That's right, I totally forgot about the nylon rope. I know they connected it wrong first, then after fixing that issue, they tried to pull it and the rope snapped.
I remember a game where the main Zamboni broke down on the ice while it was resurfacing during intermission. They drove the backup Zamboni out there, and a guy came out with two long chains to connect them so they could tow it off. Of course, he hooked up the chains wrong - each end of one chain was connected to the same zamboni, so when they tried to pull away and start the tow, the chains just kinda separated on the ice into two big unconnected U shapes. After an outburst of laughter, the chant went up "English major! English major!"
Great times. I was a trumpet player in the marching band 95-99, but chose not to try out for hockey band. I know folks enjoyed their hockey band experience but I was happy just to be a part of the crowd, watching games and singing the Victors instead of playing it :)
Everyone thinks of the Horror as the worst thing ever, but very few remember that Oregon the following week was so, so much worse. Yes, the Horror was a thing that happened, but it also should have been dismisable as a freak occurance, a one in a million shot.
The Oregon game was a complete, top-to-bottom de-pantsing. We had no answer for anything they did on offense or defense. Ugh.
The following week was Notre Dame, and the panic levels pre-game were off the charts. If we didn't win that game, the wheels would have come flying off.
You're talking about an RB, not a WR. Presnap route changes are probably not what he spent time on in August camp. I bet the DB realized this, too, which is why he backed off in the first place.
It looks to me like Isaac runs a fly here. He doesn't glance back at the QB, pre or post snap. Rudock would have needed to communicate a route change presnap for that to work. And we're talking about a receiver on the play who is an RB, not a WR, who might be more used to a late read route change.
On top of that, I belive the slot would have also needed to change his route, because he drags a defender directly into the passing lane you're suggesting.
1) Isaac is running a straight fly down the field; for this call to work he and Rudock would have needed to communicate a changing of the route basically as the snap is occurring. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to do.
2) Even if they did, the slot receiver's route took a defender directly into the passing lane of what you're suggesting is an easy pitch and catch, and he looked ready to pounce. I'm not convinced that this is as easy as you think it is.
"If Funchess realizes blocking that linebacker is futile (I doubt he's allowed the decision) and blocks that safety, this is 6."
That's a good point. Probably easier to execute then using him as a pass threat as I suggested below. If he were allowed the decision, then what's the easy rule that makes him block the right guy, though? "Block the guy in front of you?"
Pretty interesting that Brian's analysis of Funchess on the first play - run the cover guy away in an attempt to remove him from the equation - is EXACTLY what would have made a good constraint on the second play. If Funchess drifts to the left instead of trying to execute an impossible block, then Gardner has a receiver with at least 10 yards of open space.
The thing that Narduzzi knows is that we don't run a real option and doesn't have to worry about QB oh noes. We haven't done it all year, and he confirms it by watching Funchess, who makes no attempt to create a constraint on the first play.
I'm really curious to see what would happen when this MSU defense matches up with an offense that can actually execute these constraints. Say, Baylor.
The failed reverse/split was due to some stadium announcement honoring someone or another that resulted in the band playing "The Victors". Fans have been conditioned to drop whatever they're doing, including proper wave technique, in order to clap and fist pump.
How in the heck did the on-field referee think it was a touchdown in the first place? From the ref's perspective, Coale's feet are way up in the air, half of his body lands completely out of bounds, and there's no way the ref could have seen the elbow that possibly would allow him to be considered in-bounds.
The whole thing wouldn't be less heated if he initially called what it looked like live - a nice diving catch that was out of bounds.
Nothing gets me more upset than that video of the kid, in tears, who had to move out of the dorms in August after working out all summer at LSU. These jerks, who make millions, couldn't be interviewed? Unbelievable cowardice.
And I still say no, ESPN still isn't really taking this seriously. Bob Ley gives Houston Nutt a pass on his comment about signing 80 kids by saying "oh, that quote was just a joke." Well, the joke isn't funny, Bob.
What was calm and centered about the last drive, which ended with a 3rd & 19 pass to nobody? I really don't see him making the offense work better - he scrambles out of his protection until he finds a random guy open. That's not running an offense, its completely unpredictable. Blocking for him has to be a nightmare, you never know where he's going to be.
"As the FBI arrests him, Tony curses Jack as a coward and a traitor, and is led away into FBI custody."
Curious - what else would you have liked to see? A courtroom proceeding? Characters on 24 go out in one of 3 ways - death, arrest, or safely disappear somehow (promotion, go off the grid, etc.)
Sometimes, characters are brought back from jail or safety (and in Tony's case, they are even brought back from death). If you never see them again, then you can assume they stayed safe, dead, or in jail and there's no story left for that character.
Did he ever make this leap? I know that towards the end of his career you could catch him making up the play - what you saw live was not the same as what he just said (of course, there's some wiggle room in radio for things like that, as long as you get the result right).
For the most part, though, I'd say he never became a caricature.
Had Minor not been hurt the entire year, I think he could have done for the offense what Brandon Graham does for the D. It's a lot tougher to "lead" from the sidelines, at least in the manner that he's speaking here.
Look at Stafford yesterday - do a couple of insanely tough things on the field, and you've suddenly got your teammates wanting to work harder for you than ever. Minor didn't really get a chance to do that this year.
This one still doesn't top about 10 years ago when a couple of A-10 Thunderbolts rolled overhead. Just as loud, but they're slower so it took about twice as long to fly over, and the best part was that it wasn't announced ahead of time. Scared the pants off of so many people that they've ALWAYS done an official warning announcement since.
Rodriguez was doing it with minutes left on the clock for the purpose of coaching his players through a realistic 2-minute drill, even if it doesn't determine the outcome. Dantonio was doing it with seconds left on the clock, just to be a jerk.
I guess that sounds like homerism, but whatever. I see a clear difference.
I distinctly remember dropping EIGHT into coverage on a 3rd and long early in the game, they still found a WR over the middle in front of the safeties.
It makes no difference at all what defensive play is called.
Came here to say exactly this.
Love watching "America's Funniest Home Videos", but reserve a special level of laughter for the groin-shot sequences. Ow!
I guess I'm a bad fan for sitting down so the 8 year old behind me could see a football game he was obviously excited to be at.
Standing up is fine sometimes, but pay attention to your surroundings and don't be "that guy."
Chance for me to look stupid here since stats class was a long time ago, but...
I think the emailer has bad multi-event stats going on. You have to multiply the success rate for a multi-event scenario.
0.44 * 0.44 = 19% to get both
(0.44 * 0.56)* 2 = 50% to get one
0.56 * 0.56 = 31% to get none
It didn't pass the smell test that 2 wins is more likely than 2 losses when less than half of tries are successful. And I agree with Brian, chances of one play going right were probably worse than 44% under the conditions.
I'll never forget how snobby they were to us after winning for a second year in a row in 1996, as if they were suddenly the Big 10s finest and always would be.
(note to Sparty - even NW had beaten us 2 years in a row in recent memory. It's not that respectable).
"We talked to him last night..."
or
"When we talked to him last week..."
or
"I was talking to Coach Rodriguez and he told me..."
Or any other variation on that theme. It's like they're rubbing it in that their job is to cover sports and a constant reminder that I don't get to do that.
If you watched the PSU - Iowa game, you'd have heard "7 Nation Army" playing a prominent role. Sounded like the whole 100,000+ crowd was singing that riff...and they were lead by the band.
Whoever's responsible for RAWK went way, way overboard this week and I'm with Brian - this HAS to be corrected.
It just seemed like an interesting case. Even today, media outlets like the Jim Rome show couldn't get over the fact that TOP was so lopsided and yet it didn't matter to the outcome.
Try charting tonights MNF game between Miami and Indy. It was an epic example of how little TOP matters. Indy had the ball for maybe 15 minutes and won, 27-23.
Miami had all sorts of strength in the rushing game, thanks to Jake Long of course ;), but Peyton Manning moved his team 80 yards in :30 seconds on the game-winning drive. I kept screaming at Mike Tirico that he may want to mention "points per possession" here...
Anyway, Miami gets the ball back with 3 minutes to go, and the Colts D was visibly out of gas, but since Miami's primary downfield strike target is Ted Ginn, they had no ability to take advantage.
At first, I was going to say "I think this is only a pre-snap read for Tate. If they are in press coverage, if the safeties are cheating up again, it's a run play all the way."
Then I went back and watched a few more times. I think you have it right. The QB read on this play is not the blocked DE but the LB that Huyge is stepping out to block. If the LB was NOT in QB contain (crashed into the hole, like you said), Tate would have kept it for 6-7 yards, tackled by the far side corner's angle.
HOWEVA, that pulling corner leaves Odoms wide open on a wheel route. So Tate's read after keeping the ball is the safety. If the safety steps up to cover the run, then the wheel is wide open.
Wow. I love this.
His selling of the fake wasn't all-out. Even if it was, though, I think that corner just read the play properly and saved his team a TD. If he was just half a second more lazy, end zone.
I'm not sure what you expect him to have done. I mean, I agree he didn't run hard. But even if he did, you can't block from behind. You can't even block from the side most times without getting flagged. To help Minor, he'd have had to get to the other side of that corner. Unlikely.
I think maybe he could have sold the screen fake a little better. He went downfield too far, not sucking his guy up into the short screen play.
Other than that, I don't see this as Stonum's fault.
Radio & TV often cut away before you get to the trio so they can play commercials before their postgame coverage. The audience doesn't hear the fight song as a sign-off because it takes too long to get to that.
Sure, it's a minor detail, but i know the MMB cares a LOT about details. I also know that this detail is hard to detect as a band member, because you're busy playing and not listening to the radio or watching TV.
So, as a former band member who loved his time at Michigan and understands that you couldn't be expected to have that experience, I'm sharing some feedback from different perspective. Do with it what you will.
And the leadership has changed so many times in the last 10 years, I've lost track.
Imagine if the football team had changed head coaches that many times. It'd be MSU football pre-Dantonio. Working hard, but directionless.
Recent Comments
That's right, I totally forgot about the nylon rope. I know they connected it wrong first, then after fixing that issue, they tried to pull it and the rope snapped.
I didn't see your post first. Glad someone else remembers that, it was hilarious.
I remember a game where the main Zamboni broke down on the ice while it was resurfacing during intermission. They drove the backup Zamboni out there, and a guy came out with two long chains to connect them so they could tow it off. Of course, he hooked up the chains wrong - each end of one chain was connected to the same zamboni, so when they tried to pull away and start the tow, the chains just kinda separated on the ice into two big unconnected U shapes. After an outburst of laughter, the chant went up "English major! English major!"
Great times. I was a trumpet player in the marching band 95-99, but chose not to try out for hockey band. I know folks enjoyed their hockey band experience but I was happy just to be a part of the crowd, watching games and singing the Victors instead of playing it :)
I totally forgot about that quote. Such dark times.
Everyone thinks of the Horror as the worst thing ever, but very few remember that Oregon the following week was so, so much worse. Yes, the Horror was a thing that happened, but it also should have been dismisable as a freak occurance, a one in a million shot.
The Oregon game was a complete, top-to-bottom de-pantsing. We had no answer for anything they did on offense or defense. Ugh.
The following week was Notre Dame, and the panic levels pre-game were off the charts. If we didn't win that game, the wheels would have come flying off.
You're talking about an RB, not a WR. Presnap route changes are probably not what he spent time on in August camp. I bet the DB realized this, too, which is why he backed off in the first place.
It looks to me like Isaac runs a fly here. He doesn't glance back at the QB, pre or post snap. Rudock would have needed to communicate a route change presnap for that to work. And we're talking about a receiver on the play who is an RB, not a WR, who might be more used to a late read route change.
On top of that, I belive the slot would have also needed to change his route, because he drags a defender directly into the passing lane you're suggesting.
Look again at the moments after the snap.
1) Isaac is running a straight fly down the field; for this call to work he and Rudock would have needed to communicate a changing of the route basically as the snap is occurring. I can't imagine that's an easy thing to do.
2) Even if they did, the slot receiver's route took a defender directly into the passing lane of what you're suggesting is an easy pitch and catch, and he looked ready to pounce. I'm not convinced that this is as easy as you think it is.
"If Funchess realizes blocking that linebacker is futile (I doubt he's allowed the decision) and blocks that safety, this is 6."
That's a good point. Probably easier to execute then using him as a pass threat as I suggested below. If he were allowed the decision, then what's the easy rule that makes him block the right guy, though? "Block the guy in front of you?"
Pretty interesting that Brian's analysis of Funchess on the first play - run the cover guy away in an attempt to remove him from the equation - is EXACTLY what would have made a good constraint on the second play. If Funchess drifts to the left instead of trying to execute an impossible block, then Gardner has a receiver with at least 10 yards of open space.
The thing that Narduzzi knows is that we don't run a real option and doesn't have to worry about QB oh noes. We haven't done it all year, and he confirms it by watching Funchess, who makes no attempt to create a constraint on the first play.
I'm really curious to see what would happen when this MSU defense matches up with an offense that can actually execute these constraints. Say, Baylor.
The failed reverse/split was due to some stadium announcement honoring someone or another that resulted in the band playing "The Victors". Fans have been conditioned to drop whatever they're doing, including proper wave technique, in order to clap and fist pump.
How in the heck did the on-field referee think it was a touchdown in the first place? From the ref's perspective, Coale's feet are way up in the air, half of his body lands completely out of bounds, and there's no way the ref could have seen the elbow that possibly would allow him to be considered in-bounds.
The whole thing wouldn't be less heated if he initially called what it looked like live - a nice diving catch that was out of bounds.
Nothing gets me more upset than that video of the kid, in tears, who had to move out of the dorms in August after working out all summer at LSU. These jerks, who make millions, couldn't be interviewed? Unbelievable cowardice.
And I still say no, ESPN still isn't really taking this seriously. Bob Ley gives Houston Nutt a pass on his comment about signing 80 kids by saying "oh, that quote was just a joke." Well, the joke isn't funny, Bob.
Grrrr.
What was calm and centered about the last drive, which ended with a 3rd & 19 pass to nobody? I really don't see him making the offense work better - he scrambles out of his protection until he finds a random guy open. That's not running an offense, its completely unpredictable. Blocking for him has to be a nightmare, you never know where he's going to be.
2008 was a complete waste of time and shouldn't count against any artificial coach clock.
Yeah, in that case, I have no idea. ;)
I thought The Shield on FX wrapped things up pretty tightly:
Spoiler alert: link to article explaining the ending
From Wikipedia's account of Season 7:
"As the FBI arrests him, Tony curses Jack as a coward and a traitor, and is led away into FBI custody."
Curious - what else would you have liked to see? A courtroom proceeding? Characters on 24 go out in one of 3 ways - death, arrest, or safely disappear somehow (promotion, go off the grid, etc.)
Sometimes, characters are brought back from jail or safety (and in Tony's case, they are even brought back from death). If you never see them again, then you can assume they stayed safe, dead, or in jail and there's no story left for that character.