Saturday Football Fever

October 31, 2009 Georgia Florida Game. Jacksonville, FL.

Black Eyes, Black Helmets, Black Britches, Black DAY. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Tim Tebow with his eye black. It always warms my heart to see the number of people he is reaching by putting scripture verses on his eye black!  It is reported that the number of people who see his eye black and look up the verses is in the millions! Saturday, the verse he had on his eye black was Phil 4:13 which says “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” These are the kind of black eyes I like! This is what I would call the GOOD in the game.

The black eyes that result in real black eye injuries are the ones when players are behaving badly. Clearly, on purpose if you view the video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDOy-RMIpF0&NR=1, Florida linebacker Brandon Sikes intentionally eye gouged Georgia running back Washaun Ealey last Saturday. The officials did not see it, and it did not become apparent until after the game that such bad behavior had taken place. Brandon Sikes was given a one half of a game suspension against Vanderbilt. Certainly a small punishment for trying to gouge another player’s eyes out! This is what I would call the BAD in the game.

The black helmets and the black pants…definitely the UGLY in the game! I missed the Bulldogs’ silver britches. I understand that coming onto the field in black can help pump up the players and I get that. But, in a matchup between Tim Tebow and Joe Cox, well, Georgia never had a chance! The black helmets and black britches only marked an ugly ending to a dark day for Georgia. Georgia lost this game: 41- 17.

Filed under: Game Thoughts

Tags: Black Britches, Black Helmets, Black pants, Brandon Sikes, Eye Black, Eye Gouge, Florida Football, florida gators, georgia bulldogs, Georgia Florida Game, Georgia football, mark richt, Tim Tebow, UFLA, UGA, University of Florida, University of Georgia, urban meyer, Washaun Ealey

The question was posed to me today – “Can Georgia Tech succeed in the ACC running the triple option that Paul Johnson employed at Navy?”

I say yes it can.

Just about any offense can succeed in college football if you have the right players, the right coaching and excellent execution (except for the West Coast offense…but that’s another story).

We already know that Johnson can coach. Anyone who can make Navy football semi-relevant again has to have some coaching skills. He doesn’t have the perfect players to run the triple option, but that is easily remedied through recruiting (which will take a few years). And once he’s go the players, it’s simply a matter of repetition and good coaching and they will have the execution part down as well. So yes, you can succeed running the triple option.

The big knocks against the triple option are that A) you can’t recruit players for that offense (i.e. no one wants to play in that offense) and B) there is too much speed in the major BCS conferences to be successful.

The first point is ridiculous. Go watch any 5 high school games in your area on any given Friday night. You know what kind of offense they are running? A variation of the triple option. Nebraska was able to recruit top high school players to run that offense until they stopped running it in 2004. There are always going to be good players who will fit into and are willing to play in the triple option. And if Johnson can convince a kid to play football at Navy (and thus, enroll in the service) then I think he can convince a kid to come to Georgia Tech (despite the 600:1 guys to girls ratio).

The second point is even more ridiculous. Nebraska was successful up through 2003 (they won 10 games and even played in the 2001 BCS championship game) running a variation of triple option. The Big 12 has lots of speed and Nebraska was successful. If the speed thing were true, then all those spread options would fail as well. They are both based on the quarterback’s ability to read the defense and either pitch the ball or run with it. With the right QB, you can neutralize much of the speed issue with any iteration of the option.

What it boils down to is that Johnson can flat out coach, he’ll get the players to run the option and he’ll be successful in the ACC running the triple option.

If you don’t believe me, remember this: everyone said that Urban Meyer’s spread option wouldn’t work in the SEC because of all the speed on defense.

And I think things have turned out pretty well for Urban Meyer and his Gators thus far.

Filed under: Conference News

Tags: acc, bcs, florida gators, georgia tech yellow jackets, national championship, navy midshipmen, nebraska cornhuskers, paul johnson, sec, spread option, triple option, urban meyer, west coast offense

Urban Meyer took his goal of having the “fastest team in America” to new heights at this year’s spring game. He made the bold prediction that if a student from the Gator population could beat one of his players in a foot race, he’d give them a full scholarship.

After some shady race officiating, the Gator players came out on top. And Urban Meyer came up with another creative way of widening his recruiting base by having ESPN there to broadcast the whole thing.

Filed under: Conference News, Spring Practice

Tags: espn, florida gators, urban meyer