Nitt Picks Is On Toast, Spread Thin
by KevinHD on May 19, 2009 7:31 AM EDT
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PrintI’m doing this as hard as I can. You poor, poor thing [Bowden, that is]. We’re doing this as hard as we possibly can, Bobby Bowden, because the NCAA is not punishing you because you failed to be politically correct, but because your program stepped across even the last, most obvious warning line set by an organization loath to punish all but the most egregious violations of the extremely lenient contract set up among its member orgs.
But moving on to the actual news, found five bullets down in the MH link above:
ESPN tried to arrange a UM-Missouri home-and-home series in 2011 and 2012 (to replace Kansas State, which asked out of playing UM), but Missouri balked. But UM booked Rutgers (2018, '19) and is closing on a deal with Penn State (2016, '17).
So for those of you keeping score at home, that's Bama '10 & '11, UVA '12 & '13, Rutgers '14 & '15, and now potentially Miami in '16 & '17. Full house.
If anyone needs a ride down to LandShark Stadium (which will most certainly not be its name in 2017) I have two extra seats in my flying car.
A Southern Clarification. I detailed the eminent demise of the Capital One Bowl last week, but in the whole huba-web shuffle I ended up reading some subsequent posts suggesting this:
The Cotton Bowl’s agreements with the Southeastern and Big 12 conferences end following this season as well. Its payout was $3 million last year, which would rank third among the Big Ten’s non-BCS bowl agreements. But if the Cotton Bowl increased its payout and made overtures to the Big Ten, the league would listen, as it would with other bowls.
NWO expresses similar hopes. I'm not so sure, though. The Cotton Bowl really wants one thing, and that's to be part of the BCS. Since that's not going to happen, they are much more likely to try and steal the SEC #2 and hold on to the Big XII #2 rather than ditch their Southwest affiliate for a Big Ten team. I'm not saying they couldn't play it either way, but it makes a lot of geographical, economical and historical sense to keep the two southern leagues together. So the Big Ten really could lose this hand, unless you think Big East #2 is a good replacement, which of course it's not.
MGoStall. Brian has an excellent response, which is really just a continued exorcism of so many years watching CarrBall, regarding the misunderstanding of macro and micro Favorite strategy.
I suggest you read it if you are interested in statistics, basketball or the lead up to this:
Though Dantonio and Bielema have the most boring offenses in the Big Ten, they'll be fascinating tactically over the next few years...I foresee perpetually decent but unthreatening teams for both unless Bielema is just as bad a coach as last year suggests.
The whole thing is quite good, although once the BSD staff gets some breathing room there is probably a discussion to be had about the defense first strategy and how that fits into the concept of Score, Score, Score.
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defense first strategy: sometimes offense is the best defnese
Running the football well, converting 3rd and short, and keeping the ball for long periods of time (even on scoreless drives) can be the best defense when you’re matched against a more talented team. Teams like Wisko and MSU certainly use this strategy: vinilla run-heavy offense and stout defense, both limit scoring opportunities which keeps the score low, and if you can keep the score low against a more talented team you can grind out wins (or lose a close one in the 4th).
One thing I’ve said to people about the Rose Bowl, is that had we not lost Royster to injury at the end of the 1st we may have been able to keep USC from scoring anywhere from 7-10 points in the 2nd quarter. I sadistically rewatched the first half and saw many PSU drives end on 3rd and short with Green getting stuffed at the line — prematurely ending drives Royster would have kept alive. Green also senselessly fumbled in the 2nd… Had we been able to keep the ball out of Sanchez’s hands in the 2nd we would have had ourselves a game after halftime.
I believe the difference in that game was Royster’s leg injury, not the secondary.
"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.
F you Iowa
vinilla run-heavy offense and stout defense, both limit scoring opportunities which keeps the score low, and if you can keep the score low against a more talented team you can grind out wins (or lose a close one in the 4th).
by The JuggerNitt on May 19, 2009 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions
Offense and Defense are equally important
I hate when I hear people say “Defense wins championships” or “The best defense is a good offense.” It implies one is more important than the other.
Every team should go by the simple philosophy that when you have the ball you try to score, and when you are on defense you stop the other team from moving the ball. Just keep it simple.
My complaint with Paterno and Penn State is that they either give up on offense when they get a lead or they try to play ball control to shorten the game. If you are trying to win the time of possession game you aren’t playing to win. Nobody wins the game because you hold the ball for 31 minutes. You win the game because you score more than your opponent. So your goal should be to score every time you get the ball. Not run it up the middle to eat the clock.
Mike
Black Shoe Diaries
tale of two losses: USC and Iowa
USC we rushed a season low of 29 attempts. Obviously we lacked our best RB, but more importantly the result was we couldn’t control the clock and keep the USC offense off the field. The game got away from us.
Iowa we rushed a season high of 46 attempts. We controled the clock, had the lead for the entire game, and lost the game in the last second. We played not to lose.
As you said, both are important because in either extreme we ended up losing.
"We hugged as grown men do. It was a great moment. Then, it was business as usual." -- LJ Sr.
Not that this is an excuse
but the Iowa game was played with a severe wind in one direction and a QB (who I assume was still a little woozy)…this leads to a rush-heavy gameplan. The USC game you can’t get your running game going when you’re down by 3 scores at the half.
I agree with Mike in that you should want to score every possession. To be honest, I don’t care if we play a fast pace or slug’s pace game as long as we are maximizing our strengths. If that calls for a grind it out game in order to take advantage of a superior offensive line, then so be it, but don’t do it just to do it, especially at the expense of better matchups elsewhere.
by Screen Name 20 on May 19, 2009 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions
As someone on here mentioned the other
day, there are three halves to football, Offense, Defense and Special Teams.
Of course field position only means so much when you run a cover 3 on a QB that can hit the seams all day long.
And as the 2001 season through 2006 Orange Bowl helped us remember, kickers who actually make chip shot field goals help you win or lose games too.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
Don't forget the 4th (aspect....can only have two halves)
Coaching. We lost Iowa and USC (to a large extent, though it was not the only reason) due to poor coaching. Your athletes will get you only so far…..as a coach you need to put your players in a position to win games. Let’s face it……Clark should have been benched at Iowa in favor of Devlin, he was not at 100%. And as you mention above, at USC…….TB let Sanchez have his way with our secondary. Way too many wholes in the bs cover 3 we were running! And please……let’s not forget to bring up MSU two years ago! JoePa, TB and crew gave up a 24 pt. halftime lead?!
I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?
Why does everyone keep
ruining the interwebz with reality? If Yogi Berra says we can have 3 halves, I’m not going to argue with him.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
Coaching
I call bullshit on this one in both losses. Even with Clark playing poorly Penn State had the lead late on the road against a good team. At what point should Paterno have benched Clark? When Penn State had a two score lead in the 4th quarter? On the final drive where Clark threw an INT? Why would you put in your backup QB who is completely cold on the bench for the last drive of a game?
And as far as USC goes, what exactly is Bradley supposed to do when his secondary is physically overmatched against the opposition’s receivers?
Penn State lost the Iowa game because of piss poor execution inside the 10 yard line that led to field goals instead of TDs. They lost to USC because they had inferior talent.
Come on
Joe should have benched Clark during the week, maybe during one of their gameplan meetings where they decided it might be a good idea to line Dwheels up under center. That pisspoor execution inside the 10 I agree with—like inside our own ten on Clark’s first drive with fumble. He never should have been in that game. And playing Dwheels instead of Devlin was the final straw for that poor kid. Cold weather, no heater? Sure, plenty of poor execution (Scirotto giving panzi another shot on 3rd), without which the game surely could have been won, but it’s never a good idea to ask players to overcome poor coaching decisions with superior execution.
Hey, this game is fun too and you can make it fun. --j. odrick
But I’m biased towards tailgating, as you may imagine. -ts
Ignore the accolades – just enjoy the games. -bb&w
Dude.....
USC has great receivers……but the best secondary in the world would get burned running a cover 3 against them EVERY SERIES! Seriously….do you really undertand how many wholes there are in that coverage? It is fine to mix in with other coverages or to gameplan with in the run happy Big 11……but when you play a good passing team……coverages need to be mixed up or you will get toasted!
As for Iowa….no way Clark should have been in the game. He had obvious impairment. Really we should have been up 28 in the 4th. Why not play your back-up when your top guy is not 100%…..especially when you have a back-up with the talent of Devlin? Just makes no sense!
I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?
Miami
How close is this deal to being confirmed? I believe the Canes program is back on the rise, and even though it’s still 7 or 8 years away, this could be great for Penn State. So, are we looking at 25%, 50%, 90% confirmed or is just being thrown out there as a possibility?
U of Miami AD wants it
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/sports/content/sports/epaper/2009/04/21/0421_georgecol.html
Losing a game is heartbreaking. Losing your sense of excellence or worth is a tragedy.
Joe Paterno
by skellerdweller on May 19, 2009 11:00 AM EDT up reply actions
I love when articles quote JoePa's "retirement" timeframe
as if he hasn’t said the same exact thing for the past 30-40 years.
Paterno, 82, said he wants to coach three or four more years
by The JuggerNitt on May 19, 2009 10:02 AM EDT reply actions
I know, but nobody ever puts that in context...
He’s making a vague statement but what he really means is, he wants to coach “three of four more years” in the next three or four years. Then rinse, wash, repeat.
by Screen Name 20 on May 19, 2009 10:08 AM EDT up reply actions
From the Sports Illustrated 1986 "Sportsman of the Year" article:
But he says he’ll probably stay right where he is for “four or five more years,” which is the same quote he issued for public record in 1973, ’78 and ’82.
Definitely worth a read if you haven’t read it yet. Linky linky
I bleed Blue and White.
by Horse N Buggy on May 19, 2009 10:22 AM EDT up reply actions
I guess when you are laying things out
you can be like a lot of coaches and say “I plan to stay here forever”. A plan you may or may not have any control over.
Or you can look at things with a long term perspective, but break it down into 5 year blocks of time – a more manageable time frame where you can set goals etc. As each year ticks off, you roll your 5 yr plan forward a year and keep it going. Seems like the Paterno way of doing things.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
What is more likely to happen in the near future?
A) The Big Ten add a 12th member
B) The NCAA changing its rule on requiring a conference to have 12 members to have a championship game
C) Neither
Although I’m not a big fan of the conference championship games, if the Big Ten really wanted to have one, they could lobby to have that rule changed…so that they could have the game with just 11 teams. I don’t see it being a a huge deal if that occurred, maybe two divisions, one with six and one with five.
I personally am fine without a conference championship game, I think that if the B10 just scheduled similarly to the other conferences that play later into the season, they will not be forgotten during the final two weeks. I would love to see them add a 12th member like Pitt but I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.
by mundyscorner99 on May 19, 2009 10:30 AM EDT reply actions
I agree...
add a bye week and set the B10 schedule so it ends the same weekend as Championship week.
Also, no more Co-B10 Champion nonsense. Tie breakers aren’t hard to figure out – especially obvious ones like H2H.
One man doing the work of 100's for the good of 1000's
But what happens when you have 2 teams tied
that didn’t play each other, an Iowa/OSU situation from years ago. Highest BCS ranking, total record, etc?
by Screen Name 20 on May 19, 2009 12:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I would love to see a "coaches vote" tiebreaker
consisting of just the coaches from the conference.
This would possibly prevent some coaches from acting like douchebags, and if the votes were known to all the other coaches (ie not private), then that could lead to some pretty interesting rematches/rivalries.
I used to think that “overall record” should be used, but that would just lead to more cupcate and 1-AA scheduling, and I’m definitely NOT for that.
Highest BCS ranking is kinda BS, also, since I think the BCS rankings are mostly a joke anyway, and aren’t really “exact” since 2/3 of the vote is made up of people who didn’t actually watch the games, and the computer votes aren’t the most reliable, either.
by The JuggerNitt on May 19, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions
This case is a rare example, I was just throwing it out there.
I like your idea on having the coaches vote. That sets it up for some heated exchanges and rivalries. I think you can probably do some sort of cumulative opponent record (i.e. whoever faced the stronger conference foes wins), although, I don’t like “punishing” one team versus another for winning all their games. When the teams don’t play and they’re tied undefeated, you can’t really give one team or the other a conference championship.
by Screen Name 20 on May 19, 2009 2:41 PM EDT up reply actions
RE: '14 and '15
I really hope they’re looking at another quality team those two years, because I have a bad feeling Rutgers could be the next Syracuse. And even if they aren’t, come on, Rutgers as a “marquee” game?
DO YOU HAVE ANY PRIDE, DANNY?
by ReadingRambler on May 19, 2009 10:48 AM EDT reply actions
I also agree about Rutgers
They were 1-5 at the beginning of last season and were thumped by some pretty mediocre teams. The only thing that saved their season was getting to the heart of the Big Least schedule.
by mundyscorner99 on May 19, 2009 11:50 AM EDT reply actions
Don't forget what he is working with.....
It’s Rutgers…..he doesn’t get the players PSU gets (although others would have us believe he does). Cut the man some slack……he can not make wine from water. Schiano is doing a fine job with a program that was previously a perennial loser. Although it is not a marquee matchup, it is a BCS program and will be a decent SOS win.
I thought only safeties played 15 yards off the ball?
"So the Big Ten really could lose this hand, unless you think Big East #2 is a good replacement, which of course it's not."
Sounds like Kevin heard about the Gator Bowl/Big East spat. Anyone else interested in Big Ten vs. ACC in Jacksonville?
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