Official College Football Thread - Week 11

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by bronconick

ACC officials have issues when Matt Millen spends most of an afternoon calling you incompetent.

I hated everything about that game. I'm really getting to the point where I think Jimbo has to get an OC. I love him as head coach, but his playcalling is way too conservative. Offense tried nothing early in the game, simply because we were up 3-0. Miami scores, and suddenly it's 6 plays down the field to get the lead back. Get the punt return from Reid, a couple of FGs, and suddenly it's turtle time again, giving Miami a chance to come back from 23-7 instead of burying them 37-7. I can't take it.

EJ Manual's biggest strength as a QB is his dual threat ability, and they don't use it. Unless that shoulder's still hurt, there's no excuse. I know you don't want to lose him but if you're that afraid he'll get injured running it, then I guess he's not quite the "total package" he appears.

I expect the ACC to apologize for the Bradham penalty and ejection. That was absurd. As someone on twitter summed it up, "Well, he hit him really really hard and he has gold teeth, so that's an automatic ejection."

[Ksyrup]

My Lord...ACC stands by the call against Nigel Bradham. That is unbelievable. It was so bad that even AL FREAKIN GOLDEN came out and said the hit was legal and he hopes Bradham is allowed to play, because he doesn't want to see one of his guys called for a penalty like that when it shouldn't have been made. He kept both feet on the ground, hit him with the shoulder, into the shoulder. Yes, it was brutal, but this is freakin football. WOW.

Go to 1:30 and you can see the slow-mo replay. Not even close to a penalty.

http://

[jbergey22]

I guess I dont know if that is a penalty or not anymore with how stupid that rule has gotten but the ejection is a complete joke.

Millen actually had a good point. Yeah there should be a penalty on that play but it should be on the quarterback trying to force it in there like that.

[dawgfan]

I get the intent of the rules, but we keep seeing more and more evidence that it's very difficult for officials to call these plays correctly. And that creates a tough situation for coaches, because they don't really know how to coach their players.

The NCAA rules committee needs to go back to the drawing board on this one.

[Ksyrup]

NFL, too.

The bottom line for me is that football - college and pro - is attempting to legislate injury out of the game. That is impossible. So what they've done is gone beyond a strict interpretation of rules designed to protect against the threat of an injury - hits to the head, late hits, defenseless players, etc. - and are now calling those penalties on "ESPN highlight" plays that are not illegal. That hit looked bad, so they threw a flag and claimed he launched himself. Total BS. It looked like he knocked the kid out, so they called a penalty. End of story. And you just can't do that with a game rooted in violence.

The problem I have with this, and I think I posted something to this effect in the NFL thread last week, is that the defensive players are paying for split-second decisions that the offensive player controls. When there's a wet field, we always talk about how the offensive player has the advantage because he knows where he's going - the defense has to react, and thus is at a disadavantage. So in the situation of an impending hit, the offensive player haas the ball and makes a split-second decision to lower his head, dive, move one way or the other, whatever the move is, and the defensive player is already in the process of aiming a legal hit where the guy was a second ago. It's not always his fault that he hits high. The offensive player should have some responsibility for avoiding that type of hit. It shouldn't all fall on the defense. And to keep calling penalties as if the defensive player can react that quickly is a joke and suggests the leagues don't uinderstand the game - or basic physics, for that matter.

[dawgfan]

I'm in full agreement. The rules as written now ignore physics and are asking defensive players to do things they simply can't control. I totally get legislating against head-hunting/spearing/helmet-to-helmet hits, but it's very hard to enforce that consistently and fairly. Perhaps they need to be willing to subject such plays to review? We're talking bang-bang plays that are very hard to get right in real-time.

But even then, you have situations where the defender does everything in his power to produce a hard but legal hit, only to have the offensive player do something at the last second (before the defender has time to adjust) to result in a penalty.

Again, it makes it very hard on a coach - how do you teach your players to play by the rules when the rules necessarily can result in a foul when the defender has done the correct thing?

[RainMaker]

The only consistency I see on the rules is that you'll get flagged for hitting a guy really hard regardless of how you do it. I actually think college calls the game much better in this regard with the NFL being far too flag happy.

One thing that bothers me is that no one blames the offense. If your QB is getting hit a lot, don't throw and send 5 receivers out. If your WR gets clocked, don't lead him over the middle where the defense is. It seems offensive coordinators have stopped caring about their players and want the league to allow them impunity to do whatever they want.

There is a reason Wes Welker is going to break the Jerry Rice's single season records. It's not because he's better, it's because Rice would be dead if he had to go over the middle that much in his era.

[tarcone]

Two hand touch, anyone?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Louisville coach blames poor play of team on Call of Duty 4 release.....

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1212457p1.html

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

Louisville coach blames poor play of team on Call of Duty 4 release.....

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1212457p1.html

There may be some grains of truth to that. Hard to believe that some kids aren't horrible about their time allocation and staying up all night playing the latest game.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Originally Posted by dawgfan

There may be some grains of truth to that. Hard to believe that some kids aren't horrible about their time allocation and staying up all night playing the latest game.

It's just a new distraction. Alcohol, girls, parties, video games, etc. I think it's true they get distracted, but I just found it amusing he chose to single out COD4 for this week.

[Young Drachma]

I don't think there's anything wrong with a bunch of college kids being up too late playing a game. They're not professionals.

In other news:

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/cougars...rence.html.csp

Provo • Still recovering from the departure of longtime conference rival Utah to the Pac-12 Conference, Brigham Young University football coach Bronco Mendenhall said last week that BYU and national power Boise State should be in the same league together moving forward as “natural rivals” in the Intermountain West.

Indications are strong that Mendenhall’s wish is about to come true.

The Salt Lake Tribune learned Tuesday and first reported on its website that BYU is close to joining the Big East Conference as a football-only member — perhaps within the next day or two — and that Boise State will join as well upon being assured of at least one western partner in the far-flung league.

It is unclear whether the moves would take place next year, in 2013, or even 2014.

A source familiar with the ongoing talks between BYU and other schools and the Big East confirmed that the conference and schools could announce before the end of the week that a western division has been formed that also includes Southern Methodist and Houston. Air Force, BYU’s former Mountain West Conference rival, has also been invited, but a different western-based source told The Tribune on Tuesday that Air Force is not ready to make a decision yet.

Houston, SMU and Central Florida have been invited to the Big East as full members and are said to be waiting on a decision from the western schools before making official announcements that they have accepted. Getting the schools to agree on the timing of those announcements has also delayed the process, the source said.

Navy, which is also a football independent, has been invited to be a football-only member of the Big East, but is said to be keeping an eye on Air Force’s plans before taking the leap.

The Big East is trying to get back to 12 football-playing members with the pending departures of Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC and West Virginia to the Big 12. TCU was ticketed to join the Big East, but will now take a spot in the Big 12, a spot that BYU coveted if certain demands were met regarding its complicated television broadcast plans

[dawgfan]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

It's just a new distraction. Alcohol, girls, parties, video games, etc. I think it's true they get distracted, but I just found it amusing he chose to single out COD4 for this week.

Well, somehow I doubt most of those guys are playing Uncharted or camping out waiting for Skyrim