DUH BOWL GAMES

Coming from an asshole who turned off the Boise State Oklahoma game with a minute left...........fuck, who'd a thunk it? (Boise State pulled the game out of their asses with zero time left) Then we have USC killing Michigan. How come? USC had better players at almost every position. Period. Michigan relies on what is called "zone blocking," a scheme that demands superior people at every position. When that fails, as USC's running attack was failing, you pass. And pass. And pass. But when your players just aren't as good as the players on the other team your quarterback gets destroyed and your receivers can't get open.

USC had better players. Period.

BTW, they also may have superior coaching, recruiting, weather, and girls. Especially the girls. One might also observe that the Big Ten is one joke of a conference, one that could more properly called the Big Two. Or maybe the Big Two and a Half if you count Wisconsin. This means a cupcake schedule for the "best" teams and you don't get good playing Indiana, Purdue, and (gag) Northwestern. You have a chance to get good playing CAL, Oregon (battered so badly that they couldn't win after the SC game), Oregon State, Notre Dame, and UCLA (sometimes good), and next year Washington. And didn't USC kill, and I mean kill, bad ass Arkansas fifty to almost nothing? And didn't they also kill Auburn several times a few years back? There ain't no Ball States or Central Michigans on the SC schedule.

Late add, and the sports story of the day: the sports "experts" keep calling the Boise State winning play as a "hook and ladder." Boise State did NOT run a hook and "ladder" (actual name hook and lateral). A "hook" pattern would be one in which receiver #1 (usually running the pattern from either a wide receiver or split back) runs straight down field for a few yards and then "hooks," meaning he quickly turns right or left for a few steps, and then turns back toward the qb who throws him a very quick pass. After catching it he tosses the ball to a back to receiver tearing straight down the field at top speed.

Boise ran a pattern with one receiver crossing left to right and tossing a lateral to another player running right to left. They hope the lateral receiver can turn upfield for a big gain. We used both plays in high school. BTW, you can only run a "cross and lateral" against a very good team that pursues to the ball like maniacs after a completed pass. This is a play we did not run in college because the coaches regarded such plays as "junk."

Now for the best part. Boise State let it all hang out (again) after scoring in overtime and trailing by one point. They could have kicked an extra point to tie. Instead they went for two points. The play selected was what they now call a statue of liberty play, one in which the qb goes back to pass, does a huge pump fake of a pass and keeps the ball which has ended up behind his back on a follow through motion. Another back takes the ball from him and runs for a TD. NOW FOR THE BEST PART: the receiver scores a touchdown, continues running toward the stands with the ball which he tosses into the stands, AND THEN, he kneels in front of a cheerleader and proposes marriage. IT NEVER WILL GET BETTER THAN THIS. (Oh yeah. She said "yes" and they kissed)

Answer to several Emails:
the play that is being called "statue of liberty" is actually a take off of the original play from the twenties or early thirties. In that old fashioned play the quarterback started what looked like a pass, his hand held beside his ear as if that was going to happen (a Statue of Liberty pose with a ball instead of the torch), a back would come behind the qb and take the ball. The play now is far more clever, requiring that the fake receiver actually turn and fake getting the ball, the eventual running back faking a block, and the outside receivers first faking a pass pattern and then blocking the linebackers and corners.