Nothing flavored with oversigning here:
- Phil Steele gives you his lists of returning OL career starts and % of lettermen returning here.
- And here’s his % of yards returning chart.
- About the SEC’s new “Masoli Rule”: Masoli only stayed at Ole Miss for a semester without getting his master’s degree. (But he plans to return, promise!)
- Todd McNair thinks he’s got a case against the NCAA.
- Matt Hinton takes a look at Greg Schiano’s anti-kickoff proposal and comes away intrigued.
- So much for the hot topic of moving the Big Ten’s championship game to a cold venue.
- Bill Connelly takes a (detailed) look at Mississippi State.
- Tennessee’s defensive depth takes another hit.
- “Don’t forget: Nov. 26th we’re going to kick their ass!“
Get The Picture 
About that list of returning O-line starts: Auburn would’ve been somewhere in the low 20s last year, and they’ve dropped all the way to 118th. Anyone who thinks this isn’t going to be a lean, lean year for the Plainsmen is fooling themselves.
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I remember Richt saying he was stunned by how violent kickoffs were after he came down out of the booth from FSU and started coaching on the sideline at UGA. Wonder what he thinks of Schiano’s proposal? I suspect he’d consider voting in favor.
I remember being on the kickoff return team in HS, playing for a (very) bad team. If you’re on a (very) bad team, by the way, you’re on kickoff return a lot. Like 5-9 times a game when we really go creamed. I got hit so hard one time I did a back flip and landed on my stomach, then went to the wrong sideline.
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“I got hit so hard one time I did a back flip and landed on my stomach, then went to the wrong sideline.”
+1 In the Arena moment
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It was a very small arena…
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Usually a traditionalist, I find myself agreeing with Schiano. Kickoffs are one of the most dangerous situations in football, they happen several times a game, and eliminating them does not detract from the game in anyway (except allowing some walk-ons to see action. It is virtually the only time you space two players 30+ yards apart and run them toward each other at full speed to bring about a violent collision. What would be the harm in preventing that if there is a balanced alternative for both teams?
I understand some kickers and return specialists may lose their 15 minutes of fame, but the good outweighs the bad, imo. There is a reason teams don’t do that in Spring Games, isn’t it more significant to do that in the midst of the season?
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An extreme rarity, I find myself in total agreement with Mac on this. While my story is not as good as SCDawg, I got run slap over once in HS blocking (or rather attempting unsuccessfully to block) during a kickoff return. Ended up looking out of the earhole of my helmet.
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Gee, lets do a tip off at center field instead.
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I like this, except it should be a scrum at midfield. Whoever wants it more gets it.
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XFL’d
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It’s football. Kickoffs are part of the game. If you take away the ability to pin teams back w/ a great kicker or cover team or make plays in the return game, you’ve just dramatically altered the game.
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I could still see Butler launching one and driving a guy inside the 20.
I like the idea, especially that it’s a 4th and 15 situation. Of course, other teams could just line up and run the wheel route over, and over, and over, and…..
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The wheel route bit was my first thought. If this rule had been in effect last year, the only time Georgia would have seen the ball would be if the Bulldogs won the coin flip. I’m exaggerating, of course, but not that much!
I would be okay with finding an alternative to the kickoff, though my first thought is that this is a bit of an overreaction considering how relatively few problems you have on kickoffs when you consider how many kickoffs take place each year. I don’t like the idea of putting the ball back in the offense’s hands after they already score, though. A defense can typically cover a 4th and 15, but in a mismatch situation, this idea only exaggerates the advantage for the better team.
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Agree with Macallanlover and Russ on kickoffs. I think that it’s a good idea . Instead of onside kicks, it will put new training into the punter’s hands. Can you punt ten yards and recover or will we overlook the possibility of a “footside kick” that goes sideways and doesn’t have to travel 10 yds?
Thought MSU only had 8 wins( including the Gator bowl) with 5 losses. The author said they had 9. Does anyone know whose math is correct?
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Nine is correct.
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We can require all KO’s to be directional kicks to reduce injuries. Call it the “Fabris Rule”!
Ya know, if they would simply leave KO’s alone it might not be such a problem. Just a few years ago we went from the 35 to the 30.
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The Leathers’ injury will only insure that A.J. Johnson will start in Knoxville from Day 1. Afraid we are going to regret not recruiting that kid.
Assuming that the two LB’s UGA signed from Florida made the grade, I think they can play, but I saw Johnson play in high school, and he was a man among boys. Seemed like the ideal 3-4 ILB.
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“Jim Tressel told people at a rally on his front doorstep”:
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I find tOSU fans’ demonstration of support for Tressel puzzling, and inappropriate. We saw it with Junior at UT from the Vol fans, Cheetzit at AU with the AubieCanes, and with Casey Anthony from her parents in Orlando. Wrong is wrong folks. Don’t blow your integrity by supporting those who break the rules, lie about it, and bring you down with public humiliation. Sometimes you just have to let it go, blind homerism isn’t an attractive quality at this point. I would be damned angry in any of those situations, and cut the ties.
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At least when Tennessee fans were cheering Kiffykins’ every utterance, he was only guilty of being a blowhard at that point. Buckeye fans’ continued support for Tressel is doubly confounding because he’s an established liar who lied in ways that’ll likely earn their program a major blow from the NCAA’s Thor hammer in the very near future. Even if I were the biggest Buckeye homer on the planet, I wouldn’t be cheering for Tressel right now any more than I would’ve been holding up a “WE STILL LUV U NIXON” sign on the South Lawn as Tricky Dick boarded Marine One.
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Good Lord! I completely agree with Mac on 2 things in the same day.
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Let me try for the hat trick: we should sign a “forever” agreement with Jacksonville for the UGA/UF game!
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Ixnay.
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What is wrong with just letting your opponent start on the 40 yard line?
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+1. Awesome.
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Look I am all for safety but have we taken things a little too far. I consider the injuries sustained by football players accidents. If they are in fact accidents with no purposeful cause then can we really attribute the fault of these accidents to the context?
It is like making a law that requires all children who ride a bike to wear a helmet. I remember, growing up in Kennesaw, riding up and down Heck Road, which was about a 1/4 mile long and 30% grade, without a helmet. The argument I have always heard is that we want all kids to wear a helmet because they might get hurt. If the argument is based upon a “might” then should we not limit all activities which “might” cause injury. Certainly, we can’t let kids go out of the house because they “might” be stung by a bee. I rode up and down that hill and crashed so many times that my knees, elbows, and other body parts still carry the scars of successfully and unsuccessfully pulling off the longest thrill ride of my young life. But how does the argument imply that because there is a possibility of injury then the law requires me to “safety up.”
The translation to kickoffs is similar. Just because a kid gets hurt is it necessary to argue that we have to change the rules because of an injury that might happen. The argument can be carried on to eliminate the game of football in its entirety. What proves too much proves nothing. Injuries are unfortunate and bad especially for the kids but is it the kickoff that is to be blamed. It could be the poor tackling/blocking form of the offensive or defensive person. It could be that the runner or blocker did not have his head on a swivel. It could be that it was just an accident with no discernable cause other that it was just weird. Why do we find a need to do away with something that “might” be the cause of a game winning touchdown?
I do not equate the kickoff with the “flying wedge.” I read the entire report done by those kids at Penn State. It was a very informative read. Nevertheless, the intent of the “flying wedge” was to isolate a singular person, the weak point, and send all 10 guys at him at once. This is not the intention of kickoffs. Usually you have blocking scheme that is designed for one man to defend against one runner coming down the field. Yes blindsides do occur but it is not similar to the reasons of putting down the “flying wedge.” I do not think that anyone has made this comparison but I thought I would stop the possibility of comparison because it “might” cause problems for my argument. Oh wait, crap can’t do that because I just argued against it. Anyway, comparing the “flying wedge” to kickoffs is comparing apples to oranges because one is an isolation play where 10 players gang upon 1 player using momentum of combined mass to achieve victory where the other is a isolation play where one player enters the fray with one other player using skill and athletic ability to achieve victory.
My argument can also be countered by asking if I care if kids get hurt. By letting your kids ride their bikes without helmets you don’t care about your kid’s safety and therefore are a horrible father. What? That does not follow any rational argument. It is an emotional attack based upon speculation and assumptions about my wants and desires. Another person cannot know my wants and desires unless I tell them. Therefore, to assume by my actions that I do not care about kid’s safety is fallacious and does not follow the argument.
Conversely, this same argument is presented about kickoffs. Do I care about the player’s safety? Yes. Then, I should be for the elimination of kickoffs and if I am not then I am a bad person because I do not care about the safety of the players. This is all based upon conjecture and speculation about the need for safety measures and the supposed violence inherent in the system of play. My concern for the player’s safety should not enter into the discussion of kickoff reform. Rather you are going to have make a better argument for the elimination of kickoffs than “I think too many people are getting hurt.” Be specific and cite examples.
I know this is a little long and a bit snarky. Look past any perceive mal-intent as sarcasm or my sardonic nature. Thanks.
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Don’t get carried away with the thought, injuries are a part of the game and can occur on any play, not just kickoffs. It is just that play is so unlike the rest of the game and, to me, has a disproportionate value on the outcome. Some schools, UGA included also burn a scholly on a kickoff guy, sometimes a returner. Who needs it? The only thing lost is the onside kick, comeback potential. Put the ball on the 25 or 30 and go at it.
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Went right over his head, Rhymer.
Nice post.
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