Vanderbilt is now bowl eligible for the first time since 2018. Just as significant: in beating Auburn, the Commodores now have three conference wins. This marked the first time a Vanderbilt football team had beaten both Auburn and Alabama in the same season since 1955.
OREGON 38, MICHIGAN 17 - A very good Oregon team met a good - but not very good - Michigan team. Harbaugh knew when it was time to go.
GEORGIA 34, FLORIDA 20 - The Gators gave it their best shot - led 13-6 at the half - but Carson Beck, who threw three interceptions, threw for two touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to a 28-point second half.
TEXAS TECH 23, IOWA STATE 22 - The Red Raiders scored with :19 on the clock to deal the Cyclones their first defeat.
INDIANA 47, MICHIGAN STATE 10 - Those greedy bastards at NBC put this one on Peacock. This week? They’re doing it to Washington at Penn State.
HOUSTON 24, KANSAS STATE 19 - In horrible weather conditions, Houston played their best game of the season and may have knocked the Wildcats out of contention for a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
UCLA 27, NEBRASKA 20 - Nebraska ranks 100th in FBS in scoring and many are calling for the scalp of offensive coordinator Marcus Satterfield. Seems to me it wasn’t the Nebraska’s offense that allowed UCLA’s heretofore anemic offense to outgain the Huskers, 358 to 322.
UCF 56, ARIZONA 12 - It was 35-6 at the half. The Knights had 602 yards in total offense and 33 first downs. They had 308 yards rushing. Gus Malzahn fired his DC last week, and his replacement held the Wildcats to 5 (FIVE) yards rushing.
RICE 24, NAVY 10 - The game was delayed twice and probably shouldn’t have been played at all, but Rice, playing its first game under an interim coach, outplayed Navy and earned their first win over the Midshipmen since 2002.
SOUTH CAROLINA 44, TEXAS A&M 20 - The Gamecocks outscored the Aggies 24-0 in the second half.
LOUISVILLE 33, CLEMSON 21 - Prior to this game, Clemson was 8-0 against the Cardinals all time. The loss could cost them a spot in the ACC title game.
IOWA 42, WISCONSIN 10 - Where are all those naysayers who mocked Kirk Ferentz’s offense now? The Hawkeyes outgained the Badgers, 422 to 261. They passed for only 93 yards, but they rushed for 329, and piled up 23 first downs.
WASHINGTON 26, USC 21 - The Huskies put on a great goal line stand near the end to win the game between longtime Pacific Coast rivals.
TENNESSEE 28, KENTUCKY 18 - The Wildcats jumped out in from and held a 10-7 halftime lead. When their starting QB, Brock Vandegriff, had to leave the game in the third quarter, Gavin Wimsatt, an Owensboro, Kentucky kid who transferred from Rutgers, came in and threw a touchdown pass and then a two-point conversion. That cut the Tennessee lead to 21-18 with 13:31 left, but Tennessee scored with 5 minutes left to seal the win.
SMU 48, PITT 25 - Pitt, coming in with the nation’s sixth-highest scoring offense, could rush for only 103 yards - 82 of them in the second half when defeat was assured. The Panthers came in with the nation’s ninth-ranked defense, but gave up 467 yards of total offense, and four rushing touchdowns. The Mustangs are still unbeaten in the ACC, and with BC, Virginia and Cal left to play, they have a decent shot at a spot in the conference title game.
*********** The five remaining FBS unbeatens and their remaining schedules
Indiana (Remaining): Michigan, BYE, at Ohio State, Purdue, (Possible) Conference Championship Game
INDIANA’S CHANCES OF FINISHING UNBEATEN: Under 50 per cent. No way they get past Michigan, Ohio State and (if they make it that far) - Oregon or Ohio State (again) in the conference championship game. I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
BYU (Remaining): at Utah, Kansas, at Arizona State, (Possible) Conference Championship Game
BYU’s CHANCES OF FINISHING UNBEATEN: At 75 per cent - if they can win the Holy War against Utah. I am pulling for the Cougars.
Miami (Remaining): at Georgia Tech, BYE, Wake Forest, at Syracuse, (Possible) Conference Championship Game
MIAMI’S CHANCES OF FINISHING UNBEATEN: At 75 per cent. Who will they meet in the Conference championship game? Clemson? SMU? I don’t care. I don’t like their coach and I’m pulling against them.
Oregon (Remaining): Maryland, at Wisconsin, BYE, Washington, (Possible) Conference Championship Game
OREGON’S CHANCES OF FINISHING UNBEATEN: Over 75 per cent. Wisconsin is not a walkover. Washington, as a big rival, could be a problem, but the Ducks do have two weeks to get ready. The Conference championship game? Ohio State again? That was close the first time. Ever try having to beat someone twice in the same season? Go Ducks.
Army (Remaining): North Texas, BYE, Notre Dame at Yankee Stadium, UTSA, BYE, (Possible) Conference Championship Game, Navy
ARMY’S CHANCE OF FINISHING UNBEATEN: Under 25 per cent. The extent of Bryson Daily’s “undisclosed injury/illness” is a military secret. They’re only slightly favored over North Texas. They’re big underdogs against Notre Dame even with Daily. UTSA is not a given, and the conference championship game opponent - probably Tulane - is tough. And then, of course, there’s Navy. Obviously I am pulling for the Cadets.
*********** Our schools are doing a fantastic job when it comes to teaching about diversity and gender identity and such, but they’re not worth a damn at teaching common sense. Not based on the experience Saturday of some pencil-neck in State College, Pennsylvania who thought he could insult a former All-Pro NFL offensive linemen and not have to deal with some unfavorable consequences.
https://www.si.com/nfl/jason-kelce-smashed-fan-phone-after-offensive-comment-travis-kelce-taylor-swift
*********** I suppose that technically you could call what they did “postgame handshakes,” but they sure as hell weren’t “How’s Alice and the kids?”
Jeff Monken (Army) and Troy Calhoun (Air Force)
Ryan Day (Ohio State) and James Franklin (Penn State)
*********** It’s been many. many years since a Big Ten team beat both Ohio State and Michigan in the same season, and - ahem - it took a Pacific Northwest team to do it.
*********** Penn State picked up two taunting penalties in the Ohio State game. One was termed a bit controversial by the softies in the broadcast booth, but I thought it merited a penalty: it was one of those disgusting displays of disrespect where a guy makes a tackle and then, while his opponent still lies on the ground, gets up and walks off him - the long way, making sure to pass over his face.
*********** I just happened to hear that a Florida QB named Aidan Warner was a “Yale transfer,” and I immediately assumed he was a graduate transfer. But, no - this guy transferred after his freshman year - a freshman year in which he didn’t play enough - at an Ivy League school - to lose the year of eligibility. So here he is now, a redshirt freshman at Florida, playing against Georgia.
Um, it’s been my experience that most guys who leave Yale after one year do not do so of their own volition.
For what it’s worth, he was 7 of 22 for 66 (3 yards per attempt) against Georgia, and he threw an interception. Maybe he should have stayed for the education.
*********** The Navy-Rice game experienced numerous long delays and finally finished hours later than expected. When the game finally got underway there was virtually no one left in the stands.
Worst of all for those of us who set our recorders to record the game, we wound up with absolutely zero to show for our efforts.
*********** Navy has now lost two in a row. Maybe it’s because their QB’s still banged up, or maybe it’s that old football cliche about letting a team (in this case, Notre Dame) beat you twice.
Whatever it is, this is good news and bad news for Army.
First, the good news: There will not likely be an Army-Navy conference championship game a week before the “real” Army-Navy game.
The bad news: while Army is (in all likelihood) playing in the AAC championship game, Navy is licking its wounds and getting ready for Army. NO conference championship is worth more than a win in the Army-Navy game.
*********** Watching the Colts-Vikings play on Sunday night, I watched a Colts’ defensive tackle named Grover Stewart and, since the NFL no longer bothers to let us know where players played their college ball, I had to look it up.
Albany State. A little HBCU in South Georgia.
He’ll probably be the last guy from there to make it to the pros, because you know good and well that the next Grover Stewart to show up at Albany State and have a good season will be scooped up by any one of a dozen bigger schools, and that’s where he’ll make his name known.
And on his plaque in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, there’ll be no mention of Albany State. Damn shame.
*********** Why I don’t watch much NFL…
The Seahawks, facing a fourth and one in overtime, decided to go for it. They lined up in I-formation with the tailback 8 yards deep - and gave it to him. He never made it to the line of scrimmage.
The Rams took over and drove for the winning score.
*********** Before he gets fired at Charlotte, you ought to know something about Biff Poggi, their coach.
It’s an amazing story.
https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2019/12/17/michigan-football-recruiting-baltimore-st-frances-academy/2650516001/
*********** Heard this on a game Saturday…
Only three schools have produced a President, a Heisman Trophy winner and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
Navy, Michigan, Stanford.
*********** I can’t believe the amount of out-and-out pass interference that’s being overlooked by officials - and explained away as “maybe a little contact” by the broadcast-booth geniuses.
*********** Apropos of your son's sad story from Down Under: a couple of days ago, I heard about an (maybe it's every team, I don't care to dig to find out) NFL franchise that's establishing an outpost in Munich to answer any questions and sell any merchandise related to the team. I loathe these people who thrust their grubby, greedy fingers wherever they have a chance to rip out a few drachma. I hear you, Ed, and hope the citizens of Australia can find the will and way to ward off the predator NFL.
Nice homage to Bryson Daily.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
First, good luck tonight. A good showing against Tenino might just be what the boys need to motivate them further for next week’s play-in “game.!”
That playoff structure reminds me of how the playoffs were set up in MN when I was coaching there. Last regular season game was on a Wednesday night. First round playoff game the following Tuesday night, and the second round game that Saturday. That’s THREE football games in ELEVEN days!! Depth, and luck won out!
Speaking of Minnesota…the Gophers will go a long way in finishing with a winning record if they can beat Illinois. The Illini have been a real PITA for the Gophers over the last few years, especially in Champaign.
Bryson Daily of Army IS a legit Heisman contender, but the best college football player this year, by far, is Travis Hunter from Colorado.
NFL, Democrat Party…two of a kind.
Not a fan of either Penn State or Ohio State, but I’ll cheer for the lesser of the two evils…GO BLUE!
Pitt at SMU. Hey, I’m Italian!
Best to Mike Foristiere and the Marsing Huskies!!
QUIZ: Clyde Scott
Enjoy the weekend! Starts tonight!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
Joe, while Hunter may be the guy, and he’s got a lot of the media pulling for him, I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s a “by far” decision. Would it change your thinking any if I were to tell you that I just discovered that Ashton Jeantty’s name was originally spelled “Gientti?”
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Clyde “Smackover” Scott was named Arkansas’ Athlete of the Twentieth Century by the Arkansas Daily Gazette.
His dad was an oil field worker. He was born in Dixie, Louisiana, the third of ten children, and grew up in Smackover, Arkansas.
He was a high school football star, and excelled in track. Despite having no hurdles at his high school he set state records in the hurdles and in the 100-yard dash.
He was also a good baseball player, and turned down a contract offer by the St. Louis Cardinals in order to attend the US Naval Academy, where some local businessmen had helped him receive an appointment.
World War II was going on, and Navy was very good - probably second only to Army. He played two years at running back for the Midshipmen, and in his second year, 1945, he earned second team All-America honors.
In track he set Naval Academy records in the 100-yard dash, the 110 high hurdles and 220 low hurdles and the javelin. In both 1944 and 1945 he was the academy’s light-heavyweight boxing champion.
And then he met Miss Arkansas. Her name was Leslie Hampton. She was on a tour of the academy on the way to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, and he was asked to be her escort .
They fell in love, and by the end of the school year decided to get married, but with marriage by midshipmen prohibited, he chose to withdraw from the Academy.
Once word got out that he had withdrawn from the Naval Academy, he was heavily recruited by coaches such as Bear Bryant at Kentucky and Johnny Vaught at Ole Miss.
He was finally convinced to attend Arkansas by head coach John Barnhill, but he was no doubt influenced by the fact that his bride-to-be was a student there.
As a running back, he was a three-time All-Southwest Conference selection, and in 1948 he became the first Razorback ever named to an All-American team.
In his two years at Arkansas, he set a new school record of 1,463 yards rushing. In his senior year, he averaged 7 yards a carry.
At his graduation, his number 12 was retired. That was 1948, and in the years since, while Arkansas has had 21 consensus All-Americans, he remains one of only two Razorbacks to have had his number retired. (The other was Brandon Burlsworth, a former walk-on who earned All-American status and then was tragically killed at age 22 in a highway accident. His jersey was retired in 1999.)
While at Arkansas, he wanted to play baseball but Coach Barnhill prohibited it. But he was allowed to run track, where he set school records in the 100-yard dash, the 220 low hurdles, the 110 high hurdles, the 440-yard relay, and the javelin.
His 9.4 in the 100 yard dash in the 1948 Southwest Conference meet tied the existing world record but could not count because the SWC did not test for wind. He was the high-point scorer at the meet winning the 100, the high hurdles and low hurdles, finishing third in the javelin, and running a leg on the 440 relay team (that finished third). In all, he scored 42 points using today's scoring rules.
In the 1948 NCAA Track Finals he tied the world record in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 13.7 seconds. That summer he made the U.S. Olympic team in the 110 high hurdles and in 1948 London Olympics he won the silver medal, taking second in a photo finish. He was the first Arkansas athlete to win an Olympic medal.
He was drafted in the first round of the 1949 NFL draft by the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and, although plagued by injuries, he spent three seasons with the Eagles and one season with the Detroit Lions before retiring after the 1952 season.
He returned to Arkansas and enjoyed a successful career in business.
Coach Barnhill, quoted later in a book on Arkansas football said, “Clyde Scott meant more to the Arkansas program than any other athlete. His coming to Arkansas convinced other Arkansas boys they should stay home.”
Besides being named Arkansas’ Athlete of the Twentieth Century by the Arkansas Daily Gazette, He was a member of the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor, the State of Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
His daughter, Marsha, told of taking him to the Naval Academy in 1993 - the first time he’d been back since resigning in 1945.
At the time, she had a job in Washington, DC in the Clinton administration and, she recalled…
“I had asked about setting up a private tour and he agreed. That was 1993, almost 50 years later. He'd never said much about leaving Navy. We all knew that was very tough to do, but they frowned on married students and he was in love.
“It was difficult. We all knew he was proud of going to Navy, but he just didn't talk about it.”
The tour, just dad and daughter. was conducted by a young navy officer.
“It started off very quiet,” she said. “Dad just wasn't saying much. We went to a couple of places and then to the athletic hall, the dorm.”
At the top of a stairway that led to the dorm rooms. there was a wall lined with Navy players inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.
“There were three plaques – with pictures – on the wall when we made the first turn,” Marsha said. “They were Roger Staubach’s, Joe Bellino’s and Dad's. The ensign stopped and turned to look at Dad. He said, 'That's you!' And when he did, Dad started crying. The ensign started crying. I did, too.
“From that point forward, Dad lit up. He had a great time.
“I think it was a great time of healing. I know he felt kind of embarrassed he'd left Navy. When he saw that plaque – the same one they have on display in the museum at Arkansas - it was clear that they remembered him the same way at Navy.”
Clyde Scott remained married to Leslie until he died at 93.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CLYDE “SMACKOVER” SCOTT
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: A native Tennessean, he graduated from Maryville College in his home town, then coached high school football in Michigan for 12 years - 11 of them as a head coach.
In one three-year span, he coached three different teams to unbeaten seasons. He spent five seasons as head coach at East Lansing High School, his last in 1964 when he was named Michigan Class A Coach of the Year after East Lansing finished 8-0 and ranked Number 1 in the final Associated Press state poll.
That got him an assistant’s job at Central Michigan, and in two years he became the Chippewas’ head coach.
He stayed at Central Michigan for eleven seasons, compiling a record of 83-32-2. In 1974, his Chippewas went 12-1 and won the NCAA Division II National Championship and he was named Coach of the Year.
As head coach, he played a major role in Central Michigan’s 1975 move to Division I.
In 1978, he returned to his home state of Tennessee as Vanderbilt’s Director of Athletics. There, he was responsible for the renovation of the McGugin Center, but also the construction of Vanderbilt Stadium.
In January 1990, he left Vanderbilt to become Commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. In his first year as commissioner, South Carolina and Arkansas were added to the conference. He led the conference in moving to divisional play and in playing the first major college conference football championship game.
During his time as its commissioner, the SEC won 81 national championships. He negotiated multi-sport national TV packages with CBS and ESPN, and oversaw the distribution of then-record sums of revenue to conference members.
In 1998, he was presented the Distinguished American Award by the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame.
In his induction speech at the College Football Hall of Fame, he spoke of the importance of maintaining football at its grass roots:
"It's great to be at a huge stadium on a Saturday afternoon with 80,000 or 100,000 people, but we also have to realize that on that same Saturday afternoon, that same great game is being played on hundreds of campuses across the country, not in front of 80,000 people but in front of two or three thousand people and the young men playing that game have the same experience as the young men playing it at the very high level that we talk about so much."
And he praised football for the way it brings young men together with a common purpose…
"A Polish left guard and a farmer from Iowa open a hole for an African-American running back to score a touchdown," he said. "That's what life should be, that's what life should be in this country, and football sets that aside better than any other experience that I know of. And somehow, we need to be able to preserve that, not only at the big-time level, but at the high school and college level across the board.
"To be able to maintain the values, the traditions, the learning experience. There's no greater classroom … on any campus anywhere, in high school or college, than what we teach in football."
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2024 “God intends to give us what we need, not what we now think we want.” C. S. Lewis
*********** Wisdom from Mike Lude: “My career in the Marines started after I finished my junior year at Hillsdale College. When Pearl Harbor was bombed all of the men in college knew it would only be a matter of time before we were involved. Many of us had enlisted in the V-12 officers training program with the promise of being able to stay out of the war until we completed college. But as action intensified in the Pacific, we were abruptly summoned to active duty.
“The day before I got on the train, Grandpa Chris Lude took me aside for a pep talk. This hard-nosed German immigrant told me, "Mike, there's no reason why you shouldn't end up being a general before you’re through.” It was his way of telling me he respected me and thought I would do well. Growing up, I wasn't around him that much, but we had a good relationship. It wasn't a buddy-buddy, friendly thing, more ‘I am the patriarch of this family and you better pay attention to what I say.’
“Grandpa was an extremely hard worker, and he was very, very tough. A bull almost killed him when he was in the pen of the state hospital’s cattle barn, where he worked after giving up farming. When he got out of the hospital he went back into that pen and whipped the bull. If he had an ego it wasn't noticeable, other than making sure he was always neat and clean with a well-trimmed mustache. Grandpa was straightforward and honest. He was exceptionally tenacious, whatever he did. When I was a kid I was intimidated but I loved him, and his discipline, persistence, and willingness was a great example.
“I reported for indoctrination training at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, in July 1943. We were issued uniforms and learned the basics of military rules and close-order drills. We lived in dormitories. Training was more like college than boot camp. For several months we took courses in physics, mathematics, mechanical drawing, map reading, military history, and psychology.”
*********** Aberdeen update:
We finish our regular schedule Friday against Tenino, a very tough non-league opponent. How tough? Last week, Tenino beat Rochester, 38-24. Five weeks ago, Rochester whipped us, 33-7.
We’re a different team - a better team - than we were five weeks ago, but still…
We don’t dare treat this like a meaningless game, for fear we’ll lose the edge that enabled us to win our “must-win” game last Friday. We’ve made it a point to avoid any mention of next Tuesday.
That’s when we’ll play a “half game” - two 12-minute “halves” - against Columbia River High of Vancouver. It’s something like a wild-card game in NFL terms, with the winner advancing to the first round of the state playoffs four days later. (And, as with a wild card game, playing a much higher-seeded opponent, and at their place.)
This, I’m told, will be the first post-season game of any kind played on Aberdeen’s Stewart Field since 1997.
It’s been years since I coached a game against “River,” which is only about a half-hour away from our home in Camas. But for many years, one of my former schools, Hudson’s Bay High of Vancouver, was in the same school district and the same league as Columbia River, and we played the Chieftains (oops, sorry - they’re now the “Rapids”) at least once every year, sometimes twice.
We actually had something of a nasty rivalry with them, largely because we were fed by the same junior highs and we sometimes had to fight over kids who were supposed to come to our school but whose parents opposed it. With “River” being perceived by many as a level above us socially, we had to deal on a regular basis with parents trying to get “boundary exceptions” so that their kids could go to River and not have to associate with the riff-raff at “Bay.” The reason why they wanted the boundary exception was often some exotic class that River offered and we didn’t that those kids were intensely interested in taking.
Ironically, Columbia River wraps up its regular season Friday night against Hudson’s Bay.
*********** Can’t get a much bigger Double Wing matchup than Friday night’s Idaho playoff game between Marsing and Ririe.
Marsing, coached by Mike Foristiere in his first year there, is 6-2.
Ririe, which is across the state about five hours away, is also 6-2, and in a meeting earlier in the season, beat Marsing, 49-18.
They’re both Double Wing teams, but I’m only mildly conflicted, because Mike is almost family.
To hear Mike tell it, the Marsing community is really excited: “The school is paying for the team to stay in Idaho falls Thursday. Plus meals. Then last night, the boosters called and told me they’ll pay for hotel rooms for us after the game so we don't have to travel back - plus dinner.
But - should Ririe come out on top, I do have an interest in their further success:
Coach Wyatt,
Ririe High School has made the Idaho football playoffs in the 3A classification. We started out in July at our summer camp installing the "first five" from your system, and since that time, we have been working on trying to perfect those plays. We have not reached perfection yet, but we have had a lot of fun trying. This will be the first playoff game Ririe has hosted in its school history. At the end of the regular season, we are leading the state of Idaho in scoring at the 3A level, averaging 36 points per game. Our A back finished the regular season with 1,052 rushing yards, 14 rushing TD's, averaging 131.5 rushing yards per game, and 7.79 yards per carry. Our C back finished the regular season with 1,043 rushing yards, 13 rushing TD's, averaging 130.4 rushing yards per game, and 10.13 yards per carry. Our B back chipped in another 6 rushing TD's, and we were also able to throw 6 TD's. We play a tough Marsing team in the first round of the playoffs this Friday. Coach Foristiere at Marsing is a great coach, and he has done an outstanding job at Marsing. He runs a great DW offense as you know. Thank you for all you do to help coaches.
Brandon Dahle
OC Ririe High School
***********
Remaining unbeaten FBS teams
Army - Air Force at home
BYU - BYE
Indiana at Michigan State
Iowa State - Texas Tech at home
Miami - Duke at home
Oregon at Michigan
Penn State - Ohio State at home
Pitt at SMU
*********** COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND
FRIDAY
SAN DIEGO STATE AT BOISE STATE
SATURDAY
OHIO STATE AT PENN STATE
DUKE AT MIAMI
OLE MISS AT ARKANSAS
AIR FORCE AT ARMY
MINNESOTA AT ILLINOIS
NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE
STANFORD AT NC STATE
VIRGINIA TECH AT SYRACUSE
MEMPHIS AT UTSA
VANDERBILT AT AUBURN
OREGON AT MICHIGAN
FLORIDA AT GEORGIA
TEXAS TECH AT IOWA STATE
INDIANA AT MICHIGAN STATE - PEACOCK!!!!!
KANSAS STATE AND HOUSTON
UCLA AT NEBRASKA
NORTH CAROLINA AT FLORIDA STATE
ARIZONA AT UCF
WYOMING AT NEW MEXICO
NAVY AT RICE
TEXAS A&M AT SOUTH CAROLINA
LOUISVILLE AT CLEMSON
WISCONSIN AT IOWA
USC AT WASHINGTON
KENTUCKY AT TENNESSEE
PITT AT SMU -
TCU AT BAYLOR
COLORADO STATE AT NEVADA
*********** The word is getting out that the NFL is done with developing QBs, advising them to stay in school and spend two+ years as a starter there before entering the draft.
One of the reasons for this change in approach has to be Bryce Young’s failure - so far - at Carolina.
I like the guy and I’m pulling for him, and I found this little exchange in The Athletic to be interesting:
She: I had a long talk with one of Bryce's coaches from Alabama recently. Did we miss something? And he said: He has it. He just needs the right people around him. He's not getting the right coaching.
So that’s what I want to ask you, where would you want him to go?
He: Go to Kevin O’Connell. Go to Minnesota.
She: What about Sean McVay?
He: Here’s one that might sound crazy: Go to freaking Andy Reid. Go be a backup. You don't have to play if you're not ready. There's guys out there that will fix him for sure.
*********** I believe I made myself clear when Anthony Richardson was at Florida that I didn’t see in him what the experts did. Now that he’s pulled his version of “Take me out - I’m tired,” I’m almost ready to say, “I told you so.”
*********** Buckeye quarterback Will Howard played his high school ball in Downingtown, a western suburb of Philadelphia, and he grew up a Penn State fan. His dad went to Penn State. But Penn State wasn’t a Will Howard fan, so he went to Kansas State instead, before transferring to Ohio State.
Now, looking ahead to the Buckeyes’ game Saturday at Penn State, he says he’s “stoked.”
https://vista.today/2024/10/will-howard-ohio-state-quarterback/
*********** It took Mike Elko one year at Duke to prove to the people at Texas A & M that he could coach.
I didn’t care for the abrupt way with which he departed Duke, but never having been offered millions myself, I can’t say how I would have gone about grabbing the brass ring without pissing anybody off.
And now that he’s spent more than half a season at A & M and he’s got the Aggies on top of the SEC, I can’t imagine anyone in Aggieland who doesn’t think they’ve got the right guy.
After beating LSU last weekend, he even allowed himself a bit of mild boasting in the post-game presser:
“We back up our actions,” he said. “We’re very honest. We’re very open. And this is a real program. It’s not fake. It’s not a politician running this program, talking fast and BS-ing everybody. This is a real program and for all the recruits out there, this is a real place and if you want to be really good at football, this is a really good place to be.”
(Hmmm. Who’s the “politician” he referred to?)
*********** Since my dad's death, people have kept coming up to say how much they miss him, how sorely his voice is needed at this most fractious moment. We deeply appreciate the esteem with which people held him, but really there was no great secret to what was special about my dad. In a nasty business, he managed to live by the Golden Rule. If he did it, we all can. It's in our mouths and in our hearts — right now.”
The Late Senator Joe Lieberman’s daughter
*********** Said Dr. Ben Carson, “There are a lot of Christians who say, ‘Both sides are corrupt and I don’t want to be involved in a corrupt system; I don’t want to have to choose between ‘the lesser of two evils.’”
“Well,” he went on, “Unless Jesus Christ is on the ballot, you’re always choosing between ‘the lesser of two evils.’”
*********** Considering how today’s NFL offenses emphasize the pass and ignore the run, you probably won’t believe me if I tell you that the NFL record for most passing yards in a single game is now 73 years old.
Believe me. Then go out and win a few bets.
On September 28, 1951, Norm Van Brocklin, then with the Los Angeles Rams, threw for 554 yards against the New York Yankees.
Since then, Warren Moon of the Oilers threw for 527 in 1990, and in 2012 so did Matt Schaub of the Texans. In 2021 Joe Burrow of the Bengals threw for 525.
But The Dutchman’s record still stands.
You might like this video by the Eagles that includes a testimonial to Van Brocklin from a guy who learned the quarterback trade as his backup - Sonny Jurgenson.
https://www.philadelphiaeagles.com/video/this-day-in-football-van-brocklin-s-554-passing-yards-6376289
*********** Watch the Army-Air Force game this weekend and you may get to see the last of the true single-wing tailbacks - Army’s Bryson Daily.
When I think of single wing tailbacks, I think of guys like…
Marshall Goldberg of Pitt, Nile Kinnick of Iowa, Tom Harmon, Bob Chappuis and Chuck Ortman of Michigan, Charley "Choo-Choo" Justice of North Carolina, Paul Giel of Minnesota, Frank Regan and Reds Bagnell of Penn, Les Horvath of Ohio State, Frank Sinkwich of Georgia, Elroy Hirsch of Wisconsin, Jackie Robinson and Paul Cameron of UCLA, George McAfee of Duke. At Tennessee alone, there were Beattie Feathers, Gene McEver, George Cafego, Hank Lauricella and Johnny Majors.
Just like today’s quarterbacks - shotgun or under center - those guys touched the ball on every play. (Okay, okay - except for the occasional direct snap to the fullback.)
And like today’s quarterbacks, they threw all of their teams’ passes.
But there the resemblance ends.
Unlike 99 per cent of today’s quarterbacks, whose participation in the run game consists mostly of handing off to a “real” runner, or every so often carrying the ball themselves as a sort of “change-up,” the single wing tailback WAS his team’s runner.
He was the passer and the workhorse runner and, in many cases, the punter, too, hence the term “triple threat.”
Bryson Daily is a throwback to the days of the single wing tailback.
He’s big enough at 6 foot, 220, to be Army’s workhorse back - which he is. He’s their leading rusher.
He’s not tricky. His trademark play, whether under center or shotgun, is power off-tackle. Simple as that. Try and stop us. You Double Wingers would love it.
He’s carried 138 times for 909 yards (an average of 6.6 yards per carry) and 19 TDs.
That’s just about the same amount of yardage as Army’s next two carriers combined - fullback Kanye Udoh, with 93 carries for 633 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and speedy slotback Noah Short, with 34 carries for 398 yards (11.6 yards per carry).
Daily has a strong arm and throws with an accuracy that shows how hard he’s worked on his passing. Throwing mostly in play-action situations, he’s completed 27 of 47 for 629 yards and 7 TDs. Just as important: he has yet to throw an interception.
But Daily takes things beyond running and passing. Well beyond.
He’s also the quarterback of an offense that at its base runs triple- and midline option. And at the three stages of a triple option - first reading the dive key, then either keeping or pitching at the next stage - he has proved to be nearly flawless. Amazingly, in a game earlier this season, he pitched the ball and then sprinted downfield to get ahead of the runner and throw a block for him.
I do hope that you get to see him at his best. He’s one of a kind.
https://cityviewmag.com/neyland-and-the-last-single-wing-tailback/
*********** Read this, sent me by my son, Ed, in Australia and then tell me if it’s wrong to pray for something bad to happen to the NFL…
A silent battle is unfolding in schools right across the country, and it’s one Australia’s biggest sporting codes may not even know they’re losing.
The NFL’s quest for global domination is full steam ahead, and Australian primary school students are firmly in the sport’s crosshairs.
Year five and six students are trying out for their school flag football sides in unprecedented droves. Why? The lure of a trip to Florida for the national champions to compete at the 2025 NFL Flag International Championship.
The byproduct of the tantalising reward that no other school sport in the country can match, is tens of thousands of kids exposed to the sport, many of who will play and support it for years to come.
The national championships are set to be contested this Friday on the Gold Coast, comprised of 10 top teams that hail from every state and territory.
“You always say with junior sport you’re not playing for sheep stations but it kind of feels like we are playing for a sheep station,” said Matthew Ross, who is the flag football coach at Melbourne’s Kew Primary School, one of the 10 schools set to compete at this week’s national championships.
“There’ll be a bit of emotion on the day for the kids because there’ll be a lot on the line. I think that is the reason why it’s becoming very popular, because there is this opportunity.”
Ross said that of his 150-strong year five and six cohort, 41 kids tried out for the flag football team.
“Parents mentioned how it was the first time their kids had been in a selection process where they missed the team, so for some of them it was confronting,” he said.
“I also coach cricket and we’re trying to pull a team together and we’re pulling teeth just to get kids to come down and play, there’s no carrot at the end.
“I think that’s what’s really powerful, a trip to the Gold Coast is a huge experience for the kids, they’ll have such a wonderful time, and the experience to get to the US for one of the teams will be unbelievable.”
Ross expects flag football to be a “big growth” sport.
“It’s different, the novelty of the belts and also the plays … my son mentioned that because there’s five kids on the field you feel like every snap you’re apart of the action,” Ross said.
“He also plays (Aussie rules) and there’s 18 on the field and you can catch a cold during a quarter where the ball comes nowhere near you.
“It’s like basketball, you’re more in the game because there’s less people on the field. Even if you’re not getting the ball you have to run a particular route and do your role, they might not have the ball but they’re helping the team succeed.
We’re pretty keen to be involved (as a school), the kids are enjoying it but there’s also these opportunities which other sports aren’t providing.”
Just as the coming of Walmart brought about the closing of Mom and Pop stores in small towns all over America, so is the NFL, through its insidious worldwide promotion of flag, threatening to kill off sports such as rugby, Gaelic football and Australian Rules football in a generation or two.
Yeah, yeah, I hear you say. But if every kid around the world plays flag, where, you ask, will the NFL get its players?
Silly. While little kids everywhere are busy playing flag (and becoming lifelong NFL fans), the NFL will simply form its own developmental league. There, select players on NFL-sponsored teams will undergo development in actual tackle football from professional coaches (not unlike the current MLS system).
High school tackle football? Who’ll need it? The NFL knows full well that of the 1,000,000 or so boys now playing high school football in America, very few of them are of any value to it as potential players. It’ll have that developmental league for the players its scouts identity as talented enough.
A high school team in every little town? That’s for those chumps like you and me who still believe that football is a great way to help turn boys into men.
*********** One of our favorite charities is Boys Town, Nebraska and I’m impressed by some of the tips they send on dealing with your own kids…
Teaching Important Social Skills
One thing parents sometimes fail to do is teach their children simple social skills they'll use later on in adolescence and adulthood. One critical basic skill is following directions. In fact, it is literally the first skill we feature in the Boys Town book Teaching Social Skills to Youth. This skill needs to be taught early and practiced often. The steps are simple:
1. Look at the person.
2. Say, "Okay."
3. Do what you've been asked right away.
4. Check back.
If you teach this skill to your children and practice it with them while they're young, then they will be conditioned to know how to respond when asked to complete a task.
(Isn’t it a lot easier to coach kids who come to you already coachable?)
*********** I actually purchased your book and dvd approximately 12 years ago. My best friend (and coach) and I started running the double wing offense at the youth level with a lot of success. We eventually introduced it to our high school in 2017 when we both were high school assistants. Our high school doesn't solely run double wing, but it's been a good package or scheme we usually hold onto until the playoffs. Because most of our youth teams grow up running double wing, it's been very easy to install it at the high school level (and the o-line loves it). We've found that it's very difficult for high school teams to prepare for this offense in one week, especially when most teams run some version of a spread offense today. I lent your playbook out and never got it back, which is why I purchased your new version. We have had a ton of success from youth through high school but essentially run 6 or 8 base plays and are 95% run. I wanted to dedicate some time to learning and implementing more passing options from your playbook. We are coming off of back to back state championships in Indiana (and won a 3rd in 2017 assisted with the DW), but lost a ton of great players. We are down compared to prior years but our head coach is on board with expanding our double wing playbook and is committed to making it more of our identity than just a change of pace........more than you wanted to know but thought I'd share. We put our own tweaks on your playbook over the years (mostly just terminology) but your book/offense has been huge for our little football community over the past decade from 1st grade to varsity. Appreciate all the support you have offered.
NAME WITHHELD BY REQUEST
*********** As usual, lots of red meat on today's page, but I especially liked the letter to Sam. He could wind up as the only F1 commentator with experience as a mover.
I don't like making excuses for Navy, but they must have zero confidence in Horvath's backup. Six turnovers, five unforced? It looked to me that his hand injury was cause enough to pull him out early on, but the coaches let him fumble the game away. If Horvath is similarly compromised the remainder of the season, the Mids could be in trouble.
One man on your list of coaches who could receive the black spot already got it...Mike Bloomgren of Rice...but his school gave him seven years, which was more than fair.
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Congrats on the win over Black Hills!
Also, congrats to Mike Foristiere’s Marsing ID Huskies on completing a successful regular season. They travel to Ririe for a first round playoff game on Friday night.
Ririe beat Marsing in an early season game where the Huskies lost two starters in the first half. Both teams run the DW.
Navy did not play ND the way they had played others. Seven turnovers doomed the Mids. It was an uncharacteristic showing for a good Navy team. I think Blake Horvath’s injured thumb may have led to a few of those fumbles. If it did he better get healed up fast with E. Carolina, Tulane, and Army on the horizon.
Provided Army doesn’t get the turnover bug I think they will have a much better chance against ND. Frankly, I think Bryson Dailey poses a much greater threat than Horvath, and the Cadet run game is much more potent which will cause problems for the Irish secondary.
Coaches on the hot seat. Dilfer for sure.
Followed by Napier, Aranda, and Freeze.
I wonder how many bowl game holdouts we’ll see this year? I’m also wondering if there will be any playoff holdouts?
Enjoy the week!
Joe Gutilla
Granbury, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: At Woodbury, New Jersey High (suburban Philadelphia) Milt Plum was an all-state quarterback.
Although he was also a very good catcher who drew interest from major league baseball teams, he chose to go to Penn State and play football.
Playing quarterback in Rip Engle’s run-heavy Wing-T offense, he seldom threw. But in those days of two-way football, he also played defense. And in addition, he punted and kicked extra points.
In his senior year, Penn State tied Pitt and lost narrowly to Army and Syracuse (and legendary running back Jim Brown), while upsetting Ohio State, 7-6.
After the season, knowing that Cleveland’s Paul Brown was desperately in search of a successor to the great Otto Graham, Engle recommended our guy, telling Brown, “He’s always the first one on the field. He studies game films zealously and he never gets upset under fire.”
Brown must have listened, because in the NFL draft they took our guy with their second pick. (They’d taken Jim Brown in the first round.)
He spent five years with the Browns, and was twice named All-Pro. During that time, the Browns were very good - just not quite good enough. Twice, the Giants beat them to the NFL championship game, and once the Eagles did.
In 1960, he completed a league-high 60.4 per cent of his passes, throwing for 21 touchdowns while throwing only five interceptions. The Browns finished 8-3-1, good enough for second in the East behind the Eagles, who finished 10-2. The Eagles would go on to defeat the Green Bay Packers to win the NFL title.
For two seasons, his understudy at Cleveland was Len Dawson, who would go on to sign with the AFL and play his way to pro football immortality.
After an article was published claiming that he had called the Browns’ offense “stereotyped,” and had criticized Brown’s rigid system of calling plays for his quarterbacks, that was enough for Paul Brown. Despite his insistence that he had said no such things. he was traded to Detroit in a six-player deal that also included Lions’ quarterback Jim Ninowski.
In his first year at Detroit, the Lions finished 11-3, just behind the Packers in the NFL West, but for the rest of his six years there, they went into decline, and he was off-and-on as the starting QB.
“Detroit was notorious for changing quarterbacks,” he remembered. “Whenever something went wrong, they yanked the quarterback. It was between Bobby Layne and Tobin Rote, Rote and Earl Morrall, Earl and I, Karl Sweetan and I.”
He wound up his career with the Rams, where he backed up Roman Gabriel, and then with the Giants, where he backed up Fran Tarkenton and Gary Wood before retiring after the 1969 season.
In his career, he completed 1,306 passes (2,419 attempts) for 17,536 yards and 122 TDs. He also rushed for 531 yards.
Asked years later about career highlights, Milt Plum said, “One of them is that I played professional football for 13 seasons.
“This may surprise you, but my ambition was to play baseball. I almost didn’t go to college. All my life was baseball, baseball, baseball. It came down to, ‘In football, you either make the NFL or you don’t.’
“When I got out of college in June 1957, it was too late to try minor league baseball. At that time pro football started in July. I got drafted number two, so I tried out with the Browns. I made it, and I hung around football for 13 years.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MILT PLUM
GREG KOENIG - BENNETT, COLORADO
TOM DAVIS - SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
JOE GUTILLA - GRANBURY, TEXAS
SCOTT MALLIEN - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY - (Coach Crump, a lifelong Browns' fan, swears that the photo on the left is of Bill Nelson, another Browns' QB who also wore #12.)
JOE BREMER - WEST SENECA, NEW YORK
MIKE FORISTIERE - MARSING, IDAHO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** QUIZ: He was named Arkansas’ Athlete of the Twentieth Century by the Arkansas Daily Gazette.
His dad was an oil field worker. He was born in Dixie, Louisiana, the third of ten children, and grew up in Smackover, Arkansas. (For much of his athletic career, the town name became his nickname.)
He was a high school football star, and excelled in track. Despite having no hurdles at his high school he set state records in the hurdles and in the 100-yard dash.
He was also a good baseball player, and turned down a contract offer by the St. Louis Cardinals in order to attend the US Naval Academy, where some local businessmen had helped him receive an appointment.
World War II was going on, and Navy was very good - probably second only to Army. He played two years at running back for the Midshipmen, and in his second year, 1945, he earned second team All-America honors.
In track he set Naval Academy records in the 100-yard dash, the 110 high hurdles and 220 low hurdles and the javelin. In both 1944 and 1945 he was the academy’s light-heavyweight boxing champion.
And then he met Miss Arkansas. Her name was Leslie Hampton. She was on a tour of the academy on the way to the Miss America Pageant in Atlantic City, and he was asked to be her escort .
They fell in love, and by the end of the school year decided to get married, but with marriage by midshipmen prohibited, he chose to withdraw from the Academy.
Once word got out that he had withdrawn from the Naval Academy, he was heavily recruited by coaches such as Bear Bryant at Kentucky and Johnny Vaught at Ole Miss.
He was finally convinced to attend Arkansas by head coach John Barnhill, but he was no doubt influenced by the fact that his bride-to-be was a student there.
As a running back, he was a three-time All-Southwest Conference selection, and in 1948 he became the first Razorback ever named to an All-American team.
In his two years at Arkansas, he set a new school record of 1,463 yards rushing. In his senior year, he averaged 7 yards a carry.
At his graduation, his number 12 was retired. That was 1948, and in the years since, while Arkansas has had 21 consensus All-Americans, he remains one of only two Razorbacks to have had his number retired. (The other was Brandon Burlsworth, a former walk-on who earned All-American status and then was tragically killed at age 22 in a highway accident. His jersey was retired in 1999.)
While at Arkansas, he wanted to play baseball but Coach Barnhill prohibited it. But he was allowed to run track, where he set school records in the 100-yard dash, the 220 low hurdles, the 110 high hurdles, the 440-yard relay, and the javelin.
His 9.4 in the 100 yard dash in the 1948 Southwest Conference meet tied the existing world record but could not count because the SWC did not test for wind. He was the high-point scorer at the meet winning the 100, the high hurdles and low hurdles, finishing third in the javelin, and running a leg on the 440 relay team (that finished third). In all, he scored 42 points using today's scoring rules.
In the 1948 NCAA Track Finals he tied the world record in the 110 high hurdles with a time of 13.7 seconds. That summer he made the U.S. Olympic team in the 110 high hurdles and in 1948 London Olympics he won the silver medal, taking second in a photo finish. He was the first Arkansas athlete to win an Olympic medal.
He was drafted in the first round of the 1949 NFL draft by the NFL champion Philadelphia Eagles and, although plagued by injuries, he spent three seasons with the Eagles and one season with the Detroit Lions before retiring after the 1952 season.
He returned to Arkansas and enjoyed a successful career in business.
Coach Barnhill, quoted later in a book on Arkansas football said, “(He) meant more to the Arkansas program than any other athlete. His coming to Arkansas convinced other Arkansas boys they should stay home.”
Besides being named Arkansas’ Athlete of the Twentieth Century by the Arkansas Daily Gazette, He was a member of the University of Arkansas Sports Hall of Honor, the State of Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame, the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame.
His daughter, Marsha, told of taking him to the Naval Academy in 1993 - the first time he’d been back since resigning in 1945.
At the time, she had a job in Washington, DC in the Clinton administration and, she recalled…
“I had asked about setting up a private tour and he agreed. That was 1993, almost 50 years later. He'd never said much about leaving Navy. We all knew that was very tough to do, but they frowned on married students and he was in love.
“It was difficult. We all knew he was proud of going to Navy, but he just didn't talk about it.”
The tour, just dad and daughter. was conducted by a young navy officer.
“It started off very quiet,” she said. “Dad just wasn't saying much. We went to a couple of places and then to the athletic hall, the dorm.”
At the top of a stairway that led to the dorm rooms. there was a wall lined with Navy players inducted into the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame.
“There were three plaques – with pictures – on the wall when we made the first turn,” Marsha said. “They were Roger Staubach’s, Joe Bellino’s and Dad's. The ensign stopped and turned to look at Dad. He said, 'That's you!' And when he did, Dad started crying. The ensign started crying. I did, too.
“From that point forward, Dad lit up. He had a great time.
“I think it was a great time of healing.