Why the fiesta bowl was good for football

Humans and science have evolved since the invention of football. Today's athletes eat better, exercise more efficiently and take more steps to prevent injuries. Agility, Strength, Speed and Endurance have all improved. Linebackers are now as fast as quarterbacks, who are now as fast as running backs, who are now as fast as safeties and wide receivers. With these improvements, we also have endless hours of footage for research, new formations, and the ability to utilize players differently. Football, like baseball, has also become so much more mathematical and statistical, that its got no more balls. No Guts. I'm not talking about the players, it's really the coaches who are so risk averse that the games are like watching a hand of blackjack. You already know what the coaches are going to do, before they do it. "If it's 4th down and 1 and we're up by 7, we punt, if we're up by 8, we go for it." There are so many well defined rules for what to do in certain situations that the game is more akin to watching your average McDonalds employee remembering to say "How May I help you?" "Do you want fries with that?" and "would you like to supersize that?" They call this Strategy. I say "What channel is bowling on?"

This was really brought to light by watching the Boise State game. Coach Peterson, coaching a perfect season in his first year as coach, had more balls and guts than I've seen in a coach in a long time. I've never seen so many trick plays by one team in a game that wasn't held on a school playground. Trick plays aren't used that often, primarily because they are "statistically" unsuccessful. For a trick play to work, the coach has to have complete confidence in his players, not only to execute to perfection, but to improvise if things don't go as planned. That's a really novel idea, confidence in one's players. Coaches at the collegiate and professional level have recruited, bought, and developed the players they wanted. If you don't think your players can truly make the big plays, why bring them on in the first place? It doesn't make sense to me that coaches so rarely go for 2 points or go for it on 4th down. Think about the subconscious psychological impact this has on players, who may be the best in the league, to see their coach opt to punt on 4th and inches. "Doesn't he think we can advance the ball a few inches?" If you think your team is good enough to get 10 yards on 3 downs, why all of a sudden back down when it is 4th down? Today's average coaches don't coach to win, they only coach not to lose. They are conservative, and more interested in keeping their jobs than in winning games. Practically, if you follow all of the rules and don't do anything risky, then you have to have a really bad season for you to lose your job. This isn't fair to all coaches, there are exceptions. But I'm a fair-weather Redskins fan. Coach Gibbs has made more conservative calls than anyone I've seen this year (my football viewing is limited). The Skins paid alot of money for this slick new offensive coordinator. I'm really sorry to point this out, but if our arsenal consists of "Sweep left" and "Sweep right" the 80 year old two rows behind me could have been used for alot less money.

Thanks to Coach Peterson, who played to win and believed in his team enough to not fall victim to the temptation of conservative, mathematical number crunching that is better suited for overpaid corporate middle managers. Coaches take note and start to coach some real football.

Fiesta Bowl 1..Finally some real football..Game summary

I watched the Fiesta Bowl the other night, Boise State v Oklahoma. It turned out to be the most exciting football game I've ever seen. Let me preface what I'm about to write with this: I am not a big football fan. Love playing it, but for the most part, hate watching it (Commercials, egos, unncessarily pompous announcers and entirely too much analysis). I prefer college football to the NFL, it has bigger rivalries, more spirit, and more importance on each game, plus the overtime rules are more fair.
Anyway, Boise State is one of two undefeated teams in the country, but it is a small school from a relatively weak conference, so there was alot of lobbying that took place to get them the matchup against Oklahoma, a school with arguably the richest football history in the nation. If you're really interested in the details of the game, you've either heard them already, or can go to ESPN.com to get better details than I can provide.

I'll sum them up here. Many people thought Boise State didn't deserve to be in the bowl game. They were huge underdogs. They took the lead early and kept it until the last minute of the game. Oklahoma rallied and scored 25 straight points, with touchdowns in the last two minutes, and took the lead. The touchdown that put them ahead was an intercepted pass from the Boise State QB with one minute left. It should be noted, that the Boise State QB had suffered some anxiety after a bad game in the previous season, and had negative thoughts going through his head for the remainder of the season. In the off-season, he went to a psychologist, was dismantled, and replaced the negative thoughts with positive ones. He had been playing well all night, he was their superstar, and then, with one minute left, he throws the interception that should cost Boise State the game. You would think that this kind of thing would crush your average QB, would put negative thoughts back in his head, and would just shatter his confidence. Not this guy. Boise State gets the ball back, and drives during the last minute. Then with 7 seconds left, they score a TD and tie the game on a 50 yard hook and lateral play. It was amazing to watch in real time, especially knowing that Oklahoma was practically celebrating a win at this point, and Boise State's spirit was practically gone. The great thing to see is that this QB stayed positive and kept his team motivated to the end.

The game went into OT. In college, each team starts a drive from the 25 yard line. Oklahoma scored immediately on an impressive 25 yard run by the running back, and when Boise State got the ball, they ran into a 4th down situation on the 5 yard line. The QB lined up behind the center, but then went into motion and lined up as a receiver. A receiver then lined up as a halfback, took the snap, and threw it to the tight end for a touchdown. Two touchdowns, two trick plays. Instead of going for a tie, which would mean both teams starting from the 25 yard line again, Boise State went for the win on a two point conversion Statue of Liberty play that faked the entire crowd and announcers out. The QB took the snap with 3 receivers to the right, faked a throw to the right with his right hand, while the ball was behind his back in his left hand. as soon as the entire defense shifted to the right to cover the fake, the running back, Ian Johnson, took the ball from behind the QBs back and sprinted to the left side of the field for a 2 point conversion and the win. To top off this specatular show, Ian Johnson, the guy who scores the winning points, was being interviewed on the field immediately after the game with his girlfriend present. the fans were all still there, and the interview was broadcast over the speakers. He proposed to his girlfriend (a cheerleader) and she said yes. If you have to subject yourself to the corporate marathon that every televised sporting event (except soccer) has become, this one had a great payoff.