4 Hard Downs: Hidden Yards, EC-Whew & Broken Glass
Cell Phone Disasters, Special Teams Do Matter A Lot and ECU is having a really rough go
There is a lot of football to get to so I will make this quick, my phone got destroyed and it was a two day ordeal to get another one. I thought I could get a same day repair, got there and even after the online booking and phone call confirmation that included my phone model I hear, “we don’t have the part, 3-5 business days.”
That’s a thing they could have said in any other interaction.
Then 2.5 hours at Verizon getting the new phone setup, because my old, cracked phone died and we had to wait to charge it. I got a beer at Harper’s at SouthPark Mall and then I did get it done.
Great experience at Verizon, long experience at Verizon. I met one of my dad’s childhood friends who is a big wig there. Met the dad of a 5-star who committed to Bama, he is who got me squared away with my phone. He also hooked me up with my own 5G internet so now we are a two WiFi network family, which makes my work easier, especially on Saturdays with streaming.
But, you’re not here for that, so let’s go ahead and SPOT THE BALL!!!
1st Down: Air Force Has Entered The Chat
7-0.
Highest ranked team on the outside looking in, at 19.
No currently ranked teams left on the schedule.
Tell me why they can’t do it?
Why can’t Air Force get to the New Years Six Bowl?
Tulane can’t pass them.
So, the goal for the folks, and your boy got folks in Colorado Springs, is to just win the next 6 games, MWC Championship at home and then play in a New Years Six.
They lead the nation in rushing offense, they are last in passing offense. This a team that is near the bottom of explosive plays on the national level. They are the rare team that is happy and patient enough to do 4-4-4-4-4-4-4 down the field and eat clock and make you make mistakes.
They don’t run a ton of plays but they are efficient on third downs. They don’t get to the red zone a ton, but when they do, they score TDs.
This team is a hard out for the rest of the year.
2nd Down: ECU Is Down Bad
The proud Pirates are 1-6.
Mike Houston, for those of you who don’t know, seemed like a home run hire…for Charlotte. Then ECU came around and was like, no, no, no, nothing is done, we will take him.
This weekend, Charlotte beat ECU, 10-7, in Greenville.
ECU fans are a proud bunch and they are pissed.
This is a team that has a gang of fans who have experienced beating Butch Davis and Miami, going to the Peach Bowl, smoking UNC by 53 combined points in back to back years and then another 22 a few years later, beating Virginia Tech.
They have fallen off a cliff in the last year under Houston, and they were 8-5 with some close calls a season ago. I am sure that a lot of you are like, “who cares?”
I do.
My parents went to ECU. Met at ECU. I have been to a lot of ECU games between Dowdy-Ficklen and when they played in Charlotte, as well. I got to the point I would ask to stay in Fayetteville with my grandparents so I didn’t have to take that extra two hours to ECU in the car.
They have gone from arguably the best football culture in the state to a truly suffering fanbase. App State has passed them. NC State has squarely boxed them out. Charlotte just actually beat them on the field.
Mike Houston was a steal from JMU and Charlotte and now it seems like their stolen goods aren’t that good.
3rd Down: Hidden Yards Matter
For those unfamiliar with the concept of “hidden yards” it is about penalties and special team plays. Things that don’t go on to a “Total Yards” sheet but end up having a big impact. We know sacks and TFL have their place and put you behind the sticks and completions or big runs get you to where you need to go.
But hidden yards take an eye and time to realize how much you wasted.
Case and point, a game I watched this weekend on the 3rd Saturday of October:
-50 yards on Saturday
-50 yards from not catching punts
-50 yards that help the offense start closer
-8 in the 1st quarter, 7 in the 2nd quarter, 13 in the 3rd quarter, 22 in the 4th quarter.
That’s 50, right?
And we can debate 22 vs 23 but the point is a lot of yards that would have helped out.
One team overcomes this to get the win but goodness, just catch the ball. The entire point of the fair catch is no one can stop you from catching the ball. They can’t touch you or impede you and all you have to do is read the ball off the toe and then get there.
4th Down: Fine, Officiating Talk Folks Crave
I hate talking about officiating. Hate it. There is nothing you can do about it. Not a thing that is going to change. The pool gets even thinner as the leagues and overall FBS expand. It is a hard job, especially when it is your second job.
Every fan thinks their league has the worst officials. That’s because college football is a regional sport where people still largely, outside of the big game, watch their own leagues and teams.
Every fan thinks the officials are out to get them. Which is truly insane and giving so much credit to a thing that would be remarkable to orchestrate on a large level.
I will spell it out:
-You think the officials stink
-You think your league has the worst officials
Yet, somehow, you think they have orchestrated an effort to work against your team?
Not that they are just bad and the job is hard?
They’re against you and have created a calculated multi-level scheme to make sure that your team gets screwed.
So when this happens to Iowa:
It is not some massive plot to get MINNESOTA???!!!?!?! to win the game. To me, his arm never went above his shoulder which is the idea behind the call, he pointed and was saying get away with an arm below shoulder. You can “rules me” to death but no one thought that was a fair catch; Minnesota played through, Iowa played through, officials played through.
So, if he would have gotten rocked by the Gophers guy, are they calling unnecessary roughness? Doubtful.
Even when this happens to Houston:
This is not a plot by Big XII officials to keep a team, that gave them the middle finger this summer, in the playoff race. They’re bad.
And another thing, we’re realizing that replay is bad. In a vacuum it is fantastic. But we are living with factors that include the bias of already thinking you’re right so you see what you want to see. Also, not wanting to say, “my guy, you were way off, how did you even call that?!” to a colleague. Also, I don’t think I have the power to flip this and get out of this without death threats.
So a lot going on.
By the way a thing I wasn’t sure I had a good spot for this but wanted to put into it somehow are the AT&T commercials about the helmets for Gallaudet:
Love this and hope it delivers for these young men in the way that really helps out with communication. I was going through my old notes because I scouted a guy who committed to Gallaudet, Darrion “DJ” Green, we saw him at a track meet and then at one of The Openings. My guy Damon Sayles wrote about him.
This is a step-up from the NFL in helmet mics and hopefully, as my guy DPalm mentioned on Unanimous Decision where I guested this week, we incorporate more tech into college helmets across the board.
It is there, teams just aren’t using it.
Same with impact tracking.
Let’s get this week going y’all
Cheers!!!