College Season Begins

I've always loved the college football season, more so than the pros. So it is with great anticipation that I dive in to the college season. One thing I liked about college is that you got a chance to watch different offenses and defenses. Everyone had their own style. But I'm a little disappointed when I see just about everyone running the spread. Every game seems the same, just like the NFL, but I guess there's enough difference to enjoy the college landscape. Don't get me wrong, the spread can be exciting but the game has slowed down in a way. Although the spread is designed to "play fast" and it does, I get tired of motion penalties, holding calls, delay of game. And the players get to the line of scrimmage and stop, look at the sideline, shift, look at the sideline, motion, audible, point, then finally run the play for an incomplete pass that runs two seconds off the clock. I liked it when they broke the huddle, ran the play, and kept things rolling. There's too much choppiness in games.

After all that complaining I still really do love college football. I'm looking forward to Navy and Notre Dame playing in Ireland and Alabama playing Michigan in Texas I think. Texas? Why Texas? Anyway, Alabama will have too much speed and dominate the Wolverines by the middle of the third quarter. But I'm a Big Ten fan so I hope Michigan does well. Navy runs that double wing offense to precision and I'll be pulling for them.

High school football is getting into full swing and their are some fun match ups there as well. I'm going to enjoy this Labor Day weekend and try to relax. You do the same. Chiefpigskin.com

Hittin' the Rock

It's a good thing they didn't have video games and computer games when I was a kid, I'm afraid I would've been playing them all the time. Not that they're a bad thing so much, it's just that it would've taken away my time that I played hard. You see, I've always enjoyed playing games. That's probably part of the reason why I love sports so much. Oh, I did play a lot of board games back then, but that was mostly when it was bad weather outside. I invented a lot of games that I could play solitaire. If I couldn't find some buddies that were playing a game of football, baseball, or even a war game, then I would make up a game. One of the games I invented was called "hitting the rock".

Before I talk about my game of, "hitting the rock", how many of you old-timers out there remember the electronic football game? The game consisted of a large football playing field that had 22 football figures that you put on top of the playing field. You would set up your offense and defense just the way you wanted and turn a switch and the board would begin to vibrate. The vibration caused the players to move and you could watch the play unfold before your very eyes. We thought it was pretty cool, but the drawback was that it took a long time to set up for the next play. Or how about the old All-Star baseball game by Ethan Allen? That game consisted of player cards that you could put on a spinner and would determine whether the player got a hit or made an out. I used to play an entire 162 game schedule with my team. I kept all the stats for every player, batting average, hits, home runs, and RBIs. You can see what kind of gamer I was.

I don't know how I came up with my game of throwing a football at the rock but here's how it went. In our yard we had a big rock that was about 3 feet wide and 2 feet high. I would get into my quarterback stance at the other end of the yard about 15 yards away. At the snap, (to myself)I would either drop back and throw at the rock or rollout, bootleg, scramble, whatever. If I hit the rock it was a complete pass and a 10 yard first down. If I missed the rock it was simply an incomplete pass and I would go to the next down. In this way I could drive the ball down the field by simply playing my passing game of hitting the rock. I would try and make it difficult by scrambling and throwing on the run and making it very real. The best time to play this game would be in October or November when the weather was a little cooler. I did a lot of running around and broke a good sweat. Do you believe I could play that game for a couple of hours? I would have Ohio State versus Michigan, or Alabama versus Penn State. I would usually decide that the first team to a certain score would be the winner. So if I decided that the first team to 28 would win, then I would play until someone reached that score. Any of you out there ever do anything as crazy as that? Or am I the only guy that if I didn't have a game to play would just make one up?

Looking back, I can see why I was always in shape. I never stopped playing. Of course, I still had my Little League games, my high school sports teams and other organized activities. But I think I had just as much fun in some of those board games and crazy made-up games. And you know what? To this day I still love to play games. www.chiefpigskin.com

LSU - Alabama II

About a month ago I wrote a blog of the LSU – Alabama football game that ended 9-6 in overtime. I thought it was a great game and said so. Not everyone agreed. Seems the definition of a good game these days is 52-35. Now we are faced with a rematch for the national title. Good idea? Talk about controversy! This BCS season is full of it.

I saw a poll on CBSsports.com that indicated that only 34% of fans favor this matchup and a whopping 66% believe Oklahoma St. deserves a shot at the Tigers. I’m not sure where I stand on this one. Yes I do. I really think LSU is the best team in the country and Alabama is a very close second. Okie St. is right behind them. Based on that and the BCS system, it has to be LSU vs. Alabama. But I would RATHER see Oklahoma St. in the title game. I would compare it to boxing in the old days; when a contender got beat by the champ, they got the next contender in line to challenge. Alabama had their chance, AT HOME no less, and got beat. Let’s give someone else a shot. But that’s not how the BCS works. According to the rules, it must be BCS #1 against BCS #2, end of story. So, like it or not, that’s the matchup.

That brings us to the subject of a playoff. Seems everyone wants a playoff. You know, if we had a playoff it would probably end up with Kansas St. vs. Boise St. for the championship, which is OK with me, but not glamorous enough for the masses. Anytime you have a tournament there are upsets, that’s how I came up with Boise against KSU. Hey, who could’ve predicted UConn vs. Butler for the round ball championship last year? One way to do a playoff would be to take the top eight in the BCS standings and have a tourney. These would be the eight teams:

1. LSU
2. Alabama
3. Oklahoma St.
4. Stanford
5. Oregon
6. Arkansas
7. Boise St.
8. Kansas St.

Nope, no one from the Big Ten. And in a seeded tourney #2 always plays #7. That would put Alabama against Boise in the first round. Alabama would be out because we know none of the “big boys” can beat Boise. If we had a tourney for conference champions, these would be some of the teams:

Clemson Northern Illinois
Oklahoma St. Oregon
Wisconsin Arkansas St.
West Virginia
Southern Miss.
TCU
LSU

Which would you favor? Frankly, I could go with either.

Finally, how about the bowl matchups? I feel bad for Boise. Everyone knows how good they are but they continue to get robbed. Same with TCU. How did Virginia Tech get a BCS bowl after a beat down by Clemson? And Michigan? What’s with that? Sometimes I really dislike this BCS stuff.

Well, there you have it. Coach Grant’s take on the state of college football. There will be some good matchups, and I’m going to enjoy them. I’m looking forward to Stanford vs. Oklahoma St. the most. How about you?

Hey, if you like free football instruction, visit Chiefpigskin.com everyday!

LSU - Alabama

In my last blog “When There Were Ties” I wrote about the epic 10-10 tie that #1 Notre Dame and #2 Michigan State played to in 1966. I watched that game and 45 years later I watched #1 LSU play #2 Alabama. To my amazement I watched another tie. This one was 6-6 at the end of 60 minutes. The difference between 1966 and 2011 is that we now have overtime. And in that overtime LSU’s defense stopped Alabama cold and forced them into a 52 yard field goal attempt. It wasn’t even close. LSU took the ball inside the 10 and kicked the game winner for a 9-6 win over the Crimson Tide.

This game featured the best college defense by two teams I’ve ever seen. Both teams had a ferocious defense and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was well played and not sloppy. Any turnovers were caused by great defense and not by poor offensive execution. Man oh man, these guys hit and neither team blinked. So, I’m wondering how so many people found the game boring. Not enough scoring! Are you kidding me? This was great football. They hammered, hit, scrapped, clawed, and made each other EARN every inch of turf. That’s football. Although I enjoy high scoring games I don’t need them to appreciate football. Sometimes I get bored watching teams score TOO much in this day of high powered offenses. Guess I’m showing my age.

On a side note, do you remember the rest of the story in 1966 when ND and MSU finished 9-0-1 and shared the national championship? Neither team went to a bowl game that year. That’s right, no bowl game for either team. Prior to the 70’s Notre Dame did not accept bowl invitations. Why, you ask? I don’t know, you’ll have to ask them. The Big Ten only participated in one bowl-the Rose Bowl. And that was reserved for the Big Ten champ. No other teams were allowed to play in a bowl. Michigan St. was not allowed to go to the Rose Bowl because the Big Ten had a rule that a team could not go to the Rose Bowl two years in a row, and MSU played UCLA the year before in the Rose Bowl. The 2nd place team went instead. Hard to believe, but that’s how it was. Not like now when everyone and his brother goes to a bowl game. Just for the fun of it, let’s take a look at the ’66 bowl games. There were only ten of them.

Dec. 10 Liberty Bowl Miami FL 14 – Virginia Tech 7
Dec. 10 Tangerine Bowl Morgan St. 14 – West Chester 6
Dec. 10 Camellia Bowl San Diego St. 28 – Montana St. 7
Dec. 17 Bluebonnet Bowl Texas 19 – Mississippi 0
Dec. 24 Sun Bowl Wyoming 28 – Florida St. 20
Dec. 31 Cotton Bowl Georgia 24 – SMU 9
Dec. 31 Gator Bowl Tennessee 18 – Syracuse 12
Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl Alabama 34 – Nebraska 7
Jan. 2 Orange Bowl Florida 27 – Georgia Tech 12
Jan. 2 Rose Bowl Purdue 14 – Southern Cal 13

That’s it. Bowls were very special and some good teams were left out. Keep checking in on www.chiefpigskin for all your football needs and I’ll be back with more stories soon.