SB Nation User Blog: bluebland

Starting Bobo as Point-Guard, and other thoughts on saving this season

bluebland — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:12:20 -0000

I think we need a thread to absorb all the brilliant ideas out there on how to fix this sickened basketball season. The more we struggle this season, the more of these ideas we are bound to hear. So I'll get the ball rolling on a few, and maybe some savvy basketball minds can add some of their own, so as not to clog every other thread for the next four months with their ingenuity.

1. Start Bobo at the point. Think, oh think of the matchup problems.

2. Fire Howland, make Bobo player-coach. I don't know about you, but nothing gives me more hope for a player than a cute nickname.

3. Institute a 1-1-1-1-1 zone. Featuring Bobo.

4. Run, run, run. Nothing suits our talent better than a non-stop, 100 mph offense where nobody's two feet can hit the floor at the same time. Bobo would particularly benefit from this, even if he was signaling to the bench on Sunday that he was gassed after two trips around the court. Oxygen tanks at each basket should take care of that.

Step it up, geniuses. Now is not the time to not be stupid.

Drew Gordon interview (post-suspension)

bluebland — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:49:06 -0000

Drew Gordon interview (post-suspension)

Ben Howland is the perfect coach for a situation like this.

bluebland — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:43:43 -0000

Ben Howland is the perfect coach for a situation like this.

Ed O' Bannon

The Bobby Bowden Tragedy

bluebland — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:44:26 -0000

For that's what it is. Here is a great coach becoming utterly disgraced and detested because of a fatal flaw -- an inability to age gracefully, and be aware of one's limitations.

Reading this round-up at Tomahawk Nation gave me the willies. I haven't followed the details of FSU's demise too closely -- aside from Karl Dorrel's efforts to disguise it -- but I've always been an admirer of Bowden. His wit, his candor, his amazing achievements, and his gambler's ballsiness (which even killed us up in Frisco, remember 4th and 11?) have always impressed, and while growing up FSU seemed the very model of a nonstop powerhouse.

How sad that the entire Seminole fanbase has no choice but to turn against him completely, and forfeit all goodwill to their best coach ever. How sad that a phenomenal career has been reduced to myopia, nepotism, and pathetically egotistical record-chasing. From all accounts the situation is a disaster. I don't blame the fans. But it's still depressing.

Bobby Bowden is not the only one to take this dark road. Lute Olson took it. Al Davis operates the toll booth. Joe Paterno -- who thinks he's going to die if he retires -- is also on it, though there is much more stability surrounding his situation.

There are lessons in this sad story. What do BNers feel about it? I think It makes Coach Wooden's example all the more remarkable.

Some Morning Thoughts and Questions About the Victory

bluebland — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 17:09:01 -0000

Nothing like the morning glow of a great football victory, which gives you confidence and peace of mind the rest of the week, and makes it much more pleasant to watch the remaining weekend of games. Some key plays (in my mind) from yesterday's win that stick:

1. The Milton Knox play. His beautiful, MJD-esque move on 3rd and 10 that saved our only touchdown drive and made up for a missed block by Hasiak. Knox followed that up with another first down run, and is looking more and more like a major playmaker.

2. The goal line stand. Here's where I have some criticism. Our stop on 4th down was superb -- but I would've taken a timeout to make sure my two best DTs (by far) were in the game for that play. In 1997, Bob Toledo called a 4th down goal line running play for Jermaine Freakin Lewis at WSU because Skip Hicks was "tired." We had one timeout remaining, and that decision cost us a trip to the Rose Bowl that year. We know what happened to SC against Texas.

Maybe someone can tell me why it would've been wrong to use a timeout there, but otherwise I think nothing's more important than having your best players in for a game-deciding play. Just a thought.

3. What gave me the most hope going into yesterday's game was Jonothan Crompton. A lot is said about the balanced nature of football, but I can't get over the fact that a bad QB is almost insurmountable. For the second year in a row Crompton made his vaunted, humongous O-line look bad (at least to me). It seems that any underdog has a chance against a sub-par QB, no matter how the rest of the team matches up. (See 13-9, and almost any UCLA loss since 1998, excepting one fluky year from Drew Olson.)

4. Chuck Bullough. A very sound start from him -- after that disastrous first quarter last week. For every possession since, our defense has looked very...coordinated, with no blown plays and few schematic gaps. Then again, we're yet to face a real QB. But still promising.

5. Lane Kiffin. He looked very, very nervous on that sideline.

6. I've never in my life seen an illegal formation penalty on a field goal, an immediate safety call when the ball has obviously crossed the goal-line, or a delay-of-game penalty that came before the clock expired. Whatever.

***Forgot add, number 7:

I think I'm ready to see Thigpen or an actual playmaker return the kicks. Austin has never impressed me as a returner -- he's extremely hesitant on kick-offs, and makes poor decisions on punts. He has some good ones now and then, but for a senior he isn't very wise, and he certainly doesn't have gamebreaking speed.

I know it's tough replacing a senior, but personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Thigpen back there (or Carroll?).

UCLA stinks this year.

bluebland — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:34:17 -0000

UCLA stinks this year.

Bill Simmons, on his podcast. He continued to question Howland's coaching without even remembering his name or that past praise he has heaped upon him.

To Punt or Not To Punt?

bluebland — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:52:50 -0000

On the strength of the great and useful detailed football discussions on BN in the last few weeks, I'd like to ask the more pigskin-savvy members of this site about the most controversial call on gameday. Namely: to punt or not to punt?

The decision to go for it on 4th down is usually classified as a question of confidence. Confident, cocky coaches like Carroll do it all the time; timid, tepid coaches like Dorrel don't. But emotion and arrogance shouldn't have everything to do with it. The new wave of offensively aggressive coaches are going for it on 4th down more and more frequently as a matter of sober strategy. The decision is central to the most crucial football rift of the day: the value of possession versus field position.

I think an objective formula should be possible. The odds of making it or getting stuffed should be the easiest to figure out given the quality of the offense. To grossly simplify: Let's say that an offense facing 4th and 2 on the opposing team's 40 can be expected to score an average of 3.5 points on that drive. Punting will therefore cost 3.5 points. Is that worth 30 yards to the other team, whose drive value will be reduced from X to X?

As you can tell, I've pulled these numbers from a hairy place, but a real formula along these lines shouldn't be too hard to devise. Yet I haven't been able to find one anywhere I've looked. Does anybody here know of one, or is any number-cruncher willing to take a crack?

The hardest variable to figure out will be field position, which remains the vaguest value in football today.