SpongeWorthy

I was just having a discussion about what coaches will be at the top of the wish list for big programs this coming offseason. I'm going to rule out the pipe dream guys which would be your Super Bowl winning head coaches (Shanahan, Cowher, Gruden, etc.) and the established guys at powerhouses (Carroll, Meyer, Stoops, Tressel, Saban, etc). I'm thinking Kelly, Petersen, and Mendenhall are probably at the top. And then I'd say guys like Leach or Tedford if they wanted to step up to a mega program.

Myles Brand is dead: http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4478889

I was complaining about Cutler too. He blew.

Not a bad thought? It most certainly is a bad thought. The long snapper has no business counting bodies on the field. His job is to snap the ball to the kicker. Period. Any coach that gives a long snapper the power of decision making like a fake punt on their own 26 yard line should be fired immediately. And I'd still be pissed about that call even if there were 12 people on the field. The stunned look of our defensive players after that stupid play said all their really needed to be said about it. Here they are busting a hump to keep the team in the game even though the offense has turned the ball over 3 times, and you are giving the other team possession of the ball at the 30 yard line? You're right. It's not a bad thought. It's a horrendously horrible thought. I'd rather see WR's lining up offsides (Bennett) than watch long snappers trying their best to act like the special teams coach. Hmm, I think your conviction has swayed me on this topic. It was a dumb thought, especially in that situation. I guess I was thinking that Mannelly has seen literally thousands of punt formations in his career and knows almost implicitly when there are too many men on the field (kind of like the math genius who can look at a group of objects and know how many there are without counting). I would qualify what I said and say it's not a bad thought all of the time. If it worked in a 4th and less than 5 situation at a better position on the field we'd all be saying what a great move by Mannelly it was.

Delhomme should replace Jeter in the Tiger/Federer/Jeter Gillette commercials.

The bitter USC histrionics from a few pages back on this thread are pretty funny.

Yes....but Mannelly's thought was "free play"...see what the direct snap can do...and if nothing else, you can punt on after the 12 man penalty. I see what you're saying. It's not a bad thought but its one of those plays where you better make damn sure that you're going to get it in on time. Hawk was well off the field by the time of the snap.

12 men on the field is only a 5 yard penalty and not an auto first down right? Seems like a dumb risk to take when you're at 4th and 10+. And yeah, I don't think Wolfe ever saw the signal.

I'm pretty impressed that not only did Wolfe manage to catch a ball snapped to him that he wasn't ready for, but he had the presence of mind to actually make something out of it. If the Packers didn't make a pretty good play there, Wolfe might've been able to make something out of that. Still...stupid. Yeah, Wolfe looked like a viable backup running back which is a nice development. Most of last night was a disaster but I think you could look at Wolfe, the secondary play outside of Vasher, and the D line was silver linings.

So I was watching the game in a bar with no sound (bad decision) and never got the full picture on the fake punt. From what I gathered Mannelly made a decision at the line to snap the ball to Wolfe based on the formation the Packers were using and the coaching staff, Maynard, and Wolfe never knew about it? That sounds insane.

Sometimes I wish college football and the NFL would come to a uniform standard for rules but I guess that gives each game a little cache. I would probably tweak the college OT system so each team starts outside of field goal range and makes it so you can/should use more of its playbook to score (when you start at the 25 it takes away the deep passing game and potential gadget plays) and I do think the NFL OT system needs to be modified somehow. I wish the NFL would do away with making PI a spot foul and change it to a 15 yarder and I think college should adopt down by contact. I hate when some crappy PI call on a near uncatchable ball becomes a 40+ yard play in the NFL and I hate when a college receiver lays out for a ball and can't get up and run with it. The two feet in vs. one foot in difference is fine.

I veto this because the Dolphins would lose every OT game. Let's go with an XFL-style race for the ball instead. For a more serious proposal I like the bidding for field position idea the best, but the coaches would absolutely hate it. . I could live with that. Hester's gotta be up there too. I think Ginn could probably beat him though. Chris Johnson as well.

By goony's logic it is actually impossible to construct an overtime system that is unfair because the preceding 60 minutes are played on the level. So in that spirit, I propose scrapping the current system and replacing it with a "How far can your QB throw it?" contest because the Bears would be near unbeatable in OT.

Roflberger has pump faked more in this half than most QBs do in an entire season.

He wasn't physical enough on the first deep interception and then didn't make a sharp enough break on the comeback route. Both of those are things that work in college, but not in the NFL, though. Yeah, I like Britt and thought Philly made a mistake by taking Maclin over him. I like Maclin but they could use a guy like Britt opposite Jackson, IMO. Maclin seems redundant. If he gets more physical and meaner he'll be good in the red zone.

Was Troy Peezy playing that drive?

I was going to rip Britt a little for playing like a girl and then he rips off a big gain.

I was gonna say that Polamalu looked like someone fell on his leg in a bad way on that FG. Yikes.

Hopefully he still has his power He still looks stout enough. He's closer to his USC weight and he had plenty of power then, so he should be good. He hasn't been this weight since his freshman year at SC. He was 260+ in the national championship game against Texas (when he was a beast and totally outplayed Bush). He's always had great patience and vision for a good zone blocking scheme.

lol gage lol lol bironas lol

dew and Raisin, what are your honest thoughts on the game? I didn't watch much of the SDSU game (I really cannot stand watching UCLA these last few years they are really boring) but they looked decent from what I saw. Am I way off for thinking UT should smash 'em (on paper)?

Of course, Iowa drops 15 spots, and Ohio State drops 2 spots after barely beating an arguably worse team. Navy's a solid team. Yeah, Navy's got some good talent and that triple option can be a difficult offense to defend. There's no comparison to Northern Iowa. To most college football fans all non top 25 teams are basically equivalent. Even though Navy could play OSU 100 times and win maybe 10 while Charleston Southern could play Florida 10,000 times and never even come close.

Bad throw, shoulda had it though. Awesome game.

Randy Shannon is daft.

Beautiful throw.