1.) nebraska sucks. inexcusable.
2.) college football is such superior sport as compared to the nfl. granted, the nfl has the bigger and faster athletes, and the play in the nfl is much dirtier. cheap shot artists reign there. but, the point of my observation is that the college game is a lot more innovative, far more intelligent, and just more wide open and unpredictable. and, from a "match up" standpoint, it is far more interesting, with different philosophies of the game, different styles of play, and different assessments of risk/benefit analysis dictating a much more varied play calling. by contrast, the nfl is boring, sort of like watching a block of ice melt in a 33 degree freezer. the nfl is so predictable, and all the teams play the same style, run the same plays on offense and play the same defenses.
uhg!! on the nfl. i haven't watched a complete nfl game all year, and probably won't. and, i don't give a flying hoot in hell who wins the nfl championship. that is the most boring nfl game of the year.
3.) having said that, i just don't understand the game the university of oregon ducks play. it is absolutely confounding.
take for instance, the ducks 49-0 victory over the u. of arizona, just this evening.
i am a duck fan, and i was a little uneasy with the game's outcome based on their first half play. the oregon defense played well, but the offense was just out of sync. and, it was more of the same at the start of the second half, and arizona seemed to be moving the ball quite well. it seemed inevitable that they would score, close the gap, and perhaps have a fair chance of winning the game.
i was uneasy. so, i turned off the game to answer some email, and look at atlas shrugs, and then i decided to go back and see how the game was going. i sat down to watch the arizona team advancing the ball, as they had done the whole game, and then an oregon defensive back intercepted the a forward pass, and ran it back, 54 yards for a touchdown. and, the score was announced as 35-0.
just like that. i was shocked? what could have happened to turn a close game around? how?
the game of football as i have been given to understand it is based on possession of the ball, and field position, which is sort of the sports equivalent to the concept of war by attrition. one of the goals is to just pound the other guy into submission. (hint: and, that is the only way football is played in the national football league, complete with an occasional attempted assassination.)
that's not what the ducks do.
they just strike so suddenly, and so unexpectedly, it is kind of amazing. they look like they are not playing well, and then they just overwhelm a team. and, they are getting better.
and, i haven't a clue as to how they do it. they just probe until they find a weakness, they exploit it, and then they just pound the other guy over the head with it.
and, when it happens, it is done so quickly as to amaze. and, it is so subtle. now they have kids that tackle and block hard, and they are big kids and well conditioned, and they are appropriately surly when the ocassion demands it. but, what they do, is to put the other fellow off balance, to make him indecisive, and then get him to move in the wrong direction. and, then, they simply run into the spaces the other team has vacated, sometimes so untouched that you forget that 11 very talented and physically gifted opponents haven't a clue as to what is going on.
it is well to remember that the end game in chess, the mating sequence, is carried on by the rooks and the bishops and the queen, after some space has been created on the board by the loss of other pieces. this is, in essence, what the oregon ducks do to their opponents, is to spring the mating sequence on them before they realize it has happened.
the nfl hasn't a clue. and, what i find unforgivable, is that the nfl gives no indication that it is even slightly interested in learning how to play this new game. they are still invested in the manual of arms involving the mace and the cudgel and the sword and shield and the flags and banners of medieval contest. the well spring of invention, intellect and progress has simply moved by them to the college game.
john jay @ 09.23.2012
p.s. the arizona coach, rich rodriquez is a good coach. he may not be the best college football coach in america, but, he is no slouch, either. he's coached and won a lot of games, and played superior competition, and he seen a lot of football played. and, he's played in his share of "big games," earning that right over the necks of a lot of vanquished foes.
this game was not his first time at the rodeo. he's seen the elephant.
but, he looked as shell shocked and amazed on the sideline as i felt watching the game on the t.v., looked on at the spectacle before him as though seeing it for the first time. watching his first fan dance, as it were.
and, rich rodriguez is given a lot of credit, fairly, for inventing the game refined by coach chip kelley at oregon. rodriguez invented the game that the university of oregon has developed. and, if you ask him, he won't have the slightest idea what was done to him, either.