Post by cviller on Sept 11, 2007 18:15:39 GMT -5
We’re changing things up a little bit. For the past four years Campus Connection has kind of been like a weekly blog full of tidbits, notes, commentary, quasi-opinion and weak stabs at humor that have sometimes hit the mark and at other times completely missed. Well, to keep up with the Jones', we’ve decided to turn Campus Connection into a daily blog. If we miss a day then you know we’re struggling.
Hope you enjoy it …
Copy Cats
Posted By John Antonik: September 11, 2007 (11:50 am)
With college football coaches being such big copy cats it’s a wonder no one has ever sought to patent their own unique concepts. Rich Rodriguez sometimes wonders about that, too.
“We should have done that 15-16 years ago with our shotgun zone read,” he chuckled.
Right now Rodriguez’s no-huddle, shotgun, spread offense is one of the most copied systems in college football. Last weekend, LSU unveiled a modified version of the spread with what they are calling “the pistol.”
“They got that from Nevada,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve seen that and studied that a little bit. It’s a unique concept and it fits in with some of the things that we’re doing. It’s also a little bit different as well. You have to fundamentally change some of the reads and some of the assignments. A couple other teams are using that, too.”
Borrowing plays has become so prevalent in the game today but Rodriguez cautions that using too much too quickly can actually be counterproductive.
“You have to be careful. You can look at plays from other teams and say, ‘Boy they got 30 yards on that play let’s put it in.’ Us coaches have a lot of time to watch film and figure it out but you’ve got to run what your players can execute,” Rodriguez said. “What you know is not nearly as important as what your players know.”
In the same breath, Rodriguez says he has put in a few wrinkles on the fly if it fits what they are doing and his players can handle it.
“We’ll add a few things as the season goes along. We added a few formations last week and particularly in the second half (of the Marshall game) but those are things that we had touched on earlier and the plays were the same -- just out of different formations,” he said.
Minor Details
Posted By John Antonik: September 10, 2007 (11:10 am)
Rich Rodriguez
A few minor details worth noting about West Virginia’s 48-23 victory over Marshall last Saturday at Joan C. Edwards Stadium:
For all that was made of Marshall’s defensive scheme that limited West Virginia to only 123 first-half yards and six points, why wasn’t there any mention of the fact that the Marshall defense didn’t adjust to West Virginia’s decision to play power football in the second half? The Mountaineers finished the afternoon with 48 points and 511 yards of total offense. Apparently to some, strategy isn’t all that important in the second half.
Did you realize that West Virginia’s 25-point victory over Marshall was the Herd’s worst-ever home loss at 16-year-old Joan C. Edwards Stadium? The Mountaineers’ 48 points were also the most ever allowed by a Marshall defense in the Joan, exceeding the 34 scored by Miami, Ohio in a loss to the Herd in 2002 and equaled by East Carolina last year in a 34-29 Pirate victory.
West Virginia can now put Marshall in ink on its 2009 home football schedule. The game was in flux due to a creative twist in the scheduling arrangement that required the team with the better record in the first three games to earn an extra home game. West Virginia will return to Huntington in 2010.
Ken McAfee was an All-American tight end at Notre Dame from 1974-77. Pat McAfee is West Virginia’s kicker. Pat played in last Saturday’s game against Marshall, not Ken.
As a long time West Virginia follower, I can recall some close calls Penn State had through the years against the Mountaineers at the old stadium downtown. One specific game that comes to mind was in 1978 when West Virginia got up 14-0 early on the nationally ranked Nittany Lions. The final score? Penn State 49, West Virginia 21. And I don't remember anyone talking about the Mountaineers winning the first half.
Briefly:
West Virginia’s home game against East Carolina on Saturday, Sept. 22, has been moved to a noon kickoff and will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2, the Big East Conference announced this morning.
South Florida is expecting to break the school single-game attendance record at 65,000-seat Raymond James Stadium on Friday, Sept. 28, when No. 4 West Virginia travels to Tampa.
The Bulls, 26-23 upset winners at No. 17 Auburn last Saturday, have announced that they have less than 1,000 lower level tickets remaining for the game. Earlier this summer, South Florida opened the upper deck for ticket sales. South Florida’s single-game attendance record was 49,212 for the program’s first-ever home game against Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 6, 1997.
Big East Impressive
Posted By John Antonik: September 9, 2007 (9:51 am)
Jessie Hester
Perhaps the Big East is even a little better than we thought. Last weekend before the Western Michigan game, a noted local sports journalist pointed out to me that the Big East wasn’t looking so hot with Connecticut struggling against Duke (the Huskies eventually won the game 45-14) and Syracuse getting drilled at home by Washington.
My answer to him was that the Big East isn’t necessarily hanging its hat on Connecticut and Syracuse this year. The league, however, has discovered two more emerging programs in Cincinnati and South Florida.
The Bearcats drilled Oregon State, 34-3, in Cincinnati Thursday night. Don’t forget, the Oregon State team the Bearcats defeated was essentially the same one that beat USC 33-31 last year. And last Saturday night South Florida did its part by going on the road and knocking off No. 17 Auburn, 26-23 in overtime.
That victory may get the Bulls enough votes to crack the Top 25 this week, which would give the Big East four ranked teams. That’s half the conference.
The Big East is 14-2 in its non-conference games so far this year and is now 61-10 outside of league play the last two seasons. Three years ago the knock on the league was that it wasn’t top heavy with the losses of Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College.
The knock on the conference the last two years was that it was too top heavy with West Virginia, Louisville and Rutgers.
It looks like South Florida and Cincinnati have taken care of that. And we still don’t know enough yet about Pitt and Connecticut to completely eliminate them from the mix.
At the very least, this year it looks like its going to be an exciting five-team sprint for the league’s BCS bowl bid. It also looks like the Sun, Meineke Car Care, Texas, PapaJohns.com and International bowls are going to be getting some very good football teams.
