Maryland defensive coordinator Don Brown is no stranger to the spread option, having faced it several times both as the head coach of Northeastern and at UMass as the defensive coordinator and head coach. His first meeting against Paul Johnson was in the 1998 I-AA championship game. UMass won, although with a 55-43 final score it’s tough to argue that defense had anything to do with it. UMass and Georgia Southern met again in the playoffs the following year, and this time Johnson got the upper hand in a 38-21 quarterfinal victory. GSU piled on 470 rushing yards that day, including 333 from Adrian Peterson alone. In his 4 years at Northeastern, Brown was 2-2 against Tim Stowers’ Rhode Island teams, including another 42-39 shootout. As head coach of UMass, Brown was 3-2 against some pretty bad Rhody teams. His success against spread option offenses has been sort of hit-or-miss.
Category: football
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
There’s no way this is happening, is there? There can’t possibly be anything to this story, right?
I have a very hard time believing that the official Colorado State football Twitter account would be the one to break a story like this, so I’m not setting off fireworks in the street just yet. But on the off chance that this is true, Navy should play BYU every year (a la Notre Dame) out of gratitude for the sheer entertainment that will come from watching the ensuing Air Force meltdown.
ANALYZING THE HYPERBOLE
Troy Calhoun called this year’s Air Force schedule “the strongest a service academy has played in decades.” With Oklahoma and the Mountain West’s big three, there are definitely some strong teams on there. But the strongest schedule in decades? I don’t think so. I’m not even sure it’s the toughest Air Force schedule in decades, let alone the toughest among all 3 service academies. I doubt Calhoun looked them up before making that comment, anyway. But just to kill time, we will. So which of these was the toughest service academy schedule of the last 3 decades?
1980 Air Force: at Colorado State, at Washington, San Diego State, at Illinois, at Yale, Navy, at Tulane, Boston College, at Army, at Notre Dame, at Hawaii
1982 Air Force: at Tulsa, San Diego State, at Texas Tech, at BYU, New Mexico, Navy, Colorado State, at UTEP, Wyoming, at Army, Notre Dame, at Hawaii
2006 Air Force: at Tennessee, at Wyoming, New Mexico, Navy, Colorado State, at San Diego State, BYU, at Army, Notre Dame, Utah, at UNLV, at TCU
1998 Army: Miami (OH), Cincinnati, at Rutgers, at East Carolina, at Houston, Southern Miss, at Notre Dame, Air Force, Tulane, at Louisville, Navy
2005 Army: at Boston College, Baylor, Iowa State, UConn, Central Michigan, at TCU, at Akron, at Air Force, UMass, Arkansas State, Navy
2007 Army: Akron, Rhode Island, at Wake Forest, at Boston College, Temple, Tulane, at Central Michigan, at Georgia Tech, at Air Force, Rutgers, Tulsa, Navy
1982 Navy: Virginia, at Arkansas, Boston College, at Duke, at Air Force, William & Mary, The Citadel, Notre Dame, at Syracuse, at South Carolina, Army
1984 Navy: at UNC, Virginia, at Arkansas, at Air Force, Lehigh, Princeton, at Pitt, Notre Dame, at Syracuse, South Carolina, Army
2000 Navy: Temple, at Georgia Tech, at Boston College, TCU, at Air Force, Notre Dame, Rutgers, Toledo, at Tulane, Wake Forest, Army
THE STATE OF SERVICE ACADEMY FOOTBALL: AIR FORCE
I said in my post on Army’s football program that even if the team isn’t as good as some people think they are, they finally have some stability and are moving in the right direction. What do I mean by instability? Over the past decade, Army has been in and out of Conference USA, had to scramble to fill an independent’s schedule in 2005, seen the Alternative Service Option come and go, went through two athletic directors, and labored under four head coaches (five if you count John Mumford’s half-season interim stint in 2003). Now, with winnable games on the schedule and a coach that the school is committed to, Army has a chance to get better. That certainly doesn’t guarantee success, and there is a lot of work to be done; but changing the environment was the first step on the road to recovery.
Stability has never been much of a concern for Air Force, which over the years has been the most rock-steady of the service academies. While Army technically had 5 head coaches in the last decade, Air Force has had 5 head coaches since 1958, including 23 years under Fisher DeBerry. When Ken Hatfield left, Air Force hired DeBerry, one of Hatfield’s assistants. When DeBerry retired, Air Force hired Troy Calhoun, one of DeBerry’s former players. Not surprisingly, neither strayed far from their predecessors’ formulas. 2009 was Air Force’s also 30th year as a conference member, having joined the WAC in 1980. Even when the Mountain West rocked the boat and split from that conference in 1999, all it really did was re-create the WAC that Air Force originally joined. Air Force is stable even in ways they don’t necessarily want to be; with 8 conference games plus Army and Navy, they have pretty much the same schedule every year. They’ve finished 8-5 in back-to-back seasons, played in the same bowl game 3 years in a row, and even faced the same opponent in those bowl games the last two seasons. Things haven’t changed much in the land of bus driver blue.
Continue reading “THE STATE OF SERVICE ACADEMY FOOTBALL: AIR FORCE”
BECAUSE WHO WANTS ORIGINAL THOUGHTS?
Paul Finebaum says that it’s time to kick Vanderbilt out of the SEC. Why, you ask? Because they aren’t good, and their new head coach is entertaining. I didn’t think that anyone actually yearned for hard-hiting media day coaching insight like “well we just have to score more points than the other guys,” but apparently I was wrong. Heaven forbid a coach shows a little personality. Of course, since most coaches are cyborgs that give the same answers to the same questions they receive every media day, you can just recycle the same stories every year. Robbie Caldwell and his “free thinking” and “honest answers” just create more work for everybody. And that’s “insulting.” MEDIA DAYS: SERIOUS BUSINESS
As for the rest, one can’t help but be reminded of this.
THE STATE OF SERVICE ACADEMY FOOTBALL: ARMY
During the offseason, I like to take a step back and look at how each service academy program is doing relative to each other and the college football world in general. A “state of the union” of sorts. First on the list: Army.
The Navy is a complicated profession. There are so many different elements one must master in order to succeed, from understanding the different culture, to leading people, to the finer points of individual warfare specialties. After all, it is by no means enough that an officer of the Navy should be a capable mariner. He must be that, of course, but also a great deal more. Or so I’ve been told. With so much to remember, sailors have passed down various sayings and mnemonic devices to guide them through the years. There’s “choose your rate, choose your fate”– sage advice for the junior enlisted sailor to be educated about what exactly his chosen career path entails. Conning officers across the Fleet depend on “red right returning” to keep their ships in the channel (if you’re about to leave a comment about IALA-A, you’re a nerd). Even cynics have their reminder to Never Again Volunteer Yourself. There are no cynics in Annapolis, obviously, and “IHTFP” has helped generations of midshipmen express their boundless joy.
Not all of these memory aids are unique to the Navy, or even to nautical life. A more common expression that’s a favorite among officers–and one that I’ve always hated– is “perception is reality.” It’s not that it’s bad advice. The problem is that some people become so attached to these little one-liners that they won’t listen to anything else. While it’s helpful to remember the importance of image consciousness, most issues are far more complex than the way they appear to the outside world. It’s one thing to acknowledge the old “perception is reality” axiom, but to end the conversation there would be to defer to the knee-jerk reactions of the uninformed on any matter of importance. Perception is truly reality only to those who don’t care enough about something to take the time to dig any deeper.
Continue reading “THE STATE OF SERVICE ACADEMY FOOTBALL: ARMY”
REPRIEVE
After a fascinating week of panic, rumors, and closed-door dealmaking, the Big 12 will remain intact minus two teams. The worst-case scenario has been averted only two days after it appeared that it was all but inevitable. Some thoughts:
— The departure of Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech to the Pac 10 was at one point considered in the bag, at least to Pac 10 commissioner Larry Scott:
Scott was quoted later saying he thought he had a deal with Texas. But UT officials apparently told Scott if the Longhorns didn’t have Texas A&M with them, it would cause too much political strife and would be a deal-breaker.
I don’t know how much I believe Texas’ claim. I would definitely believe it if the situation was more like the breakup of the Southwest Conference, with the threat of Texas A&M being stranded like Houston, Rice, and TCU were. But if the Aggies could’ve latched onto the SEC (as they were reported to be on the verge of), then everyone would be taken care of. It seems like a convenient excuse for Texas if you’re the Pac 10. If you’re Texas, it’s sound negotiating tactics. Either way, it gave the Longhorns the out they needed to grab the better deal.
— That better deal being increased television revenue and owning their local television rights. The Pac 10 could offer the former, but not the latter if it wanted to start its own TV network. Meanwhile, FOX has apparently upped the ante in what it will pay for Big 12 football, which is driving the increased revenue. Of tangential interest is that apparently NBC is also looking to expand its college football offering.
— Another part of the better deal for Texas, A&M, and Oklahoma comes in the form of, basically, extortion. Nebraska and Colorado are required to pay exit fees for leaving the conference. That money will not be split among the 10 remaining teams; instead, the five schools that weren’t on the Pac 10’s expansion list will give their share to the big three. That’s expected to be $15 million split between them, which makes for a pretty nice up-front incentive to stay put.
— Two days ago, Dan Beebe was looked upon as the most helpless, quasi-capable man in sports. Today, he’s the Anatoly Karpov of conference grandmasters. Some crow-eating might be in order for his harsher critics in the media.
— How awesome is Big 12 basketball now? A true round-robin between 10 schools including Kansas, Texas, Baylor, Kansas State, Missouri, and Texas A&M? The Big 12 is now what the ACC used to be.
— Of course, while the Big 12 is still alive for now, conference expansion isn’t necessarily over with. The Pac 10 is reportedly targeting Utah, and the Big Ten has long been rumored to be looking east. If I’m the Pac 10, though, I hold at 11. Nothing against Utah, but they aren’t the reason the Pac 10 got into this mess. Texas officials are saying that they’re committed to the Big 12 for the “long term;” but the school’s leadership can change. Even if it doesn’t, these same officials appeared ready to jump ship just two days ago. A lot can happen a year or two from now. If circumstances change and this opportunity comes up again, does the Pac 10 want to be stuck with Utah? Is a championship game that important? It wasn’t to Texas and Oklahoma…
Anyway, even if armageddon is inevitable, at least it’s postponed.
Is it wrong that I spent half of the last week remembering how awesome it was that you could create custom conferences in NCAA 2001?
THE NAVY FAN’S GUIDE TO CONFERENCE EXPANSION
The looming cloud of conference expansion is the top story in college sports right now, and undoubtedly will be all summer. It’s no surprise that just about everyone seems to be weighing in on the subject. Well, everyone except for me until now. There’s two reasons for that. One, I have the work ethic of a sloth. Two, this is a very hard subject about which to write, because the news and rumors change so quickly that anything written becomes obsolete after a day or two. By the time I’m done writing this, the Pac 10 will have invited Germany and Japan to join the conference, with plans to invade Poland by Labor Day. A simple report that the Big Ten is looking at expansion options has turned out to be the seed of an impending college athletics armageddon, with conferences and schools maneuvering to put themselves in the best possible position to ride out the tsunami.
It feels like we just went through this little exercise when the ACC declared open season on the Big East in 2005, but that was but a hiccup compared to the seismic shift on the horizon now. When Virginia Tech, Boston College, and Miami defected, it started a domino effect of conferences reshuffling their lineups to make up for the schools they lost. The change was significant, but not overwhelming. This is different. The Big Ten and Pac 10 are reportedly both looking to expand to perhaps as many as 16 teams, and they’re willing to filet the rest of the BCS in the process.
It’s premature to say for certain that either conference will do something that drastic, but it isn’t that hard to imagine. If they do, it will mean a lot more than just another round of musical chairs. Conferences will cease to exist. Rivalries will end. The traditional geographic boundaries of each conference’s footprint will be meaningless. It will be chaos, at least for a while. When the dust settles, college athletics will come out looking completely different.
But different enough for a Navy fan to care?
Absolutely.
Continue reading “THE NAVY FAN’S GUIDE TO CONFERENCE EXPANSION”
BAD NEWS, GEORGIASOUTHERNHAWAIINAVYTECH FANS
I hate to be the one to break it to you, Georgia Southern Hawaii Navy Georgia Tech fans, but I think you’ve hit your ceiling. It’s time to accept the hard truth: your one-dimensional, gimmick, high-school offense has done all it can do for you. For your team to rise to the next level, they need a balanced offense. Without one, you’ll never win the Southern Conference a I-AA national title in Division I-A the WAC the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy bowl games a BCS conference a national championship. Sure, you think you’ve seen some success with this cute little scheme, winning 4 I-AA titles winning Hawaii’s first-ever conference championship taking Hawaii to the first two bowl games in the school’s history taking a winless service academy to 10-2 and #24 in both polls in 3 years ending a 4-decade losing streak to Notre Dame winning the ACC last year. And sure, you guys beat Furman Youngstown St. Montana BYU Illinois Cal Rutgers Pitt Wake Forest Notre Dame again Georgia with it. But this is different. The spread option isn’t a real offense, and once it sees the speed of a Big 10 ACC Big East SEC Big 12 Pac 10 BCS defense, it’ll be shut down. To win a national championship, you’d probably have to beat a more talented BCS team that will have a month to prepare; and we all know that is never going to happen.
THE BIRDDOG WEEKEND VIEWING GUIDE, WEEK 1
Just in case you want to know what I’m watching at any given moment this weekend.
Here’s how I prioritize:
- Navy (duh)
- Navy’s upcoming opponents
- Georgia Tech
- Baylor
- San Diego State
- Whatever’s interesting.
The last four are somewhat interchangable. Times are eastern.
–Thursday, September 3rd–
South Carolina at North Carolina State, 7:00 p.m., ESPN (HD): Because it’s on.
North Texas at Ball State, 7:30 p.m., ESPNU (HD): I’ll probably be flipping back & forth (sorry Goalielax). I’m curious to see Ball State in the post-Hoke/Davis era. Honestly, though, I’m not sure I’ll really get a feel for that against North Texas. Never mind, I’ll stick with Carolina/NC State.
Utah State at Utah, 9:00 p.m., The Mtn.: HI ADAM.
Oregon at Boise State 10:15 p.m. ESPN (HD): I *heart* LeGarrette Blount.
–Friday, September 4th–
Tulsa at Tulane, 8:00 p.m., ESPN (HD): Because it’s on.
–Saturday, September 5th–
Navy at Ohio State, 12:00 p.m., ESPN (HD): Duh.
Baylor at Wake Forest, 3:30 p.m., ABC/ESPN2/Gameplan: Kill two birds with one stone on this one. The next stage of human evolution, ROBERT GRIFFIN, is a good test to see how Wake’s defense stacks up to last year’s. I’ll probably have Nevada-Notre Dame on the rabbit ears.
Louisiana Tech at Auburn, 7:00 p.m., ESPNU (HD): Week 2’s opponent.
Maryland/Cal, LSU/Washington, 10 & 10:30 p.m., ESPN/2: Flip until one interests me enough to stick with it.
–Sunday, September 6th–
Ole Miss at Memphis, 3:30 p.m., ESPN (HD)
Colorado State at Colorado, 7:00 p.m., FSN
–Monday, September 7th–
Cincinnati at Rutgers, 4:00 p.m., ESPN (HD)
Miami at Florida State, 8:00 p.m., ESPN (HD): For a half, anyway. Gotta get up early for the drive to DC in the morning. Yes, I’m a pansy. Bite me.
Oh, and one more thing… There is now a Birddog group on Facebook. I did not create it, but I endorse it. It’s got what plants crave. It’s got ELECTROLYTES.
The Birddog 