Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government of any other.
FRIDAY,
JANUARY 15, 2021 - “What
a compliment to all the teams in the country that went back out
there and finished this thing! For us to be even talking about a
national championship game is remarkable.” Dave Clawson, Wake Forest
coach
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.)
NOW, MORE THAN EVER - PRAY FOR OUR
COUNTRY
I truly fear
that we're witnessing the death of our wonderful country at the hands
of some of the most evil and venal persons to walk the face of this
earth. I'm rounding third in the Game of Life, but for the sake of all
the people I love whose lives lie ahead of them, I pray that I'm wrong.
NEXT
ZOOM CLINIC - NUMBER 40! - ON TUESDAY JAN 19 at
5
PM
PACIFIC, 8 PM EASTERN
EMAIL ME TO GET ON THE INVITE LIST - coachhw@mac.com
*********** BLACK LION AWARD EXTENDED TO
TEAMS THAT AREN’T PLAYING IN THE FALL!
A coach, whether or not his team is playing a fall season, may
now nominate for the Black Lion Award a player who has been
a
demonstrated leader of his teammates in these tough times. That
leadership could show itself in a number of different ways and we’re
leaving it up to the coach to describe it.
We think that leadership in the work of preparation - made even tougher
by virtual learning and assorted state restrictions - is as worthy of
recognition as leadership in the actual game, so therefore, even
if his team doesn’t play football this fall, a player can qualify for
the Black Lion Award by demonstrating that he has been willing to
lead from the front - to get his teammates to do the things that he
knows need to be done.
We ask that the head coach contact us - blacklionaward@mac.com -
to register his team by giving us (1) his name and (2) his team’s name
and (3) the address where the award should be sent.
And then we ask the head coach to write the nomination - to “write him
up” as if he were recommending the player for a military medal.
We do insist that the letter (an e-mail is best) and what it says
honors the player just as much as the Black Lion Award does.
There is never any cost to you or your school to take part in the Black
Lion Award program. The Black Lion Award is privately funded and is not
in any way a recruitment tool. (I am a football coach and I administer
the award.)
(Your player will receive a certificate and a Black Lions "patch,"
and his name and his letter will become a part of the Annual Report to
the patrons of the Black Lion Award. If you nominate a player for his
leadership efforts during the preparation period, you may still present
a second award for your spring season.)
*********** If I were asked to describe Alabama in one word, I’d say,
“Whew.”
Great performance Monday night. Great job in the playoffs.
Great season.
Great team. Maybe the greatest ever. I’ve been following football
since the 1940s, and I know it’s foolish to compare teams from
different eras. In my case, although I’ve seen many good teams,
in fairness, I’ve looked at them over the years through different
lenses. Now, looking at this Alabama team through the lens of a
longtime coach, I can’t imagine any of the teams from the past staying
on the field with them.
There have been other teams just as dominant - Notre Dame and Army in
the late 40s come to mind. In the span of seven seasons from 1943
through 1949, Notre Dame had three Heisman Trophy winners - Bertelli,
Lujack and Hart - and four national titles. Army, especially when
the War years gave it an unquestioned recruiting advantage, won
back-to-back national titles in 1945 and 1946, , and its ’46 team
placed three players - Glenn Davis, Doc Blanchard and Arnold Tucker -
in the top five of the Heisman balloting. Not until this year’s Alabama
team, with Smith, Harris and Jones, had that been matched.
Bama did not grind out its wins. With great talent and an
imaginative offensive scheme, the Tide averaged an astonishing 48.5
points per game against a schedule that consisted entirely of
conference foes - no “Compass Colleges” - and two of the other three
playoff teams.
And they did it the old-fashioned way, with tough, disciplined
players who played hard and gave no quarter - and kept their mouths
shut.
And they did it with players that they recruited and developed.
And with players that stuck around and waited their turn.
*********** My friend Mike Lude admitted to those of us on my Tuesday
night Zoom that he had a rooting interest in Monday night’s national
championship game. Well, I guess he did.
As AD at Kent State, Mike hired Don James to be his head coach, and he
was the AD when James brought a former player named Nick Saban on as a
graduate assistant. In “Chasing the Bear,” Lars Anderson writes,
“Detailed, organized and systematic in how he approached everything,
James had as large an influence on Saban as any coach other than his
father. Even as a player, Saban was constantly in James’ shadow,
absorbing how he watched film, how he talked to players, how he dealt
with his assistants, how he interacted with the media, how he handled
problems.
When James left to become head coach at Washington, his successor,
Denny Fitzgerald, told Mike he wanted to hire young Saban full-time as
his linebacker coach, and Mike approved.
*********** For the third or fourth - or was it fifth? - straight year,
I watched the championship game on one TV, but listened (and watched)
on another TV turned to ESPN’s “Coaches’ Film Room.”
Who needs the usual BS from
Herbie and whoever, and the breathless girls on the sidelines, when you
can listen to real, honest-to-God college coaches giving you real,
honest-to-God analysis of the game?
Coaches’ Film Room is for the hard core.
This year’s crew was only four - smaller than normal, possibly because
of the social distancing crap. In the studio, but socially distancing
(but NOT WEARING MASKS!!!) were Gene Chizik, who served as moderator,
Hugh Freeze of Liberty, and Dave Clawson of Wake Forest. Tuned in
remote was Sam Washington, of North Carolina A & T. They
never told us why Coach Washington wasn’t in the studio, and to a
certain extent it did seem to limit his participation.
I enjoyed the coaches perspective on a number of topics, including what
you tell your players before a big game like this, and they said things
like, “be yourselves,” “we belong here,” and so on, but all of them, to
a man, said, “Have fun.”
I enjoyed their discussion of the coin toss. Bama deferred, and Coach
Freeze said he always did, too. Coach Clawson said he did, also, not
because he didn’t want the ball, but because he believes more games are
won and lost in what he called the "middle eight" - the four minutes
before and four minutes after halftime - and how scoring before the
half and then coming right back to start the second half with the ball
can lead to a "14-point swing."
Being a ball-control coach myself, I want the ball, but it was
instructive to hear the thinking, and with the offenses that most
college coaches run, it makes sense.
I thought they did an exceptional job of illustrating and explaining
how well Bama OC Steve Sarkisian managed to move DeVonta Smith around
via formationing and motion making him a moving target and making it
impossible for Ohio State to do anything extraordinary to cover him.
Some of the “Return” or “Yoyo” motion that Bama used to flummox the
Buckeyes’ defense so impressed the coaches that you could see them say
“Wow!” as they watched.
They teased each other about where exactly you start to call a “pick” a
“rub,” and they noted the number of times (at least two or three) that
Bama linemen were downfield on RPO’s before finally getting called for
it. The other coaches accused Coach Washington, a defensive guy, of
“calling it in.” Coach Clawson said that the call probably came
from the Ohio State sideline.
As halftime approached and Bama held a 35-17 lead, Coach Chizik brought
up the very real possibility that Bama could score again in the minute
or so left to play and go in leading 42-17. He asked what you
tell your team in a spot like that.
Coach Freeze told how former Ole Miss coach Billy Brewer addressed this
very situation at halftime of a bowl game, telling his
team, “We can go back out there and play for 60 minutes and be
respectable and come back and try to win this thing or we can be on the
bus halfway back to home before they know we’re gone!”
They all had a good laugh at that one, but then Coach Clawson observed,
“That’s a great metaphor for this season. How many teams probably
halfway through the season wanted to get on the bus? What a
compliment to all the teams in the country that went back out
there and finished this thing! For us to be even talking about a
national championship game is remarkable.”
*********** For many years I’ve wanted to go to the AFCA
Convention. The first one I attended was in 1975, in Washington,
DC, and for one reason or another, I haven’t been to one since. Even
after I had the money, I never seemed to have the time.
It’s taking place right now. This year, it’s online, so I ought
to be “attending,” right?
Well, guess what? Crazy as this sounds, I find I still don’t seem
to have the time.
*********** Stewart Mandel, in The Athletic wondered, “What if
Rich Rod had taken the Alabama job?” What if, back in December of
2006, Rich Rodriguez had decided to take the Alabama job? What would
have happened at Bama? What would have happened with Nick Saban?
I’ll answer the first part - the part about Rich Rob.
The Bama job was all his. The Birmingham paper had already broken
the “news” that he’d accepted Bama’s offer. Instead, though, he
crossed ‘em up, and made a last-minute decision to stay at West
Virginia.
Hard to say how Rodriguez would have done in Tuscaloosa. He
stayed just one more year at West Virginia, then jumped to Michigan for
a ton of money. He left Michigan a failure, both on the field (15-22)
and off, accused by the NCAA of numerous violations (the first ever in
the long history of Michigan football).
He was hired a few years later by Arizona, where he not only failed to
meet on-field expectations (43-35 overall, 24-30 in conference play)
but also got hit with a bit of a sex scandal and multimillion-dollar
sexual harassment lawsuit by a university employee.
He has since spent a year as OC at Ole Miss, and most recently was
hired as OC at Louisiana-Monroe.
Nothing there to indicate that Rich Rod would have coached Alabama to
six national titles.
Meanwhile, a month after Rodriguez stiffed him, Bama AD Mal Moore
persuaded Nick Saban, who’d already turned him down once, to be the
Bama coach. Rumors were that Moore told Saban that if he didn’t come
back to Alabama with Saban as his coach, he wasn’t going back - he
might as well just go on to Cuba.
Mandel’s part of the answer concerns Saban: would he have been
able to do what he’s done at Bama at some other school? Mandel
says yes:
Saban was
light years ahead of the competition in terms of applying an NFL-type
personnel operation to college recruiting. We’ve focused a lot lately
on his evolution with offenses, but his success starts with the way
he’s essentially perfected the art of recruiting. Not so much “selling”
recruits — lots of coaches are excellent at that — but identifying and
evaluating the right guys and developing them. You would think at some
point, one of his annual top-three classes just wouldn’t pan out. It’s
yet to happen. And I have no doubt he could have replicated his
operation at a school with the resources to let him hire his small army
of support staffers.
*********** If I were younger (and qualified) I’d coach in the NFL, but
only for the same reason that veterans of combat in Iraq signed
up to work with Blackwater as contractors: the money’s
good.
Period.
No, I’m not going soft and starting to take an interest in the NFL once
again. I said at the start that I was done with The League as it
now exists, except as an object of my scorn.
Which brings up the Philadelphia Eagles. As a native Philadelphian, I
continue to be shocked at how quickly they can piss away something that
was so long in coming.
Now comes this - a local writer’s claim that at the root of Pederson’s
firing is prize QB Carson Wentz, who for all his great promise has won
one less Super Bowl than Pederson (just in case the world has forgotten
that it was won by a guy named Nick Foles playing QB).
Here’s how the writer, Marcus Hayes, started his story:
Carson
Wentz will hire the next coach. It makes sense. After all, he fired the
last one.
Jeffrey Lurie made
this plain Monday, when he ushered Pederson out the door and patted him
on the back with a hand wearing the only Super Bowl ring Lurie’s ever
owned. Then again, considering Pederson won him that ring and not
Wentz, maybe that hand performed more of a stabbing motion.
The issue seems to be
that Wentz' contract runs longer than the coach's, and the genius owner
and his toady GM seem to think that Wentz (who really hasn't done that
much yet to justify his monster contract) holds the future of the
franchise in his hands.
Wow. Fun times in Philly. Damn shame the guys can’t go down to
the local tappie and hash out the Iggles’ problems. (Which are
exceeded in importance only by the issue of the tap rooms being
closed.)
https://www.inquirer.com/eagles/philadelphia-eagles-doug-pederson-jeffrey-lurie-carson-wentz-20210113.html
*********** A Stradivarius is worth millions. It’s a great piece
of work.
So is a Frank Lloyd Wright home.
So is a painting by Picasso.
In sports, people have long admired the sort of greatness that doesn’t
come along every day. In almost any field, they’ve turned out in large
numbers to watch the very best perform, whether it be a Secretariat, or
a Muhammad Ali. Or the Montreal Canadiens or Boston Celtics of the
1950s. When I lived in Baltimore in the 1960s, and the Yankees
came to town to play the Orioles? Packed house.
But not today’s people, evidently. Not even when it’s free.
TV ratings for the championship game were way down, evidently, and
although Monday night may not be the best time to broadcast a college
game, there’s also some speculation that “Alabama Boredom” may have
something to do with it. In other words, the public, that great
mass of unwashed that doesn’t really follow football most of the time,
tuning into big games only because they’re events, wants entertainment,
not Alabama.
To them, it’s not about the chance to get one last look at one of the
greatest college football teams ever. Greatness be damned.
Ordinarily, I’d say screw those dilettantes, but here’s the problem:
fewer viewers translates to less money. And money, let’s stop
kidding ourselves, is why they play college football.
All around us, the world’s been turned upside-down, so I guess it
shouldn't surprise anyone to learn that there’s such a thing as a
team’s being too good for its own good.
*********** By the way, after seeing Alabama dispatch a team of the
quality of Ohio State, after Ohio State had just sent Clemson packing…
can anybody tell me how, exactly, the Playoff would have been
enhanced/improved by the addition of four more teams, meaning one more
weekend of blowout games just to get rid of four teams that had no
business being in a playoff?
*********** It does seem as though we keep seeing the same five or six
teams in the field when it comes time near the end of the season to
pick the four playoff semifinalists, but it wasn’t that long ago that
things were different.
To show how things can change, look at this, from just 10 years ago:
AP Final Poll - 2010
1. Auburn (14-0)
2. TCU (13-0)
3. Oregon (13-1)
4. Stanford (12-1)
*********** Those of you who remember Reggie Bush’s illegal mansion and
the investigation that led to his forfeiting of the Heisman Trophy and
USC’s being stripped of a national title will recognize the dishonesty
in this sentence in an article about Seattle Seahawks’ General Manager
John Schneider:
“Schneider arrived as general manager in 2010 after Carroll had been
lured from college football…”
“Lured,” eh? Make me laugh. From Wikipedia...
Wrote Los
Angeles Times sportswriter Jerry Crowe, "It's somehow apt that the
Trojans were asked to return the Grantland Rice Trophy after being
stripped of the 2004 Football Writers Assn. of America national
championship... Grantland Rice was the legendary early 20th century
sportswriter who wrote, 'When the great scorer comes/to mark against
your name/He'll write not 'won' or 'lost'/but how you played the game.'"
Among Carroll's
critics in the media was longtime Los Angeles Times sportswriter Bill
Plaschke, who said that in one stroke, Carroll went
from a
coach who presided over the greatest days in USC football history to
one who was in charge of its biggest embarrassment. He goes from saint
to scallywag. Carroll says he didn't know about the Bush violations.
That now seems impossible... ...he made $33 million from violations
that will cost his old school its reputation, and folks here will never
look at him the same.
Sporting News
writer Mike Florio called for the Seahawks to fire Carroll, saying that
"justice won't truly be served until the only coaching Carroll ever
does entails holding an Xbox controller."
On August 26, 2010,
the Football Writers Association of America announced it would take
back USC's 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy and leave that year's award
vacant, the only vacancy in the over half century of the history of the
award. The FWAA also said it would not consider USC as a candidate for
the award for the 2010 season. New USC athletic director Pat Haden said
USC would return the trophy, stating, "While we know that some fans and
former student-athletes may be disappointed, our central priority at
this time is our overall commitment to compliance and this action is in
line with the standards we have set for our entire athletic program."
(I don’t ordinarily like to quote Wikipedia, because it’s a lazy way to
go, and because Wikipedia’s sources are often sketchy, but in this case
it’s merely quoting reputable writers.)
*********** With Iowa State finally crashing the Top Ten in this year’s
final poll, there remain just six (of 65) Power 5 conference teams that
have never been ranked in the Top Ten:
NC State
Rutgers
Texas Tech
Vanderbilt
Virginia
Wake Forest
*********** Until this season, Indiana and Iowa State had gone the
longest of any Power 5 schools without a ranking in the Top 25. Indiana
had gone unranked since 1988, and Iowa State since 2000.
Those who’ve now gone unranked the longest, with their last ranked year
in parentheses, and their coach at the time:
Purdue (2003) Coach Joe Tiller
Virginia (2004) Coach Al Groh
Wake Forest (2006) Coach Jim Grobe
Rutgers (2006) Coach Greg Schiano
Cal (2006) Coach Jeff Tedford
Illinois (2007) Coach Ron Zook
BC (2007) Coach Jeff Jagodzinski
Kansas (2007) Coach Mark Mangino
Texas Tech (2009) Coach Mike Leach
Pitt (2009) Dave Wannstedt
*********** I ran into one of my former players today. He’s a cop
in town, and naturally we got to talking about, um "current
events." Let’s just say I sure hope there are more cops like him.
I’d call him a tough guy, and I’m qualified to say that. Despite
the fact that he wasn’t all that big, he played fullback and linebacker
for me, and he was an outstanding wrestler and a catcher on the
baseball team. He’s been on the force a while now, and he’s been active
in teaching self-defense.
He says he’s shocked at how few officers nowadays know how to
fight. He meant, how to handle themselves in a physical
confrontation, and he attributes it to a general softness overall in
new recruits (“a lot of them are wimps”), to the limitations on
submission techniques that are placed on officers, and to the fact that
self-defense training is one of the first things to go when police
departments are forced to trim their budgets. His theory is that
officer-involved shootings often stem from that - that officers who
simply are unable physically to subdue bad guys wind up resorting to
gunfire.
*********** The former player I was talking to said that he recently
visited his dad in Post Falls, Idaho. Post Falls is just across
the border from Spokane, Washington, but it might as well be in another
country. Washington is like Dead State Walking. Idaho, on the
other hand, is like America used to be. Idaho’s schools are open, and
Idaho had a real high school football season. And get this: in
Idaho, bars and restaurants are open for business. One hundred
per cent occupancy allowed, and you don’t have to wear a f—king mask.
He especially recommended a place called the Oval Office, owned by a
guy who also owns a place up the street called the White House.
Needless to say, I was told, there are a lot of cars in the parking lot
with Washington plates. The nerve. I am tempted to alert our
Governor Dipshit so he can have state police meeting them at the border
and arresting them as potential Super Spreaders.
*********** Longtime coach Bill Lawlor writes from Palatine, Illinois…
One thing that really jumped out at me this college football season was
the large amount of players that did not have their mouthpieces
in. Many times this was so obvious and flagrant but I was under
the impression it was a penalty still under NCAA rules. I know
they don't care about knee pads anymore but with the rise of
concussions you would think they would enforce this more rather than
less?
*********** Hugh,
Doug Pederson will be a head coach in the NFL again. So many HC's
at that level get recycled every few years.
My brother-in-law lived in Portland a few years ago. He recently
went back for a meeting. Told my wife he hardly recognized it.
Fortunately I have only worked in small Catholic schools. In our
budgets Gatorade was considered a "luxury" item so we used it
sparingly. I'm lucky I have never been doused with it. Just water.
Hewlett-Packard has experienced a lull recently. Their CEO is one
Meg Whitman. She obviously never learned anything on a football
field.
Maybe if Walter Payton were playing in today's NFL he would be
considered a trailblazer??
After watching last night's championship game Sark will at least be
coming into Austin with more "cred" than Tom Herman did.
Hopefully Sark won't relapse.
Thanks for the advice on how to use a Zoom presentation, especially on
a Mac. God only knows how much we will be needing to know those
things from now on.
Echoing those comments about Bill Walsh. I met him back in his
heyday at SF when I was working at USF. Not a really friendly
guy. As opposed to Bud Wilkinson who obviously was a no-nonsense
guy.
Have a good week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: No less a judge of talent than Al Davis once
called Cookie Gilchrist "the best all-around back in football."
John Madden said he was very possibly “the best blocking running back
that ever played the game."
Big (6-2, 250), strong a fast, he set all sorts of rushing records in
high school, in western Pennsylvania, and in 1954, straight out of high
school, he showed up at the Cleveland Browns’ camp in Hiram, Ohio,
asking for a tryout. When his father told Browns’ coach Paul Brown that
his son had no interest in going to college, the Browns gave him a
look, but they were forbidden by NFL rules to sign any player whose
college class had not graduated, and after commissioner Bert Bell’s
warning not to sign him, he was off to Canada.
There have been rumors over the years that the Browns actually drafted
him while he was still in high school, but Brown in his memoirs made no
mention of that.
After leaving the Browns he would stay - and play - in Canada for eight
years before returning to the US. He spent two years playing at a lower
level, but by his third year in the North, in his rookie year in
the CFL, he was named All-CFL, and would earn that honor for five
straight seasons.
In 1962, he signed with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL.
He became the first AFL player to rush for over 1,000 yards, and led
the AFL in rushing. He led the league in rushing twice, and in
carries for three times.
He spent three years in Buffalo, and led the league in scoring all
three years. In 1962, he scored 128 points, setting the All-Time
AFL record for touchdowns (13) and - get this - kicking 14
PAT's and eight field goals. He was named the AFL’s MVP.
In a 1963 game against the Jets he rushed for 243 yards, then a
professional one-game record.
In the Bills’ 1964 AFL title game win over the Chargers, he rushed for
122 yards.
Despite playing only three years in Buffalo, he still ranks ninth among
the Bills’ all-time rushers, and his 4.5 yards per carry is second only
to a former Bills’ runner named Simpson (yes, O.J.).
But as good as he was, he wore out his welcome in Buffalo. “An athlete
should be traded every two or three years," he once said. "It keeps him
from becoming complacent." He must never have become complacent,
because in his 12-year career he placed for six different teams:
Hamilton, Saskatchewan and Toronto in the CFL, and Buffalo, Miami and
Denver in the AFL.
Although he was considered the best runner in the AFL, Buffalo coach
Lou Saban put him on waivers during the 1964 regular season, and only
after team leaders persuaded him to do so did he relent and recall his
star. But immediately after winning the championship, Saban traded him
to Denver.
In one way he was ahead of his time. By the standards of the times he
was considered a difficult player to work with. Today, though, he might
not have seemed so unusual.
It didn’t take Broncos' coach Mac Speedie long to grow tired of
him. After learning that he had been traded to Miami, Speedie
said, "For me, Christmas came early.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING COOKIE GILCHRIST
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
JOHN GREENBURG - PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
Cookie Gilchrist is the man in today's question.
http://www.remembertheafl.com/CookieGilchrist.htm
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
*********** QUIZ: A native of Carnegie, Pennsylvania, he played his
football at the University of Maryland.
As a split-T quarterback, he led the Terps to an upset over national
champion Tennessee in the Sugar Bowl (in the days when the national
title was conferred before the bowls were played).
In his senior season of 1953, he led the Terps to the national
championship, but ironically, they were beaten in the bowl game - the
1954 Orange Bowl - by Oklahoma.
He was an All-American and Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the
Year, and he finished in fourth pace in the Heisman voting.
He was drafted in the first round by the 49ers, the 11th player taken
overall, but he was also drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos of the
CFL. Their new coach, Pop Ivy, had been on the Oklahoma staff in
the Orange Bowl and saw in him the perfect quarterback for his system
in Canada. When the 49ers offered him $9,000 - that was for a whole
season - the Eskimos offered $12,500, and at a time when the Canadian
dollar was worth more than the US dollar, he was off to Canada.
In his first year in Edmonton he justified the Eskimos faith in him,
taking them to the Grey Cup. He then had to spend two years in
the US military, and when he was discharged, he signed as a free agent
with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
He had his best years in Hamilton, leading the TiCats to two Grey Cups
in his eight years there. The win in 1957 made him the first
quarterback to win a Grey Cup for an Eastern team and a Western team.
In 1961 he won the Schenley Award, given to the CFL’s Most Outstanding
Player, and he was named the Eastern Conference All-Star quarterback
five times.
In 1965, he was traded to Montreal, and for his play he was named the
winner of the Jeff Russell Memorial Trophy as Most Valuable Player in
the East.
He spent one last season with the BC Lions before retiring.
In all, he completed 1,493 passes in 2,876 attempts for 24,264 yards
and 153 touchdowns.
He is honored by membership in the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame,
the Maryland Sports Hall of Fame, the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, the
Canada Sports Hall of Fame and the CFL Hall of Fame.
In 2006 he was named one of the Top 50 Players of the CFL’s
modern era.
After retirement he made his home in Hamilton, where he ran a heavy
equipment company until his death in 1999 of colon cancer.
TUESDAY,
JANUARY 12, 2021 - "I
couldn't wait for success, so I went ahead without it." Jonathan
Winters
*********** Yeah, the money's good, but... Seems only yesterday the
Eagles finally won a Super Bowl, and the people of Philly were
lining up to kiss Doug Pederson's ring. Actually, it was three years
ago. So what's he done lately? Today, he was fired. What a
terrible existence.
*********** On Saturday my wife and I decided to take a run over to
Portland. It’s just across the Columbia River from Camas, and in
light traffic, downtown Portland is only about 30 minutes from where we
live. But this was our first look at it in more than 10 months -
since all the China Flu and the Mostly Peaceful Protests started.
In a word, it’s sorry. The perfect storm of COVID lockdowns,
riots and homeless encampments had taken its toll.
Once, a nice Saturday morning would have brought out large numbers of
people to shop or just walk around.
But on this nice Saturday morning, there weren’t many places open, nor
were there many people walking around. And those we did see were,
I must say, a rather unattractive and bedraggled lot.
We drove around what I would estimate to be a roughly 100-block area of
what used to be a vibrant, inviting downtown, stunned by the number of
boarded-up storefronts and closed-for-good businesses, most
graffiti-covered, many with homeless sleeping in their entryways.
Once away from the downtown, things hadn’t been so affected by the
riots, but the restaurants and bars remained pretty much closed.
And the homeless had spread out into nearly every neighborhood.
Downtown businesses are said to be facing a several weeks-long wait to
have their plate glass windows replaced. I don’t know why they’d
bother. Even if the flu were to vanish tomorrow, and the governor were
to tell restaurants they could reopen for indoor dining at 100 per cent
capacity, they’d still have to entice people to come and take their
chances with aggressive homeless panhandlers accosting them on the
street and anarchists likely to riot on a moment’s notice.
*********** Looking at some old photos, I saw a lot of shots of
coaches being honored after a big win - being carried on the shoulders
of their players to the midfield handshake with the losing coach.
Sadly, I contrasted that with the now-mandatory - and degrading -
ritual of the Gatorade bath.
How strange that college coaches continue to allow themselves to be
drenched with ice-cold, sticky, “sports drink.” Are you going to
try to tell me that millionaire college coaches, who run their own
little fiefdoms with powers that a Roman emperor would envy, can’t
order the equipment people to make sure that Gatorade jugs are emptied
once the clock hits the five minute mark? Are you going to try to
tell me that players who have to go without their beverage for five
minutes or so are going to die of dehydration?
My theory is that this goes hand in glove with coaches becoming
increasingly tolerant of all sorts of aberrant behavior, fearing that
imposing discipline might get them a reputation that hurts them in
recruiting. There’s something smelly about the whole deal - as if it
exposes, briefly, the unspoken truth that underneath it all, the
players are in control, and the coaches serve at their pleasure.
*********** Michael Malone in the Wall Street Journal called it "the
most momentous meeting of the modern world." It took place in the fall
of 1930, as two candidates for the same position on the Stanford
freshman football team sized each other up. One was the son of a lawyer
from Pueblo, Colorado; the other was the son of a San Francisco doctor.
One of them would make the team; the other would be cut after a few
days. No matter - they ran into each other again from time to time over
the next few years, and by junior year, both engineering majors, they
had grown to be close friends. So close that a few years after
graduation one of their former professors suggested they form their own
company.
This they did, and so, in a one-car garage in Palo Alto - now a
California Historical Monument - William Hewlett and David Packard
founded Hewlett-Packard, the company which blazed the trail for the
growth of America's high-tech industry and the Silicon Valley itself.
From the first, the company showed others the way as a progressive
employer, becoming, in 1942, the first American corporation to provide
medical benefits to its employees.
No matter how large Hewlett-Packard grew - $48 billion in sales and
89,000 employees - the two men maintained a personal interest in their
company; the "H-P Way" became the name given to their management
philosophy, which included innovations such as "MBWA" - Management by
Walking Around - requiring managers to get their butts out of their
chairs and go get in touch with what is actually going on.
The two founders donated enormous sums of money to charities, including
at least $300 million to their alma mater, Stanford. Mr. Packard died
in 1996. Mr. Hewlett passed away in 2001. It was said that in
nearly 70 years of working closely together, no harsh word ever passed
between the two men.
And it all started on a football field.
*********** "Another thing that I took from Coach Hill (Bob Hill, his
college coach) was how a man should carry himself on the field. I never
appreciated the guys who would do little jigs in the end zone and stuff
like that. You see guys on television today, they make a five yard gain
and they have to do a dance. Or they make one tackle and they all
celebrate. That's not football and that's not what you are out there
for. I used to watch these guys, disgusted, I'd say, "Look at them,
it's all about showing off and stuff like that." It's not about
football. I really have a lot of disrespect for players like that. I've
never liked it and never understood it."
Walter Payton, from his book, “Never Die Easy”
*********** It will certainly be interesting to see how “rehabilitated”
Steve Sarkisian is from his Washington and USC days. He’d better
watch his ass, because I think he is going to find that in Austin
he is in much more of a goldfish bowl than he was in either Seattle or
Los Angeles. Texans have standards, too, and no matter how much
he wins, the off-the-field things that turned Huskies and Trojans
against him are just as likely to offend Longhorns. He’s already
starting out with two strikes against him: like the previous six
coaches at UT, he’s not Darrell Royal.
*********** A coach asked me a few things about making a Zoom
presentation, and while I wouldn’t exactly call myself a pro, I would
say that with Clinic Number 39 coming up, I’ve learned a few tricks.
I’ve been a Mac guy since the days when only geeks used Macs, and so
some things I say may not be useful to non-Mac users.
First of all, the content - which other than the times when you’re a
talking head is most likely to be a video or a prepared presentation…
I’ve found that videos embedded in presentation software (PowerPoint,
Keynote) work okay when you’re presenting live, but when you’re doing
it on Zoom something is lost. Videos just don’t look as good - they
seem a bit jerky, I’ve found, and you don’t have the control -
back and forth, stop action, slomo - that you have when you use a
separate video player app.
Although that means having to stop your presentation and switch over to
the video viewer just to show your video, it may be preferable to
showing a video that’s jerky and hard to watch.
For my presentations, I use Mac’s own QuickTime player.
I also use it for 90 per cent of my video preparation. It’s
amazingly versatile. Using it, I can easily assemble a number of
different clips into one lengthy video, and if I need to find one
special play in a video of an entire game and extract it, I can do that
easily, too.
If there’s anything else I need to do beyond simple cut-and-paste
editing - such as special effects, slow motion, freeze frame, titles or
highlights, zooming in or out, or screen capture - I use a program
called Screen Flow. As far as I know, it’s still available only for
Mac. It’s fairly expensive, but it’s really a killer app.
For presentation software, PowerPoint is well known, and of course it’s
good, but so is Keynote, Apple’s own presentation app. I’m
beginning to find I like Keynote a little more because it seems a
little more stable with my Mac.
In setting up for a presentation, when I have a number of videos to
share,I first open them in QuickTime, and then, one by one, click on
the yellow “minimize” dot in the upper left hand corner of each of
them; that will keep them open but shrink them to “thumbnail”
size and send them to the lower right edge of the dock, where they’ll
be arranged in the order in which I minimized them. Once I’ve got
them there, I can grab and arrange them or rearrange them in any order
I choose.
I do the same with any other materials I plan on using, such as Keynote
presentations. Now, once my “clinic” is under way and I need to
find the next item to show, I know just where to find it.
The last thing you want to be doing when people are waiting to see what
you’ve got is trying to find it!
*********** After Bret Bielama’s recent hiring by Illinois, someone
commented that it would be an easy job because Illinois people are
easily pleased, and got this response…
As a UI
alumnus who has lived more than a half century, I always chuckle when
people say “Illinois will be content with 6-7 wins per season in
football”. Oh, but if it were true! Whenever Illinois football achieves
any modicum of significant success (see Mike White taking UI to a Rose
Bowl, Ron Turner taking UI to a BCS Bowl, Ron Zook taking UI to a Rose
Bowl), the fan base decides “Why not us?” and the fans’ standards
change mightily. Good luck, Brett. Perhaps your role model in this job
should be John Mackovic. He coached consistently competitive teams, but
never reached the heights that would have turned the fickle UI fanbase
against him.
*********** Years ago, at a Seattle clinic, I went up to Bill Walsh
after he’d finished a presentation, and I asked him a question. I
can’t remember what it was, but I’ll never forget the look he gave
me. It was as if I’d asked him if it was true that the sun rises
in the East. How dare anybody waste the Great Man’s time with a
question like that? Okay, Mr. A$$hole, I said to myself.
You’ll get yours.
So it was with a bit of enjoyment that I read that at least one other
person saw Mister Walsh for what he was.
In re-readimg "Manning," by Archie and Peyton Manning, with John
Underwood, Archie said…
"About
that time (following Peyton's junior season in high school) I ran into
Bill Walsh, the former 49ers coach, in New York, and Walsh told me I
should send Peyton to his camp at Stanford University in Palo Alto. He
said, 'I always pull out the top five or six quarterbacks and we work
with them individually every day in the stadium. It's a terrific
learning experience.'
"The opportunity
was too good to pass up. That summer Peyton got a friend, Walker Jones.
another prospect whose father had played at Ole Miss, to go with him...
all the way to northern California to learn at the feet of an offensive
master. They were there for five days. But the master, Coach Walsh, was
there for only one. For pictures. And that was it. He never showed for
any of the workouts. Peyton was not happy."
*********** A few years back, Berry Tranel, in The Oklahoman (Oklahoma
City’s daily newspaper) passed along a story about legendary Oklahoma
Sooners’ coach Bud Wilkinson, told him by Benton O’Neal, one of three
brothers who played for Coach Wilkinson in the 1950s.
“After spring practice each year, Coach Wilkinson would schedule a
one-on-one individual meeting with each sophomore, junior and senior
returning for the next fall. It was an intense meeting. If in his
estimation you were not the caliber of player he was looking for at OU,
he would tell you that and you were not invited back to the team next
fall. If those not invited back were a scholarship player, he would
offer them to keep it and complete their degree. Some did; however,
most opted to transfer to Division II, NAIA, etc. Word would get around
to the ones invited back and they were heartless to the non-invitees by
playing some sad song about them losing their saddle.
“He would point out to the players invited back for fall practice,
which was about 65 to 70, to work on their weaknesses during the
summer. New freshmen were not eligible for the varsity team. Bud knew
through injuries, flunkouts, dropouts and normal matriculation that
number would drop down to about 55 to 60 sophomores, juniors and
seniors after two-a-day practices. Out of this group he would put
together five teams capable of playing offense, defense and special
teams, being five deep at all positions. That meant five deep at right
end, right tackle, right guard, center, left guard, left tackle, left
end, quarterback, right halfback, left halfback and fullback.
https://tulsaworld.com/sportsextra/ousportsextra/did-bud-wilkinson-cut-players-from-the-ou-football-team/article_9880134d-8212-5200-9311-a5f9f007d38a.html
*********** Hugh,
We need more Mike Johnsons in colleges PERIOD.
Doc Holliday is likely the best example of the rising cases of age
discrimination in college AND high school football. Not just
because he is "only" 63 years old, but because he is "old school" in
his approach to coaching.
The Slot-T (a similar looking offense to the DW) is very much alive and
well in Texas. A number of them can be found spread out around
the state, and a number of them played in the state tournament.
Two of them who run it, and run it well, are playing in the two
state semi-final games this weekend. Both from the Austin area.
Unfortunately they will not meet if they win because one is a 6A
school and the other a 5A school. If they did play it would
likely be the shortest played game in the history of Texas high school
football.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Tom Fears was one of the greatest receivers in
the history of pro football. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, the
son of a Mexican mother and an American father who worked as an
engineer in Mexico. He grew up speaking both English and Spanish,
and all his life he remained proud of his Mexican heritage.
He
played high school
football at Los Angeles’ Manual Arts High, then played one season at
Santa Clara before being drafted into the Army in World War II.
At
that time, his father, who had been working in the Philippines, was
being held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Hoping to become a
fighter pilot, he instead wound up serving stateside as a flight
instructor while playing service football.
After his discharge, although he had been drafted by the Rams (who had
just moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland), he enrolled at UCLA, where
he was an All-American in 1946 and 1947. While at UCLA, boosters had
managed to get him and some teammates well-paying roles in movies, and
when he signed with the Rams in 1948, he joked that to play pro
football he had to take a cut in pay. (For the record, he was the
first Mexican-American drafted by an NFL team.)
Although drafted as a defensive back, he soon was moved to
offense,
where he was perfect for the Rams’ then-wide open attack. At 6-2,
215
he had good size, and he had decent speed, but his strength was in
running precise routes and, years before there was any thought given to
a “five-yard check” rule, doing so fearlessly. In his first
year,
1948, he led the NFL in receiving and was named Rookie of the Year.
In 1949, he broke the legendary Don Hutson’s single-season record of 73
receptions, when he caught 77 passes. In his third season, 1950,
he
caught 84 passes in 12 games, a record that would last for 50 years,
until it was broken by Terrell Owens (in 14 games). In one game against
the Packers, he caught a then-record 18 passes.
The very next week, against the Bears, he helped the Rams win a spot in
the NFL championship game with touchdown receptions of 86, 43 and 27
yards. For his great season, he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable
Player.
His overall performance began to taper off, and he retired after the
1956 season.
He then spent eight years as an assistant in the NFL, including four
years at Green Bay from 1962-1965 under Vince Lombardi, before being
hired in1967 to coach the expansion New Orleans Saints. As might
have
been expected, he won just 13 games in his three seasons there, and
found himself out of work.
The most significant thing he accomplished during his time in New
Orleans may have been identifying and grooming the receiving talent of
Dan Abramowicz, a 17th round draft pick from Xavier who would go on to
play 111 games in the NFL, and at the time he retired held the NFL
record for most consecutive games catching at least one pass (105).
After leaving the Saints, he took a year off, spent spent two
more
years as offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, then
returned to Southern California as head coach of the World Football
League Southern California Sun, a position he held for two years until
the WFL folded (for the second time).
After that, he held a number of positions in a variety of football
operations and leagues, but he never worked in the NFL again. He
claimed that he was blacklisted, after having served as technical
advisor in the making of the movie “North Dallas Forty,” whose
portrayal of the league and its players the League found objectionable.
Tom Fears' overall career stats of 400 receptions for 5,397 yards and
38
touchdowns, especially coming as they did as the NFL was just beginning
to emphasize the pass, were more than enough to earn him a spot in the
NFL Hall of Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING TOM FEARS
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
CHARLIE WILSON - CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
*********** QUIZ: No less a judge of talent than Al Davis once called
him "the best all-around back in football."
John Madden said he was very possibly “the best blocking running back
that ever played the game."
Big (6-2, 250), strong and fast, he set all sorts of rushing
records in high school, in western Pennsylvania, and in 1954, straight
out of high school, he showed up at the Cleveland Browns’ camp in
Hiram, Ohio, asking for a tryout. When his father told Browns’ coach
Paul Brown that his son had no interest in going to college, the Browns
gave him a look, but they were forbidden by NFL rules to sign any
player whose college class had not graduated, and after commissioner
Bert Bell’s warning not to sign him, he was off to Canada.
There have been rumors over the years that the Browns actually drafted
him while he was still in high school, but Brown in his memoirs made no
mention of that.
After leaving the Browns he would stay - and play - in Canada for eight
years before returning to the US. He spent two years playing at a lower
level, but by his third year in the North, in his rookie year in
the CFL, he was named All-CFL, and would earn that honor for five
straight seasons.
In 1962, he signed with the Buffalo Bills of the AFL.
He became the first AFL player to rush for over 1,000 yards, and led
the AFL in rushing. He led the league in rushing twice, and in
carries for three times.
He spent three years in Buffalo, and led the league in scoring all
three years. In 1962, he scored 128 points, setting the All-Time
AFL record for touchdowns (13) and - get this - kicking 14
PAT's and eight field goals. He was named the AFL’s MVP.
In a 1963 game against the Jets he rushed for 243 yards, then a
professional one-game record.
In the Bills’ 1964 AFL title game win over the Chargers, he rushed for
122 yards.
Despite playing only three years in Buffalo, he still ranks ninth among
the Bills’ all-time rushers, and his 4.5 yards per carry is second only
to a former Bills’ runner named Simpson (yes, O.J.).
But as good as he was, he wore out his welcome in Buffalo. “An athlete
should be traded every two or three years," he once said. "It keeps him
from becoming complacent." He must never have become complacent,
because in his 12-year career he placed for six different teams:
Hamilton, Saskatchewan and Toronto in the CFL, and Buffalo, Miami and
Denver in the AFL.
Although he was considered the best runner in the AFL, Buffalo coach
Lou Saban put him on waivers during the 1964 regular season, and only
after team leaders persuaded him to do so did he relent and recall his
star. But immediately after winning the championship, Saban traded him
to Denver.
In one way he was ahead of his time. By the standatrds of his day, he
was considered a difficult player to work with. By today's standards,
though, he might not have seemed so unusual.
It didn’t take Broncos' coach, Mac Speedie, long to get tired of him.
After learning that he had been traded to Miami, Speedie said,
"For me, Christmas came early."
FRIDAY,
JANUARY 8, 2021 - "One
man with courage makes a majority." Andrew Jackson
*********** How many were the
times, just during the bowl season, that we’ve seen coaches have to go
onto the field to break up a scuffle?

On
the other hand, how many times did we we see even one player step in
and break up a fight before coaches even had to be called?
Between the many great plays, and the many displays of poor
sportsmanship and outright gangster behavior, it’s understandable that
we don’t get to see many acts of courageous leadership, so I thought it
worthwhile to make note of the actions on one Army football
player.
One special Army football player.
His name’s Mike Johnson. He’s a senior from Hinsdale, Illinois, and
he’s been a regular at left guard all season, so he's familiar with
hard-nosed football.
In the recent Liberty Bowl game against West Virginia, after a
seven-minute-long drive to open the second half resulted in an Army
touchdown, he was celebrating, along with the rest of the Army
offense, when a West Virginia player (#9 if you must know) ran from the
other side of the line, hitting an Army player in the back and knocking
him to the ground. (As if he’d had some experience doing such things,
or perhaps because he was ashamed of what he’d just done, Mister 9
turned and slunk away undetected.)
A couple of the Army guys, understandably pissed, got in the faces of a
couple of Mountaineers (who quite possibly had no idea what had
happened to provoke them).
Here’s where Mike Johnson came in. He’s the guy at the left in
the circle. (Did I mention he’s a team captain?)

After “suggesting” that a West Virginian back up, he's seen here
applying a double horse collar to the two teammates and pulling
them back from the confrontation.
Then, looking around and seeing other teammates showing signs of
wanting to get in on the action, he physically turned them
around, and pointing toward the Army sideline, directed them to leave
the scene.
Being a West Point Cadet, he led. And being West Point Cadets,
his teammates respected his authority.
It’s pretty dramatic when you look at it, because few are the occasions
in today’s society that a guy will take a strong stand for what’s
right, even though it might make him unpopular.
That's tough in today's society, where popularity ranks second only to
fame in importance.
But that’s what a leader does. Right is right, and popularity be
damned.
*********** Doc Holliday is out at Marshall.
Two weeks ago, he was named Conference-USA Coach of the Year. He earned
the honor - his Thundering Herd went 7-3 this year and won its
division. When he took over the program it had had only two
winning seasons in the previous seven, and in his 11 years there, he
went 85-54. His teams won three division titles, six bowl games and the
2014 Conference-USA championship.
That might be enough to help him get another job, but he’s 63, and the
chances of that are slim.
“Head coach Doc Holliday will not return,” was all the headlines said.
Didn’t sound like a retirement to me, though, and sure enough my
suspicion was confirmed when Holliday announced that the president
would not extend his contact when it expires this summer.
This past season, his Herd was undefeated after seven games and among
the top three Group of 5 teams, but then they lost their last three
games, including the C-USA championship game.
He did everything right as an article in West Virginia Metro News
attests:
Holliday’s
time at Marshall was good. He embraced the community and the culture,
telling Marshall’s story to anyone who would listen.
He brought the
program out of the doldrums it had slipped into following Bob Pruett’s
sudden retirement in the spring of 2005. He help shape the lives of the
young men who played for him leaving a last impact that went far beyond
the football field.
His players, staff
and other coaches around the country respected him.
But in the end, all
the achievements, the accolades and the admiration of former players
weren’t good enough to keep his job.
Yes, and he won. But in the eyes of some obviously influential Marshall
fans, HE DIDN’T WIN ENOUGH.
Welcome, Coach Holliday, to the ranks of coaches who’ve been victims of
the common delusion that “we can do better.”
And welcome, whoever the next Marshall coach is, to a place where no
matter what you do and how well you do it, in the end it won’t be
enough.
https://wvmetronews.com/2021/01/05/opinion-hollidays-time-at-marshall-was-good-but-not-good-enough/
*********** At a Georgia Tech football game several years
ago, George Morris, a Tech legend from the 1950s, was taking the
elevator up to his level when a young man already in the elevator
greeted him.
“Aren’t you George Morris?” he asked.
“The same,” Morris replied.
After a brief pause, the young man asked, “Mr. Morris, do you think you
could play today?”
The former Tech All-American linebacker was quick to reply.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’m 75 years old now. But
if we’ll play without face masks, I’ll give it a try.”
Turning serious, he went on. “The development of the face
mask, and the blocking rules that allow holding - Those two things
changed the game more than anything else. It’s a different game with
that cage in front of your face.”
*********** Found this in a copy of the July, 1976 edition of a
short-lived magazine called Sports Northwest.
In an interview with former Washington Huskies’ quarterback Sonny
Sixkiller, he tells about having been snubbed by the Seahawks, and
signing instead with the San Diego Chargers, and comments on his
competition at the quarterback position.
“They have Dan Fouts and Jesse Freitas. I’m as good as
Fouts.”
Wrong.
*********** Remember when Sports Ilustrated covered sports, instead of
social justice issues? I’ve got a collection of SI issues
(carefully curated by my wife) that goes back to the mid-50’s, and it’s
a lot of fun for me to grab an old issue and start leafing through it.
Yeah, I know - you can go online to the SI vault and find an awful lot
of the major articles from those issues, but you won’t see the ads or
the small stuff - quotes, letters to the editor, game stories.
I was just leafing through SI’s college football pre-season issue, from
September 24, 1962. Notice that date? It’s the “Pre-season”
issue, and it’s almost October. True, colleges were already a week into
the season, but now, college football’s under way before Labor Day.
Back then, the season was over by Thanksgiving Day. And, since
Bowls were few (Rose, Sugar, Orange, Cotton, Gator, Sun and a handful
of others - not a Cure or a Cheez-it in the bunch), that was it for
most schools. It was not at all unusual for a two-loss team not
to get a bowl invitation.
I came across a couple of funny things.
There was this, in the preview of small colleges.
Florida
A&M this year may be the best small college team in the South, if
not the nation. Showing films to a clinic recently, Coach Jake Gaither
observed, “this back runs 9.5. This one runs 9.4.” The other coaches
drooled. “And this one runs 9.2.” Besides world record holder Bob
Hayes, halfback, this year’s explosive runners are halfback Bob
Paremore, triple threat quarterback Jim Tullis and fullback Hewritt
Dixon. “If a back can’t get from his spot into the hole in O.8,” says
Gaither, “we make him a lineman.”
The figures Coach
Gaither was quoting were his backs’ times in the 100-yard-dash, which
at that time were more widely used as a measurement of speed. 10.0
(“Ten flat,” as we would say) was fast. Anything under that was great
speed, and 9.2 happened to be the fastest time in the world at that
time.
And Florida A & M’s Bob Hayes was, in fact, the World’s Fastest
Man, who went on to a Hall-of-Fame career with the Dallas Cowboys.
Bob Paremore played two years with the Cardinals, and three years in
the CFL.
Hewritt Dixon, a big man with great speed, played eight years in the
AFL-NFL (three with the Broncos and five with the Raiders) and was
three-times named All-AFL. Many people credit him (if “credit” is
the right word) with being the first to spike the ball after a
touchdown. As I recall, he called it “Bustin’ the ball.”
And then, in the wrap-up of that week’s college games, there was this
review of Miami’s opening-game win over Pitt:
“In the
opening game with Miami you’re going to see an all America
quarterback,” Pitt quarterback Jim Traficant immodestly informed the
locker room after a spectacular practice last spring. “Yeah,“ a
teammate retorted laconically. “His name is George Mira.” The name was
indeed George Mira as the facile Key Wester led touchdown marches of
97, 73 and 95 yards for a 23-14 Miami victory.
The “immodest” Jim
Traficant would attain a certain amount of fame in politics, first as
sheriff of Mahoning County, Ohio, and then as a United States
congressman for 17 years. His time in Congress ended when he was
convicted on a number of charges, including racketeering. He was
expelled from the House of Representatives, and wound up serving seven
years in prison.
Among the ads I mentioned, none was more indicative of the way our
culture has changed than one suggesting the perfect Christmas gift for
Junior:

Kids nowadays wouldn’t want a gift like this anyhow because the pants
cover the knees.
*********** I had an exchange with a coach who told me that in the
newsletter he sends out to parents and players he gave it a little
thought and decided to edit out a comment that he felt glorified
hitting, out of concern for the way moms might interpret it.
I totally agree. I think that if I set out to design football in
such a way as to persuade mothers not to let their boys play football
(and let’s not kid ourselves - in today’s world, moms, single or not,
are the ones making that decision) I couldn’t do a better job than a
lot of today’s coaches.
The AFCA to its credit has long recognized the danger of this approach,
and has been way ahead of its members for years in discouraging the use
of terms like “smashmouth.”
Unfortunately not enough coaches belong to the AFCA, and of those who
do, not enough pay enough attention to the importance of those things.
A perfect example of this is the fact that despite the emphasis place
on targeting by people who write the rules and officiate the games, its
incidence has not decreased. That would seem to indicate that there are
way too many coaches who don’t care enough about our sport to actively
discourage targeting.
Way too many football coaches seem to think that the garden weeds
itself - that football will last forever without their having to do a
damn thing to take care of it. You’d think after the upheaval in
so many aspects of our culture in the past 10 months or so that they’d
begin to realize that in today’s world nothing is guaranteed permanency.
*********** Hugh,
Texas A&M eventually pulled away from North Carolina to win the
Orange Bowl. The same North Carolina team that #4 Notre Dame
beat. The debate will continue as to whether ND or A&M should
have been in the playoff. A&M proved itself worthy of
consideration, but to no avail. ANY #4 team would have been
beaten by Alabama.
Alabama SHOULD beat Ohio State (won't hurt my feelings), but at times
the Tide has proven it can stumble in big games, but so can OSU.
Still...ROLL TIDE!
Some of the best football I watched on TV this past weekend was the
Texas high school variety. Yes, they are still playing.
Class 6A and 5A schools started playing in October. 4A, 3A,
2A, and 6 man started on time in September and have concluded their
seasons. The 6A and 5A regional championships were held this past
weekend. The state semi-finals will be held on Saturday.
Three schools from the Austin area made it to the semis.
Westlake 13-0, Buda Hays 10-3, Cedar Park 12-0, and Liberty Hill
12-0. Buda Hays and Liberty Hill both run the Texas Slot-T
(similar to the DW). The state championship games will be held
the following week.
The eyes of Texas have become blind (Sarkisian), while their hindsight
is still blurry (Brown).
I've been coaching in a spread offense for the past couple of years and
believe me, not only is HOLDING a pox on the game, it has become
acceptable.
Have a great week.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: George Ratterman grew up in a wealthy family
in suburban Cincinnati, and was an outstanding athlete and student at
St. Xavier High School.
He would spend some of his best football years playing second fiddle
behind two of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.
Although good enough to play at almost any college in the country, he
went to Notre Dame, where he played behind the great Johnny Lujack,
winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1947.
Later, in the NFL, he would spent four years in Cleveland as backup to
the Browns’ legendary Otto Graham.
At Notre Dame he was the fourth and last student in school history to
earn letters in four different sports. (Lujack was the third.) Famed
Irish coach Frank Leahy called him “The greatest all-around athlete in
Notre Dame’s history.”
He was relatively unknown to the sports public until the summer after
his graduation, 1947, when he led the College All-Stars to an upset win
over the defending NFL champion Chicago Bears.
With a bidding war going on between the NFL and the AAFC, he signed
with the Buffalo Bills of the new league, and as a 20-year-old rookie,
he threw 22 touchdown passes, which stood as a record for a
rookie until Peyton Manning broke it in 1998.
He led the Bills to the AAFC championship game in 1948, and in three
years in Buffalo, he threw 52 touchdown passes. But he also
threw 55 interceptions, an AAFC career record that will never be broken.
When the AAFC and NFL merged in 1950, he became the property of the New
York Yanks.
He spent a year with the Yanks, leading the NFL in touchdown passes,
then jumped to Montreal in the CFL in 1951. In 1952 he returned
to the NFL, this time with the Cleveland Browns, intended to be Otto
Graham’s successor.
He took over after Graham retired in 1956, but a serious leg injury
four games into the season ended his career. During that time he
attained a measure of fame as the first player to wear a radio receiver
in his helmet. At a time when most quarterbacks called their own
plays, Browns’ coach Paul Brown would send plays using what he called
“messenger guards,” and after four games, NFL Commisioner Bert Bert
outlawed the use of radio.
All the time he had been playing, he had also been attending law school
at night and in the off-season, and after graduating with his law
degree in 1956 he went into the investment business in Cincinnati.
He was a well-known figure in the Cincinnati area, and in 1961 he was
persuaded to run for sheriff of Campbell County, Kentucky, just across
the river from Cincinnati. Campaigning on a platform aimed at ending
the open gambling and prostitution in the city of Newport, he soon ran
afoul of the mob. In an attempt to blackmail him and force
him out of the race, he was slipped a drink with knockout drops in it,
and put into bed with a local stripper. But the plot backfired
when it when it was discovered that had happened, and the publicity led
to his victory in the race.
In the mi-60s, he served as general counsel for the American Football
League Players Association, when Jack Kemp was its president.
After a time as sheriff, he ran unsuccessfully for a couple of other
offices. Offered a position with a Denver investment firm, he
moved west and spent the rest of his life in Colorado, where he died in
2007.
A many-talented person, he was so accomplished as a pianist that he
once played in a concert with the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra.
He had a reputation as a prankster and a fun lover, often to the
consternation of the very serious Paul Brown, and he later wrote a book
devoted primarily to the humorous aspects of his career.
From 1970 to 1973 he did color analysis on radio and TV broadcasts of
NFL games, and he was Jim Simpson’s partner on the radio broadcast of
the very first Super Bowl.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING GEORGE RATTERMAN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
DAVE KEMMICK - MT. JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
JOHN ROTHWELL - CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
George Ratterman isn't a name that I was familiar with, but again I
have enjoyed learning about him because of your quiz.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
https://www.nkytribune.com/2020/12/our-rich-history-george-ratterman-1926-2007-football-star-and-reform-sheriff-tackled-newports-cleanup/
*********** As much of an ND fan as I am I had to do some digging on
this one!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** After my initial investigation I settled on Frank
Tripucka. The more I read about him the more things
didn't line up with your description, though there were
similarities.
I am now changing my answer to George Ratterman. Hard to believe
he played for that long and was never the starter in college. I think
that is what threw me off for a little.
Dave Kemmick
Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania
*********** I remember reading his book in High School..
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
(The Book, for anyone who is interested, and I confess: I am, is
“Confessions of a Gypsy Quarterback.”)
*********** …and the stripper they threw in bed with George
Ratterman? That would be...wait for it..."April Flowers"! (Juanita Jean
Hodges).
J. Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
*********** Coach, Last weekend Shandy and I watched the original
Walking Tall. I am not sure if you remember this movie from 1973, but
the description of Ratterman cleaning up Newport reminded me of Sheriff
Buford Pusser.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** Hugh
I saw this man play quarterback for the Browns. I can say from
watching him play in Cleveland that he was no Otto Graham. It's nothing
against George Ratterman, but Paul Brown missed the boat on him. He
could not shine Otto Graham's shoes as a quarterback.
Keep those Browns players coming for quizzes.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: He was one of the greatest receivers in the history
of pro football. He was born in Guadalajara, Mexico, the son of a
Mexican mother and an American father who worked as an engineer in
Mexico. He grew up speaking both English and Spanish, and all his
life he remained proud of his Mexican heritage.
He played high school football at Los Angeles’ Manual Arts High, then
played one season at Santa Clara before being drafted into the Army in
World War II. At that time, his father, who had been working in
the Philippines, was being held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
Hoping to become a fighter pilot, he instead wound up serving stateside
as a flight instructor while playing service football.
After his discharge, although he had been drafted by the Rams (who had
just moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland), he enrolled at UCLA, where
he was an All-American in 1946 and 1947. While at UCLA, boosters had
managed to get him and some teammates well-paying roles in movies, and
when he signed with the Rams in 1948, he joked that to play pro
football he had to take a cut in pay. (For the record, he was the
first Mexican-American drafted by an NFL team.)
Although drafted as a defensive back, he soon was moved to
offense, where he was perfect for the Rams’ then-wide open
attack. At 6-2, 215 he had good size, and he had decent speed,
but his strength was in running precise routes and, years before there
was any thought given to a “five-yard check” rule, doing so
fearlessly. In his first year, 1948, he led the NFL in receiving
and was named Rookie of the Year.
In 1949, he broke the legendary Don Hutson’s single-season record of 73
receptions, when he caught 77 passes. In his third season, 1950,
he caught 84 passes in 12 games, a record that would last for 50 years,
until it was broken by Terrell Owens (in 14 games). In one game against
the Packers, he caught a then-record 18 passes.
The very next week, against the Bears, he helped the Rams win a spot in
the NFL championship game with touchdown receptions of 86, 43 and 27
yards. For his great season, he was named the NFL’s Most Valuable
Player.
His overall performance began to taper off, and he retired after the
1956 season.
He then spent eight years as an assistant in the NFL, including four
years at Green Bay from 1962-1965 under Vince Lombardi, before being
hired in1967 to coach the expansion New Orleans Saints. As might
have been expected, he won just 13 games in his three seasons there,
and found himself out of work.
The most significant thing he accomplished during his time in New
Orleans may have been identifying and grooming the receiving talent of
Dan Abramowicz, a 17th round draft pick from Xavier who would go on to
play 111 games in the NFL, and at the time he retired held the NFL
record for most consecutive games catching at least one pass (105).
After leaving the Saints, he took a year off, spent spent two
more years as offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles, then
returned to Southern California as head coach of the World Football
League Southern California Sun, a position he held for two years until
the WFL folded (for the second time).
After that, he held a number of positions in a variety of football
operations and leagues, but he never worked in the NFL again. He
claimed that he was blacklisted, after having served as technical
advisor in the making of the movie “North Dallas Forty,” whose
portrayal of the league and its players the League found objectionable.
His overall career stats of 400 receptions for 5,397 yards and 38
touchdowns, especially coming as they did as the NFL was just beginning
to emphasize the pass, were more than enough to earn him a spot in the
NFL Hall of Fame.
TUESDAY,
JANUARY 5, 2021 - “
I am patient with stupidity, but not with those who are proud of
it.” Dame Edith Sitwell
*********** DISCLAIMER - THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY TO SUGGEST THAT
OHIO STATE DID NOT PROVE ITSELF TO BE THE SUPERIOR TEAM IN DEFEATING
CLEMSON, OR TO ACCUSE ANYONE ON THE CLEMSON TEAM OF ANY INVOLVEMENT IN
ANY SCHEME TO THROW THE GAME. HOWEVER…
When a team well-known for its ability over a period of years to play
at a consistently high level suddenly, before a national TV audience,
not only loses a big game, but looks bad in doing so, questions are
sure to arise in places where professional gamblers gather.
100 years ago this coming June, eight former members of the Chicago
White Sox went on trial for conspiring to fix the 1919 World Series, in
exchange for payments ranging from what today would be $75,000 to close
to $500,000.
Known as the Black Sox Scandal, it rocked the sport of baseball, which
at the time was far and away the most popular American sport.
The next major occurrence of professional gamblers’ attempts to fix
games came in the late 1940s and early 1950s (I do remember this) when
college basketball was hit with BIG “point-shaving” scandals involving
top players from several teams. In 1950, CCNY won both the NCA and NIT
titles, but after several of its players were found to have taken
bribes a year earlier to shave points, the school de-emphasized the
sport (and hasn’t been to the NCAA or NIT since). Two Kentucky
All-Americans, Ralph Beard and Alex Groza (yes, the brother of Pro
Football Hall of Famers Lou Groza), were banned for life from the NBA
when their involvement in point sharing became known.
Think it couldn’t happen today?
The ingredients are still there, just as they were 100 years ago and 70
years ago:
(1) Enormous sums of money being bet on sports - a well-known
sports-betting guy named Darren Rovell announced on twitter that the
Ohio State-Clemson game was “the most bet game in @DKSportsbook
history.” What does that mean? I dunno, but one guy alone is said
to have bet $1 million on Ohio State.
(2) Young men who could use a little spending money and know how much
money others, including their coaches, are making as a result of their
offers.
And now, two relatively new ingredients have been introduced that in my
opinion make it even more likely that we will see a repeat, on a very
large stage, of the Black Sox or college point-shaving
scandal. What they do is provide players with the moral
justification for “taking peanuts while everybody else (including their
own coach) is making millions.”
(3) The enormous sums of money colleges unapologetically throw around,
including millions spent as severance packages for fired coaches;
(4) The hue and cry from all corners, including Congress, about
the need to “pay” big-time college players - to compensate them in some
way for the part they play in enriching others.
I am NOT saying that anyone involved with Clemson conspired to do
anything wrong, nor am I saying that Ohio State didn’t earn its win.
I confess that if I had a million or so (or whatever it would take to
fix a football game) I wouldn’t have the faintest idea of how to do it
anyway. Certainly not in such a way as to avoid detection - or
keep anyone from talking.
But if I were a professional gambler, the anomaly of a great team
playing as poorly as Clemson did, almost to a man, would have me
thinking.
This is America in the Twenty-first Century, and only a fool thinks
there’s still such a thing as the unthinkable.
*********** Our ambition - my wife and I - for next bowl season is to
be invited to a Christmas party at Ree and Ladd Drummond’s ranch
outside Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Don’t know if you’ve ever seen
Ree and Ladd on “The Pioneer Woman” on The Food Network, but we love
watching that show, where people are real (men are men and women are
women) and even the kids are respectful of others. I’m reminded
of the now much-maligned family life that Americans once appreciated
and aspired to - family life as lived by the Ward and June
Cleaver family and the Ossie and Harriet Nelson family. Of
course, elites had to ridicule them, because they were so normal and so
considerate of each other that they made people in dysfunctional
families feel bad.
*********** Bowl random observations:
*** This past bowl season, Sean McDonogh and Todd Blackledge were
the best announcer team by far. The best, unfortunately, of a sorry
lot. Of the rest, there aren’t many that I wouldn’t classify as
morons.
After Miami had a TD called back for holding, Hasselbeck’s genius
comment was that the holder “probably didn’t need to.” Excuse me.
There’s a time when he NEEDS TO?
I heard one guy use “trickeration” at least three times in the first
half of a game.
Brian Jones and Dusty Dvoracek must practice their hand gestures in
front of a mirror.
I actually heard that fool Mark Jones excuse trash talking, saying,
“It’s not football unless you’re bumpin’ your gums a little bit.”
That’s where I have to step in and say, “If you haven’t played the
game, Jonesy - and you haven’t - you have no right to talk about it in
those terms.” (That was the same Jones who said he didn’t trust cops to
protect him.)
ESPN saved money by having one of its Armed Forces Bowl announcers at
home in Atlanta and the other at home in Connecticut, which is why they
had no idea that a massive brawl had broken out down on the field after
they’d signed off. When they were talking - Cotter and Herzlich
were the names - no more than half the time was it about the actual
game on the field, and when it was, Cotter was calling it as if he was
on the radio and none of us could afford a TV set to watch the game
ourselves.
One of the games - I didn’t make note - was called by two guys talking
though masks the entire game.
I bet there’s not a single announcer that knows what a “bell cow” is.
Even Fowler and Herbstreit, who should have been better, did a crummy
job, talking too much during Clemson-Ohio State. Hey, wait a
minute - I know Herbstreit’s a pro and all that, but come on - he’s
still an Ohio State guy. It just doesn’t look right.
When did they start paying announcers by the word? Anyone
remember the days when we viewers were smart enough to know what we
were seeing, without being told? Remember Ray Scott, who did so
many Packers’ games? They’d line up and hand the ball off and he’d say,
“This… is… Hornung…” That’s all. He didn’t insult us by
telling its what we’d seen.
Time to do away with the word “chippy,” which sounds relatively benign,
like a couple of junior high mean girls exchanging insults, when it’s
actually describing players - teams, even - conducting themselves in
ways that could easily metastasize into something very ugly.
“Chip on the shoulder” may be where the term “chippy” derives.
It’s a way-overused cliche.
Mike Golic (Senior, that is) decided to do a game from the booth, and
the other guy must have spent 10 minutes kissing his butt, telling him
what a legend he is, blah, blah, blah.
They saved the worst for last. Dan Orlovsky. UNC-Texas A & M.
Officially an expert on everything. Had the answer for
everything. Wouldn’t shut up. His partner, Bob Wischusen, needs
to step up and talk more so that we don’t have to hear Orlovsky.
*** Miami’s receivers dropped so many passes you had to wonder if they
were really on scholarship.
*** Oklahoma State receiver Tylan Wallace set a brand-new
precedent by opting out of the bowl game - at halftime. Let’s say
you’re an NFL coach looking for a receiver you can depend on… hmmm.
*** I was really sorry that USC as a team opted out of a bowl, because
that meant that Colorado got the Pac-12’s Alamo Bowl berth against
Texas, and the Buffs, who had a nice season, just weren’t yet ready to
play at that level. I was hoping that USC could have played, and
gotten the ass-whipping they had coming.
*** The game has been turned upside down. Somebody needs to tell
players and coaches that it’s tackling, not blocking, where you use
your hands and arms to grab the other guys.
*** Do the Subway people realize how close they’re coming to reality
when they show Deion Sanders stealing a delivery guy’s pizza? (“Did I
just get picked off by Deion Sanders?” “No, you fool. You just
got robbed.”)
*** Coaches who stubbornly refuse to get under center on fourth and one
are about as smart as Shaquille O’Neal (a career 52.7 per cent free
throw shooter) refusing to shoot free throws underhanded.
*** Seven Florida starters opted out “to prepare for the draft.”
They actually showed us the tweet from one of them, Kyle Pitts, wishing
“my teammates” good luck.
*** One of the Florida players who decided to bypass the bowl game was
that genius, Marco Wilson - the one who threw the shoe that cost the
Gators a potential shot at the playoff.
*** After watching Notre Dame and Oklahoma in their bowl games, would
you still like to try telling me that ND belonged in the playoff
(sorry: “The Playoff”) ahead of OU?
*** Really dumb of Wisconsin players to drop the “Duke Mayo” bowl
trophy while dancing in the locker room post-game. A crystal football,
it shattered into a thousand little bits. But very witty of Badgers’
coach Paul Chryst to say “we just wanted everybody to have a piece of
the trophy.”
*** Mississippi State has some reprobates that should never step on any
college football field again, and their ugly, bare-chested WWE-like
pregame confrontation undoubtedly started everything off wrong. But
during the Armed Forces Bowl game itself, the Tulsa guys did their
share of cheap stuff and trash talking.
*** The post-game brawl between players from Mississippi State and
Tulsa - not all of them, it’s important to point out - ought to be a
great opportunity for Mike Leach to clean house. Despite what
some people might have thought about his post-game comments, it’s worth
remembering that this was his first year, that he recruited very few of
those players, and that with the constraints of social distancing in
the off-season, coaches’ customary attempts to instill their culture
were hampered, to say the least. But now that he’s seen who the perps
are and what harm they’re capable of inflicting on the
Mississippi State program, he’d be a fool to think that no matter how
talented they might be, they’re worth the effort to try to
civilize them.
*** West Virginia lined up in a version of Lonesome Polecat on a
two-point conversion attempt. Didn’t work. Guy dropped the
pass.
*** Army linebacker Jon Rhattigan didn’t start until this year,
his senior season. But he made the most of his opportunity, and for his
play was named second-team All-American. He is one tough dude, so
when it was announced that he was not going to be playing in the
Liberty Bowl game against West Virginia, I knew he wasn’t pussing out
to prepare for the NFL draft. Nope. If anything, he was getting ready
for the Infantry, his branch of choice after graduation.
*** Why don’t they show us players’ home towns any more?
*** Have you noticed how few defensive linemen wear linemen’s numbers
any more? Instead, they’re wearing “eligible” numbers. (Unlike on
offense, there are no rules prescribing what numbers defensive players
have to wear.) Yes, I know about the fad of giving out
single-digit numbers (and of course the look-at-me zeroes) but these
are numbers in the teens and twenties. I suspect it’s because defensive
linemen consider it beneath them to have to wear real lineman’s
numbers, like the grunts on offense.
*** Georgia’s George Pickens is the perfect example of the sort of jerk
that teams keep around simply because he’s very talented.
(Remember him sneakily squirting water from a bottle onto the Tennessee
quarterback?) He’ll never change, because nobody will ever give
him any reason to, and he’ll move on to the “next level” where he’ll be
surrounded by misfits just like him.
*** If you get a chance, watch MIssissippi State’s Malik Heath, Number
4 in the post-game brawl. He kicked at a Tulsa guy’s face - the
guy was on the ground. He missed the face and appeared to hit him in
the chest or shoulder . Then, Mister Courage turned and ran as if
he’d had experience running from trouble. Not long afterward, to
show how remorseful he was, he posted an Instagram video of the act,
while proudly commenting on it (I confess that I wasn’t able to make
out a lot of what he was saying).
*** On the theory that bad PR is better than none at all, is it
possible that NIL will entice some guys to be even bigger
a&&holes than they are?
*** Would you recruit a kid if you knew that in a few years he would
opt out of a bowl game? I think most coaches would say, “Yes,” given
that they think they’re such miracle workers that they can take a guy
they know has serious character issues and somehow keep him out of
trouble for four years, they know they can convince one to play
in a bowl game.
*** Army played West Virginia close, and it was a clean, hard-fought
game.
Both teams were tough on defense. The difference, I think, was in how
the respective coaches handled their quarterbacks. I have no idea
what was involved in their thinking, but West Virginia’s offense picked
up noticeably when Coach Neal Brown pulled his starter.
Similarly, Army’s offense picked up when they pulled their starter and
replaced him with a slightly less athletic QB, but one who could run
more of the offense - including passing the ball. Then, though, at a
key point in what could have been a final, game-winning drive, for some
reason they reinserted the starter, and the offense stalled. The
Cadets had to settle for a long, fourth-down field goal attempt, which
they missed.
*** The interview with new Auburn coach Brian Harsin just had to take
place during the Auburn-Northwestern game, as play went on, didn’t
it? What was wrong with halftime?
*** Came across this one, just as a caution to anyone thinking he can
get ‘er done at Auburn: only one coach has stayed at Auburn long enough
to retire - and they named the stadium after him.
*** Cincinnati takes great pride in the number of Ohio kids on the
roster, but there was one Washington kid in their starting defensive
lineup, and he was from (ahem) Aberdeen. He was Number 41, Joel
Dublanko, who you may remember as putting a great hit on the Georgia QB
and forcing a forward fumble. In fairness, I should point out
that he only played at Aberdeen through his junior year, before
spending a year “prepping” at IMG Academy.
*** Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald was this year’s Bobby Dodd Coach of
the Year Award winner. Richly deserving.
*** Why is the Playoff Committee kissing teachers’ tuchuses?
Coaches, I can see. Teachers? Eh.
*** If players aren’t wearing shorts, they’re wearing skirts. Or
both. Seen how many guys insist on wearing tee shirts that come down
over their butts?
*** Auburn was being handled by Northwestern, yet at the end, the
Auburn players seemed to be handling themselves with class and
composure. Isn’t that to the credit of Gus Malzahn?
*** While pussies right and left were “opting out” of bowl games, there
was Alabama’s Devonta Smith, a Heisman favorite, running down under a
punt with 5:33 left in a game that Alabama was winning, 31-7. And then,
with :56 left and Notre Dame onside kicking, there was Devonta Smith
again, out on the field to receive.
*** I’m still trying to figure out how Stanford can have a running back
and Alabama can have a punter, both of them “graduate transfers” from
Air Force. I find this hard to believe when I know what most military
academy graduates are doing in the fall after they graduate. (Hint:
they’re doing it at places with names like Fort Sill and Fort
Benning.)
*** Hard to believe that coaches, who are responsible for their
players’ safety, can’t get a seemingly unquenchable desire to hit
people with their helmets out of their systems. (Actually, it’s
not that hard. High school coaches have been doing it for years.)
*** I have absolutely nothing against Dabo Swinney, Actually, I
like the guy a lot. And I think he may have come away from his
ass-kicking by Ohio State with a couple of hard-earned lessons:
(1) You should at all costs pass on any chance of disrespecting your
upcoming opponent. You may even have to be a bit dishonest, even
if that means putting them a little higher than eleventh on your
weekly poll.
(2) You haven’t really coached football until you’ve had an ass
whipping.
*** Can you imagine Notre Dame and Alabama having to play that game in
an empty Rose Bowl?
*** The Kentucky-North Carolina State game must have set a record for
unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
*** In the CFL they use the term “objectionable conduct.” I like
“objectionable” a lot better than “unsportsmanlike,” given that nobody
in football seems to understand what sportsmanship is any more.
Besides, our new rulers are probably going to change the word to
“sportspersonship” anyhow.
*** The Ole Miss-Indiana game was a good one, and unless I’m mistaken,
it looks as if Lane Kiffin made it through the season without saying
anything stupid. His QB, Matt Corral, had a great game and he’s
only a sophomore. I also like the way Kiffin has taken last
year’s QB, John Rhys Plumlee, and turned him into a very effective slot
back.
*** Football has got to do something about this stupid hook sliding
crap. How can you justify letting a guy run 15 yards downfield,
just like any real football player, then magically, in mid-stride, as
he’s about to be tackled, put on the red don’t-hit-me jersey that he
wears all week in practice?
I originally said that we should deduct five yards from whatever
yardage he gains. Not any more.
Now, I believe that if a guy hook slides, wherever it happens, the ball
should come back to the line of scrimmage. It’s just not football
when he’s allowed to gain yardage as if he were a runner then in a
flash assume the “defenseless player” position.
*** The Oregon papers’ headlines mentioned all the turnovers, but come
on - Iowa State beat them because the Ducks were soft offensively,
depending entirely on trickery, while Iowa State, when it had the
ball, just pummeled them.
*** Oregon didn’t convert a single third down.
*** They actually give scholarships to these guys. An Oregon
player blocking downfield on a punt got hit in the back of the head by
the ball.
*** What a damn shame that the bowls couldn’t have matched Iowa and
Iowa State.
*** I have serious doubts about whether - if ever - the Pac-12 will
regain its status as a Power 5 conference.
*** The replays are killing the game. We weren’t three minutes into the
UNC-Texas A & M game and there they were, reviewing whether some
guy had caught a pass for a six-yard gain.
*** North Carolina needs to recruit a fullback. Or two.
*** Sorry, Cincinnati. I was pulling for you. But your lack of an
offense turned a first-half argument for - possibly - including you in
The Playoff into a second half argument, an even stronger one, against
ever even thinking about including a Group of Five team.
*** I think it’s time to take a long look at the way they call false
starts. The officials cut all kinds of corners in calling the
rest of the game, but let a guy flinch and that’s it. Five yards.
It’s an easy call for them. An easy pinch. It’s like the police
handing out tickets for not wearing masks while ignoring the thieves
that walk the streets.
*********** Holding has become a real pox on our game. There is
so much holding that isn’t called, while at the same time there are so
many exciting plays that are being called back. Maybe the people
promoting the 7-on-7 league have something.
*********** Steve Sarkisian most certainly rehabbed himself to some
degree while working under Nick Saban, and there’s no question that he
can coach.
But given his history of conduct at Washington and at USC, and the
scrutiny he’ll be under at Texas, I wonder if maybe instead of reaching
for the sky, as Texas people must think they’re doing by paying Tom
Herman $15 million to go away, they aren’t digging themselves a hole.
*********** I’m saddened by the death of Floyd Little. He was a New
Haven kid, a star at Hillhouse High during much of the time that I was
in college there, and I followed his career closely after that. Not
only was he a great football player - considered to be a major reason
why the Broncos stayed in Denver - but by all accounts he was a
gentleman as well.
*********** Just read:
A Marshall spike hit the center’s foot and yet they still stopped the
clock. (The rule specifically refers to spiking as throwing the ball
“to the ground.”)
Was this not an incomplete pass to an ineligible receiver?
Dennis Metzger
Richmond, Indiana
Seems to me it should have been a penalty for illegal touching.
*********** I know you can't get everybody, but to your baseball list
of 2020 losses you could add Phil Niekro, who died just a few days ago
at 81. Knuckleballing you way to over 200 wins is in my book a
remarkable feat.
Thanks for bringing up the "Short-a-clear," 'cause it's been driving me
crazy. How many of those announcers you suppose are conversant with
Chaucer?
That face mask on Malik Willis was incredible. One Jeffrey Gunter
should've been banished forever. What he did was pretty much how we
used to wring chicken's necks.
Despite how bowl matchups got made this year, we'll have some good
games. I'm especially interested in the Cincy-Georgia and OK-FL games.
But, above all, of course, the Army-WVU game. I couldn't have wanted a
more perfect opponent. We respect them, and I think they respect us.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Taking Army and the points.
Taking ND and the points.
Taking Clemson and giving the points.
Those are the only games I'll be watching. I'm opting out of the
others.
On that subject...Something has to be done. The college game is
heading in the same direction as college basketball. And IMHO the
NFL, the NBA, and the NCAA are the culprits behind their demise.
It all started with the "one and done" rule in college
basketball. Now it's college football players opting out after
only two seasons. Also the thinking that major college football
and major college basketball were one in the same, and had to have a
similar playoff structure (aka "greed"). Finally...the NCAA
doesn't have the cajones to put a stop to it. At some point the
NCAA has to live up to what the acronym means, National COLLEGIATE
Athletic Association, and step up to the plate and stand up to the NFL
and NBA. A college student-athlete MUST either complete their
undergraduate degree, or be on track to completion of said degree
BEFORE the professional draft of the respective sport they play.
Let the pro sports associations figure out how to "farm" their
prospects if they don't like the NCAA rules. At least the NBA has
developmental leagues, MLB has their minor league system, so why
couldn't the NFL and "USA" football come up with something similar for
those football athletes who are more motivated to be athletes, than
motivated to be student-athletes and get their education first. Just
like the other sports' minor leagues the athletes would be paid.
Would be interesting to see the percentage of high school seniors
choosing to attend college and play football, and the percentage of
high school seniors choosing to pursue going pro right away.
And as far as the football playoffs go expand it to 12 teams instead of
4. All 10 FBS conference champions qualify (which makes the
conference races more important - and eliminates the debate between
Power 5 and Group of 5). The top 2 ranked teams receive first
round byes. They are likely going to be conference champions so
the number 2's in those two conferences qualify to play in the first
round. OR, if both #1 and #2 are from the same conference two
at-large teams with at least 8 wins qualify to play in the first round.
#1 is placed in the upper bracket, and #2 is placed in the lower
bracket. After that the remaining teams are seeded 3 through 10 -
3 v 10; 4 v 9; 5 v 8; 6 v 7; and those games are played at various
regional sites of the higher seeds. The next round is played at
rotating sites (LA, LV, Phoenix, Dallas, San Antonio, Houston,
Indianapolis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Atlanta) which ALL have a large
indoor facility. Semi-finals and the championship game are
rotated using the same cities.
Eliminate bowl tie-ins. The traditional oldest bowls (Rose, Sun,
Sugar, Orange, Cotton) choose the two best teams ranked 11 through 20
to play in their games. All the remaining bowls (Gator, Citrus,
Liberty, Peach, Fiesta, etc. in order of oldest to newest) would invite
teams with WINNING records who would be good draws to enhance
attendance. IMHO this would be a win-win situation for college
football.
Have a great week of watching college football.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
Joe, after seeing what happened to Notre Dame - a very good team - I
think it would be a waste of time, and several potentially good bowl
matchups, to bring in more than four teams. This isn’t the same
as basketball, where one team can get cold while another hits every “3”
it takes, and a number 15 beats a number two.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Although Penn State had been playing
football
since 1889, it wasn’t until 1968 - 79 years later - that Ted
Kwalick (KWAH-lick)
became the Nittany Lions’ first two-time All-American.
Born in Pittsburgh, he was All-State at Montour High School in McKees
Rocks, and in 1964 was named the Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate
Athletic League’s (WPIAL) Most Valuable Player. In the summer
following his senior year, in the Big 33 All Star game played against
Texas, he caught nine passes and scored the only touchdown in the
Pennsylvania team’s loss.
With freshmen then ineligible to play varsity ball, his first year of
college eligibility was Joe Paterno’s first year as Penn State’s head
coach.
In his senior season, 1968, Penn State finished 11-0 - its first
undefeated and untied season in 56 years - with an Orange Bowl victory
and a Number Two ranking nationally.
In his three-year career, he caught 86 passes for 1,343 yards and
10 touchdowns.
With the tight end position evolving into what it has become today, at
6-4, 230 pounds he was the sort of tight end that all NFL teams wanted,
and the 49ers, with two first-round choices, took him first, the
seventh pick overall. (Their second first-round pick was Stanford wide
receiver Gene Washington.)
In six years with the 49ers, he made three straight Pro Bowls -
1971-1973. In 1971, his 52 receptions were second in the NFC. In
1972, he caught nine touchdown passes, and averaged 18.8 yards per
catch, extremely high for a tight end. (For his career, Rob
Gronkowski has averaged 15.0 yards per catch.)
1970-71-72 were three very good years for the 49ers, under head coach
Dick Nolan. They won division titles all three years, and made it to
the NFC championship game in 1970 and 1971. (After 1972, they
would go nine seasons without making it to the playoffs again, until
Bill Walsh would take them to a Super Bowl championship.)
After two dismal seasons for the 49ers in 1973 and 1974, he signed to
play with the Philadelphia Bell in the World Football League.
But when that league folded, for the second straight year, he returned
to the NFL, this time with the Oakland Raiders.
He said that what sealed the deal was when he said, “I want one of
those warm Raider jackets for my dad,” and Raiders’ owner Al Davis got
on the phone and ordered one.
He played three seasons as a Raider, and in 1976 achieved his dream of
winning a Super Bowl ring when the Raiders beat the Vikings.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and of the
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Asked in 2005 how he’d want people to describe his career, he said, “I
think I’d want them to say that Ted Kwalick was very fortunate to be in
situations where he could work hard, have integrity and be part of
organizations where it was important to stress having a common
goal. That’s doing the best you can and winning football games.”
Asked once to describe him, his college coach, Joe Paterno, said, "He's
what God had in mind when he made a football player."
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING TED KWALICK
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
MIKE FORISTIERE - TOPEKA, KANSAS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
While I don't remember Ted Kwalick, I enjoyed reading about him. I
especially appreciated his recognition of how his parents helped him to
develop self-discipline.
http://www.polishsportshof.com/portfolio_page/ted-kwalick/
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** Fellow WFLer & Pole Thaddeus Kwalick
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** QUIZ: He
grew up in a wealthy family in suburban Cincinnati, and was an
outstanding athlete and student at St. Xavier High School.
He would spend some of his best football years playing second fiddle
behind two of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the game.
Although good enough to play at almost any college in the country, he
went to Notre Dame, where he played behind the great Johnny Lujack,
winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1947.
Later, in the NFL, he would spent four years in Cleveland as backup to
the Browns’ legendary Otto Graham.
At Notre Dame he was the fourth and last student in school history to
earn letters in four different sports. (Lujack was the third.) Famed
Irish coach Frank Leahy called him “The greatest all-around athlete in
Notre Dame’s history.”
He was relatively unknown to the sports public until the summer after
his graduation, 1947, when he led the College All-Stars to an upset win
over the defending NFL champion Chicago Bears.
With a bidding war going on between the NFL and the AAFC, he signed
with the Buffalo Bills of the new league, and as a 20-year-old rookie,
he threw 22 touchdown passes, which stood as a record for a
rookie until Peyton Manning broke it in 1998.
He led the Bills to the AAFC championship game in 1948, and in three
years in Buffalo, he threw 52 touchdown passes. But he also
threw 55 interceptions, an AAFC career record that will never be broken.
When the AAFC and NFL merged in 1950, he became the property of the New
York Yanks.
He spent a year with the Yanks, leading the NFL in touchdown passes,
then jumped to Montreal in the CFL in 1951. In 1952 he returned
to the NFL, this time with the Cleveland Browns, intended to be Otto
Graham’s successor.
He took over after Graham retired in 1956, but a serious leg injury
four games into the season ended his career. During that time he
attained a measure of fame as the first player to wear a radio receiver
in his helmet. (At a time when most quarterbacks called their own
plays, Browns’ coach Paul Brown would send plays using what he called
“messenger guards.”) After four games, NFL Commisioner Bert Bert
outlawed the use of radio.
All the time he had been playing, he had also been attending law school
at night and in the off-season, and after graduating with his law
degree in 1956 he went into the investment business in Cincinnati.
He was a well-known figure in the Cincinnati area, and in 1961 he was
persuaded to run for sheriff of Campbell County, Kentucky, just across
the river from Cincinnati. Campaigning on a platform aimed at ending
the open gambling and prostitution in the city of Newport, he soon ran
afoul of the mob. In an attempt to blackmail him and force
him out of the race, he was slipped a drink with knockout drops in it,
and put into bed with a local stripper. But the plot backfired
when it when it was discovered that had happened, and the publicity led
to his victory in the race.
In the mi-60s, he served as general counsel for the American Football
League Players Association, when Jack Kemp was its president.
After a time as sheriff, he ran unsuccessfully for a couple of other
offices. Offered a position with a Denver investment firm, he
moved west and spent the rest of his life in Colorado, where he died in
2007.
A many-talented person, he was so accomplished as a pianist that he
once played in a concert with the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra.
He had a reputation as a prankster and a fun lover, often to the
consternation of the very serious Paul Brown, and he later wrote a book
devoted primarily to the humorous aspects of his career.
From 1970 to 1973 he did color analysis on radio and TV broadcasts of
NFL games, and he was Jim Simpson’s partner on the radio broadcast of
the very first Super Bowl.
TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 29, 2020 -- ““When
we send the Army into a fight, we don’t send them to ‘participate.’ We
don’t send them to ‘try their hardest.’ We send them to win. And you
did. Winning matters.” General James C. McConville, US Army Chief
of Staff, addressing the Army team after they beat Air Force
*********** Americans have grown to demand near-perfection in sports
officiating, and they expect game officials to make use of all
available technology to try to achieve it.
Let just one official in a crew of six or more see a tackle happen in
the blink of an eye and, based solely on his snap decision that what he
thinks he saw may have constituted targeting, throw a flag. And then on
the basis of what that one eyewitness thinks he saw, the game is
stopped to review the incident.
Let a player appear to score the winning touchdown, and the play is
reviewed, over and over, from every possible angle, to make sure that
he did actually score.
Did the player actually fumble? Did the runner stay in bounds? Did the
receiver complete the catch?
Let’s find out: “The play is under further review.”
Those who officiate football games have no qualms about stopping
football games for review. Why? To do their best to make sure they’ve
made the right call.
And so that the game can go on without either party thinking that
justice hasn't been done.
Yet despite mounting evidence that “irregularities” may have influenced
the outcome of the recent presidential election, and with the future of
our nation resting on making the right call, not a single court
in America has been willing to take a look at any of it.
Hmmm.
*********** I read this in an article and I’m only passing it
along because I found it very interesting:
At least a third of all FBS head coaches either played or assisted
at the school where they’re now coaching.
I can’t prove it or disprove it but I thought it seemed quite high.
*********** If you aren’t familiar with Jason Whitlock, it’s time you
made his acquaintance. In my opinion, he’s a priceless American
resource, because at a time when so many people (dishonestly) proclaim
that we need an “honest conversation about race,” he seems to be one
person with the guts and intelligence to step up and hold one.
He has a very interesting theory of the effect of the materiarchy that
characterizes today’s black society on the relationship between young
black men and their coaches.
https://www.outkick.com/whitlock-black-matriarchy-plays-significant-role-in-the-plight-of-black-college-football-coaches/
*********** Longtime coach and friend Steve Jones, a regular on my
Tuesday Zoom clinics, said that he was Alabama wide receiver DaVonta
(DaVONNtay) Smith’s position coach at Amite (AY-meet) High, in Amite,
Louisiana. Coach Jones said in addition to being a great receiver,
which any serious football fan knows, DaVonta is a really good
person who is definitely deserving of Heisman consideration.
*********** I was asked by a person from the West Virginia side what I
thought about seven points being given Army in the Liberty Bowl
(between Army and West Virginia). Here's my take:
Based on the enormous disparity in strength of schedule and in talent,
it could be bad. I think it should be more like 10-12 points, and if I
were an impartial bettor I’d take WVU and give the 10-12 points. But I
won’t, because of two factors:
1. In Army’s one tough game they did play Cincinnati (on the road)
pretty tough.
2. The big question mark is how motivated WVU will be, because we
know Army will be. If WVU isn’t - if their guys would rather have
opted out - it could be a painful experience for them. Army is
very physical on both offense and defense, which doesn’t at all
describe the Big 12 style of play. WVU may not be prepared for the Army
offense, or for the physicality and intensity of their play.
UPSHOT: Having seen the way so many Big Time schools have been going
soft at Bowl Time while Army’s guys were still practicing, simply in
the hope of getting to play another game - without any guarantees
- I’d take Army even-up. But as long as I can get seven points,
I’ll take them. I’m not stupid.
*********** Coach,
Bryan Harsin's departure from Smurf Turf is somewhat surprising.
Let's remember though he spent a couple of years as Texas' OC. The
great Beano Cook, a man never at a loss for words, said, "Texas has
more money than God" (he also said the same thing about Notre Dame). It
is my understanding that Auburn's boosters have an outsized say in
the Athletic Department. To them Alabama is all that matters. But Coach
Harsin has some experience dealing with deep-pocket boosters.
I grew up in Kentucky, barely, in Covington, born twenty blocks
south of the Ohio River. There is an old joke: "A famous
Southeastern Conference football coach was on his deathbed. He called
his wife over and said, 'Honey, I'm about to die and I'd like to make
my last request.' She said, 'What is it, Dear?' 'When I die I want to
buried as far away from football as I possibly can.' So where did they
bury him? Lexington."
Mark Stoops has done about as good of a job as he can do in Lexington,
but I'm afraid he's done about as well as he can. Kentucky has good HS
football. There is just not enough of it (Indiana has the same
problem). Cincinnati is 85 miles up I-75, but UK is a tough sell
against O$U, Michigan, and Notre Dame. Louisville has excellent HS
football, but U of L heavily recruits Florida. That tells you
something.
As a topic for discussion on NEWS, what should be done with the
transfer portal. Urban Meyer calls it "free agency." He's right,
of course.
Merry Christmas!
Jim Franklin
Flora, Indiana
You stir up great memories when you bring up Beano Cook. Lord,
would I like to hear his take on the current mess that college
administrators have made of college football. And it's not as if they
needed any help from the Killer Virus.
*********** I think that this “announcer in a can” crap of having games
called remote, by announcers at ESPN studios (or even in their own
homes) looking at TV screens, is leading to far more motor-mouthing
than needed.
And, as usual, no one has told the sideline women that there is a game
going on behind them, that that’s why they have the gig in the first
place, and that there are actually some people tuned in who would
rather they focus on the game than tell us (for two or three minutes
while the game goes on) about some player playing despite some family
tragedy.
Kelly Stouffer (Cure Bowl - Liberty vs Coastal) seems to know what he’s
talking about but he also seems to love listening to himself, and
he needs way too many words - and takes way too long - to make his
point.
*********** Right now, the best FBS job open is Boise State. (Actually,
it may not be that great, because there are those who will say that
Brian Harsin wouldn’t have left for Auburn if the people at Boise had
listened to him when he advised them to pull out of the Mountain West.)
Top candidates appear to be three guys who all have Boise State
connections:
Kellen Moore, winningest QB in school history, who’s currently Dallas
Cowboys’ offensive coordinator;
Andy Avalos, Oregon defensive coordinator;
Jeff Choate, Montana State head coach.
*********** They could just as well have called the New Mexico Bowl the
Shirttail Bowl. There were so many players from both teams with
tee shirts sticking out from under their game jerseys and covering
their backsides that I began suspecting that it was a requirement. Say
this for college athletes - they have absolutely no sense of real style.
*********** I think the dumbest-ass rule change in years was the one
allowing guys “ejected” from games for targeting to remain with their
teams.
Its intent was not to “stigmatize” the poor ejectee (“hasn’’t he
suffered enough?”) but its result has been to mitigate the offense, and
to treat him as the poor fish who got caught while all the others
continue to swim free.
Which brings me to speculate that there might actually be a perverse
incentive to target - a certain cachet attached to it, much in the way
a gang member makes his bones.
*********** After his Houston Cougars lost in the New Mexico Bowl Dana
Holgorsen is now 7-13 after two seasons (4-8 in 2019, 3-5 in 2020) as
head coach of the Cougars.
Holgorsen was hired away from West Virginia after the 2018 season and
given a five-year contract worth $20 million. Try saying that
very slowly.
His pay of roughly $4 million a year is at least $1 million more than
that of any other Group of Five coach, and more than that of half of
all Power Five coaches.
My question: What do coaches have to lose when they sign a
contract? What’s the downside of a coach’s underperforming like
this? (For the record, he took over a club that had gone 8-5 under his
predecessor, Major Applewhite.)
Unless he gives “cause” for his firing (commits some sort of gross
violation), Holgorsen can go oh-fer for the remaining three years, and
he’s still going to collect the entire $20 mil. When are
colleges going to get smart and include clauses requiring paybacks
after seasons like the ones Holgorsen’s had in the first two years of
his contract? I’d call it malpractice insurance.
*********** A Marshall spike hit the center’s foot and yet they still
stopped the clock. (The rule specifically refers to spiking as throwing
the ball “to the ground.”)
*********** Time for coaches to stop trying to show us how clever they
are with their time management and playing coy about scoring - or not
scoring - touchdowns when they’re down close and time’s running out.
Omigod. What if we score? That’ll give them time to go the
length of the field and score a touchdown and then go for two and tie
it up and take us into overtime! The paranoia is astounding.
So is the delusion on the defensive side: Gee. Maybe if we just flop
and let them score - sure, it’ll mean we’ll be down by seven points,
but we’ll get ball and move it down the field, and…
We saw enough of this in the Camelia Bowl (Buffalo-Marshall) and the
Cure Bowl (Liberty-Coastal Carolina) to convince any coach that when an
opponent’s going to offer you a touchdown - take the damn thing.
That stuff, and not the baggage that he carries, is what’s going to
keep Hugh Freeze from getting a bigger job. Guy does way too many
things that make you go “WTF?”
*********** Coronavirus aside, it was a very tough year for guys like
me who once loved baseball and the men who played it: We lost Al Kaline
(85) in April… Tom Seaver (75) and Lou Brock (81) in September… Bob
Gibson (84), Whitey Ford (91) and Joe Morgan (77) in October.
*********** With no games on the tube Friday night (Christmas night) it
was back to watching our old favorite - Diners, Drive-Ins and
Dives. But it was actually sad, because as we watched the
host, Guy Fieri, visiting restaurants - in Bakersfield,
Charlotte, New York, Summerville, South Carolina, Norwalk, Connecticut
and South Philly - we realized that the segments had been shot at least
a year ago, and that very few of those places, warm, friendly and
appealing, the pride and joy of their owners, will survive the Great
Lockdown.
*********** If you attend my Tuesday night Zoom Clinics, you’ll
remember my showing the center from Louisiana Lafayette, a kid named
Boudreaux, and the horrible time he had snapping the ball against App
State. Well, against UTSA, he not only snapped the ball cleanly
but he was the first man downfield and made the tackle on the return
man.
*********** Very sad to hear of the death of Ty Jordan, freshman
running back from Utah, as a result of an accidental, self-inflicted
gunshot.
*********** If you’re like me and you find some amusement in the
juvenile antics of the jackasses who infest the NFL, you have to be
disappointed in the decision of the Redskins NFL
Team That Plays in Laurel Maryland But Says It’s From Washington to
waive Dwayne Haskins. He had such promise. Not as a player
but as a stereotypical clown. But no - the coach, Ron Rivera, had to go
and act as if discipline and team play still matter.
*********** Time for Coastal Carolina to knock off the
“SHONT-a-clear” crap.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6EOa5TFG-c
*********** The clown who called the Liberty-Coastal game tried setting
the scene by saying, “These two schools… separated by less than 300
miles… they don’t like each other.”
Give. Me. A. Break.
The guy makes it sound like they're in adjoining counties.
Give or take a few miles, 300 miles is the distance between
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Between Chicago and St. Louis. Between
Boston and Philadelphia. Between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, BC.
Between Houston and New Orleans. That's enough. You get the idea.
*********** You telling me that if they're removing a guys' appendix
and they discover cancer, they just rake out the appendix and sew the
guy up? I think that once football officials decide to review a
play for any reason, they ought to be able to penalize teams for
anything else they happen to find - such as holding - that might
have given a team an unfair advantage.
*********** I don’t give a big rat’s ass about the NFL and it wouldn’t
bother me if it were to fold today.
But I might change my mind if The League were inhabited, as it once
was, by guys like J. J. Watt, who seems to understand who butters his
bread.
I said I might. But I lied. Too late now. F—k em all.
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1343329197561962497?s=21
*********** A helmet came flying off the head of Liberty QB Malik
Willis, pulled off by one of the most vicious cases of face masking
I’ve ever seen.
And what do you know? The perpetrator, the grabber of the face
mask, was none other than #94 of Coastal Carolina, one Jeffrey
Gunter, who was also the perp of the nasty incident at halftime of the
BYU game, in which, without regard for the fact that he was on national
TV, he - twice - threw BYU QB Zach Wilson to the ground, then, after
the second throw-down, fell on top of him.
Well. Following the face mask penalty, I decided to concentrate
on Mr. Gunter whenever CC was on defense.
Sheesh. I don’t know how else to say this, but Mister Killer Guy looked
soft. Maybe he was sulking after having his ass reamed for the
face mask call, because for the rest of the game he was pretty much
MIA.
Whenever he was blocked, he stayed blocked - no fight, no evasive
action, and no hustle to get back into the play.
About the only time he did anything at all noteworthy was at the end of
the game when he was in on a fumble recovery at the goal line, and he
put on an act - and the camera followed him to the sideline - as if
he’d been doing that on every play.
I've since come across a site that raved about Mr. Gunter as an NFL
prospect. Now, I haven’t watched him closely in any other CC
games, and so it’s possible that what I saw was not at all
characteristic of his play. But the NFL people are always on the
lookout for the telltale signs of players who’ll take a play off here
and there and I think that after they watch this game they’ll have seen
enough.
https://larrybrownsports.com/college-football/coastal-carolina-jeffrey-gunter-dirty-plays-zach-wilson/569459
*********** Surely SOMEBODY at Sun Belt Conference headquarters had to
be watching the BYU-Coastal Carolina game when Coastal defensive end
Jeffrey Gunter attacked BYU quarterback Zack Wilson after Wilson had
thrown an interception some 40 yards downfield (making him, by rule, a
“defenseless player”).
Surely SOMEBODY had to realize that there was something wrong with the
officiating when the violation occurred right in front of the referee -
and there was no penalty.
And surely SOMEBODY had to realize that you don’t act as if the gross
violation of clean football didn’t happen, and go and reward the guy
for what he did otherwise by naming him the conference’s Defensive
Player of the Week. (They really did. I am not making this
up.) WTF?
Surely SOMEBODY at conference headquarters has to aspire to being a
real, big-time conference that the rest of FBS football takes seriously.
If there even IS a Sun Belt Conference headquarters.
https://www.wmbfnews.com/2020/12/07/ccus-jeffrey-gunter-named-sun-belt-defensive-player-week/
*********** In my opinion the dumbest thing a college that’s really
down should do is hire a guy who’s never been a head coach at any
level, has no prior connection with the school, has had 12
different employers in the last 20 years, and has spent only five
of those 20 years in college football - and only one of them in the
conference he’s now going to be coaching in. Yet that’s what
Arizona has just done. Go ahead and prove me wrong, Wildcats.
*********** Hugh,
Kudos to Neal Brown and his WVU team for agreeing to playing Army in
the Liberty Bowl, and can't think of a better named bowl game for the
Army to play in.
Of all the Power 5 conferences in football the Pac 12 IS the low man on
the totem pole. In fact, there are 2 or 3 Group of Five
conferences with teams that are likely much more competitive in
football than most teams in the Pac 12. The ONLY reasons the Pac
12 is regarded as a "Power 5 conference" has more to do with its
historic football tradition, and dominance of other sports other than
football.
Back to Army...you are spot-on in making the comparisons of Army
running the option and high schools that run the Double Wing, and why
guys like Monken and Niumatololo aren't at the top of the lists of
Power 5 schools who are now looking to fill their vacant head coaching
positions. Unfortunately those of us who utilize the DW offense
at the high school level get painted into a corner. Just because
we do doesn't necessarily mean it is the ONLY offensive system we know
how to coach. Same goes for Monken and Niumatololo, Troy Calhoun,
and Paul Johnson for that matter. On the contrary. What it
means is that guys like us likely know MORE about the game, our
personnel, and the culture we are part of much more than most other
coaches. We can coach ANY of those other offensive systems.
I guess the question that would beg to be asked is, "Can those
spread guys coach the triple option like Johnson, Monken, Niumatololo,
and Calhoun? Could ANY of them coach the DW like a lot of us can?
Glad you took the time to send a note of encouragement to Coach Monken.
Frankly, I think the whole college football divisional setup,
conference alignments, bowl system, and playoffs as we know it needs to
be blown up, and the NCAA with it.
I happen to think that Brett Bielema is the right guy for Illinois.
He is the right guy in the Big Ten. He will recruit huge O
Linemen, beasts at RB, QB's that do a good job of managing an offense,
physical WR's, and physical defensive players. Coming in he's a
good recruiter (a far cry from Lovie Smith when he first got hired).
If he gets the Illini to average 8 wins per year, compete for
division titles periodically, and once in a while win a Big 10 title (a
far cry from what they've had in the last 20 years) he'll be an Illini
coaching legend.
Wishing you and Connie a very Merry and Blessed Christmas, and a Joyous
New Year. Enjoy the games!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: As head coach at Columbia for 36 years,
Lou Little spent most of his career in the seemingly-unfortunate
position of doing a masterful job of teaching and coaching bright,
hard-working young men of good character who often, unfortunately,
weren't as talented as the people they had to play.
But in his time at Columbia he did win some big ones. Really big ones:
in the 1934 Rose Bowl his Lions upset mighty Stanford, and in 1947 they
pulled off one of the greatest upsets of the 20th century, ending
mighty Army's 32-game unbeaten streak with a 21-20 win.
Born in Boston, the son of an Italian immigrant, Luigi Piccolo was
known throughout his career by the anglicized version of his name (Lou
Little). He was raised in Leominster, Massachusetts, and
went on to play tackle at the University of Pennsylvania in 1916. After
service in the military in World War I, he returned to Penn and was an
All-American in 1919. Following college, he played
professional football, such as it was in those days, with the Frankford
Yellow Jackets, the predecessors of today's Philadelphia Eagles.
From 1924 through 1929, he was head coach at Georgetown where his
record was 41-12-13, and then was offered the job at Columbia. There he
stayed, until 1956.
The early years were good, including the Rose Bowl win, brought about
by his famous play known as KF-79. But Columbia's emphasis on
academics, and the rise of other programs around the country, sent the
Lions' fortunes into a tailspin, and in the last 20 years of his
career, Columbia had only five winning seasons.
Yet there was never any stir among the alumni to get rid of him - their
greatest concern was that he might finally resign in frustration.
It never happened. In fact, when Yale offered him its
athletic director’s position in 1947, Columbia’s President, Dwight
Eisenhower (the same) persuaded him to remain at Columbia.
It was said that his teams were "seldom outthought and never
outfought." He insisted his players be sportsmen: he taught them to
knock an opponent on his back, then help him up. He was not easy on his
players. Recalled one of them, years later, “He demanded that
they play football his way, or not play at all."
And despite Columbia's unbending academic standards, he did come across
some very good players, the best known of whom was Sid Luckman, the man
whom Chicago Bears' owner/coach George Halas chose to be his
quarterback when he decided to install the T-formation. Luckman would
earn lasting fame as the first of pro football's great passing
quarterbacks.
"I never met anyone in my life who had such a tremendous influence on
me," Luckman once said of his coach.
He was a New York celebrity, enjoying the night life and socializing
with mayors , sports figures and entertainers.
To show how popular he was, at the end of his 25th year at Columbia,
the New York Football writers, a notoriously cynical crowd,
showed their respect by doing something they’d never done before for
any sports figure, presenting him with a silver plaque.
They asked Columbia's president, to make the presentation, and in
doing so the president said, "He is not only a great coach. He is a
great man."
His final year at Columbia was 1956, the first year of the Ivy
League. His final game was an 18-12 win over Rutgers, a
non-league contest. His 110 wins at Columbia are 68 more than the
next-winningest coach there.
In 1960 Lou Little was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING LOU LITTLE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: Although Penn State had been playing football
since 1889, it wasn’t until 1968 - 79 years later - that he
became the Nittany Lions’ first two-time All-American.
Born in Pittsburgh, he was All-State at Montour High School in McKees
Rocks, and in 1964 was named the Western Pennsylvania Intercollegiate
Athletic League’s (WPIAL) Most Valuable Player. In the summer
following his senior year, in the Big 33 All Star game played against
Texas, he caught nine passes and scored the only touchdown in the
Pennsylvania team’s loss.
With freshmen then ineligible to play varsity ball, his first year of
college eligibility was Joe Paterno’s first year as Penn State’s head
coach.
In his senior season, 1968, Penn State finished 11-0 - its first
undefeated and untied season in 56 years - with an Orange Bowl victory
and a Number Two ranking nationally.
In his three-year career, he caught 86 passes for 1,343 yards and
10 touchdowns.
With the tight end position evolving into what it has become today, at
6-4, 230 pounds he was the sort of tight end that all NFL teams wanted,
and the 49ers, with two first-round choices, took him first, the
seventh pick overall. (Their second first-round pick was Stanford wide
receiver Gene Washington.)
In six years with the 49ers, he made three straight Pro Bowls -
1971-1973. In 1971, his 52 receptions were second in the NFC. In
1972, he caught nine touchdown passes, and averaged 18.8 yards per
catch, extremely high for a tight end. (For his career, Rob
Gronkowski has averaged 15.0 yards per catch.)
1970-71-72 were three very good years for the 49ers, under head coach
Dick Nolan. They won division titles all three years, and made it to
the NFC championship game in 1970 and 1971. (After 1972, they
would go nine seasons without making it to the playoffs again, until
Bill Walsh would take them to a Super Bowl championship.)
After two dismal seasons for the 49ers in 1973 and 1974, he signed to
play with the Philadelphia Bell in the World Football League.
But when that league folded, for the second straight year, he returned
to the NFL, this time with the Oakland Raiders.
He said that what sealed the deal was when he said, “I want one of
those warm Raider jackets for my dad,” and Raiders’ owner Al Davis got
on the phone and ordered one.
He played three seasons as a Raider, and in 1976 achieved his dream of
winning a Super Bowl ring when the Raiders beat the Vikings.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and of the
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Asked in 2005 how he’d want people to describe his career, he said, “I
think I’d want them to say that (he) was very fortunate to be in
situations where he could work hard, have integrity and be part of
organizations where it was important to stress having a common
goal. That’s doing the best you can and winning football games.”
Asked once to describe him, his college coach, Joe Paterno, said, "He's
what God had in mind when he made a football player."
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 25, 2020 “Our
Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is
wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams
********** MERRY CHRISTMAS - (THE WORDS "HAPPY HOLIDAYS" WILL
NEVER CROSS MY LIPS)
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 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.... A nation at peace - a peace
that exists thanks to a strong and dedicated military that defends us
while we sleep.
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 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, FOR THOSE WHO DIDN'T EVEN GET TO PLAY A FALL
SEASON - A governor who won't welsh (my apologies to any Welshmen
I might have offended) on the deal he/she made back in
August that if you would just be patient you'd be able to play football
in "the spring."
MAYBE I'LL SEE YOU HERE NEXT TUESDAY, AND MAYBE I
WON'T. (MAYBE TIME FOR A SHORT BREAK)
MAYBE I'LL HAVE A ZOOM NEXT TUESDAY NIGHT AND MAYBE I WONT - BUT EITHER
WAY, I'LL EMAIL YOU!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WYATT HOUSE
*********** Only a year ago, during bowl season, Pizza Hut was
running a commercial, saying, "You can't have a game without the
fans..."
Oh, no?
Next they'll tell us you can't broadcast a game from a studio in
Bristol, Connecticut.*
*If you didn't know, that's the home of ESPN.
*********** With Army set to play West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl,
you'll get no corny, trite hillbilly jokes from me. First of all,
I like West Virginia, the state. Second of all, I appreciate the fact
that
I haven't heard any bitching from the Mountaineers about having to face
that boring Army offense.
Then there's this, from a friend of my son's who went to graduate
school at WVU:
One side represents the world’s largest stockpile of firearms. The
other is Army.
*********** So far, the bowl games have been a series of duds.
But a bad college game is still better than a good NFL game.
*********** An interesting story about the Kentucky football job, from
the article that Greg Koenig sent me a link to:
Curci was head coach at Miami (Fla.), where he'd played quarterback,
before he came to Kentucky.
"The Miami board of trustees voted twice to drop football," Curci said.
"The Dolphins were 17-0, and we couldn't draw flies. I had Chuck
Foreman. I had a bunch of players. It didn't make any difference. I'm
saying, 'I'm going to get the hell out of here.' And that's my school.
I went to school there.
"So I called up Frank Broyles, Charlie McClendon, Darrell Royal, Ara
Parseghian and coach Bryant - five coaches. Every one of them said,
'You go to Kentucky. It's a better deal. It's the SEC.' Except Ara
Parseghian. He said, 'It's the northernmost school in the South and
southernmost school in the North, and it's just a really difficult
place to recruit.'
"And it was. It was hard. But we did OK for a while."
*********** Auburn hired Bryan Harsin away from Boise
State. It shocked most people in the West because he’s a Boise
guy - went to high school there, played college ball there, assisted
there, and then, after a year as head coach at Arkansas State, took the
head coaching job there when Chris Petersen moved on to Washington.
I like the guy and I like the job he’s done at Boise.
But I have my reservations.
He’s never coached - or recruited - in the South, and he’s going to
find himself in a completely different world in that regard.
But actually, he’s going to experience major culture shock on any
number of levels.
The main thing, I think, is going from being the Alabama of the
Mountain West to being a guy whose career now depends on beating the
Alabama of the SEC.
Personally, I think what drove him out of Boise was the
realization that after the mess left by the Pac-12 and its
leadership there just isn't much opportunity west of the Rockies.
*********** With the hiring by Auburn of Boise State coach Bryan
Harsin, Boise remains the last unfilled job. At the moment.
But there’s still Tennessee. Jeremy Pruitt just finished a 3-7
season there, and he’s now 16-19 after three seasons. Tennessee fans
shouldn’t get that uptight about the record, because the late Johnny
Majors was just 16-17-1 after three years in Knoxville. But he
got more time, because he was, after all, one of the great players in
Tennessee history, and he finally had a winning record in year five,
and he went on to win three SEC championships. But Jeremy Pruitt
is not a Tennessee legend, and on top of all his problems, now comes
word that there’s an internal investigation going on into possible
recruiting violations and impermissible benefits to athletes.
If the Vols do cut Coach Pruitt loose - and if there are irregularities
they could fire him for cause and have to pay him nothing - I don’t
think I have to point out to them that there is a guy to the south of
them who’s done better against Alabama than any man alive. That
would be Gus Malzahn, fired by Auburn simply because they felt they
could do better. Yet Coach Malzahn was 3-5 against Alabama in his
eight years at Auburn. In that time, the rest of the SEC combined
could only beat Bama three times.
Now, here’s the best part: with all the money Auburn has to pay Malzahn
- $21.5 million over the next four or five years - he could afford to
pay Tennessee to hire him!
*********** This transfer portal sh— may be great for the individual,
the kid who doesn’t think he’s getting enough playing time, but in the
overall picture I think it’s going to harm college
football. Big time, in fact.
Watch schools start to load up with talented freshmen who play a season
and then move on, like Kentucky basketball players.
I have to laugh at the guy who transferred from Clemson after backing
up Trevor Lawrence, then spent this past season year as Duke’s starting
QB (not a very good one as a matter of fact) and now he’s off to
Appalachian State.
Student-athletes, my ass.
TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 22, 2020 “It
just doesn't make any sense to me that you can go from wanting to play
to not wanting to play in a matter of 12 hours." Army coach Jeff
Monken
AS I WENT TO PRESS… IT WAS ANNOUNCED THAT TENNESSEE HAD TO DROP OUT
OF THE LIBERTY BOWL GAME AGAINST WEST VIRGINIA BECAUSE OF COVID CASES,
AND IT APPEARS THAT THE LIBERTY BOWL COMMITTEE HAS DONE WHAT IT WAS
BEING URGED TO DO - INVITE ARMY. GREAT PR FOR THE LIBERTY BOWL
AND A DESERVED BOWL SPOT FOR ARMY. WEST VIRGINIA WILL BE FAVORED
AND DESERVEDLY SO BUT THEY'D BETTER COME WANTING TO PLAY. MY ONLY
REGRET IS THAT NOW ARMY WON’T HAVE A CHANCE, WHATEVER THE FINAL SCORE,
TO DELIVER SOME PUNISHMENT TO SOME PAC-12 TEAM…
Since we last spoke…
*********** Air Force was leading Army, 7-3 with under nine minutes to
play Saturday, and the Zoomies had the ball in Army territory,
second-and-two.
For some reason - perhaps because they hadn’t had much of a running
game all day - they decided to throw. Deep. And the ball
was intercepted in the Army end zone.
And then took place a classic Army drive. Starting on their own 20 with
8:23 left to play, they took 15 plays - and seven minutes off the clock
- to drive to the Air Force one. And there, on fourth-and-goal,
with 1:13 left to play, 260-pound fullback Jakobi Buchanan punched it
in on the closest any college team can come to running a wedge the way
we Double-Wingers do it.
Air Force still had time to drive for a field goal (although they’d
already missed on two earlier attempts) but their first down pass was
deflected by an Army pass rusher and intercepted to seal the win.
The win gave Army possession of the Commander-in-Chief Trophy.
Now, a trip to Shreveport, Louisiana and an appearance in Saturday’s
Independence Bowl awaits the Cadets.
But wait… more to come.
*********** The Pac-12 blew up.
It all started when Oregon upset the Conference’s applecart on Friday
night. Just a last-minute fill-in for Washington, which had “earned”
the right to play USC for the conference championship by slipping out
of a head-to-head with the Ducks a week earlier, Oregon beat
heavily-favored USC, 31-24.
The Pac-12 was obviously unprepared for this eventuality. The doofus
commissioner had, even prior to the game, tried to make an argument for
an unbeaten USC’s inclusion in playoff discussions. But at the end of
the day, as the cliche goes, USC was no longer unbeaten, and the
chaotic, amateurish postgame trophy presentation reflected the fact
that the conference poohbahs had clearly been caught off-guard by the
result. The “ceremony” looked as if they’d sent all the
conference employees home, and a bunch of guys in Oregon football
uniforms had crashed a wedding reception intended for a couple that had
made a last-minute decision to elope.
The Pac-12, which could screw up a wet dream, had already messed up
big-time, back when it finally decided to start its season, announcing
that, despite the NCAA’s one-time-only bowl-eligibility waiver,
it would not permit a conference team with a losing record to play in a
bowl game. This same Pac-12 conference had qualified seven teams
for bowls last year, but the geniuses in charge obviously overlooked
the fact that this year, with no out-of-conference games to pad its
teams’ records, it could be left with just six qualifying teams. And
then, as the pandemic protocol and all the contact-tracing crap started
to cut into its teams’ rosters, and other teams simply decided that
they’d just had enough, on Friday night it appeared that there might be
just four teams left to play: Arizona State, Colorado, and of course,
the two teams in the title game, Oregon and USC.
Arizona State declared itself out.
That left three teams. Oregon, as conference champion, would play in
the Fiesta Bowl, USC, as runner-up, would go to the Alamo Bowl,
and Colorado, the next up, would go to the Independence Bowl (to face
Army).
But on Saturday, USC, which looked like a trashy bunch of junior
high kids in taunting UCLA after last week’s last-minute win, did what
a bully does when he’s been punched in the eye: run home and
hide.
They were mighty USC, after all, and somehow they’d lost the
championship game to those twerps from Oregon, and they weren’t about
to come out and have to play another game in some (ick!) Alamo Bowl
against somebody who might put a shiner on that other eye.
Oh, they didn’t come right out and say so. They said it was on
the advice of their “medical staff.” Yeah, like doctors won’t
write you a prescription so you can get a handicapped parking
permit. Or bring a service animal on an airplane.
One thing you can make book on: the medical staff wouldn’t have been
involved if they’d beaten Oregon and then, by some miracle, been
selected by the Playoff Committee.
I’m going to make a prediction that can never be disproved: I am
going to say that if Ohio State had lost to Northwestern, the Buckeyes
have enough class and enough respect for others that they would be
playing in some bowl, somewhere.
*********** Now, USC and Arizona State having decided not to play in a
bowl game, the Pac-12 will be represented by just two teams: Oregon and
Colorado. Colorado, originally headed for the Independence Bowl
where it would have made a good matchup with Army, instead moved
up a notch to the Alamo Bowl, where it will be overmatched against
Texas.
And that left Army without an opponent. The Independence Bowl has tried
its best to find another team but - the story goes - every time Army is
mentioned as the other team, prospective opponents say, “No Thanks.”
Somewhat like the recent “election,” there’s “no proof” that the reason
that, try as they may, no one can find an opponent to play Army in a
bowl game is that damn offense Army runs. No, the fact that as
soon as teams hear that the opponent is “Army,” they decide they didn’t
want to play in a bowl after all isn’t proof.
But you know and I know that that’s the reason.
Why don’t they want to play Army?
Well, duh. Why don’t people want to play against the Double Wing?
First of all, on the defensive side, having to prepare on short notice
for a very physical, drive-blocking, ball-control offense means you
could wind up looking bad. And your players could get beat up.
And on the offensive side, your stars are going to get very frustrated
having to stand on the sideline while Army hogs the ball. And
then, when you do get the ball, those same stars are going to fight
over who gets his touches.
But even so - would that be enough for coaches to willingly forego
their bowl bonuses?
Hmmm. Makes me wonder if, in view of the coronavirus and the cuts in
pay that so many coaching staffs have had to take, bowl bonuses have
been eliminated. Depending on the bowl, those bonuses typically amount
to 1/12 of their salary, and I can’t picture too many coaches (or
their wives) passing on the chance to pick up an extra month’s pay.
But if there’s no extra money involved, with nothing to gained and
everything to lose by playing against that Army offense, I can
see some coaches being even more eager to pass on a bowl game
than their players.
*********** Matt Fortuna, writing in The Athletic, got some very
interesting quotes from Army coach Jeff Monken:
He named
USC and Boise State as teams who had expressed a desire to play in New
Year's Six bowl games but decided to end their seasons following
losses.
"The bottom line is
there were enough people who kept saying, 'No, we don't want to play
Army, we don't want to play Army,'" Monken told ESPN. "And I'm sure
they don't want to have one week to get ready for the option
or whatever, but our players, we've got guys on our team that
wouldn't be invited as walk-ons to the teams we're getting ready to
play.
"It just doesn't
make any sense to me that you can go from wanting to play to not
wanting to play in a matter of 12 hours."
The Independence
Bowl was supposed to feature a Pac-12 team. Problem was, just two
Pac-12 teams elected to participate in bowls this year, leaving the
Independence Bowl empty-handed. The bowl was canceled. Monken said the
bowl worked to find a number of replacement teams, only to be rebuffed
each time.
“It’s either, they
don’t want to get ready for the option, or maybe they didn’t think we
were a good enough opponent. I don’t know,” Monken said. “But there’s
teams that they have discussed with us, ‘Hey, we think it’s going to be
so and so,’ then all of a sudden they’re in a different bowl game
against somebody else. The whole day went like that.”
Army players won’t
pack their bags for the holidays just yet, though. The seniors had
a closed-door meeting and elected to try to play on, so the Black
Knights will have a 1 p.m. practice Monday and continue to prep for a
game this week in case their name gets called. The way that
Army sees it, more than 100 games have been postponed or canceled
this season, which means multiple bowls will inevitably need a
replacement team.
And the Black
Knights will be ready to go — and follow whatever COVID-19 testing
is asked of them — if and when their name is called.
“They’ll say, ‘OK,
here’s Army, they’re ready to play,’ and we’ll fly there to play,”
Monken said. “And so we’re going to practice and prepare, and like I
told these guys from the beginning (of the year): Prepare, don’t plan.
Just be a prepared team. And as you’ll do when you’re in the Army, you
need to be a prepared Army. You can’t plan for when the battles are
going to happen. You can’t plan for when you’re going to go to war. But
when it happens, you better be prepared. And so we’ve just taken that
attitude, our guys have really embraced it and we’re going to continue
to do that this week.”
If nothing surfaces
before Thursday, Army will send its players home for Christmas
break. Any option that comes open after that self-imposed deadline
will create logistical challenges for a roster spread across the
country, though Monken says they will do everything they can to make it
work if a later bowl game needs a replacement team, too. He
welcomed back his roster on May 31, and the West Point, N.Y., campus
has been as close to an actual bubble as there is outside of the
professional sports ranks.
No one has been
allowed to leave campus. No fans or family members are allowed at home
games. Some players were able to see their families during Army’s trips
to Tulane, UTSA and Cincinnati, but that was it.
The Military Bowl
is played in Annapolis, which raises the question: If it were at all
possible, would Army be open to playing Navy again?
“We’ll play
anybody. We’ll play anybody. Anybody,” Monken said. “Them, it doesn’t
matter. We want to go to a bowl game.”
Monken applauded
the SEC for continuing to play on, as 12 of that conference’s 14 teams
are participating in bowls. (LSU, which has a self-imposed bowl ban,
and winless Vanderbilt, which just replaced its head coach, are the
only SEC teams staying at home.)
The frustration
from Monken’s end stems from those who aren’t playing,
causing several bowl games to cancel. The idea of the Black Knights’
seniors playing in their final game Saturday without even knowing it at
the time is tough to swallow.
“It was so
important that they had these meetings of the minds to get the Big Ten
and the Pac-12 to play this fall — ‘We gotta play, gotta play, be
relevant’ — and now it doesn’t matter anymore?” Monken said. “That’s
what bothers me. When you’ve got kids here that, nobody sacrifices like
our kids have. Nobody. The teams, the coaches, the players at civilian
schools have no idea, no idea what these guys go through on a daily
basis — no idea — and what this bubble really means. Eating in the mess
hall every night and every day, and having formations in the morning at
5:30 a.m. They go through all that, and I hear, ‘After all we’ve been
through, we’re going to opt out,’ thinking, You’ve got no idea.
And that’s what bothers me, and our kids get punished for it.” ****
*********** As just another Army fan, I wrote to Coach Jeff Monken
Coach,
I don’t pretend to know what you’re facing right now, but for what it’s
worth...
I got my start in 1970 coaching semi-pro ball, where we didn’t always
know who, where or when we’d play - or if we’d play at all. So I have a
small idea of what you’re dealing with right now and I admire the way
you’re managing the situation.
And then there’s this: for the last 20+ years I’ve been running an
offense (the Double Wing) that no one likes and no one wants to play,
so I have a small idea of the kind of “offense discrimination” you’re
facing, not only in finding an opponent willing to play you but - let’s
not kid ourselves - in keeping you from getting “bigger” jobs.
In the latter case, from Army’s point of view, I'm grateful. Your
offensive philosophy is who you are and it’s a major reason why you’ve
succeeded at West Point where others have failed.
But even more than the offense, it’s been your leadership, and it’s
really showing now.
Hang Tuff.
A-A-A-0*
Hugh Wyatt
*ANYTHING-ANYWHERE-ANYTIME-BAR NOTHING
http://www.facesbeyondthegraves.com/pagina67.html
*********** Let this whole bowl fiasco of teams “not wanting to
play” be a lesson to coaches everywhere (those who are still willing to
learn): surround yourself with kids who love the game - there are still
plenty of them. And screw the rest, no matter how talented they
are. There are way too many kids today who are playing for the all the
wrong reasons. They are playing to build their brand. They are
playing to advance themselves as individuals. They are playing for what
football will get them, and not because they love to play the game.
They've already adopted, at an early age, the pro mentality that
infests the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball. It's why USC isn't
playing in a "lesser" bowl game. Covid, my ass.
*********** With the so-called Group of Five conferences complaining,
with some justification, about being squeezed out of consideration for
the Playoff, I think it’s time for conference relegation, based on
their performance in bowl games. I just don’t see how the Pac-12 can
call itself a “Power Five” conference after putting on the chaotic
season that it did and then being represented in the bowls by just two
teams. It had an obligation to bowls and to potential bowl-game
opponents, and it simply did not live up to its claimed status.
*********** You know the Pac-12 doesn’t get any respect
When Brad Nessler comes on the broadcast of the Alabama-Florida game
and says “We congratulate the winners of the Power 5 championship
games… Oklahoma in the Big 12… Ohio State in the Big Ten… and Clemson
in the ACC…” and that’s it.
When they assign Beth Mowins to do Stanford at UCLA.
*********** Now, I don’t know squat about this, but is there anything
to prevent a team that’s played fewer than the NCAA-allotted maximum
number of regular-season games from playing in more than one bowl game?
*********** I admit that I got taken in by Notre Dame. I picked
them to beat Clemson in their rematch. Clearly, I based my
evaluation of the Irish on their performance against lesser
competition, and I didn’t fully appreciate how good Trevor Lawrence is.
Anyhow, in defiance of all logic, Notre Dame is in. The best argument
that could be made in favor of Notre Dame was its two “big” wins - at
home, in two overtimes, against Lawrence-less Clemson, and against a
North Carolina team that has lost to Virginia and - get ready for this
- Florida State.
It just doesn’t make a damn bit of sense to take a team that’s just
lost by 24 points and give it a spot against Alabama, the best college
team in the country, in the first round.
So much for suspense.
F—k the Playoffs.
*********** I think the whole Heisman thing is a bunch of crap, but
given that it is what it is, I can’t imagine any more convincing
evidence of a guy’s worthiness than the difference in Clemson’s play
against Notre Dame, first without him and then with him.
*********** After an abbreviated season in which you could never be
sure until the two teams lined up that there would be a game, the
Pac-12 sent the “Bush League” meter into the red with its “Conference
Championship” game.
It was in historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, where some of the
greatest events in the history of sport have taken place. But
those events took place in front of enormous crowds, approachng
100,000. Friday night’s game took place in an empty stadium.
Talk about depressing.
And Fox’s “presentation” was a f—king joke. The pre-game took way too
long, and the “introductions" of key players looked like something out
of a commercial.
The play-by-play guy, one Joe Davis, looked like a mini-Brady Quinn
with his hairdo straight out of a 1930s black and white movie.
There was phony crowd noise, even including booing when a call went
against the hometown Trojans.
And the post-game “Trophy Presentation?” Nothing could better say “Bush
League.”
*********** All three of Friday night’s conference championship games
were won by the underdogs: Oregon over USC in the Pac-12 (once a
Power-5 conference); UAB over Marshall in Conference USA; and Ball
State over Buffalo in the MAC.
*********** The two-hand chest-passers were back at it again in the
“Doctor Pepper” challenge.
But it was even funnier when Matt Leinhart and Reggie Bush went after
it, as surrogates for some people at home.
Leinhart made the first nine in a row, and hit 13 of 14.
************* The college transfer portal business is really gaining
momentum, especially where quarterbacks are concerned. Urban Meyer
rightly said it’s actually free agency. Soon, instead of listing
a guy’s high school in the game program, they’ll list his last college.
*********** I’m not getting soft in my old age. I think it’s
wonderful to see black guys and white guys hugging each other after
games. It gives me hope that we still have a chance against the
creatures who would divide us.
*********** Fox just doesn’t know how to put on a sports event. It’s
solution is always to treat it like entertainment. Who else would
say, as a team comes onto the field, “Please welcome the Buckeyes,” as
if they were making an appearance on a TV show? Oh, wait…
*********** When Florida State cancelled out on Wake Forest Friday, it
was the THIRD time this season they’d cancelled out on an opponent
within 24 hours of the kickoff.
*********** When we were looking for a house, our realtor, a New York
Irishman named Jerry Foley, advised us to look at every property not
just as a buyer, but as a seller - which is what we would be someday.
He extended that to hiring somebody: yeah, he looks great right now,
but what’s it going to be like if you ever have to fire the guy?
I don’t think that Illinois was thinking as a seller when they gave
Bret Bielema a six-year contract, because I predict that they’re going
to wind up having to buy out a couple of years of it when its time to
“sell.”
*********** After watching Iowa State’s Matt Campbell going nuts over
whether a guy was or was not offsides and whether or not he should have
been called, I have seen enough getting-across-and-then-getting-back in
college ball to convince me that the high school rule (as in rape,
“penetration, however slight…’) is better.
*********** Those of you who watch the weekly Zoom clinics know that I
see at least one case a week of a fumble created by a quarterback’s
poor mechanis on a ride. It leads me to believe that coaches who decide
to “run” the play don’t take the time to learn how to “teach” the
play.
*********** Army’s QB was knocked out of the game by a helmet-to-helmet
hit by an Air Force defender but it wasn’t at all a dirty play.
The AF defender came in hard and high and hit him a split second after
he’d made a handoff. There was no way he could have avoided making
contact the way he did. Simply an occupational hazard of playing
quarterback in an option offense.
*********** One unintended consequence of the injury to Army’s QB was
that his replacement, who may not have been as athletic, was still
plenty athletic - and because he was more familiar with the overall
offense, he was able to run a lot more of it. As a result - in my
opinion - Army was able to run enough of its offense to put on its
winning drive.
*********** I’ve been wondering: do teams that puss out of bowl games
still get to share in their conference’s bowl revenues?
*********** My boss at Baltimore’s National Brewing Company was a guy
named Mike Greene. Probably the best boss I’ve ever had.
Great sense of humor. Once, after our ad agency had pitched some new
commercial, he said we should just cut all the bullsh— about water and
barley and hops and get right to the point: we should have some
ordinary guy hold up a can of our product and say, “I like National
Beer because it makes me drunk.”
I often think of Mike as I watch some of the ads on game day…
Instead of telling us how good an ice-cold Dr. Pepper tastes, Dr.
Pepper spends its commercial time telling us how much money it
contributes to college scholarships.
Instead of telling us what kick-ass pickup trucks it makes, Ford tells
us it pledges to make all of its “iconic vehicles” electric.
Coors doesn’t tell us a damn thing about its Seltzer other than that
drinking it “restores river water.”
Sure makes you want to run right out and buy their stuff.
*********** I saw a lot of teams celebrating on Saturday. They
all had only two things in common: they had been playing
“meaningless” games; they won those games.
Watch those Wisconsin kids running around, excited after just winning
Paul Bunyan’s Axe, and tell me that the only thing that matters is
winning some dumbass “national championship.”
*********** We were told that the Stanford-UCLA game had the first
all-black officiating crew in a Pac-12 game.
So?
*********** I had been wondering about this…
Brad Nessler: “I don’t think they’ve had five measurements all year.
Gary Danielson: “They try to put it on the nearest line (to start with)
so they don’t have to measure.”
*********** Najee Harris (Alabama RB) is REALLY good.
*********** Florida probably gave Bama a better game than at least two
of the other playoff teams will. (Clemson excepted.) Something
for Dan Mullen to contemplate next time he makes excuses for a player’s
misconduct.
*********** Unreal turnarounds in the Pac-12:
Stanford went ahead 27-3, then watched UCLA score 31 straight points to
go ahead, 34-27. Stanford came back to tie it up, then won
in two OT’s, 48-47 - when Chip Kelly inexplicably went for two - and
failed - instead of going into another OT.
Halftime score: Washington State 28, Utah 7; Final score: Utah
45, Washington State 28. Give new coach Nick Rolovich this much:
the Cougs only got to play four games, and he’s already got this
“Cougin’ it” thing figured out.
*********** This ought to get Ohio State fired up: Dabo Swinney, whose
made no secret of his belief that Ohio State hasn’t played enough games
to qualify for the Playoff, had the Buckeyes at Number 11 in this
week’s voting for the USA Today Coaches Poll.
*********** Like you, I liked Charlie Pride. His name even appears in
my latest, "Packfire." We lost a good guy.
Playing AF in Texas, with a partial payout from Lockheed-Martin, feels
too much like a regular season bowl game. I am not for this mercenary
move, even if for two years only. Colorado Springs and WP are the only
locations for this game. Why not have primary sponsors for every game?
Or go full NASCAR and put sponsor logos all over the uniforms? Instead
of 25th ID we could have Lay's Potato Chips.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
Thank you Sarah Fuller for that monumental announcement.
NOTHING surprises me anymore in a world I have no control. I
EXPECT disappointment. But I will help fight to save the game I
believe we have a say. There are MANY of us who have coached
football games with less than 30 players on our roster, and likely a
number of us who have done it with less than 20!
I believe we haven't seen the best offensively from Army's team, but
then again neither has the Air Force. Should be another great
game though between two service academies. I also believe the
future Army football schedules have a lot to do with Army's success,
and the offense they run. Power 5 schools aren't interested in
taking the time figuring out how to prepare for Army, and aren't
willing to take their chances after seeing how the Army has played
other "big-time" schools in the last couple of years.
While the networks appear to manipulate the college rankings I'm not
sure why ABC chose to broadcast the ACC championship game at 3
pm. Can't be because the number 2 and number 3 ranked teams in
college football are facing each other in a titanic rematch, AND for an
ACC title, AND jockeying for positions in the CFP, AND a historic first
(and maybe the only) time one of them will play for a conference
championship, AND feature three potential Heisman candidates playing
against one another. Certainly all good reasons for the game to
be shown in PRIME TIME on Saturday night. Hmmm. Maybe, just
maybe, it has something to do with the lack of attendance?? Maybe
a lot less expensive for ABC to pay for the sponsors during the 3 pm
time slot?? Maybe the ACC still doesn't have the clout of the
SEC?? Maybe all of the above??
Enjoy the weekend's games!
Joe
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Fran Curci was an All-American quarterback at
Miami, under head coach Andy Gustafson.
After graduation he spent seven years at Miami as an assistant, first
under Gustafson and then under Charlie Tate.
As head coach of the University of Tampa - a tiny, private school
playing a big-time schedule - he coached three seasons - all of them
winning seasons - and left with a record of 25-6 (.806). In his
first year there, his 7-3 record earned him Florida Sports Writers
Coach of the Year honors, and in his last season, his 1970 team went
10-1 and was ranked Number One in the small college poll.
He could recruit. Six of his players were named All-American and
sixteen of them went on to play professional football. His best-known
players were Freddie Solomon and John Matuszak, who was the first pick
overall in the 1973 draft.
His 1970 team beat Ole Miss and Miami, and the latter feat was enough
to convince Miami to hire him in place of Tate, who had been fired
earlier in the season.
Miami was not yet the power that it would become, as “The U,” and he
spent just two seasons there, going 9-13 overall, before being hired at
Kentucky to replace John Ray, who in four years had won just four SEC
games.
At Kentucky, in nine seasons (1973-1981) he won two SEC titles.
His 1976 team finished 8-4, and ranked 18th in country. To this
day it remains Kentucky’s last SEC championship football team. His 1977
team was even better, going 10-1 and ranked Number 6 nationally, but
because of sanctions it wasn’t invited to a bowl game and despite going
undefeated in SEC play wasn’t eligible to win the conference
championship.
His overall record at Kentucky was 47-51-2, but in SEC play, his teams
were - for Kentucky - a very respectable 25-20. In fact, of all
the coaches who have coached at Kentucky in the last 100 years, only
the legendary Bear Bryant’s .563 (from 1946-1953) in conference play is
better than his .455.
His overall college record is 81-71-2.
In 1991, he came out of retirement to coach the Tampa Bay Storm of the
Arena Football League. In his first year, the Storm went 10-2 and won
the AFL championship, and he was named AFL Coach of the Year.
Fran Curci also did some broadcasting of Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well
as college games, and retired as a parks commissioner for the
State of Kentucky.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING FRAN CURCI
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
CHARLIE WILSON - CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
Fran Curci must have been a straight-shooter. I don't know if you've
seen this article about why Kentucky struggles in football. Coach Curci
didn't pull any punches when he was interviewed. Very interesting.
https://www.al.com/sports/2013/11/why_does_kentucky_struggle_in.html
It’s a GREAT article!
*********** You know, I was going through the 1959 Miami program on
your site and saw his name. I remember Fran. His Tampa Bay Storm
team beat us 57-53. His QB was Jay Gruden. They won the Arena league
championship that year (1991) by beating Art Schlicter's Detroit Drive.
Pete Porcelli
Watervliet, New York
*********** Hugh,
I always enjoy the news, but it is even more enjoyable when you have
the answer to the quiz hiding in plain sight in the news! I knew the
answer to the quiz without the hidden clue. I looked at the roster for
the 1959 Miami team just to see if I knew anyone listed. I came to
number 15 Fran Curci and Jim Otto that I knew immediately.
When I got to the new quiz, it was a no brainer. I met coach Curci many
times during his time in Lexington. He was probably the best UK coach
about beating the bushes of Kentucky looking for talent. He treated the
high school coaches a lot better than John Ray who was a blow
hard and not a very good coach.
Coach Curci was a small man, but he was a human dynamo. He could sell
an Eskimo a refrigerator. He could recruit. All the coaches in Kentucky
that I know really liked and respected him. That includes me.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: As head coach at Columbia for 36 years, he
spent most of his career in the seemingly-unfortunate position of
doing a masterful job of teaching and coaching bright, hard-working
young men of good character who often, unfortunately, weren't as
talented as the people they had to play.
But in his time at Columbia he did win some big ones. Really big ones:
in the 1934 Rose Bowl his Lions upset mighty Stanford, and in 1947 they
pulled off one of the greatest upsets of the 20th century, ending
mighty Army's 32-game unbeaten streak with a 21-20 win.
Born in Boston, the son of an Italian immigrant, Luigi Piccolo was
known throughout his career by the anglicized version of his name.
He was raised in Leominster, Massachusetts, and went on to play
tackle at the University of Pennsylvania in 1916. After service in the
military in World War I, he returned to Penn and was an All-American in
1919. Following college, he played professional football,
such as it was in those days, with the Frankford Yellow Jackets, the
predecessors of today's Philadelphia Eagles.
From 1924 through 1929, he was head coach at Georgetown where his
record was 41-12-13, and then was offered the job at Columbia. There he
stayed, until 1956.
The early years were good, including the Rose Bowl win, brought about
by his famous play known as KF-79. But Columbia's emphasis on
academics, and the rise of other programs around the country, sent the
Lions' fortunes into a tailspin, and in the last 20 years of his
career, Columbia had only five winning seasons.
Yet there was never any stir among the alumni to get rid of him - their
greatest concern was that he might finally resign in frustration.
It never happened. In fact, when Yale offered him its
athletic director’s position in 1947, Columbia’s President, Dwight
Eisenhower (the same) persuaded him to remain at Columbia.
It was said that his teams were "seldom outthought and never
outfought." He insisted his players be sportsmen: he taught them to
knock an opponent on his back, then help him up. He was not easy on his
players. Recalled one of them, years later, “He demanded that
they play football his way, or not play at all."
And despite Columbia's unbending academic standards, he did come across
some very good players, the best known of whom was Sid Luckman, the man
whom Chicago Bears' owner/coach George Halas chose to be his
quarterback when he decided to install the T-formation. Luckman would
earn lasting fame as the first of pro football's great passing
quarterbacks.
"I never met anyone in my life who had such a tremendous influence on
me," Luckman once said of his coach.
He was a New York celebrity, enjoying the night life and socializing
with mayors , sports figures and entertainers.
To show how popular he was, at the end of his 25th year at Columbia,
the New York Football writers, a notoriously cynical crowd,
showed their respect by doing something they’d never done before for
any sports figure, presenting him with a silver plaque.
They asked Columbia's president, to make the presentation, and in
doing so the president said, "He is not only a great coach. He is a
great man."
His final year at Columbia was 1956, the first year of the Ivy
League. His final game was an 18-12 win over Rutgers, a
non-league contest. His 110 wins at Columbia are 68 more than the
next-winningest coach there.
He was inducted in 1960 into the College Football Hall of Fame.
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 18, 2020 “This
country is so race-conscious, so ate-up with colors and pigments. I
call it ‘skin hang-ups.’ It’s a disease.” Charley Pride, who left
us
recently
*********** “It looks like my time as a football player has come to an
end.” Just like that. It’s over.
Thus spake Sarah Fuller, and with today’s announcement that the
Georgia-Vanderbilt game will not take place this weekend (I’m sure
there’s never been any truth to rumors that so many Vanderbilt guys
were disgusted by the whole freak show that they’d had enough of
football for this year), and her plan to transfer to North Texas next
year and play soccer as a graduate, the Sarah Fuller era at Vanderbilt
has come to an end.
So, too, has the first winless season in the school’s long history,
which is purely coincidental.
I must admit that I was surprised by today’s announcement. I
thought she’d wait until after the Heisman ceremony.
Anyhow, it’s obvious now why the whole freak show started. It’s
all about NIL (Name-Image-Likeness). As soon as it’s all worked
out, that “history-making” female is going to be raking in the money.
Eat your hearts out, all you suckers who worked your asses off.
*********** This whole Covid business of cancelling games willy-nilly
because schools “don’t have enough scholarship players” to play (the
limit varies by conference, but in the SEC apparently it’s 50)
illustrates how bloated we’ve allowed our game to become.
Below is the roster of the visiting Miami team when it played at
Florida State in 1959. It was the Miami traveling squad. There
were 48 players listed.

Today’s FBS schools have 85 players on scholarship, plus God knows how
many walk-ons, “preferred” and otherwise. And you mean to tell me
they can’t play a game with 49 players? Well, of course not. Not now,
when you have offensive players who have never played a down of defense
- or defensive players who have never played a down of offense -
from the time they started playing in high school.
It started with the return of one-way football in 1964 - when the NCAA
football rules committee began to remove restrictions on substitution.
That permitted a return to “platoon” football. (The concept was
invented, it appears, by Fritz Crisler at Michigan, and so impressed by
it was Army Coach Earl Blaik that he applied the military term to it.)
Platoon football meant specialization: offense-only and defense-only
players.
And that led to further specialization: run-stopping linebackers for
early downs, pass-rushing linemen for later downs.
We now have punters and players who do nothing but snap the ball on
punts; schools will often have a place kicker for extra points
and field goals and another for kickoffs.
It goes on and on.
But sooner or later, our game is going to have to face the fact that
things can’t go on like this. With schools facing budget deficits in
the tens of millions of dollars, this can’t continue. You can only lay
off so many people in the athletic department. You can only
eliminate so many “minor” sports.
I'm not going to debate whether the quality of play is better with
spoecialization. Of course it is. Or whether unlimited
substitution provides more scholarship opporunities or more jobs
for coaches. Of course it does.
But except at the very highest level of college football, the sport is
headed for financial trouble, and something has to be done to save it.
It's inevitable that at some point, college football has to take a hit,
and the first place to start is with a return to two-way play, and the
reduction of scholarships (and coaching staffs, and recruiting
expenses) that would follow.
*********** THE SPARKY AND SPARTY SHOW.

SOMETHING OLD: Can’t say it’s the only reason why Arizona State
scored 70 points against archival Arizona - the Wildcats’ near-total
ineptness had something to do with it - but the return of Sparky the
Sun Devil to the ASU helmets had to have something to do with it.

SOMETHING NEW: A version of the traditional Michigan State Spartan,
called “Gruff Sparty”, appeared on MSU helmets for the first time
Saturday against Penn State. Supposedly Gruff Sparty was very
popular with Michigan State fans, so they got what they wanted.
They also got something they didn’t want - a 39-24 loss to Penn State.
*********** As I await Saturday's Army-Air Force game - perhaps the
last one ever to be played at West Point...
With the nation in the clutches of the Deadly Global Worldwide
Killer Virus Pandemic - and Democratic governors - and colleges
cancelling their football seasons , it looked as if Army, as an
independent, might be left high and dry. Somehow, though, the
West point athletic department came through and did a masterful job of
piecing together a schedule. It wasn’t great, but that wasn’t the
point. The point was to allow the Army team to have a season.
Even if there had been no plague, though, the original Army 2020
football schedule was not the stuff of dreams - not exactly a schedule
designed to attract potential season ticket purchasers:
Bucknell (FCS)
Oklahoma
Miami (O)
Princeton (FCS)
Buffalo
Air Force
Sure, it would be great to see Oklahoma, making a rare eastern
visit. And you’d want to see Air Force, too.
But otherwise, considering the effort involved in attending a
game at West Point, you might not consider the other games worth the
expense. Or the effort - you’d better get there plenty early,
because West Point being an actual military installation, and Michie
Stadium being “on post,” security is tight enough just getting on
post. And then there’s the parking - if you’re lucky you’re
less than a mile from the stadium - did I say that West Point is hilly?
This year, Oklahoma was a guaranteed sellout, if only because
Sooner fans travel well, and many of them had a game at West Point on
their bucket list anyhow. And Air Force, as a service
rival, always comes close to a full house. But as far as demand,
that’s it. The rest of the games would have been attended mostly
by parents and friends of players, hardcore alums, a handful of
visiting fans, and the Corps of Cadets.
Next year’s home schedule is what I’d call thin gruel - insubstantial
and unsatisfying.
2021 ARMY HOME SCHEDULE
Western Kentucky
UConn
Miami (O)
Wake Forest
Bucknell (FCS)
UMass
There’s one Power Five team on there - Wake Forest. And no Air Force -
next year, it’s Air Force’s home game. (More about that in a moment.)
If 2021’s home schedule was thin gruel, 2022’s is tap water.
2022 ARMY HOME SCHEDULE
UTSA
Louisiana Monroe
Georgia State
Colgate (FCS)
UConn
You’re kidding, right? Well, at least there’s Air Force. Hey,
wait - I don’t see Air Force on the schedule! What the hell
happened to the Air Force game? That’s the only reason why I’d buy
those g-d season tickets! Must be a misprint.
Well, no, it’s not a misprint. There’s only five home games, not
a one of which makes your heart skip a beat in anticipation. Air
Force? They just went and sold that game out from under you.
Today, Army (and, presumably Air Force) supporters received the
”exciting” news that the next two Army-Air Force games will be played
in Arlington, Texas. In a f—king baseball park yet.
While we
are approaching Saturday's CIC (Commander-In-Chief Trophy) matchup vs.
Air Force, mark your calendar for 2021 and 2022!
Army West Point
Football will compete in the first college football game at Globe Life
Field in Arlington, TX against Air Force in the Lockheed Martin
Commanders’ Classic in 2021.
The two-year
agreement begins on November 6, 2021 with Air Force as the home team.
Army will be the home squad for the return meeting on November 5, 2022.
Game times and broadcast information will be announced at a later date.
In order to be
seated in the Army sections of the stadium, tickets must be purchased
through the Army West Point ticket office. The presale through Army
will begin on Tuesday, January 5.
Next year’s game will be the 55th between the two academies. Only three
have been played at neutral sites: the first ever, in 1959 in
Yankee Stadium, and the 1963 and 1965 games in Chicago’s Soldier Field.
The rest have been played on campus.
Next year’s game will be the first FBS game ever played at Globe Life
Field - history on the order of Sarah Fuller’s first kickoff - and
officials anticipate a capacity crowd of more than 37,000, including an
as-yet undetermined number of cadets.
It’s only a two-year agreement, but I predict that the Army-Air Force
game will never return to the respective campuses. Now that the
precedent has been set, I fully expect this game to be peddled and sold
to the highest bidder - city/stadium/sponsor.
If you like irony, there’s this: not so long ago, the West Point
Athletic Department announced the launching of a drive to raise funds
to enlarge Michie Stadium.
In view of the news of the move off-campus of the Air Force game, and
in view of the unattractive home games that they’ve lined up, the
obvious response is - WHY BOTHER?
*********** If you’re satisfied with the way our recent presidential
“election” was conducted, you probably didn’t see anything wrong with
Florida, which lost to 23-point underdog LSU on Saturday, dropping just
one place - to seventh - in this week’s CFP poll.
If, on the other hand, you’re like me, which means you no longer have
faith in anything at all being on the up-and-up, you smell a rat.
Consider: Had Florida been dropped to a more realistic spot - the AP
had them in 11th place, which seems about right - how much
interest was there going to be in Saturday’s SEC championship? In an
obvious mismatch between unbeaten Alabama and the 11th-ranked 8-2
Gators, coming off a loss to 4-5 LSU?
But with the Gators in an absurdly unrealistic seventh place, that
means that in the unlikely event they should beat Alabama in this
Saturday’s SEC Championship game, they might actually have an outside
shot at a spot in The Playoff. Yes, it would require a few other
Saturday games to break in their favor, but it still gives the game a
little ”meaning.”
See where this is going? Instead of another Alabama ass-kicking
of another SEC rival, why, folks, we’ve got us a ballgame!
Something we just GOT to watch!
You see, now those Gator players and coaches, who otherwise would have
been wondering what bowl game (Cheez-It Bowl, Cure Bowl, Duke’s Mayo
Bowl) they’d be playing in after they lose to Alabama, realize that
they actually have a chance to go further. All they have to do is
beat the Crimson Tide.
So that means that this week they won’t give star tight end Kyle Pitts
the game off, and this week their defensive backs will take a pledge
not to act like jackasses. (So, too, with so much on the line, will
their head coach.)
Quite possibly, with Florida fired up and on good behavior, Alabama
won’t pull away to a 30-point lead by halftime as usual, and that means
that viewers will keep on watching a bit longer, which is sure to
please CBS, which has the rights to broadcast the SEC
championship game this Saturday, and its advertisers.
Hmmm. You don’t suppose CBS could have tried to influence the CFP
rankings?
(NETWORK EXECUTIVE TO MEMBER OF PLAYOFF SELECTION COMMITTEE): Sure, you
have to drop Florida after that loss to LSU. Everybody knows that. So
how about you make it… say, one spot?
Could a powerful TV network, with millions at stake, actually
have laid its hands on a couple members of the selection committee?
No, you say. This is America, where we believe in fair play.
I say yes. Compared to rigging a presidential election, a
simple fix like this would be, in the words of our 45th President,
“small potatoes.”
*********** You see the damnedest things in obituaries these days, and
this week I came across this one in our local paper (I have
changed names):
“Billy Joe is survived by his brothers, Bob and Jim; daughter, Wendy;
son, Tim; and possibly several more spread across this great world of
ours.”
Hmmm.
*********** KC Smith, of Walpole, Massachusetts, gave me and my wife
our best laugh of the week with this one:
Coach, Merry Christmas....just received this text message from a buddy.
Yes, 2020 cannot end soon enough.
"You haven't really enjoyed all surround sound has to offer until you
hear Beth Mowins calling a girls basketball game WHILE WEARING A MASK!"
*********** I was very sad to hear of the death of Country Charley
Pride - a great singer and a great guy. Also, I once read,
a pretty good baseball player.
You have to admire any person who takes the Road Less Travelled, as
Charley Pride did, a black man in the otherwise very white world of
Country and Western Music.
I especially admired him because he never made race an issue. With him
it was all about his music and as a result, so far as I was ever able
to tell, he was loved and accepted by C & W fans as one of them.
In 1992 he told the Dallas Morning News, “They used to ask me how it
feels to be the ‘first colored country singer.’ Then it was ‘first
Negro country singer.’ Then ‘first black country singer,’ Now I’m the
‘first African American country singer.’ That’s about the only thing
that’s changed. This country is so race-conscious, so ate-up with
colors and pigments. I call it ‘skin hang-ups.’ It’s a disease.”
*********** Andy Gustafson deserves most of the credit for establishing
Miami football, but if he were alive today he would certainly have
wanted to share the credit with Walt Kichefski.
For 30 years “Coach Ski” was Miami’s indispensible Man - the glue - the
unsung guy at the heart of the program. The Gator Hater.
A native of Rhinelander, in far northern Wisconsin, he played football
at Miami, where he played offensive and defensive end and was captain
his senior year. After playing pro football during the war years with
the Steelers and then the Card-Pitt combine of the Chicago and
Pittsburgh teams, he became an assistant coach at his alma mater.
He would stay there for 30 years, as an assistant under five different
coaches.
When Gustafson retired, Kichefski thought he might have a shot at the
head job himself, but when Charlie Tate got the job instead, he stayed
on as an assistant to Tate.
A Miami guy to the core, he took over as interim head coach when Tate
was let go early in the 1970 season, and although the best he could do
the rest of the way was finish 2-7, he is revered among Miami people
for the way his team came off a 56-16 thumping by Syracuse to beat
Florida (whom he always referred to in the singular as “The
Gator”), 14-13, in The Swamp.
In the days when he coached there, Miami was not yet recruiting black
athletes, and as a result, the Hurricanes had to go far and wide for
players.
I was looking recently at a Miami roster from their 1959 game at
Florida State. Of the 45 players listed, only 17 were from
Florida. There were 11 other states represented, only two of them
southern states. That Florida sunshine sure was attractive to
northern kids.
His Wisconsin background came in handy. He recruited extensively in the
Midwest, and there was always a Wisconsin player or two - or three - on
the Hurricanes’ roster, the most famous of whom by far was a kid from
Wausau named Jim Otto.

*********** An upscale Baton Rouge men’s store is offering a “Dan
Mullen discount” this week: 20 per cent off on all shoes.
*********** COLLEGE FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND
SO MANY OF THSE GAMES ARE AT NEUTRAL SITES - DISREGARDS THE "ATS"
FRIDAY NIGHT
UAB AT MARSHALL
BALL STATE AT BUFFALO
NEBRASKA AT RUTGERS
OREGON AT USC - USC'S WR DRAKE LONDON IS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING
ATHLETES I'VE EVER SEEN
SATURDAY
NORTHWESTERN AT OHIO STATE
TEXAS A & M AT TENNESSEE
OKLAHOMA AT IOWA STATE
FLORIDA STATE AT WAKE FOREST
WASHINGTON STATE AT UTAH
AIR FORCE AT ARMY
LOUISIANA AT COASTAL CAROLINA
OLE MISS AT LSU
MISSOURI AT MISS STATE
CLEMSON AT NOTRE DAME
MINNESOTA AT WISCONSIN
BOISE STATE AT SAN JOSE STATE
ILLINOIS AT PENN STATE
STANFORD AT UCLA
MICHIGAN STATE AT MARYLAND
ALABAMA AT FLORIDA
TULSA AT CINCINNATI
ARIZONA STATE AT OREGON STATE
*********** Hi Coach - hope all is well with you and yours through
these crazy times!
It was @ 20 years ago that I saw the Cadets march into Amon Carter
Stadium to play TCU. It's impressive at ground-level too!
I definitely got chill bumps. It was awesome. Powerful.
For a few years, I went to a semi-military academy in Harriman, less
than 20 miles from West Point.
Our uniforms were based on West Point’s.
I agree on the thuggish, really CLOWNISH behavior during LSU/Florida.
...and I think I heard that Dan Gable's digs were liberally landscaped
with hawthorne - really, quite pretty!
J. Rothwell, DC
Corpus Christi, Texas
*********** Hugh,
College Game Day was at West Point last Saturday. They spent a
lot of time talking about the traditions of both academies, BUT, they
spent a lot more time on West Point and the Army cadets which
apparently didn't sit well with Navy coach Ken Niumatololo.
During a Face Time interview Niumatololo (half joking, half not)
let the boys on set know he was "pissed" at how they were glorifying
the Army, and not the Navy. Not the first time the Navy coach has
grumbled about the way his team has been treated.
For the first time I can remember BOTH teams, Army and Navy, appeared
to be a bit testy and chippy with one another after the game.
Still on the topic of Army-Navy. Head coach Jeff Monken's name
was floated around for the Vandy job, and possibly one or two other
recent Power 5 coaching jobs. I'm afraid the offensive state of
the game around the country will keep Monken at Army. That's fine
with me.
Breaking: Clark Lea, ND DC was named the new head coach at
Vanderbilt. He has a Vandy pedigree, with coaching experience at
ND and Wake Forest, so recruiting outstanding student-athletes
shouldn't be foreign to him. He may be the right fit for the
Commodores. He has told the team at ND he will be coaching them
through the ACC championship game and playoffs.
Used to be when we watched a college football game we would at least
get to see one of the team's bands (usually the home team) perform a
little at halftime, and with a press box view! Now, it's all
about the talking heads. After all they have to have the air time
in order to justify being paid what they get paid.
Don't get me started on the prima donnas. We only have ourselves
to blame for their rise. They are selfish and only think of
themselves because we allowed them to grow up with the "everyone gets a
trophy" mindset, and molly-coddling them during their growth years.
Being part of the TEAM, and playing for the TEAM, and standing by
the TEAM has vanished with Bo Schembechler.
Although he wasn't a football coach John Wooden was one of the greatest
basketball coaches to ever coach the game. If he had been a
football coach he would've still been a great coach. He
identified his prima donnas early, and made no bones about where they
stood with him. Just ask Bill Walton. Unfortunately, I
don't see many, if any, John Woodens out there anymore.
Gus Malzahn is a solid football coach. Someone will be lucky to
have him.
Another name being "floated" around...Art Briles. He just
resigned as HC at Mount Vernon HS in Texas.
Frankly, if the PAC 12 doesn't play another game it's likely no one
west of Boulder will give a s**t.
Steve Sarkisian is a west coast guy. Expect Arizona to go all out
for him.
I have a coaching friend in Chicago who tells me Lovie Smith's
departure at Illinois is a step in the right direction.
The "shoe" incident in the LSU-Florida game has already been cause for
a name change...L S Shoe.
Have a great week! See you tonight!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
The more I see and hear of Coach Ken these days, the less I care for
him. I think he’s lost his mojo and his act is wearing thin.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: A native of Aurora, Illinois, Andy
Gustafson played at Pitt from 1923 through 1925, under two coaching
legends - first, Pop Warner, and then Jock Sutherland.
Straight out of college, Gustafson took the head coaching job at VPI
(now Virginia Tech) where in four years he was 22-13-1.
In 1930 he was hired back at Pitt by Sutherland, and in 1933, after
Earl Blaik was hired at Dartmouth, he was hired away to be Blaik’s
backfield coach.
He would stay with Blaik as his backfield coach, following him to West
Point in 1941, first running the Sutherland single wing, then making
the changeover to the T-formation.
He would stay with Blaik through the 1947 season, the longest any
assistant was to serve under Blaik, before accepting the head coaching
job at Miami. At that time, before jet travel, Miami was considered
remote. The “U” itself (as it would come to be known) was just 23 years
old.
He remains the longest-serving coach in Miami football history, and
he’s really the person who put Miami football on the map.
Coaching there for 16 years from 1948 through 1963, he posted a record
of 93-65-3.
He was an early proponent of what he called the Drive Series but which
came to be called the Belly Series, and during a nine-year stretch from
1954 through 1962, playing anybody willing to come to Miami, he ran it
well, going 55-36-3 with just one losing season.
He earned a certain amount of immortality when Blaik gave him credit
for deciding not to have his now-famous Lonesome End, Bill Carpenter,
go into the huddle with the rest of the team. As Blaik later told
it in his memoirs, “You Have to Pay the Price,” he met with Gustafson
at the 1958 College All-Star game in Chicago, and after he
explained his plan to split Carpenter out (as what he originally
called a“far flanker”), Gustafson cautioned him against running
Carpenter in and out of the huddle: “Earl,” he said, “You’ll run him
into the ground.”
And so was born the mystery of the far flanker - soon to be given its
famous nickname by a New York sportswriter - and how he got his signals
from the quarterback. (At that time, quarterbacks had to call their own
plays.)
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING ANDY GUSTAFSON
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was an All-American quarterback at Miami, under
head coach Andy Gustafson.
After graduation he spent seven years at Miami as an assistant, first
under Gustafson and then under Charlie Tate.
As head coach of the University of Tampa - a tiny, private school
playing a big-time schedule - he coached three seasons - all of them
winning seasons - and left with a record of 25-6 (.806). In his
first year there, his 7-3 record earned him Florida Sports Writers
Coach of the Year honors, and in his last season, his 1970 team went
10-1 and was ranked Number One in the small college poll.
He could recruit. Six of his players were named All-American and
sixteen of them went on to play professional football. Tampa's
best-known players were Freddie Solomon and John Matuszak, who was the
first pick overall in the 1973 draft.
His 1970 team beat Ole Miss and Miami, and the latter feat was enough
to convince Miami to hire him in place of Tate, who had been fired
earlier in the season.
Miami was not yet the power that it would become, as “The U,” and he
spent just two seasons there, going 9-13 overall, before being hired at
Kentucky to replace John Ray, who in four years had won just four SEC
games.
At Kentucky, in nine seasons (1973-1981) he won two SEC titles.
His 1976 team finished 8-4, and ranked 18th in country. To this
day it remains Kentucky’s last SEC championship football team. His 1977
team was even better, going 10-1 and ranked Number 6 nationally, but
because of sanctions it wasn’t invited to a bowl game and despite going
undefeated in SEC play it wasn’t eligible to win the conference
championship.
His overall record at Kentucky was 47-51-2, but in SEC play, his teams
were - for Kentucky - a very respectable 25-20. In fact, of all
the coaches who have coached at Kentucky in the last 100 years, only
the legendary Bear Bryant’s .563 (from 1946-1953) in conference play is
better than his .455.
His overall college record is 81-71-2.
In 1991, he came out of retirement to coach the Tampa Bay Storm of the
Arena Football League. In his first year, the Storm went 10-2 and won
the AFL championship, and he was named AFL Coach of the Year.
He also did some broadcasting of Tampa Bay Buccaneers as well as
college games, and retired as a parks commissioner for the State
of Kentucky.
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 18, 2020 “I feel more strongly about
this than anything else in coaching: anybody who lacks discipline, who
doesn't want to be part of the team, who doesn't want to meet the
requirements - has to go. It's that simple." Bud Wilkinson
*********** Army sang second, after defeating Navy, 15-0.
Unless you’d suffered through the 14 years of losses to the Middies
from 2002 through 2015, you wouldn’t appreciate how much the win,
the third time in the last four years, meant to Army’s followers.
It was Army’s first shutout of Navy since 1969 and only its second
since 1947.
It was also Army’s first win over Navy on its home field, Michie
Stadium (the only previous game played there was in 1943, during World
War II), and its first ever at West Point - two other games were played
there in 1890 and 1892.
By the standards of those football fans brought up on Madden and the
NFL, it was probably an ugly game. But to lovers of hard-hitting
football and hard-earned yardage, it was a thing of beauty. Put me in
the latter category.
I don’t know when I’ve seen a harder-hitting game.
With neither team able or willing to stick its neck out offensively,
the game was won on the defensive side, and that’s where Army shone.
With Navy trailing 3-0 early in the third quarter, Middie QB Xavier
Arline broke loose on a 54-yard run to the Army one - closer even than
that, actually - where he was finally dragged down by Army defender
Cedrick Cunningham, from Cassatt, South Carolina.
And then, in a series that will live as long as Army football people
talk about Army-Navy games, after four straight plays Navy still hadn’t
crossed the Army goal line.
That would prove to be the high water mark for the Middies.
It was still 3-0 less than a minute into the fourth period when Army
recovered a bobbled Navy pitch and after a short drive, Army QB Tyhier
Tyler scored from the three on a keeper.
Another field goal, and a safety when a Navy receiver wound up
being tackled in the end zone on a reverse gone bad, and that was the
scoring for the day.
Defense, did I say? Army had eight first downs to Navy’s four.
I suppose if I didn’t have an intense rooting interest I might even
have turned my attention to another game. But for me, this one
was riveting.
On, Brave Old Army Team.
*********** I can’t think of many sports events whose stands are more
than half full two hours before the start of the actual event,
especially an outdoor event in a cold, northern city in December.
But it’s true of the Army-Navy game, and if you’ve ever been fortunate
enough to attend one, you know why. You know that part of the
spectacle is the “March-on” - the entry into the stadium of the student
bodies of the competing academies. Some 9,000 of America’s finest
young people, Cadets of the Military Academy and Midshipmen of the
Naval Academy, enter the stadium in precise military manner. (In the
best tradition of service rivalry, Army people scoff at the attempt of
future sailors to march with the same precision in which ground
soldiers have long taken pride).
The best way to see the March-On is also the best way to see a great
college marching band - from high in the upper reaches of a great
stadium. (I might have said “cheap seats,” but at an Army-Navy game
there are no such things.)
The worst way to see it is down on the floor of the stadium, which,
unfortunately, just happens to be where any network showing its
viewers the March-on (or a marching band) always places its cameras.
The result, instead showing us the mesmerizing effect of watching
thousands of human pieces of a giant puzzle coming together before our
eyes, is a bewildering array of closeups - a look into the ears of a
trumpet player here, a tight shot of the nostril hair on a drummer -
one quick cut after another.
Totally lost is the idea that a band, like a team, is a lot more
than its component parts. In the music it makes, the sound of any
individual instrument melts into the overall sound of the band, and -
with the exception of the lucky lone sousaphonist who gets to dot the
“i” in the famed script Ohio - the marching of any individual is no
more than a single piece in that giant puzzle. Yet it’s the
individuals that they choose to show us.
(I’m just ranting because I set my damn DVR to record Saturday’s march
on and all I got was nostril hairs.)
*********** Damn shame about those Navy helmets. Somebody should have
take the time to paint them.
***********(Full disclosure: I go back a long way with Gary Danielson.
he was in our office in downtown Portland, ready to sign on to play the
rest of the season for us, when we were making the announcement that
the World Football League had gone out of business. He seemed
like a really good guy.)
I think that Gary Danielson is the best in the business at his job as a
game analyst. He knows his stuff and he does his homework, and
then he’s able to explain things clearly and in as few words as
possible. A few examples from Saturday’s Army-Navy game:
Explaining why an Army linebacker was able to blow up a Navy play so
quickly: “You can’t read it that fast -that one’s on the defensive
coordinator for making the call.”
* He was the first commentator all
year to know that Navy - and now Army, too - is not running the triple
option
* Discussing the damage of losing
yards on first down: “Passing team? No problem. But in this offense?”
* Explaining why Navy and Army,
with inexperienced freshmen playing quarterback, weren’t running
any triple option: “How do you run a triple option without a
quarterback?”
*********** WTF? Army’s OC was wearing a mask - in the press box.
*********** Anybody who's ever coached high school ball and had his
kids beg off having to play a final-week game that some ADs went ahead
and scheduled without asking anybody will understand that there's more
than Covid involved in a lot of these end-of-season
cancellations. And we knew, didn't we, that after the Sarah
Fuller stunt and the rumors of Vandy players threatening not to go to
Georgia, that postponed Vandy-Georgia game would never be played?
*********** Gus Malzahn was let go at Auburn, after eight years.
Makes you wonder what Auburn, a school that in almost any other state
would be top rooster, expects.
Coach Malzahn was 68-35. In conference play, he was 39-27.
Those are both pretty high bars for any new guy to get over.
And then, consider: Gus Malzahn was 3-5 against Alabama. I’m
sorry, but I don’t think that Bill Belichick would do any better.
And there’s this: in the eight years he was at Auburn, Nick Saban at
Alabama lost only six SEC games. Three of those six losses were
to Gus Malzahn and Auburn.
Gus Malzahn is going to be well compensated for his work. He’s
due a $21.5 million buyout. And half of that is due 30 days from
this past Sunday. You read that right.
And if you’re in the market for an agent, you might want to take a look
at Jimmy Sexton. He was Malzahn’s agent and he got the coach this
contract extension a few years ago when somebody (maybe Jimmy Sexton?)
spread the word that with the Arkansas job open, Malzahn might be
interested.
It gets better: if Malzahn were to take the Arkansas job, the thinking
went, that could mean that South Carolina coach Will Muschamp would be
interested in the Auburn job, so just to make sure he stayed at
Carolina, they locked him up with a nice, fat contract extension.
(Muschamp’s agent? Thought you’d never ask: Jimmy Sexton.)
But money be damned, I still feel for Coach Malzahn, because he’s
a coach - and a good one - and no coach is happy when someone
takes his coaching job from him.
At 55 he’s young enough to be attractive to someone who can present him
with a good opportunity. But for sure, he can be picky now. He’s got
his f—k you money.
Oh, well. Whoever’s coming in at Auburn knows he’s going to be
well paid. Extremely well paid. During and after his stay there.
*********** On the one hand, college ADs tell us that the pandemic has
cost them millions in lost revenues, and left them wondering how
they’re going to balance their departments’ budgets. They’ve
already cut sports, laid off employees, and asked those still on the
job to take pay cuts.
And yet, as if to say, “What pandemic?” they’re still going ahead and
firing football coaches, despite the enormous sums they’re
committed to pay for the years remaining on the coaches’ contracts.
Coaching jobs open:
South Carolina* (owes Will Muschamp $15 million)
Auburn (owes Gus Malzahn $21.5 million, with 50 per cent of it due
within 30 days of Sunday, the day he was fired.)
Illinois (owes Lovie Smith $2 million)
Arizona (owes Kevin Sumlin $7.5 million)
Vanderbilt (as a private school, Vanderbilt does not disclose this
information, but it’s safe to assume that Derek Mason is owed in excess
of $1 million)
* No longer open; South Carolina has already hired Muschamp’s
replacement
Jobs that could come open:
Michigan (would owe Harbaugh $8 million)
Virginia Tech (would owe Justin Fuente $10 million - $2.5 million after
Tuesday)
Tennessee (would owe Jeremy Pruitt $12.5 million)
A BIG Job that might have come open but didn’t:
Texas (Would have owed Tom Herman $15 million)
In addition to all of those buyout figures, you still have to add
substantial sums due other members of the coaches’ staffs, plus any
buyout that may be due to the next coach’s current employer.
Like me, you might find yourself asking, “WTF is wrong with today’s
athletic directors, that they enter into arrangements like this?”
Andy Staples, in The Athletic, offers one explanation:
Agent Jimmy Sexton is responsible for that glorious gob of legalese
that will get Malzahn paid so handsomely by Auburn. And Sexton also is
responsible for South Carolina’s big payouts to Muschamp, and those two
things are related. In late 2017, as Malzahn was leading Auburn to the
SEC West title, Arkansas fired Bret Bielema. Sexton used the Arkansas
opening as leverage to extract more from Auburn. Then, as Muschamp
coached the Gamecocks to a nine-win season, South Carolina’s
administration grew worried that if Malzahn did indeed leave for
Arkansas, the Tigers might try to snap up Muschamp. And that, boys and
girls, is how two clients get paid a fortune to not work.
Now, here’s my question:
Question: Wouldn’t you rather see all that money being paid to coaches
used instead to help reduce huge budget deficits at Power 5 schools?
Answer: NO. If you gave it to them, they’d just throw it away on
more coaches’ buyouts. I trust the fired coaches to spend the
money more wisely than college ADs.
*********** I was sorry to hear of Lovie Smith’s firing because since
Red Grange turned pro at the end of the 1925 season, Illinois has never
exactly been a power.
The Illini have had their brief stretches of success, but for the most
part, they’ve been in the bottom half of Big Ten standings. It’s hard
for me to understand why the only public Power 5 program in the
nation’s fifth most populous state has been so unsuccessful.
I did, however, see one very disconcerting fact that might explain why
Lovie Smith did not succeed.
I’ve personally spent some time coaching in the Chicago area, and I’m
well aware of the coaching and playing talent that’s there and in the
rest of the state. (Anyone heard of East St. Louis?)
Now, get this, from Matt Fortuna in The Athletic:
Illinois has more than 414,000 living alumni in the state, according to
the school’s data. More than 188,000 of those alums are in Cook County,
which is home to one of the most underrated high school football scenes
in the country.
Now contrast that data with this not-so-fun fact: The Illini did not
sign a single in-state player in the 2020 class.
Not one.
Why? It appears that, for whatever reason, Coach Smith did not make
much of an effort to reach out to state coaches. One
example: in a recent virtual clinic for state coaches,
Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald (a Chicago-area guy) and Maryland’s Mike
Locksley both presented, but Smith evidently declined.
So what is it? Is Illinois a sleeping giant? Or a chronic
loser?
*********** Georgia Tech’s Geoff Collins was pissed after his team’s
34-30 loss last Thursday night to Pitt. Really pissed.
You could tell he was pissed because in the post-game coaches’
“handshake” he pulled his hand out of Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi’s and,
without ever making eye contact, whirled and turned his back on
Narduzzi and walked away.
What you couldn’t tell was why he was pissed. I watched the game
and I couldn’t tell. I still don’t know. Couldn’t be
because Tech lost. They’d done that six times before. They
even lost to Syracuse, so it couldn’t have been losing to Pitt that set
him off.
All I was able to see was his team allowing an opponent that had been
averaging 104.5 yards a game rushing put up 317 yards rushing against
them. Oh - and a Pitt running back named Vincent Johnson, whose
top previous rushing game had been 69 yards, surpassed that on the very
first snap by going 74 yards. For the night, he rushed 25 times
for 247 yards (9.9 yards per carry).
Maybe he was pissed at his own offense, which Tech fans were led to
believe was going to be a lot more exciting than Paul Johnson’s triple
option. Maybe there was some excitement there that I missed, but
all I could see was that it didn’t produce a lot of points.
Collins afterward came up with some lameass reason for his hurried
“handshake,” something like “I had to get over to the band to
celebrate” (celebrate what?) and I also read someplace else where he
said that he didn’t even remember the handshake. Hmmm. Has
dementia suddenly become acceptable among our leaders?
And for sh— like this they canned Paul Johnson?
Oh - and for the second straight home game, the lights went out.
Briefly, to be sure, because this is, after all, the finest technical
school in the South.
The following video is done by a Georgia fan, but Collins brought it on
himself:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc7wC7OJdEg
*********** I’m still trying to find out what the Utah State president
said that was so horrifying that the players just couldn’t bring
themselves to play another football game, or whether they were just
tired of getting their asses kicked, week after week, and they couldn’t
bear the thought of losing to Colorado State.
*********** How many of you would agree to put ten men on the field
against your opponents’ 11?
I didn’t think so. Then why, no matter how well they can kick,
aren’t your kickers practicing tackling with your defensive backs?
No, wait. Check that. From what I see in today’s
game, it often looks as if the defensive backs have been
practicing tackling with the kickers.
*********** Maryland looked good in the Boomer uniforms - the way they
looked when Bobby Ross was their coach and Boomer Esiason was their QB.
*********** How screwed up is a conference when it will make a team
travel 900 miles only to find out its game’s been cancelled - 90
MINUTES before kickoff? Yet that’s what happened to Cal Saturday
in Pullman, Washington, when on the bus to the stadium it learned that
ONE player had tested positive. ONE PLAYER. Yet, because of
“contact tracing,” several other Cal players were ruled ineligible,
leaving the Bears without enough scholarship players to play.
(As a high school coach who once went through an entire season with 19
players - 18, actually, after one of them moved away - I am
having trouble with this one.)
*********** Heard someone on ESPN Game Day say the Pac-12 has slipped
behind the AAC. Can’t disagree. Is it maybe time to talk
about relegation., as they do in European “football,” except in the
case to relegate conferences? What the hell - the American
Athletic, the Sun Belt and Conference USA all stepped up and played,
while the Puss-12 fiddled away.
*********** In OT of the Rutgers-Maryland game, a crucial face mask
penalty was called - against the RUNNER.
*********** How much of a difference has Greg Schiano made at
Rutgers? Last year, the Scarlet Knights were 0-9 in Big Ten play,
and one of their losses was to Maryland, 48-7. This year, they won
three Big Ten games - on the road - and on Saturday they tied
Maryland at the end of regulation and then won in OT, 27-24.
*********** Other than maybe Urban Meyer, I’m not sure I can name
coaches who’ve managed to enjoy great success by kissing the butts of
star players. Three recent examples of programs that have been hurt by
such players:
***
Remember those long-gone days when players decided to pass on their
teams’ bowl games? Now they’re bailing on the last game or two of
their junior season.
Chuba Hubbard of
Oklahoma State is latest to bail, and I can’t say I was unhappy to hear
the news.
It’s been about six
months since Hubbard played his BLM card and got his 15 minutes of fame
by announcing how offended he was when his coach, while on a fishing
trip, was photographed wearing an OAN tee shirt. OMG. Might as
well have been a Klan sheet. Hubbard said he was as good as outta
there.
But after a lot of
ass-kissing and humble “I am so sorry, I am not worthy” apologizing by
the coach, the diva decided to stay and play.
Karma? After
a great 2019 season, the diva didn’t exactly set the Big-12 on fire
this season. He’d been slowed by injuries, and with his production less
than 1/3 that of last year, he finally decided he’d had enough - said
he was packing it in on this season to get ready for the NFL draft.
I wonder, after all
that the one time superstar Chuba Hubbard put coach Mike Gundy through,
if Gundy doesn’t wish, in retrospect, that he’d told the prima donna to
shove off.
But it’s not too
late.
My advice: get him
out of Stillwater on the next bus to Tulsa. (All in the interest
of disease prevention, you understand. Can’t be too careful.)
*** Kevin Sumlin
was fired, and Arizona fans have Khalil Tate to thank.
Back in early 2017,
when word slipped out that Arizona might be considering Navy coach Ken
Niumatololo to replace fired Rich Rodriguez, Tate, coming off a decent
sophomore season as the Wildcat’s QB, announced to the world, via
Twitter, “I didn’t come to Arizona to play the Triple Option.”
Well. If
there was any chance that Arizona might have actually considered Coach
Ken (sources tell me they never did), that was the end of that.
So ‘Zona hired
Kevin Sumlin. Seemed a good enough hire - he’d done a good job at
Houston, and a decent job at Texas A & M.
But for what its
worth, in Tate’s two years as QB, Arizona went 8-14. With a
triple option coach - Tate having moved on, as quarterback’s now do -
would the Wildcats have done any worse?
As it was, all Tate
really did was put Sumlin on the hot seat for this season, which proved
to be his last in Tucson.
*** Marco Wilson, a
Florida senior described by some as a “team leader,” helped make a
third-down stop that almost surely meant LSU would have to punt the
ball and give Florida an opportunity - and time - to break a 34-34 tie.
He celebrated his accomplishment by yanking off the shoe of the LSU man
he’d helped tackle and sailing it downfield (at least 20 yards, they
tell me).
He was penalized,
and LSU, given a first down, drove far enough that their kicker had a
chance to kick a 57-yard field goal. He made it, and Florida lost
the game, 37-34, and with it any chance to make it into the Playoff
should they beat Alabama in the SEC title game.
Listen to his coach
explain the talk he had with his player, and listen to the
excuse-making:
“Obviously,
I know he’s disappointed but, you know, I mean it’s a shame. I went
back to watch the play and he made the tackle and, I mean, part of the
football move the kid’s shoe was in his hand and he kind of threw it
and jumped and celebrated with his teammates. So it’s pretty
unfortunate.
“In that
situation, you know, I don’t think there was any intent to taunt and
there wasn’t he didn’t throw you know it was like it was thrown at
their sideline or doing any of that. It was a huge play, he thought
possibly a game-winning play and kind of threw a shoe and went to
celebrate with his teammates. I think that stuff, really, an
unfortunate situation more than, you know, a mistake instead of
somebody really trying to disrespect the game or talking to the
opponent or anything of that nature.”
See, he just kind
of threw it… I don’t think there was any intent to taunt… he kind of
threw a shoe and went to celebrate with his teammates… it was a
mistake, instead of somebody really trying to disrespect the game.”
Now tell me those
aren’t the words of a man who tolerates this kind of stuff… as long as
the player’s good enough.
*********** I’m coming to the conclusion, after watching LSU-Florida
and then the aftermath of USC and UCLA, that I’m glad I got to play
football when I did, before it was taken over by undisciplined,
selfish, thuggish types, and the overpaid coaches who are afraid
to try to control them.
*********** I watched the Turkey Bowl between LSU and Florida and I
realized what a travesty so much of college football has become, so
infested with the NFL and its look-at-me culture that I’m starting to
dislike so much of our game.
Disgusted by the trash talk and jackass antics of LSU and Florida, I
reflected on Army-Navy and what I had watched, and wondered how many of
the players for LSU or Florida could have even made it onto that
playing field at West Point, where…
No one on
the field had ever been arrested
Every player on the
field had a real major
Every player
attended class every day
More than 90 per
cent of the players will graduate
Few of them will
play a professional sport
Most of them, on
graduation, will serve their country
They will know how
to lead
They will know how
to take orders
They can be counted
on to carry out an assignment
They can accomplish
difficult assignments under difficult conditions
They will not let
fatigue or lack of sleep prevent them from doing so
They will know how
to work with others
They will be
gentlemen first
They will know how
to treat everyone they meet with respect
And just in case
there are those who think any of this is a sign of weakness…
If they ever had to, they could kill a man with their bare hands
*********** I no sooner finished writing about those among us who’ll
accept the challenge and follow a legend than the news came that
Ray Perkins died. Coach Perkins dared to follow Coach Bryant at
Alabama.
*********** On the subject of following a legend, Charlie Wilson, of
Crystal River, Florida, writes:
You state:
"There’s a moral there and we all know what it is, yet in spite of what
we know about the danger of following legends, who among us, if offered
the bait, is wise enough to refuse?"
Wann Smith, Wishbone, ISBN 978-0-8061-4217-3, p. 76:
"In the spring of 1964, John Tatum decided to leave the university [of
Oklahoma] and went to [Gomer] Jones's office...and asked him if he had
any advice to give me. "He replied, "Yes I do. Go find a
place that hasn't won in a long time because you'll only have one way
to go and that's upward. You'll be able to build the program the
way you want to and look good in the process.
Gomer Jones, longtime assistant to the great Bud Wilkinson, dared to
try to succeed Coach Wilkinson. It didn’t go well. He was
9-11-1 in two years as he’d coach of the Sooners.
*********** The two broadcast guys at Stanford-Oregon State were
wearing masks - and sounded like it.
*********** F-king useless basketball game on ESPN2 had 5 minutes left
to play when I tuned in to Stanford-Cal. Do you realize how long
it takes to play five minutes of college basketball? Do you
realize how long it takes to play ONE minute?
Hey ESPN - some of us set our recorders to the time YOU say an event
will start, so how about you make the basketball game move to ESPNews
or whatever, instead of us, and let us watch our game from the
beginning?
*********** I have yet to see targeting called against a runner, but
Saturday night I saw an Oregon State runner drop his head and deliver a
blow to a tackler’s head with the crown of his helmet. The tackler
staggered off, and there was no review.
*********** Oh, and did I mention that Sarah Fuller made history again?
***********
THIS WEEKEND’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL (PICKS IN BOLD)
WINNERS- 27 LOSERS - 8 (77%)
Friday, December 11
W - UTEP at North Texas
W - Arizona State at Arizona
W - Nevada vs. San Jose State(in Las Vegas)
Charlotte at Marshall (Canceled)
Marshall at Florida International (Canceled)
Saturday, December 12
W - Alabama at Arkansas
W - Illinois at Northwestern
W - Georgia at Missouri
W - Michigan State at Penn State
W - Utah at Colorado
L - Wake Forest at Louisville
L - Minnesota at Nebraska
L - Rutgers at Maryland
W - Western Michigan at Ball State
W - Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan
W - UAB at Rice
W - Akron at Buffalo
W - Navy at ARMY!!!!
W - Coastal Carolina at Troy
W - Central Michigan at Toledo
L - Houston at Memphis
L - North Carolina at Miami
W - Wisconsin at Iowa
Cal at Washington State
W - Duke at Florida State
W - Tennessee at Vanderbilt
W - Boise State at Wyoming
W - Appalachian State at Georgia Southern
L - LSU at Florida
W - Louisiana Tech at TCU
W - Oklahoma State at Baylor
W - USC at UCLA
W - Auburn at Mississippi State
L - Virginia at Virginia Tech
Utah State at Colorado State
W - San Diego State at BYU
W - Stanford at Oregon State
L - Fresno State at New Mexico
W - UNLV at Hawaii
Cincinnati at Tulsa (Canceled)
Incarnate Word at Arkansas State (Canceled)
Miami of Ohio at Bowling Green (Canceled)
Michigan at Ohio State (Canceled)
Ohio at Kent State (Canceled)
Oklahoma at West Virginia (Canceled)
Ole Miss at Texas A&M (Postponed)
Purdue at Indiana (Canceled)
Texas at Kansas (Canceled)
Washington at Oregon (Canceled)
*********** Hugh,
Actually, the loss of some of those bowl games brings us closer to what
"bowl season" truly meant to us "old guys." Successful teams with
WINNING records (more wins than 7) were invited to participate in one
of a few bowl games as a reward for their regular season's
accomplishments. However, I was disappointed to see that one of
the most "traditional" bowl games, the Sun Bowl, won't be played, and
one of the more traditionally exciting bowl games, the Holiday Bowl,
has been cancelled.
Wow, after making it through that meat grinder (aka: WWII), and then to
reach his 100th birthday...Mr. Eliasof has truly been blessed.
After living here in Austin for 10 years now I have been able to meet a
number of former Longhorn players who played for Darrell Royal.
Of course all of them have tremendous respect for Coach Royal
(they still call him "Coach" Royal), but many of them have also spoken
as highly of Fred Akers as they did Coach Royal. (speaking of
Coach Royal...I thoroughly enjoyed your zoom clinic this past Tuesday).
Enjoy the weekend, and GO ARMY! BEAT NAVY!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: A guy has to be something special to get me to
depart - just this once - from the sport of football in selecting a
Quiz subject, and Dan Gable is indeed special. To the best of my
knowledge, he never played or coached our sport. But I unapologetically
put him out there because as both a competitor and a coach in
wrestling - a sport whose demands on its athletes are at least on a par
with those of football - he made it to the very top. Many, many
times.
He is a native of Waterloo, Iowa, and in his high school wrestling
career he never lost a match.
At Iowa State, he was 117-1, including two NCAA national
championships. His only loss (his first loss ever) came in his last
collegiate match - the NCAA finals his senior year - and he
used that defeat to motivate himself to win an Olympic gold medal.
In the 1972 Munich Olympics, he did just that, winning six matches
without giving up a single point.
In 22 seasons as head coach at Iowa State’s instate rival - Iowa - his
teams won 15 national titles, including nine straight from 1978-1986,
the longest run of national titles by a single school in any sport.
He had an overall record of 355-21-5 (.932) and coached 45 national
champions, 106 Big Ten champions, 152 All-Americans, and 12 Olympians.
He also coached three US Olympic teams.
This week, for his achievements as a competitor and a
coach, Dan Gable was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DAN GABLE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN IRION - GRANVILLE, NEW YORK
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Gable’s only loss - in the NCAA finals - was to the guy
from Washington. Go Huskies!!!!
Ossie Osmundson
Woodland, Washigton
*********** So glad you selected Dan Gable for special mention.
His biggest problem was his failure to understand little concepts like
determination, grit, perseverance, and hard work. Some might even call
him a slacker. Nope, he is ne plus ultra with respect to all those
qualities. I remember many years ago when he first came to my
attention. How could any kid involved in sports not have been motivated
by his example? Quite a man, this Dan Gable. Did he rear seven Gables
in his house?
John Vermillion
St Petersburg, Florida
(Any readers out there who got John V’s joke?)
*********** Dan Gable and his life story is amazing. Pure
guts.
John Irion
Granville, New York
*********** Despite him receiving the Medal of Freedom from President
Trump, the media found a way to focus their attention - and venom - on
how quickly the President left the ceremony. Maybe it was because
he had to sign yet another Middle East peace treaty??
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** The epitome of greatness, Dan Gable. My older brother Mike
wrestled for Iowa State.
Pete Porcelli
Watervliet, New York
*********** Kinda easy for us Hawkeyes...Dan Gable...Spoke once a year
at the Davenport IA QB club...Made sure I'd attend when he spoke...My
favorite time was when he shared a hilarious story of his vetting a
beau seeking a 1st date with one of his daughters
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** No research on this one, but for anyone who wrestled in the
80’s this name was said with reverence.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** Hugh,
I really like this choice for the quiz. He is not a football guy, but
he would have been a good one if he played our game. I picture him as a
very quick nose tackle. Myself as a former center would not want Dan
Gable lined up across from me in a football game. As tenacious as he
was he would have been hell to block.
I watched our president place the medal around his neck on television
that day. I was very happy that the president honored him. Dan deserves
that recognition.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: A native of Aurora, Illinois, he played at Pitt
from 1923 through 1925, under two coaching legends - first, Pop Warner,
and then Jock Sutherland.
Straight out of college, he took the head coaching job at VPI (now
Virginia Tech) where in four years he was 22-13-1.
In 1930 he was hired back at Pitt by Sutherland, and in 1933, after
Earl Blaik was hired at Dartmouth, he was hired away to be Blaik’s
backfield coach.
He would stay with Blaik as his backfield coach, following him to West
Point in 1941, first running the Sutherland single wing, then making
the changeover to the T-formation.
He would stay with Blaik through the 1947 season, the longest any
assistant was to serve under Blaik, before accepting the head coaching
job at Miami. At that time, before jet travel, Miami was considered
remote. The “U” itself (as it would come to be known) was just 23 years
old.
He remains the longest-serving coach in Miami football history, and
he’s really the person who put Miami football on the map.
Coaching there for 16 years from 1948 through 1963, he posted a record
of 93-65-3.
He was an early proponent of what he called the Drive Series but which
came to be called the Belly Series, and during a nine-year stretch from
1954 through 1962, playing anybody willing to come to Miami, he ran it
well, going 55-36-3 with just one losing season.
He earned a certain amount of immortality when Blaik gave him credit
for deciding not to have his now-famous Lonesome End go into the huddle
with the rest of the team. As Blaik later told it in his memoirs,
“You Have to Pay the Price,” he met with his former assistant at the
1958 College All-Star game in Chicago, and after he explained his plan
to split one end (as what he called his “far flanker”), the
assistant cautioned him about running him in and out of the huddle:
“Earl,” he said, “You’ll run him into the ground.”
And so was born the mystery of the far flanker - soon to be given its
famous nickname by a New York sportswriter - and how he got his signals
from the quarterback. (At that time, quarterbacks had to call their own
plays.)
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 11, 2020 “Wrestling’s
not for everyone - but it should be.” Dan Gable
*********** Go Army! Beat Navy!
As a kid growing up in Philadelphia, where most Army-Navy games
have been played, I was introduced to big-time football by the
Army-Navy game. And at about the time I began to understand what
football was all about, Army and its Blanchard-and-Davis teams was as
good as it could get, so I became an Army fan quite early.
Saturday’s game won’t be played in Philadelphia, as originally
scheduled. Instead, it will be played at West Point for the first time
since 1943 - and only the second time since 1893. (Almost from
the beginning, the game became such an attraction that neither team’s
home stadium was able to handle the demand for tickets.)
In 1942, with World War II going on, by order of President Roosevelt
the Army-Navy game was played at Annapolis. With no West Point cadets
permitted to attend, half the brigade of Navy Midshipmen was
ordered to cheer for Army. (This is a true story. It was a different
America then, kids - they did.)
The following year, 1943, the game was played at West Point, and this
time, with no Navy midshipmen in attendance, half the Corps of Cadets
was ordered to cheer for Navy. That they did, even going so far
as to wear white sailor’s caps.
This year’s game with be attended by both the Corps of Cadets and the
Brigade of Midshipmen, each about 4,000 strong. And, except for others
essential to the game, that’s it. I have no idea whatsoever how
they plan to get 4,000 midshipmen and the assorted officers who
accompany them to West Point and back in one day, because there’s no
way to quarter them on post at West Point, and I can’t imagine them
being put up at area hotels.
One Army-Navy tradition that you might not be familiar with is the
singing of the respective academy alma maters immediately following the
game. Since protocol calls for the losing team to sing first,
“Sing Second!” has become a familiar rallying cry at both academies.
*********** THIS WEEKEND’S COLLEGE FOOTBALL (PICKS IN BOLD)
Friday, December 11
UTEP at North Texas
Arizona State at Arizona
Nevada vs. San Jose State(in Las Vegas)
Charlotte at Marshall (Canceled)
Marshall at Florida International (Canceled)
Saturday, December 12
Alabama at Arkansas
Illinois at Northwestern
Georgia at Missouri
Michigan State at Penn State
Utah at Colorado
Wake Forest at Louisville
Minnesota at Nebraska
Rutgers at Maryland
Western Michigan at Ball State
Northern Illinois at Eastern Michigan
UAB at Rice
Akron at Buffalo
Navy at ARMY!!!!
Coastal Carolina at Troy
Central Michigan at Toledo
Houston at Memphis
North Carolina at Miami
Wisconsin at Iowa
Cal at Washington State
Duke at Florida State
Tennessee at Vanderbilt
Boise State at Wyoming
Appalachian State at Georgia Southern
LSU at Florida
Louisiana Tech at TCU
Oklahoma State at Baylor
USC at UCLA
Auburn at Mississippi State
Virginia at Virginia Tech
Utah State at Colorado State
San Diego State at BYU
Stanford at Oregon State
Fresno State at New Mexico
UNLV at Hawaii
Cincinnati at Tulsa (Canceled)
Incarnate Word at Arkansas State (Canceled)
Miami of Ohio at Bowling Green (Canceled)
Michigan at Ohio State (Canceled)
Ohio at Kent State (Canceled)
Oklahoma at West Virginia (Canceled)
Ole Miss at Texas A&M (Postponed)
Purdue at Indiana (Canceled)
Texas at Kansas (Canceled)
Washington at Oregon (Canceled)
*********** Boston College has decided to say “to hell with a bowl”
game and shut ‘er down. Call it a season. The
decision was left to the players, and I can’t say I blame them for the
decision. (For those of you who never knew the days before
money ruled everything in college sports, there once was a time when
coaches actually left the decision to go to a bowl game up to the
players. Honest to God.)
Because few of you subscribe to The Athletic, I’m sharing some of
Nicole Auerbach’s article:
Once the
final decision had been made, Boston College head coach Jeff Hafley let
redshirt senior linebacker Max Richardson deliver the news.
Richardson stood up
and told his teammates that they would not be playing in a bowl game
this year, meaning the most challenging season of their
football-playing careers was over.
“When Max told the
team that they were going to go home and see their families, there was
an uproar of excitement,” Hafley said. “It was emotional for me
because, at that moment, I knew 100 percent that this was the right
decision.”
To Richardson, it
was, too. He and his teammates could go home for the holidays after six
months spent under arguably the strictest protocols of any college
football program. They could finally hug their dads, kiss their moms
and play with their nieces and nephews. Richardson felt that the Eagles
had done a good job appreciating the journey and everything they
endured in a season they weren’t sure they’d get to play. Because they
had approached each day and week that way, “everybody was content with
how they’d handled themselves in this difficult year,” he said. “As a
team, we came to our senses.” He was part of the team’s leadership
group that helped Hafley make the call.
Boston College’s
choice to call it a season and forgo postseason opportunities was not
easy, but it was absolutely understandable. The Eagles may be the first
team to make this call — LSU’s self-imposed bowl ban this week amid an
NCAA investigation has different factors at play — but they probably
won’t be the last. As one Power 5 athletic director put it in a text
message to The Athletic on Thursday, “If everyone was being honest with
themselves, they would move on.”
Athletes, coaches
and support staff have been under a tremendous amount of stress since
they returned to campus in June. They have sacrificed so much in order
to play this football season. Some coaches, including Penn State’s
James Franklin, lived apart from their families to mitigate risk. These
18- to 22-year-olds have been asked to avoid just about every aspect of
the traditional college experience, taking classes virtually and
spending time alone in their dorm rooms or apartments when they’re not
at the football facilities. Going out to dinner or bars with friends or
hugging their parents after home games are now decisions that, if the
school permits them at all, come with some anxious uncertainty.
*********** Where else but America can you test positive for the
flu and come out ahead?
Washington had to cancel this weekend’s game against Oregon.
The game is considered “no contest” by the Pac-12.
So Washington, at 3-1, will go to the Pac-12 conference championship
game next week, without having to beat Oregon (2-2). No muss, no fuss.
Is this a great country, or what?
Actually, the Huskies aren’t in just yet: King County, in which the
University of Washington is located, is still using the 14-day
quarantine period for contact tracing rather than the CDC’s
revised 10-day period or seven days with a negative test.
*********** Freddy Akers died Monday.
He was a good coach, but he had to try to step into the shoes of a
giant.
He followed a Legend, Darrell Royal, at Texas. He’d been an
assistant under Coach Royal for nine years, then went off to be head
coach at Wyoming for two years before taking over at UT after Royal
stepped down.
He got off to a great start - 11-1 and a conference championship - but
when he lost in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the season, that started
it with the Longhorn fans. Freddy just ain’t no Darrell Royal.
He won - his overall record in ten years at Texas was 86-31-2, enough
to get a guy a statue outside the stadium at most places - but,
see, he never won no national titles.
And then he went and lost four straight bowl games… and he lost
to them damn Aggies three straight times…
And then, in his tenth year at UT, the Horns went 5-6, their first
losing season in 30 years. That just don’t happen in Austin.
And he was gone. And there followed a succession of coaches, some
good, some not so good, but all of them with one thing in common - they
wasn’t Darrell Royal - and sooner or latter, they had to go.
Freddy Akers jumped at the Purdue job on the rebound, but
Purdue’s traditionally been a tough place to win, and after four losing
seasons there, he was done as a head coach. For his career, he
was 108-75-3. Not bad at all by most standards.
There’s a moral there and we all know what it is, yet in spite of what
we know about the danger of following legends, who among us, if offered
the bait, is wise enough to refuse?
Rest in peace, Coach Akers.
*********** I am looking for a book suggestion. I want to get my son a
book about leadership/football (preferable quarterbacking) for
Christmas. I will have all of the people who have coached him sign it
and leave a message. I am going to be under a time crunch, but I think
it is a neat idea.
Can you suggest a book that would have these qualities, but would still
be engaging enough of a read that a teenager would read it for pleasure?
It’s dated, but the first thing that came to mind is
“Manning.” It’s about dad, Archie, and his boys. Archie was
a great quarterback - and (still is) a very good man - and he and his
wife raised three outstanding sons, two of whom became NFL
quarterbacks. There’s a lot in the book about football and football
history, quarterbacking, and life. It’s well told and well
written. I think it would be readable and inspirational.
Hope you can find a copy.
Archie’s grandson, Arch, is a soph in HS in New Orleans and is
already considered one of the best QB prospects in the country.
I started reading the book myself - for the second time - and it
seems to me that it would be a great book for you both to read and
discuss as you go along. There are just so many things in there
that enable a dad to have some real meaningful talks with his son.
*********** There may not be enough great QBs to go around, but there’s
certainly no shortage of good ones, and believe it or not, despite the
fact that they can be an arrogant, narcissistic lot, I feel sorry for
today’s QBs. They are being treated like disposable razors.
Personal coaches and 7 on 7 competition creates a ton of pretty good
passers and puts them on display, and colleges stock up on them. Then,
once the colleges decide on their one starter, the rest of them
are as useful as yesterday’s paper.
Not that the starters are that secure. The head coaches might not
come and go so frequently, but at the level where offenses - and the
starters - are decided on, there’s quite bit of turnover, and as
soon as there’s a change in QB coaches or OCs the starter might as well
start looking around, too, because the new coaches have their own
ideas, and last year’s starter might not fit into next year’s
plan. What these kids really need is agents.
I recently read a great article in The Athletic - it’s subscription
only - about Nick Starkel, the current QB at San Jose State. He started
out at Texas A & M, started five games last year at Arkansas, and
didn’t see any future in having to sell himself to the new coaching
staff. With him as their QB, SJSU is now 5-0 for the first time since
1939.
https://theathletic.com/1594645/2020/02/10/talking-to-nick-starkel-arkansas-san-jose-state/
*********** I find that one of the biggest failings of broadcasters who
call games from locations other than the game site, besides a tendency
to chat like two guys watching a game on TV (which they are), is their
having a tough time calling the spot of the ball - and whether a guy
has made a first down - accurately.
*********** Big Ten Athletic Directors: Well, Buckeyes, you’ll be
pleased to know it’s unanimous. We’ve just voted to eliminate
that stupid rule we made back at the start of the season that said you
had to play six games in order to qualify for the Conference
Championship Game. How were we to know that it might keep Ohio State
out? How were we to know you’d only get to play five games?
So good Luck against Northwestern in the championship game, and just to
make sure that you beat the Wildcats and get us that spot in the
College Football Playoff - which means a ton of money for all the rest
of us conference members - we’ve decided (just for this one game)
to let you have five downs to make ten yards. You might not need that
fifth down, but you never know when you might, so just in case…
Oh - and for this game only - in view of our commitment to fighting the
pandemic and preventing unnecessary exposure of our players to the
Deadly Corona Virus, and because everyone knows that the only
reason we’re even playing this game is so that you can get that spot in
The Playoff, our officials will be instructed to automatically end the
game (“out of an abundance of caution”) at any point that you lead by
14 points or more. (Obviously, this provision will not apply to
Northwestern.)
Ohio State: Thanks a lot. We expected it. One question: after our win
over Northwestern, can we get a bye straight to the National
Championship game or are we going to have to play in some stupid
Semi-Final?
*********** Coach of the Year Awards
Coach of the Year
Tom Allen, Indiana - Hands down.
First-Year Category
Three-way Tie
Eliah Drinkwitz - Missouri
Karl Dorrell - Colorado
Sam Pittman - Arkansas
*********** At the start of the season, there were 43 FBS bowl games
scheduled. As of this past Monday, there are now 33.
Gone is the distinction between the “regular season” and the “bowl
season”:
First one up is the Frisco Bowl, on December 19, which also
happens to be the last Saturday of the “regular season” for some teams,
and conference championship Saturday for others.
To show how screwed up this bowl season is, the New Mexico Bowl will be
played - it just won’t be played in New Mexico. Instead - in case
you were planning on going - it’s going to be played in Frisco, Texas.
The two College Football Playoff semifinal games are still scheduled
for New Year’s Day, 2021, in the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl. The
National Championship game is scheduled for January 11 at Hard Rock
Stadium in suburban Miami.
2020-21 bowl games that have been canceled (so far):
Bahamas Bowl (C-USA vs. MAC)
Celebration Bowl (MEAC vs. SWAC)
Fenway Bowl (AAC vs. ACC)
Hawaii Bowl (AAC vs. Mountain West)
Holiday Bowl (ACC vs. Pac-12)
Las Vegas Bowl (Pac-12 vs. SEC)
Los Angeles Bowl (Pac-12 vs. Mountain West)
Pinstripe Bowl (ACC vs. Big Ten)
Quick Lane Bowl (ACC, Big Ten, MAC)
Redbox Bowl (Big Ten vs. Pac-12)
Sun Bowl (ACC vs. Pac-12)
*********** The NCAA may have waived bowl-eligibility requirements for
college programs because of the pandemic, but that didn’t mean that the
Pac-12 had to go along. For some reason, its athletic directors decided
that their conference’s teams still must be .500 or better to be
eligible.
It probably doesn’t matter anyhow, because with the cancellation of
five of their bowl games, they’re running out of games to play in.
The Red Bowl bowl (WTF?) is no more. Neither are the Holiday, Sun and
Las Vegas Bowls, with the Los Angeles Bowl the latest to join them.
But the conference did manage to add a spot in the Armed Forces Bowl
(against an SEC opponent).
*********** God rest Chuck Yeager, a man’s man and then some. I’d
think about him whenever I flew and the captain would come
on and say, “Folks…” in a casual, calming drawl imitative of Chuck
Yeager, “I’m gonna have to turn the seat belt light on…”
He was the real deal. The first man to break the sound
barrier. I’d love to have heard his opinion on safe spaces.
*********** “Madden” (the video game) may have done “some” good
in helping to teach “some” inside football to millions of people.
But in terms of the coaching profession, it has been a disaster.
Simply as it pertains to coaching, Madden has deluded its players into
thinking that coaching football is just a matter of designing
plays - plays ready to be run to near-perfection, by players
already proficient at playing the game.
Madden skips right over the harsh reality behind making those plays
work. Madden players design a play and - whaddaya know? - somebody has
already taught the blockers how to block, the passers how to throw, and
the receivers how to run routes and catch passes!
To people in need of instant gratification, that’s the beauty of Madden
- it enables the “coach” to bypass the tedious process of conditioning
players, teaching them techniques and skills, and painstakingly
choreographing the efforts of eleven of them to accomplish their
mission despite the efforts of opponents - who are doing their
damnedest to stop them.
It’s very difficult convincing a young coach brought up on Madden that
he doesn’t have all the answers, and that before anybody - let alone
him - can start thinking about running all those plays that
worked so well on Madden, there’s a whole lot of work to be done.
And a lot of it is drudgery. Not at all like a video game.
*********** Happy birthday to Mike Eliasof.
It was 11 years ago, in Green Bay, that I last saw Mike, but we manage
to talk once a month or so.
Mike, is a World War II Black Lion, veteran of the battle
of the Huertgen Forest, one of the bloodiest of the war. In 2003 Mike
was featured in the documentary “On Common Ground,” the story of the
battlefield reunion, 55 years later, of soldiers from both sides of the
fighting.
Mike’s is a great American story. Born in New York, the son of Greek
immigrant parents, he served his country in wartime, and then became a
success as a businessman and as a husband and family man. For a time,
he served as Mayor of Closter, New Jersey, consistently voted one of
the top places to live in New Jersey.
On Wednesday, Mike celebrated his 100th birthday.

2009 - Black Lions and guests on the floor of Lambeau Field: Front row
(L to R): Guest Joel Stephens, Little Rock, Arkansas; Guest Don Kovach,
Franklin, New Jersey; Black Lion Jim Shelton, Englewood, Florida; WW
II Black Lion Mike Eliasof, Singer Island, Florida; Back row (L to
R) Honorary Black Lion David Maraniss, Madison, Wisconsin and
Washington, DC; Honorary Black Lion George Crume, Houston, Texas; Black
Lion Joe Costello, Utica, New York; Black Lion Dave Berry, Sacramento,
California; Black Lion Steve Goodman, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Black
Lion Woody Woodward, Huntsville, Alabama; Black Lion Tom Grady,
Bluffton, South Carolina; Honorary Black Lion Hugh Wyatt, Camas,
Washington; Black Lion Tom Hinger, Winter Haven, Florida
*********** Speaking of Pearl Harbor Day…
Can’t use the gym as a PE teacher , so I do supervising. Half of the
kids are with classroom teacher other half switch in afternoon. I made
sure they understood what Dec 7th meant and what exactly happened. I
know they are only 4th graders but they need to know. Found a good kid
friendly video on it.
Can't learn any of our history if they are too busy with social media
Pete Porcelli
Watervliet, New York
*********** I just read a great article that appeared in our
local paper today by Cal Thomas about Dr. Walter Williams. It is
rare for a conservative writer to get published on our editorial page
in Owensboro. There was no mention in the paper about his passing
last week. The only reason that I knew of it was reading about it
in your news. It is a wonderful tribute to professor Williams from a
fellow conservative. I hope that you can find it on line somewhere. I
am very sad that we have lost him.
Tuesday night was great. Hearing coach Royal teaching the
wishbone offense brought back fond memories of trying to defend that
great offense. When you and I spoke after the clinic, I forgot to
mention that several prominent state football powers in Kentucky ran it
for well over thirty years. One notable school in western Kentucky won
15 or 16 state championships running the wishbone. They only went to a
spread offense in the last 10 to 12 years. They have not been as
successful since they changed to the spread offense.
See you Tuesday.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** My option friends are jealous of me seeing the Royal video.
John Bothe
Oregon, Illinois
At Tuesday’s Zoom I showed Darrell Royal’s explanation of the Wishbone
T. The film is 50 years old, but it’s still one of the best
“how-to” football films I’ve ever seen.
*********** Hugh,
Only one news network made mention of the "date that will live in
infamy." Not surprising. Many youngsters today don't know
much about 9/11 either and that was less than 20 years ago.
Just about every college football team today has its hooligans, and I
certainly don't condone what the Coastal players did to the BYU QB just
before the half. However, despite the foolishness, IMHO Coastal
is still the feel good story of this zany college football season.
They were predicted to finish last in the Sun Belt. Oops!
The CFP committee only cares about the top 6 teams that have a chance
at the playoff. Everyone else is an after-thought.
Evidenced by how they rank the also-rans.
Apparently it wasn't the first time that Texas high school football
player was in trouble. He must have some "issues", but since he's
a player maybe we can help him work through those issues. Yeah,
right.
The rules people changed the rule of covering the snapper.
Well...instead of rushing through the snapper let's rush through
the guard or tackle! It won't surprise me that they eventually DO
allow the O Line to fire out and cut block!
It's weird watching any college football game being played in an empty
stadium without any fans. But, at least "some" schools don't!
When Notre Dame beat Clemson and the students rushed the field for a
moment we caught a glimpse of "the good old days.”
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Although he was born in Oakland, John
Ralston went to high school in Norway, Michigan, which makes him a
Yooper.
At 17, he joined the Marines, and served three years, much of it
in the South Pacific during World War II. After his discharge he
entered the University of California, where he played linebacker under
the legendary Pappy Waldorf, and played in two Rose Bowls.
After graduation he coached high school ball in the Bay Area for two
years, then assisted Waldorf and his successor, Pete Elliott, at Cal
for three seasons. He was on the Cal staff when the Bears last played
in the Rose Bowl, in 1959.
Following the Rose Bowl, he was hired, at the age of 31, as head coach
at Utah State.
In four years at Logan, he went 31-11-1, good enough to get him the
head job at Stanford. In nine years on The Farm, his record was
55-36-3, and following back-to-back Rose Bowl wins over undefeated Big
Ten teams (first Ohio State and then Michigan), he was hired as head
coach by the Denver Broncos.
In his second season in Denver he led the Broncos to their first ever
winning season - for which he was named AFC Coach of the Year - and in
five years there he compiled an overall record of 34-33-2. But he
could never beat the Raiders in the AFC West - he finished second in
the AFC West four straight years - and despite a 9-5 record in 1976, he
was fired.
After that, he assisted in the NFL in Philadelphia and San Francisco,
and in Toronto of the CFL. He was head coach of the Oakland
Invaders of the USFL, and coached the Dutch national team to
third place in the European championships.
In 1993, at the age of 66, he signed on as head coach at San Jose
State, and in four years posted a record of 11-34 before retiring for
good.
His honors were many.
In 1991 he was named Stanford’s “Coach of the Century” for having
taken the Cardinal (then the Indians) to two straight Rose Bowl
appearances - and two wins.
He coached Heisman Trophy winner and future Pro Football Hall of Famer
Jim Plunkett at Stanford, and he coached future Pro Football Hall of
Fame defensive lineman Merlin Olsen at Utah State.
HIs coaching tree includes Bill Walsh, Dick Vermeil, Jim Mora,
Sr., Mike White, Rod Rust, Jack Christiansen, Roger Theder and
Tony Knap.
He is in the College Football Hall of Fame, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame,
the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, the San Jose State Sports Hall of
Fame, the Stanford Hall of Fame and the Utah State Hall of Fame.
At the time of his death in September, 2019 at the age of 92, John
Ralston was the oldest living coach in the College Football Hall of
Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOHN RALSTON
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
JOHN IRION - GRANVILLE, NEW YORK
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Ears perked up when I saw Yooper – John Ralston.
Norway is just outside of Iron Mountain, the home of Tom Izzo and Steve
Mariucci.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, WI
He and Mooch knew each other!
https://www.ironmountaindailynews.com/news/local-news/2019/09/a-class-act-norway-grad-john-ralston-college-and-nfl-coach-dies
*********** Prior to making my sojourn through football as a coach I
was a journalism major. When an injury ended my football playing
days my high school coach convinced me to come back and help coach the
freshman football team. I was hooked. But back then (early
70's) most coaches were PE majors. I immediately changed my major
to Physical Education. The very first football book I read, and
helped me to become a better football coach, was co-authored by Coach
Ralston and Coach Mike White when they were coaches at Stanford.
"Coaching Today's Athlete" (A Football Textbook) copyright 1971
by National Press Books / Palo Alto / California was in fact the
"textbook" we used in my football class while a student at Fresno
State. I used that book as a reference for many years.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
It’s a very good book, and purely by the luck of the alphabet it’s on
my shelf right next to another great coaching text book, Bob Reade’s
“Coaching Football Successfully.”
*********** He coached at more places than I realized.
John Irion
Granville, New York
*********** "Say Ah to da UP dere!"
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** Coach,
In his bio, it also said he coached his Dutch team to the 1991 European
Championships held in Helsinki. Weren’t you coaching in Finland in 1991?
That year, I was coaching a Division II team about 2 hours east of
Helsinki, near the Russian border. The European championships
were held after our season (about mid-May to August ) ended and most of
us coaches went back to our real jobs in the US. Countries would
then typically hire ex-NFL coaches to coach their national teams.
*********** QUIZ: A guy has to be something special to get me to depart
- just this once - from the sport of football in selecting a Quiz
subject, and this guy is indeed special. To the best of my
knowledge, he never played or coached our sport. But I unapologetically
put him out there because as both a competitor and a coach in
wrestling - a sport whose demands on its athletes are at least on a par
with those of football - he made it to the very top. Many, many
times.
He is a native of Waterloo, Iowa, and in his high school wrestling
career he never lost a match.
At Iowa State, he was 117-1, including two NCAA national
championships. His only loss (his first loss ever) came in his last
collegiate match - the NCAA finals his senior year - and he
used that defeat to motivate himself to win an Olympic gold medal.
In the 1972 Munich Olympics, he did just that, winning six matches
without giving up a single point.
In 22 seasons as head coach at Iowa State’s instate rival - Iowa - his
teams won 15 national titles, including nine straight from 1978-1986,
the longest run of national titles by a single school in any sport.
He had an overall record of 355-21-5 (.932) and coached 45 national
champions, 106 Big Ten champions, 152 All-Americans, and 12 Olympians.
He also coached three US Olympic teams.
This week, for his achievements as a competitor and a
coach, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 8, 2020 "Football
is one of our great American games. It is the duty and responsibility
of each of us to see that it is kept in its proper
perspective, and that it is protected. We should
see that it is used to attain the objectives that mean so much to
our way of life." Bobby Dodd
*********** Did anyone mention
that Monday, December 7 - “a date that will live in infamy” - was
Pearl Harbor Day?
Does anyone care any more?
Are our schools now teaching our kids that America had it coming?
*********** I became a Coastal Carolina follower right from the start -
their opening-game win over Kansas.
I marked them early as a team to watch. I’ve watched every one of their
games, and I’ve studied their offense pretty carefully.
They are fun to watch, and I have to admit that as they continued to
win, I got caught up in the Cinderella-type story of a school that’s
only in its fourth year of competing at the FBS level. I was as excited
as anyone else when they and much better-known BYU were able to arrange
a game on short notice. I liked both teams so I really didn’t
have a strong rooting interest either way.
But all that changed at the end of the first half, when I saw a side of
Coastal that I hadn’t seen before, an ugly one more befitting a trashy
bunch of sandlotters than a feel-good Cinderella team.
On the last play of the first half, with nothing to lose, BYU’s Zach
Wilson cut loose and threw a Hail Mary. Threw the hell out
of it, 70 yards in the air to the goal line, where it was
intercepted. (A BYU receiver there was being tackled, but the officials
can’t see everything.) Wilson was standing upfield, on his own 30 yard
line, watching what was taking place at the goal line - 70 yards away
- when he was set upon by first one, and then two Coastal
players. Double-teamed, he was road-graded to the ground, and
then, after he got up, was thrown to the ground a second time, and then
pounced on. No way around it, it was dirty football.
Despite what some yahoos who don’t know the rules might think, the QB
is not fair game after he throws an interception:
FROM THE NCAA RULE BOOK
Defenseless Player
ARTICLE 14. A defenseless player is one who because of his physical
position
and focus of concentration is especially vulnerable to injury. When in
question,
a player is defenseless. Examples of defenseless players include but
are not limited
to:
a. A player in the act of or just after throwing a pass.
b. A receiver attempting to catch a forward pass or in position to
receive a
backward pass, or one who has completed a catch and has not had time to
protect himself or has not clearly become a ball carrier.
c. A kicker in the act of or just after kicking a ball, or during the
kick or the
return.
d. A kick returner attempting to catch or recover a kick, or one who has
completed a catch or recovery and has not had time to protect himself or
has not clearly become a ball carrier..
e. A player on the ground.
f. A player obviously out of the play.
g. A player who receives a blind-side block.
h. A ball carrier already in the grasp of an opponent and whose forward
progress has been stopped.
i. A quarterback any time after a change of
possession.
j. A ball carrier who has obviously given himself up and is sliding
feet-first.
All this took place
right in front of an official, who despite the rules of the game, did
nothing. There was no ejection. There wasn’t even a penalty.
And the fool doing color on the broadcast didn’t seem to think that it
was that big a deal.
But it almost was a big deal. A VERY big deal. The two teams
milled together briefly in the middle of the field but were pulled
apart before anything ugly could happen.
I later heard some commentator - no doubt a recent pro player -
chastising the BYU offensive linemen for not coming to the aid of their
QB.
I would respond to that guy by saying (1) they were downfield covering
the interception return, but (2) more important, they were disciplined.
Anyway, congratulations, Chanticleers. You got the win and you
earned it.
But you lost me. As the first half ended, so, for me, did all the
feel-good stuff surrounding your story.
You'll be meeting Lousiana again in the Sun Belt championship game. on
the 19th. Last time you met, you beat them by three points.
Go Cajuns.
https://www.saturdaydownsouth.com/sec-football/coastal-carolina-byu-zach-wilson-cheap-shot-video-incredible-2020/
*********** Thanks a lot, ESPN… Thanks for the bonus. Sure was
nice of you to let us see the end of a 112-65 women’s college
basketball game before showing us the Louisiana-App State football game
that we tuned in to see (and set the DVR to record).
*********** Jim Mora, Junior revealed an astonishing ignorance of the
college football season when he said, “Nobody knows Coastal Carolina.”
Nope. Just the people who’ve been paying attention. (And reading
this site and attending my Zoom clinics.)
*********** Louisiana beat App State in a thriller Friday night, and
the Cajuns are now 8-1. They have a 17-point win over Iowa
State to their credit, and their only loss was by three points to
Coastal Carolina. Yet this week’s CFP ranking has them in 25th
place.
Meanwhile BYU, which is good but unlike Louisiana doesn’t have a single
strong win to its credit - and which lost to Coastal by five points -
is ranked 13th, ahead of both Louisiana AND Coastal (at 18th).
Also ranked ahead of unbeaten Coastal Carolina are Oklahoma State
(now 6-3 after being upset by TCU) at 15th, and Wisconsin (2-2
and fresh off a thumping by Indiana) at 16th.
These brilliant rankings are brought to us by the CFP Committee, the
people responsible for selecting the four teams for “The
Playoff.” It makes you wonder if the committee knows about
anything other than the top five or six teams. In fact, it really makes
you wonder if it knows anything about them.
*********** Allison Williams, who in my misogynistic earlier days I
might have referred to as a “sideline bimbo,” has been promoted from
“sideline reporter” to “sideline analyst.” If you can see any
difference, let me know.
*********** On College Football Game Day, they still had to force-feed
us a feature on the “historic” performance last week of Sarah
Fuller. That’s how you know there’s a movie in the making.
*********** A kid in a South Texas playoff game was ejected, then
responded in true “you can’t do that to me” fashion by charging back
onto the field and barreling into the referee from behind, leveling the
man.
The kid, who evidently was a pretty good football player, has been
charged with assault, and last I heard was being held on $10,000
bail.
His team did go on to win, but the school district did what I consider
the right thing and withdrew the team from the playoffs.
An act like that is an assault on the game of football, and can’t be
tolerated or excused in any way. It must be treated as taboo.
Want to know what really pisses me off, though? It’s that that
kid, blessed by living in a place where he could get to play an entire
season of football, had no sense of appreciation for it.
Meanwhile, in blue states there are tens of thousands of high school
kids who have yet to be allowed to play football, who’ve been led on by
being told they’ll be able to play football in the spring - but
aren’t even allowed on their practice fields yet.
*********** Fun Fact: In the Big Ten West, in three years Northwestern
has gone from First to Worst to First again.
*********** The Targeting Toll continues to rise. Most of what I see
are cowardly shots, sucker punches timed to deliver punishing blows to
the head area of defenseless receivers by defensive backs and
linebackers who take great care to protect themselves from injury or
pain. Tucking their arms to their sides and hunching their shoulders,
they turn themselves into human missiles.
One such defender, Missouri linebacker Nick Bolton was ejected Saturday
for a head shot on an Arkansas receiver, and the announcers, sounding
as if they were interns at a defense attorney firm, had to show us us
two or three times during the game what they considered the injustice
of ejecting “one of the best defensive players in America.”
To which I would say, if he’s THAT f—king good, then I bet he could
learn to tackle correctly - especially if they would change the rules
so that a first offense would mean a three-game suspension.
*********** In just the past two weeks I’ve seen NC State block a
Liberty field goal, Missouri block an Arkansas PAT, and one Stanford
player alone - defensive end Thomas Booker - block a Cal PAT a week ago
and a Washington PAT on Saturday.
All of those blocks had two things in common - they were blocked by
players lined up between the tackles, and they were blocked by the
forearms of players extending their arms high in the air.
What it means, I think, is that kickers - and their coaches - have
grown lazy.
I remember the arrival of the Gogolaks (look it up) and the early days
of soccer style kicking. One of the advantages of the old-style
“toe-punch” kick was that the ball took off at a much steeper “angle of
attack,” and soccer-style kicks were blocked more often.
Obviously, the soccer-stylers overcame the problem, to the extent that
nowadays one never sees a toe-punch place kick. But it could be
that a whole new generation of soccer stylers has grown up unconcerned
about the importance of that angle of attack, and the guys who coach
the kick-block teams have become wise to that.
What’s next - aggressive, fire-out low blocking by the kicking team so
that defenders have to keep their hands down?
*********** If there’s one thing dumber than not allowing anybody in to
watch the Rose Bowl game, it’s knowing that and still going ahead and
playing the game in such a damn fool state. Imagine - one of the
college playoff semifinal games will be taking place in an empty
stadium.
*********** D.J. Shockley, color guy on the Arkansas-Missouri
broadcast, is not easy to listen to. Three times (I checked and
double-checked) I heard him say that a player was a “stalemate” on the
offensive line. (I think he meant “stalwart.”) I have to
admit that I have some doubts about the University of Georgia after
reading that he was an honors student there as a “speech
communications” major.
*********** I’ve read enough of those “if the bricks used were stacked
one on top of the other,” or “if the two-by-fours used were
placed end-to-end” references to know a good one when I see one.
But this one, that I found in a Notre Dame football program (October
18, 1980) referring to Notre Dame’s Stadium, has to beat them all:
If the 400 tons of steel used in its construction were converted into
bullets, each weighing 2 ounces, the total production would be almost
6,500,000 bullets. If these were fed steadily into a machine gun
shooting 100 per minute, the trigger would remain depressed for 44 days
and 10 hours before exhausting the supply.
*********** Despite high hopes going into this season, Louisville has
pretty much sucked.
Then came word last week that their coach, Scott Satterfield, with a
game left to play in his second season there, had, uh, “looked into”
the job at South Carolina.
Not a great idea at a place that’s been jilted by Bobby Petrino,
who after his first year there diddled with a booster from Auburn -
while Tommy Tuberville was still the Tigers’ coach - and then, less
than a year after signing a huge 10-year contract, dumped them to
become the Atlanta Falcons’ coach.
Then, as if the South Carolina dalliance hadn’t caused bruised
feelings, at a press conference, Satterfield made the tone-deaf
suggestion that commitment on the part of the coaches and commitment on
the part of the players are two different things:
"As players, it's a little bit different than coaches," he said.
"Sometimes we like to lump coaches in with players. As a player, you're
there for three to four years and then you're done. As players, you
don't have a family. It's just you. As coaches … and I'm just thinking
in general terms here … coaches have wives and kids. At a job, are they
going to be a job at 40 years? There are a lot of different things that
are involved in coaching. With players, like I said, it's three to four
years, and they have to be all in."
https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/college-football-power-rankings-alabama-retakes-no-1-as-usc-coastal-carolina-get-some-respect/
*********** Coach,
I want to get your opinion. I was watching Navy against Tulsa
Yesterday and the announcer was raving how Navy adapted its option
offense to fit its freshman QB by going direct snap since he's been a
direct snap throughout his career.
I saw two plays where it was the dive portion and the first gained
about 1 yard and the 2nd gained 3-4 yards now it is 4th down and punt
time. (I think they passed on 1st down) I started
installing veer with my 8 man team this year and its selling point is
that the dive mesh point is at the line of scrimmage. So now I'm
thinking if they ran their base option with the mesh point at the LOS
they would have gained 3 yards on the first play and 5 or 6 on
the 2nd play now they either get the 1st or now it's 4th and less than
1 which is their basis of the offense.
My rambling is that they limit their base by going shotgun and
second you are asking linemen who are smaller than your usual
college lineman to hold the block longer so the dive back can get past
the LOS which basically defeats the purpose why Navy runs the Triple
out of flexbone.
Army Navy this week. Personally I think that Army has looked
really good but their level of competition is nowhere on par with
that of Navy's. Only common opponent was Tulane. Army
didn't look too good against Tulane neither did Navy especially the 1st
half and Navy was lucky to win that game. However in this game
basically both teams are 0 - 0. Navy should be pretty upset after
losing their first senior day game in 17 years, but what will the home
field do for Army? Well as usual it will be a great game.
As a retired Marine I will sign off with a rousing GO NAVY BEAT ARMY!!!!
I think that the announcers didn’t do their homework because they
have no idea what Navy is doing. In fairness, Navy doesn’t seem to have
an idea what they’re doing, either.
Probably because they don’t have the personnel - the fullback or the QB
- they are not running triple option. In fact, they are scarcely
running any option at all. They still put the freshman QB under center
and they also line him up in shotgun - but he is not reading anything.
They relied so much on their B Back against Memphis - mostly traps and
dives - that Tulsa was probably ready for him - which meant having the
QB run more this week. To be honest, Navy seems to be struggling to
find something - anything - they can do on offense right now. But
they’ll find a way and they’ll be tough as always on Saturday.
*********** If the Pac-12 was smart (it’s not) it would give up on its
stupid idea of divisional play and just have the teams with the two
best records play for its championship.
As it is, USC (4-0) and Colorado (3-0) are both unbeaten in the South,
while first place in the North will be the winner of this weekend’s
game between Oregon (3-2) and Washington (3-1). Problem is, if Oregon
should win, it would mean nobody in the North would have fewer than two
losses. (Stanford, which beat Washington this past Saturday, has two
losses, one of which came against Oregon after a false test required
them to play without their starting QB.)
***********
THIS PAST WEEKEND - 25 W's - 15 L's
FRIDAY
L - Louisiana Lafayette at Appalachian State - Cajuns
overcame some disastrous center snaps
Boise State at UNLV (Canceled)
Southern Miss at UTEP (Canceled)
SATURDAY
W- Ohio State at Michigan State
W - Texas at Kansas State - Whew. Texas was over 60 after
three quarters!
W - Texas A&M at Auburn
L - Oklahoma State at TCU
W - Penn State at Rutgers
W - Arkansas at Missouri - An absolutely incredible finish
between two of the country's most-improved teams
L - Nebraska at Purdue
W - Kansas at Texas Tech
L -- Rice at Marshal - Rice, 24-point underdog, wins.
In terms of the spread, it was biggest upset of the season
W - Toledo at Northern Illinois
Western Carolina at North Carolina
L - Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan
L - Ball State at Central Michigan
L - Bowling Green at Akron - Akron ended a 21-game losing
streak
W- Troy at South Alabama
Syracuse at Notre Dame
Louisiana Monroe at Arkansas State
W - Florida at Tennessee - six straight losses for Vols
L - Indiana at Wisconsin - Indiana is now 3-0 over Penn
State, Michigan and Wisconsin for the first time ever
W - Iowa at Illinois
W - Buffalo at Ohio
W - Tulsa at Navy - Navy is plenty tough on defense but
can't get it into the end zone
L - Boston College at Virginia
W - West Virginia at Iowa State
W- Georgia Tech at NC State
Vanderbilt at Georgia
L - Stanford at Washington - Stanford played power football
like the old Cardinal teams
L - BYU at Coastal Carolina
W - Florida Atlantic at Georgia Southern
L - San Jose State at Hawaii - SJSU is now 5-0 for the
first time since 1939
W - Colorado at Arizona - Buffs may have played a soft
schedule, but they're still unbeaten
W - Colorado State at San Diego State
L - Oregon at Cal - Cal's first win; Oregon looked soft and
coughed up two big fumbles
W - Clemson at Virginia Tech
W - South Carolina at Kentucky
W - Alabama at LSU - Hard to watch unless you're a huge Bama
fan
W - Baylor at Oklahoma
W - Miami at Duke
L - Fresno State at Nevada
W - Oregon State at Utah
W - UCLA at Arizona State - Bruins fell behind then rallied
to pull it out in the end and finally put Chip Kelly over .500
L - Wyoming vs. New Mexico (in Las Vegas) - Lobos ended
14-game losing streak
SUNDAY
Western Kentucky at Charlotte
W - Washington State at USC
*********** Coach,
Watched Louisiana tech and North Texas game. I was amazed
at when they used shot gun they missed lots of 3rd and 4th and short
situations. L Tech then used under center and 3 close T
backs and it seemed to do everything that you'd want on short
yardage. You've said it so many times but I will never
understand it. Actually I think Tech should have used it
even with some variation more. Texas had trouble with it.
Tech's #22 was good, though.
Just again I want you to know how much doing these has been
fantastic. VERY much appreciated.
Now I'm going to watch the AF-Utah State game I taped. I
went to USU for my first 2 years of college and played there.
Started as a long snapper-my only claim to fame. Played with Eric
Hipple, Rulon Jones, Rich Parros, Center Jim Hough who took
over for Tinglehoff.
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
John Irion
Granville, New York
*********** The 6G play has been a nice little addition to our single
wing the past couple of seasons. It allows us to use the Blocking Back
as a decoy to break defensive keys. We either have him go "wrong" or
align him somewhere else in the formation. In fact we scored a 95-yard
TD in the playoffs last year when we ran a G to the left (strong side)
and aligned the BB on the weak side flank. The defense had three sets
of eyes on the BB including the play side LB.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
*********** I've long loved Water Williams and Thomas Sowell...my
fictional versions of them are thinly veiled. I appreciate your
tribute, Coach.
So...how ya doin'? 'So" drives me 'so' crazy too.
We could come up with 50 such words in a few minutes. Another is
'resonate,' which I'm sure resonates wich chu.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** And by the way, Michigan is not above sitting out "The
Game" in order to deny O$U a chance at the Big Ten Championship game
and the playoffs. Glenn "Bo" Schembechler, a man of the highest
integrity, is no longer coaching Those People Up North. Let the loudest
whiners in all of college football continue to whine. Can you imagine
Indiana vs. Northwestern for the Big Ten trophy? It just may happen.
Jim Franklin
Flora, Indiana
*********** Hugh,
Dr. Walter Williams and Dr. Thomas Sowell. Two great men who many
young people would be better off LISTENING TO than the rabble they TALK
ABOUT.
While I am an unabashed fan of Notre Dame football, I had to disagree
with the ACC's "cancel culture" decision to cancel the make-up game
with Wake Forest. Yes, ND will likely play for a conference
championship for the first time ever, and yes, will likely face Clemson
again in the championship game. Call me old school, but some of
that game's luster has been tarnished in the manner it was
pre-determined by the ACC instead of allowing both teams to play their
seasons out and EARN their way in.
In a pretend situation where I am the AD at Vandy I wouldn't have
hesitated to have already offered Jeff Monken the head football
coaching job. I doubt he would turn it down, but if he did I
would reach out to Paul Johnson for sure, or possibly Ken Niumatololo.
Word around Austin is that Texas coach Tom Herman will be let go
after the Kansas game. Texas brass has already targeted Urban
Meyer as their next coach, and rumor has it they flew out to meet with
him. If that's true it has to be one of the more classless moves
I've heard of. I hope not.
Years ago when I was living in Columbus Ohio State fans stopped loving
Herbie because of how he would go out of his way to remain neutral in
his reporting. It got so bad for Herbie he moved his family away
from Columbus to Nashville. Just one of many reasons why I am NOT
a Buckeye fan (or an Urban Meyer fan for that matter).
Coastal Carolina made out like a bandit replacing Liberty with BYU.
Turns out to be a much bigger game now than before. Conway
wins big with Game Day there, Coastal wins big playing in such a big
game, and BYU wins big by improving their playoff chances.
Offensively many high school coaches (including yours truly) have
taught both the under center snap and the shotgun snap. I did for
the expressed reason to take advantage of the strengths of my centers.
Some were better at under center, some better at the shotgun.
On occasion I had centers that did both well which allowed me to
take advantage of the skills of my QB's. Just seemed to make a
lot of sense to me to have my offense prepared for anything (like
clapping defenses??).
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: In terms of the number of people who
have heard his
name, John Madden has to be the best known coach in the history
of football.
He was born in Austin, Minnesota, but moved with his family to Daly
City, California when he was five.
After high school in Daly City, he spent a year at a JC - College of
San Mateo - before going to the University of Oregon. There, he injured
his knee and spent a year as a redshirt, before playing another year of
JC ball at Grays Harbor College in ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON. (Ahem.)
In 1957 he transferred to Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) where he played
for two years.
He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles but after suffering a knee
injury before seeing any action, he decided to get into coaching.
After four years coaching at the JC level, two as an assistant and two
as head coach, he was hired by Don Coryell at San Diego State to be his
defensive coordinator.
In 1967 he was hired by the Oakland Raiders as linebackers coach, and
two years later, when head coach John Rauch left to become head coach
at Buffalo, he was named head coach. He was 32 years old.
In his very first season, he was 12-1-1, and won the AFC West
championship. But he lost in the AFL title game to the Chiefs - who
would go on to win the Super Bowl over the Vikings.
He would continue to have great success in the regular season, but
after getting to the AFL/AFC championship game five times - and losing
five times - he had begun to be seen as one of the coaches who couldn’t
win “The Big One.”
Finally, on his sixth try, he not only won the AFC championship, but
went on to win the Super Bowl as well.
Two years later, after failing to finish first in the AFC West for only
the third time in ten years (he finished second), he retired. He was
only 42, but the strain of coaching - he was suffering from an ulcer -
had taken its toll.
His record was outstanding. The youngest coach to reach 100 regular
season wins, he never won won fewer than eight games in a (14 game)
regular season. In six of his ten seasons, he won 10 games or
more and in seven of his ten seasons, when only the first-place team in
its division made it to the playoffs, his Raiders finished first.
His overall record, including playoffs, was 112-32-7. His
regular-season record of 103-32-7 works out to .759 - the best of any
coach in modern NFL history. (For the record, Lombardi is next best at
.739.
Following his coaching career he got into broadcasting, and as a former
coach who was familiar with the players, he brought viewers a unique
perspective on the game. For 30 years he did color commentary on
NFL games, growing increasingly popular to the point where he became a
commercial spokesman for a wide variety of products, and appeared in
some movies as well.
For all his accomplishments on the field and in the broadcast booth,
he’s now best known for having allowed EA Sports to use his name and
voice in the popular series of football-based video games it introduced
in 1988.
Millions of people worldwide play the Madden games. Maybe a half-dozen
or so
of them know that the guy it’s named for was a real coach. A
damned good one.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOHN MADDEN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JIM FRANKLIN, FLORA, INDIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MAT HEDGER - LANGDON, NORTH DAKOTA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** Hugh,
I hated the Raiders when they beat my Vikings (physically beat them up
while beating them on the scoreboard) in the Super Bowl, but John
Madden was an outstanding coach. His teams were as tough as they come,
and they were well-coached and tough to beat.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
*********** Could it be that John Madden retired at age 42 because he
worked for ... Al Davis?
Jim Franklin
Flora, Indiana
*********** Friday’s answer is John Madden! Boom!
I remember a few of the characters he coached-Otis Sistrunk (University
of Mars), John Matuszak, Fred Biletnikoff, and Ken Stabler.
Mike Framke
Green Bay, Wisconsin
*********** He was THE VOICE
Pete Porcelli
Watervliet, New York
*********** Wap! Boom! Bang!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, texas
*********** The guy could coach.
John Bothe
Oregon, Illinois
*********** I have a sentimental view of Madden because he was almost
like a grandpa doing football commentary when I was watching as a young
kid. He was genuine and honest and I often enjoyed listening to
him more than I enjoyed whatever game was on. I've pretty much
given up the NFL because there aren't more guys like him around.
I remember once when he was doing commentary the TV production geniuses
ran an old clip of JM from when he was still coaching. Of course
it was a profanity laced tirade directed at the players on the
field. You could tell that Madden was embarrassed when they went
back live to the commentary booth, I felt bad for him after the TV guys
did that to him.
Mat Hedger
Langdon, North Dakota
*********** Most of my players think the last name is a game.
Tom Davis
San Carlos, California
*********** Almost feel guilty taking that low hanging fruit- John
Madden. The stats about his winning percentages were a useful reminder
that he was more than a media creation. Can we still blame him for all
kids who think they are coaches ?:)
Tom Davis
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** .Read 3 of his books and loved them..."Hey Wait a Minute, I
wrote a Book"..."One knee Equals Two Feet"..."One Size Doesn't Fit All”
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** I really enjoyed his years working with Pat Summerall. They
were great together.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: Although he was born in Oakland, he went to high
school in Norway, Michigan, which makes him a Yooper.
At 17, he joined the Marines, and served three years, much of it
in the South Pacific during World War II. After his discharge he
entered the University of California, where he played linebacker under
the legendary Pappy Waldorf, and played in two Rose Bowls.
After graduation he coached high school ball in the Bay Area for two
years, then assisted Waldorf and his successor, Pete Elliott, at Cal
for three seasons. He was on the Cal staff when the Bears last played
in the Rose Bowl, in 1959.
Following the Rose Bowl, he was hired, at the age of 31, as head coach
at Utah State.
In four years at Logan, he went 31-11-1, good enough to get him the
head job at Stanford. In nine years on The Farm, his record was
55-36-3, and following back-to-back Rose Bowl wins over undefeated Big
Ten teams (first Ohio State and then Michigan), he was hired as head
coach by the Denver Broncos.
In his second season in Denver he led the Broncos to their first ever
winning season - for which he was named AFC Coach of the Year - and in
five years there he compiled an overall record of 34-33-2. But he
could never beat the Raiders in the AFC West - he finished second in
the AFC West four straight years - and despite a 9-5 record in 1976, he
was fired.
After that, he assisted in the NFL in Philadelphia and San Francisco,
and in Toronto of the CFL. He was head coach of the Oakland
Invaders of the USFL, and coached the Dutch national team to this
place in the European championships.
In 1993, at the age of 66, he signed on as head coach at San Jose
State, and in four years posted a record of 11-34 before retiring for
good.
His honors were many.
In 1991 he was named Stanford’s “Coach of the Century” for having
taken the Cardinal (then the Indians) to two straight Rose Bowl
appearances - and two wins.
He coached Heisman Trophy winner and future Pro Football Hall of Famer
Jim Plunkett at Stanford, and he coached future Pro Football Hall of
Fame defensive lineman Merlin Olsen at Utah State.
HIs coaching tree includes Bill Walsh, Dick Vermeil, Jim Mora,
Sr., Mike White, Rod Rust, Jack Christiansen, Roger Theder and
Tony Knap.
He is in the College Football Hall of Fame, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame,
the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, the San Jose State Sports Hall of
Fame, the Stanford Hall of Fame and the Utah State Hall of Fame.
At the time of his death in September, 2019 at the age of 92, he was
the oldest living coach in the College Football Hall of Fame.
FRIDAY,
DECEMBER 4, 2020 “I
am not very smart, but I recognize that I am not very
smart.” Woody Hayes
*********** Americans who appreciate learned men and realize how scarce
such people are will realize how much we've lost with the death of Dr.
Walter Williams. No man is indispensable, but Dr. Williams is
irreplaceable.
A living refutation of the now-common belief that a black person can’t
rise from poverty, he became a respected economist with a wealth of
wisdom hich he was more than willing to share with his fellow Americans.
His greatest worry was that Americans were ignorant of economics - and
of our history. During this past election, every time I heard
some “expert” expound on “democracy this” or “democracy that,” in
reference to America, I thought of Dr. Williams, who said, “America
isn’t a democracy. In fact, the founders feared democracy.”
He had a great sense of humor, and the frequent target of his wit was
the race hustlers and the virtue-signaling whites who were their
prey. I loved the way he dealt with the subject of white guilt by
issuing a “Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon” to “All Persons of
European Descent.”

God bless you and keep you, Dr. Williams. Your life and your
teachings have been a great inspiration to so many of us.
Learn more about this amazing American (a fellow Philadelphian, if I
may say so).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_E._Williams
*********** Dr. Walter E. Williams and Dr. Thomas Sowell are two of the
men I most respect and admire. They are brilliant men. They
are educated men. They are eloquent men. They came
from humble backgrounds to achieve success in their fields - and to
become no-BS conservatives.
I don’t refer to them as “black economists,” as if they belong in a
special category. They are economists. Period.
They were longtime friends, and I can’t think of a better person to
eulogize Dr. Williams than his friend, Dr. Thomas Sowell
https://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2020/12/02/walter-e-williams-19362020-n2580965
HEAR THESE TWO REMARKABLE MEN, DR. WILLIAMS AND DR. SOWELL…
DR. WILLIAMS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZGvQcxoAPg
DR. SOWELL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS5WYp5xmvI
*********** Congratulations to Lou Holtz on receiving the Presidential
Medal of Freedom.
THE WEEKEND’S GAMES
FRIDAY
Louisiana Lafayette at Appalachian State
Boise State at UNLV (Canceled)
Southern Miss at UTEP (Canceled)
SATURDAY
Ohio State at Michigan State
Texas at Kansas State
Texas A&M at Auburn
Oklahoma State at TCU
Penn State at Rutgers
Arkansas at Missouri
Nebraska at Purdue
Kansas at Texas Tech
Memphis at Tulane
Rice at Marshal
Toledo at Northern Illinois
Western Carolina at North Carolina
Eastern Michigan at Western Michigan
Ball State at Central Michigan
Bowling Green at Akron
Troy at South Alabama
Syracuse at Notre Dame
Louisiana Monroe at Arkansas State
Florida at Tennessee
Indiana at Wisconsin
Iowa at Illinois
Buffalo at Ohio
Tulsa at Navy
Boston College at Virginia
West Virginia at Iowa State
Georgia Tech at NC State
Vanderbilt at Georgia
Stanford at Washington
BYU at Coastal Carolina
Florida Atlantic at Georgia Southern
San Jose State at Hawaii
Colorado at Arizona
Colorado State at San Diego State
Oregon at Cal
Clemson at Virginia Tech
South Carolina at Kentucky
Alabama at LSU
Baylor at Oklahoma
Miami at Duke
Fresno State at Nevada
Oregon State at Utah
UCLA at Arizona State
Wyoming vs. New Mexico (in Las Vegas)
SUNDAY
Western Kentucky at Charlotte
Washington State at USC
*********** It sure seems to me that Kirk Herbstreit has crossed the
line. Yes, Herbie is an Ohio State guy, but as a broadcast pro he’s
been rather impartial, I think, whenever the conversation has turned to
the Buckeyes. In fact, he’s caught a lot of hell over the years from
Ohio State fans who’ve thought he was insufficiently supportive of his
alma mater.
But with Ohio State now concerned that they may not be able to play
enough games to qualify for the Big Ten title game, let alone the
Playoff, his recent suggestion that OSU’s ancient rival Michigan,
now shut down by the virus, might go so far as to use that as an excuse
not to play their game next week has Michigan people really
pissed.
*********** On my Zoom Tuesday night, we talked a bit about the
Vanderbilt coaching situation. As you may know, Derek
Mason’s reward for playing along with the “Making History” stunt was
his next-day dismissal as Vandy’s head coach. Not sure what the
hurry was, when Vandy has a female AD who’s new on the job and
(if she’s smart) is going to farm out the job search anyhow.
She has gone on record as saying that she wants an offense-minded coach
if possible, somebody who’ll bring some excitement, and all I could
think when I read that was, here we go again. The damn program is
0-8 this year. It was 3-9 last year. (1-7 in the SEC.) And you’re
thinking exciting?
Good Lord, woman - your team sucks, and so does your program’s image.
So do your facilities and amenities. On top of that, you have by far
the toughest admissions standards in the SEC - and still, in talking
“excitement,” that must mean you think that you can compete for the
same athletes that the rest of the conference members are going after.
Steve Spurrier once explained why, when everybody else was running the
ball, he chose to throw it: you can do what everybody else is doing,
but that means that you’re going to have to have better athletes than
everybody else if you’re going to win; or, you can do something
different from everybody else.
That, to anybody who understands the situation, is the choice Vandy
faces. And if they choose Door Number One, the one with
“EXCITEMENT” stencilled on it, they’re simply not going to be able to
recruit those better athletes.
In case you wondered, I’m proposing that they hire Jeff Monken from
Army. Good coach. Hate to see him go. But Army can’t
afford to pay him what an SEC school can.
He has shown that he can build a sound program at a place where it’s
hard to win. Before Army, he did the same thing at Georgia
Southern. In 2013, he took his team into the Swamp and beat Florida,
26-20.
He can recruit in the South and he can recruit nationally. He can find
the kids who can qualify academically.
Most important of all, he runs an offense that he can recruit talent
for, an offense that will give the rest of the SEC fits.
Before you throw Paul Johnson and Georgia Tech at me - I’ve done my
homework. Coach Johnson was at Tech for 11 years, and during that
time he had three losing seasons. How do you think that woud
sound to Vanderbilt alums?
His overall record was 82-61, and his in-conference record was 51-37.
How would those numbers appeal to Vanderbilt people?
Consider Vanderbilt: since 1934, not one Vanderbilt coach left
Nashville with a winning record against SEC competition. The
great Red Sanders went 15-20-2 in the 1940s. That was good enough
to get him the UCLA job, where he became a legend. Steve Sloan posted
an overall winning record at Vandy in 1973 and 1974, going
12-9-2. That was good enough to get him the job at Texas Tech,
which evidently didn’t notice that his two-year SEC record was only
3-8-1. The closest any Vanderbilt coach in the last 85 years has
come to compiling an overall winning SEC record was when James
Franklin, now at Penn State, went 11-13 in three seasons (2011-2013).
There is a great difference in expectations between Tech and Vandy. The
Tech people are still living in the 1950s, when Bobby Dodd’s Tech teams
were killing people, and they really believe that in today’s world they
should be dominating the Miamis and Clemsons and Virginia Techs and the
Florida States (the Seminoles are not going to be down forever).
Triple option football not exciting? I don’t know. How
exciting is 0-8? How’s that passing game been working out for you?
Come to think of it, if Jeff Monken isn’t interested, maybe Paul
Johnson’s got another rodeo left in him.
*********** God knows the virus has visited enough pain and suffering
on mankind, so it’s only fair that it might do a little good, even if
it’s something as trivial as giving us a football game worth watching.
Let’s start in little Conway, South Carolina, where unbeaten Coastal
Carolina prepared to host once-beaten Liberty in the biggest game ever
played there. To make the game even bigger, ESPN has announced that
Conway - Conway, for pete’s sake! - was going to be the site for
Saturday’s College Game Day!
And then - wham! Liberty had issues with the virus, and on Wednesday
Coastal Carolina - and ESPN — found themselves looking for an opponent.
It just so happened that some 2200 miles away, there was another
unbeaten team, one in need of an opportunity to show the people
responsible for the polls that it was worthy of a higher ranking than
13th place. And it had an open date Saturday.
And so it came about that BYU and Coastal Carolina arranged to meet
Saturday - in Conway! - in a game that suddenly has become the
best matchup of the day, and one that could enable the winner to earn a
place among the New Year’s Six.
https://www.deseret.com/sports/2020/12/3/22150164/byu-football-coastal-carolina-tom-holmoe-liberty-football-ian-mccaw-college-football-playoff
*********** For two years, part of my job in the WFL was making travel
arrangements for a pro football team. Take my word for it, with
all the moving parts and all the things that can go wrong, it’s not an
easy job.
But my job was cake compared to what the people in Stanford's athletics
department are being faced with.
When Santa Clara County, California, in which Stanford is located,
banned any contact sports until at least December 21, Stanford had to
move its home game against Oregon State scheduled for December 12 to
Oregon State.
Stanford is set to play at Washington this weekend, but traveling back
to Stanford after the game would mean having to quarantine, so they’ve
had to move, lock stock and barrel to the Seattle area for this week’s
game, after which they’ll move 200-some miles south to Corvallis,
Oregon and spend next week there preparing to play the Beavers next
Saturday.
(Assuming, that is, that the virus can’t find them, up in the
Northwest.)
*********** You’ve probably noticed that shotgun teams use a variety of
methods for “calling” their snap count, frequently snapping the
ball on the clap of the quarterback’s hands.
Now, we all know - or should know - that it’s not kosher for defenses
to try to screw up offenses by calling out things that might interfere
with called signals, but does that also apply to clapping?
Nebraska’s Scott Frost seemed to think so…
https://www.huskermax.com/monday-morning-quarterback-should-iowa-be-penalized-for-clapgate-or-is-it-more-of-a-case-of-no-more-husker-excuses/
*********** If clapping somehow interrupts your "cadence" perhaps it is
time to change your cadence?
I'm no genius, but there is clapping at EVERY game...seems like the
idiots should change their cadence.
Huskers v Hawks is not a rivalry...Huskers are just bad.
Texas wins if Ehrlinger does not take the sack he did...
Campbell (at Iowa State) is as good as out...someone will throw a
boatload of money at him, and my guess is he will fail...not sure I
"trust" him. Reminds me of a less annoying PJ "Row The Boat"
Fleck (who
it seems needs to first get the damn water out of his boat as it s
leaking...badly.
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
*********** Two abominations have made their way into everyday speech,
and I pray for the power to be able singlehandedly to make them cease.
One is “please know.” It’s a pompous-ass, bureaucratic way of saying,
“trust me on this,” or “take my word for it,” neither of which should
be necessary unless the people you’re writing to have reason to be
suspicious of your motives.
The other is “So…” at the start of a sentence. Once it was used
to explain a choice you made, having been given a few options: “We
heard that the Freeway was faster, so we went that way.” But in recent
years it became a somewhat affected way to answer a question, as though
the person using it had a choice of answers and decided to give you the
one he did: “So I work for IBM.” You find yourself thinking, “Was there
supposed to be a sentence before that, that I missed?”
Now, “so” has become such a sentence worm that people use it
unthinkingly, without even being asked a question. “I think I’ll make a
ham sandwich” becomes “So I think I’ll make a ham sandwich.”
Please know that I care about the English language.
*********** There are many reasons why I still hold out hope that the
nation will come to realize what has happened in the recent “election,”
and insist that, whatever the outcome, we have another election - under
more stringent controls.
A major reason is that I would like to see the mainstream news media
exposed for what it is - an arm of the Democrat Party that makes a
mockery of the so-called “Freedom of the Press.” I take special
aim at the AP - the Associated Press (or, as some people joke,
American Pravda).
What makes the AP so insidious is that, as newspapers large and small
continue to pare their staffs, it is basically the “nation’s reporter,”
writing the national news for every newspaper in the country except,
perhaps, the giants - the Wall Street Journal, New York Times and
Washington Post.
This gives the AP enormous power to shape the narrative of virtually
any story, and the worst part of that is that it makes no pretense of
being impartial. It is unapologetically anti-Trump.
As an example, in a recent article about President Trump’s claims that
the election was less than honest, the two writers of the article (the
AP for some reason assigns two writers to almost every story and, in
especially big ones, three) went out of their way to inject their
biased opinions into the story. Here are some examples of the way they
described the President and his speech:
Increasingly
detached from reality
unspooling one
misstatement after another
his baseless claim
that he really won
litany of
misinformation
unsubstantiated
allegations
futile pushback
against the election
his baseless claims
undermining public
faith in the integrity of U.S. elections
a random baseless
attack on the entire election
In this manner, they
write opinion pieces fit only for op-ed pages, yet pass them off as
news stories. Why? Because they can.
And you can tell the way the mush-minded readers lap it all up by the
way those phrases show up in their letters to the editor.
*********** As most of you know, after the NFL chose to cast me aside,
The League has been dead to me.
But I’m well aware that the NFL remains important to people whom I care
about, and I know that not all of its coaches and players are overpaid
parasites - well, at least they’re not all parasites, but the overpaid
part holds - so when a true feel-good story comes out of the NFL, it’s
worth mentioning.
Last Sunday, despite the Broncos’ having no quarterbacks medically
cleared to play, the NFL in its infinite wisdom said, “Play
Anyway.”
That put the quarterbacking duties in the hands of a rookie free agent
wide receiver from Wake Forest named Kendall Hinton.
Now, I know a little something about Kendall Hinton. He’s from
Durham, North Carolina, and so is my grandson, Connor Love, who
happened to be a classmate at Wake. They got to know each other there,
and I recall Connor telling me on a couple of occasions about his
friend, Kendall, and what a good guy he was.
He had played QB in high school and he played QB for three years at
Wake (even led the Deacons to a win over Army) before being moved to
slot receiver as a senior.
That evidently was enough to hand him the near-impossible assignment of
stepping in on VERY short notice and playing quarterback in an NFL
game.
Not long after the Broncos announced that Kendall Hinton would be their
QB, I got an email from Coach Dave Potter, who’s something of a legend
in the Durham area as a coach at several levels, and especially as
coach of the always-powerful Durham Eagles youth team. Kendall
Hinton had been one of his Durham Eagles, and although Coach Potter,
like me, is no NFL fan, he couldn’t conceal his pride in one of his
guys.
https://www.si.com/nfl/broncos/news/drew-lock-dishes-on-unique-encounter-with-kendall-hinton-following-broncos-week-12-mission-impossible
*********** On Tuesday night’s Zoom clinic, I posed a mock election for
SEC Special Teams Player of the Week. (As you may know, this past
weekend’s real SEC Award was shared by a Florida punt returner who went
50 yards for a touchdown just before halftime to give the Gators the
lead, and a Vanderbilt kicker whose one kickoff attempt went a little
more than 30 yards and gave Missouri the ball on it 35).
In my balloting, #1 was the punt returner and #2 was the kicker. (Did I
mention that #2 was a female?)
Only two coaches cast votes:
*** Coach Wyatt,
Another great clinic last night. As for the Special Teams player
of the week vote, my apologies to #2 (the Vandy kicker who provided the
amazing 30-yard kick-off), but I'm voting for #1.
Dave Potter
Cary, North Carolina
*** Coach, my vote is for the woman. I don’t want to be in re
education Biden camp.
Kidding. Great fake he did a great job. There are not many
cojones left nowadays they have even deballed football. Shame. Way to
keep coaching.
Regards,
Armando Castro
Roanoke, Virginia
Here I went to bed thinking that the return man had won, 2-0, and
while I slept, someone hacked into my Web site and cast 185,378 votes
for the kicker from Vanderbilt.
*********** I enjoyed Tuesday night's Zoom. Special teams has
always been one area of the game that I have always emphasized wherever
I was coaching. Even at the highest levels of our game, coaches
continue to lose games because they are more concerned with offense and
defense. Tuesday night was a prime example of this as you clearly
demonstrated for all to see.
See you Tuesday.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** I enjoyed the last session's clips of “coaches gone bad.”
With that in mind, I would like to make a suggestion.
I think a lot of us would benefit from a Zoom session (or part of one
each week) on the art/science of coaching football. Talk to us about
things that have worked and not worked for you over the years. One of
the most effective (and simple) techniques I use came from you - the
handshake.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** Excellent coach. You are cathartic for
me. I had shoulder replacement 2 weeks ago and it is
"soothing" to watch your zooms. (5th joint replacement in12
years-yuk)
I always use your advice about making special teams simple to reduce
losing by doing something dumb. I still absolutely hate to
punt. Last year we only punted 8 times all
season. Quick kick formation then. We are supposed to have
a shorter, non playoff season starting March 1st. Unlikely
I feel. Feel bad for my seniors if we don't.
John Irion
Granville, New York
*********** Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the Sarah Fuller
episode. I appreciate your honesty and the courage it takes to publicly
share the truth. Keep fighting the good fight.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
*********** I'd thought about emailing you concerning the Sarah Fuller
thing (I won't call it a story). The newspaper here carried a headline
that read, "The SEC Makes Progress." Progressive indeed. Then I had to
read what you reported, to wit, that she did this for all the girls out
there, to let them understand they can do anything they set their minds
to. Really? I am so tired of reading that, maybe the biggest of all
lies. In any case, I'm happy not to have written, knowing you would be
all over the 'event' and cover it better than anyone in America. Thanks.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Hugh,
RE: Sarah Fuller. Ditto. Ditto. Ditto.
Ditto.
RE: Vanderbilt. Derek Mason is out of a job.
RE: Notre Dame. Ditto. They ARE pretty good!
This week's games of note:
Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty (the ONLY game worth watching, and where
College Game Day should set up shop).
Just saw the uniforms Army unveiled for the annual Army-Navy game
honoring the 25th Infantry "Tropic Lightning" wolfhounds who fought so
bravely during the Korean War. Very "Army" looking.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
***********
QUIZ ANSWER: James Van Fleet graduated in the Class of
1915 at West Point. So many
members of that class would go on to become generals that it’s known in
West Point lore as “the class the stars fell on.”
Along with two of his classmates, Dwight Eisenhower and Omar
Bradley, he would rise to the rank of four-star general. (Eisenhower
and Bradley would both retire with five stars.)
Straight out of West Point, he fought in the expedition against Pancho
Villa.
In World War I, he was commander of a machine gun battalion, and was
wounded in action only a week before the Armistice.
Between the wars, he served in a variety of assignments.
In World War II, he led the 8th Infantry Regiment for three
years, taking part in the D-Day landing on Utah Beach. For his
distinguished combat leadership there, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross.
The highest award the Army can bestow short of the Medal of Honor, it
was the first of three he would receive.
Following the War, he was assigned by President Truman to provide
military and financial assistance to the Greek government, in its
successful fight to put down an attempted Communist overthrow.
From 1951 until the truce was declared in Korea, he was in command of
US Army and United Nations forces there. Sadly, his only son and
namesake, an Air Force captain and bomber pilot, was MIA/KIA in Korea.
President Truman called him “The greatest General we have ever had.”
He earned three Distinguished Service Crosses, three Silver
Stars, three Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts (for
wounds received in combat), and - what he considered his most prized
possession—the Combat Infantryman's Badge of the common foot
soldier.
So what’s this got to do with football?
He played football for four years at West Point, and was fullback on
the undefeated 1914 Army team. The first undefeated team in Army
history, it beat Notre Dame, 20-7 and Navy, 20-0, giving up just three
touchdowns all season and shutting out six opponents.
Playing end on that team was a sophomore from Texas named Bob Neyland -
the same man who as General Robert Neyland would one day dominate
southern football as the legendary head coach of the Tennessee
Volunteers.
Between the two World Wars, while serving in the ROTC program at Kansas
State, he served as an assistant coach there, and then, after being
named head of the University of Florida’s ROTC program, he assisted
there as well. Named head coach of the Gators in 1923, his 1923 team
went 6-1-2, and his 1924 team went 6-2-2. (That’s 12-3-4 - .737.
Not bad.)
In 1976 he was honored with the National Football Foundation’s
Distinguished American Award.
He is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame and the
University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame. The University of
Florida’s Military Sciences Building is named in his honor.
In 1998, he was listed as one of the 50 most important Floridians of
the 20th Century.
General Van Fleet died in Bartow, Florida in 1992 at the age of 100,
and he is buried
in Arlington National Cemetery.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JAMES VAN FLEET
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
************ My
friend Tom "Doc" Hinger lives in Winter Haven, Florida, not far from
Bartow, where General Van Fleet grew up and then lived after he retired
from the service, and Doc was on hand when the community
celebrated the General's 100th birthday. On hand as well were
some Congressional Medal of Honor recipients. It is customary for any
soldier, regardless of rank, to salute a Medal of Honor Winner, and Doc
said he will never forget seeing General Van Fleet, by now confined to
a wheelchair, greeting one of the MOH winners and using his left
hand to lift his paralyzed right arm to salute.
*********** After reading your description, and reading
another I found, it was apparent to me that this man was
accomplished
at EVERYTHING he attempted, and likely would have been good at ANYTHING
else if he so chose!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ: In terms of the number of people who have heard his
name, he has to be the best known coach in the history of football.
He was born in Austin, Minnesota, but moved with his family to Daly
City, California when he was five.
After high school in Daly City, he spent a year at a JC - College of
San Mateo - before going to the University of Oregon. There, he injured
his knee and spent a year as a redshirt, before playing another year of
JC ball at Grays Harbor College in ABERDEEN, WASHINGTON. (Ahem.)
In 1957 he transferred to Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo) where he played
for two years.
He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles but after suffering a knee
injury before seeing any action, he decided to get into coaching.
After four years coaching at the JC level, two as an assistant and two
as head coach, he was hired by Don Coryell at San Diego State to be his
defensive coordinator.
In 1967 he was hired by the Oakland Raiders as linebackers coach, and
two years later, when head coach John Rauch left to become head coach
at Buffalo, he was named head coach. He was 32 years old.
In his very first season, he was 12-1-1, and won the AFC West
championship. But he lost in the AFL title game to the Chiefs - who
would go on to win the Super Bowl over the Vikings.
He would continue to have great success in the regular season, but
after getting to the AFL/AFC championship game five times - and losing
five times - he had begun to be seen as one of the coaches who couldn’t
win “The Big One.”
Finally, on his sixth try, he not only won the AFC championship, but
went on to win the Super Bowl as well.
Two years later, after failing to finish first in the AFC West for only
the third time in ten years (he finished second), he retired. He was
only 42, but the strain of coaching - he was suffering from an ulcer -
had taken its toll.
His record was outstanding. The youngest coach to reach 100 regular
season wins, he never won won fewer than eight games in a (14 game)
regular season. In six of his ten seasons, he won 10 games or
more and in seven of his ten seasons, when only the first-place team in
its division made it to the playoffs, his Raiders finished first.
His overall record, including playoffs, was 112-32-7. His
regular-season record of 103-32-7 works out to .759 - the best of any
coach in modern NFL history. (For the record, Lombardi is next best at
.739.
Following his coaching career he got into broadcasting, and as a former
coach who was familiar with the players, he brought viewers a unique
perspective on the game. For 30 years he did color commentary on
NFL games, growing increasingly popular to the point where he became a
commercial spokesman for a wide variety of products, and appeared in
some movies as well.
For all his accomplishments on the field and in the broadcast booth,
he’s now best known for having allowed EA Sports to use his name and
voice in the popular series of football-based video games it introduced
in 1988.
Millions of people worldwide play the games. Maybe a half-dozen or so
of them know that the guy it’s named for was a real coach. A
damned good one.
TUESDAY,
DECEMBER 1, 2020 “Liberty
cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people.” John
Adams
SARAH FULLER - WHAT ELSE? - TOOK UP MOST OF MY TIME AND MY PAGE TODAY

Shouldn't someone have told Sarah that the ball is centered
from the three-yard-line, not kicked from there?
*********** To me, the Sarah Fuller farce was a combination of Geraldo
Rivera and Eddie Gaedel.
Many years ago, Geraldo drew a huge television audience with his
promise to open Al Capone’s never-before-opened vault and show us what
was inside. Would it be machine guns? Bootleg whiskey?
Decomposed bodies of enemies?
After an enormous buildup, the big moment came. We all
looked inside, along with Geraldo, and saw - nothing.
Like the Geraldo stunt, after all the panting and oohing and aahing,
all the public got from Sarah Fuller was a pathetic low, 30-yard
(including the bounce) kick that allowed Ms. Fuller to slip off the
field unscathed, without in any way engaging in the actual game of
football.
Eddie Gaedel was 3 feet, seven inches tall. A little
person. They were once called midgets or dwarfs. As a
promotion, Bill Veeck, owner of the St. Louis Browns, one of the most
forlorn teams in baseball history, signed him to a contract to
pinch-hit in a major league game and - under strict orders not to take
the bat off his shoulder - draw a walk. That he did, and he was
promptly pulled for a pinch runner. The very next day, claiming
that Veeck had “made a mockery of the game,” Will Harridge, the
Commissioner of the American League, voided Gaedel’s contract.
As with Sarah Fuller, Eddie Gaedel’s appearance in an actual game made
a mockery of the sport. But unlike Ms. Fuller, Eddie Gaedel’s
appearance was never passed off as anything other than a stunt.
Further, unlike the breathless promotion of Sarah Fuller’s appearance
as “history about to be made” Gaedel’s was unannounced - typical of
Veeck’s “what will that guy think up next?” approach to promotion.
And finally, unlike Ms. Fuller, Eddie Gaedel delivered.
*********** Full disclosure: there are those who might call me a male
chauvinist pig. So call me that. I sleep well.
I’ve been married to the same woman for 61 years. I’m the proud
father of three daughters (a son, too, but that’s not important right
now in establishing my credentials) and the proud grandfather of four
granddaughters. All but one are college graduates (the one who’s not is
a freshman). They are teachers, business people, and engineers.
I couldn’t be prouder. But that doesn’t mean I’m not a
chauvinist, by today’s ever-changing definitions.
And if any one of them were to ask me what I think about a woman
playing football (they wouldn’t ask - they already know) I’d tell them
that unless they’re playing on a women’s team that plays against other
women’s teams, I’m against it.
I’m against it because just as I feel that there are aspects of our
society that should be female-only, so should there be places reserved
for men only. Football is one of them, an almost uniquely American
institution that provides a rare opportunity to mold boys into
young men and young men into grown men, capable of holding jobs, loving
their country and respecting its laws, respecting and marrying women,
and raising good kids.
*********** Full disclosure: Four of my grandkids graduated from
Vanderbilt. They love the school and their parents love it, and that’s
good enough for me. I support Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt football,
something which isn’t always easy to do. Especially now.
Not after Vanderbilt, whose football ineptitude is at least
understandable if not desirable, chose to push its program across the
line into Laughingstock City by concocting some story about needing a
placekicker - really, really needing a placekicker - and solving the
problem by asking the soccer team’s goalie to give football a
shot. That would be the women’s soccer team goalie.
Since then, it has been a carnival of excitement with the “historic”
move being greeted, as expected in these days of political
correctness, by unanimous media approval.
Reading from the media list of talking points, one heard them say such
things as: Everybody is pulling for Sarah Fuller… Women belong in the
game… I get chills… History is about to be made… What a day in college
football… Congratulations to Derek Mason for making that happen… She
absolutely did it… And on and on.
And true to our new Cancel Culture tradition, there was absolutely zero
dissent. Say it’s wonderful or you die.
*********** I appreciate the problems that Derek Mason faces as
Vanderbilt’s coach. Vandy is an expensive private school, which
means that it’s hard to attract walk-ons, and it’s a selective school
with high admissions standards, which prevents him from recruiting
athletes who could get into any other SEC school.
I understand that, and as a result I cut him a lot of slack. But there
is one hard and fast rule I have always taken with me to any job.
(They’re always “bad” jobs - they wouldn’t have been in the market for
a new coach if things were hunky-dory.) That hard and fast rule is:
when your team sucks (and Vanderbilt’s surely does) your first order of
business, your sole mission, has to be to STOP SUCKING.
That’s Job One. And Job Two. And Job Three. It has to take all of
your attention.
So what would possess a coach who’s getting his brains beaten in to get
the bright idea that bringing in a female placekicker is going to do a
damn thing to stop the sucking? Even if she could kick a little,
finding a better kicker when you’re 0-7 is like sticking a finger in
the side of the Titanic. You’ve got far bigger problems that need your
attention.
*********** True to America’s youth soccer-inspired Trophies for
Everybody tradition, The honors start to pour in… For her “effort” in
Vanderbilt’s 41-0 loss to Missouri Saturday, Sarah Fuller was named SEC
co-player of the week, sharing the honor with a Florida player who
returned a punt 50 yards for a score against Kentucky.
Is it too late for me to change my Heisman vote to Sarah Fuller?
*********** There have been a few occasions in the course of my
coaching career - mostly when it was too windy to keep the ball upright
on the tee - that we've had to have a holder on kickoffs. But what was
Vanderbilt's reason for doing it Saturday? Was it for emotional
support? Did you see how fast the kicker got off the field once
she'd kicked the ball?
*********** Sarah Fuller “made history,” they tried to tell us.
Right.
First of all, this is coming from members of a generation that can’t
tell you what happened last year, and can’t tell you whether World War
I or World War II came first. A generation that has shown almost
universal scorn for and ignorance of real history - except when it
serves their purposes (oh look - it says here that when he was eight he
once got in a fight with a kid of color).
Second of all, I have - literally - hundreds of books dealing
with one aspect or another of football history. Real football history.
Ms. Fullers’ “accomplishment,” meagre and unexceptional as it was,
would scarcely rate a sentence in any of them.
Real football history was made by the scores of black players who
blazed trails at colleges throughout America - men who certainly
weren’t invited and weren’t welcomed, who definitely weren’t treated
right from the start like Lady Astor’s pet horse, men who often endured
slights and hardships, asking only for the chance to prove themselves.
Men whose real on-the-field accomplishments made it possible for others
to follow in their footsteps.
*********** A kid from Buffalo named Jaret Patterson - a Maryland kid,
I should add, as a one-time Marylander myself - rushed 36 times for 409
yards and EIGHT TDs against Kent State Saturday, and I haven’t read a
thing about that in any newspaper. Maybe it’ll rate a line in some
record book. But let a female kick a ball 30 yards, and - that’s
HISTORY.
*********** One of my grandsons said he was going after the rights to
The Sarah Fuller Story.
I hated to disappoint him, but I said, guess what?
The story has already been written. It’s in a binder on a shelf at
Disney.
Against all odds, despite enormous obstacles and people saying it
couldn’t be done a (handicapped/female/person of color/LGBTQ person)
tries, succeeds, and serves as an example to others just like
(him/her/them) that you can do anything you want if you just put your
mind to it.
They’ve just been waiting for the right incident that gets enough
attention and then off they go, “inspired by a true story.”
All they need to do is change a few dates, places and people. And
facts.
In the movie, Sarah will make a field goal - her fourth of the game -
as time expires to defeat Alabama and put undefeated Vanderbilt in the
national championship game against Clemson. There, when Vandy loses all
three of its quarterbacks to injury, Sarah sidles up to Coach Mason and
tells him that she once played quarterback when she was in seventh
grade… but I don’t want to spoil it for you.
I tell you this from experience, as the person who signed Vince Papale
to a professional contract in the World Football League in 1974.
That was two years before the Eagles signed him, after having seen him
play two seasons in the WFL. In other words, he was talented, they knew
talent, and they believed that he could help them. They weren’t
stupid. But in the movie “Invincible,” it made a better story to ignore
his two years in the WFL and portray him instead as a down-on-his-luck
bartender who’d never played any football other than street ball
with his buddies.
*********** My wife’s take: I am so mad. As a coach’s wife, I can’t
believe there weren’t 40 Vanderbilt players who couldn’t have kicked
off better than that - and not needed the ball held. As a woman, I’m
upset that she embarrassed us by not being even competent. Does the
coach really think this stunt would save his job?
*********** I have often referred to things like women playing football
as a freak show, and it just occurred to me that I might be using a
reference that people younger than I wouldn’t understand. Freak shows
are gone from the scene but until the second half of the last century,
when television began to provide in-home entertainment, freak shows
were considered a legitimate form of entertainment.
The public paid money to go to traveling shows to see people who for
one reason or another - maybe it was a physical deformity or mental
retardation, or unusually great or small size, maybe it was a “tattooed
lady” - were unlike anything they would see in their everyday
lives.
Sometimes the freak show was part of the sideshow at circuses, and
sometimes it was a show unto itself, but it was a form of show business.
We like to pride ourselves on the way we’ve improved in our attitudes
toward people different from ourselves - hell, now we even get served
in restaurants by tattooed ladies - but the way people jumped on the
Sarah Fuller story shows that in addition to the great number of people
who really did see her as advancing the cause of women, there were a
great many others who just wanted to see something they’d never seen
before.
*********** I have no reason to believe that Sarah Fuller is not a nice
young woman but I do have to say that in interviews she sounded a bit
full of herself and of the supposed importance of her “history-making”
performance.
With other players putting various messages on the backs of their
helmets, she had to go and wear one that said, “PLAY LIKE A
GIRL.” I could go for the cheap laugh and say, “Well, can't say she
didn’t do just that.” But I won’t.
She talked about the influence she would have on little girls - “I can
represent the little girls out there” - like wow, we sure do want them
banging on our doors, asking for a chance to kick.
She preached the Great Untruth that I suspect has ruined the lives of
more than a few young people: “You can do anything you want to do.”
(You realize how many people live empty lives because they really
thought they could play in the NBA?)
*********** Biff Jones was the football coach at LSU from 1932 through
1934, and he was a damn good one - his record was 20-5-6. In the
final game of the 1934 season, upset with the Tigers trailing at
halftime, Senator Huey P. Long, the most powerful and influential man
in Louisiana politics, insisted on talking to the team.
Jones, a West Pointer, refused
him admission. An argument took place with the Senator saying
“You’d
better win this game,” and Jones finally telling Long, “Win, lose
or draw, I’m through!”
LSU won the game, 14-13. And Jones resigned.
I use that to illustrate that fact that to a football coach, the
locker room, especially on game day, is sacred. Nobody comes in
without the coach’s approval. Most coaches I know are very,
very careful about who they let in, and even more so about who talks to
their players.
So I have to say that for me the most alarming thing about this whole
Sarah Fuller fiasco was hearing her say - not sure when it was, but it
had to be after halftime - that she had spoken with the team. I heard
her say “I wanted more energy on the sidelines.”
Asked if she had been asked to talk or if she had asked to do so, she
said “I asked to talk.” And she said that whoever she approached had
said,
“Oh, yeah - go ahead.”
Are you shi—ing me? For the last few days, the media has been obsessed
with the idea of this person who’s never played a down of football,
never been in a football locker room - and she’s going to tell players
who have paid with their sweat and blood to be in that locker room how
they should act?
Seems to me that this is a serious problem, in a culture of child
worship in which the right to speak doesn’t have to be earned by merit
or seniority - that everyone has some God-given right to be heard,
regardless of where they are who they are, or who(m) they’re talking to.
Derek Mason, obviously, is no Biff Jones.
For what it’s worth, Ms. Jones’ talk must have helped. Some. The
halftime score was 21-0. The final score was 41-0. The talk
might have been worth the one-point difference.
*********** The talking heads have positively salivated over this whole
Sarah Fuller farce. I d hoped that there might be just one of
them with the cojones to say what he really thought. But no, their
paychecks are coming from the same people who told them to push the BLM
story - which as we know they obediently did.
Talk about cancel culture. Not one of them had the courage to say that
the emperor wasn’t wearing any clothes.
Desmond Howard did express a bit of skepticism - well-deserved, I’d
say, in view of how things would turn out - and he got ripped for
it. Bad, Desmond, bad. Go to your room.
Just as it was with those shy Trump voters, real dissent, in this
case, has had to go underground. To find out what real
people are thinking - no, not the pussies who call the games - get on
some site that still allows comments on its stories.
Until, like all the big guys, it has to shut down its comments.
Or shut down its site.
*********** The Sarah Fuller incident brings to the forefront another
factor that’s come into play in our society in the last generation or
two, and that’s our transformation into a matriarchal society.
For good or bad (I happen to think its bad, but that doesn’t make me
right), it does appear that it’s becoming more and more a society of
“female good, male bad.” If it advances the cause of females,
it’s automatically good, regardless of the effect it might have on
men. I refer to Title IX, and its having to balance male-female
sports participation through a vile combination of contrived female
sports and eliminated male sports.
The idea that it’s so wonderful that a woman is making the world better
merely by kicking a damn ball - and not well at that - almost makes me
want to support transgenders playing female sports. Almost.
*********** For seven seasons, I coached football in Finland.
American football. Tackle football. On the order of semi-pro
football in the US - big guys playing for the hell of it - except that
many of those big guys had never played football before.
Many were the guys, big and strong and tough, who thought that all they
had to do was show up in a uniform and - voila! - they could “play
football.”
Few were the guys who stuck around long enough to actually play in a
game.
Why?
Because it’s a hard game to learn to play. Damn hard.
Players need a grounding in the fundamentals, of course.
And it takes time to learn them well enough to put them to use. The key
word there is “time.” In wrestling, they say there’s no substitute for
“mat time.” In football, I don’t know what it’s called, but most
coaches know that it’s a rare kid who comes to him without any
experience who in his first season can do the team much good at any
position other than, if he’s really athletic, receiver. There’s simply
too much to learn, which is a shame in today’s instant-gratification
society, where kids frequently give up when they don’t have quick
success.
I don’t include a kicker as playing a position, and I’ve made it a
point, because of my respect for the game of football, never to have a
guy on my team who did nothing other than kick. In my thinking, kicker
or not, if you’re on the football team. you play football!
Did you hear that, Sarah?
*********** You want a good laugh? Derek Mason said Sarah Fuller kicked
the ball exactly where he wanted it to go.
(1) He’s lying. He's covering for the people who put him up
to the stunt.
(2) He’s telling the truth, but expecting us to ignore the fact that he
undoubtedly had at least a dozen or so players on his team - and
probably more than that in the Vanderbilt student body - who could have
kicked it 30 yards (including the bounce).
(3) He’s telling the truth because he knew that if she kicked it so
that Mizzou could return it, she might find out that she got more than
she bargained for, and he’d have to answer for putting her in harm’s
way.
*********** If I were the Missouri defensive coordinator, I would have
challenged my defense not to let Vanderbilt into a position where we
could “go down in history” as the team that Sarah Fuller kicked the
field goal (or extra point) against. Maybe that’s why Vandy never
got closer than the Mizzou 32 yard line.
***********
THE WEEKEND'S GAMES - 25-10 on picks, if I counted correctly
FRIDAY
L - Iowa State at Texas - Horns barely missed a FG at
the end
Massachusetts at Liberty
W - Nebraska at Iowa - Iowa's sixth straight over the
Huskers
L - Notre Dame at North Carolina - ND is really good.
W - UCF at South Florida - This damn game went almost 4-1/2
hours and cut into the start of the Oregon-Oregon State game.
W - Stanford at Cal - Stanford returns to power football to win
the Axe - See the end on Tuesday's Zoom
W - Wyoming at UNLV
L - Oregon at Oregon State - A game for the ages! - See the
great ending on Tuesday's Zoom
SATURDAY
L - Penn State at Michigan
W - Texas Tech at Oklahoma State
W - Kentucky at Florida
W - Maryland at Indiana - Indiana played well
considering they were wearing their pajamas
Ohio State at Illinois
W - Kent State at Buffalo
W - Bowling Green at Ohio
W - Northern Illinois at Western Michigan
L - SMU at East Carolina
W - Vanderbilt at Missouri
L - Georgia Southern at Georgia State
W - Ball State at Toledo
W - Miami of Ohio at Akron
UTEP at Rice
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee
North Texas at UTSA
W - Coastal Carolina at Texas State
South Alabama at Arkansas State
W - Auburn at Alabama
Colorado at USC
W - Pitt at Clemson
L - Northwestern at Michigan State - Fortunately for "STATE" they
played a lot better than they looked
W - Rutgers at Purdue
W - Louisville at Boston College
W - Mississippi State at Ole Miss
Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan
San Jose State at Boise State
Louisiana Lafayette at Louisiana Monroe
W - LSU at Texas A&M - Ed Orgeron really went off
on his freshman QB. On national TV. Not a good look at all.
L - Kansas State at Baylor
W - Memphis at Navy - at least on defense, Middies looked the
toughest they've looked all year
L - Duke at Georgia Tech - Tune in to Tuesday night's Zoom to see
how Duke pissed this one away
W - Georgia at South Carolina
W - Utah at Washington - Down 21-0 at the half,
Huskies win at the end, 24-21
W - Arizona at UCLA
W - Troy at Appalachian State
W - TCU at Kansas - If all games were this easy to pick nobody
would watch
Virginia at Florida State
L - Nevada at Hawaii
*********** Hugh,
Tanner Ingle, the NC State player ejected in the Liberty game has only
played in one game this year (Pitt). He was injured the previous
three games, and returned for the Liberty game. After being
tossed he tweeted from the locker room (and I'm paraphrasing) how soft
the game has become, but deleted it later. Apparently it's not
the first time in his career he's been ejected for targeting. And
this guy is a team Captain??
I wonder what Walt Ehmer would have to say about us now having one of
the worst examples of a "political freeloader" who has NEVER held a
REAL JOB, or threatened to have his livelihood taken away from him,
possibly becoming the "leader" of our country. But worse, and
what's even scarier is the fact that many Americans voted (and THAT'S
debatable) this pretender into office.
Those sideline signs and posters are the result of "tempo" spread
offenses trying to communicate late audibles changing the original
play. And YES, some are distractions, and YES, there is a group
of players (backup QB's) and coaches (GA's) whose job it is during the
week to prepare them for the game.
Two best college games on TV today:
Iowa State at Texas
Notre Dame at North Carolina
Enjoy your weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
***********
QUIZ ANSWER: Marion Mottley was born in Leesburg, Georgia, but he grew
up in Canton, Ohio, where he
was a two-sport star at Canton McKinley High. Canton McKinley went 25-3
during his football career, its only losses coming to archrival
Massillon, then coached by a bright young man named Paul Brown.
After high school, he went to all-black South Carolina State but was
enticed to transfer to Nevada by its coach, Jim Aiken, who had coached
at Canton McKinley a few years before our guy’s arrival there, and knew
him well.
He had two good years at Nevada before injuring his knee, and
after
returning to Canton, with World War II going on, he enlisted in
the
Navy.
There, he would be rediscovered by former rival Brown, who by then had
moved on to Ohio State as its head coach, and then, during wartime, was
coaching the football team at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, north
of Chicago. There, Brown built a powerhouse team, and our guy,
said
Brown, was “the cornerstone.”
He was a fullback and linebacker. He was big and fast. At a
time when
there will still 220-pounders playing on the line in pro football, he
weighed more than 230 pounds.
At Great Lakes, Brown used his speed and power on traps and on a play
he had developed - a delayed handoff which has since become known as
the draw play.
Brown’s advice to his powerful fullback, once he got past the line on
those plays: “Don’t get fancy. If there is someone in front of you,
just run in one end of him and out the other.”
The highlight of Brown’s - and his fullback’s - time at Great Lakes was
a stunning 39-7 defeat of a very good Notre Dame team whose only other
loss had been to National Champion Army.
While coaching at Great Lakes, in a secondary role Brown was also in
the process of building a professional football team in a new league -
the AAFC - formed to compete with the National Football League.
Between his Ohio and Great Lakes connections, he would assemble one of
the great dynasties in the history of pro football, the mighty
Cleveland Browns.
Because Brown’s policy was “to win football games with the best people
possible,” he broke the color line that had existed in pro football for
years. "I never considered football players black or white,"
Brown
wrote later, " nor did I keep or cut a player just because of his
color. In our first meeting before training camp every year, I told the
players that they made our teams only if they were good enough."
With the signing of our player and Bill Willis, the Cleveland Browns
became the first truly integrated team in all of professional sports.
In 1946 - a year before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color
line -
the two Browns’ players - along with Kenny Washington and Woody Strode
of the Los Angeles Rams - would be the first four black men to play
professional football in the modern era. And while Washington and
Strode had short careers, the two Browns’ players would both make it to
the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With the AAFC long gone, he will live forever as its all-time rushing
leader. He led NFL in rushing in the Browns’ first season in the NFL
(in 1950, when they won the title), and in one game that year, against
the Steelers, he rushed for 188 yards on just 11 carries -
an average
17.1 yards per carry.
In nine seasons, he rushed for 4,720 yards on 828 carries - 5.7
yards per carry. He also played linebacker on occasion.
He was selected to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time team, and in
1968 he became the second black player - after Emlen Tunnell -to
be
inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brown, in his autobiography, “PB,” called him, “our greatest fullback
ever, because not only was he a great runner, but also no one ever
blocked better - and no one ever cared more about his team and whether
it won or lost, no matter how many yards he gained or where he was
asked to run…Marion's tremendous running ability also was what made our
trap and draw plays so effective. When he ran off tackle, people
seemed to fly off him in all directions. He possessed tremendous speed
for a big man, and he could run away from linebackers and defensive
backs when he got into the open - if he didn't trample them first. I've
always believed that Marion could have gone into the Hall of Fame
solely
as a linebacker if we had used him only at that position. He was as
good as our great ones."
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MARION MOTTLEY
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Saw some archived footage of him playing for the
Browns, all I can say is "WOW". I would have hated trying to tackle
that bruiser!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** Hugh,
Marion Motley is the great fullback in your quiz.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5IuZlImP-o
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
*********** Marion Motley was a great choice. He was a pioneer for all
black athletes wanting to play in the NFL. I remember seeing him play
in the later part of his career in Cleveland. Keep those Cleveland
Browns coming in the quizzes.
See you Tuesday.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
***********
QUIZ: He graduated in the Class of 1915 at West Point. So many
members of that class would go on to become generals that it’s known in
West Point lore as “the class the stars fell on.”
Along with two of his classmates, Dwight Eisenhower and Omar
Bradley, he would rise to the rank of four-star general. (Eisenhower
and Bradley would both retire with five stars.)
Straight out of West Point, he fought in the expedition against Pancho
Villa.
In World War I, he was commander of a machine gun battalion, and was
wounded in action only a week before the Armistice.
Between the wars, he served in a variety of assignments.
In World War II, he led the 8th Infantry Regiment for three
years, taking part in the D-Day landing on Utah Beach. For his
distinguished combat leadership there, he was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross.
The highest award the Army can bestow short of the Medal of Honor, it
was the first of three he would receive.
Following the War, he was assigned by President Truman to provide
military and financial assistance to the Greek government, in its
successful fight to put down an attempted Communist overthrow.
From 1951 until the truce was declared in Korea, he was in command of
US Army and United Nations forces there. Sadly, his only son and
namesake, an Air Force captain and bomber pilot, was MIA/KIA in Korea.
President Truman called him “The greatest General we have ever had.”
He earned three Distinguished Service Crosses, three Silver
Stars, three Bronze Stars, three Purple Hearts (for
wounds received in combat), and - what he considered his most prized
possession—the Combat Infantryman's Badge of the common foot
soldier.
So what’s this got to do with football?
He played football for four years at West Point, and was fullback on
the undefeated 1914 Army team. The first undefeated team in Army
history, it beat Notre Dame, 20-7 and Navy, 20-0, giving up just three
touchdowns all season and shutting out six opponents.
Playing end on that team was a sophomore from Texas named Bob Neyland -
the same man who as General Robert Neyland would one day dominate
southern football as the legendary head coach of the Tennessee
Volunteers.
Between the two World Wars, while serving in the ROTC program at Kansas
State, he served as an assistant coach there, and then, after being
named head of the University of Florida’s ROTC program, he assisted
there as well. Named head coach of the Gators in 1923, his 1923 team
went 6-1-2, and his 1924 team went 6-2-2. (That’s 12-3-4 - .737.
Not bad.)
In 1976 he was honored with the National Football Foundation’s
Distinguished American Award.
He is a member of the Florida Sports Hall of Fame and the
University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame. The University of
Florida’s Military Sciences Building is named in his honor.
In 1998, he was listed as one of the 50 most important Floridians of
the 20th Century.
He died in Bartow, Florida in 1992 at the age of 100, and he is buried
in Arlington National Cemetery.
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 27, 2020 "A star
can win any game; a team can win every
game." Jack Ramsay, Hall of Fame basketball coach
FRIDAY'S GAMES
Iowa State at Texas
Massachusetts at Liberty
Nebraska at Iowa
Notre Dame at North Carolina
UCF at South Florida
Stanford at Cal
Wyoming at UNLV
Oregon at Oregon State
SATURDAY'S GAMES -
Penn State at Michigan
Texas Tech at Oklahoma State
Kentucky at Florida
Maryland at Indiana
Ohio State at Illinois
Kent State at Buffalo
Bowling Green at Ohio
Northern Illinois at Western Michigan
SMU at East Carolina
Vanderbilt at Missouri
Georgia Southern at Georgia State
Ball State at Toledo
Miami of Ohio at Akron
UTEP at Rice
Florida Atlantic at Middle Tennessee
North Texas at UTSA
Coastal Carolina at Texas State
South Alabama at Arkansas State
Auburn at Alabama
Colorado at USC
Pitt at Clemson
Northwestern at Michigan State
Rutgers at Purdue
Louisville at Boston College
Mississippi State at Ole Miss
Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan
San Jose State at Boise State
Louisiana Lafayette at Louisiana Monroe
LSU at Texas A&M
Kansas State at Baylor
Memphis at Navy
Duke at Georgia Tech
Georgia at South Carolina
Utah at Washington
Arizona at UCLA
Troy at Appalachian State
TCU at Kansas
Virginia at Florida State
Nevada at Hawaii
+++++++++++
SICK BAY
Colorado State at Air Force (Cancelled)
San Diego State at Fresno State (Cancelled)
Southern Miss at UAB (Cancelled)
Washington at Washington State (Cancelled)
Arkansas at Missouri (Postponed)
Cincinnati at Temple (Cancelled)
Louisiana Tech at Florida International (Cancelled)
Miami at Wake Forest (Postponed)
Minnesota at Wisconsin (Cancelled)
Oklahoma at West Virginia (Postponed)
Tennessee at Vanderbilt (Postponed)
Tulsa at Houston (Postponed)
*** In Saturday’s NC State-Liberty game, an NC State player was ejected
for targeting - for his second time this year. I don’t know about
the first offense, but this was dirty play - easily the dirtiest I’ve
seen this year - a vicious blow, struck at a man who was not only
defenseless but out of the play.
It had nothing to do with the game, no more than if he had come out of
the stands with a baseball bat and hit a player standing on the
sidelines.
I screamed at the TV, I was so pissed.
If it happened anywhere else but on a football field, it would be
assault. And if it were to wind up in a courtroom - as one of
these days such an occurrence will - I would have to testify, if
called, that I had seen an awful lot of football, and this wasn’t
football. No, it looked to me like a deliberate attempt to
injure. How could it be anything else?
And then, rather than show disapproval, right there on the sideline for
a national TV audience to see, was a coach with his arm around the
offender’s shoulder. (“Huggin’ him up.” the announcer called it.)
Yeah, right. There, there. Everything’s going to be okay.
In fact, to show how unconcerned the coach seemed to be about his
player’s actions - the guy had the team captain’s “C” on his
shirt! Some captain.
No, coach, everything’s NOT going to be okay. Not unless you and others
in a position to do something about it take strong steps to put an
absolute end to this brutality.
I really think we’re at a point similar to where our sport was in 1905
when President Theodore Roosevelt told the presidents of major
football-playing schools to clean up the sport or he would abolish it
by executive order.
Except that this time, the abolition of football, if it happens, will
take place, not from the top down, but from the bottom up - from
parents deciding they don’t want their kids to play our game.
It’s already happening. The numbers bear it out.
We coaches all know that football’s a rough game, and that it has its
risks. We don’t apologize for that, because we sincerely believe that
taking part in our sport has a lot of benefits that offset the risks,
and we tell parents that. But what do we tell parents when they say
that they don’t want their kids to be harmed for life by someone whose
intent is to injure them.
What do we tell our own wives when they don’t want their sons playing
our game because we’ve allowed it to become brutal?
I personally wouldn’t want a son or grandson playing a “sport” in which
people were allowed, in acts unrelated to the purpose of the game, to
deliver blows that could injure them for life.
They put our game in jeopardy, yet all they face is a one-game
suspension, and their coaches? They face no consequences other than the
loss of a player’s services. Maybe a nice lawsuit would do the
job. Any personal injury lawyers reading this?
Football rules people - you HAVE to do something about this sh—.
Participation in the sport is declining. People are already holding
their kids out of the game. The game is tough enough as it is, without
subjecting a kid to injury deliberately inflicted on him.
*********** Walt Ehmer, the CEO of Waffle House, didn’t sound too happy
about some of our politicians when he was speaking recently with
Business Insider:
"None of the people who make the decisions to shut down businesses and
impact people's livelihoods ever have their own livelihood impacted,”
he said.
Waffle House, which has spread from its beginnings in the South into 25
states, was forced in several states to shut down some 700 restaurants,
putting close to 28,000 of its hourly employees out of work.
I believe that this guy has a right to be pissed. I read something
really impressive about Waffle House in the Wall Street Journal - that
Waffle House management makes it a point to get out and visit its
restaurants, and if one of them, no matter how big a position he holds,
should happen in and see thaT they are unusually busy, or short of
help, he will pitch in. Even if that might mean washing dishes.
That’s leadership. That’s what’s meant by “whatever it takes.”
I once gave a graduation speech whose main point was “clean the
toilets.” I was inspired by a guy named Mark Hemstreet, who founded
Shiloh Inns, a chain of hotels in the West. He was a legend
among his employees because he was known to visit Shiloh locations and
inspect the premises, and, if necessary, clean a toilet.
The point, to me, is that where accomplishing a mission is concerned,
nothing should be beneath us.
And that’s why I get pissed when I hear of an assistant coach who
insists on only coaching a certain position, or one who ducks out of
the dirty work.
*********** Coach Wyatt,
Do you have any idea as to how the collegiate teams are using those
sign boards (Homer Simpson/Rubber Duck/John Wayne/Hamburger, etc.) to
signal in their plays? Our header is interested in finding out
how that can be done. Any insight would be appreciated.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dave
Hi Dave-
The sideline sign boards are primarily offshoots of the no-huddle craze
and the need to communicate from the sidelines with the QB while
maintaining security.
Teams use them in different ways, to communicate one or more of several
things:
Play
Personnel Grouping
Formation/motion
Pace
But you’ve probably noticed that teams also have two or three guys on
the sidelines giving hand signals.
In some cases, the sign board is used to show which of the guys
flashing the hand signals is “live,” and in some cases it’s simply a
diversion - it doesn’t mean anything at all and simply distracts from
the real signal.
The coding behind this can be quite inventive, and schools are
understandably unwilling to disclose the meaning of their
symbols. Usually, though, there’s not a direct translation
between the symbol and the play it represents. For example, John Wayne
might translate as “Duke,” which because it sounds like “Deuce,” could
mean a 2 x 2 set.
In my opinion, though, it is so far removed from what most high schools
are capable of doing that it is a fool’s errand at our level I
think that any benefits from doing it would be more than offset by the
work, time, manpower and teaching required to implement it.
First of all, its chief purpose is to convey our intentions to our
players without their being intercepted by the opponents, right? Hell,
I can already do that with play cards on wristbands. Yes, they take
work to prepare, but I think they’re every bit as effective as sign
boards. Not as showy, no. (Come to think of it, maybe that’s the
reason.)
Sometimes we get so paranoid that we give opponents way too much
credit, when realistically, I could just shout out the plays by name
and the information wouldn’t do opponents any good.
Sure, opposing coaches may make the effort to learn our system and our
terminology, but how fast and how well can they teach it to their
players?
You telling me they have nothing better to do during their week
of preparing for us than teaching their players the ins and outs of our
play-calling terminology?
Not that I’d ever actually call out plays by their real name anyhow:
after several weeks of hearing a play called mostly by its
address on their play card and not by its actual name, the address
itself usually becomes far more familiar to the players than the play
name itself. So if, instead of, say, “40-2” (a play’s location on the
card) I were to call out “West Criss Cross 47-C,” it’s possible some of
our own guys wouldn’t know what they were supposed to do.
(Since you asked.)
*********** A youth coach mentioned to me that under the rules of his
organization, teams are allowed to have a coach on the field during
games, but the coaches must not say anything once the offense has
broken its huddle. He said he happened to hear the opposing coach's
play call, and, knowing what it meant, arranged his kids to stop it -
all before the offense left the huddle. Now, he is wondering: did he
cross the line of ethical conduct?
Here's what I told him: There’s a clear line between scouting and
spying - or "skunking" as spying is sometimes known in the coaching
profession.
Skunking includes watching another team's practice. It is unethical.
Stealing signs is somewhat different. It is akin to hearing the
opposing coach shout something, and then acting on what you've heard.
Use of signs is an attempt to get around shouting - people are using
that particular form of communication to give themselves an edge. One
of the dangers of using signs is that they will be intercepted and used
against you, but it's even more dangerous to call out instructions.
So there's nothing inherently unethical about stealing signs, provided
you confine yourself to normal methods of detection. It seems to me
that in your case, if you are standing on your side of the line of
scrimmage, as you have a right to do, and you happen
inadvertently to hear the other team's play call, you have every right
to take advantage of their carelessness.
If, on the other hand, you're actively trying to listen in on their
huddle, you've crossed the line.
A few years ago, we lost a playoff game at a neutral site. Only
afterwards did we learn that our coaches’ booth in the press box
was, unbeknownst to us, separated from the opponents’ coaches’ booth by
just a thin plywood partition, enabling them to listen in on all our
calls. (Why we couldn’t hear theirs, I can’t say.) The kindly
clock operator, who’d been provided by the stadium owner, was nice
enough to tell us about it afterward - but he said he didn’t know if it
was his place to let us know at the time. Thanks a lot.
*********** For those who watched my Zoom on Tuesday or happened to
watch the Army-Georgia Southern game, you are aware of what
happened at the end. Georgia Southern, out of time outs and
with the clock running, tried to run off a play, then hustle to get set
and spike the ball so they could attempt a field goal. They
didn't make it. The ball hit the ground at just about the same time
that the clock read 0:00. I say "just about," because it appeared to me
on slo-mo replay that there was still :01 on the clock when the ball
hit the ground. No matter. They said the game was over, and that was
that. Georgia Southern never got that chance to try for the winning
field goal.
Reader John Vermillion wrote me about it -
During
last Sat's Army game, neither announcer said anything about what
I thought was a spiking rule, to wit, the practice is disallowed with
three seconds or fewer remaining in a CFB game. Moreover, the refs
didn't cite the rule either. As you were showing the video last
night, I asked the question on my phone. I wasn't at all sure I was
correct. What came back was that the rule changed in 2013 to prohibit
spiking with under three seconds left in the game. If this is true,
wouldn't the game have ended whether there was a tenth of second
remaining?
Wow. Heck of a point . That sent me to the NCAA Rule Book, and
boy, is it unclear. Any Congressman would be proud to have written
this...
RULE 3, SECTION 2 , ARTICLE 5
Late
in a quarter Team A, out of timeouts, makes a first down, stopping
the clock which
reads 0:03. Team A intends to spike the ball and run an
additional play.
The referee appropriately blows his whistle and signals, which
starts the game
clock. The quarterback takes the snap and raises the ball high
over his head
before throwing it directly to the ground. The game clock
shows 0:00. RULING:
Time in the quarter has expired. Although there
were 3 seconds on
the game clock when the referee signaled it to start, there
is no guarantee of
enough time to run an additional play other than spiking
the ball. The
offense must execute the spike in a timely manner.
I think the issue here may have been that the clock was running when
the fustercluck was taking place.
And the rule as written does allow wiggle room. The clock may have
shown 0:00, but not, according to the slo-mo camera, at the precise
time the ball hit the ground.
It seems to imply that there could still be enough time, in saying
“there is no guarantee of enough time” to run an additional play…”
And then there's this: “The offense must execute the spike in a
timely manner?” Does that suggest it’s still possible to do this if
there’s :03 on the clock when the play starts?
Hats off to Coach Vermillion - he's earned the honorary title -
for bringing up this extremely important rule , one that, as he
said, went unmentioned by both announcer and officials. (And me.)
Either
way, if you want a good laugh - when was the last time you saw a
quarterback "raise the ball high over his head” before spiking it?
*********** My wife and I both heard the announcer in the Ohio
State-Indiana game refer to a “Hail Murray” pass. The Virgin Murray?
Obviously not a Catholic."
I heard that, too! I figured the "Hail Murray" was probably a
tribute to some great cab driver.
Dave Potter
Cary, North Carolina
*********** I always enjoy your comments about the football
games' announcers. Question that I have been wondering about is it
seems like the color commentators are all ex-players these days. When I
was a kid I seem to remember more ex-coaches doing them. Were they
better than the players? Why are there less ex-coaches now? More money
to be in studio? So many of the ex-players are motormouths like you
pointed out. Recently the Packers game was done by Chris Myers, Greg
Jennings, Brock Huard and I remembered thinking there may not be enough
oxygen in the booth with Huard in there.
P.S.S. Badgers fell at Northwestern again. Both played great defense.
Wildcats defense made WI's star QB looked like a freshman. Referees
struggled in the first half but made some nice halftime adjustments.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
*********** Hugh,
I enjoyed reading those two articles from the WSJ. Vermont
Royster's take on the pulse of America was even more relative today as
it was back then. However, in today's world of technology,
gaming, and social media I'm afraid the eyes, ears, and minds of the
young people who SHOULD read it would miss the point completely, and
the cancel culture would find a way to tear it down. BUT, like
you and Connie, my wife and I are forever grateful to have had the
privilege of being born and raised in this wonderful country,
experience its bounty, and that God saw fit for us to raise our own
family in such a land.
Can't speak for the rest of the country, but here in Texas we were
reminded of that fateful day in Dallas when JFK was taken from us.
Didn't see the Minnesota-Purdue game last Friday night (we were busy
getting pummeled) but I did see the replay of that phantom PI call
against Purdue. Could be that the official threw the flag out of
pity for Minnesota's defense for allowing something like that to happen
at home in front of all those people??
Fresno State-San Jose State never got off the ground, and neither will
the Bulldogs game against San Diego State, and with both of those games
being called so has Fresno's slim chances of making an appearance in
the MWC championship game, and a possible bowl berth. The
Bulldogs will not be the only team in the country to have their
promising season derailed by Covid.
Army vs. GA Southern...what were they thinking???
Some good college games on tap for this Thanksgiving weekend.
Kicks off Friday with:
Iowa State at Texas
Notre Dame at North Carolina
Oregon at Oregon State (Civil War, I still call it that)
Washington at Washington State (Apple Cup, maybe)
Saturday:
Minnesota at Wisconsin (rivalry game, that's all)
Auburn at Alabama (rivalry game)
And a whole host of other interesting matchups
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
***********
QUIZ ANSWER: Joe Kapp's mother was of Mexican descent, and that,
combined
with his aggressive play as a quarterback - he once said, “I’ve
been called one half of a collision looking for the other” - caused
Sports Illustrated to call him “The Toughest Chicano.”
He remains the only quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl, the Super
Bowl and the Grey Cup.
He was Cal’s quarterback the last time they played in the Rose Bowl.
He led the B.C. Lions to their first-ever Grey Cup win.
He led the Minnesota Vikings to their first-ever playoff appearance and
their first Super Bowl appearance.
Although he was named the team MVP, he refused the award, saying
“There’s no one most valuable Viking. There are 40 most valuable
Vikings.”
He left the Vikings after just three seasons and they got nothing for
him.
After one season with the Boston Patriots - a very bad team at the time
- he walked off and never played again.
He reappeared as coach at Cal - despite having no coaching experience -
and in his first season, he was the Cal coach when “The Play” beat
Stanford. That year’s Golden Bears went 7-4 and he was named
Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
That would be his last winning season, and after five seasons, with a
20-34-1 record - and an embarrassing incident or two along the way - he
was let go.
One such incident took place during the post-game press conference
following a 50-18 loss to Washington, when he responded to a question
he didn’t like by unzipping his fly. He zipped it right back up, but
the damage was done.
“It was bad enough to lose the ballgame,” he said with regret, “But I
had to lose the post-game interview, too.”
He appeared in a number of movies, including "The Longest Yard."
In his final game at Cal his Bears pulled off a tremendous upset and
beat Stanford in the Big Game, and his players, knowing that he’d
already been fired, carried him off on their shoulders.
“To the best of my recollection,” Kapp said afterward, “It’s the first
time I’ve ever been carried off the field - hurt or otherwise.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOE KAPP
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
BRAD KNIGHT - CLARINDA, IOWA
ADAM
WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE
FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK - Longest Yard - "not today
boy"
RALPH BALDUCCI - PORTLAND, OREGON - One of my favorite players
MARK
KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE
OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
*********** I don't know the exact details, but I do know that there
was a time in the 50s when some of the West Coast schools did away with
spring football. Instead, their football players played rugby. And so
it was that in the spring of my freshman year at Yale, Cal's rugby
team, on an eastern swing, stopped by New Haven. And that's where I
first saw Joe Kapp. I was a spectator, although I played rugby as an
upperclassman. All I can say is that I saw the same Joe Kapp that you
all saw years later, except I saw him without pads. No difference,
though. Sucker was big, and strong, and fast - and he ran and hit
like hell. I was VERY impressed.
I did find this, in an article about the 1958 Cal football team, when
coach Pete Elliott, going into his second year there, decided to go to
the split-T offense. Check out what no less of an expert than John
Ralston had to say about Joe Kapp.
"Every
day we practiced handoffs," said Kapp. "I got real good at it, but then
I kept saying, 'When can we practice passing?' When I got to pro
football, I saw quarterbacks who didn't know how to hand off. I sure
did."
The coaches knew
Kapp was their asset, and they wanted to get the ball in his hands and
keep it there as often as they could. "Joe Kapp could have started
at all 22 positions for any Division I team in the country," said
John Ralston, an assistant to Elliott who would, of course, coach
Stanford to consecutive Rose Bowls in 1970-71.
Kapp finished the
season with 616 rushing yards, which not only led the team, it led the
Pacific Coast Conference.
I also remember a huge Cal player
named Bob Chiappone (pronounced "chip-PONY") who would become an
All-American lineman on their football team, and just for the hell of
it, prompted by my research on Joe Kapp, I googled his name. Sounds
like a very interesting guy.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?n=robert-carl-chiappone&pid=91134482
*********** Several years ago, at a CFL Alumni luncheon in
Vancouver, 70-something Joe Kapp, always a fighter, got into it with
70-something Angelo Mosca, legendary CFL defensive lineman and
professional wrestler. Kapp had evidently harbored a grudge against
Mosca for something that had happened in a Grey Cup game in 1963
- 48 years before - and when he jokingly offered Mosca a flower, Mosca
told him to "stick it up his ass." Things went downhill from
there..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyoEcbk3EP0
A few years later, Kapp talked about the incident...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnWgoXfgu8A
And so did Mosca
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtJgETZi4c4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_p0INNw2Z0
*********** Hugh,
Joe Kapp was one tough dude.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiVlcjWBj00
*********** And who among us wouldn't love to answer a stupid question
in a post game or half time interview by taking a leak on a reporters'
shoes?
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
*********** QUIZ: He was born in Leesburg, Georgia, but he grew up in
Canton, Ohio, where he was a two-sport star at Canton McKinley High.
Canton McKinley went 25-3 during his football career, its only
losses coming to archrival Massillon, then coached by a bright young
man named Paul Brown.
After high school, he went to all-black South Carolina State but was
enticed to transfer to Nevada by its coach, Jim Aiken, who had coached
at Canton McKinley a few years before our guy’s arrival there, and knew
him well.
He had two good years at Nevada before injuring his knee, and
after returning to Canton, with World War II going on, he
enlisted in the Navy.
There, he would be rediscovered by former rival Brown, who by then had
moved on to Ohio State as its head coach, and then, during wartime, was
coaching the football team at Great Lakes Naval Training Station, north
of Chicago. There, Brown built a powerhouse team, and our guy,
said Brown, was “the cornerstone.”
He was a fullback and linebacker. He was big and fast. At a
time when there will still 220-pounders playing on the line in pro
football, he weighed more than 230 pounds.
At Great Lakes, Brown used his speed and power on traps and on a play
he had developed - a delayed handoff which has since become known as
the draw play.
Brown’s advice to his powerful fullback, once he got past the line on
those plays: “Don’t get fancy. If there is someone in front of you,
just run in one end of him and out the other.”
The highlight of Brown’s - and his fullback’s - time at Great Lakes was
a stunning 39-7 defeat of a very good Notre Dame team whose only other
loss had been to National Champion Army.
While coaching at Great Lakes, in a secondary role Brown was also in
the process of building a professional football team in a new league -
the AAFC - formed to compete with the National Football League.
Between his Ohio and Great Lakes connections, he would assemble one of
the great dynasties in the history of pro football, the mighty
Cleveland Browns.
Because Brown’s policy was “to win football games with the best people
possible,” he broke the color line that had existed in pro football for
years. "I never considered football players black or white,"
Brown wrote later, " nor did I keep or cut a player just because of his
color. In our first meeting before training camp every year, I told the
players that they made our teams only if they were good enough."
With the signing of our player and Bill Willis, the Cleveland Browns
became the first truly integrated team in all of professional sports.
In 1946 - a year before Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color
line - the two Browns’ players - along with Kenny Washington and Woody
Strode of the Los Angeles Rams - would be the first four black men to
play professional football in the modern era. And while Washington and
Strode had short careers, the two Browns’ players would both make it to
the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
With the AAFC long gone, he will live forever as its all-time rushing
leader. He led NFL in rushing in the Browns’ first season in the NFL
(in 1950, when they won the title), and in one game that year, against
the Steelers, he rushed for 188 yards on just 11 carries -
an average 17.1 yards per carry.
In nine seasons, he rushed for 4,720 yards on 828 carries - 5.7
yards per carry. He also played linebacker on occasion.
He was selected to the NFL’s 75th Anniversary All-Time team, and in
1968 he became the second black player - after Emlen Tunnell -to
be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Brown, in his autobiography, “PB,” called him, “our greatest fullback
ever, because not only was he a great runner, but also no one ever
blocked better - and no one ever cared more about his team and whether
it won or lost, no matter how many yards he gained or where he was
asked to run…(his) tremendous running ability also was what made our
trap and draw plays so effective. When he ran off tackle, people
seemed to fly off him in all directions. He possessed tremendous speed
for a big man, and he could run away from linebackers and defensive
backs when he got into the open - if he didn't trample them first. I've
always believed that (he) could have gone into the Hall of Fame solely
as a linebacker if we had used him only at that position. He was as
good as our great ones."
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 24, 2020 “The
entire aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed and,
hence, clamorous to be led, by an endless series of hobgoblins, all of
them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken
*********** 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
Then, “And 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.
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, I consider a re-reading of these two writings to be an
essential part of my Thanksgiving.
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 Key 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.
And 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.
*********** At this time of Thanksgiving, I'm thankful...
That I was able to grow 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 I was blessed to spend most of my life in a
nation of great promise - the nation that America once was…
For parents, teachers and coaches who must have seen something
better in me than a 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, for seeing them marry and bring wonderful people
into our family, and for seeing and knowing the eleven wonderful
grandchildren they’ve given us…
For the way events conspired to allow me to spend the last 50
years in my dream job as a football coach , and as a result meet so
many great people I wouldn't have met otherwise…
That the God who watched over the Pilgrims still watches over us all.
*********** Maybe it was just me, or maybe it was part of the
left’s plan to erase any history that doesn’t advance their agenda, but
I’m sure as I can be that this past November 22 was the first time
since 1963 that the day came and went without any significant mention
in any of the papers of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
For many of us who lived through that awful event, it was the first
in a series of events in the 1960s that would change our country
forever - and not for the better.
***********THIS PAST WEEKEND’S GAMES (15-9 IS NOT WHAT I'D CALL GREAT
PICKING)
FRIDAY NIGHT
W - Syracuse at Louisville
L - Purdue at Minnesota (This result is under review and I
expect the decision to be reversed)
UMass at Florida Atlantic
New Mexico at Air Force (Nothing like a visit
from winless New Mexico to chase the Coronavirus away)
SATURDAY
W - #9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State
#4
Clemson at Florida State Hey, FSU - Many's
the time I would have welcomed a case of the virus
W - #6 Florida at Vanderbilt
L - Appalachian State at #15 Coastal Carolina
Stephen F. Austin at Memphis
L - Illinois at Nebraska
W - East Carolina at Temple
L - Georgia Southern at Army
L - LSU at Arkansas
Arkansas State at Texas State
Florida International at Western Kentucky
Rice at North Texas
North Alabama at #8 BYU
UTSA at Southern Mississippi
W - #7 Cincinnati at UCF
L - #10 Wisconsin at #19 Northwestern
W - UCLA at #11 Oregon
Middle Tennessee at Troy
W - Iowa at Penn State
L - San Diego State at Nevada
W - California at Oregon State
Kentucky at #1 Alabama
W - Kansas State at #17 Iowa State
Abilene Christian at Virginia
L - Virginia Tech at Pitt
Georgia State at South Alabama
W - Tennessee at #23 Auburn
San José State at Fresno State
Mississippi State at #13 Georgia
W - #14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma
L - #21 Liberty at NC State
Missouri at South Carolina
W - Michigan at Rutgers
W - Arizona at Washington
W - #20 USC at Utah
Washington State at Stanford
W - Boise State at Hawai'i
+++++++++
GAMES THAT I MADE SURE TO AT LEAST TAKE A LOOK AT
#9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State - Hoosiers are the real deal. Take back
that Heisman that you already gave Fields - Penix, the Indiana
QB,outplayed him
Appalachian State at #15 Coastal Carolina - Chanticleers had it when
they needed it - their first win ever over App State
Georgia Southern at Army - Army overcame first-time starter QB's
jitters and a monster of a clock-management goof
LSU at Arkansas - Tigers' winning drive was greatly assisted by the
absolute worst targeting call I've ever seen, against an Arkansas DB
who hit a receiver in the shoulder - with his hip.
#7 Cincinnati at UCF - Cincinnati did a masterful job of ball control
to seal the win - then nearly blew it.
#10 Wisconsin at #19 Northwestern - How good is Northwestern, anyhow?
VERY good. But Wisconsin's FIVE turovers didn't help the Badgers' cause.
UCLA at #11 Oregon - Chip Kelly was missing
nine players, including his starting QB, and still nearly beat the
Ducks - in Eugene, where that isn't done often
Iowa at Penn State - From 1939 to 2000, Penn State never had a losing
season. Now they're 0-5. Is Coach Franklin humble yet?
California at Oregon State - Cal can't run the ball and the Beavers
can. OSU's Jermar Jefferson went 75 yards for a TD on the game's first
play.
Kansas State at #17 Iowa State - EMAW (Every man a Wildcat). But
I'm afraid the Cyclones are just better. I was right.
Virginia Tech at Pitt - Pitt killed the
Hokies. VT's problem must be on defense. Paging Bud Foster...
Tennessee at #23 Auburn - Auburn is just a lot better.
San José State at Fresno State - Damn. Game called.
#14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma - OSU's Gundy has put some very good
teams on the field, but he's now 2-14 against OU and last beat the
Sooners in 2014.
#21 Liberty at NC State - Liberty put the game completely in the
hands of QB Malik Willis, who wound up just 13 of 32 (40.6 %) for 172
yards and 2 TDs - but THREE interceptions. He rushed for only 44
yards - less than half his average coming into the game.
Missouri at South Carolina - MIzzou nipped the Gamecocks by one
touchdown. I liked the bright gold MIzzou helmets.
Michigan at Rutgers - It took three OT's until Rutgers finally ran out
of gas. Michigan, meanwhile, found a QB in Cade McNamara, a
sophomore from Reno.
Arizona at Washington - This one was a good old-fashioned ass-whipping
#20 USC at Utah - Utah’s opener - It was the Utes' first game and it
looked it. But it was also the Trojans' best game so far.
Washington State at Stanford - We'll never know - Pac-12 started late
and left no room for makeups
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND’S GAMES:
*** Thursday night's Tulane-Tulsa game ending was insane. Watch this
week's ZOOM if you missed it.
Tulsa, down 14-0, had to bring in their #3 QB, a kid named Davis Brin,
who wound up completing 18 of 26 for 266 for 2 TDs. And he ran for a
third!
*** Give. Me. A. Break. Every player on the Minnesota team wore END
RACISM on the back of his shirt. Like there’s this huge bloc of
people in favor of it. What’s next - STOP DEATH?
*** Purdue got screwed by a phantom offensive P-I call that cost
them the winning touchdown.
*** The Minnesota-Purdue game was truly representative of the
over-officiating that’s been going on when there was an “officlal
replay” before they’d even run a play from scrimmage.
*** MIchael Golic, Jr. is a loud mouth and a motormouth. Bad
combination in a bar, even worse in the broadcast booth. Thinks he
knows more than any coaches.
*** Why do some announcers feel the need to tell us how much time
remains on the play clock when it’s right there on the screen for us to
see?
*** The New Mexico Lobos, unable to play in their own state, have been
spending the season in Las Vegas.
*** You can understand why Clemson was pissed at Florida State's
last-minute decision not to play, when the Tigers could have pulled the
Covid copout with Notre Dame - and didn’t - after learning they’d have
to go to South Bend without the services of one of the country’s best
quarterbacks.
*** Don’t know who the announcer was, but his comment, as a guy lay on
the field, was priceless: “Something’s bothering him.”
*** Now I’ve seen everything, - an Army player got an
unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taking a swing at a guy.
*** No, NOW I’ve seen everything. UCLA - Chip Kelly’s team - was
running a bit of option.
*** UCLA had to play with their backup QB - and for my money, he’s much
better than the starter. The kid, a redshirt freshman from Hutto,
Texas named Chase Griffin, playing because for some reason touted
starter Dorian Thompson-Robinson couldn’t play, did an exceptional job
in nearly leading the Bruins to an upset of Oregon.
*** UCLA’s Demetric Felton is definitely one of the best runners on the
country.
*** Florida didn’t dress in the small Vanderbilt locker rooms, and
didn’t go inside at halftime. It almost looked like some high
school games I’ve been in.
*** Coastal Carolina beat App State for the first time, as QB Grayson
McCall was 12/21/200 and 2 TDs - and he ran 62 yards for a third score.
*** Penn State missed a field goal when the holder tilted the ball
forward.
*** Oregon’s uniforms, we were told, took Nike a couple of years to
design and their purpose was to honor Samoan culture. I don’t
know - maybe also to help them recruit Samoan players?
*** Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz won his 100th Big Ten game by beating Penn
State. He now ranks fourth behind Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and Amos
Alonzo Stagg.
*** Up 36-33 and time running out, Cincinnati chose not to score a TD,
thereby angering some gambler somewhere.
*** Washington Huskies came out in all black, raising the question - in
my mind, at least - at a time when an athletic department is
“furloughing” people, cutting sports, and asking the rest of the staff
to take pay cuts, where is the money coming from for these
one-game-only dress-ups?
*** Great name: Auburn player who returned an INT 100 yards against
Tennessee - Smoke Monday.
*** Liberty must have been trying to showcase their QB, Malik Willis,
who is certainly good, but not good enough to invest the entire game in
him. This was a departure from other Liberty games I’ve seen, and it
was disappointing. As it was, Liberty had its chances, but Willis was
only 40 per cent on his passing, and he threw three
interceptions.
Postgame, one of the announcers said “(Until today) Nobody could find a
way to beat a Hugh Freeze team, including two ACC teams (Syracuse and
Virginia Tech).”
Hugh Freeze found a way.
*** Time of possession is important and all that, but so is what
you do with that time. Yes, Arkansas lost to LSU by three points,
and yes, the Hogs lost the Time of Possession battle, 41 to 19.
But take a look at their scoring drives:
92 yards in 4 plays
75 yards in 3 plays
95 yards in 6 plays
88 yards in 7 plays
I once heard Mouse Davis say that one problem with the Run and Shoot is
that “sometimes you score too fast.” I didn’t understand at the
time. I thought he was joking.
But it is possible that Arkansas’ defense wore down.
*** My wife and I both heard the announcer in the Ohio State-Indiana
game refer to a “Hail Murray” pass. The Virgin Murray? Obviously not a
Catholic.
*** Oregon State QB Tristan Gebbia (pronounced JEBB-ee-ya) threw a
touchdown pass, caught a touchdown pass, and ran for a touchdown
against Cal. It's not as unusual as it sounds - in the Pac-12 alone,
it' s been done 11 times since 1996. My guess is that most of those who
did it were running backs who could throw a little.
*** With 19 seconds left in the half, the UCLA QB ran and was tackled,
and that should have been that., as time ran out. But the Oregon tackler stood over
him, straddling him, while
getting off slowly - very slowly, as if walking over the man’s
prostrate
body, preventing him from getting
up. To the surprise of the announcers - and me - the perp
was
called not for unsportsmanlike conduct, but for delay of game, but
either way, the penalty stopped the clock, with :06 remaining. Choosing to take the penalty - and
one more down - UCLA attempted a pass. The QB was hit as he threw, and
the resulting blooper was intercepted by a Duck defender, who returned
it all the way for a score. Sometimes, crime does pay.
*********** Hugh
Knowing your connection to Bill Snyder and K-State it was a no brainer
for me. I appreciate his work with the army like you do.
I enjoyed Tuesday nights clinic on the kicking game. Very interesting.
I remember our discussion on this subject at the clinic in North
Carolina the other year.
I really enjoyed your piece about Rick Barry and under hand free throw
shooting. The reference to shooting this way reminded me of my mother.
She came outside one November day when I was shooting on my goal.
I was trying to make the 7th grade basketball team at my school. I had
been shooting free throws. I had 15 feet marked off on our patio. I was
shooting one handed and clanking about 50 percent of my shots. She
asked if she could shoot a few free throws. I didn't know if she had
ever shot a basketball in her life. She made 67 in a row shooting two
hand under handed. The only reason she missed the 68th was because of a
gust of November wind. She shot two more and made both and stopped
because she had to go in to take dinner out of the oven. Needless to
say, I was dumbfounded. Over dinner I asked her where she learned to
shoot like that. She played high school basketball and I never knew
that she did. She later showed me the two hand set shot. She was very
good at that shot also.
That reference to Rick Barry brought back that wonderful memory of her
from many November's ago. She certainly amazed her son that day!
See you Tuesday.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** Hugh,
The boat the Gophers are rowing isn't the same one they rowed last
year. This one needs a bunch of "Flex Seal".
The Fresno State - San Jose State game winner takes a giant step to a
berth in the MWC championship, and the game is also a longtime fierce
rivalry which will be played in Fresno this year. In "normal"
years this game would have a crazy overflow crowd at Bulldog Stadium,
and add to the importance of the game. Unfortunately, in this
Covid year there won't be any fans in attendance to watch it.
You're absolutely spot-on about Army. I think their new TE's
coach (Drinkall) has influenced OC (Davis) to incorporate some of his
own high-scoring offense into what the Cadets are doing. On its
own merit that offense produced a lot of points when Drinkall was the
HC at Kansas Wesleyan. However, Army doesn't play in the NAIA,
and the experiment doesn't appear to be blending well the Army offense
we all know and love. Hopefully Coach Monken will put his foot
down and get back to things as they should be.
Both Cincinnati and BYU have what it takes to make the playoff. I
don't think either will get in. BUT...what a bowl game that
matchup would be!!
All the eyes of Texas will be on "Bedlam".
A legitimate question to ask would be...would Rick Barry make a
starting lineup in TODAY'S NBA???
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Bill Snyder is often credited with
bringing about the
greatest turnaround of a program in the history of college football.
BEFORE:
In 1989, he took over as head coach at a school that in its 93 years of
football had a record of 299 wins and 509 losses, dead last - by a
large margin - in both wins and losses among America’s major
football
colleges.
In its 93 years, it had had 32 coaches - an average stay of less than
three years per coach.
It had won only one conference championship in its history.
Since World War II (1945) it had had only four winning seasons.
It had been to only one bowl game (and lost it).
He took over a team that had gone 27 games without a win. In the
previous two seasons, it had gone 0-10-1 in 1987 and 0-11 in
1988.
His predecessor had gone 2-30-1.
When he was hired, he was 50 years old, fresh off Hayden Fry’s Iowa
staff where he had been offensive coordinator. This was his
first
head coaching job.
The AD told him, “You may have heard it's one of the toughest jobs in
the country. It's not. It's the toughest.”
A Sports Illustrated article at the time referred to the school as
“Futility U.”
AFTER:
He would coach at the school for a total of 27 years in two terms -
from 1989 through 2005, when he first retired, and then, after being
brought back again, from 2009 through 2018, when he retired a second
time, this time for good.
In his first year, he broke the long losing streak. But that was the
only game they won.
His second year saw five wins.
His third year - a 7-4 record, including four conference wins.
In his fifth year - 1993 - the team won nine games for the first time
since 1910, and earned a bowl bid, the first of what would be eleven
straight bowl game appearances. (1993 would also start an eight
year
run in which they would win at least nine games a season.)
In his sixth year, they again won nine, and they did the
once-unthinkable, beating Oklahoma in Norman.
In his seventh year, 1995, they would win 10 games, including a win in
the Holiday Bowl, and earn a #7 ranking nationally.
In 1997, his ninth year, they won 11 games, and would do so for four
straight years.
In 1998, they would finish the regular season unbeaten, with
their
first win over Nebraska in 30 years. Only a loss in the Big 12
Championship Game kept them from going to the first-ever BCS national
championship game.
In his first term - the 17 years from 1989 through 2005 - they
went to 11 bowl games.
In his second - the 10 years from 2009 through 2018 -
they went to eight straight bowl games.
Not bad for a team that had only been to one bowl game in its entire
93-year history prior to his hiring.
His overall record was 215-117-1. The 215 wins were just 84 short
of
the total number of wins the school had accumulated in the 93 years
prior to his arrival.
He was three times named Big Eight Coach of the Year, and four times
Big 12 Coach of the Year.
In 1998, he was AP, Walter Camp and Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year.
In 2011 he was Sporting News and Woody Hayes Coach of the Year.
Seven of his former assistants became FBS head coaches .
No less a coach than Barry Switzer, with three National Championships
and a Super Bowl to his credit, said “Bill Snyder isn’t the Coach of
the Year,
and he isn’t the Coach of the Decade. He’s the Coach of the
Century.”
CORRECTLY
IDENTIFYING BILL SNYDER
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
I was pretty sure that Bill Snyder was the answer after the first
sentence of your quiz. One of the best parts of our 15 years in Kansas
was the opportunity to become familiar with the program at K-State. I'm
guessing that you have read Bill Snyder: They Said It Couldn't Be Done.
It is a great read for any football coach. I was very fortunate to
meet Coach Snyder on a few occasions. He is a first-class gentleman. A
game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a great experience, and his stamp
on the program is still evident in many ways.
We have a lot of work to do at Ellicott, but I have often thought about
Coach Snyder's initial press conference at K-State, when he said that
they had the opportunity for the greatest turnaround in college
football. That encourages me every time that I think about the
opportunity that we have at Ellicott.
By the way, what a staff Coach Snyder was part of at Iowa, and what a
staff he built at K-State.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs
(Formerly Colby, Beloit and Cimarron, Kansas)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrg0mhzszTI
https://themercury.com/k_state_sports/bill-snyder-the-late-hayden-fry-a-quality-caring-person/article_87b35ef4-c5d3-511b-9eee-8c6000a4e598.html#:~:text=Kansas%20State%20head%20football%20coach,taking%20over%20at%20K%2DState.
*********** The quiz answer is Bill Snyder. This is an indicator of how
long I have been reading your page. I had the answer in the second
sentence.
Two years ago I coached a travel football team that would regularly
bring in professionals as guest coaches. This was rarely a positive
experience as they were never easy to work with. They typically
insisted in doing things their own way. The exception was a Blue Bomber
named Jamerce Jones. He was a huge offensive tackle. After being
introduced, I asked him where he was from, and he said that he had
played at Virginia, but also worked as a grad assistant at Kansas. My
eyes lit up and I asked, “Did you work with Bill Snyder?” He smiled and
said yes in his last year. I was star struck. We both got along, he
liked how the tackle got to run the circle and I was constantly
peppering him with questions about Bill Snyder. When the season
concluded he gave me this, (see attachment). Kansas players and staff
started each day reviewing and speaking about one of the 16 goals for
success. Today this would be called a mission statement. I use it
as a book mark in Football: Principals and Play.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
THESE ARE BILL SNYDER'S 16 GOALS FOR SUCCESS THAT COACH
WALLS REFERS TO:
https://www.kstatesports.com/news/2015/11/20/564f2d86e4b0f7efb032e7a1_131478255140346557.aspx
*********** QUIZ: His mother was of Mexican descent, and that, combined
with his aggressive play as a quarterback - he once said, “I’ve
been called one half of a collision looking for the other” - caused
Sports Illustrated to call him “The Toughest Chicano.”
He remains the only quarterback to play in the Rose Bowl, the Super
Bowl and the Grey Cup.
He was Cal’s quarterback the last time they played in the Rose Bowl.
He led the B.C. Lions to their first-ever Grey Cup win.
He led the Minnesota Vikings to their first-ever playoff appearance and
their first Super Bowl appearance.
Although he was named the team MVP, he refused the award, saying
“There’s no one most valuable Viking. There are 40 most valuable
Vikings.”
He left the Vikings after just three seasons and they got nothing for
him.
After one season with the Boston Patriots - a very bad team at the time
- he walked off and never played again.
He reappeared as coach at Cal - despite having no coaching experience -
and in his first season, he was the Cal coach when “The Play” beat
Stanford. That year’s Golden Bears went 7-4 and he was named
Pac-10 Coach of the Year.
That would be his last winning season, and after five seasons, with a
20-34-1 record - and an embarrassing incident or two along the way - he
was let go.
One such incident took place during the post-game press conference
following a 50-18 loss to Washington, when he responded to a question
he didn’t like by unzipping his fly. He zipped it right back up, but
the damage was done.
“It was bad enough to lose the ballgame,” he said with regret, “But I
had to lose the post-game interview, too.”
He appeared in a number of movies, including "The Longest Yard."
In his final game at Cal his Bears pulled off a tremendous upset and
beat Stanford in the Big Game, and his players, knowing that he’d
already been fired, carried him off on their shoulders.
“To the best of my recollection,” he said afterward, “It’s the first
time I’ve ever been carried off the field - hurt or otherwise.”
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 20, 2020 "The
most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think
things out for himself... Almost inevitably, he comes to the
conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and
intolerable." H. L. Mencken
***********
THIS WEEKEND’S GAMES
FRIDAY NIGHT
Syracuse at Louisville
Purdue at Minnesota
UMass at Florida Atlantic
New Mexico at Air Force
Saturday, November 21
#9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State
#4
Clemson at Florida State
#6 Florida at Vanderbilt
Appalachian State at #15 Coastal Carolina
Stephen F. Austin at Memphis
Illinois at Nebraska
East Carolina at Temple
Georgia Southern at Army
LSU at Arkansas
Arkansas State at Texas State
Florida International at Western Kentucky
Rice at North Texas
North Alabama at #8 BYU
UTSA at Southern Mississippi
#7 Cincinnati at UCF
#10 Wisconsin at #19 Northwestern
UCLA at #11 Oregon
Middle Tennessee at Troy
Iowa at Penn State
San Diego State at Nevada
California at Oregon State
Kentucky at #1 Alabama
Kansas State at #17 Iowa State
Abilene Christian at Virginia
Virginia Tech at Pitt
Georgia State at South Alabama
Tennessee at #23 Auburn
San José State at Fresno State
Mississippi State at #13 Georgia
#14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma
#21 Liberty at NC State
Missouri at South Carolina
Michigan at Rutgers
Arizona at Washington
#20 USC at Utah
Washington State at Stanford
Boise State at Hawai'i
++++++++++
CANCELLATIONS AND POSTPONEMENTS
(Sure would be interesting to know how often it’s the underdog that
cops the Covid plea)
UAB at UTEP
Utah State at Wyoming
Ole Miss at #5 Texas A&M
Georgia Tech at #12 Miami
Michigan
State at Maryland
Charlotte at #15 Marshall
#22 Texas at Kansas
Central Arkansas at #24 Louisiana
Wake Forest at Duke
Houston at SMU
UL Monroe at Louisiana Tech
UNLV at Colorado State
Navy at South Florida
Arizona State at Colorado
GAMES THAT I’M SURE TO TAKE AN EARLY LOOK AT
#9 Indiana at #3 Ohio State - Just to see how long the Hoosiers can
hang with them
Appalachian State at #15 Coastal Carolina - Coastal’s biggest test so
far
Georgia Southern at Army - Will Army get back to running its offense?
LSU at Arkansas - Bad sh— going on at LSU - and I’m not talking
about Covid19
#7 Cincinnati at UCF - Cincinnati still has an outside shot at a
playoff spot
#10 Wisconsin at #19 Northwestern - How good is Northwestern, anyhow?
UCLA at #11 Oregon - I just like watching
Oregon’s new offense
Iowa at Penn State - Why do I find myself not liking Penn State?
California at Oregon State - Cal didn’t impress me against UCLA. Beavs
could have beaten Washington.
Kansas State at #17 Iowa State - EMAW (Every man a Wildcat). But
I'm afraid the Cyclones are just better
Virginia Tech at Pitt - I like I lot of stuff VT
does. Why can’t they win?
Tennessee at #23 Auburn - I like Gus Malzahn’s offense
San José State at Fresno State - Two of the best Mountain West teams
#14 Oklahoma State at #18 Oklahoma - Cowboys are the Big 12’s best shot
at a playoff spot. But they have to win - in Norman.
#21 Liberty at NC State - State is favored but I like Liberty.
Missouri at South Carolina - Gamecocks’ interim head coach Mike Bobo
gets his first shot
Michigan at Rutgers - Has Michigan dropped this far? Michgian will win
because Michigan has better athletes.
Arizona at Washington - Zona could have beaten USC; Huskies could have
lost to Oregon State.
#20 USC at Utah - Utah’s opener - Utes are the last FBS team to
play. USC has won a couple that could easily have been losses.
Washington State at Stanford - Cougs' freshman QB Jayden DeLaura is
GOOD.
*********** Rick Barry is the only person who led the NCAA, the ABA and
the NBA in scoring. He’s been named one of the 50 greatest all-time NBA
players. And among NBA players he remains fourth-best all time in free
throw shooting percentage (89.98).
With the NBA’s overall percentage considerably lower than that - around
75 per cent - and numerous big-name stars shooting below 70 per cent,
you’d think that they would be interested in some help from Rick Barry.
But you’d be wrong. Despite offers to help, he’s never had any
takers.
Why?
Simple: the major reason for Barry’s success
- besides his all-around basketball skills - was his underhanded free
throw shooting technique. When I was a kid, we were taught it as
the only way to shoot free throws. But the “one-hand push” method took
hold, and by the time Rick Barry was playing in the NBA - 1979-1985 -
he was the only living tie to an earlier day. He was the best in the
business at shooting free throws, because he dared to defy convention.
And he was ridiculed.
Not a single one of the NBA’s style-over-substance stars would be seen
dead shooting a free throw underhanded. Not even if they could be
convinced that it would improve their performance - and their team’s.
Nope. Form over function.
Said Barry.
“The bottom line is, they have an aversion to wanting to try the
underhanded free throw. I just don’t understand why you wouldn’t try
anything to try to get better and I don’t think your personal pride
should come into play.”
Where I’m headed with this is football coaches, who for the same reason
wouldn’t be caught dead running an old-fashioned offense - or teaching
an old-fashioned method of blocking.
Success, I've discovered over the years, is secondary in importance to
many coaches to membership in the In Crowd, which in today’s football
means spreading it out and throwing the ball.
It’s been my experience that for every football coach who would dare
adopt an old-fashioned but proven way of playing football that might
give his kids the best chance for success, there are 100 others who
choose the conventional way of doing things, seeking the safety and
security of membership in the pack, even if it means a greater risk of
losing.
*********** Charlie Wilson, of Crystal River, Florida recently put me
onto “Do Your Job,” NFL Films’ treatment of the Patriots’ 2014 season.
It’s a great look, I think, at all that went into that
Super-Bowl-winning season, and a good look at Belichick the
coach. I know, I know - “Belicheat,” blah, blah, blah. But
I admire the guy as a coach and as a historian of the game, and I have
no reason to dislike him as a person.
Charlie asked me about the big play of the Super Bowl - maybe of
the entire season - in which the Patriots’ Malcolm Butler intercepted
Russell Wilson’s pass (from the ONE YARD LINE) to seal the Pats’
28-24 win.
The film went into some detail as to how the Patriots anticipated such
a play and how they would defend it - exactly, it turns out, as they
did. But, since this was about the Patriots, the film
didn’t deal with the sheer idiocy of the Seahawks’ call, which is where
I come in.
It was second down and the Seahawks, trailing by four points, were on
the Patriots’ one. There were 27 seconds left. They had one
timeout remaining.
And, most significant of all, they had Marshawn Lynch, at that time
probably the toughest runner in all of football, in the backfield.
So, it being the NFL, they chose to throw. From the one.
Yes, from the standpoint of the Patriots and of anybody else in
the world who thought that doing anything other than giving the
ball to Lynch was smart football, I guess it was a great
defensive play. That’s how the film told it,
But I saw it - still do - as a bonehead call of historic proportions.
I think of Wrong Way Riegels and Bill Buckner and Merkel’s Boner and
all the guys through the years the rest of whose lives were defined by
one egregious mistake, and I marvel at the fact that Smilin’ Pete,
whose ”mistake” was carefully thought out and easily avoided, and took
place on a far larger stage than that of any of those other guys, is
such a media darling that he’s never really had to answer for it.
It’s as if his first name was Hunter.
*********** If, like me, you haven’t been watching the NFL, this
us what you’ve been missing:
Field goals. Long ones. Lots of them. In other words, if
you’ve been watching golf, or bowling - curling, even - you’ve been
watching something more exciting.
Amazingly, so far this season there have been 102 field
goal attempts of at least 50 yards. Even more amazingly, 71 per
cent of them have been successful. That’s a 69.6 per cent success rate.
You talk about suspense: “will he make it or will he miss?”
No suspense at all, really: 69.6 per cent success is almost exactly the
same as the rate at which college basketball players make free throws,
which has never exceeded 70 per cent.
*********** Akron’s mascot, I read, is Zippy, a kangaroo. A female
kangaroo.
I read that she is one of only eight female college mascots. Evidently
one is the Delaware Blue Hen. I don’t know whether Shasta, the Houston
Cougar is still alive, and if so whether PETA still allows her to work.
But beyond that, you got me.
*********** Is there anyone old enough to remember when Joe Namath was
the Playboy of the Western World who doesn’t marvel at the absurd irony
of his shilling for Medicare benefits on TV commercials?
*********** Top pathologist Dr. Roger Hodkinson told government
officials in Alberta (Canada) during a zoom conference call that the
current coronavirus crisis is “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on an
unsuspecting public.”
Dispute this as you wish. Please bring facts.
And while you’re at it, tell me again, would you please, what the
vast majority of the American people have to fear from the Wuhan Virus
that has justified depriving Americans of their God-given (not
man-given) liberties?
https://summit.news/2020/11/18/top-pathologist-claims-coronavirus-is-the-greatest-hoax-ever-perpetrated-on-an-unsuspecting-public/
*********** Hugh,
I appreciated your quote from John Adams about physical education. I've
worked hard during our two quarantines this fall to motivate my
students to continue working out. Several have let me know that the
workouts that I am sharing with them are helping them to feel better,
getting them moving and away from the computer screens, and helping
with their general well-being. I've said for years that every high
school student should be in a Strength and Conditioning class. I
believe that we would see improved self-esteem, academic performance,
self-discipline, and well-being.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** Coach,
Our season ended with a 34-14 loss to Summerfield which was a team we
beat three weeks ago. In the end we started 7 Freshman and
5 Sophomores with 2 Healthy Seniors we have lots to look forward too in
future years. Our Seniors did a great job leading and
embracing the younger kids in our program. Overall I was
really proud of this.
Quiz answer Don Nehlen.... Michigan ties always help me!
God Bless,
Jason Mensing
Head Football Coach
Whiteford High School
Whiteford, Michigan
*********** Coach Wyatt,
It’s been a while since I read your news. Reading a bit today made me
realize how much I missed all the info you share.
Hope all is well with you. Stay safe and healthy.
Russ Meyers
Southern High School
Harwood, Maryland
*********** Coach,
I really enjoyed last night’s zoom on the kicking game. Looking at the
college recaps is fun, but the actual clinic like description of things
you have found successful is particularly useful.
Special teams does seem to be something that coaches overcomplicate and
spend too much time on scheme and not enough on fundamentals. This may
be because it is commonly given to an inexperienced staff member. My
first varsity job was as a special teams coach. I was more concerned
with setting up a punt return wall than teaching kids not to leave
their feet when attempting to block a kick. A VHS by Frank Beamer
(1980s shorts and all) solved that.
I also wanted to comment on the conversations that go on when you
finish. I am not a big fan of making statements in the form of a
question (pet peeve during faculty meetings) so do not take my silence
for passivity. It was good to hear that other coaches were fearful of
not having a spring season. I am apprehensive for my 14 seniors and
with our program having just finished its inaugural year, I am fearful
of losing momentum and not being able to field a team in 2022. Hence,
why I stuck around so late yesterday. Hearing other coaches say similar
things was helpful. Doesn’t solve the problem, but it was good to know
I wasn’t alone.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** Hugh,
We put together our most complete game of the season last night winning
35-12. First district win in two years, and believe it or not put
us into the playoffs. Our kids have improved a bunch since game
1, and are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Just in
time, and at the right time. Our state association had to
rearrange the Division II playoff bracket when six schools opted out
from Covid. Since our district has the most schools (8) they put
7 of us in the playoffs.
For our first-round playoff we will travel to Forth Worth on Friday to
play Fort Worth Christian. They have also won only 2 games this
year, but their 2 wins came in district play. Last Friday they
beat the number 2 team in their district (7-2 overall). That team
elected to play most of their backups and JV kids against FWC.
Apparently that opponent has a first round bye, and will play the
winner of a first-round game in their bracket that will likely have a
.500 record. In this Covid year it is very apparent that team's
coach is playing the odds.
Anyway, FWC is almost a virtual mirror image of us. Should be a
great game! Good news is we have a legitimate shot. Bad
news is win or lose we'll get back to school around 3 am, and after
getting things put away, I'll likely get home and in bed near 4 am.
Of course winning the doggone game will make it all better!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Don Nehlen is without a doubt the
greatest coach in the history of the University of West Virginia.
He set the standard by which anyone who coaches there will be measured.
Overall, at Bowling Green and West Virginia, his record was
202-128-8. He was just the 17th coach in major college history to
win 200 games.
A native of Mansfield, Ohio, he played quarterback at Bowling Green.
He began as a high school coach, at Mansfield and at perennial Ohio
power Canton McKinley, then assisted at Cincinnati and Bowling Green.
He became head coach at Bowling Green, and in nine seasons there had
just one losing season. His overall record was 53-35-4.
In 1977, Bo Schembechler hired him to coach the Michigan quarterbacks.
At WVU, in 1980 he took over a program that hadn’t had a winning season
in four years, and when he retired after 21 seasons in Morgantown, he’d
had 17 winning seasons and taken the Montaineers to 13 bowl
games. His overall record there was 149-93-8.
He had two teams that went unbeaten in the regular season, and one of
them, his 1993 team, was ranked number one before losing to Notre Dame
in what was then considered the national title game.
In 1988 he was named the Walter Camp, Bobby Dodd and AFCA coach of the
year in and in 1993 he was named the Kodak coach of the year.
Arriving at West Virginia after three years on Schembechler’s staff,
the Michigan influence on his approach was evident from the start in
the offense, in defense, and in the uniforms (a new, Michigan
shade of blue and a more yellow gold than the drab old-gold that they
had been wearing). One of his motivators, he said, was the
fact that when he first began to look at film, he could never tell
which team was West Virginia.
Along with the brighter colors came the new logo for the helmets.
Now known as the “Flying W,” it combined the two letters, W and V, in a
way suggestive of the mountains for which the state is known, and it
has become known far and wide as a symbol of the university and, for
that matter, the entire state.
Not only did he introduce West Virginia fans to a whole new uniform
look, but his first game as their coach was also their first game in
their new stadium. They won it.
In his first year, the Mountaineers went 6-6.
In his second season, they were 8-3 and played in the Peach Bowl, where
they whipped heavily-favored Florida.
In his third season, West Virginia beat ninth-ranked Oklahoma. In
Norman.
By his fifth year, they had beaten Penn State - something they hadn’t
done since 1955 - and ended a seven-year losing streak to Pitt.
In his final game, his Mountaineers defeated Ole Miss in the Music City
Bowl.
80 of his players went on to play in the NFL. One of them, Jeff
Hostetler, a quarterback who went on to a solid pro career, married his
daughter.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Bobby Bowden, who left West Virginia partly because he felt that the
fans weren’t sufficiently appreciative of what he’d done, knew better
than anybody how much this coach had accomplished.
“Don did an amazing job,” Bowden said. “Number 1, he had that
Michigan background. He used to coach at Michigan when he was an
assistant coach and he was used to being big-time all the way, so
when he comes to West Virginia he just assumes he’s going to do the
same thing here. He changed the uniforms to even look like Michigan.
Don Nehlen is one of the best coaches ever, in my opinion.”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DON NEHLEN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
RUSS MEYERS - HARWOOD, MARYLAND
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JASON MENSING - WHITEFORD, MICHIGAN
JOHN NOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** Don Nehlen is one of my favorite college football coaches.
I had the pleasure of hearing him speak over the years and I liked his
philosophy of coaching and teaching football.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** We were just talking about Don Nehlen in the coach's
office the other day...How he's overlooked when talking about great
coaches...What a great motivator!
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** It is interesting to note how a change in uniform can lead
to a winning culture. I have also seen the opposite. It would be
interesting to read a history of uniforms in football. Maybe I can
propose it as a post grad thesis.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** THE LEGEND OF WEST VIRGINIA’S “FLYING W” LOGO
https://magazine.wvu.edu/stories/2015/05/18/the-legend-of-the-flying-wv
*********** QUIZ: He is often credited with bringing about the
greatest turnaround of a program in the history of college football.
BEFORE:
In 1989, he took over as head coach at a school that in its 93 years of
football had a record of 299 wins and 509 losses, dead last - by a
large margin - in both wins and losses among America’s major
football colleges.
In its 93 years, it had had 32 coaches - an average stay of less than
three years per coach.
It had won only one conference championship in its history.
Since World War II (1945) it had had only four winning seasons.
It had been to only one bowl game (and lost it).
He took over a team that had gone 27 games without a win. In the
previous two seasons, it had gone 0-10-1 in 1987 and 0-11 in
1988. His predecessor had gone 2-30-1.
When he was hired, he was 50 years old, fresh off Hayden Fry’s Iowa
staff where he had been offensive coordinator. This was his
first head coaching job.
The AD told him, “You may have heard it's one of the toughest jobs in
the country. It's not. It's the toughest.”
A Sports Illustrated article at the time referred to the school as
“Futility U.”
AFTER:
He would coach at the school for a total of 27 years in two terms -
from 1989 through 2005, when he first retired, and then, after being
brought back again, from 2009 through 2018, when he retired a second
time, this time for good.
In his first year, he broke the long losing streak. But that was the
only game then won.
His second year saw five wins.
His third year - a 7-4 record, including four conference wins.
In his fifth year - 1993 - the team won nine games for the first time
since 1910, and earned a bowl bid, the first of what would be eleven
straight bowl game appearances. (1993 would also start an eight
year run in which they would win at least nine games a season.)
In his sixth year, they again won nine, and they did the
once-unthinkable, beating Oklahoma in Norman.
In his seventh year, 1995, they would win 10 games, including a win in
the Holiday Bowl, and earn a #7 ranking nationally.
In 1997, his ninth year, they won 11 games, and would do so for four
straight years.
In 1998, they would finish the regular season unbeaten, with
their first win over Nebraska in 30 years. Only a loss in the Big
12 Championship Game kept them from going to the first-ever BCS
national championship game.
In his first term - the 17 years from 1989 through 2005 - they
went to 11 bowl games.
In his second - the 10 years from 2009 through 2018 -
they went to eight straight bowl games.
Not bad for a team that had only been to one bowl game in its entire
93-year history prior to his hiring.
His overall record was 215-117-1. The 215 wins were just 84 short
of the total number of wins the school had accumulated in the 93 years
prior to his arrival.
He was three times named Big Eight Coach of the Year, and four times
Big 12 Coach of the Year.
In 1998, he was AP, Walter Camp and Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year.
In 2011 he was Sporting News and Woody Hayes Coach of the Year.
Seven of his former assistants became FBS head coaches .
No less a coach than Barry Switzer, with three National Championships
and a Super Bowl to his credit, said “(He) isn’t the Coach of the Year,
and he isn’t the Coach of the Decade. He’s the Coach of the
Century.”
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 17, 2020 “Liberty,
once lost, is lost forever.” John Adams
*********** WHEN I DON'T PUBLISH - WHICH ISN’T OFTEN - I ALWAYS PRINT
SOMETHING ON HERE STATING AS MUCH. UNLESS I CAN’T. SO IF
EVER MY PAGE ISN’T PUBLISHED AND THERE’S NO MENTION OF IT ON HERE,
SIMPLY ASSUME THAT I’M HAVING TECHNICAL PROBLEMS*, AND KEEP TRYING.
* OR THE DREADED COVID19 HAS FINALLY CAUGHT UP WITH ME
*********** Saturday mornings in football season when I’ve got
DISH and an array of TVs are like Christmas morning when I was a little
kid. I’d see all those packages and I’d open them, one by one,
full of expectation but never knowing what was going to be inside. Some
of them turned out to have great things inside. But even
the ones that didn’t still had good things inside. Now, instead of
packages, I get to open games. And even the ones that aren’t
great are still pretty damn good.
*********** GAMES I SAID I WOULD START OUT WATCHING…
ARMY AT TULANE - Total bummer. Give credit to Tulane, but once I saw
that Army was not starting the freshman QB who’s led them to the last
two wins, I knew they were in trouble. And they were.
MIAMI AT VIRGINIA TECH - Very good game. VT does some great stuff on
offense but they just can’t win.
COASTAL CAROLINA AT TROY - COVID CANCELLATION
PENN STATE AT NEBRASKA - Good Lord. Penn State is 0-4. Can’t think that
a little humility won’t do Coach Franklin some good.
WAKE FOREST AT NORTH CAROLINA - Incredible game. One for the ages. Sam
H, from Charlotte, completed 61 of 90 for 979 yards and 10 TDs, with
only one interception. Wake Forest’s Sam H - Sam Hartman (from
Charlotte) was 29/45/429/4. UNC’s Sam H - Sam Howell (also from
Charlotte) was 32/45/550/6. But he wasn’t perfect. He did throw
one interception.
NOTRE DAME AT BOSTON COLLEGE - BC gave them a game for a while, but
Notre Dame is too good. Ian Book keeps getting better, and Northwestern
transfer Ben Skowronek is a great receiver. And the Irish defense is
tough.
ARKANSAS AT FLORIDA - Could Kyle Trask really throw four TD passes for
the sixth time in six games? How ‘bout he did it in the first
half?
OREGON AT WASHINGTON STATE - Cougs and their freshman QB Jayden DeLaura
threw a scare in the Ducks, and after kicking a field goal, led 19-7,
with 20 seconds left in the half. But the Ducks returned the kick off
(should I have said “ensuing?”) to their own 40, completed a pass
to the WSU three, and punched it in with :08 left. 19-14 is a lot
better than 19-7, and the Ducks came out and showed off an exciting new
offense (thanks to new OC Joe Moorhead) that took advantage of their
skills and speed, scoring 22 points in the fourth quarter to win 43-29.
WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN - Wisconsin did it the old fashioned Wisconsin
way, with power football and play action passing. Hard to believe
this, but they toyed with the Wolverines.
NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE - Great game. Wildcats are really good.
CAL AT ARIZONA STATE - ASU couldn’t play because of the - gasp! -
killer virus, so Cal played a hastily-scheduled game against UCLA
(whose game with Utah was also cancelled) - at 9 AM Sunday. Cal looked
surprisingly bad for a team that had been picked to finish in the upper
half of the Pac-12 South. UCLA looked a lot better than the team that
lost to Colorado (which, by the way, may be for real).
***********
FRIDAY'S GAMES (THE WINNERS - OF THE ONES THAT I CHOSE TO CALL - ARE IN
BOLD)
W- Iowa at Minnesota
Florida Atlantic at FIU
East Carolina at No. 7 Cincinnati
SATURDAY'S GAMES
W -No. 9 Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech
W - No. 10 Indiana at Michigan State
L- Illinois at Rutgers
No. 15 Coastal Carolina at Troy
Western Carolina at No. 22 Liberty
W - Penn State at Nebraska
L - Wake Forest at North Carolina - UPSET PICK
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
W - TCU at West Virginia
L - Army at Tulane
Gardner-Webb at Charlotte
Middle Tennessee at No. 16 Marshall
W - South Alabama at No. 25 Louisiana
W - Georgia State at Appalachian State
W - Fresno State at Utah State
UTEP at UTSA
W - South Florida at Houston
North Texas at UAB
W - No. 2 Notre Dame at Boston College
W - No. 20 USC at Arizona
Rice at Louisiana Tech
W - Texas State at Georgia Southern
W - Colorado at Stanford
W - Louisville at Virginia
Southern Miss at Western Kentucky
L - Baylor at Texas Tech
W - Hawai'i at San Diego State
W - Nevada at New Mexico
W - Arkansas at No. 6 Florida
W - No. 19 SMU at Tulsa - ANOTHER UPSET
Pitt at Georgia Tech
W - No. 11 Oregon at Washington State
W - No. 13 Wisconsin at Michigan
W - Florida State at NC State
W - South Carolina at Ole Miss
L - No. 23 Northwestern at Purdue
W -Temple at UCF
Cal at Arizona State
UNLV at San Jose State
Utah at UCLA
L - Oregon State at Washington - AND YET ANOTHER UPSET
23 W'S - 6 L'S - I really like not having to pick against the
spread. Maybe I'm becoming a money line guy.
*********** And they tell us to trust the science…
I read this on Friday:
Stanford quarterback Davis Mills, defensive lineman Trey LaBounty and
receiver Connor Wedington will be available Saturday, a week after the
Pac-12 admitted a third-party coronavirus testing protocol error
sidelined them for the 35-14 loss at Oregon. In a statement Friday
morning, the conference said: “We apologize to the Stanford football
team and its supporters, and especially to the student-athletes who
were held out of the game as a result of the testing protocol errors.
We are working with our game day testing partner to ensure this type of
error does not occur in the future.”
Can you believe that sh—?
Sorry about that, coach.
And you players, who’d been working out for months in the hope that you
might at least get to play the half-dozen games your betters finally
said you can play, and then got cheated out of one of them because of a
“testing protocol error?” Our bad.
And for crap like this, we’re supposed to let Thanksgiving and
Christmas go the way of Easter?
*********** If ever there was a chance for ESPN to do something good it
was holding last Saturday’s College Game Day in Huntington, West
Virginia, on the 50th anniversary of the horrible plane crash that
wiped out the Marshall football program. 75 people - players, coaches,
boosters and crew - were killed as they returned from a game at East
Carolina. (It was 1970, my first year coaching, and I vividly remember
coming home after a game and learning the terrible news. One of my
player-coaches, Ron Hawkins, had played at Virginia Tech with Marshall
head coach Ricky Tolley, who died in the crash.)
What a nice gesture it would have been for the small city of
Huntington, West Virginia, the people of Marshall, those of us who were
alive at the time and suffered with them, and the millions who know the
story - sort of - from the movie, “We Are Marshall.”
But no. This was ESPN’s chance to maybe someday wrest the broadcast
rights to the Masters away from CBS, which has had them since 1956.
This was their chance to get an in, hosting College Game Day - make
that College Golf Day - from Augusta National Golf Club, in Augusta,
Georgia.
Screw Huntington. Screw Marshall. Screw College Football. ESPN passed
on this marvelous opportunity in order to suck up to the big money
people behind the Masters. They tried their damnedest to
rationalize what they did, but the explanation was simple: they’re
whores.
*********** Steve Beuerlein… Todd Blackledge… Gary Danielson… Tim
Hasselbeck… Kirk Herbstreit… Joel Klatt… Greg McElroy… Dan Orlovsky…
Brady Quinn… Andre Ware…
They’re all former quarterbacks and they’re now working as college game
analysts. There are more of them than representatives of all
other positions combined.
Most of them are good, but it’s clear that they weren’t all
chosen for their knowledge of the game and their ability to use it to
add to our enjoyment of a broadcast.
Maybe it’s because of name recognition, or because they do tend to be
self-confident guys with a lot to say, but some of them are rather full
of sh— as well as full of themselves. Yes, they can tell you what a
pass play is supposed to do, but they’re not necessarily any better
qualified than lots of other players and, for that matter, plenty of
laymen, to comment on the numerous other aspects of the game.
I thought of this while watching the Iowa-Minnesota game Friday night,
and listening to former Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn blather on about how
- after we’d just seen an offensive lineman grab hold of an edge
defender, allowing a runner to get outside him - there was “not enough”
there to justify a holding call. His broadcast partner (or
perhaps it was the network’s rules guy) could have been speaking for me
when he said “Brady’s played too much quarterback.”
At another point Quinn shared his great store of knowledge with us by
noting that you don’t see many three-point set-ups by quarterbacks
these days, saying that it was because of all the RPO’s that people
were throwing now.
He failed to explain the real reason: the three-step drop is used only
by a quarterback who’s under center, a breed that’s rapidly becoming as
dead as the dodo. But thanks all the same for the expertise, Brady.
*********** Heard an announcer this weekend say of an Australian punter
that the first football game he ever saw was the first one he played
in.
Well, duh. In Australia, “gridiron” (what we call football)
is just not that big a deal. Its population is just a bit more than
that of Florida, yet its people play at least four different
types (“codes,” they say) of football - Australian Rules, Rugby Union,
Rugby League and soccer. There simply aren’t many athletes left
over to play gridiron.
Yes, there are a few teams that “give it a go” on a club scale,
somewhat akin to that of our semi-pro ball, but that’s it.
But as fans, Aussies love their sports, and they like them rough, and
there is quite a bit of interest Down Under in American football -
especially the college game, which because of the International Date
Line, is played on their Sunday.
Since many Australian kids grow up playing Aussie Rules, which places
great emphasis on the ability to catch and punt a ball, that
combination - and the fact that those kids are used to rough play
- hasn’t gone unnoticed by American coaches looking for punters,
or by Australian entrepreneurs willing and able to help Australian kids
develop into American punters.
One such entrepreneur is a former Aussie Rules Footballer named Nathan
Chapman, whose organization, ProKick Australia (PKA), has
produced punters for every major conference, and 17 All-American
punters. PKA’s punters have already won five Ray Guy Awards.
Check out its site - and scroll down and check out the videos -
especially “WATCH PKA ESPN STORY.”
https://www.prokickaustralia.com/#nathan-chapman
*********** I’m already tired of this Number Zero “Look at Me” crap.
I assume that this was allowed as just another way for
coach/panderers to try satisfy the vanity of their star players, and I
sure wish when the idea was proposed that there were more coaches
with the stones to say “enough.”
*********** Watching Iowa pound Minnesota was like watching a team that
had prepared by playing Madden and found itself up against an opponent
that played Big Boy Football.
*********** I played on a college team whose coach was hesitant to
substitute even when we were way in front late in the game. I was
a sub and I know how it feels to stand and watch after you’ve busted
your ass all week, just like the starters.
So I’m beginning to wonder about this P.J. Fleck character. You
know, Mister Row the Boat. Well, there sure were an awful lot of
spare oarsmen standing on the Minnesota sideline as Fleck, with the
Gophers down 35-0 in the fourth, still had his starters in there,
determined to get just one little score. Because… why?
Well, whoopee-doo. He finally got it. With :14 left to
play. The touchdown was scored by Number Zero. I’ll bet
that symbolizes about where team morale is right now.
Funny thing was, he seemed pissed during that last drive when Iowa (who
didn’t have their starters in) called for a review on a questionable
catch. What the hell - didn’t they have just as much right to a
shutout as he had to a score?

*********** Kentucky paid an emotional tribute to John Schlarman, their
offensive line coach and a former Wildcat All-SEC lineman who
died Tuesday at 45 after a two-year fight with cancer.
On their first offensive play, the Wildcats lined up without a player
at left guard, the position Coach Schlarman played. They didn’t
run a play, and in accordance with the rules, they were charged with a
delay of game penalty - which opponent Vanderbilt graciously declined.
Then regular left guard Landon Young entered the game - wearing 65,
which had been Schlarman’s number - instead of his usual 67.
https://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-football/article247188526.html
https://www.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-football/article246807462.html
*********** Just as it became impossible to watch the NFL and
distinguish between sport and entertainment, so is it becoming
difficult, with endless reviews, to distinguish between college
football and the American legal system.
*********** I like Virginia’s Bronco Mendenhall, an Oregon State guy
originally, but I thought he blew a huge chance to teach a kid
something about life. One of his freshman receivers caught a pass
then stood, posturing, over a fallen defender until he drew an
unsportsmanlike conduct penalty - and damned if he wasn’t still in the
game on the next play. I’ve got news - little sideline chats
about how we don’t do things that way aren’t going to teach a kid
lesson the way a little bench time will.
*********** Worst measurement ever: Oregon State, down just a
touchdown, had driven inside the Washington 10, and with a
fourth-and-a-foot, went for it. The runner appeared to have made the
necessary yardage with plenty to spare, we all agreed - me, my wife,
and the announcers. But they measured - ever notice how seldom they
measure nowadays? - and the Beavers were still a foot short.
Impossible.
*********** Saw a couple of fumbles caused by bad QB rides in both the
Notre Dame and Oregon games.
*********** Oregon’s new OC Joe Moorhead showed in the Ducks' win over
Washington State that he’s everything the Ducks’ fans hoped he’d be.
He’s fresh off the job as head coach at Mississippi State (ask Mike
Leach what it’s like coaching there), and before that he was OC at Penn
State. He’s got some very clever ideas and some talent to work with,
and this Oregon team’s going to be fun to watch. Damn shame the
Pac-12 started so late.
*********** In my bitching about teams needing to be able to get under
center, I guess I should have made myself clearer. I meant so
that when they needed a yard they could run a quarterback sneak, not
give it to a running back lined up seven yards deep.
*********** This week’s name that could make you wonder why you decided
to become a broadcaster: Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, Northwestern.
*********** Not since Michigan Stadium opened - in 1927 - had a
Michigan team been behind at halftime by a score as big as the 28-0 by
which it trailed Wisconsin Saturday.
*********** Wisconsin TE Jake Ferguson - kid’s good - is the grandson
of Barry Alvarez, former Badgers’ head coach and currently their AD.
*********** This Year’s Heisman presentation is going to be
virtual. (There’s no truth to the rumor that it’s because they
polled all the likely candidates and couldn’t find three willing to
come to New York.)
*********** The Ivy League has just announced it was cancelling its
winter sports season. I swear I read where one of the league executives
said they didn’t know whether this meant that the league wouldn’t be
receiving its cut of the NCAA basketball tournament money.
In the meantime, is there someone reading this who can tell me what
this means for the Ivy League football season that its players and
coaches were told would take place in the spring?
*********** The NCAA announced this morning that the entire men’s NCAA
Tournament will be played in one geographic region — with Indianapolis
being the preferred and most likely spot — as a way to limit exposure
to the coronavirus. You can find out all the reasons why in the video
below.
The plan remains to have the tournament be comprised of 68 teams.
The tournament plan will not be an isolated single bubble at one
location, an NCAA official said, but rather it would be close to that
type of scenario spread out in one region to help keep everyone safe.
“We have had initial discussions with the state of Indiana, with the
city of Indianapolis to see if it’s feasible to run the entirety of the
championship in the metropolitan area,” said Dan Gavitt, NCAA senior
vice president of basketball.
https://pittsburghsportsnow.com/2020/11/16/breaking-entire-ncaa-tournament-will-be-played-in-one-region-most-likely-indianapolis/
FOR TWO REASONS, I’M CARRYING THE QUIZ OVER:
(1) It takes me a little time to do the research, and
I blew the better part of a day Friday trying to deal with my server
problems (believe it or not, the latent paranoia in my was leading me
to think that the higher powers in left-wing tech were out to silence
me and my highly-influential Web site).
(2) My site wasn’t up on time, which meant that some readers didn’t see
it at their usual time, and didn’t get to see the question
*********** QUIZ: He is without a doubt the greatest coach in the
history of the University of West Virginia. He set the standard
by which anyone who coaches there will be measured.
Overall, at Bowling Green and West Virginia, his record was
202-128-8. He was just the 17th coach in major college history to
win 200 games.
A
native of Mansfield, Ohio, he played quarterback at Bowling Green.
He began as a high school coach, at Mansfield and at perennial Ohio
power
Canton McKinley, then assisted at Cincinnati and Bowling Green.
He became head coach at Bowling Green, and in nine seasons there had
just one losing season. His overall record was 53-35-4.
In 1977, Bo Schembechler hired him to coach the Michigan quarterbacks.
At WVU, in 1980 he took over a program that hadn’t had a winning season
in four years, and when he retired after 21 seasons in Morgantown, he’d
had 17 winning seasons and taken the Montaineers to 13 bowl
games. His overall record there was 149-93-8.
He had two teams that went unbeaten in the regular season, and one of
them, his 1993 team, was ranked number one before losing to Notre Dame
in what was then considered the national title game.
In 1988 he was named
the Walter Camp, Bobby Dodd and AFCA coach of the year in and in 1993
he was named the Kodak coach of the year.
Arriving at West Virginia after three years on Schembechler’s staff,
the Michigan influence on his approach was evident from the
start in the offense, in defense, and in the uniforms (a new,
Michigan shade of blue and a more yellow gold than the drab old-gold
that they had been wearing). One of his motivators, he
said, was the fact
that when he first began to look at film, he could never tell
which team was West Virginia.
Along with the brighter colors came the new logo for the helmets.
Now known as the “Flying W,” it combined the two letters, W and V, in a
way suggestive of the mountains for which the state is known, and
it has become known far and wide as a symbol of the university and, for
that matter, the entire state.
Not only did he introduce West Virginia fans to a whole new uniform
look, but his first game as their coach was also their first game in
their new stadium. They won it.
In his first year, the Mountaineers went 6-6.
In his second season, they were 8-3 and played in the Peach Bowl, where
they whipped heavily-favored Florida.
In his third season, West Virginia beat ninth-ranked Oklahoma. In
Norman.
By his fifth year, they had beaten Penn State - something they hadn’t
done since 1955 - and ended a seven-year losing streak to Pitt.
In his final game, his Mountaineers defeated Ole Miss in the Music City
Bowl.
80 of his players went on to play in the NFL. One of them, a
quarterback who went on to a solid pro career, married his daughter.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Bobby Bowden, who left West Virginia partly because he felt that the
fans weren’t sufficiently appreciative of what he’d done, knew better
than anybody how much this coach had accomplished.
“(He) did an amazing job,” Bowden said. “Number 1, he had that
Michigan background. He used to coach at Michigan when he was an
assistant coach and he was used to being big-time all the way, so
when he comes to West Virginia he just assumes he’s going to do the
same thing here. He changed the uniforms to even look like Michigan.
(He) is one of the best coaches ever, in my opinion.”
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 13, 2020 “Good
decisions come from experience. Experience comes from making bad
decisions.” Mark Twain
***********
FRIDAY'S GAMES (THE WINNERS - OF THE ONES THAT I CHOSE TO CALL - ARE IN
BOLD)
Iowa at Minnesota
Florida Atlantic at FIU
East Carolina at No. 7 Cincinnati
SATURDAY'S GAMES
No. 9 Miami (FL) at Virginia Tech
No. 10 Indiana at Michigan State
Illinois at Rutgers
No. 15 Coastal Carolina at Troy
Western Carolina at No. 22 Liberty
Penn State at Nebraska
Wake Forest at North Carolina - UPSET PICK
Vanderbilt at Kentucky
TCU at West Virginia
Army at Tulane
Gardner-Webb at Charlotte
Middle Tennessee at No. 16 Marshall
South Alabama at No. 25 Louisiana
Georgia State at Appalachian State
Fresno State at Utah State
UTEP at UTSA
South Florida at Houston
North Texas at UAB
No. 2 Notre Dame at Boston College
No. 20 USC at Arizona
Rice at Louisiana Tech
Texas State at Georgia Southern
Colorado at Stanford
Louisville at Virginia
Southern Miss at Western Kentucky
Baylor at Texas Tech
Hawai'i at San Diego State
Nevada at New Mexico
Arkansas at No. 6 Florida
No. 19 SMU at Tulsa - ANOTHER UPSET
Pitt at Georgia Tech
No. 11 Oregon at Washington State
No. 13 Wisconsin at Michigan
Florida State at NC State
South Carolina at Ole Miss
No. 23 Northwestern at Purdue
Temple at UCF
Cal at Arizona State
UNLV at San Jose State
Utah at UCLA
Oregon State at Washington - AND YET ANOTHER UPSET
POSTPONED/CANCELLED
No. 1 Alabama at LSU
No. 3 Ohio State at Maryland
No. 5 Texas A&M at Tennessee
No. 12 Georgia at Missouri
No. 24 Auburn at Mississippi State
UL Monroe at Arkansas State
Air Force at Wyoming
Memphis at Navy
*********** GAMES I WILL DEFINITELY START OUT WATCHING…
ARMY AT TULANE - It’s on ESPN+, so I’ll have to watch it on my iPad
MIAMI AT VIRGINIA TECH - For some reason VT is favored
COASTAL CAROLINA AT TROY - I’ve become a big fan of the Chanticleers
PENN STATE AT NEBRASKA - Can Jim the Genius finally get the Lions a win?
WAKE FOREST AT NORTH CAROLINA - Tar Heels should win, but I like the
stuff Wake does on offense
NOTRE DAME AT BOSTON COLLEGE - The Catholic Championship. BC always
plays the Irish tough. They already showed they could play with
Clemson.
ARKANSAS AT FLORIDA - Mainly to see if Kyle Trask can throw four TD
passes for the SIXTH week in a row. Tough game for the Hogs to be
without their coach.
OREGON AT WASHINGTON STATE - Ducks always have trouble winning in the
Palouse. WSU’s freshman QB, Jayden DeLaura, has got a cannon for an arm.
WISCONSIN AT MICHIGAN - All sorts of ways to look at this one, when two
pre-season favorites - one that hasn’t played in three weeks, the other
that hasn’t won in three weeks - meet.
NORTHWESTERN AT PURDUE - Believe it or not, this is for first place in
the Big Ten West.
CAL AT ARIZONA STATE - CAL hasn’t played yet. ASU played well enough to
beat USC - but didn’t.
*********** Man! College football every night from Tuesday through
Saturday. Thank you, Mac! We enjoyed the Buffalo-Miami game on
Tuesday night, and last night (Wednesday) we really enjoyed the Ball
State- Eastern Michigan game.
I like the Mac players and the coaches. It’s high quality
football that hasn’t been tainted with the pre-professionalism that
infests so much of the Power 5 game.
There’s not a team that we don’t like and can’t root for, but I tend to
lean toward Ball State, because it’s Jason Whitlock’s school, and so we
watched Ball State-Eastern Michigan last night.
Ball State scored at the buzzer to beat Eastern Michigan, 38-31.
I was especially impressed by Ball State running back Caleb Huntley, a
5-10, 230 pound chunk of power who rushed 34 times for 204 yards.
I sure would like to line him up at tailback and see how long it took
defenses to get tired of tackling him.
And then we watched the recording of the Toledo and Western
Michigan.
Western, down by 10 points, scored two TDs in the last minute of play
to win, 41-38. The last score came at the very end, with time running
out and the Broncos hustling up to the line so they could spike it.
They
quickly lined up and the QB spiked it. (But actually, as
the
Toledo defense waited for him to spike it, he faked the spike, then
pulled up and threw to a wide open receiver in the end zone for the
winning score.)
*********** In the process of putting together a little something about
special teams play for next Tuesday’s Zoom clinic, I had to include a
punt by Oregon State’s Caleb Lightbourn against Washington State
Saturday night.
He was punting out of his own end of the field, and the snap was high.
Really high. He’s 6-3 and he had to jump and still wasn’t able to
catch it. He tried to pick it up and bumbled around a bit before doing
so and then he managed to escape the lone WSU rusher - they must have
had a return on - and scramble to his left.
And then, as more rushers bore in on him, he managed to get off
a left-footed punt (he’s a right-footed kicker) that wound up going 21
yards past the line of scrimmage.
Considering how far back of the line
he was when he kicked it, it had to have travelled close to 40 yards in
the air.
Needless to say, I had to find out whether he was an Aussie - they can
all kick with either foot - or whether there was some soccer in his
background.
Turns out the kid’s a transfer from Nebraska. Played three years there
and then spent a year of transfer ineligibility at Oregon State.
He did play some soccer as well as football in high school.
In (boy,
am I embarrassed) Camas, Washington.
*********** At least a right-footed punter can scramble to his left and
maybe get off a left-footed punt, as Oregon State’s Caleb Lightbourn
was able to do Saturday night against Washington State.
But right handed passers? Not too many of them can throw
left-handed. (Oregon State’s Terry Baker, who won the Heisman in 1962,
was the rare one who could). So maybe somebody can tell me why
right-handed passers seem so often to scramble to the left when they
get in trouble…
*********** After months of Americans being treated like inmates in
many states, of families being warned not to get together for
Thanksgiving, of religious groups being warned not to hold services, of
people not even being able to honor the dead at funerals, I have
to admit that it pissed me off no end to see the thousands of precious
young Notre Dame students storm the field Saturday night. But,
because they were really conscious of not spreading the Deadly Virus
That Will Kill Us ALL, most of them were wearing masks.
*********** I can definitely see the day coming when revenue-hungry
states will require a license in order to hold any gathering of any
size, the fee to be based on the attendance.
Who would argue? After all, it’s in the interest of public
safety. Naturally, there’ll be inspections and all the usual stuff.
But who’s kidding who? It’s going to be a major source of revenue. I’m
sure they’ve dreamed of a scheme like this for a long time but never
had the nerve to propose it because the people weren’t submissive
enough. But now, all they’ll have to do is say that it’s to fight
the Deadly Killer Virus, and Americans will roll right over.
Well, about half of them.
The other half?
Sounds suspiciously like the Stamp Act, the Brits’ clever way of
getting revenue from the American colonies by taxing damn near every
legal transaction.
We all know how that turned out.
*********** Founding Father John Adams’ pitch for physical education…
“Human nature with all its infirmities and depravation is still capable
of great things. It should be your care, therefore, and mine, to
elevate the minds of our children and exalt their courage; to
accelerate and animate their industry and activity; to excite in them
an habitual contempt of meanness, abhorrence of injustice and
inhumanity, and an ambition to excel in every capacity, faculty, and
virtue. . . . But their bodies must be hardened, as well as their souls
exalted. Without strength and activity and vigor of body, the brightest
mental excellencies will be eclipsed and obscured.”
*********** The death of former Celtics player, coach and broadcaster
Tom Heinsohn marks the passing of one of the great legends of one of
the great legendary teams in pro sports. He had a green light to
shoot, and I loved what former teammate - and fellow Holy Cross alum -
Bob Cousy had to say about him: “In his behalf, he never took a shot
unless he had the ball.”
*********** Miami has its Turnover Chain - a gaudy piece of bling
that’s awarded to a player who causes a turnover. Oregon State, deep in
timber country, has a Turnover Chain Saw.
*********** It’s one of those “Not from around here, are ya, fella?"
town names, and CBSSN’s Ben Holden bit on it when he said that Eastern
Michigan’s place kicker was “The pride of LEB-uh-nonn, (Lebanon)
Pennsylvania.” I guess it’s an attempt to sound sophisticated,
like OR-uh-gonn,
but it ain’t right. Fortunately, Holden’s broadcast partner, Ross
Tucker, bailed him out very diplomatically, saying, “He’s a LEBB-a-nin
guy. That’s about 25 miles from where I grew up (Wyomissing,
Pennsylvania - just outside Reading - pronounced REDD-ing).”
I’m getting to like Tucker. He and Holden do most of the Army
games on CBSSN, and he knows his football. And unlike most former
retired pro linemen, he’s not a John Madden WHAM! BAM! type. I
especially like the way he got excited when he saw Eastern Michigan
pull a couple of linemen on a running play, saying that he played on a
wing-T team in high school, and when he pulled out that was the only
time his mom ever saw him do anything.
***********

The Army Goes Rolling Along…
I first got to know Pat Frank in 2008, when he was Lieutenant Colonel
Frank, stationed in Fort Riley, Kansas, where he was Battalion
Commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 28th Infantry Brigade - the Black
Lions.
His idea was to work together with the football program at nearby
Kansas State in such things as having his soldiers - Black Lions
- and K-State football players take part in joint physical training
exercises.
Thanks in large part to his efforts, the Fort Riley-KSU bond has
remained strong in the years since.
As I got to know Pat better, it became apparent to me that this was the
sort of guy you’d like to think our entire officer corps is made up of.
When he and the Black Lions were deployed to fight in the Middle East,
he asked me if we could round up DVDs to send to his wife,
Jennifer, who would then see that they got to his troops.
(I would find, over the years, what a great team he and Mrs. Frank
make.)
As the years went on, as he advanced in rank and moved from post to
post, including The Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and
Fort Drum, New York, with the 10th Mountain Division, we remained in
touch.
(New York State is home to him. He’s a native of the small
western New York town of Cuba, and an ROTC graduate of St. Bonaventure
University. He has a graduate degree from Syracuse. And he’s a
long-time fan of the Buffalo Bills.)
Three years ago, then Colonel Pat Frank was promoted to Brigadier
General, and assigned to Fort Polk Joint Readiness Training Center
(JRTC) in Louisiana as Commanding General.
Fort Polk JRTC is the next step before the Real Thing. It’s as
“boots on the ground” as you can get without being in actual combat -
where units about to be deployed (including troops from friendly
allied countries) are prepared for conflict.
Back in April of this year, the Army assigned him as Chief of Staff at
CENTCOM, the United States Central Command, with responsibility for all
US military operations in the Middle East, at MacDill Air Force Base in
Florida.
That meant leaving Fort Polk, and recently, my wife and I were
fortunate to be able to attend (virtually) the Change of Command
ceremony at Fort Polk, in which General Frank turned over command of
the post to his successor.
And it was quite a thrill to me when it was announced that Pat Frank
had been promoted to Major General, and to see Mrs. Frank present him
with his second star.
In his brief speech, he acknowledged her as “my best friend.”
I wrote him to tell him how, as a “coaching couple,” we appreciated the
shout-out he gave to his "best friend,” and how impressed we were by
the Army’s obvious respect for and recognition of the role wives play
in enabling their husbands to best serve their troops.
So many of our institutions were established at a time when wives would
automatically be expected to support their husbands’ careers but in
these times that often requires a woman with a career of her own to
conduct quite a balancing act. In the case of Jennifer Frank, she
has managed to balance a career as a lawyer with the many relocations
and responsibilities required of an officer’s wife.
Pat wrote me, “you know the tough times we have experienced in combat
with the Black Lions and the Spartans - tough, tough fighting. Back in
the States, it was Jennifer attending the Memorial Services with the
Families - more difficult than what we do in theater, as we are
immediately back in the fight, and we are surrounded by Soldiers.
And the Family is in the States. She has been committed to the
Army.”
Pat and Jennifer Frank are the best. God bless America.
https://www.msjdn.org/our-staff/jennifer-frank/
*********** If only…
What if the NCAA rules makers had listened to Frank Broyles.
Check out what the longtime Arkansas coach and AD had to say in a 1986
interview in Scholastic Coach Magazine…
Since I
retired in 1976, the trend has moved more toward the passing
game and more and more sophisticated styles of defense. Much of this
was brought about by the change in blocking rules that allowed the
offensive linemen to use their hands. This has tipped the scales
toward the offense.
Up until then the
rules-makers had kept a balance between offense and
defense on the premise that since the defense did not know the snap
count or whether the play would be a run or a pass, they should be
allowed to use their hands – thus maintaining the desired balance.
But the new rule
has shifted the balance toward offense and I do not
approve of it.
Q. Is there any
real change you’d like the NCAA to adopt?
The only real
change I would recommend would be a penalty of 10 yards
and a loss of down for offensive holding. If a rule cannot be
administered, as the officials claim, then the penalty should be made
greater.
*********** The Ivy League just announced the cancellation of its
basketball season. What a fun place to be. What do you
think of the chances of their actually playing that spring football
season?
*********** Hugh,
Wore my patriotic "hawaiian" style shirt in honor of Veterans Day and
was complimented by a younger woman saying how much she liked the
shirt, but asked, "Wouldn't it be better for me to wear it on the
Fourth of July?"
Well...apparently the Army-Navy game WILL be for all the marbles again.
Thank you for that explanation.
Hoping and praying that Notre Dame and Clemson won't suffer any ill
effects from the Irish fans' celebration after the Irish beat the
Tigers in South Bend on Saturday night. Also, with BC on deck the
Irish better brush up on their football history.
P.J. Fleck read to his Golden Gophers the book "Everything Poops".
Apparently San Jose State has also read the book.
Speaking of high school playoff structures. Because of Covid
issues our state association for private schools (TAPPS) was forced to
restructure their playoff brackets for football. In our division
(Division II) just prior to the start of the season a number of schools
chose to either opt out of playing football this year, or, they chose
to play 6 man football. Because of that three of the four
districts that make up Division II lost schools and were affected in
the initial bracketing set-up. Two weeks ago TAPPS readjusted the
brackets for our Division and guess what? All eight schools in
our district are eligible for the playoffs. We will play the 3rd
seed of District 1 next Friday in the first round. Crazy.
Have a great week, and see you again tonight!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: This is the amazing story of a man who
was a good football player. Not a great one. He might have become a
great football player, but fate took him in other directions, to a life
almost indescribable.
Joe Savoldi was born Giuseppe Antonio Savoldi in Italy in 1908, and
came to the United States with his family when he was 11. The family
settled in the town of Three Oaks, Michigan, in the southwest corner of
the state, almost on the Indiana line. Changing his name Giuseppe to
the more American “Joe,” he became a high school star in four sports,
and so proficient in the English language and so free of an accent that
he delivered the valedictory at his graduation.
He was recruited by Michigan, but his family’s being Catholic gave
Notre Dame the edge, and although he quit once when Irish coach Knute
Rockne moved him to the line, he returned and earned a spot in the
backfield.
In his junior season, 1929, he was a standout as the Irish, playing all
their games on the road while their new stadium was under construction,
went 9-0. Powerfully built at 5-11 and 215, he was fast and quite
agile, and after flying through the air to score against Carnegie Tech,
he earned the nickname - “Jumping Joe” - that would follow him
though life.
In 1930, he returned an SMU kickoff to score the very first touchdown
in the new stadium (the same one, with alterations over the years, that
they play in today).
With the Irish 5-0, they travelled to Philadelphia to play once-beaten
Penn in front of more than 80,000 spectators - the largest crowd ever
to watch a football game in the city - and the Irish won, 60-40, as he
rushed for 84 yards and scored a touchdown, his seventh of the season.
But it would be his last game as a Notre Damer.
When was revealed that he had been married to a Protestant and then, on
top of it, had been divorced - breaking firm rules of the Catholic
school against both mixed marriage and divorce - not even Rockne’s
power could save him, and at his coach’s advice, he chose to withdraw
from school before he could be expelled.
The Green Bay Packers swooped in and signed him to a contract, but the
Bears’ George Halas, citing the “Red Grange Rule” against signing
players until their college class had graduated, forced the Packers let
him go, whereupon Halas, in defiance of the same rule, signed him to
play for the Bears. The league commissioner allowed him to play for the
Bears, provided they pay the league a $1,000 “fine” for every
game he played in.
He was paid a grand sum of $12,000 for the three games he played, but
he found that he was resented by his teammates, most of whom were
making $50 a game.
“I didn’t have 11 enemies. I had 21,” he said years later. “After a
while, I just got the ball and held it and stood there and said, ‘Come
on.’ Pretty soon, I was riding the bench. Then I quit pro football.”
He played one more game, an All-Star game in the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum between his former Notre Dame teammates and an aggregation
called the West-South All-Stars, in which he scored three touchdowns in
the 20-7 Irish victory.
After the game, two representatives of professional wrestling
approached him and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. (Pro wrestling
was big even then, and at least as popular as the NFL)
In February of 1931, he was paid $3,500 for his first match. It
took him just 13 minutes to win it.
As he progressed in the sport, he became famous for a trademark move he
developed - the dropkick, jumping into the air as he kicked an opponent
in the chest with both feet, while landing on his own back.
He became one of the great attraction in the sport, in one year
wrestling 100 matches, and making anywhere from $12,000 to $24,000 a
match.
And then along came World War II, and with Italy one of our enemies, he
was approached by a newly-formed government agency - the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today’s CIA, created by
an executive order by President Roosevelt in June 1942.
The OSS was in need of a person with his fluency in Italian and
his fighting ability to go under cover behind enemy lines.
In June of 1943 he signed on for $400 a month, and after training,
pretty much disappeared to those who knew him. To them, he was
touring Europe, entertaining troops by giving wrestling
exhibitions. But in reality, he was leading a double life under
the alias Joseph DeLeo, performing feats of bravery behind enemy
lines that few would ever know about. His monthly paychecks were
mailed in plain envelopes to his wife, and not until the
publication of OSS Director Michael Burke’s book in 1984 -
ten years after his death - did she learn the true nature of his work.
The entire time he was away, his family would receive periodic letters
from the OSS telling them he was “well … and in fine spirits.”
After the War, he told no one of his exploits. His best wrestling days
were over, but he did train and develop Bobo Brazil, who became the
first black heavyweight wrestling champion.
Settling in Henderson, Kentucky to be near his wife’s mother, he went
back to school at nearby Evansville University to finish his college
degree, then spent his remaining years as a science teacher at
Henderson County High School. True to the OSS code of secrecy,
his students never knew of the things he’d seen and done.
Jumping Joe Savoldi died in 1974 at 65.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JUMPING JOE SAVOLDI
SHEP CLARKE - PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON
(FOR SUGGESTING JUMPING JOE SAVOLDI)
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
DAVE KEMMICK - MT. JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
*********** Hugh,
First of all, this is a great analogy that you shared: "Watching the
unseemly mainstream media race to “declare” Joe Biden the “winner” of
the Presidency, as if that were enough to make it so, I was reminded of
the way football teams hurry to run the next play in order to eliminate
the possibility of a review that could go against them."
The answer to the quiz today is Jumping Joe Savoldi. Thank you for
sharing his story. It is amazing.
https://www.inquirer.com/sports/a/notre-dame-football-wwe-oss-penn-quakers-joe-savoldi-20190911.html

*********** Found the attached PDF about the 1930 ND football
team. P.S. The roster included a player from my hometown too.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
(For you Domers out there: Notre Dame has an incredibly rich
football history, and Coach Wesoloski was kind enough to send me in pdf
form the “Review” of the 1930 Notre Dame team in which I found the
picture and article on Joe Savoldi. . If you would like a copy, email
me and I’ll send it to you.)
*********** What an amazing story! While I did hear of his
wrestling career, not even this Italian knew about his "secret"
exploits.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** You certainly won’t be hearing the sobriquet “The Walloping
W-p” today!
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
(That’s only printed because it’s a historic fact that that’s what some
sportswriters called him! Frank Sinatra, playing “Maggio” in “From Here
to Eternity,” let the whole world know when he slugged a guy, saying,
“Only my friends call me w-p.” To show how the world has changed,
in 1885, when Washington was still a territory, its legislature
established a school for children with disabilities. They named
it the Washington School for Defective Youth.)
*********** That was a great read. I remember a few teachers who had
exciting past lives that they never talked about. That was back when
not making your private life public was the norm.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Yeah. Imagine Joe Savoldi if they had Facebook then:
“This is me behind enemy lines trying to attach an explosive device to
a destroyer.”
*********** QUIZ: He is without a doubt the greatest coach in the
history of the University of West Virginia. He set the standard
by which anyone who coaches there will be measured.
Overall, at Bowling Green and West Virginia, his record was
202-128-8. He was just the 17th coach in major college history to
win 200 games.
A
native of Mansfield, Ohio, he played quarterback at Bowling Green.
He began as a high school coach, at Mansfield and at perennial Ohio
power
Canton McKinley, then assisted at Cincinnati and Bowling Green.
He became head coach at Bowling Green, and in nine seasons there had
just one losing season. His overall record was 53-35-4.
In 1977, Bo Schembechler hired him to coach the Michigan quarterbacks.
At WVU, in 1980 he took over a program that hadn’t had a winning season
in four years, and when he retired after 21 seasons in Morgantown, he’d
had 17 winning seasons and taken the Montaineers to 13 bowl
games. His overall record there was 149-93-8.
He had two teams that went unbeaten in the regular season, and one of
them, his 1993 team, was ranked number one before losing to Notre Dame
in what was then considered the national title game.
In 1988 he was named
the Walter Camp, Bobby Dodd and AFCA coach of the year in and in 1993
he was named the Kodak coach of the year.
Arriving at West Virginia after three years on Schembechler’s staff,
the Michigan influence on his approach was evident from the
start in the offense, in defense, and in the uniforms (a new,
Michigan shade of blue and a more yellow gold than the drab old-gold
that they had been wearing). One of his motivators, he
said, was the fact
that when he first began to look at film, he could never tell
which team was West Virginia.
Along with the brighter colors came the new logo for the helmets.
Now known as the “Flying W,” it combined the two letters, W and V, in a
way suggestive of the mountains for which the state is known, and
it has become known far and wide as a symbol of the university and, for
that matter, the entire state.
Not only did he introduce West Virginia fans to a whole new uniform
look, but his first game as their coach was also their first game in
their new stadium. They won it.
In his first year, the Mountaineers went 6-6.
In his second season, they were 8-3 and played in the Peach Bowl, where
they whipped heavily-favored Florida.
In his third season, West Virginia beat ninth-ranked Oklahoma. In
Norman.
By his fifth year, they had beaten Penn State - something they hadn’t
done since 1955 - and ended a seven-year losing streak to Pitt.
In his final game, his Mountaineers defeated Ole Miss in the Music City
Bowl.
80 of his players went on to play in the NFL. One of them, a
quarterback who went on to a solid pro career, married his daughter.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
Bobby Bowden, who left West Virginia partly because he felt that the
fans weren’t sufficiently appreciative of what he’d done, knew better
than anybody how much this coach had accomplished.
“(He) did an amazing job,” Bowden said. “Number 1, he had that
Michigan background. He used to coach at Michigan when he was an
assistant coach and he was used to being big-time all the way, so
when he comes to West Virginia he just assumes he’s going to do the
same thing here. He changed the uniforms to even look like Michigan.
(He) is one of the best coaches ever, in my opinion.”
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 10, 2020 "The
people of these United States are the rightful masters of both
congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to
overthrow the men who pervert that Constitution.” Abraham Lincoln
HONOR VETERANS ON VETERANS DAY
*********** Honor America’s veterans on Veterans Day. And at a
time like this, when the freedoms we’ve all taken for granted may not
be so secure as we always thought they were, we should thank God that
we had people who spent the best years of their lives - many of them
losing those lives in the process - fighting so that we could even make
it to this point. The least we can do for them, after all they’ve
done for us, is not let them down.
*********** Our first veterans…
In 1776, when there was no assurance that the American rebels would be
successful in their battle for independence, and in fact there was
plenty of reason to be discouraged, George Washington - who had more to
lose than most - had this inspirational message, from a pamphlet by Tom
Paine, read aloud to his troops:
These
are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine
patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country;
but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and
woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this
consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious
the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is
dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put
a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so
celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.
*********** When Colorado State beat Wyoming for the first time in five
years Friday night, the CSU Rams celebrated their win by holding
high the Bronze Boot, the trophy that goes to the winner.
The Trophy dates to 1968, when the ROTC units of the two schools had it
made from a boot worn in Vietnam by an Army officer who had been an
ROTC instructor at Colorado State.
It is an extension of the long tradition that every year the game
ball is delivered to the home field by a relay of ROTC cadets, with the
visiting team’s cadets carrying it from their school to the state line,
and the home team’s cadets carrying it from the border to the stadium.
*********** Like most Army fans, I was pissed when the news broke
on Thursday that Air Force would not be coming to Army to
play. We Army folks all have our suspicions - I won’t voice mine
- but it seems as though it stems from a decision that was made to
allow a large number of Air Force’s senior football players to drop out
of the Academy for a semester, so that they could return next fall with
a season of eligibility left, and still graduate in December.
The decision was made when the WAC announced that it was not going to
play this fall, and Air Force chose to play what amounted to a two-game
season - against Navy and Army - for the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy,
awarded to the winner of the competition among the three service
academies.
At that time, Air Force gave its football players the option of
playing the short season, or preserving their last year of eligibility
for next season by not playing. The problem was that there was no way
they could graduate from the Academy in June and come back in the fall
as - what?
Graduate students? No such thing at a service academy.
Redshirts? No such thing at a service academy as getting an extra
semester free, much less a year - not at a place where the US
taxpayers are picking up the tab.
Nope. The only way it could be done would be for those players to
become “turnouts” - to drop out of the Academy for this fall semester,
then return for the second semester, and then (after playing football
next fall) graduate next December. That way, they’d still graduate in
the Class of 2021.
That’s what some 40 of them - many of them starters or potential
starters - chose to do.
And then the WAC threw them a curve, deciding in September that it
would play its season after all. The problem was, those Air Force
turnouts had already dropped out of school, and they were no longer
academically eligible.
So now there’s Air Force, its roster already depleted by the turnouts,
now - possibly - beset with injuries. And then, of course,
there’s what’s becoming the Get-Out-Of-Anything-Free card - the
positive Covid test. Or, at least, the contact tracing bit.
So there’s no game, and little likelihood of its being played.
Couple of thoughts here:
First of all, service academies have no 85-scholarship limit, like
other college programs. That’s because every single cadet or midshipman
is on full scholarship, so there is no “under the required number of
players on scholarship” excuse that applies to other schools. And
besides those recruited football players, a substantial number of
cadets (and midshipmen) have played high school football, so it’s not
as if there aren’t enough strong, healthy bodies.
Second of all, the purpose of a service academy is to prepare officers
to lead our troops in defense of our country. It is not to
produce football players or to win football games. And in my opinion it
is unseemly for an academy to game the system so blatantly as to allow
cadets to drop out for what appears to be for the purpose of preserving
athletic eligibility.
*********** Watching the mainstream media race to “declare” Joe Biden
the “winner” of the Presidency, as if that were enough to make it so, I
was reminded of the way football teams hurry to run the next play in
order to eliminate the possibility of a review that could go
against them.
*********** In the true spirit of American politics that says if
you can’t win, change the rules, I decided this past weekend to
pick winners without regard to point spread. Since I picked 68 per cent
of games successfully this way, and since I haven’t (yet) been caught
fixing results, you can expect me to continue.
FRIDAY
W - MIAMI over NC State
L - SAN DIEGO STATE over San Jose State
L - BOISE STATE over BYU
SATURDAY
X - ARMY over Air Force
W - INDIANA over Michigan
W - SMU over Temple
L - ARIZONA STATE over USC
W - TEXAS over West Virginia
L - VIRGINIA TECH over Liberty
W - MEMPHIS over South Florida
L - EAST CAROLINA over Tulane
X - TULSA over Navy
W - NORTH CAROLINA over Duke
W - NORTHWESTERN over Nebraska
W - IOWA over Michigan State
W - LOUISIANA over Arkansas State
W - BOSTON COLLEGE over Syracuse
W - FLORIDA over Georgia
W - CINCINNATI over Houston
L - PENN STATE over Maryland
W - MINNESOTA over Illinois
W - MISSISSIPPI STATE over Vanderbilt
W - OKLAHOMA STATE over Kansas State
X - UTAH over Arizona
L - FLORIDA STATE over Pitt
W - TEXAS A & M over South Carolina
W - IOWA STATE over Baylor
L - UCLA over Colorado
L - CLEMSON over Notre Dame
W - OREGON over Stanford
W - ARKANSAS over Tennessee
W - COASTAL CAROLINA over South Alabama
L - OREGON STATE over Washington State
X - CAL over Washington
W - HAWAII over New Mexico
21 WINNERS - 10 LOSERS
MAYBE IT’S THE CORONAVIRUS, BUT IF THAT’S THE REASON WHY THIS HAS
BEEN SUCH A WILDLY EXCITING AND UNPREDICTABLE SEASON, THEN PLEASE,
PFIZER, HOLD OFF ON THE VACCINE UNTIL AFTER THE BOWL GAMES.
BEST/MOST INTERESTING GAMES OF THE WEEKEND:
BYU OVER BOISE STATE - When Boise State’s QB - originally their backup
- had to leave early in the game (he got hit in the head on a
quarterback sneak!) there went their offense. But that still
leaves the matter of stopping BYU.
USC OVER ARIZONA STATE - USC, down by 13 with under four minutes,
finally comes alive. But they still had to recover an onside kick.
SAN JOSE STATE OVER SAN DIEGO STATE - When was the last time THAT
happened?
INDIANA OVER MICHIGAN - It’s official: Indiana beat Michigan because
Indiana is better than Michigan.
LIBERTY OVER VIRGINIA TECH - An unbelievable ending. Watch my Zoom
Tuesday night if you didn’t see the game.
NORTHWESTERN OVER NEBRASKA - It all started back when you Huskers
thought you could fire Frank Solich and you’d automatically keep
winning nine or ten games a year.
IOWA OVER MICHIGAN STATE - Hawkeyes crushed the Spartans, who last week
beat Michigan.
FLORIDA OVER GEORGIA - Gators took an early punch - fell behind 14-0 in
the first three minutes of play - but got back up and took it to the
Bulldogs.
MARYLAND OVER PENN STATE - for only the third time in their long
history. My son called it the Beano Cook Bowl, in honor of the late,
great football expert who once explained his selection in the
Penn State-Maryland game in a year when the Terps were unusually
strong: “Penn State will beat Maryland… Because Penn State ALWAYS beats
Maryland.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE OVER VANDERBILT - In the battle of the winless,
somebody HAD to win.
OKLAHOMA STATE OVER KANSAS STATE - Just a good, tough game that went
down to the wire.
COLORADO OVER UCLA - Where did THIS Buffs’ team come from?
NOTRE DAME OVER CLEMSON - For the second week in a row Clemson tried to
give a game away, but this week they were playing a team that was
good enough to beat them.
*********** OBSERVATIONS FROM A WEEKEND OF COLLEGE FOOTBALL
*** In almost a f—k you to the rulesmakers, I’m seeing pants that now
barely cover thigh pads, let alone the knees.
*** The San Jose State QB had to leave the game when he was tackled and
his head whiplashed and hit the ground. Could that have been prevented
with a stronger neck?
*** “Holiday Season” has already started in the advertising. That
would be what we once called the “Christmas” Holiday,
Thanksgiving now having been all but eliminated by Democratic governors
and the Little Doctor.
*** Maybe nobody else will say it, but I will: I don’t care how good a
quarterback Trevor Lawerence is. Looking at him with his helmet off
gives me the creeps.
*** If I tune in to a Fox channel one more time to watch a football
game and they’re interviewing drivers from a race that’s just finished
and the announcer says, “College football coming up - as soon as we’re
finished here…” and it goes on for fifteen minutes…
*** Just like they do with holding, which occurs on every offensive
play, maybe they should just allow a certain amount of blocking in the
back on all kickoffs.
*** A San Diego State punt return man bobbled the catch, and then
those a&&holes on TV showed the kid on the sidelines FIVE
different times. The only thing missing was some sort of caption
identifying him and giving everybody his cell phone number.
*** If you want to know who’s announcing the game you’re watching, go
to awfulannouncing.com
*** Joel Klatt talks too much. So does Brock Huard.
*** With so many of the talking heads, it’s as if they are working to
fit the game into their chatter, rather than having something
intelligent and concise to say between plays.
*** Tony Dungy is really good. He’s calm and measured, and says a lot
by saying little.
*** If you have to hire female play-by-play announcers (I disagree)
could you at least hire ones that don’t have shrill, harsh voices?
*** So much of offensive football “strategy” is becoming like
basketball used to be, when four guys would just get out of the way and
the star would go one-on-one with his defender. Now, when a
football team gets down close, it’s a game of split out the
great receiver and throw it up there.
*** USC’s Drake London is really a good receiver.
*** USC had a flyover for a TD, and one of the announcers said it was
reminiscent of Spencer Tillman. The other mentioned Marcus
Allen. Not a word about Sam Cunningham, who did it three times in
the Rose Bowl Game. But that’s ancient history.
*** Wish people would be a little more specific about what they want
people to do when they throw around phrases like “It takes all of us.”
*** It looked as if the postgame meeting between Dino Babers and Jeff
Healey might have been less than cordial, but I can’t be sure and I
hope that wasn’t the case.
*** Penn State punched in a useless TD in against Maryland’s JVs with
11 seconds to play to make the score 35-19. And then they went
for two. And didn’t make it. Sorry, Lions. You can't fool
us. For those of us who saw it, the real score was 35-13.
*** Analyst Matt Millen, a Penn Stater, tried to put a nice spin on the
Penn State defeat, their worst in years: “Maryland is a much better
team than they were a year ago.”
*** I can’t stand the “boys will be boys” attitude of so many
announcers as they wink at a case of holding when they see one. Either
ignore it or deplore it, because it’s against the rules and it gives
the perp an unfair advantage. But don’t, for God’s sake, act as
if it’s just a prank.
*** Thanks to a certain pretender to the presidency and his
“acceptance” speech, we had to change channels for both Notre
Dame-Clemson and Oregon-Stanford.
*********** Evidently NBA basketballers are up in arms over the
league’s decision to bring them back to start play in December.
The irony here is that there was a time in their lives when they - all
of them - played basketball around the clock, non-stop. For
nothing.
But now that they’re getting paid millions to play the game…
*********** Hey - maybe there’s something to this virtual classroom
stuff! (Sorry if you don’t know me personally, because if you did
you’d recognize that as sarcasm.)
Why, the two biggest school districts in our area, with four
conventional high schools each, plus an assortment of specialty schools
of one sort or another, announced breathlessly that they’d
achieved a 90 per cent graduation rate for the Class of 2020.
This from one of the principals: “As the state has allowed students to
demonstrate mastery of a subject in a variety of different assessment
options rather than just taking one type of test, more students are
finding a path to graduation. “
You have to sort of know what you’re reading to figure out the game.
*********** Back in August, the Washington state high school
association (WIAA) decided to move the entire fall sports season to a
niche (from mid-February to late April) between shortened winter and
spring seasons.
But in recognizing the fact that Covid19 still lurks, ready to wipe out
our entire nation on a moment’s notice, it made provisions for
the possibility that different parts of the state might be affected
differently.
It divided the state into three regions: one, west of the Cascades
(which rather neatly divide Washington) and running from Seattle north
to the Canadian border; another, west of the Cascades and running from
south of Seattle to the Columbia River and the border with Oregon; and
the third, all of the state east of the Cascades.
Then, it was determined that whether or not football can be played at
all in a region will depend on whether at least 50 percent of its teams
“meet the metrics” in their counties that would allow teams to
play. In the case that a region might not be able to play, the
state will give that region the option of moving football to the spring
season.
Here’s where it gets interesting. Following regular season play,
there would be time for just two rounds of post-season play. That would
hardly do to determine a champion in the usual manner, so for this
season only, each region will have its own final four and two weeks to
determine its champion. And - for this season only - the
three regional champions would each be designated “state
champions.”
Now, despite what you might think, I have no problem with this. I don’t
see it as a feel-good, “Trophies for Everybody” scheme.
First of all, I never have been in favor of the notion, foisted
on us by the pros, that we have to hold loser-out playoffs, week
after week after week, until only one team goes home happy. For that
same reason, I don’t favor a college playoff. With the bowl
system, half the players in America ended their seasons with a win.
Then there’s this: With Washington’s population just under 7,900,000,
the population of each of the three regions would be around
2,600,000. That’s larger than the populations of 14 states and
the District of Columbia, which all have their
championships. Are you going to tell me that the champion
of Idaho, or Nebraska, or West Virginia - all states with fewer people
than one of Washington’s three regions - is not a true state champion?
*********** Witnessed a game with a power outage a couple of years. A
friend of mine coaches at Peshtigo, WI (bigger fire the same day as the
one in Chicago) and as it got close to dark and halftime they flipped
on the lights but they didn't work. Instead of waiting until the next
day -- the other time was from well over an hour away -- they packed
everything up and went 6 miles to Marinette (who must have been on the
road that night) for the rest of game.
Adam Wesoloski
Pulaski, Wisconsin
*********** Greg Koenig writes from Colorado Springs…
Check out the list below from Colorado Preps. This is a list of
Colorado high school teams that, as of Wednesday evening, had to cancel
their games this week because of Covid (positive cases or quarantine
issues) or not having enough players. At least one more was added to
the list today. Manitou Springs ended up cancelling their season
without ever having played a game. I am hoping that things will settle
down and we'll get to play our spring season. There are 10 teams in the
1A classification, including the Ellicott Thunderhawks (our school),
who opted for the spring season. CHSAA informed the ADs today that 8 of
the 10 will make the spring season playoffs. I like our chances. Our
kids are making BIG strides in the weight room, and I've been able to
recruit a few athletes. We are going to have some big young kids up
front and a couple of very good wings. It will be interesting to see
how our kids do coming out of basketball and wrestling season right
before our first practice on February 25.
Teams that have cancelled games this week - not all are covid - does
not include many teams from past weeks such as Manitou Springs, Middle
Park & Summit
Columbine
Eaglecrest
Chaparral
Rock Canyon
Douglas County
Highlands Ranch
Thornton
Palmer Ridge
Fort Morgan
Thompson Valley
Limon
McClave
Hi Plains
Kit Carson
Pinnacle
Weldon Valley
Idalia
Center
Coronado
Cotopaxi
ThunderRidge
Walsh
Sangre De Cristo
*********** Hugh,
Well, if Army can beat Navy at Michie Stadium this year it appears the
Army-Air Force game (that will now take place AFTER the Army-Navy game)
will be THE game in determining the winner of the CIC trophy.
Hey, it's 2020.
The democrat/socialists and their narrative have successfully brought
this country to the brink of another Civil War. Albeit a
bloodless one, but a bloody one can't be too far down the road if they
continue their lying, cheating, stealing, and dividing.
Sean Connery fit the suave, debonair, cool, character of James Bond in
Ian Fleming's 007 film adaptations, but Daniel Craig hit the nail on
the head of the darker aspects of 007's character in Fleming's books.
However, Connery's acting skills could take on a wider array of
characters in film which made him such a remarkable actor, and probably
why that beer can is now worth so much money.
Harbaugh has already won at the professional and collegiate levels.
Only a couple other levels left!
Thankfully we don't live in a blue state. My family from CA will
be joining us for Thanksgiving down here in the Lone Star state.
Haven't been involved in a game delayed by an electrical outage, but
have been involved in a couple other interesting delays. A
lightning delay in Columbus, OH at the start of a 7:30 pm game
(required 30 minutes). Returned to the field after the all clear
only to get delayed again in the second quarter (another required 30
minutes). Returned to the field after the second all-clear and
finished the second quarter. Went in at half but got delayed again
right before going out (another required 30 minute delay).
Returned to the field after the third all-clear and was able to
finish the third quarter until...you guessed it! Score was tied
at the time so we couldn't just call it. Finally got back out to
win and finish the game at 11:30.
The other weird one was due to an officials crew mix-up on an away
game. Couldn't reschedule because too many coaches and players on
BOTH teams wouldn't be able to make it on that Saturday. The
opposing coach/AD didn't want to call it a No Contest. We ended
up waiting for an officials crew to complete a game a few miles away.
Started the game at 9:30. Thankfully we played it with a
running clock in the second half, but still got back to our school at
midnight. I didn't get home until 1:30 that morning because I got
pulled over for a busted tail light. Winning the game took the
edge off that whole ordeal.
I have a name for you. One of the best high school linemen I've
ever coached, and a truly outstanding young man. Jeremiah
Johnson. And as rugged an individual as his namesake.
Enjoy your weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Mark May played his high school ball in the
upstate New York town of Oneonta, not far from Cooperstown, where the
baseball Hall of Fame is located.
He played his college ball at Pitt, where in his senior years he was a
unanimous All-American and won the Outland Trophy. An offensive tackle,
he did not permit a single sack in his last two years of college play.
Those were very good Pitt teams, finishing in the Top Ten three of his
four years. Like him, eight of his teammates his senior year -
Dwight Collins, Jimbo Covert, Hugh Green, Russ Grimm, Ricky Jackson,
Tim Lewis, Bill Maas and Dan Marino - played in the NFL.
He was the first draft choice of the Washington Team That Shall Not Be
Named, and played with them for nine seasons as part of one of the most
famous offensive lines in NFL history.
With the Washington No-Names, he won two Super Bowl rings and played in
a Pro Bowl. He is among the Top 80 Redskins (sorry, but that’s its
name) of all time.
He played one year with the Chargers and two years with the Cardinals,
and then retired to embark on a broadcasting career.
From 2001 until 2015, he was an analyst on ESPN’s college football
studio shows, and became popular for the back-and-forth between him and
Lou Holtz.
In 2017, he was let go by ESPN as part of a major cost-cutting move.
Mark May is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MARK MAY
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
TOM WALLS - WINNIPAG, MANITOBA
*********** The guy used to drive me nuts with his ND diatribes, but
his exchanges with Coach Holtz were memorable.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** Joe "Fired for being an "Old Fart" Moore was his O-Line
Coach at Pitt...Coach Moore is given quite a lot of honor among the
Hawkeyes (He was Coach Ferentz's HS coach!)...Joe Moore award is really
kind of cool in that its given to a team's O-Line as a unit!
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
Joe Moore’s book “Personal Foul,” in which he tells the story of how
Bob Davie let him go, and then about his having to sue Notre Dame for
age discrimination is a sad one, and a dark smirch on Bob Davie’s
record. I’d like to think that if he were to do it over again,
he’d treat Coach Moore a lot differently.
*********** Coach,
Oneonta is the first place that I saw the double wing. I was coaching a
9th grade team and we scrimmaged their JV team. 56 and 47 C went for a
touchdown each time they ran it. That was not the game that caused me
to think, “If I am ever an OC, that is the offence we will run.” That
occurred two years latter, when as a varsity assistant, we played
Corning West and they took the opening kickoff, drive for 7 minutes,
scored, then got an onside kick to put together a 5 minute drive.
We did not call an offensive play until the second quarter.
I also remember your story about the delayed game. What you left out of
the retelling was how you and Coach Bridge stayed up all night
reviewing the film and adjusting the wrist coaches. Another example of
how valuable the wrist coaches are.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** QUIZ: This is the amazing story of a man who was a good
football player. Not a great one. He might have become a great football
player, but fate took him in other directions, to a life almost
indescribable.
He was born in Italy in 1908, and came to the United States with his
family when he was 11. The family settled in the town of Three Oaks,
Michigan, in the southwest corner of the state, almost on the Indiana
line. Changing his name Giuseppe to the more American “Joe,” he became
a high school star in four sports, and so proficient in the English
language and so free of an accent that he delivered the valedictory at
his graduation.
He was recruited by Michigan, but his family’s being Catholic gave
Notre Dame the edge, and although he quit once when Irish coach Knute
Rockne moved him to the line, he returned and earned a spot in the
backfield.
In his junior season, 1929, he was a standout as the irish, playing all
their games on the road while their new stadium was under construction,
went 9-0. Powerfully built at 5-11 and 215, he was fast and quite
agile, and after flying through the air to score against Carnegie Tech,
he earned the nickname - “Jumping Joe” - that would follow him
though life.
In 1930, he returned an SMU kickoff to score the very first touchdown
in the new stadium (the same one, with alterations over the years, that
they play in today).
With the Irish 5-0, they travelled to Philadelphia to play once-beaten
Penn in front of more than 80,000 spectators - the largest crowd ever
to watch a football game in the city - and the Irish won, 60-40, as he
rushed for 84 yards and scored a touchdown, his seventh of the season.
But it would be his last game as a Notre Damer.
When it was revealed that he had been married to a Protestant and then,
on top of it, had been divorced - breaking firm rules of the Catholic
school against both mixed marriage and divorce - not even Rockne’s
power could save him, and at his coach’s advice, he chose to withdraw
from school before he could be expelled.
The Green Bay Packers swooped in and signed him to a contract, but the
Bears’ George Halas, citing the “Red Grange Rule” against signing
players until their college class had graduated, forced the Packers let
him go, whereupon Halas, in defiance of the same rule, signed him to
play for the Bears. The league commissioner allowed him to play for the
Bears, provided they pay the league a $1,000 “fine” for every
game he played in.
He was paid a grand sum of $12,000 for the three games he played, but
he found that he was resented by his teammates, most of whom were
making $50 a game.
“I didn’t have 11 enemies. I had 21,” he said years later. “After a
while, I just got the ball and held it and stood there and said, ‘Come
on.’ Pretty soon, I was riding the bench. Then I quit pro football.”
He played one more game, an All-Star game in the Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum between his former Notre Dame teammates and an aggregation
called the West-South All-Stars, in which he scored three touchdowns in
the 20-7 Irish victory.
After the game, two representatives of professional wrestling
approached him and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. (Pro wrestling
was big even then, and at least as popular as the NFL)
In February of 1931, he was paid $3,500 for his first match. It
took him just 13 minutes to win it.
As he progressed in the sport, he became famous for a trademark move he
developed - the dropkick, jumping into the air as he kicked an opponent
in the chest with both feet, while landing on his own back.
He became one of the great attractions in the sport, in one year
wrestling 100 matches, and making anywhere from $12,000 to $24,000 a
match.
And then along came World War II, and with Italy one of our enemies, he
was approached by a newly-formed government agency - the Office
of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of today’s CIA, created by
an executive order by President Roosevelt in June 1942.
The OSS was in need of a person with his fluency in Italian and
his fighting ability to go under cover behind enemy lines.
In June of 1943 he signed on for $400 a month, and after training,
pretty much disappeared to those who knew him. To them, he was
touring Europe, entertaining troops by giving wrestling
exhibitions. But in reality, he was leading a double life under
the alias Joseph DeLeo, performing feats of bravery behind enemy
lines that few would ever know about. His monthly paychecks were
mailed in plain envelopes to his wife, who never knew where he
was or what he was doing. Not until the publication of OSS
Director Michael Burke’s book in 1984 - ten years after his death
- did she learn the true nature of his work. The entire time he was
away, his family would receive periodic letters from the OSS telling
them he was “well … and in fine spirits.”
After the War, he told no one of his exploits. His best wrestling days
were over, but he did train and develop Bobo Brazil, who became the
first black heavyweight wrestling champion.
Settling in Henderson, Kentucky to be near his wife’s mother, he went
back to school at nearby Evansville University to finish his college
degree, then spent his remaining years as a science teacher at
Henderson County High School. True to the OSS code of secrecy,
his students never knew of the things he’d seen and done.
He died in 1974 at 65.
FRIDAY,
NOVEMBER 6, 2020
“Wise men don’t need advice. Fools won’t take it.” Benjamin Franklin
*********** Apologies to anyone whom I may have failed to respond to
lately . The fact is, your email has been buried in the
incredible flood of political emails I’ve been receiving - hundreds per
day - and it’s taking me a lot of time to trash it all and get to the
emails that I need to answer.
*********** “Dancing With the Stars can count 130 million votes in five
minutes.” Rush Limbaugh
*********** With the great increase in games as more conferences come
on board, I’ve had to limit them to those that I give a sh—-
about. And in the great tradition of American politics that
says if you can’t win, change the rules, I’ve decided that (this
week at least) I am strictly picking winners - no point spreads
involved. We’ll see.
FRIDAY
MIAMI over NC State
SAN DIEGO STATE over San Jose State
BOISE STATE over BYU
SATURDAY
ARMY over Air Force
INDIANA over Michigan
SMU over Temple
ARIZONA STATE over USC
TEXAS over West Virginia
VIRGINIA TECH over Liberty
MEMPHIS over South Florida
EAST CAROLINA over Tulane
TULSA over Navy
NORTH CAROLINA over Duke
NORTHWESTERN over Nebraska
IOWA over Michigan State
LOUISIANA over Arkansas State
BOSTON COLLEGE over Syracuse
FLORIDA over Georgia
CINCINNATI over Houston
PENN STATE over Maryland
MINNESOTA over Illinois
MISSISSIPPI STATE over Vanderbilt
OKLAHOMA STATE over Kansas State
UTAH over Arizona
FLORIDA STATE over Pitt
TEXAS A & M over South Carolina
IOWA STATE over Baylor
UCLA over Colorado
CLEMSON over Notre Dame
OREGON over Stanford
ARKANSAS over Tennessee
COASTAL CAROLINA over South Alabama
OREGON STATE over Washington State
CAL over Washington
HAWAII over New Mexico
*********** NFHS HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
FRIDAY NIGHT
GEORGIA - 7:30 EST
GRAYSON (7-0) VS BROOKWOOD (6-1)
Just had a chance to watch Grayson, Georgia High, whose Friday night
game against Parkview I’d recorded. Grayson is good. (Duh.) They
were the top team in Georgia 7A even before Jake Garcia joined them -
Garcia is the California QB who, after his state postponed the season,
moved 2300 miles with his father to play in Valdosta, Georgia. The
state association ruled him ineligible to play at Valdosta, but somehow
or other ruled it was okay for him to play for Grayson, so there you
are. Bob’s your uncle.
Garcia is good. With just two days’ practice at his new school, he
looked pretty good. (One of the ugly aspects of today’s generic spread
offenses is that a kid can be brought in and adapt to the system
overnight. Sounds like the NFL, doesn’t it?) With Garcia, Grayson is
really, really good.
But even more than their new QB, I was impressed by Grayson’s ace
running back, a kid named Phil Mafah. He’s big (6-1, 215), with
power and breakaway speed, and he’s committed to Clemson.
GEORGIA - 7:30 EST
LOWNDES COUNTY (6-0) VS COLQUITT COUNTY (5-0)
TEXAS - 7:30 CST
DE SOTO (4-0) VS CEDAR HILL (4-0)
IDAHO - 7:00 MST
HIGHLAND, Pocatello (8-2) VS ROCKY MOUNTAIN, Meridian (6-0)
ARIZONA - 7:00 MST
HAMILTON, Chandler (4-0) VS HIGHLAND, Gilbert (4-1)
*********** Sean Connery is dead. RIP. I remember the first time
I saw the guy. I was in a theatre in Winchester, Virginia, and I was
watching “From Russia With Love” and thinking, “This guy is cool.
Really cool.”
Later, I would have a personal experience with Sean Connery/James Bond.
The brand, not the person. At the brewery where I once worked, I
was involved in negotiating for the rights to use “James Bond” and
“007” for a new malt beverage we planned to introduce.
It came to be called “James Bond’s 007 Special Blend,” and it was, to
use our advertising geniuses’ words, “A Subtle Blend of Premium Beer
and Malt Liquor.” Yeah. A “blend” of our Colt 45 Malt Liquor and
A-1 Beer, which we brewed at our Phoenix brewery. That may have
been the first time anyone ever called A-1 a “premium beer.” (A beer
guy myself, to be honest, I don’t recall ever drinking the “blend”.)
There were several different cans - I think there were seven, but
I’m not sure - each following the basic design of a nice-looking woman
(James Bond was, uh, handy with the ladies) with a different London
scene in the background.
The product never sold worth a crap. We put it out into a test
market or two and when it flopped, we pulled it off the market.
There’s where the story actually starts. We just ordered one initial
“run” of cans, and most of them, as was the usual practice, were
drained and then thrown away, to wind up in some dump someplace. And
there - this was before aluminum cans - to rust away.
That wouldn’t have happened today, when there’s a fairly active group
of beer can collectors, but no one then thought to hang onto
their 007 cans. No one except me. I kept a few around
just as souvenirs.
Now, more than 50 years later, as rare collector’s items, those empty
James Bond cans are valued at $400 apiece.
*********** I like to shoot pool. I’m nowhere near as good as I’d
like to be, but who is? (One thing I learned very early was that before
you start getting the idea that you’re pretty good - there’s always
somebody better.)
I’ve found that a lot of lessons from pool can be applied to football,
such as these:
Amateurs
practice a shot until they make it; pros practice it until they can’t
miss.
The easiest way
to win is to not let the other guy shoot.
*********** I’ve read in more that one place that with jobs open in
Houston and Atlanta, Jim Harbaugh could very well be coaching in the
NFL next year.
He’s certainly good enough.
Consider: Michigan is the first place where he could be considered less
than successful. Yet at Ann Arbor, he’s 48-19 at this
point. That’s .716, which is as good as it gets in the NFL, and
at most colleges would be good enough to get a coach a lifetime
contract - faculty tenure even.
But - to quote the late, great Bo Schembechler - this is Michigan, son,
and they aren’t satisfied with .716. Hey - that’s only 8 to
9 wins a season! Plus, he’s 0-5 against Ohio State. And, most
recently, he’s fresh off a whipping by “Little Brother” (as one
dumb Michigan player once publicly referred to Michigan State).
Michigan isn’t likely to fire him, because he is a Michigan man, and
besides, his buyout is extremely large. But with only two years
left on his contract, there appears to be some dithering about
extending it.
My assessment is that the problem at Michigan is not Harbaugh. I
suspect that there is something going on there - perhaps someone in a
position of power who isn’t truly committed to success on the
field. That could be the President - who opposed playing football
- and it’s perhaps understandable at a university that ranks
among America’s best public universities. But it might be leading
Harbaugh to wonder if it’s possible to get the job done at Michigan.
Which could lead to Harbaugh’s seeing the NFL as offering him a better
chance for success.
*********** Congratulations to Tommy Tuberville, a longtime football
coach who made it to the top of our profession (Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas
Tech, Cincinnati), once being named College Football Coach of the Year
and twice being named SEC Coach of the Year.
He’s now Senator Tuberville, a Republican from Alabama.
*********** Looks as if we won’t be having Thanksgiving at our place
this year. One of our daughters and her husband and their three
kids live near Seattle, about 3-1/2 hours from us, and typically
they’d spend three or four days with us, just relaxing and socializing.
And they’ve always enjoyed spending some time across the river in
Portland, checking out stores and restaurants.
To protect us old-timers during this time of the Wuhan Flu panic, they
offered to spend some time cooped up (quarantined, I guess you’d call
it) in advance of coming, but while we appreciated their
thoughtfulness and concern for us old farts, we didn’t feel right about
it. Come on, man — two of the grandkids are college kids who’ll
be home on break. How in good conscience could we ask them to cloister
at home for a week or so?
Not much sense coming here anyway, since there’s not much to see or do
in Portland these days. Maybe you’ve heard something about their
days on end of “mostly peaceful protests,” but unless you’re into
looking at plywood storefronts, covered with graffiti, and stepping
over and around homeless bums as you walk the streets, Portland
is lacking in attractions.
And then, Plan B hit me: maybe at least we could all meet someplace
halfway for dinner.
Yes! I thought. Hawks Prairie! It’s in Lacey, Washington,
just north of Olympia, the state Capitol, and it’s about halfway.
Often, when driving back home from a visit to the kids, we’d stop there
for breakfast. Except for the absence of scrapple, it served about as
good a breakfast as I’ve found anywhere.
Short story: my wife called to see if we’d need reservations - and
found the number was disconnected. Further investigation disclosed that
they’d shut down back in February.
I guess this was supposed to cushion our disappointment - the article
about Hawks Prairie’s closing said that after the building was
demolished there would be a Chik-fil-A and a Taco Bell in its place.
Talk about the death of small business. How many thousands of one-off,
family-owned restaurants in the US have been - or will be - wiped out
by this China Virus hysteria, to wind up being replaced by chain
restaurants?
*********** Sounds like my kind of politician. El Paso County
(Colorado) Commissioner Longino Gonzalez had an easily understandable
response to the Governor’s decision to increase restrictions on people
and businesses:
“No disrespect to the Governor, but he can take his increased
restrictions mandate and stick it.”
*********** Since Governor Jay Dipshit (D, Washington) shut down the
Evergreen State back in March, the bastard’s never been seen without a
mask. Anywhere. But Tuesday night, his reelection secure,
he gave his acceptance speech without one.
*********** MACtion is back! The MAC returned to action
Wednesday night - (last night, as I write this.)
WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S GAMES
Western Michigan 58, Akron 13
Kent State 27, Eastern Michigan 23
Buffalo 49, Northern Illinois 30
Central Michigan 30, Ohio 27
Miami 38, Ball State 31
Toledo 38, Bowling Green 3
MAC REACTIONS:
One of the things I like best about the MAC is that there are no
dynasties and no perennial cellar dwellers. I do worry a bit about
Akron and Bowling Green, but otherwise I doubt that there’s a
conference in football that over the course of a decade or so has
experienced such parity.
*** With 1:17 left in the first half of the Ohio-Central Michigan game,
the stadium lights went out. Ever resourceful, the people in charge of
the game decided to send the teams in as if it actually were halftime,
and - showing great faith in the local electricians - play the
remaining 1:17 when they came out. Then, they’d go right into the third
quarter.
Things worked out as planned. When they came back from “halftime,” Ohio
scored just before the end of the “half,” and then, just minutes later,
scored again by returning the “second half” kickoff for a TD.
Sideline announcer Quint Kessenich sounded awestruck as he said, “I’ve
never seen a power outage.” (I think he meant at a game.)
I have. I’ve coached in one. It was 2014, in Ocean Shores,
Washington - Raymond against North Beach.
Nothing out of the ordinary took place in the first half, and we went
in tied, 6-6.
But as we (North Beach) prepared to go out for the second half, a
couple of local firemen whom I recognized pushed past us in an obvious
hurry, headed to the box on the back wall that contained the
controls that turned our lights on and off. They quickly turned
them off. Obviously, there was some sort of problem.
Told there was no chance of restoring light that night, the officials
and the two athletic directors decided - after first making sure that
they could get officials - to resume the game the next day (Saturday)
at 1 PM.
The Raymond team got on their bus and headed home, about an hour and a
half away.
Meanwhile, we called for a 10 AM practice, and our head coach’s wife,
Kris Bridge, immediately assembled enough moms to prepare a 9 AM
breakfast for the kids.
The next day, kids ate, we held a walk-through to try to correct some
things we’d seen as we'd looked at video well into the early morning,
and then went in and got dressed.
At one PM, eighteen hours after the opening kickoff, an even bigger
crowd than the night before - word spreads quickly in a small town -
was on hand for the second half kickoff.
At the end of regulation the score was still 6-6.
We whiffed in the top half of the first overtime period, and when
Raymond stalled inside our 10 and attempted a field goal - we blocked
it, and we went into second overtime.
In the top half, we held Raymond. But in the bottom half, we
struggled, finally getting to fourth-and-four on the 19. The
call, for those of you familiar with our Open Wing terminology: West
Atlantic Strong Sprint Brown Smash.
Touchdown.
Our quarterback made a beautiful throw on the run, to the corner of the
end zone, and our slot back made a great catch.
It took our players a moment to realize what had just happened, and
then they went nuts.
Interestingly, we’d scored on the very first play of the game - a
return of the opening kickoff - and the very last. The two plays were
19 and a half hours apart.
*** Mike Golic, Jr., who is off to a career as an analyst, made a great
"catch" after they called an illegal blindside block on a receiver and
he
noticed that it had occurred on a mesh, with receivers crossing; but
then, not too much later,
I have him a five-yard penalty for saying “Him and Will Evans ran into
each other.” And to think that him is a Notre Dame grad.
*** Although in their own territory, all Ball State had to do was kill
40 seconds and they’d be in overtime with Miami. But no-o-o-o-o… They
had to throw the g-d ball, and the QB, sprinting to the right,
threw off balance - right to a Miami defender. It took Miami just 26
seconds to punch it in and win, 38-31.
*** Great scheduling, ESPN. We tuned into the Toledo-Bowling Green game
and found a women’s volleyball match going on. And on. And
on.We finally got the football game with 8:20 left in the first
quarter.
And, with Toledo already ahead, 12-0, the game was as good as over.
*** A NICE TRIBUTE TO THE MAC FROM A VETERAN COACH -
I’m so glad the MAC football is back. It really is an important
conference. Not just for Wednesday night football either.
We are only 45 minutes from Northern Illinois University so we have got
to know a lot of the coaches and teams in the MAC over the years.
A lot of the coaches in the MAC really love it. It’s out of the big
national scrutiny so they can experiment a little bit and actually
socialize a little more than the big boys can afford to.
Think of all the coaches that started there. I’m sure you have a ton of
examples.
A few years ago you would have said the top two coaches in NCAA were
Urban Meyer and Nick Saban. Both of their first head coaching jobs were
in the MAC. Toledo for Saban and Bowling Green for Meyer.
The only negatives seem to be the money and the turnover. Assistant
coaches don’t make as much as a veteran high school teacher would.
Urban Meyer said at a clinic once, you need to leave before you get
fired. That’s what the coach he took over for, Gary Blackney told him.
Blackney started out very well at Bowling Green. Won a lot of games and
the family loved the community. Decided to stay, hit a downturn, got
fired. That’s what led to Urban getting hired.
Take care,
John Bothe
Oregon, Illinois
****Watching a MAC game, I was mystified when after a field goal, the
referee made
the illegal procedure signal and called “Illegal formation on the
defense.” And then he said something about illegal formation
against the center.
Remember this, from Tuesday?
RULE 9-1-2.o. When a team is in scrimmage kick formation, a defensive
player may not initiate contact with the snapper until one second has
elapsed after the snap.
Hey ref - a guy clearly hit the center before a second had elapsed.
That’s a FIFTEEN yard penalty.
*********** ESPN: Sports, it's what unites us
: ESPN, using sports to divide us
*********** A name that could make you decide that maybe you weren’t
cut out to be a football announcer after all..
Tevye Schuettpelz-Rohl, Kicker, Air Force
This, from John Bothe, in Oregon, Illinois: Outstanding XC runner
from Rockford Christian.
D’Artagnon Beaver.
If anyone has trouble with the pronunciation think Three Musketeers
(While we’re on the subject of Three Musketeers, back in the 1950s
USC had a nice running back named Aramis Dandoy.)
*********** Hugh,
On this election day I continue to pray for this country and its future.
Sad to hear about the passing of Herb Adderley. With the passing
of all these former NFL greats lately I'm reminded too often of my age.
Joe Biden wouldn't know a chicken from a duck. Actually, poor ol'
Joe likely doesn't know what either of them are.
Army needs to stick to its "guns" this week and bludgeon the Air Force
by running the football.
Apparently the Minnesota defense is younger than I previously
thought..., and they need a kicker.
Unfortunately we won't know how good Notre Dame's defense is without
having to face Trevor Lawrence. Clemson's backup QB made a good
showing in his first start, but he is still a true freshman and will be
facing that same Irish defense. The key for ND will be how to
stop the Tigers' talented RB, and how well the Irish O Line will fare
vs. Clemson's front four.
Regardless of whether USC and UCLA can't have parents/families attend
the game folks in CA better get used to small gatherings. They
may have to change that game to a high school stadium.
Finally, I will definitely tune in to your Zoom clinic tomorrow.
Although we have lights at our school we aren't allowed to use
them for practices which means practices end earlier giving me the
opportunity to get home by 6:30.
Hopefully we will have an enjoyable week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Marcus Lattimore could possibly
have become one of the greatest running backs ever to come out of the
South, in a class with the likes of Bo Jackson and Hershel
Walker. As it was, he was pretty doggone good.
He and his hopes of a long and successful football career were
dealt a devastating blow, yet by all accounts he has moved on in
pursuit of more important life goals.
He came out of powerhouse Byrnes High School in Duncan, South Carolina,
where in his senior year he was a high school All-American and was
named South Carolina’s Mister Football.
He was recruited to play at South Carolina by Steve Spurrier, and his
rival in Columbia would mark the start of the greatest era in the
history of Gamecocks’ football. His freshman year, South Carolina
would win 9 games for the first time in nine years, and for each
of the next three years they would win 11 games.
As a freshman, he was an immediate sensation.
In his second game, against Georgia, he carried 37 times for 182 yards
and two touchdowns; against Alabama, then ranked #1, he carried 23
times for 93 yards; against Tennessee, he rushed 29 times for 184
yards; and against Florida, he carried 40 times for 212 yards.
In the process, South Carolina won the SEC East, and in the
championship game, he carried 16 times for 84 yards.
He was injured and played little in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, but at
season’s end he was named NCAA Freshman of the Year. In all, he rushed
for 1.197 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also caught 29 passes for 412
yards.
His sophomore season started out great - in the season opener against
East Carolina, he gained 112 yards on 23 carries, and scored three
touchdowns; against Georgia, he gained 176 yards on 27 carries; against
Navy, he rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns; against Vanderbilt,
he rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown, and had 73 yard receiving,
including a long touchdown. But in the seventh game of the season,
against Mississippi State, a torn ligament in his knee finished him for
the year.
In his junior year, he appeared to have made a strong comeback from his
injury, rushing for 110 yards on 23 carries against Vanderbilt. He
continued with strong performances against UAB, Kentucky and
Georgia. The latter game, a South Carolina win, marked the first
time in school history that the Gamecocks had beaten Georgia three
straight years. But three weeks later, against Tennessee, he suffered
what has often been describe as a “gruesome” injury to his right knee,
dislocating the knee, tearing every ligament, and injuring nerves.
In his three seasons at South Carolina, he had rushed for 2,677 yards
and 38 touchdowns. But even more important, he had helped
establish the Gamecocks as an SEC power.
At the end of his junior season, he announced that he was declaring
himself eligible for the NFL draft, and he was taken in the fourth
round by the San Francisco 49ers.
He was signed to a four year contract, but in training camp he was
placed on injured reserve, and a year later he announced his
retirement, without ever playing a down of professional football.
An avowed Christian, he married his high school sweetheart. He coached
high school football in the Columbia, South Carolina area, and in 2018
joined Will Muschamp’s staff as Director of Player Development, working
with South Carolina’s players on career development, financial literacy
and life skills.
He is a member of the University of South Carolina’s Hall of Fame.
Marcus Lattimore was recently hired as running backs coach and “life
coach” at Lewis and Clark College, an academically selective D-III
program in Portland, Oregon.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MARCUS LATTIMORE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JASON MENSING - WHITEFORD, MICHIGAN
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He played his high school ball in the upstate New
York town of Oneonta, not far from Cooperstown, where the baseball Hall
of Fame is located.
He played his college ball at Pitt, where in his senior years he was a
unanimous All-American and won the Outland Trophy. An offensive tackle,
he did not permit a single sack in his last two years of college play.
Those were very good Pitt teams, finishing in the Top Ten three of his
four years. Like him, eight of his senior year teammates -
Dwight Collins, Jimbo Covert, Hugh Green, Russ Grimm, Ricky Jackson,
Tim Lewis, Bill Maas and Dan Marino - went on to play in the NFL..
He was the first draft choice of the Washington Team That Shall Not Be
Named, and played with them for nine seasons as part of one of the most
famous offensive lines in NFL history.
With the Washington No-Names, he won two Super Bowl rings and played in
a Pro Bowl. He is among the Top 80 Redskins (sorry, but that’s its
name)
of all time.
He played one year with the Chargers and two years with the Cardinals,
and then retired to embark on a broadcasting career.
From 2001 until 2015, he was an analyst on ESPN’s college football
studio shows, and became popular for the back-and-forth between him and
Lou Holtz.
In 2017, he was let go by ESPN as part of a major cost-cutting move.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
TUESDAY,
NOVEMBER 3, 2020
“My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong,
to be set right.” Carl Schurz
*********** THE WEEKEND'S
COLLEGE RESULTS (THIS WEEK I '"FOLLOWED THE
SCIENCE" - I FLIPPED A COIN)
The
coin's record: 23 WINNERS, 18 LOSERS
On those game on which I disagreed strongly with the coin toss, I
was a stellar 5-4
(THE COIN'S PICKS ARE IN BOLD)
FRIDAY NIGHT
W - MINNESOTA AT MARYLAND +17-1/2
(DISAGREE-L)
W - EAST CAROLINA +18-1/2 AT TULSA
L - HAWAII AT WYOMING +2-1/2
SATURDAY
L - BOSTON COLLEGE + 31-1/2 AT CLEMSON
W - GEORGIA AT KENTUCKY + 14-1/2
W - MEMPHIS +6 AT CINCINNATI
L - MICHIGAN STATE +23-1/2 AT MICHIGAN (DISAGREE - W)
W - KANSAS STATE +3-1/2 AT WEST VIRGINIA (DISAGREE-L)
W - COASTAL CAROLINA AT GEORGIA STATE +1-1/2
L - IOWA STATE AT KANSAS +28-1/2
L - UTSA + 6-1/2 AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC
L - TEMPLE +1 AT TULANE
W - PURDUE AT ILLINOIS +5
W - WAKE FOREST AT SYRACUSE +9
L - UCF AT HOUSTON +3-1/2
W - RICE +3-1/2 AT SOUTHERN MISS
L - TROY + 5-1/2 AT ARKANSAS STATE
W - NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA TECH +20 (DISAGREE-L)
W - INDIANA AT RUTGERS +13 (DISAGREE-W)
L - UAB AT LOUISIANA TECH +9-1/2
W - TCU AT BAYLOR +2-1/2
W - LSU AT AUBURN +3 (DISAGREE-L)
L - NORTHWESTERN + 3-1/2 AT IOWA
L - TEXAS +3 AT OKLAHOMA STATE
W - OLE MISS AT VANDERBILT +17
W - APP STATE AT UL MONROE +31-1/2
L - VIRGINIA TECH AT LOUISVILLE +3 (DISAGREE-W)
L - BOISE STATE AT AIR FORCE +10 (DISAGREE-W)
L - MISSISSIPPI STATE +32 AT ALABAMA
W - NEW MEXICO +9-1/2 AT SAN JOSE STATE
L - CHARLOTTE +11 AT DUKE
W - OHIO STATE AT PENN STATE +5-1/2
L - ARKANSAS +11-1/2 AT TEXAS A & M
L - MISSOURI +11-1/2 AT FLORIDA (DISAGREE-W)
W - NAVY +16 AT SMU
W - NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA +7
W - OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS TECH +16-1/2
W - LOUISIANA AT TEXAS STATE +16-1/2
W - SAN DIEGO STATE AT UTAH STATE +7
L - WESTERN KENTUCKY +28-1/2 AT BYU
W - NEVADA AT UNLV +10
*********** FAIR WARNING: Anyone who’s seen how I’ve been doing trying
to beat the oddsmakers every weekend knows about my ability to pick for
(or against) the spread, so with that in mind, consider this as nothing
more than political observation from an “elderly gentleman”:
If voter enthusiasm matters…
Not since 1952 and the “I Like Ike!” wave have I seen such enthusiasm
for a presidential candidate - nothing even close to what I’ve been
seeing for President Trump at rallies, in caravans, in boat
parades. And on the other hand, I can’t remember ever
seeing so little enthusiasm for a candidate as I’ve seen for Joe
Biden.
I was too young to remember Roosevelt in 1944, but I did a term paper
in graduate school on his selection of a running mate that year (who
turned out to be Harry S. Truman). FDR was dying, and everybody knew it
(he died a couple of months after inauguration), and he wasn’t up to
much campaigning. But he didn’t really have to do any: he was the
acknowledged leader, and we were at war, and besides, he was The
Champ - he’d been President for 12 years, and was running for a fourth
term. That’s certainly not Joe Biden, whose reluctance to give
everything he had to generate enthusiasm among his supporters will keep
historians busy for years.
*********** Maybe you’ve heard of Indiana University of
Pennsylvania It’s a state school and it’s in the town of Indiana
(Pennsylvania). Its very confusing. There’s also a
California University in the town of California, Pennsylvania.
Maybe the confusion has something to do with it, but enrollment is way
down, and budget constraints have resulted in Friday’s announcement
that the university has to lay off 81 faculty members at the end of the
year.
It’s worse than it sounds. This, from the story:
The cuts
at the school with 10,067 students would eliminate the entire
faculties of several departments, including journalism and public
relations, information systems and decision sciences and developmental
studies, Chambers said.
Oh, the humanity. How will the world manage without all those
journalists?
https://triblive.com/local/regional/indiana-university-of-pennsylvania-notifies-81-faculty-members-of-pending-job-losses/
*********** Herb Adderley died over the past weekend. He
was, of course, a Hall of Fame corner for the Packers, and one of the
best who ever played the position. But - not to brag - I remember
him from his high school days at Philly’s Northeast High, where he and
his backfield mate, Angelo Coia, were one of the best pairs of high
school running backs ever - anywhere.
Adderley went on to Michigan State and from there to the Packers.
Coia, who was actually faster than Adderley (he was city champion in
the 220) went to USC, transferred to The Citadel, and played seven
years in the NFL.
I had a friend in Baltimore named Gus Jacobs, a country guy from
Eastern Kentucky who had become friends with Herb Adderley in the
Army. Gus was a huge Colts’ fan. He wasn’t any better
connected than I was, and he didn’t have any more money, but somehow -
I never asked - he had Colts’ season tickets. And he was such a
fan that he would never take his own mother to a game because she
wasn’t a passionate enough fan to suit him. In Gus’ own words, “She’s
not worthy.”
When the Packers would come to town for their annual meeting with the
Colts (they were in the same division then), Gus would get together
with Herb Adderley, and then share stories with me afterward. Gus
said he was a great guy, and that was good enough for me.
At the end of his career, Herb Adderley played a couple of years with
the Cowboys, and he earned a Super Bowl ring, but he remained a
Packer to the end. In Jerry Kramer’s book, “Distant Replay,” written
with Dick Schaap, he told the authors, “As far as I’m concerned, I
never played for the Dallas Cowboys. I’m the only guy in the country
who has a Dallas Cowboys Super Bowl ring and doesn’t even wear it.”
*********** MACtion is back! And carving out a special
niche for itself, the last of the Group of 5 conferences has apparently
staked out one night of the week for MACtion - WEDNESDAY!
6 PM (EASTERN)
Western Michigan at Akron
Eastern Michigan @ Kent State
7 PM (EASTERN)
Buffalo at Northern Illinois
Ohio at Central Michigan
Ball State at Miami
8 PM (EASTERN)
Bowling Green at Toledo
*********** To try to show what a Philly guy he is - wait, I thought he
was a miner’s son, from Scranton - Joe Biden addressed a handful of
people in Philadelphia on Sunday and said, “I married a Philly girl,”
then added, “and by the way, I’ve got my Eagles’ jacket on.”

He either underestimates the intelligence of Philadelphia sports fans,
or he really is losing it, because that was no Eagle on his jacket,
Philadelphia or otherwise. Mr. Biden is a Delaware guy, and that
, as wing-T guys know, was a Delaware Blue Hen.
*********** He may not be Tua, but he’s not bad, and Taulia Tagovailoa,
Tua’s younger brother, became one more in the growing list of transfer
quarterbacks who are turning the football world upside-down by bringing
respectability to former downtrodden programs. All he did Friday night
was bring Maryland back from a 17-point deficit to send the game with
Minnesota into OT, and then win it. His contribution: 26 of 35 for 394
yards and three touchdowns, plus 64 yards rushing for two more TDs.
*********** When I lived in Frederick, Maryland, Damascus (Maryland)
was just a dot on the map, in the middle of lush farmland. But
the area has grown in the decades since I left, and this past weekend,
there were two former Damascus High players making names for themselves
on the national football scene - Maryland senior running back Jake
Funk, and Clemson defensive lineman Bryan Bresee, a 6-5, 290
freshman. Against Minnesota, Funk scored Maryland’s first
touchdown of the season on the receiving end of a pass from Taulia
Tagovialoa, and rushed 21 times for 221 yards and another
touchdown. Bresee sacked BC quarterback Jurkovec in the end zone
for the safety that finally killed off the Eagles’ chances for an upset.
*********** Minnesota’s Mohamed Ibrahim is a special running back. Kid
scored four touchdowns against Maryland - in the first half.
*********** Enough of this virtual officiating. They are
making an unusually large number of bad calls on the field, and
despite the ability to review plays from a wide variety of angles, we
are also seeing an inexcusable number of blown reviews. I
am thinking of some game-changing poor calls in East Carolina-Tulsa,
Texas-Oklahoma State and Michigan State-Minnesota.
*********** Penn State faced a third-and-two on their own side of
midfield, and rather than go for the first down, they went long and the
pass was incomplete. And then, on fourth and two - they WENT FOR
IT!
And then one of the announcers attempted to cover for James Franklin by
saying that he knew his best chance to win was to keep the ball away
from Ohio State’s powerful offense.
Good idea. So please explain to me, then, why he wasted third
down.
*********** Tuned in to watch the Hawaii-Wyoming game - set the
recorder too, of course - only to find that some f—king Nascar race
still had 12 laps to go. It was on Fox and they were nice enough to
tell us that we could watch the football game on “FS2 and the Fox
Sports App.” Well, thanks a lot, I thought, as the race ended and then
I had to watch them interview various drivers, all wearing masks.
*********** Great name: Xazavian Yalladay, Wyoming.
*********** Can flag football in our high schools be far behind?
The crawler on the screen informed us that the Ontario Hockey League -
a junior amateur league that’s the hockey equivalent of AAA baseball or
FBS football will - out of an abundance of caution, I assume - outlaw
body checking. I had no idea that there was a connection between the
pandemic and rough hockey.
*********** I also saw that two female athletes, Sue Bird and Megan
Rapinoe are officially engaged.
*********** After the Maryland-Minnesota game, sideline guy Quent
Kessenich asked Taulia Tagovialoa the question of the day: “What
triggered the comeback?” One of these days I’d like to have a kid tell
him the truth: “How the f—k should I know? I was just out there like
everybody else, trying to do my best on every play.”
*********** Especially on field goals and extra points, I’m starting to
see people push the rule designed to protect the snapper to its limits
(and probably beyond). There’s going to be a lot of grief in some
quarters when a team blocks a kick and then gets penalized 15 yards.
RULE 9-1-2.o. When a team is in scrimmage kick formation, a defensive
player may not initiate contact with the snapper until one second has
elapsed after the snap.
*********** I think it was Kelly Stouffer doing the color for the
K-State-WVU game, but I got tired really fast of his clever jargon - a
guy weighed “a buck sixty-five”; a helmet is “a hat”; the ball is “the
rock.” Call it straight, Sam.
*********** Interesting story about KSU QB Will Howard. Kid’s
from Downingtown, Pennsylvania - west of Philadelphia - and he was
highly recruited. He is a big fan of Eagles’ QB Carson Wentz, and he
wanted to go where Wentz’ college coach was coaching now. That would
be Chris Klieman,now at Kansas State.
*********** Boston College’s Phil Jurkovec has two more years of
eligibility left after this one. Think he’ll wind up back at Notre
Dame? With the strange-ass stuff going on now, anything’s
possible.
*********** Sure hope you saw BC’s shift, from field goal formation to
under-center, that drew Clemson offside and got the Eagles a first
down. The holder, who shifted to under center, was John
Tessitore, son of play-by-play guy Joe Tessitore, who happened to be
calling the game. Considering that he is also a BC alum, I thought dad,
undoubtedly proud, handled the whole thing very professionally.
*********** At the Wake-Syracuse game, as precious thing Kelsey Riggs
breathlessly chatted away, a pick-six occurred down on the field and
she had to be interrupted in mid-chat so that the announcer could get
back to those of us who had tuned in to watch a football game.
*********** Okay, call me a science denier, but somehow the West
Virginia Mountaineer doesn’t look authentic wearing a mask.
*********** At least twice, I saw Clemson players commit penalties and
come right off the field. I admire that. That was always a rule
of mine, and my players knew it. It wasn’t meant to be
punishment, and they’d go right back out there after a play or two,
but I felt it was important to stress to everybody that we couldn’t
lose focus for even one play, or it could cost us a game.
*********** BC had to punt the ball three times before they got it
right. First, they kicked it down to the Clemson one, but a gunner
wasn’t set for a full second; then, they kicked it down to the one a
second time, but this time one of their men was holding. Finally,
they got it right and kicked to the 20, where it was fair caught.
Clemson was penalized for an illegal block in the back, so the ball was
spotted on the 10. All that for a net of nine yards.
*********** Did you check out Lovie Smith in that bright orange
form-fitting shirt? The guy is in great shape.
*********** Most of us have had one or two of those moments in our
careers where had a game gone the other way it could have changed the
course of our careers. That, it seems to me, is the point where
coaches of the calibre of Ed Orgeron, PJ Fleck and Mike Leach are
headed. They all jacked up their fans’ expectations, and now they’re
losing and they need wins. Badly. Yes, yes, I know - Ed Orgeron
won the national title last year. But we’re talking LSU, where
those fans aren’t happy with anything less.
*********** Wisdom from Gary Danielson: “The goal of a good pass rush
is to make you (the quarterback) uncomfortable.”
*********** Boise State’s all-conference QB Hank Bachmeier didn’t make
the trip to Air Force. They didn’t tell us why. No matter. His
sub, Jack Sears, a transfer from USC, threw a 75-yard touchdown pass on
the first play from scrimmage, and led Boise State to a convincing win.
*********** A great illustration of the difficulty of preparing
your team to play an unorthodox offense was the way Air Force opened
with two good scoring drives and then, once Boise adjusted to the
greater speed and execution that they hadn’t seen from their own scout
team, it was lights out for Air Force.
*********** They made cadet attendance at the Air Force-Boise game
optional, and as a result, the crowd at Air Force was very
sparse. I’m still trying to figure out why Air Force cadets in
attendance dress in BDU’s (camouflage).
*********** Brilliant observation from the announcing booth: “One thing
Boise State has to do is push the ball downfield.” Well, yeah.
*********** I see these highly-premature Heisman lists and I don’t see
Texas’ Sam Ehlinger on there. But I haven’t seen another QB that
I’d rather have on my team late in the game when we need a score.
*********** An SMU runner appeared to be down against Navy, but he knew
his knee had never touched, and he twisted away from the pack and ran
another 40 yards for a TD. Sure enough, review confirmed that he
wasn’t down.
*********** The end of the first half of the Florida-Missouri game got
pretty ugly, and the number of punches I saw thrown against guys with
helmets on confirmed my suspicions that academic standards might not be
all that high in the SEC.
*********** Navy tried their usual motion-and-shift routine on third
and short yardage, and SMU didn’t budge.
*********** SMU put 31 points on Navy - in the second quarter.
*********** One SMU runner outrushed the entire Navy team.
*********** With fourth and short and two seconds remaining in the
half, Ohio State took a knee to end things, and both teams headed
for the locker room. And then they were called back, because
someone, the type that could give enemas to flies, determined that
there was actually a split second remaining. Back came both teams, and
since the ball had turned over on downs, Penn State had one down. That
was enough time to make a 50-yard field goal.
*********** I’m getting tired of having sideline announcers with masks
on trying to talk to us. They might as well have socks stuffed in
their mouths.
*********** One of the best players I saw all day was Virginia’s
Keytaon Thompson. (Spelling is correct. Take it up with his
mother.) He is 6-4, maybe 215 and fast as hell.
He’s listed as a QB, but he wears Number 99 and against North Carolina
he played receiver,
tight end, running back - oh, and QB. He’s a New Orleans kid who
transferred from Mississippi State. (See, no matter how good he might
be, there’s just no place for his kind of skills in the Air Raid.
Besides, Mike Leach already know who his QB was going to be - brought
him all the way from the Pac-12.) He's not the starting QB at UVa, but
they sure are making use of him.
*********** UCLA and USC petitioned to have players’ families attend
games. Nope, said the LA Health Department. Not in the 91,000-seat Rose
Bowl. Or the 78,000-seat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
*********** My game to ref tonight was canceled, one of the teams had a
positive Covid test.
My 11th grade daughter was sent home to quarantine for two weeks since
she sits beside someone that tested positive. She cant go to
basketball or her other workouts till next week (14 days from
exposure). They were both wearing masks and at least 3 feet
apart. So my question is If masks work why was she sent home?
I guess I'll never understand this stuff.
I looked at the Spring Football League, I'm going to try to catch a
couple games
Hope you and Connie are well!
Dave Kemmick
Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania
*********** Coach,
I have been on a cold spell with the quizzes, I appreciate the softball
of Dick Vermeil this week to make me feel like I know some football
history.
Update in Michigan, we just finished our final week of the regular
season this past week and start the playoffs this week. We
have an all in format just for this year, the motive was just to ensure
everyone had an opportunity for another game. In all we
have had about 3% of the total games have a disruption due to covid
related cancellations. Almost all have had to do with
quarantining, as of know in our state there is no known transmission of
the disease during the course of play. In my mind
regardless of folks political view that supports the fact that playing
sports (if not sick) is best for young people. Case counts
and hospitalizations are spiking right now mostly in the SW part of the
state and the UP which had far less infections in the spring however,
my guess is it will be difficult to get the entire playoff in with the
political climate and this increase of infections we are
facing. However, I say that with the reality of just
completing our 6th game which I would have never guessed would have
happened either.
As a team this year we just finished 4-2 which we are really proud of,
we have started 6 different freshman at 7 positions and 3 different
sophomores at 4 spots, never in my career have I had more then 1
freshman ready to play and even those have been a rarity. In
addition, our QB got hurt in week 2 which has drastically reduced what
we have been able to do, we transitioned to a gun/pistol based version
of the double wing (certainly shares some commonality with your open
wing although I have never studied that package directly).
We have won 3 tight games and have managed to still average 33 points
per game. We open in the playoffs with Britton Deerfield
who we beat in a 2 point game just two weeks ago so our hands are full
tonight. Hopefully, we can make magic happen and keep covid away
to have a few more weeks of development with this young group with only
2 Seniors the future is really bright. I look forward when
I get removed from all the challenges of the season during the pandemic
to evaluate our adjustments we have made and truly either grow the
package or take a step back to our roots.
God Bless,
Jason Mensing
Head Football Coach
Whiteford High School
Whiteford, Michigan
*********** Hugh,
With the news that Trevor Lawrence has been tested positive for Covid,
and is out for tomorrow's game not only will the Tigers have to quickly
figure out how to win without him, they will also have to quickly
prepare what to do if and when others on the team come up positive
within the next few days. Especially with their big ACC showdown
with Notre Dame looming.
Not sure if (or when) those two starting injured offensive linemen will
return to the Minnesota starting lineup but the Gophers offense will be
much more effective with them than without them. The young
defense will get better with each game but hopefully it won't take too
long.
Fresno State bounced back from their first game loss to Hawaii by
beating Colorado State last night 38-14 in front of a completely empty
Bulldog Stadium.
Watching Big 10, MWC, and other Division 1 games being played in empty
stadiums is just plain weird.
With California governor Gavin Newsome's latest policy and protocols
decree for holiday gatherings within the state regarding Covid I'm
wondering if that will become the "new normal" for ALL of us if the
dems win the presidency.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Dick Vermeil grew up in the small
northern California town of Calistoga, and was a backup QB at San Jose
State.
He started as a high school assistant and worked his way up to the top
of the coaching profession - first as coach of a Rose Bowl winner, then
as coach of a winning Super Bowl team.
His move up was a rapid one: in the 14 years from 1962, when he was a
high school head coach, until 1976, when he became head coach of the
Philadelphia Eagles, he held seven different coaching
jobs, the last one as head coach at UCLA, where the Bruins’ defeat of
heavily favored and number one-ranked Ohio State brought him national
attention.
He is one of the very few coaches who have been named Coach of
the
Year at the high school, junior college, college and professional level.
He was head coach of three different NFL teams - the Eagles, Rams and
Chiefs. At all three places, he inherited a losing team, and at
all
three he had them in the playoffs by his third season.
He took the Eagles to their first ever Super Bowl - they lost to the
Rams - but two years later, just 46 years old, he retired from
coaching. He was notorious for his hard work and long hours, and he
said he was burned out.
He was out of coaching for 15 years - working as a TV analyst - before
returning and coaching the St. Louis Rams. His first two seasons
went
badly, but in his third season, the Rams - with a previously unknown
quarterback named Kurt Warner - won the Super Bowl. And then he
retired again.
This time, he was out of the game for only one year, before moving
across the state to coach the Chiefs. In his third year, the
Chiefs
went 13-3, finally losing to the Colts in the AFC championship
game.
After two more seasons, when the Chiefs finished 10-6 in 2005, he
finally retired for good.
Bearing in mind that he stepped into three turnaround situations, his
overall record as an NFL coach is a very respectable 126-114.
He was a strong family man, and was well-liked and respected wherever
he coached - by players, news media and the community. He is
still
revered in Philadelphia and owns a large “ranch” (his word) in
the
countryside west of the city, where his family likes to gather.
Today (October 30) is Dick Vermeil's 84th birthday. Happy
Birthday, Coach!
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DICK VERMEIL
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS
MIKE FORISTIERE - TOPEKA, KANSAS
CHARLIE WILSON - CRYSTAL RIVER, FLORIDA
BILL
NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN
VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JASON MENSING - WHITEFORD, MICHIGAN
DAVE KEMMICK - MT. JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
OSSIE
OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
TOM WALLS - WINNIPEG, MANITOBA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
MARK
KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID
CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Hugh,
Coach Dick Vermeil is a great quiz selection. I really admire his
ability to walk away and then return and take teams to the highest
level. By all accounts he is a great guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5aEnpuPzs
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** ...and he ran the Veer at UCLA.
Charlie Wilson
Crystal River, Florida
*********** Coach,
Dick Vermeil is the quiz answer. Didn’t need to research it. I remember
all of the 1980’s Eagles team. Lots of fun characters and ugly uniforms.
Tom Walls
Winnipeg, Manitoba
*********** Just wish he won a SB with the Eagles.
Tom Davis
San Carlos, California
*********** QUIZ: He could possibly have been one of the
greatest running backs ever to come out of the South, in a class
with the likes of Bo Jackson and Hershel Walker. As it was, he
was pretty doggone good.
He and his hopes of a long and successful football career were
dealt a devastating blow, yet by all accounts he has moved on in
pursuit
of more important life goals.
He came out of powerhouse Byrnes High School in Duncan, South Carolina,
where in his senior year he was a high school All-American and was
named South Carolina’s Mister Football.
He was recruited to play at South Carolina by Steve Spurrier, and his
rival in Columbia would mark the start of the greatest era in the
history of Gamecocks’ football. His freshman year, South Carolina
would win 9 games for the first time in nine years, and for each
of the next three years they would win 11 games.
As a freshman, he was an immediate sensation.
In his second game, against Georgia, he carried 37 times for 182 yards
and two touchdowns; against Alabama, then ranked #1, he carried 23
times for 93 yards; against Tennessee, he rushed 29 times for 184
yards; and against Florida, he carried 40 times for 212 yards.
In the process, South Carolina won the SEC East, and in the
championship game, he carried 16 times for 84 yards.
He was injured and played little in the Chick-fil-A Bowl, but at
season’s end he was named NCAA Freshman of the Year. In all, he rushed
for 1.197 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also caught 29 passes for 412
yards.
His sophomore season started out great - in the season opener against
East Carolina, he gained 112 yards on 23 carries, and scored three
touchdowns; against Georgia, he gained 176 yards on 27 carries; against
Navy, he rushed for 246 yards and three touchdowns; against Vanderbilt,
he rushed for 77 yards and a touchdown, and had 73 yard receiving,
including a long touchdown. But in the seventh game of the season,
against Mississippi State, a torn ligament in his knee finished him for
the year.
In his junior year, he appeared to have made a strong comeback from his
injury, rushing for 110 yards on 23 carries against Vanderbilt. He
continued with strong performances against UAB, Kentucky and
Georgia. The latter game, a South Carolina win, marked the first
time in school history that the Gamecocks had beaten Georgia three
straight years. But three weeks later, against Tennessee, he suffered
what has often been describe as a “gruesome” injury to his right knee,
dislocating the knee, tearing every ligament, and injuring nerves.
In his three seasons at South Carolina, he had rushed for 2,677 yards
and 38 touchdowns. But even more important, he had helped
establish the Gamecocks as an SEC power.
At the end of his junior season, he announced that he was declaring
himself eligible for the NFL draft, and he was taken in the fourth
round by the San Francisco 49ers.
He was signed to a four year contract, but in training camp he was
placed on injured reserve, and a year later he announced his
retirement, without ever playing a down of professional football.
An avowed Christian, he married his high school sweetheart. He coached
high school football in the Columbia, South Carolina area, and in 2018
joined Will Muschamp’s staff as Director of Player Development, working
with South Carolina’s players on career development, financial literacy
and life skills.
He is a member of the University of South Carolina’s Hall of Fame.
He was recently hired as running backs coach and “life coach” at Lewis
and Clark College, an academically selective D-III program in Portland,
Oregon.
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 30, 2020
“In nature the penalty for stupidity is death; the sentence is executed
immediately, and there is no appeal.” Robert Heinlein
*********** Biggest news so far
this week has to be the cancellation of the Nebraska-at-Wisconsin game
after 12 Badgers - players or coaches, including QB Graham Mertz and
head coach Paul Chryst - tested positive. With no open date to replay
the game, it’s officially a “no contest.”
*********** THIS WEEK’S SELECTIONS - BASED ENTIRELY ON COIN TOSSES -
HEADS=HOME TEAM. WINNERS IN BOLD
I HAVE INDICATED WHERE I STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH THE TOSS
FRIDAY NIGHT
MINNESOTA AT MARYLAND +17-1/2
(DISAGREE)
EAST CAROLINA +18-1/2 AT TULSA
HAWAII AT WYOMING +2-1/2
SATURDAY
BOSTON COLLEGE + 31-1/2 AT CLEMSON
GEORGIA AT KENTUCKY + 14-1/2
MEMPHIS +6 AT CINCINNATI
MICHIGAN STATE +23-1/2 AT MICHIGAN (DISAGREE)
KANSAS STATE +3-1/2 AT WEST VIRGINIA (DISAGREE)
COASTAL CAROLINA AT GEORGIA STATE +1-1/2
IOWA STATE AT KANSAS +28-1/2
UTSA + 6-1/2 AT FLORIDA ATLANTIC
TEMPLE +1 AT TULANE
PURDUE AT ILLINOIS +5
WAKE FOREST AT SYRACUSE +9
UCF AT HOUSTON +3-1/2
RICE +3-1/2 AT SOUTHERN MISS
TROY + 5-1/2 AT ARKANSAS STATE
NOTRE DAME AT GEORGIA TECH +20 (DISAGREE)
INDIANA AT RUTGERS +13 (DISAGREE)
UAB AT LOUISIANA TECH +9-1/2
TCU AT BAYLOR +2-1/2
LSU AT AUBURN +3 (DISAGREE)
NORTHWESTERN + 3-1/2 AT IOWA
TEXAS +3 AT OKLAHOMA STATE
OLE MISS AT VANDERBILT +17
APP STATE AT UL MONROE +31-1/2
VIRGINIA TECH AT LOUISVILLE +3 (DISAGREE)
BOISE STATE AT AIR FORCE +10 (DISAGREE)
MISSISSIPPI STATE +32 AT ALABAMA
NEW MEXICO +9-1/2 AT SAN JOSE STATE
CHARLOTTE +11 AT DUKE
OHIO STATE AT PENN STATE +5-1/2
ARKANSAS +11-1/2 AT TEXAS A & M
MISSOURI +11-1/2 AT FLORIDA (DISAGREE)
NAVY +16 AT SMU
NORTH CAROLINA AT VIRGINIA +7
OKLAHOMA AT TEXAS TECH +16-1/2
LOUISIANA AT TEXAS STATE +16-1/2
SAN DIEGO STATE AT UTAH STATE +7
WESTERN KENTUCKY +28-1/2 AT BYU
NEVADA AT UNLV +10
*********** FRIDAY NIGHT’S FEATURED GAMES ON NFHS NETWORK
KENTUCKY
(7:30 EASTERN) BOWLING GREEN (5-1) VS TRINITY - LOUISVILLE (5-0)
TRINITY IS THE #1-RANKED TEAM IN THE STATE
GEORGIA
(8:00 EASTERN) CAMDEN COUNTY (4-3) VS COLQUITT COUNTY (5-0)
COLQUITT COUNTY IS RANKED #3 IN THE STATE
TEXAS
(7:00 CENTRAL) GUYER (3-1) VS PROSPER (3-0)
GUYER IS RANKED #5 IN THE STATE
ARIZONA
(7:00 MOUNTAIN STANDARD) CHANDLER (4-0) VS CENTENNIAL (3-1)
CHANDLER IS AVERAGING 50+ POINTS PER GAME
*********** Captain Cutty died. He was 83. A little piece
of me goes with him.
Better known to the general public as Jimmy Orr, to his teammates he
was Cap’n Cutty, after the brand of scotch that he favored.
Jimmy Orr broke into football in Pittsburgh, and he was introduced to
night life by the legendary Bobby Layne. He was known to love a good
time, and he was also a very good football player, and when he went to
the Colts (in the trade that sent Big Daddy Lipscomb to the Steelers)
that meant he fit right in. I was privileged to live on Baltimore
in the 1960s, and experience the love that existed between a city and
its team, and Jimmy Orr was every bit a part of the romance.
Cap’n Cutty? I remember sitting in The Bear’s Den, a bar on
Greenmount Avenue, owned and run by former Colt Marv Matuszak. A number
of Colts were in there at the time - believe it or not, there was a
time when the princes of pro football actually condescended to
socialize with the riff-raff - and I can still see, nearly 60 years
later, big Lou Michaels, sitting down at the end of the table,
hollering, “Hey Orr! Another Cutty!”
(Lou Michaels may have been one of the roughest, toughest, meanest men
who ever played the game of football. I worked for the brewery that
sponsored the Colts, we heard all the stories. One came from a
teammate who told about the time he and a couple of other Colts went
along with Michaels to visit his hometown, Swoyersville, Pennsylvania,
where he was well known. They were sitting at a bar having a few when
Michaels left for a minute to go talk to some guys in the back room
playing pool. While he was gone, a stranger came up to them and
said, “You guys aren’t from around here, are you? You’d
better get the hell out of here. if you know what’s good for you
You know who’s back there? Lou MIchaels!”)
Jimmy Orr will be remembered by many people for one play in Super Bowl
III (actually, the first of the games to be called “Super Bowl”), as,
wide-open, he waved his arms in frustration when Earl Morrill
failed to see him.
But there was so much to him and so much
about his role on those great Colts’ teams, and a lot of it can be
found in “Johhny U,” Tom Callaghan’s excellent biography of The
Greatest Quarterback in the History of the Game (I will accept no
disagreement).
Jimmy Orr was a money receiver. He would make the big catch. But
he did not see a lot of sense in blocking, and Callaghan managed to get
Don Shula to tell about that:
Like a lot of football disciplinarians, Lombardi included, Shula was a
sucker for the bad boys, as long as they did their work. “Jimmy Orr was
not a very physical player,” he said. “In fact, Jimmy probably looked
less like a pro football player than anybody I ever coached. Of course,
he was a tough clutch receiver. But I was trying to get Orr to block
down field. So, in front of the whole squad one day, I decided to
embarrass him. I slowed the film down and then stopped it. ‘Jimmy,’ I
said, ‘if you made that block right there, we would have had a chance
to go all the way. You know, Ray Renfro has always thrown that block
for Jim Brown. You’re down there and you’re not hitting anybody. You’ve
got to hit somebody! You’ve got to be physical!’ He said, ‘Can I
say something?’ I said, ‘What?’ He said, ‘You can’t ask a
thoroughbred to do a mule’s work,”
“It brought me to my knees. Everybody broke up.”
In his quotes following the news of Jimmy Orr’s death, present-day
Colts’ owner Jimmy Irsay displayed his total lack of knowledge of the
franchise’s history when he referred to a corner of the end zone in old
Memorial Stadium as “Orr’s Corner.” Trust me. Not a
soul in Baltimore in the 1960s could have told you what that was.
But go anywhere in an entire region affected by “Colt Fever,” and ask
them where “Orrsville” was, and they’d look at you strangely, as if you
were, as they say in Maine, “from away.” EVERYBODY knew Orrsville.
Memorial Stadium was one of the very first multi-purpose
stadiums. It was built for the Orioles, but it was possible -
barely - to lay out a football field from behind home plate out
to center field, with a fair amount of decent seating on both
sides. But to make the field fit, the corners of the end zone at
the home plate end extended right to the walls, including the cinder
warning track. The right corner, where Unitas hit Jimmy Orr with
so many touchdown passes, came to be known as Orrsville. Not Orr’s
Corner.
There’s a great story in Callaghan’s book about a time I remember well
- a time when Orr was injured and helped off the field only to return,
late in the game, to catch the winning pass. Where had he been?
At the hospital.
From Callaghan’s book…
“We were playing Philadelphia at home,“ Orr said, “and I caught a long
pass down the right sideline in the opening quarter. The defensive back
and I flipped over on the ground, separating my shoulder ever so
slightly.”
Returning to the locker room, Orr changed back into his civvies
and went to Union Memorial Hospital. “There were seventeen people in a
line outside the x-ray room,” he said. “I counted them. I was
seventeen. Two guys were on stretchers. Three radios had the
Colts game on.”
The sixteenth person in line said, “You’re Jimmy Orr. Go ahead of me.”
Orr said, “No, stay there, you’re fine.”
But one by one, despite his protestations, they passed him to the
front. “Even the two guys on the stretchers,” he said, “who had been in
a car wreck.”
With his shirt off and his shoulder pressed against the machine, it was
oily warm in the x-ray room. Jimmy started to feel much better. Not
waiting for the results, he rushed back to Memorial Stadium
(“Hitchhiked back,” Shula said.)
“I threw my uniform on, not bothering to put on my jock. Of course, my
ankles weren’t taped. I looked outside. It was late in the fourth
quarter. Time had been called. I came out of the first base dugout and
ran through the end zone, under the goalposts. You can’t believe
the sound I heard. When I first came to Baltimore in sixty-one, I’d get
right up in the tunnel when the defense was introduced before the game.
The band would be playing the Colt fight song and Gino would run out
first. It was like breaking the sound barrier. I had always wondered
what he heard. Now I knew.”
Shula said, “Orr came out of the dugout and I saw him running under the
goalposts. I waved to him like this, and instead of coming to the
bench, he went right down the middle of the field into the huddle. You
talk about the emotions and the fans.“
“Where have you been “Unitas asked.
“I was kind of embarrassed about all this,” Jimmy said. “I told John,
‘Let me run a corner pattern, will you ?’“
“Sure,” he said. “On two.”
“John threw a pass into a section of the end zone that was mostly
cinders, the area of Memorial Stadium that had come to be known as
Orrsville. Probably 80% of the touchdown passes I caught in Baltimore
were in that corner,” Orr said. “It was a little downhill there, you
know. At practice once, I laid down at the 25 yard line, and the
field was so concave, I could only see the top railing of the front row
of the box seats. I knew that little patch of cinders pretty well.”
”Jimmy caught a touchdown pass right there in Orrsville,” Shula said,
“and we won the game. Is that any good?”
I’m sad about Jimmy Orr’s death, but I’m angry that just because
Jimmy Orr played for a team called the Colts, in a city called
Baltimore, the idiots who try to pass themselves off as sports writers
felt compelled to get a quote from the owner of today’s Colts, a team
located in Indianapolis, that has nothing in common with Jimmy
Orr and the teams he played on except the name, the uniform design, and
the horseshoes on the helmets. (Yes, I’m bitter.)
But I’m even angrier that that owner, merely because his drunken sot of
a father sneaked the team out of Baltimore and then left it to
him, felt qualified to speak about a player he had never even seen
play, in a city he had never known. (Yes, I’m still bitter.)
I’d just as soon they’d gone to Roger Staubach, who was at the Naval
Academy at the time, and told author Callaghan about those days.
“I was an Ensign working in the athletic department. I saw a lot of
Colts games that year. Unitas was hurt. It was the Tom Matte
year. You know, the questionable kick by Green Bay? The big
catches by Jimmy Orr down in that one corner of the end zone? It was a
fun time in Pro football.”
Of course, if you were to suggest it to them, most of today’s sports
writers would say, “Roger Staubach… Roger Staubach…”
*********** It may have sneaked up on you, the way it did on me,
but a new, (allegedly) pro football league kicked off
Tuesday night. They call it The Spring League. Yes, yes. I
know - it’s October - but what the hell. It’s just a name. Its
always five o’clock somewhere, right? And it’s spring in
Australia. So let’s play ball.
The league seems to be playing in a sort of bubble, with all its games
in the Alamodome, and the teams all have generic names, making
adoption easier (they all appear at this time to be unattached to any
city).
Tuesday night’s game, which my wife just happened to find in the TV
listings, was on Fox Sports 1, between the “Generals” and the
“Conquerors.”
Jerry Glanville was announced as one of the coaches, as if that
was supposed to confer some legitimacy on the new
league, but in my case it’s usually a cautionary sign.
I can’t tell you whether fans seem excited, but the crowd didn’t seem
much smaller than the ones I’ve seen in some Big Ten stadiums.
The broadcast quality was only so-so. The camera work was pretty good,
but the announcers were dull and didn’t tell us nearly enough about the
players. Their volume was too low, so that the background noise - some
loud and shrill woman hollering things over and over - dominated
the audio.
The uniforms were boring, and just this side of ugly. Many of the
players have chosen to take the football-pants-as-bicycle-shorts to
ludicrous extremes.
The officials wore all black. They didn’t look bad, and I really
cheered up when I realized that it probably meant no team would
ever come out in all black. Yes!
I don’t want to sound overly negative here, because quite
honestly, my wife and I found ourselves watching it and enjoying it.
The quality of play is not bad. The teams were both well-prepared,
which was all the more surprising considering I heard an announcer say.
“Today is literally the first day they put on pads.”
The starting QBs looked pretty good.
For the Conquerors, it was Justin McMillan, a true rookie who I
thought was a decent QB at Tulane. For the Generals, it was a guy
named Bryan Scott, who played at Occidental College and has had
cups of coffee with a number of NFL and CFL clubs.
A couple of receivers who impressed me were a big kid from Auburn named
Sal Cannella, and a smaller guy from U of San Diego with great hands named
Michael Bandy.
If you want to watch, don’t wait. They’re playing a four-game
schedule.
Will I watch it again? Yes. But with all the football to watch
now, I do think that they’d be smarter if they could have held off
until it’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere.
(I would have a lot more confidence in this outfit if they’d spelled
the word “league” correctly in the link to their Web site)
https://live-spring-leauge.pantheonsite.io/
*********** Hugh,
I hope we're right about Michigan and they're really good. I
don't think Minnesota is that bad.
Paul Herzog
Afton, Minnesota
I don’t think Minnesota is that bad.
They ran into a whirlwind, and they weren’t ready.
In my opinion, they made three crucial mistakes in fairly short order:
the illegal procedure on first and goal on the one, the pooch kick that
they didn't cover, and the fake punt that Michigan was so ready for it
almost looked like they were expecting it.
*********** Hugh,
With one of the presidential candidates trying to win the presidency
from his basement it shouldn't come as no surprise that most other
younger basement dwelling ne'er do wells will vote for him. God
help us all.
A last time a naval academy football team played in Michie Stadium was
in 1943 during WWII. Navy won the game 13-0. It was the
second shutout in a row for the Middies over the Cadets. The year
before the game was played in Annapolis with Navy taking it 14-0.
The 1944 game was played in Baltimore. That 1944 game was
the first to ever be tagged the "Game of the Century" with No. 1 Army
defeating No. 2 Navy 23-7.
Not only was Pitt's performance against Notre Dame unimpressive, the
Panther uniforms were even more unimpressive.
Michigan has the makings of a good football team. Minnesota lost
most of its defense from last year's 11-2 team and it showed as the
Wolverine offense gashed the Gophers often. Also, having two
Gopher starters missing in the O Line didn't help their cause on
offense, and it showed in QB Tanner Morgan's performance.
Hawaii ended a six game losing streak to Fresno State.
Missed the Wisconsin game on Friday night. We were busy ending
our two year 13 game losing streak in a big way winning 62-0.
The Texas band did not travel to Baylor because half of them refused to
play the alma mater, "The Eyes of Texas". Naysayers of the song
say its history has racial overtones. What they don't tell you is
that the one controversial stanza of the song was deleted many years
ago and has not been part of the song since. But, since the
origin of the song was done minstrel style that in itself was good
enough to protest. At least they haven't taken a knee.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
***********QUIZ ANSWER: Matt Blair was one of the greatest
linebackers in the history of the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL franchise
whose greatest teams were built on powerful defense.
He played his high school ball in Dayton, Ohio, and then played two
seasons at Northeast Oklahoma JC, where he played on a national
championship team. Highly recruited there, he signed with Iowa State,
where Johnny Majors was building something of a powerhouse.
He was named defensive MVP of the Sun Bowl his first years there, then
missed a season to injury. In his senior year he was named an
All-American and was invited to play in the Hula Bowl, the East-West
Shrine Game, and the Senior Bowl.
Drafted second by the Vikings, he was forced into a starting role at
linebacker when starter Roy Winston was injured and he wound up making
the NFL All-Rookie team.
He would play 12 seasons in the NFL, all of them with the Vikings, and
from 1977 through 1982 would be named to six straight Pro Bowls.
He played in two Super Bowls.
He has the second most tackles in franchise history, and he ranks third
in NFL history in blocked punts.
He is in the Vikings’ Ring of Honor and has been named one of the Top
50 Vikings in team history.
After he retired from football, he became an accomplished wildlife and
landscape photographer.
In recent years, Matt Blair suffered from dementia, possibly associated
with CTE, and he died last Thursday, October 22. He was 70.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING MATT BLAIR
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS - FOR SUGGESTING MATT
BLAIR
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
OSSIE
OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
RALPH BALDUCCI - PORTLAND, OREGON
JOHN
VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE
FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MICK YANKE - COKATO, MINNESOTA
JERRY
LOVELL - BELLEVUE, NEBRASKA
KEN
HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
JOE
GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PAUL HERZOG - AFTON, MINNESOTA
MARK KACZMAREK -
DAVENPORT, IOWA
BILL NELSON -
THORNTON, COLORADO
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** I worked a couple of Matt Blair's camps. One of the
most impressive physiques I've ever seen and he was a tremendous person.
Paul Herzog
Afton, Minnesota
Sorry to learn of Matt Blair’s passing. There were some pretty
good people on those teams, almost certainly a reflection of Bud Grant.
*********** Matt Blair - the leader of one of the great pro
linebacker units in the NFL (Blair, Jeff Siemon, Fred McNeil)
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ: He grew up in the small northern
California town of Calistoga, and was a backup QB at San Jose State.
He started as a high school assistant and worked his way up to the top
of the coaching profession - first as coach of a Rose Bowl winner, then
as coach of a winning Super Bowl team.
His move up was a rapid one: in the 14 years from 1962, when he was a
high school head coach, until 1976, when he became head coach of the
Philadelphia Eagles, he held seven different coaching jobs, the last one as
head coach at UCLA, where the Bruins’ defeat of heavily favored and
number one-ranked Ohio State brought him national attention.
He is one of the very few coaches who have been named Coach of
the Year at the high school, junior college, college and professional
level.
He was head coach of three different NFL teams - the Eagles, Rams and
Chiefs. At all three places, he inherited a losing team, and at
all three he had them in the playoffs by his third season.
He took the Eagles to their first ever Super Bowl - they lost to the
Rams - but two years later, just 46 years old, he retired from
coaching. He was notorious for his hard work and long hours, and he
said he was burned out.
He was out of coaching for 15 years - working as a TV analyst - before
returning and coaching the St. Louis Rams. His first two seasons
went badly, but in his third season, the Rams - with a previously
unknown quarterback named Kurt Warner - won the Super Bowl. And
then he retired again.
This time, he was out of the game for only one year, before moving
across the state to coach the Chiefs. In his third year, the
Chiefs went 13-3, finally losing to the Colts in the AFC championship
game. After two more seasons, when the Chiefs finished 10-6
in 2005, he finally retired for good.
Bearing in mind that he stepped into three turnaround situations, his
overall record as an NFL coach is a very respectable 126-114.
He was a strong family man, and was well-liked and respected wherever
he coached - by players, news media and the community. He is
still revered in Philadelphia and owns a large “ranch” (his word)
in the countryside west of the city, where his family likes to gather.
Today (October 30) is his 84th birthday. Happy Birthday, Coach!
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 27, 2020
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary
depends upon his not understanding it.” Upton Sinclair
*********** I’d rather not get very deeply into politics on here,
but I sincerely believe that this election has the potential to
overthrow our basic system of government and end our country as our
founders envisioned, and as I’ve grown to know and love it.
Most of you on here are either football coaches or people who care
about our game, and you know that there’s only one way to compete -
full-out. There’s not one of us who would coach a team and not give it
everything he had, and not expect the same from his players.
Would any of us play for, or let our sons play for, a guy who gives
less than everything he’s got?
So how could we want for our President a man who, for whatever reason,
cowers in his basement and refuses to compete?
*********** Army became the first college team to accept a bowl bid
Saturday, electing to go to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport,
Louisiana, against some TBA Pac-12 opponent. Army is now 6-1, and the
one loss - 24-20 to Cincinnati - doesn’t look all that bad after
the Bearcats’ thumping of previously unbeaten SMU Saturday.
Of equal importance was the announcement that this year’s Army-Navy
game will be played at West Point, in Michie Stadium. This will
be the first time since World War II that the game willl not be played
in a large, neutral-site stadium, and only the Corps of Cadets and the
Brigade of Midshipmen will be in attendance.
As a kid growing up in Philadelphia, where most Army-Navy games have
been played, I can attest to the game’s importance in the city, and its
loss is going to mean a huge hit to the city’s hospitality
industry. I can’t help thinking that with a little more time, a
place like Orlando, with the stadium, the hotel rooms and a more
sensible governor, would have moved mountains to get the game
there. Philly? Phoo on you.
Not many schools are fortunate to have a writer of the level of author
John Feinstein writing its game summary, but Army has the actual John
Feinstein writing its…
https://goarmywestpoint.com/news/2020/10/25/football-feinsteins-findings-on-to-phase-three.aspx
*********** MY SAD WEEKEND RESULTS (Please tell me you didn’t
listen to me.)
THIS PAST WEEKEND’S RECORD: 20 WINS, 25 LOSSES
FRIDAY GAMES
W- TULSA over South Florida +11
W- WISCONSIN over Illinois + 19-1/2
W- LOUISIANA over UAB +2-1/2
SATURDAY GAMES
L -CLEMSON over Syracuse +46-1/2
W - OHIO STATE over Nebraska +26
L - NC STATE +14-1/2 over North Carolina
L - KANSAS +20 over Kansas State
W - COASTAL CAROLINA over Georgia Southern +4-1/2
W - ARMY over Mercer +31
L - OLE MISS +3 over Auburn
L - TCU +6-1/2 over Oklahoma
L - MEMPHIS over Temple +13-1/2
L - CHARLOTTE over UTEP +14-1/2
L - FLORIDA STATE +5 over Louisville
W - RUTGERS +13 over Michigan State
L - UCF over Tulane +19-1/2
W - LIBERTY over Southern Miss +11
L - MARSHALL over Fla Atlantic +17
W - ALABAMA over Tennessee +21-1/2
W - NOTRE DAME over Pitt +10-1/2
W - IOWA STATE +3-1/2 over Oklahoma State
L - PENN STATE over Indiana +5-1/2
W - WAKE FOREST +8 over Virginia Tech
W - MIDDLE TENNESSEE +3-1/2 over Rice
W - HOUSTON over Navy +14
L - BAYLOR +8-1/2 over Texas
L - IOWA over Purdue +3
L - TROY over Georgia State +2-1/2
W - BOSTON COLLEGE over Georgia Tech +3
L - WESTERN KENTUCKY over Chattanooga +11-1/2
L - KENTUCKY over Missouri +5-1/2
L - WEST VIRGINIA over Texas Tech +3-1/2
L - SOUTH CAROLINA +6-1/2 over LSU
W - SOUTH ALABAMA over Louisiana Monroe +14-1/2
L - UTAH STATE +16-1/2 over Boise State
L - WYOMING over Nevada +4-1/2
L - MINNESOTA +3 over Michigan
L - FRESNO STATE over Hawaii +3-1/2
W - NORTHWESTERN over Maryland +11
L - MIAMI over Virginia +12-1/2
W - LOUISIANA TECH over UTSA +2-1/2
L - SMU over Cincinnati + 2-1/2
W - BYU over Texas State + 28-1/2
W - SAN DIEGO STATE over UNLV + 15
L - AIR FORCE over San Jose State +7
20 WINS - 25 LOSSES
RANDOM OBSERVATIONS FROM THE WEEKEND’S GAMES
*********** Wisconsin’s Graham Mertz completed his first 17 passes in a
row, and finished 20 of 21, with five TD passes.
*********** In their game against Alabama-Birmingham, the Louisiana
Cajuns all wore “LOONEY” on the backs of their jerseys, in honor of the
late D.J. Looney, their offensive line coach who died of a heart attack
last summer at the age of 31. Coach Looney was a Birmingham native.
*********** I didn’t recognize Birmingham’s Legion Field without one of
its upper decks. I gather that it had something to do with safety,
because I can remember back in 1974 being up in the press box and
feeling the place shake when the crowd got excited. (Yes, even in the
World Football League, you could count on a good crowd in Birmingham, a
great football town.)
*********** Targeting is getting to be a pain in the ass, because in
their zeal to catch all offenders, officials are looking at a lot of
cases where a tackler comes in low - and so does the runner. In
several cases I’ve seen, it’s mainly been a matter of the runner - such
as Kansas State’s 5-foot-5 Deuce Vaughn - being so low to the ground
that a fairly normal tackle can look like it’s helmet-to-helmet.
On the other hand, the sideline tantrum thrown Saturday by a penalized
Virginia Tech player after being ejected should be sufficient
reason to reinstate the old rule banishing a player from the sidelines
after he’s been “ejected” for targeting. Screw their self esteem. Shame
them. Don’t give them a chance to revel in the praise/condolences of
teammates. If you’re really serious about ending this plague,
kick their asses out.
*********** Speaking of Virginia Tech, after watching that sideline
display, and then later seeing a personal foul that gave Wake Forest a
first down when they had been stopped, I got the impression that they
might be a rather unruly bunch.
I had to laugh when I heard the announcers talk about the “coach’s
frustration.”
Really? I thought. Just who the hell recruited those guys?
*********** I have a hard time figuring out how it is that in a nation
as dedicated as ours is to making it possible for the handicapped to
work, the NCAA Rules Committee can bar a football coach under
quarantine because of the China Virus - as Purdue coach Jeff
Brohm was - from having even telephone communication with his team
starting 90 minutes before kickoff.
*********** Nice fact on TV: since 2000, Wisconsin has had more
linemen drafted by the NFL than any other college team. After we
saw that on TV, my wife checked their roster, and counted at least 20
guys weighing at least 300 pounds.
*********** Louisiana’s sideline prop is a “Baller Baton,” which gave
the sideline reporter an opportunity to borrow it and show that in
another life he’d been a baton twirler.
*********** Can’t tell how much analyst Corey Chavous knows, because
he’s very hard to listen to.
*********** Not so long ago, UAB’s football program was shut down. Best
illustration of how far they’ve come is the fact that although they
lost Friday night to Louisiana, it was their first loss at home after
21 straight wins.
*********** The Kansas-Kansas State “Sunflower State Showdown” is an
old one, and after Saturday’s game, Kansas leads in the series,
65-47-5. But KSU’s win Saturday was their 12th straight over the
Jayhawks.
*********** I’ll be showing some video of this Tuesday night - Mercer
does some clever things on offense, including shifting their
linemen just prior to the snap, then snapping the ball quickly.
*********** South Florida took the early lead in ugly uniforms, but
when Pitt showed up in all-gray, dingy from head-to-toe,
evidently designed to save money on laundry, it looked like the Awful
Uniform of the Week Award was locked up. But we hadn’t yet seen
any of the later games, and - what do you know? - there were the
Missouri bumble bees, er, Tigers, warming up. To their credit, they
looked awful but played great, beating Kentucky.
*********** CBS Sports analyst Ross Tucker, who had seen Army play many
times before, seemed to notice that the splits had been narrowed on
certain plays: “There’s no holes!” He almost shouted. “They just push
the defense back!” (Shhh. Let’s keep the wedge a little secret between
us.)
*********** It’s been 10 years since Maryland’s Kevin Anderson,
World’s Worst Athletic Director, fired Raph Friedgen, who had just gone
8-4 and been recognized for his achievement by being named ACC Coach of
the Year. Maryland’s football team has sucked ever since, and
based on their opening game loss to Northwestern, the streak - a brown
one - will continue.
*********** Army has 19 players on its roster from Georgia.
*********** The Army game was over when there was still about 10
minutes left to play in all the other games that started at the same
time.
*********** What’s going on here?
Air Force whiffed on three shots from the San Jose State one, and then
later in the game - after scoring on a pass - the Falcons gave up an
extra point in order to take a penalty and go for two - and whiffed.
Navy scored two of its three touchdowns through the air, and had more
yards passing than rushing.
***********Used to be the only Nebraska kid I knew of who left the
state was Scott Frost, who went to Stanford, but he wound up
transferring to NU and starring there.
Now it looks like they lost Noah Vedral, a Nebraska guy who went to NU
then transferred to Rutgers and quarterbacked the Scarlet KNights to a
huge (38-27) win over Michigan State.
And then there’s Michigan State. Once, I’d have felt bad. I
liked them for years until their unseemly hiring of Colorado’s coach
turned me sour on them. (I tend to root for teams because of their
coaches, and now my favorite team is anybody playing MSU.)
*********** Auburn scored on a long pass with 1:11 left to break a
28-28 tie and win the game when an Ole Miss safety with a clean shot at
the receiver right on the sideline showed up MIA.
*********** Wake Forest has two of the nation’s best running backs in
Kenneth Walker and Christian Beal-Smith.
*********** Wake’s Nick Anderson, a freshman walk-on from Clifton,
Virginia, intercepted three Virginia Tech passes.
*********** You all know how Penn State managed, after making a
tremendous comeback, to blow the Indiana game in the end. Leading by a
point, Penn State scored a late touchdown and kicked the extra point to
go ahead by eight points. But then State had to kick off, and Indiana
managed to score and make the 2-point conversion to tie it, then won in
overtime. Instead of scoring, all Penn State had to do was take a
knee three times and Indiana would have had the ball deep in their own
territory with under ten seconds to play, so Penn State’s James
Franklin told his team not to score. Or so he says. Why, then, didn’t
he simply instruct his quarterback to get under center, take the snap,
and take a knee?
*********** Texas players may not all have sung, and they may not all
have made the “Hook ‘em Horns” hand sign, but they all stayed out on
the field for the playing of “The Eyes of Texas.” (Played not by the
band - too many members refused to play. Hook ‘em (spelled with an “F”.)
*********** My top defensive linemen of the day: Wake Forest’s Boogie
Basham, Penn State’s Shaka Toney, and Michigan’s Aidan Hutchinson.
*********** Many people, like me, had their first exposure to a very
good Indiana receiver named Whop Philyor.
Uh-oh. I can remember when that word could get you in a world of
trouble.
But before the fellas in New Haven, and East Boston, and South Philly
get all upset…
According to the official Indiana Football site, “parents began calling
him Whop because of his love for Burger King’s Whoppers.”
So what’s the problem?
*********** Saved by one little keystroke… Indiana’s quarterback,
Michael Penix, Jr. (And his Dad.)
*********** If ever a team took a punch and came back swinging, it was
Michigan. After having a punt blocked and a quick TD scored on
them in the first three minutes of play, they came right back and on
the ir first play following the kickoff they went 70 yards right
up the middle for a TD of their own.
*********** Kind of classy - a wide-open Michigan TE dropped a sure
touchdown pass. A play or two later, they came right back to him,
hitting him on a pass that he carried down to the one.
*********** LSU is back. Maybe not all the way back from where
they were at the end of last season, but this freshman QB, T.J. Finley,
looks like the answer they were looking for on offense. He completed 17
of 21 for 265 yards and 2 TDs as the Tigers beat South Carolina,
52-24.
*********** Air Force and San Diego State were tied at the half, 0-0.
It had been a year since two FBS schools went scoreless in the first
half.
*********** I only saw the “highlights,” but they call it the
“doink-doink-doink” play, as the Rice field goal attempt bounced from
pipe-to-pipe-to-pipe before missing.
*********** San Jose State’s Derrick Deese made the best catch I saw
all day, toe-tapping just barely in bounds to score against Air Force.
Notre Dame’s Ben Skowronek was a close second, taking advantage of his
height to defeat Pitt coverage and score on a long pass.
In third place was Wisconsin’s Jake Ferguson, with several good catches
- seven overall for 71 yards and three touchdowns. I had to
deduct a few points because a fumble on his part resulted in an
Illinois TD.
*********** Unless it’s a service academy, it’s not often that you see
a major college team run the same play twice in a row. But just before
the half, with Michigan on the Minnesota 12, they ran a tailback trap -
the same basic play that had broken for a 70-yard touchdown earlier in
the game - and in two tries they were in the end zone.
*********** Most impressive performance of the day for me was
Michigan’s. I was transfixed.
Don Brown’s defense was scary good, but that was not a surprise. The
number of weapons they have on defense - and the ways they used them -
was. Ohio State is good and blah, blah, blah, but this Michigan
team is very solid and I find myself liking the way they play.
*********** Hugh,
As you know I can no longer be a "picker" of games. I feel better
providing "insight" since I have such a checkered past in picking
winners and losers. Let's just say I get a lot of mail from
casinos asking me to visit and spend my money. Here are the ones
that matter most to me:
In a battle of historic rivals opening their BIG seasons whoever makes
the least number of mistakes will take the Little Brown Jug.
Notre Dame's defense will be tested, but so will Pitt's defense.
Pitt always plays the Irish tough, especially at home. Lots
of points?
Texas at Baylor brings out the best in the Longhorns and the Bears.
This year it depends on which Longhorn team steps off the bus.
Army may have found itself a reliable QB to go with another grinder at
FB.
Fresno State "opens" their season at home vs. Hawaii. Bulldogs
starting QB is former Washington Husky Jake Haener. Lots of
points?
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
********** QUIZ ANSWER - Because of the way he moved opponents when he
was on offense, his coach called him a “rolling boulder.”
On defense, he was so hard to move that he was called the “Rock of
Gibraltar.”
Playing in a time of two-way football, Tom Brown was one of the
greatest linemen - offensive or defensive - in the history of
Minnesota football.
Although not overly big by today’s standards - 6 foot, 250 - he
was way ahead of his time in his dedication to weight training, and he
was extremely strong.
He was a Minneapolis kid, and at his hometown University of Minnesota,
he enjoyed the kind of senior season few linemen ever get to
experience. As nose guard , he was the centerpiece on a Gopher
defense that in his senior season gave up only 88 points in ten games.
The Gophers tied for the Big Ten title with Iowa, and earned the Big
Ten’s berth in the Rose Bowl on the basis of their having beaten Iowa,
then ranked Number One in the Country, 27-10. It was Minnesota’s
first-ever Rose Bowl appearance.
(Ironically, because at that time the national championship was awarded
before the New Year’s Day bowls, the Gophers went into the Rose Bowl as
the national champions - and lost to Washington, 17-7.)
For his play that season, he was widely recognized as the nation’s best
lineman. He won the Outland Trophy, and he was named the Big Ten’s MVP.
He was a unanimous All-American, and - one for the trivia - he finished
second in the Heisman voting, behind Joe Bellino of Navy. It is
the highest any interior lineman has ever finished in the Heisman
balloting.
Drafted by the New York Titans of the AFL and the Baltimore Colts of
the NFL, he chose instead to play with the B.C. Lions of the CFL.
He had a good career there, helping the Lions to the Grey Cup
championship in 1964 and being named the team MVP. He would help
the Lions win a second Grey Cup, but was forced to retire in 1967 after
suffering a neck injury.
Tom Brown is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING TOM BROWN
PAUL HERZOG - AFTON, MINNESOTA - FOR SUGGESTING TOM
BROWN
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
*********** One of the greatest Golden Gophers whose exploits were
overshadowed by another of the greatest Gophers, Bobby Bell.
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** Check out
https://gophersports.com/news/2007/9/6/Tom_Brown
https://footballfoundation.org/hof_search.aspx?hof=2123
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** In doing my research, I came across someone’s list of the
“Top 20 Golden Gophers of All Time.”
Needless to say, it’s heavily biased toward more recent times, because
there is no way Tom Brown, who won the Outland Trophy and finished
second in the Heisman voting, should not be on it.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/720160-minnesota-football-the-top-20-golden-gophers-of-all-time
***********QUIZ: He was one of the greatest linebackers in the history
of the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL franchise whose greatest teams were
built on powerful defense.
He played his high school ball in Dayton, Ohio, and then played two
seasons at Northeast Oklahoma JC, where he played on a national
championship team. Highly recruited there, he signed with Iowa State,
where Johnny Majors was building something of a powerhouse.
He was named defensive MVP of the Sun Bowl his first years there, then
missed a season to injury. In his senior year he was named an
All-American and was invited to play in the Hula Bowl, the East-West
Shrine Game, and the Senior Bowl.
Drafted second by the Vikings, he was forced into a starting role at
linebacker when starter Roy Winston was injured and he wound up making
the NFL All-Rookie team.
He would play 12 seasons in the NFL, all of them with the Vikings, and
from 1977 through 1982 would be named to six straight Pro Bowls.
He played in two Super Bowls.
He has the second most tackles in franchise history, and he ranks third
in NFL history in blocked punts.
He is in the Vikings’ Ring of Honor and has been named one of the Top
50 Vikings in team history.
After he retired from football, he became an accomplished wildlife and
landscape photographer.
In recent years, he suffered from dementia, possibly associated with
CTE, and he died last Thursday, October 22. He was 70.
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 23, 2020
"The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the
urge to rule it." H.L. Mencken
*********** MY FEARLESS PICKS FOR THIS WEEKEND (Caution: gambling based
on excessive dependence on my brilliance as a prognosticator can result
in having your kneecaps whacked by a guy named Vinnie.)
JUST IN CASE YOU MIGHT DOUBT MY ABILITIES AS A PICKER: LAST
WEEKEND I PICKED EIGHT WINNERS! (Uh, out of 26 games)
THIS WEEK, FOR SOME REASON, I’VE CHOSEN THE FAVORITE AND GIVEN THE
POINTS IN 35 OF THE 46 GAMES. (ANOTHER WEEKEND LIKE THE LAST ONE
AND NEXT WEEK I’LL JUST FLIP A COIN. WHAT THE HELL.)
FRIDAY GAMES
TULSA over South Florida +11
WISCONSIN over Illinois + 19-1/2
LOUISIANA over UAB +2-1/2
SATURDAY GAMES
CLEMSON over Syracuse +46-1/2
OHIO STATE over Nebraska +26
NC STATE +14-1/2 over North Carolina
KANSAS +20 over Kansas State
COASTAL CAROLINA over Georgia Southern +4-1/2
ARMY over Mercer +31
OLE MISS +3 over Auburn
TCU +6-1/2 over Oklahoma
MEMPHIS over Temple +13-1/2
CHARLOTTE over Utep +14-1/2
FLORIDA STATE +5 over Louisville
RUTGERS +13 over Michigan State
UCF over Tulane +19-1/2
LIBERTY over Southern Miss +11
MARSHALL over Fla Atlantic +17
ALABAMA over Tennessee +21-1/2
NOTRE DAME over Pitt +10-1/2
IOWA STATE +3-1/2 over Oklahoma State
PENN STATE over Indiana +5-1/2
WAKE FOREST +8 over Virginia Tech
MIDDLE TENNESSEE +3-1/2 over Rice
HOUSTON over Navy +14
BAYLOR +8-1/2 over Texas
IOWA over Purdue +3
TROY over Georgia State +2-1/2
BOSTON COLLEGE over Georgia Tech +3
WESTERN KENTUCKY over Chattanooga +11-1/2
KENTUCKY over Missouri +5-1/2
WEST VIRGINIA over Texas Tech +3-1/2
SOUTH CAROLINA +6-1/2 over LSU
SOUTH ALABAMA over Louisiana Monroe +14-1/2
UTAH STATE +16-1/2 over Boise State
WYOMING over Nevada +4-1/2
MINNESOTA +3 over Michigan
FRESNO STATE over Hawaii +3-1/2
NORTHWESTERN over Maryland +11
MIAMI over Virginia +12-1/2
LOUISIANA TECH over UTSA +2-1/2
SMU over Cincinnati + 2-1/2
BYU over Texas State + 28-1/2
SAN DIEGO STATE over UNLV + 15
AIR FORCE over San Jose State +7
*********** Games that I will definitely watch:
FRIDAY NIGHT:
*Louisiana at UAB (I like to watch the Cajuns)
SATURDAY:
*NC State at North Carolina (State lost their starting QB Saturday; NC
blew it against FSU but nearly caught the Seminoles at the end.)
*Kansas at Kansas State (EMAW! Every Man a Wildcat! I am a Wildcat fan.)
*Georgia Southern at Coastal Carolina (Coastal is on my must-watch list)
*Mercer at Army (Mainly to see if Army gives the start to the freshman
QB who led them so well last Saturday.)
*Oklahoma at TCU (I think Gary Patterson’s defense might be enough to
stop OU)
*Florida State at Louisville (I want to see if the Seminoles can play
the way they played in the first half against UNC last week - or if
they’ll be the wild, undisciplined bunch they showed themselves
to be at the end of the game.)
* Southern Miss at Liberty (I hope Liberty’s Hugh Freeze isn’t
cheating, because this team is good)
* Notre Dame at Pitt (ND has not looked to me like the nation’s #4
team, and Pitt has yet to play the way they were expected to.)
* Iowa State at Oklahoma State. (Here’s where the Cyclones get to
flush that opening game loss to Louisiana.)
* Virginia Tech at Wake Forest. (I think Tech will win, but I like to
watch Wake’s offense.)
* Houston at Navy. (This will tell us a lot. Houston is very
good. There are reports that Navy has been having some internal
problems that have yet to hit the newspapers - and maybe never will -
but they could be affecting the team’s play.)
* Baylor at Texas (Mainly to watch for any incidents, now that players
are refusing to stay on the field for the post-game singing of “The
Eyes of Texas” and the band may not have enough members on hand to play
it anyhow. A very nasty situation is brewing in Austin.)
* Iowa at Purdue (I like ‘em both.)
* Georgia Tech at BC (I like the stuff BC is doing offensively.
With a new coach, they are punching above their weight.)
* Kentucky at Missouri (I think Kentucky is good.)
* West Virginia at Texas Tech (Mountaineers have one of the best
defenses in the country.)
* South Carolina at LSU (Are the Gamecocks really as good as they
looked Saturday? Has LSU fallen that far?)
* Utah State at Boise State (REAL FOOTBALL RETURNS TO THE WEST!!!)
* Michigan at Minnesota (Opening the Big Ten season with the battle for
the Little Brown Jug. Michigan has really dominated this one. I have to
pull for the Gophers.)
* Cincinnati at SMU (Cincinnati didn’t impress me against Army.
SMU has been looking very tough.)
* Texas State at BYU (For a little while at least. Just to see a
little of BYU QB Zach Wilson. It’s been a few years since BYU has
had a great QB. For a while everyone thought Taysom Hill might be
one until he suffered injury after injury, but Wilson may be the
best in the country.)
* Air Force at San Jose State (I liked what I saw the Zoomies do
against Navy, and I want to see if they’re really that good.)
*********** FEATURED HIGH SCHOOL GAMES ON THE NFHS NETWORK
FRIDAY NIGHT
7 PM EASTERN - FLORIDA
CARDINAL GIBBONS (FT. LAUDERDALE) 2-0
VS
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (FT. LAUDERDALE) 1-0
7 PM CENTRAL - ALABAMA*** I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS GAME
HOOVER 9-0
VS
THOMPSON (ALABASTER) 9-0
7 PM CENTRAL - LOUISIANA
ACADIANA (LAFAYETTE) 3-0
VS
RUSTON 3-0
*********** Tuesday night’s weekly Zoom clinic (my 28th since April 7)
showed a number of things from last Saturday’s college games that could
be used (or rather easily adapted for use) by Double Wing or Wing-T or
Open Wing coaches. Here’s a partial list of them:
DOUBLE WING/WING T (QB UNDER CENTER):
ARMY play-action pass off Belly action
ARMY cutback dive
BOSTON COLLEGE shallow cross
MEMPHIS Tight End screen
NAVY toss sweep from “CC” (Double C) formation
PITT backside TE corner from our Toronto Ram formation
OPEN WING:
DUKE 4 verticals
HOUSTON QB sneak (caught BYU napping)
LIBERTY QB power keep for a first down
LIBERTY off-tackle for big yardage after faking Criss-Cross
MEMPHIS a shuffle-option to the open side that set up a TD
SOUTH CAROLINA a nice screen to the side of trips
VIRGINIA TECH neat screen for a TD after faking Criss-Cross
WAKE FOREST: innovative things being done with their slow read
For a Double Wing, Wing-T or Open Wing coach, that’s more useful stuff
in a one hour Zoom clinic on a Tuesday evening than you’d get in a
typical weekend clinic.
*********** Please keep up the college football highlights
analysis. You have far more interesting things to say than any
talking head that actually gets paid to do this.
(You wrote) Is it an FCC regulation that football coaches have to be
interviewed at the half, one at the start of halftime and then when
they return to the field?
I have long wondered about that. Or is it some sort of
contractual thing? Regardless, if it ain't required I'm just
walking right on past Bambi Bimbette or whoever it is that's about to
waste my time.
Liberty is a very good football team and a lot of fun to watch.
They’re solid in all aspects of the game, and they’ve got a couple of
good running backs in Shedro Louis and Peytton Pickett, and a nice QB
in Malik Willis.
Our high school QB from last season is now a freshman QB at
Liberty. I watched the game in hopes of spotting him on the
sideline. A great young man. And Liberty is an excellent
team. I wonder how many recruiting violations Coach Freeze is
going to be leaving them with(?)
We are also seeing too many roughing/targeting calls on hook sliding
QBs. I’m sorry, but you can’t let the guy run like a real football
player and then, at the last second, allow him to put on a red
don’t-hit-the-quarterback scrimmage jersey and expect him to be safe
from opponents who are still playing football as the game was meant to
be played.
Just as frustrating is the RB heading to the sidelines. Is he
going to step out of bounds at the last second? Or will he cut
back? No way to tell, until after the tackler has made his
decision. And by then, it's too late.
Not to come across as homophobic, you understand, but there’s something
about a placekicker with a mustache…
I'm sure that I'm not supposed to laugh at this. But I did.
Because it's funny.
Worst uniforms of the day: Memphis, in all-gray. Besides the
ugliness, I can’t believe that every single professor of Ethnic Studies
at Memphis was so busy that it slipped his (or her, or their) notice
that gray was the color of Confederate Army uniforms, and you know what
the Confederacy was fighting for, and so...
Was wondering this myself...
Keep up the great work. My best to you and Connie.
Sincerely,
Dave Potter
Cary, North Carolina
*********** Hugh,
At the end of last week's zoom clinic you asked me a very important
question. One that I did not explain my answer completely or to
my own satisfaction.
You asked me if I was getting anything out of the film clips of the
college plays from the previous Saturday. I answered yes, but I did not
give a complete answer. I believe that I somehow left that question and
started talking about working on my old house. Let me apologize for
getting off the subject and wasting your time and money. I know that
you are hosting these clinics at your own expense and I should stick to
football.
It blows my mind that you can capture so many games on your
recorder. I believe that I told you that I have always gotten my
television from an antenna. I refuse to pay for channels that I will
not watch.
I am also amazed at your going thru those games and picking out
important aspects of the games that apply to your systems. You also
point out official mistakes that are important to working
coaches. Officials are terrible all over the country.
The plays that you point out are extremely important. You relate
them to both parts of your system. The double wing part and the open
wing part. To me you are showing the younger coaches that both parts of
the Hugh Wyatt System are valid and in the main stream of current
college coaching. That is an extremely important point. How much
criticism has your double wing system received over the years? I
know that I have heard it all from my coaching experience from the
chuck and duck guys. You have now gone and closed the mouths of the
spread guys with the open wing. The joke is on them because you are
spreading them out and using double wing running plays! I love it!
You are showing current coaches that with some tweaks, these college
plays are just a branch off what they are currently doing in either
version of your system. That again is an extremely important point to
me.
Keep doing what you are doing. It is important work. It is the kind of
information that they will not get in a regular clinic.
I don,t know how many coaches are watching each week, but I am certain
that they are finding the time spent well worth it.
I am thrilled each week to be watching. I am still kicking myself for
not knowing that I could watch on my phone. I hate the fact that I
missed the first 15 clinics!
I hope that I have given you some feed back that fully answers your
question.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** Right now, my Top Six teams - the teams I’m most interested
in watching from the standpoint of what I can learn from them
offensively:
1. Coastal Carolina
2. Liberty
3. Wake Forest
4. Air Force
5. Boston College
6. Army
*********** Check the field logo the next time Louisiana plays at home.
The apostrophe at the end of RAGIN’ (as in “Ragin’ Cajuns”) is a red
pepper.
*********** Who was the marketing whiz at Big Ten headquarters whose
idea it was to celebrate the return of the conference to real football
by opening up on Friday night with a yawner between Illinois and
Wisconsin? Were the Russians behind it?
*********** I accept Troy Aikman’s explanation that he was being
kiddingly sarcastic when he was caught on a live mic talking about the
waste of taxpayer money involved in military flyovers of stadiums, and
that he was actually making fun of an ultra-liberal co-worker when he
said that we wouldn’t have that waste if Biden and Harris were elected.
I know he went to UCLA, but he was only there for couple of
years, and I can’t believe that brief stay could have made that big a
change in a guy who grew up in Oklahoma, and spent his NFL career in
Texas.
*********** Remember the “money” that Odell Beckham, Jr. was seen
handing out to LSU players after the national championship game back in
January? He said it wasn’t real money, but at least one LSU
player said it was. LSU evidently agreed, saying, according to Sports
Illustrated, that Beckham, who I hesitate to refer to as an alumnus
(meaning a graduate), handed out about $2,000.
The real issue, of course - what was that guy doing on the LSU
sidelines, anyhow? - has been addressed by LSU, which has banned him
from its “facilities” for two years.
*********** THIS NOTE FROM AN UNDERSTANDABLY FRUSTRATED ASSISTANT COACH
illustrates the cause of the downfall of more than one HEAD
coach: It really doesn’t matter how much you like something or
how well you know it.
The prime reason - often the only reason - for running the offense or
defense that you do should be that it gives your kids the best possible
chance to be successful.
We lost
on Friday. As you know we run a spread zone read offense, and a
4-1-6 on defense (yes, you read that right).
As you know I spent
a good portion of the off-season trying to convince our HC to run your
Open Wing. I wasn't even given the time of day. When he
asked my opinion and suggestions about defense, I tried to get him to
listen to me about what we were trying to do and again, he poo-poo'ed
it.
We are now 0-13
over the past two seasons running his offense, and this abomination of
a defense. Apparently he has started counting the number of days
HE has gone without a win. On Saturday we met as a staff and his
demeanor and words were more sarcastic than ever before. He said,
"Guys, we must be terrible coaches." "We can't get these slaps to
block or tackle." "We're as bad as the team we play this week
(they are also 0-4), Hey, maybe we'll win one!" "But, if we can't
beat these guys we'll probably all get fired!" Then he had the
gall to ask us for suggestions on what we can do to get this thing
turned around. "Crickets." "OK, we'll see you on Monday." and he
left.
The three of us all
stood there looking at one another. One of the assistants
commented, "I guess that's what "throwing in the towel" looks like!"
Hugh, last year we
had six assistants, and between the six of us we had over 200 years of
coaching experience at the collegiate, high school, and middle school
levels with most of the high school experience coming in the form of
head coaching and assistant coaching at small schools. This
season we lost three assistants before the season started. One
retired, and the other two told me they just couldn't bring themselves
to coach for the current HC anymore.
As far as my future
in coaching is concerned a lot depends upon what happens here. If
the current HC stays I'm out. If he's out I'll reassess.
NAME WITHHELD,
ALONG WITH ENOUGH OF THE CONTENT TO PROTECT THE WRITER’S IDENTITY
*********** Coach,
The quiz answer is Vic Janowicz, interesting read.
You mentioned in the news about targeting so I thought I would tell you
that I threw a flag for helmet to helmet contact on a running back that
lowered his head this weekend, 13-14 yr olds. His coach came out
to discuss it with me, luckily he wasn't upset or angry, he just
wanted clarification. It was clear to me that he lowered his head
and drove it into the tackler.
One of the things I miss about coaching is giving the Black Lion
Award. I have to admit that I was always a little
jealous that I had to give away that awesome patch, I wish someone
would have nominated me for the award.
Dave Kemmick
Mount Joy, Pennsylvania
*********** I had a first cousin who lived in Greenville, TN.
Visited him there a few times. In fact, he was a pretty good football
player there. So, like you, I was dismayed when the announcer gave a
totally incorrect location. But forgive me for being upset at such a
small point...I'm from Orofino, you see, and sometimes small things set
me off like a ton of damn Chinese fireworks.
Re the Army QB. Laws was the returning QB from last season. We don't
know what's wrong that he hasn't played or practiced this
season...injury, we're told. But then we had 2, 3, and 4, none of whom
made the trip to San Antonio. So that left us with 5 and 6, Ballard and
Tyler, both of whom played well. But imo, Ballard was a steadier
presence, and clearly was in charge of the huddle. A further opinion:
after # 1, everyone else (in the case of this Army team) should be
viewed as # 2. I think Ballard has earned the right to play next week.
Incidentally, on one play last week we had two Cades in the backfield
at the same time. Cade Ballard and Cade Barnard. Not just two Cades,
but two Cade Ba.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** SORRY THAT THERE’S NO LETTER TODAY FROM JOE
GUTILLA. I HAVE DOCKED HIS PAY ACCORDINGLY AND I HOPE THE
FINANCIAL PAIN WILL BE ENOUGH TO GET HIM BACK ON SCHEDULE.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Of the four Heisman Trophies awarded from 1947
through 1950, three were won by Polish-Americans. Vic Janowicz
was one of those winners. (The other two were Notre Damers, Johnny
Lujack in 1947 and Leon Hart in 1949.)
He was the last of the Ohio State single wing tailbacks, and he could
do everything. As was expected of a tailback, he was a great runner and
a very good passer.
In his junior year, in an 83-21 win over Iowa, he was five for six
passing for 128 yards and four touchdowns, and he ran for two more. And
he set a Big Ten record with 10 extra points in one game.
He was an exceptional safety in the two-way football that they played
then.
And he was a punter and placekicker.
Against Michigan in the historic Snow Bowl of 1950, he punted 21 times
(still an OSU school record) for 685 yards (also still a school record)
and kicked a field goal for Ohio State’s only points in a 6-3 Buckeye
loss. (Michigan didn’t make a single first down, making all of its
points by blocking two of his punts.)
He won the Heisman that year, his junior year, despite fact that the
Buckeyes’ record was an unimpressive 6-3. But the record resulted in a
change in coaches for his senior year and the new coach, a young fellow
named Woody Hayes, brought with him a new offense. Hayes’ switch
from the single wing to the T-formation diminished our man’s role on
offense, but he still kicked, and he excelled in the secondary.
He was drafted by the Redskins, but with the Korean War going on, he
was called up by the National Guard. After the service, despite not
having played any baseball since high school, he was signed by the
Pittsburgh Pirates to a contract calling for the then-staggering amount
of $25,000.
Following two unproductive years playing baseball, he switched back to
football, and joined the Redskins in 1954. He was their starting
halfback in 1955, and also served as their placekicker. Through
his running, receiving and kicking, he led the NFL in scoring until the
final week of the season, when Detroit’s Doak Walker nosed him out.
During the 1956 pre-season, he was in a serious automobile accident,
suffering a brain injury that left him partially paralyzed and ended
his sports career. Ironically, just four days before his accident, his
young daughter had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
He was able through rehabilitation to regain full use of his body, and
worked for years in industry.
He died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 66.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and of the
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
Vic Janowicz was only the second Ohio State player ever to have his
number retired (after two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin).
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING VIC JANOWICZ
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
MAT HEDGER - LANGDON, NORTH DAKOTA
DAVE KEMMICK - MOUNT JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
*********** Hello Coach,
Quiz Answer is Vic Janowicz. I took a look at the Polish American
Sports HOF website, that is a pretty neat site.
I'm still trying to attend your clinics occasionally even if it is just
for a few minutes. I liked your film review of some plays from
the college games. Hope you're doing well in the Northwest.
We're supposed to get our first cumulative snowfall in ND today.
Winter is here! I do not envy the Big Ten trying to patch
together a season, but it is their own fault. Take care and God
Bless.
Mathew Hedger
Langdon, North Dakota
*********** Vic Janowicz...A bit of Cold War memorization from my Dad
Let's have trust in God
All we've left is contempt
Because God, good and just,
Will not let it be
That the hapless Pole
Live without a homeland.
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** QUIZ - Because of the way he moved opponents when he was on
offense, his coach called him a “rolling boulder.” On
defense, he was so hard to move that he was called the “Rock of
Gibraltar.”
Playing in a time of two-way football, he was one of the greatest
linemen - offensive or defensive - in the history of Minnesota
football.
Although not overly big by today’s standards - 6 foot, 250 - he
was way ahead of his time in his dedication to weight training, and he
was extremely strong.
He was a Minneapolis kid, and at his hometown University of Minnesota,
he enjoyed the kind of senior season few linemen ever get to
experience. As nose guard , he was the centerpiece on a Gopher
defense that in his senior season gave up only 88 points in ten games.
The Gophers tied for the Big Ten title with Iowa, and earned the Big
Ten’s berth in the Rose Bowl on the basis of their having beaten Iowa,
then ranked Number One in the Country, 27-10. It was Minnesota’s
first-ever Rose Bowl appearance.
(Ironically, because at that time the national championship was awarded
before the New Year’s Day bowls, the Gophers went into the Rose Bowl as
the national champions - and lost to Washington, 17-7.)
For his play that season, he was widely recognized as the nation’s best
lineman. He won the Outland Trophy, and he was named the Big Ten’s MVP.
He was a unanimous All-American, and - one for the trivia - he finished
second in the Heisman voting, behind Joe Bellino of Navy. It is
the highest any interior lineman has ever finished in the Heisman
balloting.
Drafted by the New York Titans of the AFL and the Baltimore Colts of
the NFL, he chose instead to play with the B.C. Lions of the CFL.
He had a good career there, helping the Lions to the Grey Cup
championship in 1964 and being named the team MVP. He would help
the Lions win a second Grey Cup, but was forced to retire in 1967 after
suffering a neck injury.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame.
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 20, 2020 "Journalism
is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is
public relations.” George Orwell
*********** MY FEARLESS PICKS FOR THIS WEEKEND (Caution: gambling based
on excessive dependence on my brilliance as a prognosticator can lead
to penury.)
If you bet my picks this past weekend, I’ll see you in the
poorhouse.
WON 8 LOST 18 — WHEW!
FRIDAY GAMES
x SMU OVER Tulane +9
x BYU OVER Houston +4
SATURDAY GAMES
x CLEMSON OVER Georgia Tech +27
W MIAMI OVER Pitt +11
W SOUTH CAROLINA +3 OVER Auburn
x TENNESSEE OVER Kentucky +7
x EAST CAROLINA +3 OVER NAVY
x TEXAS STATE +3 OVER South Alabama
x TEMPLE OVER South Florida +10
W LIBERTY OVER Syracuse +3
x WEST VIRGINIA OVER Kansas +27
x UTSA +6 OVER Army
W UAB OVER Western Kentucky +15
x NOTRE DAME OVER Louisville +10
x DUKE +5 OVER NC State
x UCF OVER Memphis +3
x OLE MISS OVER Arkansas +2
x TROY OVER Eastern Kentucky +27-1/2
W TEXAS A & M over Miss State +5-1/2
W GEORGIA SOUTHERN OVER UMass _30
W WAKE FOREST +1 OVER Virginia
x MIDDLE TENN +6-1/2 OVER North Texas
W MARSHALL OVER La Tech _13
x NORTH CAROLINA OVER FSU +8
x GEORGIA +5 over Alabama
x BOSTON COLLEGE +11 OVER Virginia Tech
POSTPONED
TULSA + 4-1/2 OVER Cincinnati
CHARLOTTE OVER Florida International +6-1/2
*********** I just happened to be doing some checking in the
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame site and I learned to my
surprise and dismay that Johnny Olszewski is not an inductee.
There are some very impressive American sports figures who’ve been
inducted, and in my opinion, Johnny O is as worthy of the honor
as any of them.
Deciding to try to do something about it, I called and left a message
at the HOF offices in Troy, Michigan. Not long afterward, I received a
call from a gentleman who identified himself as the executive director,
and I explained my reason for calling.
He said that Johnny O’s name had come up on occasion, but now he’s
become a victim of the passage of time , and the toll it takes on
those people who might have remembered him. Now, Johnny O is in
limbo, relegated to the veteran’s committee.
The director, a very nice guy, said that I might be able to help his
cause if I could provide him with some bio information. I
said I just happened to have something ready to go.
Off it went. Go, Johnny O.
http://www.polishsportshof.com/inductees/
***********Even without the people in the stands, and even with the
stupid sideline announcers who insist on wearing masks AND maintaining
social distancing, I’m really enjoying this football season.
Sorry, Big Ten and Pac-12 fans. This may piss you off, but I’m
enjoying what I see so much that it wouldn’t bother me if a certain
pair of high and mighty conferences were to decide (“out of an
abundance of caution”) to pass on this season after all.
I mean, when we were starving for some football, the guys who are
playing now gave us real football. Where the hell were you when
we needed you?
The two holdout conferences remind me of the story of the Little Red
Hen:
Who will
help us have a football season? asked the football fans of America.
Not I, said the Big
Ten. Not I, said the Pac-12.
Then we will do it
by ourselves, said the other three Power Five conferences. And so will
we, said three of the Group of Five conferences. And so will we,
said a few independents.
Once the football
season was under way, and it became apparent that there was going to be
a playoff, with a national championship and bags of money at stake, the
Big Ten and the Pac-12 said, Wait - we’re going to play after
all. And just because we’re a couple of months late, because we
sat back and waited while you took all the risks, we still expect a
place in the playoffs.
The Little Red Hen said screw 'em. But she was a lot tougher than
today’s college athletic directors, who will find a way to incorporate
the late arrivals into the Playoff.
I have a feeling that if it were up to a vote of the fans of America,
the Big Ten and Pac-12 would put their gear away and sit this one out.
But no. It's not up to the fans. THey have no say.
Ohio State and Penn State haven't played a game yet but, dutifully, the
AP holds a place for the two of them in therir Top 10.
*********** I almost laughed when I saw a crawler saying that the NCAA
had hit UMass hard for financial aid violations involving “basketball
and women’s tennis players.” UMass, which barely has a football
team, got in trouble paying players on its women’s tennis team?
Wait - UMass is accused of “overpaying 12 athletes about $9,100
in financial aid over three years.” Per athlete, that’s $758 a
year. Per year, that’s a few pennies more than $250 per
athlete. Over a nine-month school year, that’s less than $30 a
month. But UMass is small potatoes, and not a big-time
power, so I fully expect the NCAA to crush them.
*********** Is it an FCC regulation that football coaches have to be
interviewed at the half, one at the start of halftime and then when
they return to the field?
*********** Best uniforms of the day: Syracuse. The Orangemen wore the
classic uni worn in Dick MacPherson’s day, when Syracuse verged on
being a national power.
Worst uniforms of the day: Memphis, in all-gray. Besides the
ugliness, I can’t believe that every single professor of Ethnic Studies
at Memphis was so busy that it slipped his (or her, or their) notice
that gray was the color of Confederate Army uniforms, and you know what
the Confederacy was fighting for, and so...
*********** Liberty is a very good football team and a lot of fun to
watch. They’re solid in all aspects of the game, and they’ve got a
couple of good running backs in Shedro Louis and Peytton Pickett, and a
nice QB in Malik Willis.
*********** I didn’t think that anyone could upstage the President
where a comeback from the Wuhan Virus was concerned, but Nick Saban did
it.
*********** Alabama and Clemson are in a class by themselves.
*********** We are still seeing way too many targeting calls, and in
most cases it takes at least five minutes from the call to the final
judgment. And it's so typical of our soft-on-offenders culture
that we no longer banish the targetters for fear of stigmatizing
those poor young men - the same ones who only minutes earlier
were intentionally inflicting on a defenseless opponent what could be
permanent brain damage.
*********** We are also seeing too many roughing/targeting calls on
hook sliding QBs. I’m sorry, but you can’t let the guy run like a real
football player and then, at the last second, allow him to put on a red
don’t-hit-the-quarterback scrimmage jersey and expect him to be safe
from opponents who are still playing football as the game was meant to
be played.
At the very least, the ball should be spotted a significant distance -
say, ten yards - back from the place where the slide began.
And then, to top it off, some genius whom I was too busy to identify
(go to awfulannouncing.com if you ever want to find out who’s doing the
yakking on the game you’re watching) and obviously never coached (or
played) defense actually said, “When that quarterback goes into that
slide, you’ve gotta pull up.”
*********** Kentucky returned two interceptions for TDs in the first
half against Tennessee.
*********** Talk about the worm turning. Since 1985, Kentucky has
beaten Tennessee only three times (that’s 33-3). But the Wildcats
have now won two of the last four games.
*********** Considering what’s expected of a triple option fullback,
Navy played two unusually small guys there. One was 5-9, 213 and the
other was 5-9, 205.
*********** East Carolina gave a freshman QB his first start against
Navy. Mason Garcia is 6-5, 235. He’s from Myrtle Beach, South
Carolina, and he’s going to be good.
*********** The perils of trying to package two plays into one:
Tennessee lost the ball on a fumble when the QB’s throwing arm was hit
by the running back whose elbow was high in anticipation of a handoff.
*********** Army had to face UTSA with two inexperienced QBs,
neither of whom was higher than third string before this week. Cade
Ballard, a freshman, is stocky and strong, and did an exceptional
job of running the Army offense, plus running and passing well. He’s
from Greeneville, Tennessee, where his dad was his high school coach,
and where he was twice named the state’s Mister Football in his class.
The announcers, obviously faking it, said Greeneville is “just outside
Nashville.” My ass it is. It’s in the mountains of East Tennessee,
about 250 miles from Nashville. Way to do your homework, guys.
The other freshman QB, Tyhier Tyler, a sophomore, does not appear to be
as strong as Ballard but he is exceptionally fast, a real threat to
break it any time he carries. He’s from Newport News, Virginia.
In my opinion, especially considering that UTSA was a quality
opponent, it was the best that Army’s looked this year on
offense. Their defense, which has done more than its share this
season, looked as good as ever.
*********** UTSA’s QB, Lowell Narcisse, impressed me. He’s
big. Really, really big. He looks like he’s maybe 30 years
old. Late in the game, driving for extra yardage against Army, he was
injured and had to be carted off. He has since had to undergo
surgery on his ankle and will miss the rest of the season. My
best wishes for his recovery and a successful rehab.
*********** I saw a clip of the Mississippi State team getting off
their bus, and I wondered who the homeless guy was in the powder blue
sweatshirt and what looked like sweat pants. Damned if it wasn’t Mike
Leach, who after the last two games is probably discovering that
there’s a lot to be said for going incognito. How much you wanna
bet he’s starting to miss the rolling hills of the Palouse?
*********** For the second week in a row an Army QB lost his helmet.
*********** The first and last scores of the first half of the Duke-NC
State game resulted from blocked punts. The first score came when
Duke blocked a Wolfpack punt and ran it in. The final score of
the half came when State blocked a Duke punt and ran it in
*********** I was able to find - and record - 19 different games, but
not one that I wanted to see - Temple 39, USF 37. Now
it can be told - I’m sort of a half-ass Temple alum. Flunked a class at
Yale and was able to make it up going to Temple one summer. Go Owls.
*********** Not to come across as homophobic, you understand, but
there’s something about a placekicker with a mustache…
*********** Duke recovered a fumble, then drew a 15-yard penalty when
the guy who recovered it ripped off his helmet in celebration.
Just in case you wondered whether those immature high school kids
you’re coaching ever grow up.
*********** Speaking of Mississippi State, the Bulldogs celebrated
their first TD in the last two games. But the vaunted Air Raid
still remains grounded - Saturday's TD came on an interception return.
*********** The announcer informed us that Duke TE Noah Gray is from
Leominster, Massachusetts. He must have been showing off, because
he pronounced it correctly.
Every state has a town or two the pronunciation of which immediately
enables you to spot an outsider, and Leominster is one such.
It’s “LEMM-in-ster.” (Or, in New England, “LEMM-in-stuh.”)
*********** When UCF looks at the film/tape/video of its one-point loss
to Memphis, it will probably notice that as its running back drives for
what would have been the winning score, he is holding the ball in one
hand, which is why he fumbled.
*********** Memphis put itself in position for its winning score with a
nice shuffle play that's right out of our Open Wing arsenal.
*********** Florida State is definitely coming back, which may not be
such a good sign for those who love the game of football: in the space
of five plays in their game against North Carolina, they had targeting,
roughing the passer, two normal plays, and then, on a PAT, roughing the
kicker (it was called “running into the kicker,” I believe, but in
legal terms, that is definitely undercharging).
*********** Coach,
Funny you mention long snapping possibilities. I walked on
at Utah State University in fall 1977. I was 1 of only 2
that year to make it. I was a long snapper and fairly good
center. They gave me a partial scholarship after that 1st
year-pretty small-but something. After long snapping for them in
the 1978 season, I transferred near home to concentrate on being a PE
teacher and coach. They called in the summer and offered me
full. I was already set to go to Cortland so I didn't take
it. That was one skill I was good at. I sometimes
wonder if I should have gone back. Who knows?
John Irion
Granville, New York
*********** Hugh,
At my last school the only two awards I gave out at the end of the
football season were the "Black Lion" Award, and the "Burlsworth"
Award. The Black Lion award was highly regarded by the parents
and the players, as was the Burlsworth award. Unfortunately,
after I left they stopped giving out those awards. Parents I am
still close to over there continually ask me why they don't give those
awards out anymore. I tell them it's certainly not for a lack of
providing the information the new coaches needed to continue the
tradition.
I tried to get the HC at my current school to contact you about giving
out the Black Lion award but he declined saying the school already
gives out a similar award named after the HC I previously worked for at
this school. In all honesty, while the former HC is a wonderful
man, and revered at the school, I don't think the award named after him
has the same impact on the boys (and their parents) that the Black Lion
Award does. I truly miss giving that award.
I will no longer provide "tips" regarding college football games.
My tips suck. Rather...I will offer "thoughts" on various
games:
Army better get its proverbial s*** together vs UTSA. The
Roadrunners have a pretty good football team.
Notre Dame's offense is improving each week, but their defense still
has a ways to go.
Not sure which Navy team will show up vs. East Carolina. Then
again, which East Carolina team will show up?
That guy in Washington is one of many showing up in many states.
We have a few here in Texas, but fortunately for us here we have
a very strong coaches association that works very hard at informing
high school coaches who these dudes are, and why the HS coaches should
tell their parents and players to steer clear of those guys.
Enjoy the weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Gene “Big Daddy” Lipscomb has been dead
for almost 60 years, but people who never saw him play still
“remember” him. Well, at least they know the nickname. He was
that famous.
.
Few players who never get to touch the football have ever been as
famous he was. The nickname “Big Daddy” not only described
his physical prowess, but also applied to his outsized personality and
lifestyle.
His play on the field was an open book, there for all to see; his
off-the-field cavorting, while not known to the general public as it
might be today, was the stuff of legend among his teammates, who
spoke in awe about his capacity for hard drink and, um, women.
Even today he would be an impressive figure on a football field. But at
the time he played, at 6-6 and 300 or more, he was a giant.
He played 10 years in the NFL, with the Rams, Colts and Steelers. His
best years were the five he spent with the Baltimore Colts, where he
was a fixture on a great defensive line along with Gino Marchetti, Don
Joyce and Art Donovan.
In his final game, the Pro Bowl in 1963, he was named Defensive Player
of the Game.
And then, that May, he died, in Baltimore, of a massive cocaine
overdose. He was just 31.
He never had it easy. He was born in Alabama to poor cotton field
workers and he never knew his father. He moved with his mother to
Detroit when he was three. When he was 11, his mother was murdered by
her boyfriend.
Orphaned, he was taken in by his grandfather, and soon put to
work. "I had to buy my own clothes and pay room and board to my
grandfather," he told The Saturday Evening Post in a 1960 article. "I
washed dishes in a cafe, loaded trucks for a construction gang and
helped around a junkyard. One year I ran a lift in a steel mill from
midnight until seven in the morning. Then I changed clothes and went to
school."
"My grandfather loved me, all right, and did the best that he knew
how,”he once said. "But for some reason it was always hard for us to
talk together. Instead of telling me what I was doing wrong and how to
correct it, my grandfather would holler and whip me."
He was always big - he was 6-4 and 220 in sixth grade - and when he got
to high school (Miller High School, as he would later be announced in
NFL introductions) he was good in football and basketball.
But after being declared ineligible, he dropped out of school and on
the advice of his high school coach, he joined the Marines.
Somehow he took to their discipline, and soon was such a standout on
the Camp Pendleton football team that he came to the attention of a
young Los Angeles Rams’ executive named Pete Rozelle, who signed him to
an NFL contract.
He wasn’t an instant hit. He had a lot to learn. But he learned fast,
and at a time when there were few 300 pounders in the league, and those
who were that heavy were big-bellied guys who didn’t move very well,
his combination of size, speed and coordination soon made him a force
on defense,.
“One of the best tacklers there ever was,” recalled his coach, Weeb
Ewbank. "When Big Daddy wrapped a guy up with those long arms, he
stayed wrapped."
"He was big, fast, strong and agile. Really, really great,” recalled
Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti.
"The best man I ever saw at knocking people down," said Steelers’ coach
Buddy Parker.
The Eagles had a powerful fullback named Clarence Peaks. Peaks
went at least 225, and Colts’ teammate Raymond Berry remembered,
“Peaks hit Big Daddy’s arm, and it knocked him backwards. Backwards! He
arm-tackled Clarence Peaks! That was the kind of play he brought to the
game."
He liked to say that his tackling method consisted of grabbing
everybody he could until he found the one with the ball.
After knocking an opponent to the ground, he would help the guy to his
feet, explaining that he didn’t want little kids who might be watching
to “think Big Daddy’s mean.”
His death remains a mystery. Many of those who knew him (as well as
anyone could know that very complex man) swore that for all his
indulgences in food, whiskey and sex, he would never have injected
drugs into his system, if only because he had a widely-known fear of
needles.
More than 20,000 mourners - many of them former and current girlfriends
- lined up for blocks on the Baltimore streets for the chance to walk
past Big Daddy’s (oversized) casket for one last look at the person who
for them truly was larger than life.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING BIG DADDY LIPSCOMB
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
DAVE KEMMICK - MOUNT JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
DAVE POTTER - CARY, NORTH CAROLINA
SHEP CLARKE - PUYALLUP, WASHINGTON
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** For an absolutely astounding article on Big Daddy Lipscomb,
an absolutely astounding individual, check this out…
https://vault.si.com/vault/1999/01/11/the-ballad-of-big-daddy-big-daddy-lipscomb-whose-size-and-speed-revolutionized-the-defensive-linemans-position-in-the-late-50s-was-a-man-of-insatiable-appetites-for-women-liquor-and-apparently-drugs
*********** I didn't realize until I was searching for the answer that
he was also a professional wrestler.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** As a retired Marine I am ashamed I didn't know he was in
the Marines. I'm wondering how he got past the height
requirement. I think 6'6" is max.
Tom Davis
San Carlos, California
*********** QUIZ: Of the four Heisman Trophies awarded from 1947
through 1950, three were won by Polish-Americans. He was one of
those winners.
He was the last of the Ohio State single wing tailbacks, and he could
do everything. As was expected of a tailback, he was a great runner and
a very good passer.
In his junior year, in an 83-21 win over Iowa, he was five for six
passing for 128 yards and four touchdowns, and he ran for two more. And
he set a Big Ten record with 10 extra points in one game.
He was an exceptional safety in the two-way football that they played
then.
And he was a punter and placekicker.
Against Michigan in the historic Snow Bowl of 1950, he punted 21 times
(still an OSU school record) for 685 yards (also still a school record)
and kicked a field goal for Ohio State’s only points in a 6-3 Buckeye
loss. (Michigan didn’t make a single first down, making all of its
points by blocking two of his punts.)
He won the Heisman that year, his junior year, despite fact that the
Buckeyes’ record was an unimpressive 6-3. But the record resulted in a
change in coaches for his senior year and the new coach, a young fellow
named Woody Hayes, brought with him a new offense. Hayes’ switch
from the single wing to the T-formation diminished our man’s role on
offense, but he still kicked, and he excelled in the secondary.
He was drafted by the Redskins, but with the Korean War going on, he
was called up by the National Guard. After the service, despite not
having played any baseball since high school, he was signed by the
Pittsburgh Pirates to a contract calling for the then-staggering amount
of $25,000.
Following two unproductive years playing baseball, he switched back to
football, and joined the Redskins in 1954. He was their starting
halfback in 1955, and also served as their placekicker. Through
his running, receiving and kicking, he led the NFL in scoring until the
final week of the season, when Detroit’s Doak Walker nosed him out.
During the 1956 pre-season, he was in a serious automobile accident,
suffering a brain injury that left him partially paralyzed and ended
his sports career. Ironically, just four days before his accident, his
young daughter had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy.
He was able through rehabilitation to regain full use of his body, and
worked for years in industry.
He died of cancer in 1996 at the age of 66.
He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and of the
Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
He was only the second Ohio State player ever to have his number
retired (after two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin).
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 16, 2020 “It
is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank
God that such men lived.” General George S. Patton, Jr.
*********** Difficult times call
for good men, and the sport of football has never had a greater need
for good men.
Even in cases where teams are able to practice, or even play,
every day brings new and unforeseen challenges, and the need has never
been greater for players who will step up and help assume some of the
coach’s need for leadership.
In view of this, the decision has been made to permit a coach, whether
or not his team is playing a fall season - to offer the
Black Lion Award to a player who has been a demonstrated leader of his
teammates in these tough times. That leadership could show itself in a
number of different ways and we’re leaving it up to a player’s head
coach to describe it.
We think that leadership in the preparation phase - made even tougher
by virtual learning and assorted state restrictions - is as worthy of
recognition as leadership in the actual game, so therefore, even
if his team doesn’t play football this fall, a player can qualify for
the Black Lion Award by demonstrating that he has been willing to
lead from the front - to get his teammates to do the things that he
knows have to be done in order to get ready to play.
We ask that the head coach contact us - blacklionaward@mac.com -
to register his team by giving us (1) his name and (2) his team’s name
and (3) the address where the award should be sent.
And then we ask the head coach to nominate his player - to “write him
up” as if he were recommending the player for a military medal. We do
insist that the letter (an e-mail is best) and what it has to say
should honor the player just as much as the Black Lion Award does.
There is never any cost to the coach or the school to take part in the
Black Lion Award program. The Black Lion Award is privately funded and
is not in any way a recruitment tool. (I am a football coach and I
administer the award.)
(If you nominate a player for his leadership efforts in the preparation
phase, you may also present a second award for your spring season.)
It's fitting that this announcement comes on the eve of the 53rd
anniversary of the Battle of Ong Thanh, on October 17, 1967, where in a
jungle in Vietnam the Black Lions of the 28th Infantry Regiment were
ambushed by a large force of the North Vietnamese Army. In the fierce
fighting, 64 American soldiers were killed, including former Army
football All-American, Don Holleder, and in their honor the Black Lion
Award was established in 2001.
*********** MY FEARLESS PICKS FOR THIS WEEKEND (Caution: gambling based
on excessive dependence on my brilliance as a prognosticator can lead
to penury.)
FRIDAY GAMES
SMU OVER Tulane +9
BYU OVER Houston +4
SATURDAY GAMES
CLEMSON OVER Georgia Tech +27
TULSA + 4-1/2 OVER Cincinnati
MIAMI OVER Pitt +11
SOUTH CAROLINA +3 OVER Auburn
TENNESSEE OVER Kentucky +7
EAST CAROLINA +3 OVER NAVY
TEXAS STATE +3 OVER South Alabama
TEMPLE OVER South Florida +10
LIBERTY OVER Syracuse +3
WEST VIRGINIA OVER Kansas +27
UTSA +6 OVER Army
UAB OVER Western Kentucky +15
NOTRE DAME OVER Louisville +10
DUKE +5 OVER NC State
UCF OVER Memphis +3
OLE MISS OVER Arkansas +2
TROY OVER Eastern Kentucky +27-1/2
TEXAS A & M over Miss State +5-1/2
GEORGIA SOUTHERN OVER UMass +30
WAKE FOREST +1 OVER Virginia
MIDDLE TENN +6-1/2 OVER North Texas
MARSHALL OVER La Tech +13
NORTH CAROLINA OVER FSU +8
GEORGIA +5 over Alabama
BOSTON COLLEGE +11 OVER Virginia Tech
CHARLOTTE OVER Florida International +6-1/2
*********** NFHS NETWORK HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
Friday, 7:00 PM/Eastern - MICHIGAN: RIVER ROUGE VS DETROIT CENTRAL
CATHOLIC
Friday, 7:30 PM/Eastern - GEORGIA: GRAYSON VS. SOUTH GWINNETT
Friday, 6:45 PM/Central - INTERSTATE: ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (OVERLAND
PARK, KS) VS OMAHA WESTSIDE
Friday, 7:00 PM/Pacific - ARIZONA: QUEEN CREEK VS. CASTEEL
Saturday, 1:00 PM/Eastern - NEW JERSEY: ST. JOSEPH REGIONAL VS ST.
PETERS PREP
https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/
*********** I hope that, like me, you’re pulling for Nick Saban to make
a quick recovery. But a recovery from what, exactly?
All these guys we read about who’ve been infected but haven't
experienced any symptoms - is there anything to recover
from?
Unless we start seeing otherwise healthy people being laid low by the
killer flu, is there really all that need to get so excited by mere
infections?
*********** I really enjoyed the Coastal Carolina-Louisiana game
Wednesday night. They’re both good teams with some exciting talent.
Louisiana QB Levi Lewis is a good passer and a terrific runner -
absolutely impossible to contain. And get this - he’s majoring in Civil
Engineering.
Coastal Carolina is a relative newcomer to FBS play, and when they made
a field goal with :04 left to win, 30-27, it was their first win ever
over a ranked opponent.
They do a lot of interesting things offensively, proving that you CAN
run power, misdirection AND option. Their QB, Grayson McCall, a
redshirt freshman, can do it all. And they have a running
back in CJ Marable who is as good as I’ve seen this year.
Their offensive line is quite good, but they’re short - across the
front, they’re 6-3, 6-1, 5-9 (that’s the center), 6-1 and 6-2.
When asked about whether it was a disadvantage, the right guard, 6-1
Trey Carter, told the interviewer, “I’m not playing basketball.”
*********** My old friend Ossie Osmundson, with whom I coached for
several years at Ridgefield, Washington in the 1990s, said he had to
call me after seeing the Orofino Maniacs sticker. He said that
many years ago he and his late wife, Eileen, were driving through the
mountains between Lewiston, Idaho and Missoula, Montana and as they
approached Orofino, Ossie, knowing about the mascot name, insisted on
finding the high school. They found it at the end of a narrow
road. On one side of the road was the high school, with a big sign
saying it was THE HOME OF THE MANIACS. And on the other side, behind
a cyclone fence topped with barbed wire, was the state mental
institution.
*********** When I read last week about a local kid who’d taken
part in some combine, I found myself wondering how such an event
could have taken place in Washington, a state whose school sports have
been locked down so tightly.
The story also alluded to some “game” that the kid had participated in,
but I just figured that someone had found a loophole in the regulations
and had somehow pulled it off.
Not so. Now it comes out. While our state’s high
school coaches have been enjoined from working out with their kids,
hoping that the governor will be benevolent enough to allow football in
the spring, one of those “personal trainer” types, inspired no doubt by
“demands” by some players and parents that they be allowed to play in
the fall, took it upon himself to stage a full-contact
game. More than 100 players were invited (No mention of the cost.)
Several of the players, it appeared, had already been training with the
guy at his (for-profit) facility in the Seattle area.
This kind of self-serving crap really enrages me. While the high
schools and their coaches remain bound by the rules, this guy, under
the guise of doing it for the kids, made an end run around all
the law-abiders and staged his own high school all-star game,
with players using school-issued equipment, on a field he had no
permission to use, and quite possibly doing so without adequate
insurance.
And despite the fact that every one of the kids was a high school
student and still subject to its rules, our bureaucratic state
association washed its hands of it. (But let one high school coach
somewhere try to conduct a practice with his kids...)
This
is as sleazy as it gets. No one in the state of Washington
is any more pissed at our governor and his tyrannical way than I am,
but this little venture which its promoter tries to paint as an effort
, among othr things, to provide deserving kids with an opportunity to
maybe “be the first kids in their family to ever go to college… blah,
blah, blah” is not exactly a case of the peasant farmers rising up
against King George III.
I won’t go any deeper into it. Read the article for yourself.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/high-school/with-no-high-school-football-a-frustrated-trainer-staged-his-own-game-in-violation-of-washington-state-covid-19-protocols/?utm_source=marketingcloud&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TSA_101520143142+HS+football+game+violated+health+guidelines_10_15_2020&utm_term=Active%20subscriber
*********** Dads, if you’ve got a son who’s got decent size and a bit
of athletic ability and he likes to play football - teach him to be a
long snapper. Long snapping is a skill that’s always in need,
even in the best of times, and in these days of rosters being hit by
the China Virus, teams are finding themselves in sudden need of deep
snappers, as the Wall Street Journal noted in an article today.
The long
snapper is perhaps the most specialized—and most easily ignored—player
on the football field. They spend hours bending over upside down,
chucking balls between their legs with speed and pinpoint precision.
Nobody pays any attention to them unless something goes horribly awry.
But with the
coronavirus mauling depth charts on short notice and scrambling
schedules, bad snaps are suddenly central to the outcome of some games.
It’s a problem
facing the smallest colleges—and the biggest NFL teams. More than a
dozen players on the Tennessee Titans have tested positive for the
virus over the past two weeks. There was only one for which they didn’t
have a backup: their long snapper.
(The WSJ article was brought to my attention by fellow Yalie Lou
Orlando, who was a deep snapper at Yale for the great Carm Cozza. Lou
coaches at Marshwood High, a state power in Maine, and I suggested that
he at least let Bill Belichick know how to get hold of him if he gets
in a jam.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/footballs-most-essential-workers-during-a-pandemic-long-snappers-11602685769?st=01gkmcb3r2qqrcc&reflink=article_email_share
*********** Got plenty of time in retirement, so how about
a compilation of All-Star basketball teams composed of football players?
Criteria: Had to have played both sports at the collegiate level,
and then gone on to a professional career in EITHER sport.
Classical Era: Ron Kramer (Michigan)
Doug Atkins (Tennessee)
Rick Casares (Florida)
Jim Brown (Syracuse)
Joe Kapp (Cal)
Honorable
Mention: Pete Gent (Michigan St.), Cornell Green (Utah St.), Ron
Howard (Seattle) Preston Pearson (Illinois)..
Honorable mention because they did not play college football.
Modern Times: Charlie Ward (Florida St.)
Nate Robinson (Washington)
Julius Peppers (N. Carolina)
Tony Gonzales (Cal)
Joe Senser (West Chester)
Honorable Mention: Antonio Gates (Kent St.)
Did not play college football
Jimmy Graham (Miami), John Paye (Stanford)
Shep Clarke
Puyallup, Washington
From an earlier era, we both agree that Emlen Tunnell, who played
basketball at Toledo, and Terry Baker, the only Heisman Trophy winner
who also played in a Final Four game, belong on the list. What
say you - anybody missing?
*********** After coach Steve Jones chose to leave his position as head
coach at Hammond, Louisiana High, it didn’t take him long to find
another job, this time as an analyst at the college level. As he wrote,
I am working again. I am coaching at Southeastern Louisiana
University in Hammond. I am serving as Special Teams Coach and I break
down the opponents’ offense for our Defense. We are playing in
the Spring. First Game at the end of Feb. (6 games)
*********** It's probably way too soon to begin drawing such
conclusions, and I’m not in a position to do so anyway, but I have
read speculation that any decline in the quality of Big 12
football - and no one will claim that its defenses are first-rate -
could be attributable to Texas' increased emphasis on 7-on-7 in
the off-season, which has caused so much of Texas high school
football to turn into a wide-open, “defense-free” game.
*********** When I mentioned that Florida QB Kyle Trask came from a
family of Texas Aggies, and that as a result of that he was named for
Texas A & M’s stadium, Kyle Field, I had to admit that I was
surprised that he hadn’t come by his name the way so many other kids
had.
Few of you reading this ever saw Kyle Rote play. Many of you have
never heard of him. But he was a great college football player
and a damn good player for the great New York Giants’ teams of the
1950s. You know - Gifford, Conerly, Roosevelt (Brown and Grier),
Tunnell, Huff, Landry, Robustelli, Modzelewski, Katkavage. He started
out as a running back, but after he hurt his knee, he became an “end” -
sort of. He remained a “back,” but he lined up wide to one side
or another, as a “flanker back,” making him one of the very first to be
used that way.
Rote was one of the Giants’ captains, and so respected was he as
a person that in the words of his son, Kyle Rote, Junior, who would
grow up to become about as popular as an American soccer player can be,
"To me the most remarkable thing about him from a football standpoint
was that he had 14 teammates who named sons after him.''
http://www.espn.com/classic/obit/s/2002/0815/1418391.html
*********** This past Saturday we won our schools very first playoff
game. This year has been full of firsts for us though. As I have
previously said, We have won our first ever outright conference
championship (we did win one in 2014 but it was a three way share). Our
first ever playoff appearance, we also got to Host the playoff game and
that is a huge honor in itself. No one gave us a chance this past
weekend, everyone talked about we were not even deserving to get in.
The team we played was 1-5 this season but had played a very good
schedule. They had lost to one 6-0 team (last year Ironton played in
the State championship game, and probably will again this year), two
5-1 teams, and one 4-2 team. We ended up winning 21-20, it was a game
that went to the final minute. We dominated the Time of possession, We
ran 60 plays rushing 58 times for 305 yards and passing 2 times for 5
yards(both screens one a 29 yard touchdown that got called back). we
had 18 first downs. Portsmouth ran 39 plays rushing 20 times for 139
yards and passing 9-19 for 120 yards and 13 first downs. This week we
are playing a very good School Bishop Ready. They are ranked 26th in
our division. Thanks for all your help this year.
Thomas Caudill
McDermott, Ohio
*********** Hugh,
"King" LeBron James wants his damn respect. Last I checked
respect is given when it's earned and not called for. Guys like
Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Bob Cousy, Oscar Robertson,
and others will always have my respect before the "King". On a
side note the NBA's viewing numbers for the season, and in particular
the finals were dismal. The commish has said they will "revisit"
things for next year. Hmmm. I wonder what caused those
dismal numbers in the first place??
Did you know Lane Kiffin and I have six degrees of separation?
First, he is one of my fellow alums. A 1998 graduate of
Fresno State (I'm a 1975 FSU grad). Played backup QB behind David
Carr and Billy Volek (both future NFL QB's). Both of us gave up
our playing careers to become coaches (he became an FSU student
assistant, and I became a high school assistant). Another
commonality is that he is from Bloomington, MN and played his high
school ball at Bloomington Jefferson. I coached high school ball
only a few miles down the road from Bloomington.
The Texas-OU game was a classic in that age-old series. I thought
Texas was going to pull off another miracle comeback.
Unfortunately they fell short to a deflected pass interception in
the end zone during that 4th OT that would have extended their chance.
An eerie epilogue to the story was seeing Texas QB Sam Ehlinger
standing alone on the field after the game was over while the Texas
band played the Eyes of Texas. Although Ehlinger didn't allude to
it while discussing the game in the post-game press conference (he's a
pretty classy kid), there is a lot of talk going on that the Longhorns
locker room is not in great shape right now, and rumors started to
swirl after the TCU loss about the future of Tom Hermann. The
name being floated? Of course. Urban Meyer.
The official colors of Georgia Tech are gold, navy blue, and white.
I believe those gaudy looking things TCU was wearing were meant
to have pink numbers, but the pink certainly came off looking like red.
Either way they were way ugly, and I'm sure the marketing people
received a lot of mail.
Phil Jurkovec made the right move. He would not have seen much
playing time behind Ian Book, and Jurkovec will become an even better
QB receiving full playing time with BC. Book is not flashy,
doesn't have a big arm, but he wins. Kinda reminds me of a former
ND QB who was a lot like him in college, and ended up making a pretty
good living in the NFL, and with a few Super Bowl rings as testament.
My family, including my relatives, and paisanos still call that Monday
off Columbus Day.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
I stand corrected on Georgia Tech - their colors are, indeed, White
and Gold, but Navy Blue is a “secondary color.”
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Johnny Olszewski was once the most famous
college football in America.His name is pronounced “oh-SHEFF-ski,” and
he was known far and wide as “Johhny O.”
He is far and away the best player in the history of the Washington
Redskins ever to wear the Number “0”. In truth, there is only one
other player in the history of the team who has worn the number, and
that was a punter named Glenn Pakulak, who didn’t even spend a full
season with the Skins.
He had a ten-year pro career: nine years in the NFL with the Cardinals,
Redskins, and Lions, and one year with the AFL Broncos.
A running back, he led his little high school, St. Anthony of Long
Beach, California, to the CIF (state) title, back in the days before
there were several classes, defeating schools many times St. Anthony’s
size along the way. In the semi-final game, he scored on runs of 22,
41, 64 and 79 yards. He was named CIF Player of the Year.
He and his entire backfield were signed by Cal, then the top West Coast
power. He started all three years at running back, and as a sophomore
in 1950 he became the first Cal runner to rush for over 1,000
yards. He led the Bears in rushing all three years, and his
career mark of 2,504 yards (playing only three seasons and only
ten games a season) still ranks eighth all-time at Cal.
An All-American his senior year, he was a first-round NFL draft choice
- the fourth player taken overall - by the Chicago Cardinals.
He was twice selected to play in the Pro Bowl with the Cardinals before
being traded to the Redskins. On coming to the Redskins, he
changed his number from 36 to 0. (In his case the “0” did not stand for
“zero.”)
In his career he rushed for 3320 yards and had 988 yards receiving and
scored 19 touchdowns.
After retirement, he served as chief of lifeguards in his native Long
Beach.
He had plenty of experience at the job. While still in college,
he actually saved two college football players - both quarterbacks -
from the surf.
In 1950, he rescued Cal teammate Billy Mais, and a year later, he saved
Don Klosterman, then the QB at Loyola and later an executive with
several NFL teams. (“I couldn’t swim and shouldn’t have been out
there,” Klosterman was quoted as saying afterward.)
Johnny O was the uncle of Manu Tuiasosopo and the great uncle of
Marques Tuiasosopo both of whom played in the NFL.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST. PATERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WINSCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
********** There's an old, old joke, a chestnut even that was popular
amongst Polish Americans...What are the meanest, toughest Polish kids
in the World called?...Why the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, of course.
Johnny Olszewski must've been one that got away!
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** QUIZ: He has been dead for almost 60 years, but
people who never saw him play still “remember” him. Well, at
least they know the nickname. He was that famous.
.
Few players who never get to touch the football have ever been as
famous he was. His nickname not only described his physical
prowess, but also applied to his outsized personality and lifestyle.
His play on the field was an open book, there for all to see; his
off-the-field cavorting, while not known to the general public as it
might be today, was the stuff of legend among his teammates, who
spoke in awe about his capacity for hard drink and, um, women.
Even today he would be an impressive figure on a football field. But at
the time he played, at 6-6 and 300 or more, he was a giant.
He played 10 years in the NFL, with the Rams, Colts and Steelers. His
best years were the five he spent with the Baltimore Colts, where he
was a fixture on a great defensive line along with Gino Marchetti, Don
Joyce and Art Donovan.
In his final game, the Pro Bowl in 1963, he was named Defensive Player
of the Game.
And then, that May, he died, in Baltimore, of a massive cocaine
overdose. He was just 31.
He never had it easy. He was born in Alabama to poor cotton field
workers and he never knew his father. He moved with his mother to
Detroit when he was three. When he was 11, his mother was murdered by
her boyfriend.
Orphaned, he was taken in by his grandfather, and soon put to
work. "I had to buy my own clothes and pay room and board to my
grandfather," he told The Saturday Evening Post in a 1960 article. "I
washed dishes in a cafe, loaded trucks for a construction gang and
helped around a junkyard. One year I ran a lift in a steel mill from
midnight until seven in the morning. Then I changed clothes and went to
school."
"My grandfather loved me, all right, and did the best that he knew
how,”he once said. "But for some reason it was always hard for us to
talk together. Instead of telling me what I was doing wrong and how to
correct it, my grandfather would holler and whip me."
He was always big - he was 6-4 and 220 in sixth grade - and when he got
to high school (Miller High School, as he would later be announced in
NFL introductions) he was good in football and basketball.
But after being declared ineligible, he dropped out of school and on
the advice of his high school coach, he joined the Marines.
Somehow he took to their discipline, and soon was such a standout on
the Camp Pendleton football team that he came to the attention of a
young Los Angeles Rams’ executive named Pete Rozelle, who signed him to
an NFL contract.
He wasn’t an instant hit. He had a lot to learn. But he learned fast,
and at a time when there were few 300 pounders in the league, and those
who were that heavy were big-bellied guys who didn’t move very well,
his combination of size, speed and coordination soon made him a force
on defense,.
“One of the best tacklers there ever was,” recalled his coach, Weeb
Ewbank. "When (he) wrapped a guy up with those long arms, he stayed
wrapped."
"He was big, fast, strong and agile. Really, really great,” recalled
Hall of Famer Gino Marchetti.
"The best man I ever saw at knocking people down," said Steelers’ coach
Buddy Parker.
The Eagles had a powerful fullback named Clarence Peaks. Peaks
went at least 225, and Colts’ teammate Raymond Berry remembered,
“Peaks hit (his) arm, and it knocked him backwards. Backwards! He
arm-tackled Clarence Peaks! That was the kind of play he brought to the
game."
He liked to say that his tackling method consisted of grabbing
everybody he could until he found the one with the ball.
After knocking an opponent to the ground, he would help the guy to his
feet, explaining that he didn’t want little kids who might be watching
to think he was “mean.”
His death remains a mystery. Many of those who knew him (as well as
anyone could know that very complex man) swore that for all his
indulgences in food, whiskey and sex, he would never have injected
drugs into his system, if only because he had a widely-known fear of
needles.
More than 20,000 mourners - many of them former and current girlfriends
- lined up for blocks on the Baltimore streets for the chance to walk
past his (oversized) casket for one last look at the person who for
them truly was larger than life.
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 13, 2020 “Nobody
made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only
a little.” Edmund Burke
*********** Best of the UN-FL (no, not the NFL) - Saturday’s games that
the pros are simply incapable of providing
Texas A & M 41, Florida 38 - Yes, it was an NFL-style ending - a
field goal with :02 left - but there were lots of exciting
plays in front of an actual crowd.
Missouri 45, LSU 41 - LSU put up huge numbers offensively but
when it had to, it couldn’t get one yard in four tries from the one.
Oklahoma 53, Texas 45 - The game truly had everything - and for a
bonus, it went four overtimes
Auburn 30, Arkansas 28 - Chosen mainly because of the
controversy, without which it would have been a BIG Arkansas win
Boston College 31, Pitt 30 - Pitt tied it at 24-24 with :40; BC missed
a potential winning FG with :00; in OT, Pitt answered with a TD but
missed the extra point
Kansas State 21, TCU 14 - Underdog K-State, unable to run out the clock
at the end, punted to the TCU 4 with 1:05 left and still had to hang on.
Bama 63, Ole Miss 48 - Forget that last touchdown - Ole Miss was in the
game right down to the wire.
Navy 31, Temple 29 - Temple, playing its first game, threw
incomplete on a two-point attempt at the end.
*********** FOOTBALL PICKS THIS PAST WEEKEND
Some weeks you get your ass kicked; some weeks you kick ass.
This week? 18 WINNERS - 11 LOSERS
THURSDAY NIGHT
W HOUSTON over Tulane +6-1/2
FRIDAY NIGHT
LOUISVILLE over Georgia Tech + 4-1/2
FLORIDA over Texas A & M +6-1/2
VIRGINIA TECH +4-1/2 over North Carolina
LSU over Missouri +20
TEXAS +2 over Oklahoma
W LIBERTY over LA Monroe +19
W NC STATE +8 over Virginia
W SOUTH CAROLINA over Vanderbilt + 13-1/2
W DUKE over Syracuse +2
ARMY over The Citadel +29
W GEORGIA over Tennessee +12
BYU over UTSA +35
W IOWA STATE over Texas Tech +12-1/2
W ARKANSAS STATE over Central Arkansas +14-1/2
W TROY over Texas State +8
AUBURN over Arkansas + 13-1/2
W BOSTON COLLEGE +6 over Pitt
W KANSAS STATE + 8-1/2 over TCU
W MIDDLE TENNESSEE +4 over Florida Intl
SOUTHERN MISS +2 over Florida Atlantic (POSTPONED)
ALABAMA over Ole Miss +24
W TEMPLE + 3-1/2 over Navy
W EAST CAROLINA + 4-1/2 over South Florida
W CLEMSON over Miami +14
NOTRE DAME over Florida State +21
LOUISIANA TECH +15 over UTEP
W MARSHALL over Western Kentucky +7
W KENTUCKY over Mississippi State +2
W CHARLOTTE over North Texas +3
*********** Since his hiring by Tennessee in 2009 I have not made a
secret of my dislike for Lane Kiffin. and there seemed to be no chance
that I might ever change my opinion of him. I still might
not. But after the way he had his Ole Miss team prepared, and the
way they played Saturday night, there is no question in my mind that,
whatever I might think about him personally, the guy can coach. And,
surprisingly, he came across in a Game Day interview with ESPN’s Tom
Rinaldi as - there’s no other way I can put this - mature. Add
maturity to his ability to coach, and he could be the whole
package.
*********** Maybe because it just seemed to remind me so much of the
NFL, I’d never been that big of an SEC fan. But I’ve really
gotten into it this year, and if I do say so, it wouldn’t bother me at
all if the Big Ten and Pac 12 had just stayed with the grandstanding
decisions, instead of waiting until the party started before deciding
to crash it.
*********** A bit to the southeast of Ole Miss, in Starkville,
Mississippi, another coach is on unfamiliar ground. It’s been
quite some time since Mike Leach has had fans on his ass - but after
two straight ugly games, the most recent one Saturday’s shutout by
Kentucky, Mississippi Staters can’t be pleased. With Texas A & M
coming in this week, hot off their upset win over Florida, Leach has
problems enough, but added to that are concerns that some housecleaning
may be called for. "We're going to have to check some of our group and
figure out who really wants to play here," Leach said after Saturday’s
loss, "because any malcontents, we're going to have to purge a couple
of those."
*********** I can’t believe that a football coach who’s paid millions
and whose job security depends on winning football games hasn’t figured
out that a quarterback sneak has its place in an offensive package, but
there was Ed Orgeron, the coach of the defending national champions,
with first and goal on the one and the game on the line, staying in
shotgun and going (1) run, (2) run, (3) pass, (4) pass. And they ain’t
gained a damn yard.
*********** Kansas State announced that QB Skylar Thompson, injured by
a dirty shot in the Texas Tech game, is done for the season.
*********** As Texas and OU slugged it out in OT, color guy Joel Klatt,
who is generally pretty good, sounded like a ditz, asking, for no
apparent reason, “Do you like this overtime?”
No, Joel. I much prefer the NFL’s overtime, which they insist on using
simply because they are too f—king proud to admit that the colleges’
plan (originally called the Kansas Plan because it was first used there
to settle tied high school games) is superior.
*********** You would be surprised to learn how many games are now
being called remotely, instead of from the home stadium’s press
box. Some are being called from remote studios, but some are
actually being called from the homes of the announcers.
*********** Time to discuss uniforms.
Georgia Tech’s colors are supposed to be white and gold, but they
insist on wearing dark uniforms that seem to be navy blue and not black.
In Chapel Hill they say the sky is Carolina blue. But if the sky
is ever the dark blue they were wearing Saturday, I’d suggest heading
for the storm cellar.
My hat is off to any salesman good enough to sell black uniforms with
red numbers to TCU, whose colors are purple and white. That is the guy
who, as they used to say, could sell ice boxes to eskimos. Er, Inuit.
But as ugly as those TCU uniforms were, nothing could match the
all-black of North Texas. They were once called the Mean Green,
but they weren’t very mean against Charlotte, and the green of their
numbers was almost lost against the black background.
*********** Maybe it had something to do with the game being remotely
broadcast, but for one entire series we watched the Georgia
Tech-Lousville game while having to listen to a phone call from a
sideline-type named Allison who prattled on and on about the next day’s
Clemson-Miami game. She talked - this is no lie - through an entire
offensive series while not one comment was made about the action on the
field. Bizarre.

*********** ESPN2 showed the high school rivalry game between Valdosta,
Georgia and Lowndes County (in the photo). A few takeaways: (1)
Valdosta would-be QB Jake Garcia, who had moved there with his father
from California in hopes of playing the season, was ruled
ineligible by the Georgia state association. (2) Sure is nice to
know that there’s at least one state that doesn’t roll over and play
dead whenever parents pull crap like this; (3) it’s great to see a real
crowd at a game - any game - saying to hell with masks and social
distancing. (4) Lowndes County’s QB, Jacurri Brown, is 6-4, 210, and he
can run like a deer. He throws well, too, but carrying the ball, he
reminded me of Jim Brown.
https://www.valdostadailytimes.com/sports/local_sports/valdosta-quarterback-jake-garcia-ruled-ineligible-by-ghsa/article_88b6fffe-d315-51fb-910b-83f80b353f97.html
*********** SET YOUR DVR
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL THIS WEEK ON ESPN2
THURSDAY:
9 PM Eastern: Booker T. Washington vs Isidore Newman - both of New
Orleans
(The hook: Arch Manning plays QB for Newman)
FRIDAY:
8 PM Eastern: Denton (Texas) Guyer vs Southlake Carroll
*********** Where were YOU when the NFL observed Coming Out
Sunday? How will YOU celebrate LGBTQ History Month?
*********** This is from Colorado, where perhaps there is a shortage of
coins…


That’s the only possible explanation other than bureaucratic idiocy.
*********** Man, if you wanted a perfect illustration of the divide in
our country, you had only to watch the two games going on in
Texas (Florida vs Texas A & M), Oklahoma vs Texas) in front of
decent-sized crowds, and then the game going on between Duke and
Syracuse in the all but empty Carrier Dome.
********** Duke, by the way, got on the board with a solid performance.
Syracuse, meanwhile, looks like the bottom of the ACC. (Unless it’s
Louisville.) But the Carrier Dome’s new turf is sure an
improvement.
*********** Is there any program out there that hasn’t caved in to
egomania and handed out a number ZERO?
*********** At least Temple does it right - hands out single-digit
numbers based on the vote of the team as to who is “Temple Tuff.”
*********** Saw some really bad tackling by Texas. Looked to me
like “Hawk Tackling.” By the way, what happened to that
highly-promoted technique that was going to revolutionize our game, but
hasn’t done anything but result in broken tackles?
*********** Army was 3 of 13 on third downs, and the main reason for
that was that they were so ineffective on first and second downs that
they often faced third-and-long, and went into shotgun to try to
pass. Not a good strategy when you’re a triple option team.
*********** I’ve said it before and it bears saying again: there is NO
excuse - EVER - for a helmet coming off. I don’t believe I’ve
seen it happen in at least 20 years of coaching high school ball.
Army’s QB lost his helmet at the end of a play, which meant he had to
come out. His substitute fumbled the next snap.
Fortunately, he recovered, but the damage was done. The starter came
back, and with third and seven, Army picked up an illegal procedure
penalty. That made it third and twelve, and that meant shotgun.
*********** I wonder why UVa’s QB, Lindell Stone, wears #36.
*********** When Tennessee QB Jarrett Guarantano went out of bounds in
front of the Georgia bench, George Pickens appeared to walk up to him
and had something to say. There was a flag thrown and Georgia was
penalized.
Only through the alertness of an ESPN cameraman were we able to see the
real reason for the penalty: as Pickens walked over to Guarantano, who
lay on the ground, he squirted him with the water bottle he was
holding. Now I know why college coaches are paid so much money.
That guy might be talented, but there’s not enough money in the world
to pay me to spend my life with people like like him.
*********** BIGGEST score of the day: NC State defensive lineman Alim
McNeill is a big dude - 6-2, 320 - and after he batted a UVa pass and
then caught the ball and ran it in for a fourth-quarter score, he was
quite humble: “I’m not no running back.”
*********** Class act of the season - so far - was the Texas
rooter (female) who, as the camera panned the crowd following the
Longhorns’ disappointing overtime loss, gave an entire nation the
finger.
*********** BC quarterback Phil Jurkovec (Jer-KOH-vick) may be making
the biggest impact of any transfer so far this season. He started
out at Notre Dame, and he can do it all. His coach at BC sure has
confidence in him, because on a fourth and goal against Pitt, he called
for a quarterback sneak. From the TWO! And the kid made it.
*********** Why is there so much targeting, especially in the
secondary? Are they simply not teaching tackling any more?
*********** In the Bama-Ole Miss game, there was a bad exchange by one
team when the QB lined up under center and the center evidently thought
it was to be a shotgun snap, and then, not too much later, a bad
exchange when the other team lined up in shotgun and the center
apparently thought it was to be an under-center snap.
*********** Saw a lot of interesting stuff that I was able to video for
showing on this week’s Zoom clinic.
*********** Happy Columbus Day. Next time you think about tearing
down a statue of the most famous person from the Age of Exploration,
consider:
It doesn’t make the defeat (and in some cases destruction) of the
“indigenous people” any less regrettable, but it was inevitable.
If it weren’t Columbus, it would have been someone else soon after, and
as history has always proven, the more technologically advanced
civilization would have prevailed.
But suppose Columbus - or, in the event he’d never been born,
someone else - had never sailed? Suppose, impossibly, that
the people in the Old World and those in the New World had never
encountered each other?
For one thing, you’d be living in a world without pizza. How you going
to explain that to the kids? (Before Columbus, and the subsequent
“Columbian Exchange” - livestock, grains, citrus fruits from
Europe, potatoes, tomatoes, turkeys from the Americas - Italians
didn’t have tomatoes, and the New World didn’t have cheese.)
Thank you, Cristoforo Colombo!
*********** It was 60 years ago Saturday that the most memorable
baseball game in my lifetime took place. It was game seven of the
World Series, and the Pittsburgh Pirates, despite being absolutely
hammered by the Yankees in three of the games, staged a thrilling
eighth-inning comeback to tie the game, then won it in the ninth on
Bill Mazeroski’s home run in the bottom of the ninth.
I was in a bar in New Haven, watching it on TV while surrounded by
Yankee fans.
I’d become a Pirates’ fan that summer. After graduation from college,
my wife and I lived with her parents outside Philadelphia while we
waited for my job in New Haven to start, and that summer I worked in an
asbestos factory in Ambler, Pa. (No, I didn’t tell any of the guys in
the factory that I was an Ivy League graduate, or they would have
thought I was nuts.)
While working the second shift, four to midnight, on our breaks we’d
try to escape the heat by sitting out in the loading platform where one
of the guys had a radio, and for some reason we picked up KDKA, the
Pittsburgh station. It was the Pirates’ station, with the great Bob
Prince doing the play-by-play, and we got caught up in the “Beat ‘em
Bucs” season, as the Pirates seemed to come from behind game after game.
I would later work for that brewery that owned the Orioles, and those
1960s-era Birds were great teams, but nothing has matched that Pirate
team’s seventh game win.
Reflecting years later on the excitement of rounding the bases after
hitting the game winner, Mazeroski spoke like the typical player from a
more humble time, when it was considered unseemly to bring attention to
yourself after you’d done something:
“I just couldn’t believe that we beat them, and I went kind of goofy. I
was always a relaxed player and never showed off, no antics or nothing.
I can’t believe that I was jumping around like I was. I almost
embarrassed myself when I looked at the film, seeing me waving my hat.
I didn’t do things like that. I just played the game and didn’t want to
show anybody up. But it was just natural. Holy cow! It was amazing.”
Read a great article about it in the Pittsburgh Tribune.
https://triblive.com/sports/60-years-later-1960-pirates-legends-recall-amazing-home-run-that-won-world-series/
*********** Hugh,
Our boys gave another great effort last night. Gave all they had,
but the opponent we faced also played with great effort. And with
bigger, stronger, faster boys. And with about 50 of them to our
31. I only had a TOTAL of SIX O/D Linemen dressed out (4
injured). They are three deep up front. They are also our
district rival, and ranked number 4 in the state for private schools.
It was a running clock game with 3:40 remaining in the third
quarter. Final 42-0.
It has been a pleasure to know a legendary coach, even if I didn't know
it at the time! All kidding aside...good people like Armstrong
Williams recognize good people when they see them.
Enjoy your weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Emlen Tunnell was the first black man to
play for the New York Giants... The first black man to become an
NFL assistant coach... The first black man to be inducted into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame… The first defense-only player to be inducted
into the Hall.
He was a native of Radnor, Pennsylvania. An all-around athlete, he
attended Toledo, where after suffering a neck injury in football, he
turned to basketball, helping the Rockets to the NIT finals.
Turned down by both the Army and the Navy for medical reasons, he
enlisted instead in the Coast Guard, where he served during World War
II until his discharge in 1946.
While in the service he resumed playing football, with such distinction
that he was named to the United Press Pacific Coast All-Service
team, in the company of several others who would go on to storied
pro careers.
Following the war, while he was playing semi-pro baseball on the West
Coast, a friend and former Iowa football player named Jim Walker
got him interested in the Hawkeyes, and rather than return to Toledo,
he decided instead to enroll at Iowa and play football.
Growing up in a largely white community in Pennsylvania, then
going to a largely white college, and then serving in the Coast Guard
on board a ship whose crew of 200 consisted of just "five negro
boys and a couple of Filipinos," as he described it, his first practice
at Iowa was an eye-opener. "I had never seen so many negro guys
in one place in my life," he said. Of the 325 players out
for football, he recalled, fifty-eight of them were black.
Iowa had a reputation as a place where black players would be treated
fairly. "Most of those negro boys had come to Iowa for the same reason
I had," he said. "They knew they would be given a chance to play. Great
negro players were a part of the tradition at Iowa, going back to the
days around World War I."
He specifically mentioned Fred (Duke) Slater, who had been an
All-American tackle at Iowa, and later became a judge in Chicago.
"I wasn't afraid of prejudice," he wrote,"but I didn't intend to go
looking for it. I wanted to go to a school where I could get an
education and where I would be allowed to play football. I didn't want
to have to fight my way onto the practice field every afternoon."
Unfortunately for him, of the 58 blacks contending for positions on the
Iowa team, most were running backs, and at the start of the first
practice he found himself number 21 left halfback. (Left
halfback, it should be noted, was tailback in Iowa's single-wing
offense.)
It wasn't long before he worked his way up the roster to starter
status, and he made an impact on both offense and defense and as a punt
returner, and he had two standout seasons on mediocre Iowa teams.
In the spring of his junior year, though, after an eye infection
caused him to miss classes, he returned home to Pennsylvania,
fully intending to return to Iowa for his final season of eligibility.
Back home, however, he came across a questionnaire he'd
received from the New York Giants, who knew of him from Iowa and had
realized that because of his time in the service he was eligible for
the draft.
There were very few black players in pro football at the time, however,
and he was ready to discard the questionnaire when he happened to run
into an old friend, Vince McNally. McNally had been a coach at
nearby Villanova, and remembered him from the days when as a little kid
he and his buddies would watch the Wildcats practice. McNally
knew how pro football worked - he had been general manager of the Los
Angeles Dons in the All-American Football Conference, and he urged our
guy to see if the Giants were serious.
McNally told him, "If I were you I'd at least go over to New York and
talk to the Giants. Tim Mara (Giants' owner) is a square shooter and
he'll level with you. The Rams have Kenny Washington and Woody Strode,
and the New York Yanks (then an NFL team) have Buddy Young, so a
colored player won't be anything new. Maybe the Giants are ready for a
colored player. If so, it might as well be you."
With only $1.50 in his pocket, he hitchhiked to New York and,
unannounced, asked for a tryout. He made the team. And then
some. He was 6-4, 210, and very fast. He wound up playing 13 years with
the Giants, as a key member of a defense that introduced what
became today's 4-3, as he described it: "Tom Landry played the
left corner, Harmon Rowe the right, I was the strong safety and Otto
Schnellbacher the weak. If you would look at this alignment from high
in the stands it looked like an opened umbrella. In truth, it was the
same 4-3-2-2 used today. We did go into other formations, but mostly we
used this 4-3 arrangement. It was so successful against the Browns that
we beat them twice. The first time we played them we shut them out, the
first time that had ever happened to them."
He played on one New York NFL championship team, and in his final
season with the Giants, he played in the so-called "Greatest Game Ever
Played," in which the Giants lost the title game to the Baltimore Colts
in the first use of sudden-death overtime in NFL history.
The following season, after his release by the Giants, he
was offered a position by Vince Lombardi, who had been the offensive
coach of the Giants and had recently been named head coach and
general manager of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi wanted him to be a
player-coach.
David Maraniss, in "When Pride Still Mattered," his great biography of
Lombardi, stressed the role Tunnell played in helping
Lombardi establish himself. Tunnell, Maraniss wrote, brought with
him "an intimate knowledge of the defensive system Lombardi
wanted to implement with his new team. (He) became an informal
coach on the field, and as the first black star to play for the
Packers, and a player who greatly respected the new coach, he also made
it easier for Lombardi to bring in many more skilled black players over
the next few years."
His replacement in Green Bay was Willie Wood, who became a
Hall-of-Famer and attributed much of what he knew to his
mentor: “(He) was a very bright guy who helped me tremendously.
He had been around so long, one of the first black stars in the league,
and for me just to have the opportunity to hang around him, I was awed
by that. Em was so cool.'"
His 79 career interceptions and 258 punt returns were NFL records at
the time of his retirement. The career interceptions mark still
ranks second all-time, behind Paul Krause's 81, and he still ranks
third in career interception return yardage, behind modern players Rod
Woodson and Deion Sanders.
In all, he was named to nine Pro Bowls.
He was named by Pro Football Chronicle to its 1950s All-Decade team.
When he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, he was the first
black man to be inducted. And since Eagles' linebacker Chuck Bednarik,
who entered with him, spent most of his NFL career as a center and was
considered to be the last of the NFL's two-way players, he was the Hall
of Fame's first purely-defensive player as well.
After retirement as a player, Emlen Tunnell returned to the Giants,
where he worked as a scout and an assistant coach until shortly before
his death, at 51, in 1975.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING EMLEN TUNNELL
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WINSCONSIN
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
DAVE KEMMICK - MOUNT JOY, PENNSYLVANIA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
TOM DAVIS - DAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
*********** A nice tribute to Em Tunnell by the home folks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TfafKB-V-E
*********** Hugh,
Emlen Tunnell is the outstanding player in today's quiz. He was amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vUUQRx5UCk
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** Being a Packer & Hawkeye fan makes this an easy one, I
think
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** Surprised to find that he was the first Black elected
to the HOF. Glad it only took 4 years to elect a
black member after opening. Good that he got in basically just
after the 5 year window.
Tom Davis
San Carlos, California
*********** Hugh,
Great quiz! I saw this man play in Cleveland when I was growing
up. Those Giant teams that he played for were tough battles for
my Browns. I believe that Otto Graham did not throw many passes in his
direction.
It was great to see the picture of you and Connie with Armstrong
Williams and your friend Xavier Underwood at your home.
Western is terrible! I sat through that joke of a game and saw a
Western team that was flat and had no life to it what so ever. It
was embarrassing.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: He is far and away the best player in the
history of the Washington Redskins ever to wear his number. In truth,
there is only one other player in the history of the team who has worn
his number, and that was a punter named Glenn Pakulak, who didn’t even
spend a full season with the Skins.
He had a ten-year pro career: nine years in the NFL with the Cardinals,
Redskins, and Lions, and one year with the AFL Broncos.
A running back, he led his little high school, St. Anthony of Long
Beach, California, to the CIF (state) title, back in the days before
there were several classes, defeating schools many times St. Anthony’s
size along the way. In the semi-final game, he scored on runs of 22,
41, 64 and 79 yards. He was named CIF Player of the Year.
He and his entire backfield were signed by Cal, then the top West Coast
power. He started all three years at running back, and as a sophomore
in 1950 he became the first Cal runner to rush for over 1,000
yards. He led the Bears in rushing all three years, and his
career mark of 2,504 yards (playing only three seasons and only
ten games a season) still ranks eighth all-time at Cal.
An All-American his senior year, he was a first-round NFL draft choice
- the fourth player taken overall - by the Chicago Cardinals.
He was twice selected to play in the Pro Bowl with the Cardinals before
being traded to the Redskins. On coming to the Redskins, he
changed his number from 36 to 0. (In his case the “0” did not stand for
“zero.”)
In his career he rushed for 3320 yards and had 988 yards receiving and
scored 19 touchdowns.
After retirement, he served as chief of lifeguards in his native Long
Beach.
He had plenty of experience at the job. While still in college,
he actually saved two college football players - both quarterbacks -
from the surf.
In 1950, he rescued Cal teammate Billy Mais, and a year later, he saved
Don Klosterman, then the QB at Loyola and later an executive with
several NFL teams. (“I couldn’t swim and shouldn’t have been out
there,” Klosterman was quoted as saying afterward.)
He was the uncle of Manu Tuiasosopo and the great uncle of Marques
Tuiasosopo both of whom played in the NFL.
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 9, 2020 “If
you’re the smartest person in the room you’re probably in the wrong
room.” Dr. Benjamin Carson
*********** FOOTBALL THIS WEEKEND
THURSDAY NIGHT
HOUSTON over Tulane +6-1/2
FRIDAY NIGHT
LOUISVILLE over Georgia Tech + 4-1/2
FLORIDA over Texas A & M +6-1/2
VIRGINIA TECH +4-1/2 over North Carolina
LSU over Missouri +20
TEXAS +2 over Oklahoma
LIBERTY over LA Monroe +19
NC STATE +8 over Virginia
SOUTH CAROLINA over Vanderbilt + 13-1/2
DUKE over Syracuse +2
ARMY over The Citadel +29
GEORGIA over Tennessee +12
BYU over UTSA +35
IOWA STATE over Texas Tech +12-1/2
ARKANSAS STATE over Central Arkansas +14-1/2
TROY over Texas State +8
AUBURN over Arkansas + 13-1/2
BOSTON COLLEGE +6 over Pitt
KANSAS STATE + 8-1/2 over TCU
MIDDLE TENNESSEE +4 over Florida Intl
SOUTHERN MISS +2 over Florida Atlantic
ALABAMA over Ole Miss +24
TEMPLE + 3-1/2 over Navy
EAST CAROLINA + 4-1/2 over South Florida
CLEMSON over Miami +14
NOTRE DAME over Florida State +21
LOUISIANA TECH +15 over UTEP
MARSHALL over Western Kentucky +7
KENTUCKY over Mississippi State +2
CHARLOTTE over North Texas +3
*********** BY REQUEST — HIGH SCHOOL GAMES ON NFHS NETWORK THAT MIGHT
BE WORTH WATCHING
ALABAMA
FRIDAY 7 PM CENTRAL
CARVER-MONTGOMERY (4-2) VS EUFALA (5-2)
MOUNTAIN BROOK (3-1) VS BRIARWOOD CHRISTIAN (5-2)
SATURDAY 1 PM CENTRAL
OPELIKA (5-2) VS ROBERT E LEE (3-2)
GEORGIA - ALL FRIDAY 7:30 EASTERN
HILLGROVE (2-1) VS GAINESVILLE (3-1)
GREATER ATLANTA CHRISTIAN (3-0) VS WESTMINSTER (2-0)
FITZGERALD (4-0) VS PIERCE COUNTY (4-0)
*********** We were talking not long ago about Mike Leach, and how,
although our offenses are at opposite ends of the spectrum, our
approaches to teaching them are quite similar.
Mike Leach is a master of the passing game, and there’s no doubt in my
mind that if he were as devoted to the running game as he is to
throwing the ball, he would be successful.
There is, however, one fatal flaw in his makeup - one that Double
Wing coaches would be wise to avoid: he appears to be almost
stubborn in his reluctance/refusal/inability to develop a sound running
game to round out his offense.
The clip of his team’s failure last Saturday - down by seven, facing
fourth and one deep in Arkansas’ territory, with under five minutes to
play - to make ONE F—KING YARD showed clearly that his line was
not up to the job. Now, those guys are all good enough - they are
SEC scholarship athletes - and they should know how to run-block, since
they did a lot of that under the previous coach, but a study of the
play (which we looked at on Tuesday night’s ZOOM clinic) shows that at
least one of the Mississippi State linemen didn’t know not to take a
drop step when firing out. And the lineman I’m referring to happened to
be the one at the point of attack.
The moral: Just as a pass-first coach, no matter how good he is,
can’t afford to neglect the running game, neither can a run-first coach
neglect the passing game.
*********** Prayers for Coach Josh Montgomery and his family.
They live in Berwick, Louisiana. If you can’t find it on the map, look
for Morgan City, which it adjoins and which is a little bigger. It is
not far from the Gulf, and Hurricane Delta is headed directly at the
two towns. Coach Montgomery’s team, Berwick High, had its Friday night
game moved up to Wednesday night.
(In my best Cajun dialect: Dis is LOOZIANNA son - dey ain’ gonna cancel
no football game jus’ because a’ some damn hurricane - dey gonna play
dat game on Wednesday night if day hafta. An’ after dat - after dey
play da football game - DEN it’s time to evacuate.)
So following the game, Coach Montgomery and his wife, Lauren and their
three kids, tried to beat the rush out of town, leaving in the early
morning hours for points north.
*********** You probably know that Mississippi’s two big colleges have
new coaches. They’re Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss and Mike Leach at
Mississippi State. Their arrival on the scene was considered a godsend
by state football writers, because neither one of those guys is what
you’d call bashful. But those two guys are bland and lifeless in
comparison with a third new hire in the state, a guy who is sure to
make some headlines.
He’s Deion Sanders, one of the most flamboyant athletes of our time,
who has decided that he’s ready to make the jump from high school
coaching to college coaching. He’s the new head coach at Jackson State,
a storied HBCU program that continues to draw some of the biggest
crowds among FCS colleges.
At his official introduction, he pulled up in an Escalade, complete
with a police escort, trailing the school’s marching band.
Word is that his wide receivers coach will be Terrell Owens, and his
defensive line coach will be Warren Sapp.
A tip to rival coaches - watch this guy closely. As a high
school coach in Texas he was known to play fast and loose with the
rules. (As if they didn't know.)
https://www.thebiglead.com/posts/deion-sanders-jackson-state-coaching-staff-sapp--owens-01ejvf3xazah
*********** A coach I talked to today said he was considering running
the Open Wing and asked me if I would take a look at some
plays he and his assistants had drawn up. My immediate response
was, “Why are you trying to invent something that’s already been
invented? Why not just take something that's already been tested and
shown to work and use it as is?”
I told him that in the long run, it would work our better for him
simply because I can often help somebody with a problem provided we
speak the same language, but I can’t help fix something that I didn’t
have a hand in knowing what went into it.
Consider the matter of nomenclature. Over the years, I don’t know
how many times I’ve advised coaches who wanted to run my Double Wing or
the Open Wing that I thought it was shortsighted to throw out my
numbering and terminology and try to employ my system to the numbering
system and terminology that they’ve grown accustomed to.
I was reminded of something I heard Wayne Hardin say at a clinic, back
in the late 70s, when he was coaching at Temple. He was a really
good coach. He had a winning program at Temple, where it’s
never been easy to win. Before that, as the coach at Navy, his
teams went 38-22-2, including five straight wins over Army. Oh -
and at Navy he coached TWO Heisman Trophy winners (Joe Bellino and
Roger Staubach).
At the clinic, he was talking about combining a dropback passing game
with the veer running attack, and he said that he got the Veer straight
from Lou Holtz, who was then running it at N.C. State. Hardin
said that he ran the offense exactly as Holtz ran it, no exceptions,
because, he said, “if I ever get in trouble and I have to call
him, I don’t want to have to waste time going through a translator.”
To put it in everyday terms, I started out with the Apple II and got
pretty good with the old keystroke command system, and I resisted
adopting the pull-down menu system of the all-new MacIntosh. But
in order to keep up with computing, I had to break out of my comfort
zone and force myself to learn the new stuff. Soon enough, I
became proficient with it, and now, I can’t imagine not doing it this
way. Until I have to learn a new way.
I have to say I find it funny that guys who’ve been through several
operating systems on several different cell phones and laptops -
because they believed it would make their lives better - won’t make the
effort to learn a new football numbering system.
*********** Many, many years ago - I’m thinking it was about 2000, I
asked Xavier Underwood if he’d pose with a youth-size blocking shield
that I was selling at the time. It was in Baltimore, and for some
reason his dad, Dwayne Pierce had brought him along to my clinic.
And there’s the photo.

Over the years since then, Coach Pierce and his wife, Darlene, became
very good friends with me and my wife, Connie. We would see each
other at least once a year, usually at my North Carolina clinics,
following which my daughter and son-in-law, who live in Durham, would
host any and all coaches who wanted to come and have something to eat
and drink - and talk football. And Dwayne and Darlene - who liked to
come to Carolina because she’s a Wake Forest grad - would bring their
kids along. And Xavier and one of my grandsons, Wyatt Love, being
the same age, hit it off. We’ve watched as Xavier has grown into
the very impressive young man he is today, and it was with a great deal
of pleasure that we were able to host him for a few hours while he was
in the Northwest on assignment.

Actually, he was here working on a documentary, focusing on the Virus,
the Fires and the “Mostly Peaceful” protests for which Portland has
become famous, and he flattered me by interviewing me about a few
things.
Xavier now works for Armstrong Williams, the rather well-known
conservative columnist and radio host, and owner of several television
stations. Armstrong Williams also happens to be a close associate of
Dr. Ben Carson, a man whom I greatly admire.
As Xavier was leaving us, he very casually asked if I’d like to meet
Armstrong Williams. Thinking he meant “someday,” I said “Well,
yeah. Sure.” With that, he led us outside to where a
car and driver were waiting for him, and in the front passenger’s seat
was none other than Armstrong Williams.
I asked him if we could take a picture and he insisted on getting out
of the car, putting on his suit coat, and having his picture taken with
Xavier and my wife and me. Very big deal for us.


Now, here’s the best. That same photo was posted on Armstrong
Williams’ Facebook page the next day, and JUST TO
ILLUSTRATE WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ, this
was how the caption read…
Our
HSH team just wrapped a solid interview in Portland for our new
documentary with legendary Coach Hugh Wyatt in Camas,
Washington as a part of our Northwest tour.
(Imagine! Many of you
will now be able to tell your friends that you knew me before I
was legendary.)
*********** I hesitate to judge someone I don’t know based solely on
something they supposedly said, but if the things that a local athlete
is quoted in our paper as having said are true, I have an idea that
coaches might have difficulty selling him on the team concept.
Evidently he was at some sort of combine deal this past weekend,
something in the Seattle area billed as College ID All-Star
Weekend. (See, we’re all expected to believe that it’s unsafe for
Washington high school kids to get together and practice
football, much less play games, while it’s perfectly acceptable for
them to get together with other kids and coaches from around the
Northwest to facilitate the pimpish activity best known as recruiting.)
The kid in particular (I won’t use his name, but he’s described as a
“6-foot-four junior receiver”) already has offers, we are told in
the article I read, from Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, Cal
and Oklahoma.
But, as is so often the case in our culture these days, the kid wants
more. That’s why he was at the combine. “I want to use this
experience,” he said, “to get my name out to the big schools, because I
have to prove to them what I’m worth.”
I see. So Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, Cal and Oklahoma
aren’t big enough. Are you reading this, Coach Saban? Coach
Swinney?
He went on. “I just want to let the colleges know that I’m a big
play receiver because I feel like my sophomore year campaign was a lot
of possession catches. But I want to prove that I’m a big player who
can do what any receiver can do.”
Stupid coaches were so preoccupied with winning games that they didn’t
even stop what they were doing occasionally so they could throw deep to
him.
Asked about his goals for this season (which in Washington will be
played in March and April), he said, “Break records, honestly. I think
I’ve proved myself as a player but I just got to get my name in the
record books where it matters.”
Before getting on the kid for the way he came across with his quotes,
I’d love to talk with the reporter who wrote the story and included
those quotes, because he probably doesn’t understand how it can put off
some college coaches when a kid comes across as a “me” guy.
I’d also love to have a word with the kid himself (who must be pretty
good) and try to explain to him that (1) coaches like team players, and
(2) when he gets to college he’s going to have to share the field - and
the ball - with some other guys who think they’re pretty good, too, and
probably are - and sometimes the edge goes to the guy who puts the team
first.
And for his future reference, I’d also pass along the old saying that
silence is the only thing that writers can quote accurately.
*********** Interesting about the Gators' (not a fan...they're great
knee-takers, led by Coach M) two Kyles. Hadn't heard he was named after
Kyle Field, which happens to be one of my favorite football venues. And
Kyle Pitts is the best receiver I've seen this season.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** Coach you are correct, in Colorado wives and
girlfriends last on list of 175 to get in... also in our
district players have to get themselves to all away games... We
go to Fort Collins Friday, 1 hr 15 min away. hope they all show
up?? unharmed!!!
Bill Nelson
Thornton, Colorado
Coach,
For what it’s worth - several years ago, when the taxpayers defeated
our maintenance and operations levy, we had to coach for no stipend,
and car pool to away games. We had several trips longer than 1:15
and we managed to get through the season without a wreck and -
impossible to caravan on some of those winding mountain roads - never a
missing person.
*********** I really love your analysis (on ZOOM) of What we see
Saturday & Sunday within our context...Your mentioning Bob Gibson
reminded me of the story of Gibson and the Cubbies Pete LaCock. LaCock
hit a grand slam off him on the final pitch of Gibson's career in 1975,
and years later, Gibson plunked LaCock with the first pitch at an
old-timer’s game when they were both on the field...The Quiz also made
me think of one of my favorite comedies, "Tommy Boy" starring the late
"Cheesehead" Chris Farley because of this dialogue exchange:
Tommy: Did you hear I finally graduated?
Richard: Yeah, and just a shade under a decade too. All right.
Tommy: You know a lot of people go to college for seven years.
Richard: I know, they're called doctors.
Coach Kaz
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
••••••••••• Hugh,
I have never been confused with a sports "tipster". In fact,
whenever my dad or my father-in-law used to ask me who I thought would
win a pro football game they would go with the other team.
Here in Austin the "old-timers" of Longhorn football say that the
current Texas teams will not reach the promised land until they start
running the ball the way they used to do it. They're right.
The field may be named after Earl Campbell and Ricky Williams,
but the roster doesn't include guys like that anymore.
Air Force looks to be making a serious run at the CIC trophy this year
with an abbreviated schedule. Those CBS guys called it. Up
front Navy looks soft. Army, on the other hand, needs to stay
with what has worked for them the last few years, and they may have
found a nice combination at QB and FB to get that done.
As a youngster growing up, and even into my "young" adult years, I used
to scoff at listening to my dad, uncles, grandpa, and father-in-law
talk about the "good ol' days", and how much better things were in
general. We'd argue, debate, and laugh at one another trying to
make our points. Today, at age 68, I finally understand why they
felt that way, and now I have become one of them.
In reference to your Abington HS "Galloping Ghosts" there are a number
of colorful high school mascots here in Texas. Among the more
notable: Hutto Hippos. Winters Blizzards. Mason
Punchers. Roscoe Plowboys. Cuero Gobblers. And the
New Braunfels Unicorns. Yes, you read that correctly. The
"Unicorns".
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
I have coached the Ridgefield Spudders and the North Beach Hyaks;
I have coached against the Tillamook Cheesemakers; and for
30+ years I have lived in the town of the Camas Papermakers.

But my two all-time favorites are the Indiana School for the Deaf -
Deaf Hoosiers - and the Orofino, Idaho Maniacs. (The school denies that
there is any connection between the nickname and the fact that a state
mental institution is located there. Hmmm.) Several years
ago, I called the school to ask if that really was the name, and they
very graciously sent me the sticker shown here.
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Barney Poole’s given first name was George, a
name he never went by and wasn’t used to refer to him until they
wrote his obituaries. To make sure you know the guy, please
be sure to refer to him by his nickname.
He grew up in rural Amite County, Mississippi, the ninth and youngest
child of a sawmill worker who died when the boy was only 14 months old.
Otherwise, he recalled later, “we might have had a big family.”
He and his two older brothers, Buster and Ray, went on to star at Ole
Miss, where together, they earned a total of 50 letters in football,
basketball and baseball.
All three played in the NFL, and all three became coaches after their
playing days.
Our guy actually played seven years of college varsity ball.
He started out at Ole Miss and played a year there as a sophomore, in
1942, but with World War II going on, the school dropped
football after the season. Already enrolled in the Navy’s V-12 program,
he was sent to North Carolina, where a star-studded football team had
been assembled.
After the 1943 season playing for Carolina, he was recruited to
West Point by Army assistant coach Herman Hickman, on the
recommendation of Hickman’s old friend Peahead Walker, coach of Wake
Forest. He decided to go, on the advice of his brother Ray, who
was serving in the Marines and said that if he had a chance to become
an officer he ought to take it.
Somehow, despite his age and his country ways he managed to survive the
culture change, and the rigors of West Point life, including “Beast
Barracks,” and he became a part of one of football’s great dynasties -
the Davis-Blanchard Army teams of 1944-45-46. Big for his time at
6-3, 220, he earned All-American honors in 1944 as a two-way end.
With the war over, he wanted to drop out of the Academy and transfer to
Mississippi, but when Army coach Earl Blaik refused to release him, the
story goes that he deliberately flunked out of West Point.
However it happened, the three years of wartime “service” at West Point
did not count against his college eligibility, and he wound up back at
Ole Miss for two more seasons - 1947 and 1948. Catching the passes of
Marine vet Charley Conerly, he helped Ole Miss win its first-ever SEC
title in 1947. He earned All-America honors in both 1947 and 1948.
Although drafted after the 1945 season by the Giants (as they knew he
had already played four years of college ball), he didn’t play pro ball
until 1949. He was team captain of the College All-Stars in the summer
before turning pro, then played with the New York Yankees of the AAFC,
and after the merger of leagues, with the NFL Dallas Texans, then with
the Baltimore Colts and, finally the Giants. In all, he played
seven years of pro ball.
After his playing career he was an assistant coach at LSU and Southern
Miss, and then a successful high school coach in Laurel, Mississippi
(“Home Town,” for you HGTV fans).
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974 and the
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1965 and was elected to the Ole Miss
Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
He was selected to Preview Sports magazine All-Decade Team for 1940-49
and to the Ole Miss Team of the Century, which covered the
first 100 years of Ole Miss football (1893-1992).
I am not aware of any player other than Barney Poole, at
least since 1940, who won All-America honors at two
different colleges, (nor am I aware of one who played seven seasons of
college ball).
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING BARNEY POOLE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
JOHN VERMILLION - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was the first black man to play for
the New York Giants... The first black man to become an NFL
assistant coach... The first black man to be inducted into the Pro
Football Hall of Fame… The first defense-only player to be inducted
into the Hall.
He was a native of Radnor, Pennsylvania. An all-around athlete, he
attended Toledo, where after suffering a neck injury in football, he
turned to basketball, helping the Rockets to the NIT finals.
Turned down by both the Army and the Navy for medical reasons, he
enlisted instead in the Coast Guard, where he served during World War
II until his discharge in 1946.
While in the service he resumed playing football, with such distinction
that he was named to the United Press Pacific Coast All-Service
team, in the company of several others who would go on to storied
pro careers.
Following the war, while he was playing semi-pro baseball on the West
Coast, a friend and former Iowa football player named Jim Walker
got him interested in the Hawkeyes, and rather than return to Toledo,
he decided instead to enroll at Iowa and play football.
Growing up in a largely white community in Pennsylvania, then
going to a largely white college, and then serving in the Coast Guard
on board a ship whose crew of 200 consisted of just "five negro
boys and a couple of Filipinos," as he described it, his first practice
at Iowa was an eye-opener. "I had never seen so many negro guys
in one place in my life," he said. Of the 325 players out
for football, he recalled, fifty-eight of them were black.
Iowa had a reputation as a place where black players would be treated
fairly. "Most of those negro boys had come to Iowa for the same reason
I had," he said. "They knew they would be given a chance to play. Great
negro players were a part of the tradition at Iowa, going back to the
days around World War I."
He specifically mentioned Fred (Duke) Slater, who had been an
All-American tackle at Iowa, and later became a judge in Chicago.
"I wasn't afraid of prejudice," he wrote,"but I didn't intend to go
looking for it. I wanted to go to a school where I could get an
education and where I would be allowed to play football. I didn't want
to have to fight my way onto the practice field every afternoon."
Unfortunately for him, of the 58 blacks contending for positions on the
Iowa team, most were running backs, and at the start of the first
practice he found himself number 21 left halfback. (Left
halfback, it should be noted, was tailback in Iowa's single-wing
offense.)
It wasn't long before he worked his way up the roster to starter
status, and he made an impact on both offense and defense and as a punt
returner, and he had two standout seasons on mediocre Iowa teams.
In the spring of his junior year, though, after an eye infection
caused him to miss classes, he returned home to Pennsylvania,
fully intending to return to Iowa for his final season of eligibility.
Back home, however, he came across a questionnaire he'd received
from the New York Giants, who knew of him from Iowa and had realized
that because of his time in the service he was eligible for the draft.
There were very few black players in pro football at the time, however,
and he was ready to discard the questionnaire when he happened to run
into an old friend, Vince McNally. McNally had been a coach at
nearby Villanova, and remembered him from the days when as a little kid
he and his buddies would watch the Wildcats practice. McNally
knew how pro football worked - he had been general manager of the Los
Angeles Dons in the All-American Football Conference, and he urged our
guy to see if the Giants were serious.
McNally told him, "If I were you I'd at least go over to New York and
talk to the Giants. Tim Mara (Giants' owner) is a square shooter and
he'll level with you. The Rams have Kenny Washington and Woody Strode,
and the New York Yanks (then an NFL team) have Buddy Young, so a
colored player won't be anything new. Maybe the Giants are ready for a
colored player. If so, it might as well be you."
With only $1.50 in his pocket, he hitchhiked to New York and,
unannounced, asked for a tryout. He made the team. And then
some. He was 6-4, 210, and very fast. He wound up playing 13 years with
the Giants, as a key member of a defense that introduced what
became today's 4-3, as he described it: "Tom Landry played the
left corner, Harmon Rowe the right, I was the strong safety and Otto
Schnellbacher the weak. If you would look at this alignment from high
in the stands it looked like an opened umbrella. In truth, it was the
same 4-3-2-2 used today. We did go into other formations, but mostly we
used this 4-3 arrangement. It was so successful against the Browns that
we beat them twice. The first time we played them we shut them out, the
first time that had ever happened to them."
He played on one New York NFL championship team, and in his final
season with the Giants, he played in the so-called "Greatest Game Ever
Played," in which the Giants lost the title game to the Baltimore Colts
in the first use of sudden-death overtime in NFL history.
The following season, after his release by the Giants, he was
offered a position by Vince Lombardi, who had been the offensive coach
of the Giants and had recently been named head coach and general
manager of the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi wanted him to be a
player-coach.
David Maraniss, in "When Pride Still Mattered," his great biography of
Lombardi, stressed the role (he) played in helping
Lombardi establish himself. (He), Maraniss wrote, brought with
him "an intimate knowledge of the defensive system Lombardi
wanted to implement with his new team. (He) became an informal
coach on the field, and as the first black star to play for the
Packers, and a player who greatly respected the new coach, he also made
it easier for Lombardi to bring in many more skilled black players over
the next few years."
His replacement in Green Bay was Willie Wood, who became a
Hall-of-Famer and attributed much of what he knew to his
mentor: “(He) was a very bright guy who helped me tremendously.
He had been around so long, one of the first black stars in the league,
and for me just to have the opportunity to hang around him, I was awed
by that. (He) was so cool.'"
His 79 career interceptions and 258 punt returns were NFL records at
the time of his retirement. The career interceptions mark still
ranks second all-time, behind Paul Krause's 81, and he still ranks
third in career interception return yardage, behind modern players Rod
Woodson and Deion Sanders.
In all, he was named to nine Pro Bowls.
He was named by Pro Football Chronicle to its 1950s All-Decade team.
When he entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967, he was the first
black man to be inducted. And since Eagles' linebacker Chuck Bednarik,
who entered with him, spent most of his NFL career as a center and was
considered to be the last of the NFL's two-way players, he was the Hall
of Fame's first purely-defensive player as well.
After retirement as a player, he returned to the Giants, where he
worked as a scout and an assistant coach until shortly before his
death, at 51, in 1975.
TUESDAY,
OCTOBER 6, 2020 “Think
of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are
stupider than that." George Carlin
*********** That was a great Saturday of football. In fact, I
can’t remember one that provided so many exciting finishes.
And unlike that bloated version of the game that’s played mostly on
Sundays, in only one of Saturday’s ten great finishes was the final
score a field goal.
TCU 33, Texas 31 - Texas had a chance to take the lead near the end,
but on a plunge from the one-yard line, the Longhorns’ runner just had
to extend that arm to get that ball across the goal line - and he lost
possession of the damn thing. TCU, backed up in their own end of
the field on fourth down, took a safety to run out the final six
seconds. Max Duggan, a sophomore from Council Bluffs, Iowa making his
first start for TCU, was effective enough passing - 20 of 30 for 231 -
but on the ground he was devastating - 17 carries for 79 yards and two
TDs.
SMU 30, Memphis 27 - I didn’t catch any of this game, and that’s too
bad. However, it was the only game won NFL style - by a field
goal in the final nine seconds.
North Carolina 26, Boston College 22 - BC hung tough the entire game,
and scored in the last seconds after a 15-play drive to pull within two
points of the Heels. They went for two, though, and the Tar Heels
intercepted and ran it the length of the field for two more points.
BC’s Phil Jurkovec was 37-56 for 313 yards and 2 TDs.
Iowa State 37, Oklahoma 30 - The Cyclones went ahead with a TD with
4:06 left, then intercepted the Sooners’ Spencer Rattler with 1:02 left
to get their first win over Oklahoma in Ames in SIXTY YEARS.
There was a decent-sized crowd of students on hand, which was a great
thing to see, and I wish the TV people had left the post-game camera on
the happy revelry on the field, instead of the mandatory banal
interview with the coach.
NC State 30, Pitt 29 - In Pullman, Washington they call it “Cougin’
it.” Evidently in Pittsburgh they call it “Pitting.” Whatever - the
Panthers Pitted. They had six penalties for 60 yards - IN THE FIRST
PERIOD - and they weren’t a full minute into the second quarter before
they picked up penalty number seven. In all, they wound up with 13
penalties for 125 yards, and they gave State eight first downs through
penalties. Their last penalty was the worst - a defensive holding call
on an incomplete pass with 29 seconds left. And it was the right call.
On the next play, State scored with a nice back shoulder shot just
inside the end zone. Pack QB Devin Leary completed 28 of 45 for 336
yards and four touchdowns. And the vaunted Pitt defensive line
sacked him just twice. Can’t blame Pitt’s Kenny Pickett - he
completed 21 of 37 for 383. And he ran for 40 more.
West Virginia 27, Baylor 21 (2 OTs) - After an ugly penalty against
WVU, Baylor scored with 1:16 to play to tie the game and send it into
OT. In the first OT, in the top half of the inning, they went for
it on fourth and one - and got it, then scored on the next play. After
intercepting Baylor in the top of the second OT, they drove for the
winning TD, despite the announcers’ almost pleading with them to kick a
field goal.
Kansas State 31, Texas Tech 21 - K-State lost their QB, Skylar
Thompson, to a dirty hit, but the Cats hung on, thanks to a great run
by freshman scatback Deuce Vaughn, one of the most exciting runners in
football. K-State, after the game, gave coach Chris Klieman a
contract extension that goes through 2016 and calls for a nice
raise. Good move. I think he is the right man for the
program.
Ole Miss 42, Kentucky 41 (OT). Wow. Kentucky missed the extra
point in the top half of OT, and after Ole Miss scored to tie it, they
made the kick. Not sure why UK’s Mark Stoops insisted on
“accompanying” the officials off the field afterward but I don’t think
he was inviting them to the after-game party.
Arkansas 21, Mississippi State 14. It looked as if Mississippi
State was finally going to shake off the let down after last week’s
shocking opener against LSU, but on 4th and one deep in Arkansas
territory, the team that threw for over 600 yards last week couldn’t
run for a single damn yard. Arkansas played their asses off and
got their first SEC win since 2017.
Tulsa 34, UCF 26 - Tulsa roared back to take the lead at 31-26 at the
start of the fourth quarter, after outscoring UCF 26-3 since late in
the second quarter, and then added a field goal. And then, with :25 to
play and UCF driving, pity the UCF center - first he gets called
for holding, and then, on the next play, he snaps the ball over the
QB’s head.
*********** If you haven’t seen it yet, you ought to take a look at
Wake Forest’s slow-walking QB-running back read. It’s pretty
interesting. I’d like to know more about it.
*********** Campbell’s four game season is over, and they won’t be
playing in the spring. But I think they’re going to be pretty good.
Mike Minter is doing a nice job as coach. In case you missed it,
they ran a pretty cool screen, one that I saw Cincinnati run a few
years ago. I plan on showing a clip of it at Tuesday night’s Zoom
clinic.
*********** A good author could do something with the final act of Joe
Namath, once the ultimate booze-and-broads playboy, now on TV telling
us of the wonderful benefits of a plan for old folks, including “free
rides to medical appointments.”
*********** If you’re my age, I guarantee you that when you were a
teenager, you never thought there’d be such a thing as a cornhole
championship, much less one on television.
*********** Not that it isn’t great to have football on Friday nights,
but I had sort of gotten used to an entire evening of Diners, Drive-Ins
and Dives on TV.
*********** Boy, once the NCAA allowed teams to issue the Number Zero,
it didn’t take long for the ego-driven among them to surface.
*********** The state of North Carolina isn’t taking any chances - it’s
now allowing it’s schools to admit 7 per cent of stadium capacity.
*********** Colorado high schools that decided to play in the fall
(rather than make a decision, the state left it up to the schools
whether to play now or in the spring) are allowed 50 players, and each
player is allowed two tickets - presumably one for each parent. Okay. I
guess I get it.
But talk about asinine rules - unless they’ve changed since I was told
about it a couple weeks ago, coaches’ wives are not permitted to
attend.
*********** BYU defensive lineman Khyiris Tonga appears to be the kind
of guy you want on your team. He’s big - 6-4, 300 - and he’s a
damn good player. But better yet, after one of his linemates came
in late and put a bad shot on the Louisiana Tech QB, a national TV
audience watched him getting his ass chewed out by Mister Tonga.
That’s the kind of guy you want.
*********** Wake has a nice-looking receiver named Ke’Shawn Williams
(sorry if I misspelled it, but take it up with your parents if I did)
who is very quick and very fast and I’ll be damned if he didn’t go to
Chestnut Hill Academy, no more than about five miles from where I grew
up in Philly.
*********** We had to wait until the start of the fourth quarter to get
the mandatory Critical Race Theory lecture from the ACC network, as
they zoomed in on the Black Lives Matter on the back of the Wake Forest
helmets.
*********** Color analyst Andre Ware, himself a Heisman Trophy winner,
couldn’t say enough god things about BYU QB Zach Wilson. When
Wilson was pulled in the fourth quarter with BYU way ahead of Louisiana
Tech, Wilson was 24 of 26 (!) for 325 yards and two TDs. And he’d
run for three TDs.
*********** I know that Army played Cincinnati fairly tough, but after
seeing BYU in three games now, I’m sorta glad Army's game with
BYU was cancelled. Those guys are good. Damn shame there
won’t be a place for them in the Playoff.
*********** TCU had a second-and-goal on the Texas one, and they threw
a quick pass into the left flat that was almost intercepted. They
came to their senses after that, and managed to punch it in.

*********** Not sure what the deal is with Pitt’s line stances on their
FG team.
*********** Lots of stuff has been written about how Florida’s Kyle
Trask wasn’t heavily recruited and blah, blah, blah. Listen folks, if a
kid’s good enough for a major SEC school to offer him a scholarship,
then there ought to be a lot of assistant coaches at a lot of other
schools getting their asses chewed for not knowing about the kid.
Meanwhile, with Florida going to play Texas A & M on Saturday,
there’s this:
"My whole family is full of Aggies," Trask, a Mandel, Texas native,
told Thomas Goldkamp of 247 sports. “They named me after Kyle Field at
Texas A&M."
*********** When Abilene Christian took the field against Army, they
had 42 transfers listed on their roster. All told, there were 14 FBS
schools represented: Arizona State, Arkansas State, Boise State, Cal,
Iowa, Liberty, Missouri, Nebraska, Northwestern, Oklahoma State,
Rice, Rutgers, SMU and Texas Tech.
*********** It was a homecoming of sorts for Abilene Christian”s QB,
Payton Mansell - his father and mother are both West Point graduates,
as are three of his uncles.
*********** Florida has a GREAT receiver named Kyle Pitts, a 6-6, 240
pound kid who, the announcer said, was “out of Philadelphia,
P-A.” Okay, says, I, whereabouts?
Turns out he’s not from Philly at all. He’s from Abington,
Pennsylvania. That’s my wife’s hometown!
That means he was a “Galloping Ghost!”
(No lie - the school’s nickname came about when the great Red Grange,
in Philly to play a game, paid a visit to an old Illinois teammate, who
was coaching Abington High’s football team. As a tribute to the
great man, the school adopted his nickname as theirs.
Anyhow, just like my wife, Kyle Pitts attended Abington High. But
unlike my wife, he attended for only two years.
And then he transferred to local power Archbishop Wood.
Never mind.
(This happened once before to the Galloping Ghosts. A kid
played two years at Abington and then his mom, who travelled a lot for
her job and didn’t like the company her son was keeping, pulled him out
of Abington and sent him to a military academy in Virginia. Kid’s name
was Eddie George.)
*********** Told you Coastal Carolina was good - they hammered Arkansas
State.
*********** Baylor was down, 14-7 with 1:42 to play and on 3rd and 10,
they threw incomplete. But just 5 yards downfield, a West Virginia
linebacker hit a crossing Baylor receiver with a shot so vicious that
no fewer than three flags came flying in. Instead of fourth down and
ten, it was first and ten, Baylor, and fifteen yards closer. And on the
next play they scored to send the game into overtime.
*********** WTF? There was FCS Jacksonville State, giving Florida State
all it wanted.
*********** Air Force came out in uniforms designed as a tribute to the
Red Tails - the famed Tuskegee Airmen - but I thought they looked
dingy, and the red on the front half of their helmets made me think
they were wearing scrimmage hats.
Nevertheless, the Zoomies were downright scary the way they took it to
Navy. And in the way they did it - they didn’t run a lot of triple
option, but instead ran a lot of stuff that Double Wing and Wing-T guys
are quite familiar with. They ran a couple of what we’d call
66-O, and a couple of plays that sure looked as if they were using
Wedge blocking. And of course, down on the goal line, they cut
their splits down to nothing and wedged for the QB sneak. If only
Mike Leach weren’t coaching at the time, he might have seen that and
then been able to make a yard on fourth-and-one against Arkansas.
Air Force rushed for 369 and four TDs. Navy rushed 36 times for 90
yards.
Navy lost several key defensive players to injury against Air Force,
and after the game, Randy Cross summed up what we all saw: “One word
you never want associated with you in football is soft - Navy looked
soft.”
So - did Coach Ken Niumatalolo, charged with developing men to lead
sailors into battle, disserve them and the nation they represent by
coddling them during the pre-season?
*********** The CBSSN studio guys - Kenny Carter, Randy Cross and
Houston Nutt - are pretty good.
*********** I’m getting the impression that football is not making
progress in its efforts to stamp out deliberate attempts to injure,
starting with targeting.
And now, allowing an offender to remain on the sideline, evidently for
fear of stigmatizing the poor offender, may very well have lessened the
offense in the eyes of his team.
I think we have to make the statement that the offender has offended
against the game of football itself.
We’re still seeing a lot of targeting calls, and personally, I don’t
think we’re going to make progress until they start hitting the million
dollar babies who coach these kids. I’m for making the defensive
coordinator sit out the next game when one of his players gets ejected
for targeting. And then he can escort the offender off the field.
*********** If the best play in football is Take a Knee, right behind
it in second place has to be Throw the Damn Thing Deep and Hope
They Call P-I.
*********** It’s been 30 years since Colorado needed a fifth down to
beat Missouri - and go on to share in the national title.
https://theathletic.com/2105881/2020/10/01/missouri-tigers-football-colorado-buffaloes-fifth-down-game-turns-thirty/?source=user_shared_article
*********** There are undoubtedly people out there who will call me a
racist for noticing, but I don’t give a sh—. Black place kickers
are rare - possibly because there aren’t that many black soccer players
- but Vanderbilt has a kicker named Pierson Cooke who, unless their
sports information department is using the wrong photo, can pass for
black.
Good on ya, mate! Go Vandy! Anchor down!
https://vucommodores.com/roster/pierson-cooke/
*********** The ad guys keep trying to sell us on the idea of real men
using “body wash,” but I have my doubts.
*********** Don’t know about your paper, but our two local papers -
Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon - both seem to think that
with the Pac-12 temporarily out of business, none of their readers
cares about college football, because they don’t run the national
college football scores any more. And try going on line and
getting the score of a game if it didn’t involve at least one top 25
team.
*********** RIP Bob Gibson. RIP Gale Sayers. They died nine days
apart. There was seven years’ difference in their ages, but
they shared a common heritage. How many people know that those two men,
among the best at their respective sports at about the same time, came
out of the same area of Omaha?
https://omaha.com/sports/local-sports/chatelain-rich-legacy-of-bob-gibson-and-gale-sayers-wont-be-matched/article_53770c86-5031-554e-913e-4914c4f7cff9.html
https://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/ben-frederickson/benfred-cardinals-legend-gibson-made-impact-on-nfl-great-sayers/article_e07caf14-c8c7-58c1-b24c-eeeaad00fdb8.html
*********** SATURDAY WITH THE TIPSTER
Sure hope you didn’t make any bets based on my expert tips:
I won 13, lost 17
Sunday I got a phone call from a fellow named Sal who said he’s
originally from back home - South Philadelphia, actually - suggesting
that it would be a great idea if I were to pay him the $50,000 he lost
Saturday betting on my picks. The sooner the better, he said, sounding
as if he needs the money. Maybe to pay his kid’s college tuition. He
seemed like an awfully nice chap - asked about my wife and said he knew
which house was mine and said he thought it was really a nice
place. I suspect he’s in the insurance business, because he asked
if my wife would be taken care of in case anything were to happen to me
or what I'd do if anything were to happen to our nice house.
W- WINNING PICK
FLORIDA over South Carolina +18
W-TCU + 11-1/2 over Texas
W-TENNESSEE over Missouri + 11-1/2
PITT over NC State +14
W-GEORGIA STATE over East Carolina +1
W-COASTAL CAROLINA +3 over Arkansas State
BAYLOR over West Virginia +3
UAB over UTSA + 20
LIBERTY over North Alabama +30
W-ARMY over Abilene Christian +30
W-ALABAMA over Texas A & M +18
NORTH CAROLINA over BC +14
CINCINNATI over South Florida +22
W-OKLAHOMA STATE over Kansas + 22
MEMPHIS over SMU +2-1/2
W-KANSAS STATE over Texas Tech +2-1/2
FLORIDA ATLANTIC over Charlotte +6-1/2
VIRGINIA TECH over Duke +10
KENTUCKY over Ole Miss +6
FLORIDA STATE over Jacksonville State +26
WESTERN KENTUCKY over Middle Tennessee +7
W-AIR FORCE +7 over Navy
GA SOUTHERN over UL Monroe +20
AUBURN +7 over Georgia
W-TULSA +21 over UCF
W-ARKANSAS +17-1/2 over Mississippi State
W-IOWA STATE +7 over Oklahoma
W-LSU over Vanderbilt +20 -
NORTH TEXAS over Southern Miss +1-1/2
CLEMSON over Virginia +28 -
*********** Our district has been going virtually since the start of
the school year (football was moved to the spring of 2021).
Staff had the option to work at home or on-site. I've been going
to work in order to stay in a routine; however, due to increased cases
of COVID in Brown County, we were informed yesterday that all teaching
staff must work at home for the next two weeks.
Mike Framke
Green Bay, Wisconsin
*********** Hugh,
BREAKING NEWS: The naysayers are already busy hammering the
President, his administration, and anyone else within shouting distance
of the President regarding his being tested positive for the China
virus. He has received "well-wishes" from his opponents that I'm
sure have a tinge of sarcasm within them.
This weekend's college games that I give a damn about:
Army big over Abilene Christian
Navy in a close win over Air Force
Texas will rebound with a better effort and beat TCU
Notre Dame will be be back on the docket next week. My other two
"favorites" Minnesota and Fresno State will commence the weekend of
October 24th.
My heart truly goes out to all football coaches in the state of
Washington. Most of us have political and administrative bucket
of BS to put up with, but for you guys the BS bucket is overflowing.
I don't believe you will ever see Jason Whitlock on ESPN, or BET, CBS
Sports, ABC Sports, or FOX Sports any time soon. Too bad.
They will never find a better spokesperson for the majority of
Americans (of ANY color) who have bailed on professional sports.
We travel to the San Antonio area again tonight to take on our first
district opponent. First year in the district for them coming up
from Division 3. They had a strong winning tradition at that
level, and once again have some talent. But they are not anywhere
near as physical up front as the team we played last week.
Essentially, their guys look like our guys, and they got beat up
pretty good last week. Just like we did. Should be a good game.
Have a great weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
Looks as if we could go broke together as college football tipsters!
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Danny White’s father, nicknamed
“Whizzer,” after the former Colorado All-American with the same
name, was Arizona State’s first All-American, and played briefly
with the Chicago Bears.
He had an outstanding high school football career in Mesa, Arizona, but
he was recruited by Arizona State as a baseball player.
Since football has far more scholarships to give out than
baseball, ASU football coach Frank Kush worked out a deal with
the baseball coach to give him a scholarship that allowed him to
play baseball, while also punting for the football team.
He not only turned out to be a good punter, averaging 41.7 yards for
his career, but by the middle of his sophomore year he had also won the
starting quarterback job.
In his time as a starter, ASU won 33 games and lost only four, and won
three Fiesta Bowls.
He was named to the All-America team in 1973, his senior year - as ASU
finished 11-1 - and for his career he threw for 6,717 yards and
64 touchdowns.
He was drafted in the third round by the Cowboys, the 53rd player taken
- and the first quarterback taken in the draft.
But the Cowboys were set at QB with Roger Staubach, and they wanted him
as a punter, while Memphis of the new World Football League offered him
a chance to play QB - and more money - so he signed with the new league.
Sharing playing time with former Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte of
Notre Dame, in two seasons he threw for 2,645 yards and 21 touchdowns,
and in 1975 he led the WFL in punting.
In 1975, despite being bolstered by the addition of former Dolphins
Larry Czonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield, Memphis finished second in
the WFL.
After the WFL folded, he joined Dallas, and for the next four years he
backed up Staubach while doing the Cowboys’ punting. After Staubach
retired, he would do most of the Cowboys’ quarterbacking until Troy
Aikman took over.
He earned a Super Bowl ring in Super Bowl XII, in which the Cowboys
beat the Broncos.
In his first three years as the Cowboys’ starter, he took them to three
straight NFL title games. Unfortunately for him, the Cowboys lost all
three - one of them the 49ers’ win made famous by “The Catch.”
IN 1982, he was named to the Pro Bowl.
As Cowboys’ quarterback, he threw for 21,969 yards and 155 touchdowns.
He punted 610 times for an average 40.4 yards per punt.
From 1992 to 2004, he was head coach of the Arena Football League’s
Arizona Rattlers, and as an Arena League coach he compiled a 162-95
record, including two Arena Bowl championships.
In 2000, the Arizona Republic newspaper named Danny White the Arizona
Athlete of the Century.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DANNY WHITE
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
TOM DAVIS - SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
PETE PORCELLI - WATERVLIET, NEW YORK
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Coach there should be a rule as a Philly guy - no quiz
questions about that Dallas team.
Tom Davis
San Carlos, California
*********** Hugh,
Danny White was a very good quarterback and punter for the Cowboys.
http://www.espn.com/abcsports/mnf/s/dannywhite.html
I have the Broncos at Jets game on, and I don't see any pink socks,
gloves, towels, etc. It's October 1. What gives?
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
I guess they’ve made everybody aware of breast cancer and now they have
to move on to convincing everyone that this nation is hopelessly
racist.
*********** Tko je Danny White?
I thought maybe we were headed toward Whizzer, but as usual I was
wrong.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
Since I know that John Vermillion speaks Croatian, I’m going to guess
“Tke jo?” means “who is?”
*********** In 1992, While I played for Albany, He was the new head
coach for the Arizona Rattlers. His first year was rough, he had Steve
Belles from Notre Dame as his QB and we roughed them up pretty good
week 1. He was nice enough to sign his Football card for me after the
game. After that first year, the Rattlers really took off and did
not look like an expansion team anymore. Danny White became an Arena
coaching legend. Not sure if people remember this but Former 49er Todd
Shell was his d coordinator. In 1993, he had Paul Justin as his QB (he
backed up Kurt Warner when Rams won the Super bowl). His teams were
always well prepared and Arizona had huge fan support being in Phoenix.
Heck of a nice guy!
Pete Porcelli
Watervliet, New York
*********** Had big shoes to fill replacing Roger Staubach...not
flashy...just did his best
Kevin McCullough
Lakeville, Indiana
*********** A very good quarterback that I don't think was given enough
respect when he played for the Cowboys.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: His given first name was George, a name he never went
by and wasn’t used to refer to him until they wrote his
obituaries. To make sure you know the guy, please be sure
to refer to him by his nickname.
He grew up in rural Amite County, Mississippi, the ninth and youngest
child of a sawmill worker who died when the boy was only 14 months old.
Otherwise, he recalled later, “we might have had a big family.”
He and his two older brothers, Buster and Ray, went on to star at Ole
Miss, where together, they earned a total of 50 letters in football,
basketball and baseball.
All three played in the NFL, and all three became coaches after their
playing days.
Our guy actually played seven years of college varsity ball.
He started out at Ole Miss and played a year there as a sophomore, in
1942, but with World War II going on, the school dropped
football after the season. Already enrolled in the Navy’s V-12 program,
he was sent to North Carolina, where a star-studded football team had
been assembled.
After the 1943 season playing for Carolina, he was recruited to
West Point by Army assistant coach Herman Hickman, on the
recommendation of Hickman’s old friend Peahead Walker, coach of Wake
Forest. He decided to go, on the advice of his brother Ray, who
was serving in the Marines and said that if he had a chance to become
an officer he ought to take it.
Somehow, despite his age and his country ways he managed to survive the
culture change, and the rigors of West Point life, including “Beast
Barracks,” and he became a part of one of football’s great dynasties -
the Davis-Blanchard Army teams of 1944-45-46. Big for his time at
6-3, 220, he earned All-American honors in 1944 as a two-way end.
With the war over, he wanted to drop out of the Academy and transfer to
Mississippi, but when Army coach Earl Blaik refused to release him, the
story goes that he deliberately flunked out of West Point.
However it happened, the three years of wartime “service” at West Point
did not count against his college eligibility, and he wound up back at
Ole Miss for two more seasons - 1947 and 1948. Catching the passes of
Marine vet Charley Conerly, he helped Ole Miss win its first-ever SEC
title in 1947. He earned All-America honors in both 1947 and 1948.
Although drafted after the 1945 season by the Giants (as they knew he
had already played four years of college ball), he didn’t play pro ball
until 1949. He was team captain of the College All-Stars in the summer
before turning pro, then played with the New York Yankees of the AAFC,
and after the merger of leagues, with the NFL Dallas Texans, then with
the Baltimore Colts and, finally the Giants. In all, he played
seven years of pro ball.
After his playing career he was an assistant coach at LSU and Southern
Miss, and then a successful high school coach in Laurel, Mississippi
(“Home Town,” for you HGTV fans).
He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974 and the
Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1965 and was elected to the Ole Miss
Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987.
He was selected to Preview Sports magazine All-Decade Team for 1940-49
and to the Ole Miss Team of the Century, which covered the
first 100 years of Ole Miss football (1893-1992).
I am not aware of any other player , at least since 1940, who
won All-America honors at two different colleges, (nor am I aware of
one who played seven seasons of college ball).
FRIDAY,
OCTOBER 2, 2020 ““The
man truly conversant with life knows, against all appearances, that
there is a remedy for every wrong, and that every wall is a gate.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
********** THIS WEEKEND'S FOOTBALL AND MY FEARLESS PICKS
FRIDAY NIGHT
WAKE FOREST over Campbell +35 - Give Campbell credit for plauying
a fall schedule
LOUISIANA TECH +24 over BYU - I think LT is better than Troy.
SATURDAY
(In 23 of the 30 games I chose the favorite and gave the points.
I have no idea why.)
FLORIDA over South Carolina +18 - I was very impressed by Florida
Saturday
TCU + 11-1/2 over Texas - Frogs are going to be tough at some point
TENNESSEE over Missouri + 11-1/2 - Tennessee looked good last week
PITT over NC State +14 - I think Pitt is A LOT better than the Pack
GEORGIA STATE over East Carolina +1- I just flipped a coin
COASTAL CAROLINA +3 over Arkansas State - I like Coastal Carolina’s
offense
BAYLOR over West Virginia +3 - Sure wish I could pick WVU
UAB over UTSA + 20 - USB has looked pretty good, even if UTSA is
unbeaten
LIBERTY over North Alabama +30 - Could be worse. Liberty is tough. N
Alabama is FCS, playing its first game.
ARMY over Abilene Christian +30 - A game that Army was happy to
schedule; I want Army to win but not punish.
ALABAMA over Texas A & M +18 - Not impressed with the Aggies
NORTH CAROLINA over BC +14 - I just think the overall NC program
is a lot further ahead at this point
CINCINNATI over South Florida +22 - Cincinnat has got to be better
than they looked last week against Army
OKLAHOMA STATE over Kansas + 22 - Could be a lot worse
MEMPHIS over SMU +2-1/2 - Could be an upset
KANSAS STATE over Texas Tech +2-1/2 - Tech can score. Period. But
beating Houston Baptist by two points?
FLORIDA ATLANTIC over Charlotte +6-1/2 - - Just a wild ass guess
VIRGINIA TECH over Duke +10 - As a Duke fan, I’m afraid this could be
bad
KENTUCKY over Ole Miss +6 - Can’t bring myself to pick a Lane Kiffin
team
FLORIDA STATE over Jacksonville State +26 - Did FSU really need a win
this badly?
WESTERN KENTUCKY over Middle Tennessee +7 - Could this be the
week Middle Tennessee gets it together?
AIR FORCE +7 over Navy - this is my upset. It is AF’s first game. I
think they'll be ready.
GA SOUTHERN over UL Monroe +20 - Poor UL Monroe - maybe the worst team
in FBS
AUBURN +7 over Georgia - If Georgia can beat the spread, then they are
really good
TULSA +21 over UCF - Just going by how Tulsa played against OSU
ARKANSAS +17-1/2 over Mississippi State - every so often, a Leach team
will play a stinker
IOWA STATE +7 over Oklahoma - I may regret this one.
LSU over Vanderbilt +20 - Tigers are smarting after last week. Vandy
played Texas A & M tought, but LSU is better than A & M
NORTH TEXAS over Southern Miss +1-1/2 - I've only seen Southern Miss
once and NT not at all.
CLEMSON over Virginia +28 - Clemson is in another league
*********** Rob McKenna, a former Washington state Attorney General,
suggests that it could be quite some time before Washington’s high
schools return to playing football, thanks to the state’s unique
liability laws, which, he says, put Washington “on the far end of the
bell curve” in terms of governmental liability.
In an interview with a Centralia, Washington online station, McKenna
said that Washington governments pay out “much more” in liability
settlements than any other state on a per capita basis. As one
illustration, he noted that Washington pays out four times more than
Massachusetts, a state of comparable size.
First of all, Washington has waived all sovereign immunity, a concept
that applies in many states to shield government agencies and officials
from lawsuits.
Even worse, Washington has a rule called “joint and several liability.”
What it means is that when a government agency (such as a school
district) is a co-defendant in a lawsuit, and the other co-defendant
has no money, all the plaintiff has to do is establish that the
government agency is even one per cent at fault, and then that
government agency is responsible for paying 100 per cent of the amount
awarded.
McKenna says the potential of loss based on things completely out
of their control - such as the inability of another party to pay their
share of a judgement - is why we see state, county and city governments
usually settling claims that might have been won at trial.
Consequently, he says, if you’re a plaintiff’s attorney, “the name of
the game is to name a state or local government - or both - as
co-defendants.”
Noting that the return of pro and college sports is heavily dependent
on testing, and that those involved have the resources to do the
testing, “I’m not sure,” he says, “ that high schools have the
resources to match that level of testing.”
And since they don't - and can’t, he says, “it’s a matter of waiting
until less expensive, more effective testing is available widely.”
Either that, or of convincing the state legislature to pass legislation
such as California’s to protect school districts that can show they
made a bona fide effort to follow the state guidelines. As it is,
a third party contracting the virus from an infected student need only
show one instance where a school room didn’t have sanitizer where it
should have - or where one small group of students might have once
broken social distancing protocol, or where one student was seen
walking a hallway without wearing a mask - and that could be
enough to establish that the school was liable.
But passing legislation for the benefit of our state and its kids would
mean having to get it past plaintiffs’ attorneys, who understandably
have been waiting eagerly for the Covid claims to start.
Good luck.
https://elisportsnetwork.com/2020/09/29/liability-is-a-big-issue-in-getting-back-to-school-and-playing-sports/
*********** Hello Coach. Great Zoom Meeting and way to keep
coaching. They replayed that Army game and I watched some,
concentrating on what you were talking about with the gaps on o line.
Coach should have seen that. They showed a good 3 g in slow motion. You
did a great job showing wrist bands and following it in the game.
Excellent job. Still learning a lot after all these years. Take care
and stay vigilant out there and a big hello to your dear wife.
Armando Castro
Roanoke, Virginia
*********** Got this in a text from Greg Koenig…
“Masks to prevent the spread of Covid are about the same thing as
football players wearing pink socks in October.”
Wow, I thought. And I texted Greg right back - “Did you make that up?”
He said it just came to him.
Wow again. He was right on target. They’re both examples of
virtue signaling, something that enables the doer to appear morally
upright and caring without really having to do anything. And they’re
both hard to challenge or ridicule without incurring the wrath of our
betters - you know, the more enlightened among us, who just KNOW
that they’re right. And we’re evil for opposing them.
*********** “Hoist by one’s own petard” is an old expression dating
back to the time of Shakespeare (a dead white guy) that means,
literally, being blown up (hoisted) by your own bomb (petard).
Bitten by your own dog. Caught in a snare of your own
making.
A few weeks ago, the President of Princeton published an open letter
promising to take on what he called “systemic racism” at the
school.
We’ve seen plenty of these self-confessions lately, as weenies in
leadership roles confess their sins, even ones that they didn’t know
existed, because, well, it’s the thing to do in those circles. So
there was the president of a great American university, getting in on
the act.
Problem is, in order to accept any federal grants, colleges must
certify annually to the Department of Education that no one, based on
his or her race, “ “be excluded from participation in, be denied the
benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or
activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
And Princeton, eager for the fed money, had provided that certification.
So it really shouldn’t have surprised the president, after having
publicly confessed to Princeton’s sin of “systemic racism,” to receive
a letter from the Education Department, expressing its concern
that Princeton’s certification “may have been false, misleading,
and actionable substantial misrepresentations in violation” of federal
law.
Based on the president’s confession, how could they have done
otherwise?
The department has now asked Princeton for a “spreadsheet
identifying each person” who may have been a victim of the
systemic racism alleged by its president.
“The serious, even shocking nature of Princeton’s admissions compel the
Department to move with all appropriate speed,” the letter read,
with a warning that violations of federal civil-rights
protections could result in fines and forfeiture of federal
funds.
So there’s Princeton, which assured the Federal Government that it does
not discriminate, and there’s its President, Virtue Signaller to the
Core, confessing to systemic racism.
Who to believe?
As I heard a guy in Baltimore say one time, after hearing two guys
argue a point in a bar, “One a’ youse is a f—kin’ lahr.” (In
Baltimorese, “liar” was pronounced “lahr.”)
Hoist by your own petard, Mister President.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/princetons-confession-of-bias-11600469066
*********** Jason Whitlock is rapidly becoming the man I most admire in
the world of sports…
I skipped
most of Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
I can’t take it
anymore. The kneeling. Black Lives Matter splashed across the court.
The finger-wagging, self-righteous commercials. The “Vote” T-shirts.
The silly slogans on the back of the jerseys.
But more than any
of that, it’s the LeBron James worship that made me check out. It
started in the last five minutes of the Western Conference Finals. I
turned my TV off…
LeBron James is
destroying my love for the game. James, Nike and China have dragged the
NBA into a racial propaganda war with the United States as the
opposition.
I
feel like I’m being forced to choose between love of country and love
of basketball.
That’s not a hard
choice for me. I choose America. I can survive without the NBA. The NBA
apparently can’t survive without pleasing communist-run China.
https://www.outkick.com/whitlock-usa-or-nba-that-is-an-easy-choice-for-me/
*********** WORTH REPEATING (from September, 2017)
(FROM A COACHING FRIEND) I need to address the actions of our younger
team’s coach. He is a new head coach, whose team is not particularly
good. His son is the QB (pretty good athlete) and the offense has been
geared around him. The coach and the son are loose cannons - swearing
at other players, swearing in practice., etc. We are in our second game
of the season and we already have a parental mutiny on our hands.
My question is not whether to address this, it is how to address it. We
would like to keep the guy and his son. I can legitimately help him
with the Xs and O’s to something that is more appropriate for 11 and 12
year olds. However, the swearing is non- negotiable. I would anticipate
him becoming defensive and perhaps quitting. Obviously this is not what
we want to have happen, but we are prepared for it.
Do you have any suggestions on how to address this? Again, we are
prepared to lose him, but we would like to give fixing this a chance,
before just cutting him off.
First of all, put the ball in his court. And hit it so hard that
he can’t hit it back the way he’d like.
Let him know in no uncertain terms that for the good of the
organization, your concerns must be resolved to your satisfaction.
I once read an article in the Atlanta Braves’ magazine about their
longtime manager, Bobby Cox. He said he had a way of dealing with
conduct that he wanted to stop immediately. He’d call the
offender into his office and explain what was bothering him, and end by
saying, “We can’t have this.”
Simple as that.
You start out by stating the problem and then, without giving the
person a chance to defend or explain, you simply say that it’s going to
end.
Period. You’re already past the point of explanation.
A very good principal that I once worked for - and believe it or not,
as anti-administration as I am, I was blessed to work for some very
good ones - would explain what the problem was and say, “I can’t defend
it.”
Very simple. The behavior changes or you’re outta here.
Then you explain to the coach what changes are necessary and ask
whether or not he chooses to make those changes.
What you’ve done is cut off his escape route by letting him know that
“we can’t have this” - that “I can’t defend it” - and now you’ve
put the ball in his court by asking if he’s willing to make those
changes in order to remain on the job. There’s only one way he
can hit the ball.
If he does agree to your terms, it’s important that he understands that
the next time he offends, he’s gone. No "second
chances." This IS the second chance that you’re giving him
now, and if he hadn’t agreed to the changes you’d have had to let him
go .
*********** Roger Goodell consistently shows up as the “winner” of
polls asking people to name the worst commissioner in sports. Not that
I don’t agree that Goodell’s terrible, but I think he’s in first place
mainly because most people outside the Pacific Time Zone have never
heard of Larry Scott.
There’s more not to like about Scott, including paying large bonuses to
conference executives at just about the same time that member schools
and the conference itself were “furloughing” employees.
Scott is high maintenance: he’s the highest-paid of all major
conference commissioners, and while the SEC locates its conference
offices in Birmingham and the Big Ten locates its near Chicago’s O’Hare
Airport, Scott insists on locating the Pac-12 headquarters in the heart
of San Francisco, the highest of high-rent cities.
He has two years left on his contract, and even though he’s got a big
buyout, there is increasing pressure to send his ass packing.
So he tried a Hail Mary. The conference finally decided to play a
“fall” schedule (kicking off in November), but it’s only seven games in
length. Nevertheless, Scott had the chutzpah (Yiddish for gall -
my mother used to call it "crust") to ask the Playoff Committee
to expand the field from four to eight teams.
That way, he no doubt figured, there would have to be a Pac-12 team in
the field, and he’d be able to take credit for it.
The playoff committee turned him down.
Nice try, Larry.
*********** While polar opposite in HOW they move the ball I've heard
Mike Leach is very similar (to us) in his approach to
offense. Very few plays, simple concepts, easy reads for the
quarterback...any idea if these things are true? I notice his
playsheet is the size of a notecard basically (drastically different
from the 14x30 playcall sheets everyone else seems to be using). If I
were to want to run something different I always thought maybe his way
would work, simply based on what I've heard he does similar to us
doublewingers...maybe I'm incorrect however in what is actually going
on.
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
You are pretty close to being right on.
Despite our obvious differences, we have A LOT in common.
What Leach does is simple in concept, and you’re right - he calls plays
off something about the size of a 3 x 5 card.
It does require intelligence and it’s best to have a lot of decent
receivers.
It requires QB and receivers knowing how to react to the different
things they can see on a particular route, which definitely means you
have to limit the routes you’re going to ask them to run in order to
maximize learning them.
Just as it is with us, attention to small details is crucial. And
being willing to endure a little bit of failure at the start and being
able to recognize when you’re getting to where you need to get. And
just as it is with us, the secret sauce is reps. And reps.
And reps.
Because there ill always be people who don’t limit what they do, who
don’t respect the small details, and don’t give what they do the reps
required, there will always be lot of people who run his stuff and are
getting their brains beat in, just as there will always be double
wing coaches who are getting their brains beat in.
*********** Hugh,
I've found it interesting that both Army and Navy football seem to get
away from the "basics" of what they do well on offense when
facing teams in the Power 5, or highly ranked teams in the Group of 5.
UTSA has been quietly building a solid Division 1 football program
since its inception in 2010. They have done it the right way.
Slowly, and with long range goals that they have steadily
accomplished over the years with just a few bumps in the road.
They currently find themselves on the precipice of establishing
themselves as a legitimate contender in recruiting some of the best
talent that the state of Texas has to offer.
That Texas-Texas Tech game was another in the long line of Longhorn-Red
Raider classics. Unfortunately many Longhorn fans had abandoned
the broadcast thinking the Red Raiders had pulled off another miracle
win. Not so fast my friend! The last 3 minutes of regular
time was vintage Longhorns comebacks. Which makes me wonder why
the faithful tuned out because Texas comebacks have become commonplace.
I bet they'll stick around in the future!
I think the SEC should change their mindset. Instead of "Welcome
to SEC world Mike Leach", they should be saying "Welcome SEC to
Mike Leach's world!"
BYU has a roster advantage that most other FBS schools don't have.
Many of those Utah kids are LDS, as are many others from
elsewhere. While it is NOT required they go on missions during
their tenure at BYU (which does not count against their athletic
eligibility), some will and when they return to BYU they are enrolled
as 19-20 year old FRESHMEN. Some of them will get a redshirt
year, which means by the time they graduate a few of them could be as
old as 24!
There are a couple of really good DW teams in Ohio. Coach Caudill
has one at Northwest, and Scott Spittler has another at Lucas.
Coach Spittler's Cubs made it to the Division VII state
championship game in 2019.
QUIZ: Cal Jones
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
Another advantage BYU has is that the LDS church, being
“old-fashioned,” goes against the grain of today’s society advocating
marriage (between a man and a woman, that is) as a good thing, and many
of BYU's players are married. Other schools should encourage their
players to do the same. It sure keeps them out of the
“gentlemen’s clubs” (an oxymoron if ever there was one.)
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: He was “only” a lineman, but of all the big
names who have played our sport, he was the very first college football
player to make the cover of Sports Illustrated. It was September 27,
1954, and it was the new sports magazine’s first-ever college football
preview edition.
At the time, he was a rising star at Iowa. He had already made some
All-American teams as a sophomore the year before, and he would go on
to be a consensus All-American in 1954, and in 1955 as well.
He grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, the youngest of seven kids,
raised by his mother after his father died when he was an infant.
He was a high school standout in Steubenville - the best player in the
state and the standout on a state championship team - and Ohio State
head coach Woody Hayes offered him a scholarship and he accepted.
But Hayes passed on two of his teammates and best buddies, Frank
Gilliam and Eddie Vincent, and they wound up accepting scholarships to
Iowa.
As the story goes - and by all accounts it’s true - Gilliam
and Vincent, ready to head off to Iowa City, decided to stop by
his house on the way and say good-bye. When he saw
them, he said, “Wait a minute - I’m going with you.”
After dashing back inside his house and packing some belongings, he
came out and got in the car with his buddies.
His mother was not happy at what she was seeing. As one of the friends
said, years later, she hollered at him, “——, you can’t go to Iowa
City! Mister Hayes is counting on you to be on the team at Ohio
State!”
Apparently, disobeying his mother was a rare occurrence, but
nevertheless he said, “I know I promised Coach Hayes that I would go to
Ohio State, but I want to go to Iowa.”
Needless to say, there was an investigation, no doubt instigated by
Hayes, but the Big Ten office could find no evidence of wrongdoing by
Iowa. When asked by Big Ten Commissioner Tug Wilson why he
changed his mind and went to Iowa, he said, "I'll tell you why I
came out here. They treated me like a white man. I like it here. I'm
going to stay."
Years later, Forest Evashevski, Iowa coach at the time,
recalled, “Ohio State had (him) sewed up and they weren’t
interested in Gilliam or Vincent (his pals). It was on the
recommendation of a high school coach that we took Gilliam and Vincent.
When they decided to come to Iowa, (he) was a little reluctant to
go to Ohio State alone. If he came to Iowa, he’d have his two friends
with him. We told him he could room with the other two players, and
that did it.”
He arrived at Iowa at a time when the Hawkeye program under Evashevski
was beginning its climb to national prominence. In the “Steubenville
Trio’s” sophomore season - Evashevski’s second - the Hawks finished
5-3-1, with their first winning conference record in 14 years.
Our guy was named to several All-America teams.
Despite playing with a broken wrist for most of his junior season, he
was a consensus All-American, as the Hawkeyes finished with a 5-4
record, their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1925!
In his senior season, he was named team captain. He became Iowa’s
first three-time All-American, again by consensus, and he became the
first black player to win the Outland Trophy, given to college
football’s outstanding lineman.
He finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Said Iowa teammate Alex Karras, "He was the greatest college football
player I ever saw.”
A ninth round pick of the Detroit Lions, he chose instead to go to
Canada, signing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for more money than the
Lions offered.
After an outstanding rookie season, he flew to Vancouver to play
in the CFL All-Star game
In the meantime, Iowa, which had slipped in his senior year to a
disappointing 3-5-1 record, had caught fire in 1956 with its new Wing-T
offense, obtained by Evashevski from his former college teammate,
Dave Nelson, then the head coach at Delaware. The Hawkeyes finished 9-1
and won the Big Ten title and the right to represent the conference in
the Rose Bowl - the first bowl game in school history.
His old Steubenville buddy, Frank Gilliam, who’d missed the
entire 1955 season with a broken leg, was going to be starting.
So planning on attending the Rose Bowl, our guy made plans to fly back
to Winnipeg and then head off to Pasadena.
It was December 9. He overslept and missed his morning flight, but
caught an afternoon flight with a planned stop in Calgary. It never
made it there. It crashed into a mountain in the Canadian
Rockies, killing all on board.
As the Iowa team learned of the tragedy, they resolved to dedicate
their Rose Bowl efforts to his memory. They won the game, 35-19,
and sent the game ball to his mother, back in Steubenville.
He remains one of only two players whose jersey numbers have been
retired at Iowa. The other is the immortal Nile Kinnick.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING CALVIN JONES
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
BRAD KNIGHT, CLARINDA, IOWA
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
JEFF HANSEN - CASPER, WYOMING
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** Cal Jones...a Hawkeye Legend!
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
*********** Greetings Coach,
As an Iowa alum thought I should chip in with an answer to the latest
quiz which of course is the legendary Calvin Jones. One statement I
might take exception with is "the Hawkeye program under Evashevski was
beginning its climb to a national prominence it had never known". What
about Howard Jones undefeated Hawkeyes in 1921 and 1922? Or Dr. Eddie
Anderson's 1939 Ironmen? Nationally prominent I might say. But that's
reaching back a long way into the history books before Evy and there
were a lot of not very good teams prior to his arrival.
Anyway, not a coach but I do enjoy reading your news and appreciate all
you and your coaching contributors do for the sport of football.
Regards,
Jeff Hansen
Casper, Wyoming
Hi Jeff,
Yes, it is going back quite a ways and we can debate the meaning of
national prominence but in deference to your loyalty to your alma mater
I will delete the qualifier “it had never known!" as regards natonal
prominence.
But I will argue that that one Rose Bowl victory over Oregon State
brought Iowa to the nation’s attention in a way that couldn’t possibly
have happened before national television.
Nice to hear from you.
*********** Hugh,
Another interesting quiz. It's so sad when a young man's life is cut
short that was so full of promise. Cal Jones certainly qualifies as a
life that was destined for outstanding achievement tragically cut short.
I agree with you about the Texas receiver being on the line of
scrimmage and not eligible to go out for a pass.
I see this all the time in these formations and it is not called. It
drives me crazy! Enforce the rules!
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
*********** QUIZ: His father, nicknamed “Whizzer,” after the
former Colorado All-American with the same name, was Arizona
State’s first All-American, and played briefly with the Chicago Bears.
He had an outstanding high school football career in Mesa, Arizona, but
he was recruited by Arizona State as a baseball player.
Since football has far more scholarships to give out than
baseball, ASU football coach Frank Kush worked out a deal with
the baseball coach to give him a scholarship that allowed him to
play baseball, while also punting for the football team.
He not only turned out to be a good punter, averaging 41.7 yards for
his career, but by the middle of his sophomore year he had also won the
starting quarterback job.
In his time as a starter, ASU won 33 games and lost only four, and won
three Fiesta Bowls.
He was named to the All-America team in 1973, his senior year - as ASU
finished 11-1 - and for his career he threw for 6,717 yards and
64 touchdowns.
He was drafted in the third round by the Cowboys, the 53rd player taken
- and the first quarterback taken in the draft.
But the Cowboys were set at QB with Roger Staubach, and they wanted him
as a punter, while Memphis of the new World Football League offered him
a chance to play QB - and more money - so he signed with the new league.
Sharing playing time with former Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte of
Notre Dame, in two seasons he threw for 2,645 yards and 21 touchdowns,
and in 1975 he led the WFL in punting.
In 1975, despite being bolstered by the addition of former Dolphins
Larry Czonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield, Memphis finished second in
the WFL.
After the WFL folded, he joined Dallas, and for the next four years he
backed up Staubach while doing the Cowboys’ punting. After Staubach
retired, he would do most of the Cowboys’ quarterbacking until Troy
Aikman took over.
He earned a Super Bowl ring in Super Bowl XII, in which the Cowboys
beat the Broncos.
In his first three years as the Cowboys’ starter, he took them to three
straight NFL title games. Unfortunately for him, the Cowboys lost all
three - one of them the 49ers’ win made famous by “The Catch.”
IN 1982, he was named to the Pro Bowl.
As Cowboys’ quarterback, he threw for 21,969 yards and 155 touchdowns.
He punted 610 times for an average 40.4 yards per punt.
From 1992 to 2004, he was head coach of the Arena Football League’s
Arizona Rattlers, and as an Arena League coach he compiled a 162-95
record, including two Arena Bowl championships.
In 2000, the Arizona Republic newspaper namd him the Arizona Athlete of
the Century.
TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 “In
a land of children, Santa always wins.” Rush Limbaugh
*********** If I weren’t an Army fan, I’d have switched to another game
at some point in the second quarter. It was that ugly. It was one
of those games where you can’t tell whether you’re watching good
defense or sloppy offense.
Cincinnati did a great job stopping Army’s offense - allowing 182 yards
rushing, or less than half Army’s average in its first two games - but
then, so did Army. Army had 10 penalties for 89 yards, and most
of them were on offense. They had 10 plays for loss. And they
turned it over twice.
Usually among the nation’s best in short yardage situations, they were
a dud: 3 of 13 on third-down conversions, and 0 for two on fourth
down.
How much of it should be credited to Cincinnati? Listen, they’re
good - definitely more talented than Army - but there was this:
Army came right out of the gate running from unusual formations, as if
they had predetermined that their base stuff wasn’t good enough.
Maybe not, but the stuff they were running definitely wasn’t.
Get this: They threw the ball 21 times. I am serious. A ‘bone
team threw 21 times. It reminded me of the days when Ken
Niumatalolo was auditioning for another job. All that passing and they
completed nine for 94 yards. Whoopee-do. There was an
interception included in that number.
21 pass attempts? That happens to be exactly as many times as they gave
the ball to backs other than the QB: Army fullbacks carried only
13 times for 50 yards and their slotbacks carried just 8 times for 51
yards. WTF?
As a result, against a ball control team, Cincinnati ran more plays -
69 to 64 - than Army, and held Army to a time of possession of 30:24.
Cincinnati’s Desmond Ritter didn’t exactly light things up with his
passing, competing 18 of 33 for 258 yards and two TDs, and the Bearcats
could manage just 74 yards rushing against a stout Army defense.
So was it great defense or inept offense? I guess it’s all in the
eye of the viewer.
For sure, though, it wasn’t a fun game for Army fans to watch, and it
couldn’t have been that much for for Cincinnati fans, either.

*********** Hard to say how much this jackass in the stands, playing
music at what the TV guys said were “major decibel levels,” had to do
with Army’s uncharacteristically high seven procedure penalties,
but it was unsportsmanlike as hell. There had to be one or two Army
Rangers among the official West Point party who could easily have dealt
with the issue.
Disclaimer: Not in any way am I condoning violence. Violence, as we all
know, never solved anything. I meant that they could have gone up
in the stands and complimented the young man on the nice sound
system he had there - and casually mentioned what damn
shame it would be if something were to happen to it if he didn't
turn it down.
*********** FRIDAY NIGHT - No way was I going to watch IMG Academy, the
Oak Hill Academy of high school football, so I got started on Middle
Tennessee vs Texas-San Antonio.
Middle Tennessee was awful against Army three weeks ago, and I have to
say I saw a lot of improvement in that time.
They actually led in the third period, 23-20, after a three-play drive
that covered 96 yards - one of the plays going 64 yards. And -
highly unusual for a team that runs an offense boastfully called “Air
Raid” - all three plays of their drive were runs.
They fell behind, 34-23 after three periods, but they scored with 1:05
to play to pull to within two at 37-35, but they failed to make their
two-point conversion.
With the win, UTSA became the first team in FBS to go 3-0.
*********** SATURDAY -
*** Pitt, which last week was one of the best-dressed teams all day,
came out in the absolutely ugliest uniforms ever put on a football
team. They were in dark gray from top to bottom. It was as
if they had pissed off somebody at Nike or whoever outfits them.
*** Kentucky actually ran a jet sweep from under center. Don’t
see that much any more.
*** They keep telling us that Florida QB Kyle Trask was just a backup
in high school - but he was backing up D’Eriq King. And he - the
backup - got an offer before King did.
*** It was near the end of the half and Kentucky went straight ahead
for two plays inside the one and got held, so what the hell - they
threw. And Auburn intercepted and took it to wherever the hell
this “house” is. But wait - back upfield, behind the play, there
was a targeting call. Not necessarily a good call, but not a necessary
block.
*** Ole Miss and Florida won this week’s Best Dressed award.
*** Best special teams play of the day: Louisville, on fourth and two
at their own 34, took a delay of game penalty. Now, with fourth and
seven on their own 29 and Pitt SURE that they were gone to punt, the
Cardinals snapped it to one of the men in the shield - and he got the
first down easily.
*** Oklahoma built a big lead and then sat on it as K-State roared back
from 21 points down to tie the game at 35-35 and then kick the winning
field goal to upset OU for the second straight year.
*** I’m not sure there’s been a better hire in the last couple of years
than Chris Klieman at Kansas State. He was replacing a legend in Bill
Snyder, and there was a bit of acrimony over the way the whole
retirement business went down. But he not only puts a good, solid
team on the field, just as he did at North Dakota State, but he is a
great fit culturally. He just acts and looks like a guy from the
Heartland. He is the anti-Kiffin.
*** From a distance, the Duke and UVa uniforms made it look like a
rerun of Kentucky-Auburn.
*** Army had a punt blocked by a shield protector. The rules
prohibit jumping over the shield, but in this case the Cincinnati
rusher just blew the Army protector back into the punt.
*** It’s a long way from Aberdeen, Washington to Cincinnati, but
Cincinnati inside linebacker Joel Dublanko is an Aberdeen Bobcat. (By
way of IMG Academy.)
*** Army’s splits too big? Maybe. Tune in on Tuesday night’s Zoom
clinic and I’ll try to make my case.
*** Got to admire the fact that Cincinnati is doing it with Ohio talent
- 45 scholarship players and 80 guys on the roster are Ohio kids.
The big joke to me is how few schools outside the SEC (and the Texas,
Florida and California schools) have a majority of home-grown kids on
their rosters.
*** Texas saves the Big 12 by coming back from 15 points down with 3
minutes to tie Texas Tech at the end, 56-56, then winning in OT., 63-56.

*** On the late Texas 2-point conversion I question whether a Texas
receiver was eligible, but he went out anyway. It’s not as if his going
downfield had anything to do with the pass, but the rules are the
rules, and the rulebook says that he isn’t in the backfield - which
means that he’s on the line and covered by the split end. There
aren’t many coaches reading this who haven’t had touchdowns called back
for something just as ticky-tack.
Here’s what the rulebook says:
A back is any Team A player whose head or body does not break the plane
of the line drawn through the rear-most part, other than the legs or
feet, of the nearest Team A player (except the snapper) on the line of
scrimmage when the ball is snapped.
In the case of the player circled, his head more than "breaks the
plane" of any imaginary line drawn through the Right Tackle's
“rear-most part” (in this case, his butt), which means he is NOT a
back, and therefore, since he is (by the rule book at least) on the
line, he is NOT eligible.
*** It appears as though Mike Leach’s magic WILL work in the SEC. When
a good - but not great - quarterback transfer from Stanford, KJ
Costoello, can throw for 623 yards and five touchdowns against LSU -
and yes, I know that this isn’t exactly the 2019 championship LSU team
- it has to have something to do with the coaching.
*** Can’t accuse Leach of boastfulness. His evaluation of his
Mississippi State team’s opening game: “Better than average.”
*** If you’re looking for balance, forget it - Mississippi State “ran”
16 times for NINE yards.
*** TEN different Mississippi State receivers caught at least one pass.
Three of them had more than 100 yards receiving.
*** It was only the third State win in Baton Rouge since 1991.
*** Vanderbilt, a 30-point underdog, hung tough with Texas A
& M before falling, 17-12. A & M guys have to be
wondering why they spent all that money on Jimbo Fisher.
*** At the end, when Vandy still had a chance, their coach Derek
Mason tried to get a timeout called, to no avail. When he went
out on the field to complain, he got hit with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike
conduct penalty.
*** BYU is good. And it says a lot about the quality of Utah high
school football that a large number of the kids on their roster are
from Utah.
*********** Our local newspaper, for want of anything better to write
about, has been featuring reruns of great area high school games from
years past.
One such game was between two coaches whom I knew pretty well, both of
them good guys and good coaches.
One of them, Gordie Elliott, was in his second year as a head
coach at Camas High. The other, Gordon Buslach, was in at least
his 25th year as head coach of Prairie High.
It was October 21, 1983.
Prairie was a big favorite, but the score was 0-0 in the second half,
and Camas forced Prairie to punt.
The Camas return man fielded the punt and then, for some reason, headed
toward his own goal.
He crossed the line into the end zone when he was tackled for a safety.
That was crazy enough, but when 2-0 turned out to be the final score,
it made the newspapers all over the country.
All the TV networks began to call, frantically trying to find game
film. (Both teams were still filming - it was our first
year using tape.) As it happened, Gordie Elliott at Camas didn’t have
film of the play because his filmer just happened to be reloading his
camera at the time.
Gordon Buslach at Prairie did have film of the play. But get this
- he refused to give it out to anybody. Said he didn’t think it
was fair to the kid.
***********LAST WEEKEND’S FEARLESS PICKS
MY PICKS IN CAPS - winners in bold
(W) FLORIDA over Ole Miss +14 - Lane Kiffin’s first game
against the Gators, coached by Dan Mullen, formerly of Mississippi
State
(W) AUBURN over Kentucky +7
(W) SYRACUSE +8 over Georgia Tech
LOUISVILLE +3 over Pitt - Pitt has one great game every year and one
bad one. This is the bad one.
IOWA STATE over TCU +3
(L) LSU over Mississippi State +16 - Mike Leach couldn’t pick
a worse place to make his SEC debut than Tiger Stadium
CINCINNATI over Army +14 - I’d like to think that the way the Cadets
played Oklahoma two years ago and Michigan last year they can make it
three in a row, but I’m afraid the Bearcats are just too good. But my
heart says “Go Army!”
(L) WEST VIRGINIA +7 over Oklahoma State - I just can’t bring
myself to pick a team with a coach that wouldn’t tell Chuba Hubbard to
take a hike
(W) VIRGINIA over Duke +5 - Hard to pick Duke after last week’s
bomb against BC
(W) MIAMI over Florida State +11 - I’m impressed by the
Hurricanes
(L) SOUTH CAROLINA + 3.5 over Tennessee
(L) NC STATE + 7 over Virginia Tech
(L) TROY +14 over BYU - You might miss this one, but it’s on
the list because it comes on at 7:15 Pacific.
Games I didn’t touch because I don’t care for what appear to be
mismatches. In seven of the ten games the favorites failed
to cover.
SMU over Stephen F. Austin +34
Texas A & M over Vanderbilt +30
Georgia over Arkansas +28
Oklahoma over Kansas State +28 (I’ll probably start out watching
because I like the Cats.)
Alabama over Missouri +27
UCF over East Carolina +27
Louisiana Tech over Houston Baptist +23
Houston over North Texas +22 (Game postponed)
Texas over Texas Tech +18
BC over Texas State +17
Baylor over Kansas +17
Postponed:
Tulsa at Arkansas State
Notre Dame at Wake Forest
South Florida at Florida Atlantic
Georgia State at Charlotte
North Texas at Houston
*********** I’ve been following a small Ohio high school team
since I’ve gotten to know their offensive coordinator.
Coach Thomas Caudill is in his second year as OC at Northwest High in
McDermott, Ohio. I guess the “northwest” must be a county thing,
because McDermott is about as far south in Ohio as you can get without
being in the Ohio River.
After a disappointing opening game loss, the Northwest Mohawks
are now 4-1, coming off a 42-20 win over an opponent that was 4-0
coming into the game.
Coach Caudill was good enough to send me an update - you couldn’t
possibly be a Double Winger and not get excited reading it - as well
as a link to the local newspaper story:
Coach we
just had a huge win against an undefeated team that no one thought we
could compete with. The score ended up being 42-20 but the game was
never really close. The past two weeks we tried to run double wing out
of spread formations, and luckily we played two bad teams or we may
have been in trouble. This week we went full double wing. We would not
have been able to beat this week's opponent in any other set. We ran
75% of the time out of stack formation and used Toronto and Tulsa with
stack. everything is working out of Tight but our backs run super power
better from stack. In this week's game we ran 59 plays for 22 first
downs. We rushed 57 times for 370 yards and threw 2 times (completed
both passes) for 35 yards. Our A back #11 had 26 carries for 254 yards
and 4 tds. Our B Back carried 13 times for 84 yards. We had 3 other
players rotate at C back. We only ran 66&77 Super power, 88&99
Reach, 2 Wedge and 6 G-O. Thanks again for all your help.
https://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/sports/53273/northwest-territory
*********** Hugh,
First, thank you for the article about Gale Sayers. I'm not too proud
to say that I remember crying when I first saw Brian's Song. As great
as he was as a football player, he was clearly an even better human
being.
As I see several Kansas high schools losing games because of Covid and
at least one Colorado high school in danger of being without 4 starters
for their first game because of a quarantine, I can't help thinking
that we made the right choice in opting for the spring season.
The answer to today's quiz is Del Shofner. I don't think I was
previously aware of him. Thank you for your quizzes. They force me to
learn and value so many great men who contributed to the rich legacy of
football in our country.
https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/remembering-the-late-great-del-shofner-and-why-he-deserved-more-from-the-hall
My best to you and Connie.
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** Hugh,
The Army-Cincinnati game should be a good one, and like you I'll be
watching with the TV sound off since I have never liked ANY Marc Jones
broadcast, and since it will be an ESPN broadcast I'll do what I can to
find the radio play-by-play since the game won't be simulcast.
The story of Gale Sayers is amazing, sad, and inspirational. His
feats on the football field were legendary. Many of us were
privileged to see him play the game. It's unfortunate our current
youngsters only have grainy highlight films of how truly spectacular he
was. Sad because of the way this strong, vibrant man's physical
and mental abilities deteriorated in the way they did, and
inspirational because of the incredible love and care he received from
his wonderful wife. That woman is a saint.
Our JV boys played their first game on Thursday night. They don't
get much practice time as a team so I was pleasantly surprised at how
well we played on offense, defense, and special teams. With 1:47
left we held a 6-0 lead (scoring on a POWER) until the opposing QB did
some fancy footwork, slipped a few tackles, and scored. Tied at 6
they went for 2, and tried a QB draw which I thought we stopped, but he
landed on two of our D linemen and reached the ball over the goal line
to score. We put together a nice drive at the end of the game
reaching their 35, but they intercepted to seal it. Going in I
told the linemen their goal was to give great effort, be fundamentally
sound, and not worry about making mistakes. They did that, and
more. Despite the outcome I told them I was very proud of them,
and that we'll continue to work hard at practice and get better at the
"little things".
Tonight we travel to San Antonio for our first varsity game. Back
in March most of us weren't very confident we would be playing tonight,
but our team has done a fantastic job of reaching this goal.
We're also grateful to the state high school association, and to
the governor, to encourage their efforts.
Have a great weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
COACH GUTILLA’S REPORT ON FRIDAY’S GAME:
Played our first game on Friday. Played a very good team out of
San Antonio. They were big and physical up front, and they have
one of the top rated QB's in the state of Texas, and he IS what they
say he is. Dual threat guy, 6'1-205, outstanding athlete, a much
better runner than a thrower.
Started out well. We went toe-to-toe with them in the first half
going in down 21-14. However, we only have 8 linemen TOTAL with
only two tipping the scales above 200 pounds, ALL 8 play both ways, and
I rotate them in and out as much as possible, but the opponent threw 14
different big guys at us (all weighing well over 230) on offense and
defense which started wearing my guys down by the middle of the third
quarter. We played with a lot of heart, and great effort, but
with their size and numbers up front, and a run game we couldn't stop,
they ended up being too much for us. We lost 49-26. Though
we got beat up pretty good I'm grateful we didn't have any injuries.
*********** QUIZ: Coming out of little Center, Texas, near the
Louisiana line, he went to Baylor. Tall (6-3), lean (185) and
very fast, he starred in football, basketball and track. In
football, he played running back and defensive back, and punted and
returned kicks and punts. On the track, he excelled as a sprinter. He
is a member of the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.
He was the MVP of the 1957 Sugar Bowl, when Baylor upset Number
2-ranked Tennessee, and he is in the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
He was drafted Number 1 by the Rams - the 11th pick overall - and
played defensive back his rookie year.
In his second year he was switched to split end, and wound up leading
the NFL in receiving - 1,097 yards, and 91.4 yards per game - and
earning first team All-Pro honors.
He made All-Pro the following season as well, but after a change
in coaches his production fell off in 1960.
Following that season, the Giants obtained Y.A. Tittle from the 49ers,
and legend has it that Tittle, knowing that the Giants could use a
split end, told them that our guy, who twice had led the NFL in
receiving with the Rams, might be available. Sure enough,
he was, and the Giants got him.
Coincidentally, they were both from East Texas - Tittle was from
Marshall - and together they became one the the great passing
combinations in NFL history.
In 1961, his first season with the Giants, he set a franchise record
with 68 receptions, and became the first Giants’ player to surpass
1,000 yards in receiving in a season, with 1,125. Having put up 1,097
yards receiving with the Rams in 1958, that made him the first player
in NFL history to go over 1,000 more than once. And then he became the
first to do it three times. And then the first to do it four
times.
He would remain the only NFL receiver to have four 1,000-yard seasons
until 1981, when both Steve Largent and Charley Joiner accomplished the
feat.
He followed up his 1961 season with 1,133 yards in 1962 and 1,181 in
1963 to become the first player in NFL history to have more than 1,000
yards receiving for three straight seasons.
In those three seasons, he caught 185 passes for 3,439 yards and 32
touchdowns - and the Giants made it to three straight NFL championship
games.
In 1962, on a day when Tittle threw for seven TDs against the Redskins,
he caught 11 of Tittle’s passes for 269 yards - still, almost 60 years
later, a franchise record.
For much of his career he suffered from ulcers, and finally, slowed
down by injuries, he retired following the 1967 season.
For his career, he had 349 receptions for 6,470 yards - 18.3 yards per
catch - and 51 touchdowns.
On occasion, in special situations, he would play in the secondary, and
he had three career interceptions.
For three seasons - 1958-1960 - he did the Rams’ punting, and he punted
153 times for an average of 42.0 yards per punt.
He was five times a first team All-Pro, and played in five Pro Bowls.
He was named to the NFL All-Decade team for the 1960s.
Del Shofner is not in the Hall of Fame. I’ll bet you could easily find
a dozen in there who don’t have credentials that measure up to
his.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING DEL SHOFNER
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: He was “only” a lineman, but of all the big
names who have played our sport, he was the very first college football
player to make the cover of Sports Illustrated. It was September 27,
1954, and it was the new sports magazine’s first-ever college football
preview edition.
At the time, he was a rising star at Iowa. He had already made some
All-American teams as a sophomore the year before, and he would go on
to be a consensus All-American in 1954, and in 1955 as well.
He grew up in Steubenville, Ohio, the youngest of seven kids,
raised by his mother after his father died when he was an infant.
He was a high school standout in Steubenville - the best player in the
state and the standout on a state championship team - and Ohio State
head coach Woody Hayes offered him a scholarship and he accepted.
But Hayes passed on two of his teammates and best buddies, Frank
Gilliam and Eddie Vincent, and they wound up accepting scholarships to
Iowa.
As the story goes - and by all accounts it’s true - Gilliam
and Vincent, ready to head off to Iowa City, decided to stop by
his house on the way and say good-bye. When he saw
them, he said, “Wait a minute - I’m going with you.”
After dashing back inside his house and packing some belongings, he
came out and got in the car with his buddies.
His mother was not happy at what she was seeing. As one of the friends
said, years later, she hollered at him, “——, you can’t go to Iowa
City! Mister Hayes is counting on you to be on the team at Ohio
State!”
Apparently, disobeying his mother was a rare occurrence, but
nevertheless he said, “I know I promised Coach Hayes that I would go to
Ohio State, but I want to go to Iowa.”
Needless to say, there was an investigation, no doubt instigated by
Hayes, but the Big Ten office could find no evidence of wrongdoing by
Iowa. When asked by Big Ten Commissioner Tug Wilson why he
changed his mind and went to Iowa, he said, "I'll tell
you why I came out here. They treated me like a white man. I
like it here. I'm going to stay."
Years later, Forest Evashevski, Iowa coach at the time,
recalled, “Ohio State had (him) sewed up and they weren’t
interested in Gilliam or Vincent (his pals). It was on the
recommendation of a high school coach that we took Gilliam and Vincent.
When they decided to come to Iowa, (he) was a little reluctant to
go to Ohio State alone. If he came to Iowa, he’d have his two friends
with him. We told him he could room with the other two players, and
that did it.”
He arrived at Iowa at a time when the Hawkeye program under Evashevski
was beginning its climb to a national prominence it had never known. In
the “Steubenville Trio’s” sophomore season - Evashevski’s second - the
Hawks finished 5-3-1, with their first winning conference record in 14
years. Our guy was named to several All-America teams.
Despite playing with a broken wrist for most of his junior season, he
was a consensus All-American, as the Hawkeyes finished with a 5-4
record, their first back-to-back winning seasons since 1925!
In his senior season, he was named team captain. He became Iowa’s
first three-time All-American, again by consensus, and he became the
first black player to win the Outland Trophy, given to college
football’s outstanding lineman.
He finished 10th in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Said Iowa teammate Alex Karras, "He was the greatest college
football player I ever saw.”
A ninth round pick of the Detroit Lions, he chose instead to go to
Canada, signing with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for more money than the
Lions offered.
After an outstanding rookie season, he flew to Vancouver to play
in the CFL All-Star game
In the meantime, Iowa, which had slipped in his senior year to a
disappointing 3-5-1 record, had caught fire in 1956 with its new Wing-T
offense, obtained by Evashevski from his former college teammate,
Dave Nelson, then the head coach at Delaware. The Hawkeyes finished 9-1
and won the Big Ten title and the right to represent the conference in
the Rose Bowl - the first bowl game in school history.
His old Steubenville buddy, Frank Gilliam, who’d missed the
entire 1955 season with a broken leg, was going to be starting.
So planning on attending the Rose Bowl, our guy made plans to fly back
to Winnipeg and then head off to Pasadena.
It was December 9. He overslept and missed his morning flight, but
caught an afternoon flight with a planned stop in Calgary. It never
made it there. It crashed into a mountain in the Canadian
Rockies, killing all on board.
As the Iowa team learned of the tragedy, they resolved to dedicate
their Rose Bowl efforts to his memory. They won the game, 35-19,
and sent the game ball to his mother, back in Steubenville.
He remains one of only two players whose jersey numbers have been
retired at Iowa. The other is the immortal Nile Kinnick.
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 25, 2020 “Criticism
is the background music of success.” Jason Whitlock
*********** THIS WEEKEND’S BEST
MATCHUPS
We’re getting closer to a real college football weekend - which means,
simply, that there are just too many games to watch. It also
means that there are a lot of games that, for someone like me who’s not
emotionally involved and is just looking for a contest, simply aren’t
worth watching.
They’re games in which the point spread going in is more than two
scores. Let’s get them out of the way first:
SMU over Stephen F. Austin +34
Texas A & M over Vanderbilt +30
Georgia over Arkansas +28
Oklahoma over Kansas State +28 (I’ll probably start out watching
because I like the Cats.)
Alabama over Missouri +27
UCF over East Carolina +27
Louisiana Tech over Houston Baptist +23
Houston over North Texas +22
Texas over Texas Tech +18
BC over Texas State +17
Baylor over Kansas +17
(Pretty bad when six of those are Power Five conference games.)
And some of them are games between teams that for one reason or another
don’t excite me:
Louisiana over Georgia Southern*** +11
Georgia State*** over Charlotte +3
Louisiana Monroe over UTEP +10
Florida Atlantic over South Florida +6
Tulane over Southern Miss +3
(***I might watch a little because they’re on Army’s schedule)
But that still leaves a lot of games on the tube that show some promise
(Listed, from early to late). MY PICKS ARE IN CAPS
FLORIDA over Ole Miss +14 - Lane Kiffin’s first game against the
Gators, coached by Dan Mullen, formerly of Mississippi State
AUBURN over Kentucky +7
SYRACUSE +8 over Georgia Tech
LOUISVILLE +3 over Pitt - Pitt has one great game every year and one
bad one. This is the bad one.
IOWA STATE over TCU +3
LSU over Mississippi State +16 - Mike Leach couldn’t pick a worse place
to make his SEC debut than Tiger Stadium
CINCINNATI over Army +14 - I’d like to think that the way the Cadets
played Oklahoma two years ago and Michigan last year they can make it
three in a row, but I’m afraid the Bearcats are just too good. But my
heart says “Go Army!” I'll watch but I probably won't listen (see
below).
WEST VIRGINIA +7 over Oklahoma State - I just can’t bring myself to
pick a team with a coach that wouldn’t tell Chuba Hubbard to take a hike
VIRGINIA over Duke +5 - Hard to pick Duke after last week’s bomb
against BC
MIAMI over Florida State +11 - I’m impressed by the Hurricanes
SOUTH CAROLINA + 3.5 over Tennessee
NC STATE + 7 over Virginia Tech
TROY +14 over BYU - You might miss this one, but it’s on the list
because it comes on at 7:15 Pacific.
Postponed:
Tulsa at Arkansas State
Notre Dame at Wake Forest
*********** A coach wrote and asked,
"Do you plan to keep the Tuesday night clinics going for a
while yet?
"The reason that I ask is that I am going to try and use the clinics
for professional development hours on my teaching certificate. We
have been able to use coaching clinics in the past so I am going to try
that again.
"Thanks for doing them."
The coach poses a great question. The quick answer is that if it
can benefit even one coach/teacher in that way, I’m in for the
duration. (I don’t know what that means now, but as a little kid during
World War II, I used to hear my parents say that somebody they knew was
in the service “for the duration,” meaning that he was in until
the War was over.)
Anyhow, as long as people are tuning in, I’ll continue with the Zooms.
I certainly suspect that unless there are some drastic changes (such as
an election - hmmm) between now and the first of the year, there aren’t
going to be any large in-person clinics, and even the big clinic guys
are going to be going the Zoom route.
For me to do it the way the coach suggests - to enable guys to get some
sort of credit for “attending” my clinics - I imagine that I would have
to have some sort of accreditation, which means I would probably have
to do it in conjunction with some institution of higher education -
which means they’d expect a cut.
And since I’m not charging anything, I doubt that they’d be content
with even a 75% cut of nothing.
It also would mean that I’d have to have some way of proving that a
“student” actually learned something. Maybe have them draw up a
couple of plays.
But it’s a great idea, and if anyone out there has any suggestions on
how/where to start, I’m open.
*********** You probably don’t subscribe to The Athletic. That’s
a shame, because it has some really good, in-depth writing that
you can’t get anywhere else.
I recommend it to you, and in this rare case, I’m going to reprint an
article because it’s really good, and you really ought to read it.
As you know, Gale Sayers just died. He was an exceptional football
player and an exceptional person, and I saved this article, written by
Dan Pompei a little over a year ago, for just this moment. It may
bring you to tears…
‘Keep praying for Gale’: Bears legend Sayers is coming back for the
team’s celebration, but he needs help
Dan Pompei Jun 5, 2019
When Gale Sayers is introduced along with 200 other former players at
the Bears100 Celebration on Friday in Rosemont, his ovation is likely
to be the loudest and longest.
In fact, it might the loudest and longest he has heard in his 76 years.
It would be fitting.
Sayers was a once-in-a-century football player. As George Halas once
said, “His like will never be seen again.”
But this world has a way of humbling the most special among us.
Sayers has severe dementia. He doesn’t talk much anymore. He is often
without expression.
The 130-plus mile trip from his home in Wakarusa, Ind., to Rosemont
will be laborious. His wife Ardie and a caregiver will try to keep Gale
relaxed and comfortable through the day so he can be alert and engaged
for the evening event.
Ardie will dress him in the gold jacket that shows he is a Pro Football
Hall of Fame inductee. He won’t wear his Hall of Fame ring, however,
because Ardie is afraid it will slip off and be lost. Gale has lost
about 40 pounds. At 6-foot, he only weighs 130 pounds.
There will be more than two hours in the car, depending on traffic.
When they arrive, they will use an ambulance chair with wheels to get
him around. He could walk, but that might tire him out.
Besides, his balance is not right.
Sayers recently fell and hit his head on the stairs in his home. There
was some blood, but X-rays showed no damage.
The former running back won’t be signing any autographs because he
can’t write anymore.
“It’s kind of sad because he used to love to write his name,” Ardie
said.
Gale will need a hand getting up the steps to the stage. And he might
need help standing to take a group photo. Dick Butkus and Richard Dent
have called Ardie to offer assistance.
Not everyone thinks it’s a good idea for the world to see Gale like
this. Some say he should be remembered as he was.
Initially, Ardie thought the Bears100 Celebration would be too much,
and they weren’t going to come. But she contemplated. She prayed. And
she changed her mind.
Why are they coming? Why should Gale Sayers go through this? What could
make it worthwhile?
The 40th anniversary of Gale Sayers going into the Pro Football Hall of
Fame was two years ago. He was inducted at the age of 34, and still is
the youngest inductee ever. He was enshrined even though he played in
only 68 games.
Halas presented him on July 30, 1977, describing him as a man who “not
only helped make our dreams come true, but who also captured my heart.”
To commemorate the 40th anniversary, Ardie planned on donating the
shoes Gale wore and the football that was used in the 1965 game against
the 49ers at Wrigley Field in which he scored six touchdowns. She
wanted to make the presentation in person during the induction weekend
in 2017.
Gale wasn’t in very good shape at the time. He wasn’t recognizing faces
that should have been familiar, and he wasn’t saying much.
But when Ardie took Gale to Canton that summer, something sparked in
her husband.
Clarity. Focus. Connectedness. Warmth.
“It was almost like he knew where he was,” Ardie said. “He was back in
his element. He recognized Earl Campbell and Paul Hornung. He enjoyed
being there. We were quite surprised at how he seemed to fit in.”
The trip to Canton was a break from their regular routine.
Ardie likes to keep him busy. Gale and Ardie watch sports on TV and
listen to music. Gale used to do puzzles, but now all he does is move
around the pieces. He seems to enjoy car rides. Now that the weather is
milder, they go for walks. Sometimes he will take a golf club and knock
a ball a few inches.
Gale sees a physical therapist three times a week to improve strength
and balance. He also sees a speech therapist regularly.
He had been in an assisted living facility for a while, but that didn’t
work out very well, and now he’s back home. He needs to be watched. At
one point, he wandered off into town.
Ardie has help, thankfully, from caregivers. At 83, she can’t do it all
herself. She had a knee replacement in December and still is recovering.
Mostly, Gale’s illness is a burden shared between husband and wife.
“The hardest part is seeing how he has changed, and how he can’t do the
things that he used to,” Ardie said. “It’s sad, but it’s a part of
life. I just ask God to keep me healthy mentally and physically, so I
can help him through it and take care of him. That’s what you do when
you are married. If someone gets sick, you don’t just leave. I’m not
going to give up. I just try to make him as happy as I can. We’re going
to go through this together.
“You have to be strong and have faith. Every morning we wake up and I
say this is the day the Lord has made, so we have to rejoice and be
glad in it. And I hope God blesses him so that he stays where he is
with this disease, and that they come up with something to help all the
guys who are suffering with this.”
She takes it one day at a time, as she always has, and so far their
love story is 44 years strong.
“She,” Butkus said, “is the unsung hero in this thing.”
Memorabilia is everywhere in the Sayers’ basement. Footballs, plaques,
trophies, jerseys, photos. From time to time, Gale picks up something
and looks at it, then puts it back down.
Of more interest to him are four DVDs that highlight his career.
Sometimes, he’ll point to one of them sitting on a table.
Ardie plays it, and his life rewinds.
He sees a young man gliding, almost as if he’s not bound by physics’
laws. He’s changing directions while taking giant steps, changing
directions without breaking stride, changing directions in mid-air.
One day, one of his caregivers was watching with him.
“You were fast, weren’t you?” she asked, expecting no answer.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes, I was.”
Whoa. The caregiver and Ardie clapped. That was a good day. For a
second, the old Gale was back.
When Gale had his yearly physical exam about five years ago, doctors at
Mayo Clinic diagnosed him with dementia. They said he probably had it
for a while.
Ardie had noticed changes in her husband, but she didn’t know what to
think. He was confused by his condition, too.
“Early on, when he couldn’t remember something, he would say, ‘I don’t
understand why I can’t remember the things I used to remember,’” she
said.
At one time, he had so many memories. He has been so many things.
Son of Roger and Bernice.
Brother of Roger Jr. and Ron.
Husband of Linda, then Ardie.
Father of Gale Lynn, Scott and Timothy.
Stepfather of Gary, Guy, Gaylon and the late Gregory.
Grandfather of 12, great-grandfather of eight.
All-American at Kansas twice.
Pro Bowler four times.
Teammate, friend, legend.
Neighbor in Wichita, Kan., Speed, Kan., Omaha, Neb., Lawrence, Kan.,
Chicago, Northbrook, Ill., and Wakarusa.
Believer who wrote the book “I Am Third” because, “The Lord is first,
my friends are second and I am third.”
Graduate with a master’s degree in educational administration.
Athletic director at Southern Illinois.
Businessman who grew a startup to a powerhouse that did $360 million in
sales one year.
Giver who impacted many young lives through Boys and Girls Club, Cradle
Adoption Agency and the Sayers Foundation.
Around the time of his dementia diagnosis, Gale retired and sold his
shares in Sayers Technology, a company that specializes in IT
infrastructure, cybersecurity and cloud services. Two years ago, he and
Ardie became full-time residents of Wakarusa, where they had kept a
summer home for 27 years.
Ardie and Gayle are ingrained in the community there, where the biggest
event every year is the Maple Syrup Festival. They still see many
friends at their favorite restaurants.
“Sometimes in a small community, you get a lot of caring and loving
people who want to help and support,” Ardie said. “The people here are
wonderful. So many of them remember Gale. That’s really nice. It really
makes me feel good when some of the people ask if they can shake his
hand.”
When he shakes hands, Gale doesn’t let go after a pump or two the way
protocol would have it. And he still has the startling grip strength of
a former football player. Before Sayers ever was called “The Kansas
Comet,” “Galloping Gale,” or “Magic,” high school teammates called him
“Horse.”
In Wakarusa, Gale and Ardie can get to doctors easily. They still are
within driving distance of Bears games, as well as Chicago friends and
family.
When Gale retired, Halas picked out Gale’s seats for season tickets.
Gale has had them ever since, and has been a regular presence at
Soldier Field through the years. The McCaskey family also has offered
seats in their suite anytime Gale and Ardie want to attend a game. They
went to one game last year.
“He loved the Bears,” Ardie said. “He loved playing for the Bears. He’s
so proud of being a Chicago Bear and being inducted to the Hall of
Fame.”
Some of Gale’s grandsons play football. Ardie doesn’t say much about
it, because she believes that choice is up to their parents.
“But it really makes you think now,” she said.
Many times, Gale has said he would do it all over again if he could,
despite the injuries.
But that was when he still could express himself.
Last year Butkus and his wife Helen traveled to Wakarusa to spend a day
with Gale and Ardie.
Butkus greeted Gale.
Nothing.
But Gale kept looking.
“Dick held his arms out to him,” Ardie said. “You could tell he
recognized him at that point. They gave each other a hug. Then Dick
talked to him. Even though Gale couldn’t hold a conversation with him,
you could tell he enjoyed himself. He would shake his hand sometimes
when they were talking. It was a wonderful day.”
At its conclusion, as the two couples were leaving Luigi’s Pizza in
Elkhart, Butkus asked for one more picture together before he went
home. He said his old friend had not smiled all day. But for reasons no
one will ever know, Gale smiled for that last picture.
“I had my arm around him,” Butkus said, pausing. “It was sad. I could
feel how thin he was.”
These days, there is a tenderness to the sight of Gale.
Butkus still can picture Gale as he was back when he was the fourth
overall pick in the 1965 draft. Butkus was the third. That season,
Sayers scored 22 touchdowns — still an NFL record for a rookie — and
was voted rookie of the year.
“He was a hell of a player,” Butkus said. “I was lucky to have him on
the same team. Back then we scrimmaged and it was good practice for me
to try to tackle him. I think that helped me in the long run. He was a
good teammate. Very quiet. All around good guy. We always seemed to hit
it off. We didn’t spend all that much time in the offseason. But later
in life, we’d see each other a lot.”
In a tempestuous storm during a Monday night game in 1994, Sayers and
Butkus saw their jerseys retired together by the Bears.
Twenty years later, Butkus and Sayers were interviewed together for the
NFL Network show “A Football Life,” which profiled them together. It
was during that 2014 interview when Butkus first thought something
might be wrong with his old friend.
“We were sitting there on stools,” Butkus said. “The director was
asking a lot of questions to Gale. Gale’s answers weren’t to the
questions that were being asked. I didn’t think I was supposed to be
interviewed yet. Finally I just broke in because I felt bad for him. It
was like he was on the hot spot. I thought he was getting confused
because of all the damn questions the guy was asking him. But it was
deeper than that.”
Butkus checks in on Gale about once a month. He called him on his
birthday last week. Gale received birthday calls from many old friends,
including fellow Hall of Famer Paul Warfield and former Chicago Park
District superintendent Ed Kelly. Others call regularly too, like Dent
and Mike Singletary.
Earl Campbell came to visit not long ago. Other friends have come by,
including sportswriting legend Fred Mitchell, who co-wrote Sayers’
autobiography “My Life and Times,” and Tommy Dare, who owned a Chinese
restaurant the Sayers used to frequent.
When friends call, Ardie puts them on speaker so she and Gale both can
hear. She hopes he finds comfort in their voices.
Gale Sayers has shared some intimate moments with the world.
We saw him semi-conscious and limp, being carried off the field by
teammates Ralph Kurek, Rudy Kuechenberg and Mike Reilly after the knee
injury that changed his life in 1968.
We watched a portrayal of him holding the hand of his dying friend
Brian Piccolo in the made-for-TV movie “Brian’s Song.” Many of us shed
a tear with him.
We felt his humility and gratitude and joy as he was inducted into the
Pro Football Hall of Fame.
He’s about to share another intimate moment.
The most famous words Sayers ever spoke were immortalized in “Brian’s
Song.” At a banquet to accept the Halas Award for courage in 1970,
Sayers told the audience he would give the award to Piccolo, who was in
the hospital dying of cancer.
“I love Brian Piccolo and I’d like all of you to love him, too,” he
said. “Tonight, when you hit your knees, please ask God to love him.”
Now, Ardie, the guardian of Gale’s legacy, makes a similar request.
“Keep praying for Gale that he’ll get better with his recovery and
walking,” she asks. “And when we come to Chicago for the 100-year
celebration, that he’ll be able to do everything. Pray that this will
jog his memory and he can enjoy it as much as he possibly can.”
“Magic” is still inside the man with the vacant stare.
Something special happened when Gale went to Canton for his 40th
anniversary. Something special happens every now and then when he
watches himself run. And something special happened when he was with
Butkus that day.
Something special can happen again in Rosemont.
His team and his fans can help bring back “Magic” — if only for a
moment.
https://theathletic.com/1009883/2019/06/05/keep-praying-for-gale-bears-legend-sayers-is-coming-back-for-the-teams-celebration-but-he-needs-help/
*********** Oops. Sorry about that.
All the Chargers’ team doctor was doing was giving Tyrod Taylor a shot
to ease the pain from a cracked rib. How was he to know that he could
wind up puncturing the guy’s lung?
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29952469/chargers-qb-tyrod-taylor-lung-punctured-team-doc-sources-say
*********** Coach Wyatt,
I hate to admit that I changed the channel away from the Navy-Tulane
game at halftime. Five consecutive quarters of offensive
ineptitude left me searching for something less painful. Only to
find out that I should have stuck around. Grrrr....
"Among them, there is no star, and there is no frat-boy yuk-yuking.
They’re serious, they’re well-informed, they’re respectful of each
others’ opinions, and they’re well-spoken."
Well-stated. I can't even watch the talking heads of most pre and
post-games, anymore. They are the antithesis of the professionals
on "The Huddle."
"Then, in what threatens to be a game fixture this year, we had our
Mandadory Social Justice Training Session, with the announcers, Mark
Jones and Dusty Dvoracek, delivering a lecture on players being “The
Voice of Change,” and “Using the platform they have” to make sure
“their voices are being heard.” No doubt those guys had their
orders from headquarters. Please, ABC - Stop already."
Agree. I've grown weary of such "innovations" within the college
programs that have become advertisements for the networks saying, "Look
at us! Aren't we progressive?" as the networks pat themselves on
the back, like this was all their idea and they've finally convinced
the universities to come on board. It's like Daniel Snyder hiring
Julie Donaldson as Sr. VP of Media. "Isn't it great how Danny-boy
is so progressive?"
On the Wake-NC State game: NC State RB Ricky Person scores a TD, does a
celebration dance and gets flagged for an Unsportsmanlike. Wake
RB scores a TD, does a riding a bicycle/leap of celebration as he goes
into the end zone and there's no flag. Maybe the NCAA or the ACC
can define a legal end zone celebration from an illegal one, because I
sure can't.
I am still loving (and learning in) the Tuesday
night clinics. Best night of the week. Thank you for
that. I do wish you'd take us on a tour of your library after a
clinic is over. As a reader and collector of great books on
football, I'd love to know what's on your shelves.
BTW--I wanted you to know that Coach Williams has been hired as the
Offensive Coordinator at our high school. Our header said that
since we were planning to get started in November and playing in
January/February that our ground game was going to become more
important than ever. As the RB Coach, I suggested that we go out
and get Coach Williams and do whatever it takes for Olu to say
"yes." He did.
My best to you and Connie.
Sincerely,
Dave Potter
Cary, North Carolina
Coach Potter saved the best for last! The band is
back! He and Coach Williams - Olu Williams - have been a
great combo in the Raleigh-Durham area, and they have hosted several of
my North Carolina clinics.
*********** The Pac 12 is going to play football. Whoopie do. In
hopes that someone still gives a sh—, they’ll start sometime in
November and play a seven-game schedule ending in a conference title
game in Las Vegas on December 19.
Meanwhile, as member schools have been shedding sports and laying off
people, and as the Conference itself was laying off employees, the high
muckety-mucks got bonuses amounting to millions. And rather than
have to wait until they were due, they got them early.
Dumb me. I always thought bonuses were extras you got when the
company had a good year.
I can’t help thinking that one of the reasons why the Pac-12 decided to
get off its ass was the knowledge that the Mountain West was getting
ready to restart. Wouldn’t it have been hilarious if the Mountain West
had beaten beat the high and mighty Pac-12 to the punch?
*********** Perhaps you’ll remember my writing this after the
Navy-Tulane game:
"Then, in what threatens to be a game fixture this year, we had our
Mandadory Social Justice Training Session, with the announcers, Mark
Jones and Dusty Dvoracek, delivering a lecture on players being “The
Voice of Change,” and “Using the platform they have” to make sure
“their voices are being heard.” No doubt those guys had their
orders from headquarters. Please, ABC - Stop already."
I’d been looking forward to watching he Army-Cincinnati game on ESPN
Saturday. Until today, when I learned that the bozos in the booth
will be the same two that did Navy-Tulane last week. I already got more
than my fill of their social justice message. Once is enough.
But, not content with force-feeding us with last week’s sermon,
announcer Jones had to go and let the world know that he (1) still
doesn’t know the facts of the Breonna Taylor case and (2) hates cops.
He did it in as repugnant and anti-American a tweet as anything I’ve
ever heard from someone who should know better.
“Police never saved me. Never helped me,” he tweeted. “Never
protected me. Never taken a bullet for me. (They’ve pulled guns on me)
Never kept me safe in a protest. Never stopped the racist from taking
my Black Lives Matter flag off my house. I could do without em. fr.
WTF? Taken a bullet for me? Gimme a break. Kept me
safe in a protest? Ha. What have YOU done to keep THEM safe in a protest
riot?
And to show that he can do without em, he tweeted this…
“Saturday at my football game I’ll tell the police officer on duty to
“protect” me he can just take the day off,” Jones tweeted. [For real]
I’d rather not have the officer shoot me because he feared for his life
because of my black skin or other dumb ish. I’m not signing my own
death certificate.”
What a turd.
Note that he says “Saturday at MY football game,” as if he owns the
damn thing. Actually, he might as well, because there’s zero chance
that ESPN, which is going full anti-American on us, will pull the plug
on him.
Anti-American did I say? It’s bad enough when an American says
sh—like that. But this guy’s a native Canadian who came here for
better job opportunities. Nothing wrong with that - Canada’s a
good country full of good people. My father’s mother came from New
Brunswick and my mother’s father came from Ontario. Mark Jones is
now an American citizen, so at least he was willing to put his scorn
aside long enough to take the oath of citizenship. You’d think
someone who owes so much of what he is today to the blessings of living
here would have a little more respect for our country and for the
people who keep us safe. All of us. Even ungrateful pricks like
him.
What a shame it's too late to just pull his green card and send his
sorry ass packing.
But short of that, I can at least mute the audio Saturday.
*********** These SJW messages are nettlesome. The networks are trying
to turn CFB into the NFL. I tell myself before I flip on a game that
I'll root for the team not carrying messages on its jerseys, and I hate
thinking that way. I don't need to be told by a 20-year-old with close
to zero life experience the manifold ways in which I must enlighten
myself. That said, the players are no worse than most of their coaches.
Because I see Gundy as a sellout, a man without the courage of his
convictions, I wanted Tulsa to win.
John Vermillion
St. Petersburg, Florida
*********** There is no better evidence of the low educational
level of the American public than the riots that have begun to arise
whenever people feel that they have not “received justice.” Or that
“justice has not been served.”
Ignorant of the meaning of the word justice, they have been deluded
into thinking that “justice” entails getting what they feel they
deserve, when in fact, justice is not the outcome of a process.
Justice IS the process - a process of seeing to it that laws are
properly observed, applied and enforced. The fact that the
outcome of the process may not be what we wanted does not mean that
justice has not been served.
Nothing in this world is promised to us, and anyone who tells people
that that doesn’t apply as well to the justice system is doing
them, and our society, a gross disservice.
*********** Been showing my junior kindergarten kids your
pictures from the smoke of the wildfires...they found them to be
interesting...and yes, last week we could smell just a hint of smoke in
the air...possibly due to wildfires out west...maybe because someone
was burning leaves in a nearby town...but still interesting.
Hope you and Connie are well and the air is now healthier for you. And
that the "peaceful protestors" are not invading you (has been a worry
of mine due to your vicinity in regards to PortaPottyland)
Big 10 caved as I knew they would...should have been playing all
along
Masks suck...Covid 19 Corona China Virus can go away....
Go HAWKS!
Brad Knight
Clarinda, Iowa
********** Many years ago, Wendy’s had a highly successful campaign in
which an older lady opens up the burger she just bought and angrily
asks the manager of the place (not a Wendy’s), “Where’s the beef?”
I thought of that when I read this, written by Cynthia Allen of
thenFort Worth Star-Telegram.
“Viral clusters have emerged on college campuses (as expected), but as
of September 8, a tally kept by Brown University epidemiologist Andrew
Bostom found that none of the 26,000 cases reported at US universities
had resulted in hospitalization.”
Did you catch that? Thousands of “cases.” Thousands of young
people “infected.”
Students suspended, schools closed, football seasons curtailed or
cancelled, spectators banned from those games that are played, neighbor
fighting neighbor over the wearing of masks, and restaurants by the
thousands crippled or sliced, many of them never to return. For
this?
26,000 cases and not a single young person hospitalized?
Where’s the beef?
*********** I read about someone last week who had “recovered” from the
China Virus. Except that he was also said to be “asymptomatic.”
Question: how do you know when you recover from something you didn’t
even know you had?
Hugh,
Like I said, the only football games I saw last weekend included our
"scrimmage" on Friday night, and the Notre Dame game on Saturday.
Initially, watching our team live on Friday I thought our boys
played well overall. Better than we did last year in our
scrimmage. But...then I watched film. Gotta love film.
I coach both the O and D Linemen. As a group they graded
out to a C-. Their effort was outstanding, but their execution
was not. When they do what they've been coached to do they're
pretty darn good. Unfortunately they don't do it all the time.
I told them we will work very hard this week to become more
consistent. Our opponent on Friday plays physical football.
I told the boys the game will be won or lost at the LOS.
Notre Dame appears to get better each week. Before the Irish
think about Clemson they will have to continue improving, and improve
quickly. They have Wake, Louisville, Pittsburgh, and a much
improved Georgia Tech team before they play Clemson, and North Carolina
and BC after. ALL those teams are capable of taking the Irish
down. No USF's in that group.
Didn't you know? Liberals LOVE meetings, and committees.
The PAC 12 is just an every day reflection of the governments
that run California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona. Comedian
Fred Allen once said, "A committee is a group of the unprepared,
appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary."
The more Joe Biden speaks, the more foolish he sounds, and the more
foolish his actions become. I feel sorry for him because some day
I may end up like him, but not sorry enough to vote for him.
Yes, I can vouch for that article regarding Texas high school football.
Most of the larger schools in 4A, 5A, and 6A utilize spread
offenses, while many of the 2A, 3A schools opt for run-oriented
offenses like the Wing-T, the Texas Slot-T, or even the Single Wing.
Unfortunately there are few DW teams.
Have a great week!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: A 6-2, 235 pound bull of a running back, Rick
Casares spent most of his career with the Bears.
But he was not just a running back. He played 12 seasons in the NFL and
AFL, an eternity for a running back. He was a stud - “the toughest guy
I ever played with,” in the words of Mike Ditka, a guy who knew a thing
or two about toughness.
His ability to play while injured was legendary among the Bears, as are
the tales of the novocaine shots he took before games.
He was born in Tampa, but when he was seven, his father was murdered in
a gang shooting, and his mother moved him to Paterson, New Jersey,
where she had relatives.
He took up boxing, and at the age of 15 won a Golden Gloves
championship, and was offered $100 a week by famous trainer Lou Duva to
train until he turned 18, but his mother refused to allow it, and moved
him back to Tampa.
He was a big kid - 6-1, 190 as a freshman - and he became a star in
three sports. He was all-state in football and basketball, and
the first time he ever threw a javelin in competition he broke the
state record.
He went to the University of Florida, and in his first year of
competition, as a 6-2, 210-pound sophomore, he was named 2nd team
All-SEC.
In 1953, he was team captain.
But that’s not all - in both his sophomore and junior years, he led the
basketball team in both rebounds and scoring, and in his senior year
was the team captain and was named second team All-SEC.
But the Korean War was going on, and he was drafted into the Army after
his junior year. While in the Army he was drafted by
the Bears in 1954 as a “future,” and on his discharge, he joined
them for the 1955 season.
The first time he touched the ball, it was against the Baltimore Colts,
and it was unscripted. The ball was supposed to go to another
running back, Bobby Watkins, but Watkins had carried on the two
previous plays, and he was tired. Coming out of the huddle, he
suggested that our guy carry instead. They changed positions, much to
the surprise of Bears’ QB George Blanda, who wound up pitching the ball
to our guy - who went 81 yards for a touchdown.
From 1955 through 1960, he was the Bears’ leading rusher, and for five
of those years he finished among the NFL’s top ten in rushing. In 1956,
he helped lead the Bears to the NFL title game with a league-leading
1126 yards on 235 carries (in 12 games), just 20 yards short of Steve
Van Buren’s then-single season record. In his final game of the regular
season, against the Lions, he rushed for 190 yards on just 17 carries.
Considering that was an average of more than 11 yards per carry, he
might have needed only two more carries to break Van Buren’s record,
but he had been benched with a shoulder stinger.
When he left the Bears - he spent two brief seasons with the Redskins
(a team that once played in Washington before its name was changed to
the Washington Football Team) and the Miami Dolphins, then playing in
the AFL - he was their all-time leading rusher, an honor he would hold
for more than 20 years, until Walter Payton beat him out. More
than 55 years after his last game as a Bear, he remains the fourth
leading rusher in team history.
In 2019, the Chicago Tribune ranked him 36th among the 100 Best Bears’
Players ever.
He and Bears’ owner George Halas had their differences, some of them
public. But because, like Bears’ star defensive end Doug Atkins, he was
considered “difficult to deal with,” it’s possible he might not have
had much of a career under any other coach or owner.
He liked to have a good time and he liked to gamble, and his name came
up in the gambling scandal that resulted in the suspension of all stars
Alex Karras and Paul Hornung but a lie detector test
cleared him of all charges.
He died in 2013. At his funeral, he was eulogized by teammate
Ditka and rival Hornung, two of his best friends in the game.
“I never cared much about individual numbers,” he told Cigar City
Magazine in 2011. “But I did care about the Hall of Fame. I think there
are players in the Hall who I feel I was better than, but I guess the
voters don’t see it that way. It would be a great honor, but if I don’t
get voted in - oh, well, I got paid to play football. How can I
complain about that?”
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING RICK CASARES
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
BILL NELSON - THORNTON, COLORADO
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
KEN HAMPTON - RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
*********** My dad told me he was lucky to have watched two of the
greatest Italian American professional football players play in
Chicago. Casares, and Charley Trippi of the Cardinals).
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
So true. His surname, Casares, is Spanish, and one grandfather
was Spanish. But otherwise, he was Italian all the way, and he
“identified” as Italian.
*********** Hugh,
Rick Casares was quite an athlete.
https://www.si.com/nfl/talkoffame/nfl/state-your-case-is-rick-casares-hof-running-back-time-forgot-lEVY2k0u0UKx-6bdnvlyug
Greg Koenig
Colorado Springs, Colorado
*********** Always tough on the Pack
Mark Kaczmarek
Davenport, Iowa
*********** Hugh, Tuesday's quiz clues brought back many memories from
my youth. I believe that I have mentioned to you that we used to
get the Bears on TV every week here in western Kentucky. I had
not thought of Rick Casares in many years. I watched him play the
last six or seven years of his career in Chicago. My mind
went back to the 1963 season when the Bears won the NFL championship
over the Giants. The thing that I remember the most about that
game is the beating that Y.A. Title took and kept playing. He had
several low hits to his knees. He was in and out of the game
numerous times and kept playing in great pain. He threw five
interceptions during the game when he had to throw off his back foot
due to the injury to his left knee. He should not have been playing
after the first half. He had two or three shots of the magic
elixirs the NFL allowed the doctors used to administer to keep players
in the game when they should not be playing. I really felt sorry
for him.
David Crump
Owensboro, Kentucky
Funny that you should bring up Y. A. Tittle, because his time with
the Giants was made special by the guy who is the subject of today’s
QUIZ!
*********** QUIZ: Coming out of little Center, Texas, near the
Louisiana line, he went to Baylor. Tall (6-3), lean (185) and
very fast, he starred in football, basketball and track. In
football, he played running back and defensive back, and punted and
returned kicks and punts. On the track, he excelled as a sprinter. He
is a member of the Southwest Conference Hall of Fame.
He was the MVP of the 1957 Sugar Bowl, when Baylor upset Number
2-ranked Tennessee, and he is in the Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame.
He was drafted Number 1 by the Rams - the 11th pick overall - and
played defensive back his rookie year.
In his second year he was switched to split end, and wound up leading
the NFL in receiving - 1,097 yards, and 91.4 yards per game - and
earning first team All-Pro honors.
He made All-Pro the following season as well, but after a change
in coaches his production fell off in 1960.
Following that season, the Giants obtained Y.A. Tittle from the 49ers,
and legend has it that Tittle, knowing that the Giants could use a
split end, told them that our guy, who twice had led the NFL in
receiving with the Rams, might be available. Sure enough,
he was, and the Giants got him.
Coincidentally, they were both from East Texas - Tittle was from
Marshall - and together they became one the the great passing
combinations in NFL history.
In 1961, his first season with the Giants, he set a franchise record
with 68 receptions, and became the first Giants’ player to surpass
1,000 yards in receiving in a season, with 1,125. Having put up 1,097
yards receiving with the Rams in 1958, that made him the first player
in NFL history to go over 1,000 more than once. And then he became the
first to do it three times. And then the first to do it four
times.
He would remain the only NFL receiver to have four 1,000-yard seasons
until 1981, when both Steve Largent and Charley Joiner accomplished the
feat.
He followed up his 1961 season with 1,133 yards in 1962 and 1,181 in
1963 to become the first player in NFL history to have more than 1,000
yards receiving for three straight seasons.
In those three seasons, he caught 185 passes for 3,439 yards and 32
touchdowns - and the Giants made it to three straight NFL championship
games.
In 1962, on a day when Tittle threw for seven TDs against the Redskins,
he caught 11 of Tittle’s passes for 269 yards - still, almost 60 years
later, a franchise record.
For much of his career he suffered from ulcers, and finally, slowed
down by injuries, he retired following the 1967 season.
For his career, he had 349 receptions for 6,470 yards - 18.3 yards per
catch - and 51 touchdowns.
On occasion, in special situations, he would play in the secondary, and
he had three career interceptions.
For three seasons - 1958-1960 - he did the Rams’ punting, and he punted
153 times for an average of 42.0 yards per punt.
He was five times a first team All-Pro, and played in five Pro Bowls.
He was named to the NFL All-Decade team for the 1960s.
He is not in the Hall of Fame. I’ll bet you could easily find a
dozen in there who don’t have credentials that measure up to his.
TUESDAY,
SEPTEMBER 22, 2020 “Every
calling is great when greatly pursued.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes
*********** WEEKEND WRAPUP
*** FRIDAY -COASTAL CAROLINA VS CAMPBELL -
I really like what Coastal Carolina does on offense. Some really
nice option stuff that looks a bit like what Bob DeBesse was running at
New Mexico a couple of years ago. They’re in gun, but they run a lot of
double-tight. Their QB, Grayson McCall, is good.
As good as Coastal Carolina looked last week at Kansas - white from top
to bottom, including white shoes - they looked drab as hell at home, in
black shoes, black sox, black pants, black helmets, and teal (I guess
that’s what it’s called) jerseys.
I give Campbell credit - they are FCS and playing just a 4-game
schedule (against FBS Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Wake Forest
and App State) but I do question some of their thinking.
Last week, they passed up a chance to go into OT against Georgia
Southern and - even after getting a 5-yard penalty - went for two at
the end of the game. This week, on their opening drive, they got to the
CC 20 having thrown only once. And then they did nothing but pass, and
the results were disastrous: sacked, flushed from the pocket,
intercepted.
*** Wanted to watch the high school game that ESPN2 promised, but
no-o-o-o -
We had to wait, because first…
Baylor and Texas Tech - women’s soccer, for God’s sake! - are tied,
0-0, and went into TWO OVERTIMES!
And they still wound up tied. Nil-Nil. Or, as a New York
sportswriter once wrote, after Fordham and Pitt had played to a
scoreless tie for the third straight year, “Much Ado About
Nothing-to-Nothing.”
We were halfway through the first quarter when we got to the HS
football game.
*** The high school game was between Thompson (of Alabaster, Alabama)
and Hewitt-Trussville, two very good teams. The Thompson QB, Conner
Harrell, is just a junior, and he’s committed to Tennessee. And they
have a very active and athletic defense end, also a junior, who’s a
Bama commit.
The fans weren’t exactly distanced. Nice to see that there are
some places in the country where life as human beings once lived is
still being lived.
*** Got on the NFHS Network and zipped through games in
Beatrice, Nebraska
Petal, Mississippi
Pearl, Mississippi
Saline, Michigan
Owensboro, Kentucky
Albany, Texas
Vicksburg, Mississippi (the Vicksburg Gators were running Wing-T)
Hoover, Alabama
Platte City, Missouri
Kalispell, Montana
Evidently, the robocameras have taken over. Sometimes they miss
some of the action, especially when the QB drops deep.
***SATURDAY—
*** TULANE-NAVY got most of my attention in the first flight of
games. Navy picked up where it left off against BYU two weeks
ago, looking inept on both sides of the ball as Tulane jumped out to a
24-0 halftime lead. Navy had five straight three-and-outs, and didn’t
get a first down until 2:50 remained in the half.
The halftime score should have been 31-0, or at worst, 27-0, as Tulane
was driving in the closing seconds, but an incredibly poor decision by
the Tulane QB - more on that to come - resulted in an interception.
Navy came storming back in the second half to win, 27-24, on a
last-second field goal. Credit, of course, to any team that can
rally like that when things are looking their gloomiest. But it
takes two to tango. Every great comeback is balanced by a gigantic
choke, and there was Tulane, a decent running team, ditching the run
and throwing the ball - putting its eggs in the basket of a QB who
simply wasn’t up to the job.
Tulane actually outrushed Navy, but when they should have continued to
run, they passed instead. And poorly. They threw 25 times but, largely
due to the passer’s inaccuracy, completed only 10 of those
attempts for just 108 yards (did I mention that Navy - NAVY! - had more
passing yards than Tulane?) Once, on a third and four, Tulane passed.
Later, facing a crucial fourth and four, they again passed.
Incomplete both times. What was that definition of insanity?
Navy actually won because of their passing game. Unfortunately, they
were throwing because they had been running ineffectively, and in my
opinion, they just don’t throw well enough to offset the lack of the
dominant running game that Navy teams depend on. But they showed
plenty of fight, and that’s a positive sign.
*** Navy, we are told, has an assistant coach named Robert Green, who
is listed as a “defensive assistant,” without anything more specific
about his assignment. Maybe that’s because he also carries the title
“Director of Racial Equality?” WTF? Shouldn't that be the
head coach’s job? Every head coach's job? It certainly oughtn’t
to be something a head coach delegates to an assistant.
Then, in what threatens to be a game fixture this year, we had our
Mandadory Social Justice Training Session, with the announcers, Mark
Jones and Dusty Dvoracek, delivering a lecture on players being “The
Voice of Change,” and “Using the platform they have” to make sure
“their voices are being heard.” No doubt those guys had their
orders from headquarters. Please, ABC - Stop already.
*********** Technical problems cut off the audio of the Navy-Tulane
game, and we had to listen to a couple of guys in the studio jabbering
away while play went on. You would think that somebody in the
studio could have stepped up and called the game off the monitor, just
as they’ve been doing with a lot of college games this year.
*********** Boston College got off to a great start under their new
head coach, Jeff Hafley. Ahead 7-6 at the half, they blew Duke out,
26-6. BC QB Phil Jurkavec, a Notre Dame transfer, was 17 of 23
for 300 yards and 2 TDs.
*********** BC lineman Alex Lindstrom is one of six kids of former
Boston U and NFL player Chris Lindstrom and his wife. Dad is a high
school coach in Massachusetts - and a Double Winger at that - and Alex
is the second of the Lindstrom boys to play at BC.
*********** Prettiest sight all day? On a sunny day in September, Pitt
and Syracuse, in their bright, colorful uniforms, on a grass field.
*********** Whew. Oklahoma State pulled it out, but Tulsa led the
Cowboys 7-3 at the half, and held Social Justice Warrior/Running Back
Chuba Hubbard to under 100 yards. He had rushed for more than 100 yards
in 11 straight games until threatening to quit because he didn't like
the tee-shirt his coach was wearing.
*********** Sports cliche that I can do without: “That’s not who we
are…”
*********** The announcers were pretty tough on Syracuse’s Dino Babers
as Pitt, up 21-10 with under two minutes to play, was running out the
clock and Babers, with three timeouts, let the clock run. Said one of
the ACC Network’s announcers, either Chris Cotter or Mark
Herzlich, “To me, as a player, that means your coach is giving up on
the game.” Wow.
*********** Louisiana, coming off a giant win over Iowa State,
had to go to OT against Georgia State to win. And they had to score on
two consecutive plays to do it.
The first winning TD, a run to the right, had to be replayed after one
of those bogus timeouts called on the sideline by a coach just before
the ball was snapped.
Okay - that’s the way you want it? Watch this.
Very next play, Louisiana runs right again and scores. Again.
*** News came that the Pac-12 had met on Friday and decided - to meet
again. Sometime next week. What the hell. What’s the
hurry?
*** Miami QB D’Eriq King is the real deal. He is very good. He is
on the way to a great season in (perhaps) leading the resurgence of the
Miami program. And his case represents a festering sore on the
body of college football.
Just about this time last year, he was Houston’s quarterback. He was a
good one - in 15 games as a starter he’d thrown 62 touchdown passes. A
senior, he was also the team captain.
But after four games in 2019 under new coach Dana Holgorsen, the
Cougars were a disappointing1-3. So the quarterback, the senior
captain, did what any good leader would do when things were tough - he
bailed.
Taking advantage of the new NCAA rule intended to preserve the
eligibility of younger players who had been losing their redshirts
simply because they’d been forced into action for a game or two, the
new rule permitted a player to appear in up to four games and
still be able to retain redshirt status. Not once in testifying
in favor of the rule change did anyone consider that it might apply to
a senior player instantly declaring himself a redshirt so that he
could retain one last year of eligibility which, if he were to
graduate, would enable him to play elsewhere immediately.
Very suspicious. Was he tanking on the season? Was it even his
decision to make?
Or was Holgorsen tanking, thinking that he could get through last
season and then bring King back this season? After all, once King
was declared a redshirt, he continued to practice with the team.
Quitters don’t normally do that.
Either way, it’s pretty sick stuff, and one more huge chunk out of the
carefully-crafted illusion that players are playing for their teammates.
*** Miami does look good, and although D’Eriq King is a major reason,
their defense isn’t bad, either. They really LOOKED fast.
*** Austin Peay took its licking from Cincinnati, and now its season is
over. An FCS school, it decided to play after the Ohio Valley
Conference shut down, and now, after games against Central Arkansas,
Pitt, and Cincinnati, it’s finished.
*** Wake-NC State, the “late” game (by Eastern standards), was the best
game of the day, with State threatening to blow Wake out, then Wake
tying it up , 21-21 at the half. Wake didn’t take the lead until 9:00
remained in the game, when it went ahead, 42-38, but the Wolfpack
scored again to win, 45-42. The state of North Carolina
(must have been all those Yankees moving down there) allowed only 350
spectators.
*** I really like the ACC Network’s studio show, “The Huddle.”
The host is a guy named Jordan Cornette, who I learned was captain of
the basketball team at Notre Dame. He does a really nice job of
keeping things going while deferring to the “analysts.”
They are former Clemson lineman Eric MacLain, former Miami quarterback
E. J. Manuel, and former Georgia and Miami coach Mark Richt.
Among them, there is no star, and there is no frat-boy yuk-yuking.
They’re serious, they’re well-informed, they’re respectful of each
others’ opinions, and they’re well-spoken.
I found myself listening to them well after the final game was over.
*********** Joe Biden, or more precisely, Joe Biden’s speech
writers, keep referring to Scranton, Pennsylvania as his “hometown,’
despite the fact that he was 11 when his family moved to Claymont,
Delaware.
Hometown, my ass.
Evidently, in attempting to pass off Biden, who has never worked at a
real job in his life, as a working man - a man of the people - research
has shown that “Scranton” - once the biggest city in northeast
Pennsylvania’s anthracite coal region - plays better among voters than
“Claymont.”
See, that way Joe can stand up in front of union workers and say
“Scranton, Pennsylvania” and make it sound as if he, a guy who’s been
in the United States Senate for 47 years and has never gotten his hands
dirty, knows what it’s like to go down in the mines and shovel
coal.
And walk the mean streets of Scranton and stop in at a saloon and
have a shot and a beer - or two or three - with the fellas. Maybe even
get into a brawl out back.
A regular Molly McGuire, that Biden fella.
Just be ready, guys, for the day when he forgets that some of us out
here know better, and starts telling the public about his
football-playing days at Delaware.
*********** Old friend Scott Barnes, whom I first got to know when he
was a youth coach in Parker, Colorado, is a native Texan, and he very
thoughtfully sent me a nice recent article about Texas high school
football. The gist of it: for some reason, the bigger schools
aren’t yet playing, but the smaller schools are, and as a result, fans
used to seeing the pass-crazy spread offenses of the big schools are
being treated to OUR football. Running football. And for many
Texas high schools, that means Wing-T.
http://edition.pagesuite.com/popovers/dynamic_article_popover.aspx?artguid=1f2d64db-5a81-406a-9dda-aa6fb7c82227
*********** The English Premier League has not given up on opposing
racism. But it has given up on supporting Black Lives Matter.
Not the idea itself - of course black lives matter - but BLM the
movement. BLM the organization.
Instead of Black Lives Matter statements, league players and match
officials will wear a “No Room For Racism” badge on their
shirtsleeves.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/english-premier-league/story/4178139/premier-league-display-no-room-for-racism-instead-of-black-lives-matter-on-kits
***********Jason Whitlock, who is fast becoming my favorite writer on
the topic of the cancerous intrusion of social issues into sports, has
taken to referencing the "Criminal" (plural) Justice Movement. He
actually takes it a step further, pluralizing the word “criminals” with
a dollar sign (“criminal$”) to express the belief, which I happen to
share, that we are being driven to the point of racial conflict by
shysters who see opportunity where we see turmoil:
“The Criminal$ Justice Movement only improves the lives of Kaepernick,
Nike shareholders, hearse-chasing lawyers, black elites using the
movement to advance their careers, and white Marxist anarchists
determined to overthrow capitalism, democracy, freedom and God.”
https://www.outkick.com/blm-101-history-lesson-the-2020-criminal-justice-movement/
*********** Hugh,
Only one game I'll be watching on TV this weekend. I'm sure you
can imagine which one. Last night I scouted one of our district
opponents who scrimmaged the school I recently worked for. Our
opponent called off the dogs against my former school after the first
round of plays or it would have been pretty ugly.
Tonight my team travels to College Station for our scrimmage with small
private school. By the end of the day tomorrow I'll have had my
fill of football for the weekend.
You had me going with that Antwon Rose, Jr. story. For a minute
there you had me thinking that there might be a glimmer of hope for the
NFL, and the Steelers in particular. No chance my friend.
Not after THAT ending. My Sundays (Mondays, Thursdays, or
whatever other days they play) won't find me sitting in front of a
television watching an NFL football game.
Those poor high school coaches in Colorado must be close to having
their heads explode with the shenanigans going on there.
Speaking of heads exploding...can't imagine what the scene will look
like for BIG teams trying to fly in and out of Syracuse in late
November/early December.
Also, the Farmer's Almanac predicts, average to lower than average
temperatures this winter, and a 40-60% higher than normal winter
precipitation this winter.
Which means many more Saturdays of frigid, slippery playing conditions
for BIG 10 country. I lived in Minneapolis when the Gophers
played at the Metrodome. While it wasn't the best of atmospheres
for collegiate football games, Coach Holtz saved them from the nasty
elements of a Minnesota November. Not anymore. Now they
play OUTSIDE at TCF Bank Stadium. Brrrr.
The story of the California kid being shopped around happens just about
everywhere now. Even here in Austin, TX with kids who aren't even
close to the caliber of athlete THAT kid is.
Enjoy your weekend!
Joe Gutilla
Austin, Texas
*********** QUIZ ANSWER: Shug Jordan (JERR-din) would probably be
better known nationally if he
hadn't spent the better portion of his coaching career in the shadow of
Bear Bryant, his in-state rival and one of the most charismatic coaches
in the history of college football.
For sure, he was the better basketball coach of the two.
A native of Selma, Alabama, Jordan acquired his nickname as a boy
because he liked chewing on sugar cane.
He held just one head football coaching job in his career, spending 25
years at the same school. In fact, with the exception of three years'
service in World War II, one year in the NFL and five years as an
assistant at Georgia, he spent his entire football career there, from
his first day as a player in 1929 until his retirement in 1975.
After a three sport college career at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (as
Auburn was then known), lettering in football, basketball and
baseball, he stayed on as an assistant coach of football - and head
basketball coach.
And then World War II broke out. As an Army officer, he was in the
first wave of troops in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and
Normandy, where he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart and the
Bronze Star.
After recovering from his wounds, he participated as a front line
officer in the invasion of Okinawa.
Following the war and a season as an assistant with the NFL Miami
Seahawks, he assisted Wally Butts at Georgia (also serving the
entire
time as the Bulldogs’ head basketball coach) until 1951, when he was
hired as head man at his alma mater.
When he took over as head coach, Auburn had won only three of its last
35 games. He was 5-5 his first year, and within three years, he had his
team in the Gator Bowl. Twelve of his teams played in bowl games,
including seven of his last eight teams. (This at a time when there
were only the four major bowls plus the Gator Bowl, and the Rose Bowl
was monopolized by two conferences.)
He had one stretch of 13 straight winning seasons. Fourteen of
his teams were nationally ranked.
His name was added to Auburn’s stadium in 1973, making it the first
college stadium to be named for an active coach.
His 1957 team shared the national championship, splitting in the polls
with Ohio State, and he was named national Coach of the Year by the
Washington Touchdown Club. He was four times named SEC Coach of the
Year.
His overall record was 175-83-7. At the time of his retirement,
Shug Jordan was
the winningest coach in the SEC and third nationally among all active
coaches.
CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING SHUG JORDAN
GREG KOENIG - COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO
JOHN VERMILLION - ST PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MIKE FRAMKE - GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN
ADAM WESOLOSKI - PULASKI, WISCONSIN
KEVIN MCCULLOUGH - LAKEVILLE, INDIANA
JOSH MONTGOMERY - BERWICK, LOUISIANA
JOE GUTILLA - AUSTIN, TEXAS
JOHN BOTHE - OREGON, ILLINOIS
MARK KACZMAREK - DAVENPORT, IOWA
OSSIE OSMUNDSON - WOODLAND, WASHINGTON
DAVID CRUMP - OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY
*********** QUIZ: A 6-2, 235 pound bull of a running back, he spent
most of his career with the Bears.
But he was not just a running back. He played 12 seasons in the NFL
and AFL, an eternity for a running back. He was a stud - “the toughest guy
I ever played with,” in the words of Mike Ditka, a guy who knew a thing
or two about toughness.
His ability to play while injured was legendary among the Bears, as are
the tales of the novocaine shots he took before games.
He was born in Tampa, but when he was seven, his father was murdered in
a gang shooting, and his mother moved him to Paterson, New Jersey,
where she had relatives.
He took up boxing, and at the age of 15 won a Golden Gloves
championship, and was offered $100 a week by famous trainer Lou Duva to
train until he turned 18, but his mother refused to allow it, and moved
him back to Tampa.
He was a big kid - 6-1, 190 as a freshman - and he became a star in
three sports. He was all-state in football and basketball, and
the first time he ever threw a javelin in competition he broke the
state record.
He went to the University of Florida, and in his first year of
competition, as a 6-2, 210-pound sophomore, he was named 2nd team
All-SEC.
In 1953, he was team captain.
But that’s not all - in both his sophomore and junior years, he led the
basketball team in both rebounds and scoring, and in his senior year
was the team captain and was named second team All-SEC.
But the Korean War was going on, and he was drafted into the Army after
his junior year. While in the Army he was drafted by the Bears in
1954 as a “future,” and on his discharge, he joined them for the
1955 season.
The first time he touched the ball, it was against the Baltimore Colts,
and it was unscripted. The ball was supposed to go to another
running back, Bobby Watkins, but Watkins had carried on the two
previous plays, and he was tired. Coming out of the huddle, he
suggested that our guy carry instead. They changed positions, much to
the surprise of Bears’ QB George Blanda, who wound up pitching the ball
to our guy - who went 81 yards for a touchdown.
From 1955 through 1960, he was the Bears’ leading rusher, and for five
of those years he finished among the NFL’s top ten in rushing. In 1956,
he helped lead the Bears to the NFL title game with a league-leading
1126 yards on 235 carries (in 12 games), just 20 yards short of Steve
Van Buren’s then-single season record. In his final game of the regular
season, against the Lions, he rushed for 190 yards on just 17 carries.
Considering that was an average of more than 11 yards per carry, he
might have needed only two more carries to break Van Buren’s record,
but he had been benched with a shoulder stinger.
When he left the Bears - he spent two brief seasons with the Redskins
(a team that once played in Washington before its name was changed to
the Washington Football Team) and the Miami Dolphins, then playing in
the AFL - he was their all-time leading rusher, an honor he would hold
for more than 20 years, until Walter Payton beat him out. More
than 55 years after his last game as a Bear, he remains the fourth
leading rusher in team history.
In 2019, the Chicago Tribune ranked him 36th among the 100 Best Bears’
Players ever.
He and Bears’ owner George Halas had their differences, some of them
public. But because, like Bears’ star defensive end Doug Atkins, he was
considered “difficult to deal with,” it’s possible he might not have
had much of a career under any other coach or owner.
He liked to have a good time and he liked to gamble, and his name came
up in the gambling scandal that resulted in the suspension of all stars
Alex Karras and Paul Hornung but a lie detector test
cleared him of all charges.
He died in 2013. At his funeral, he was eulogized by teammate
Ditka and rival Hornung, two of his best friends in the game.
“I never cared much about individual numbers,” he told Cigar City
Magazine in 2011. “But I did care about the Hall of Fame. I think there
are players in the Hall who I feel I was better than, but I guess the
voters don’t see it that way. It would be a great honor, but if I don’t
get voted in - oh, well, I got paid to play football. How can I
complain about that?”
FRIDAY,
SEPTEMBER 18, 2020 “God
will not have his work made manifest by cowards” Ralph Waldo
Emerson
*********** GAMES TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND
REMEMBER - GAMBLE AT YOUR OWN RISK
AND IF YOU ACT ON ANY OF MY INKLINGS, BE SURE TO SPLIT YOUR WINNINGS
WITH ME
Friday night
Campbell +24 at Coastal Carolina - Coastal. You think after
beating a Power 5 School they can’t cover the spread?
Saturday
Early Games
Syracuse +20 at Pitt - Cuse will beat the spread
Houston +6 at Baylor -Baylor
Navy +7 at Tulane - Tulane, even if Navy has been practicing blocking
and tackling
BC +6 at Duke - Duke - They played ND fairly tough
Tulsa +22 at Oklahoma State - Cowboys will cover
Austin Peay +31 at Cincinnati (Army opponent) - Only 31? Pitt beat them
by 55!
Louisiana at Georgia State +17 (Army opponent) - Louisiana - I
saw what they did to Iowa State
Mid-morning (Pacific)
South Florida +25 at Notre Dame - Sounds about right. I’ll take ND.
Second Flight of games
UCF at Georgia Tech +7 - UCF - GT didn’t prove anything against FSU
App State at Marshall +3 - I’ll take Marshall and the points
S F Austin +16 at UTSA (Army) - UTSA
Late afternoon
Miami +2 at Louisville - Could be a great game. I’ll take the Canes.
Wake Forest +3 at NC State - Wake. A loss to Clemson shouldn’t count.
La Tech +4 at Southern Miss - LT. USM just changed coaches.
Not making the cut as games for me to watch
Liberty +13 at WKU - Western
Charlotte +27 at UNC - UNC
The Citadel +47 at Clemson - Clemson plays more men - an average of 75
- than any team in football. They can play 100 and still beat the
spread.
Troy at Middle Tennessee +3 - Troy. I saw Middle Tennessee against
Army, and they’re not very good.
Fla Atlantic at Georgia Southern +6 - Georgia Southern. Not sure why.
SMU at North Texas +14 - SMU may be overrated. I’ll take them and
find out.
Texas State at Louisiana Monroe +1 - Texas State. Lousiana-Monroe
will need a lot more than one point
***********FRIDAY NIGHT HIGH SCHOOL GAMES TO WATCH ON NFHS NETWORK
7:00 CENTRAL
ALABAMA
OAK MOUNTAIN VS HOOVER
BOTH TEAMS ARE 4-0 ALREADY
7:30 EASTERN
KENTUCKY
LOUISVILLE MALE VS TRINITY - TWO PERENNIAL STATE POWERS MEETING
8:30 EASTERN
SOUTH CAROLINA
DUNCAN BYRNES VS GAFFNEY
GAFFNEY WAS 10-4 LAST YEAR; BYRNES WAS 11-2
*********** Greg Koenig, of Colorado Springs, who coaches at Ellicott
High, sent me the news just as I was publishing, and I had to hold the
presses, so to speak.
It’s almost unbelievable, but in classic cut-the-baby-in-half
decision-making, the state association has given its high schools
the option of playing in the fall or in the spring. Two different
seasons. Two different state champions.
But you can’t play both.
Teams have to declare by 8 AM Monday.
After thinking about it, it’s not so unbelievable. It’s totally
consistent with administrators’ reluctance to make a decis