Thoughts From The Valley
November 30, 2008
The Hangover
How I am feeling: A little depressed. Thanksgiving Weekend—the greatest holiday weekend of the year—is drawing to a close. Blah.
What I am drinking: Chadds Ford '07 Miller Estate Chardonnay. Because I had beer yesterday (and the day before). Gotta change things up a bit.
What I am listening to: Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks. It's pouring rain outside. It's 31 degrees (maybe). We've been couped up in the house all day. I have nothing to watch on television except the NFL (snore). Not exactly in a giddy mood here, folks. And so the choice is Dylan's epicly morose Blood On The Tracks, which documents his divorce. And, no, Your Editor is not getting divorced.
My thoughts on the weekend: Everyone seems quite enamored these days with the so-called "spread offense." But today I choose to sing the praises, instead, of an offense that predates "the spread" by roughly 50 years. It's an offense so old, so disrespected, so shoved to the side, that I'm rather certain most high school recruits have never heard of it.
It is called The Triple Option. And I have decided it is the greatest offensive system in college football history (and, by extension, all of football history).
It is also now the Official Offensive System of TCFA.
I made this decision, of course, after watching the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets use The Triple Option to absolutely gash the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in Athens. Under first-year coach Paul Johnson (formerly of Navy)—a guy who spent his entire career deploying the Triple Option—the Jackets torched the Dawgs for more than 400 rushing yards.
Tech tailback Jonathan Dwyer picked up 144 yards on just 20 carries (that's 7.2 yards per carry), and he wasn't even the leading rusher on his own team. Because tailback Roddy Jones carried it 13 times for 214 yards (that's 16.5 yards per carry).
Now, I know Georgia's defense has struggled this year, folks. But those Dawg defenders are no slouches. They can play.
And yet they were utterly helpless against the genius of the Triple Option, which demands that defenders do two things that most college stars aren't all that comfortable with: 1. Be patient; 2. Play with discipline.
See, there's no secret to stopping the Triple Option, folks. As most any coach knows, all you have to do to shut it down is convince your defenders to do their job—and do nothing else.
But this is a tough sell. In the age of "playmakers," everyone wants to be a hero. And it's hard to be a hero when you're an outside linebacker defending the Triple Option, and you spend a quarter-and-a-half making sure that left tailback doesn't break it a long one around the right end. So maybe after the 20th play of seeing your opponent go to the other side of the field, you start to cheat over a little to the left. Maybe you even make a tackle or two. You get to be the hero. You start to feel pretty good about yourself.
Then it happens: The other team finally runs to your side. You're not ready for it. You blow your assignment. You don't do your job. So they break off a 70-yard touchdown run, and you look like an idiot, and everyone in the entire stadium is wondering the same thing: "Why can't they stop this? They run the same play every time!"
Which is true, of course.
Georgia Tech does run the same play every time.
But it's the Triple Option. And good luck stopping it.
Three Yards and a Cloud of Dust
Three: There is a lot of buzz around the idea that undefeated Boise State and undefeated Ball State might be paired up for a "battle of unbeatens" in the Humanitarian Bowl. Such a scenario would save Ball State from a likely date in the Motor City Bowl (ugh), give them a chance to prove to the entire nation just how good they are, and give us college football fans one of the most interesting bowl matchups in recent memory. Which is why I was stunned—just stunned—to hear Ball State coach Brady Hoke say he wasn't interested in such a matchup, because he didn't want his team to have to play what is essentially a road game in their bowl game (the Humanitarian Bowl is played at ... Boise State). Said Hoke: "If you ask any coach, he'd rather play at a neutral site. (Boise) has a great following, which they deserve, and they're a great, well-coached football team. It would be a big challenge for us anyway, without playing them on their home field. ... It would be fun to watch, and as a competitor you'd like to play that kind of team. But No. 1, we have to be loyal to the people who have been with the Mid-American Conference." Sorry, Coach Hoke, but that is ridiculous. If you ever want Ball State to get the kind of respect that Boise State gets today, this is the kind of game you have to play—and win.
Two ...: In the most recent Associated Press poll, Alabama is ranked No. 1 (as expected) and collected 62 of the available 65 first-place votes. Florda is ranked No. 2 and has the three remaining first-place tallies. In other words, of the 65 so-called experts who vote in this poll, 62 have cast ballots calling Alabama the nation's best team. But you know what? I bet you if you asked those same 65 voters who is going to win next week's SEC Championship Game, you couldn't find 20 who would pick Alabama to win.
One ...: If recent history is to be our guide, then Charlie Weis is as good as gone as Notre Dame's coach. There simply has been no improvement in South Bend since Weis took over. If anything, the gap between Notre Dame its (alleged) rival, USC, seems wider today than it ever was under Ty Willingham, Bob Davie or even Gerry Faust. On Saturday night in Los Angeles (snore), Notre Dame gained a total of 91 yards. Quarterback Jimmy Clausen completed just 11 of 22 passes for 41 yards and two interceptions. The Irish didn't convert a first down until the third quarter. They were, very simply, stultifyingly bad. But you know what? I am not convinced Notre Dame will fire Weis. For two reasons: 1. There are still a whole lot of people in the Notre Dame family who believe Weis will eventually win there; 2. Weis is a Notre Dame alum, and while Irish administrators may treat non-alums like garbage, they are loathe to treat one of their own that way.
Touchdown ...: I said it on Friday and I'll say it again: Alabama beats Florida this week. Saban > Meyer. Besides, Urban Meyer is probably busy thinking about his new job. At Notre Dame.