CommenTerry

Why Not Fake a Field Goal First?

Here's something I've often wondered about. In a scenario that's played out over and over in the NFL during overtime games, a team will get the ball inside the other team's 10-yard line and decide to kick an all-but-certain field goal on first, second, or third down to win the game. However, as we all know, there's no sure thing in sports. Once in a while, the kicker misfires, giving the other team new life. For the life of me, I don't know why more NFL coaches don't fake a field goal in this situation before actually trying to kick one. For example, they could set up for a field goal on second down, and then have the holder catch the other team off guard by throwing to a receiver in the end zone for a touchdown. Since the defense would not be expecting it, it's highly unlikely that that the pass would be intercepted.

If it fails, the field goal could be attempted on the next down. That gives the team on offense two chances to win, first by trying for the touchdown and then by trying for a field goal if the touchdown try is unsuccessful. I only recall seeing this done once - during a Monday night game in 1978 between Dallas and Washington. The Redskins faked a field goal on third down, caught the Cowboys completely off guard, and scored a touchdown. Game over.

It’s Time for a New Pro Basketball League

I think it’s about time for a new professional basketball league to compete with the NBA. Unlike the case with pro football and baseball, in which nearly all of the major markets have been tapped, there are plenty of unutilized markets for basketball. Below is a list of locations that I believe would make a new basketball league viable and competitive:

Pittsburgh
Montreal
Buffalo
New York City (could handle a second franchise as it does in baseball)
Baltimore
Norfolk, VA
Raleigh/Durham
Tampa/St. Petersburg
Jacksonville
Louisville
Nashville
Cincinnati
Columbus, OH
St. Louis
Kansas City
Omaha
Austin
Las Vegas
Tucson
Anaheim
San Jose
San Diego
Seattle (assuming the Supersonics move to Oklahoma City)
Vancouver

That would be 24 potential franchises in big cities from coast to coast. The league would not have to compete to with NBA salaries right away but could work up to it by starting out with salaries big enough to keep guys cut from NBA rosters from going to Europe to play. After a season or two and (hopefully) with a TV contract in place, they could start paying NBA salaries to one or two players per franchise and go from there.

Nitpicking the December Football Scene

The first Saturday in December usually coincides with the last day of college football’s regular season. This is an exciting Saturday in which conference championships are decided and all the bowl bids are finally nailed down. However, for the remainder of the month, we are stuck with what I call “dead-air” Saturdays. With the regular season wrapped up and the major bowls having yet to be played, there is no major college football to be found on my television screen. Sure, there is plenty of basketball airing during that time, but my basketball gene doesn’t awaken until January.

Then we have the problem of meaningless pro football games on December Sundays. Yes, plenty of teams are still in the playoff chase and most of the berths are decided in December. However, what are fans of those teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention to do? You see, pro football games are a means to end, with that end being making the playoffs. Individual games are not an end in and of themselves. When that end is no longer achievable (i.e., a given team is eliminated from playoff contention), its remaining games are rendered meaningless. For fans of those teams, Sunday afternoons in December can be a bit boring.

The More the BCS Changes, the More it Stays the Same

Despite an unusually exciting college football season in which a number one and/or number two team bit the dust seemingly every week, we have ended up with two of the same old crummy teams in the BCS championship that we always have. What a kick in the head! At one time or another during the season, “fresh” teams such as Missouri, Kansas, South Florida, and West Virginia occupied one of the top two slots. In addition, another team not normally counted with college football’s elite, Hawaii, managed to go undefeated. As it turned out, however, someone was just teasing us, as none of those teams will be playing for the national title. Instead, we are stuck with same-old-same-olds Ohio State and LSU. 

Ohio State earned its way there by being the only BCS conference champion with less than two losses. However, it’s a travesty that two-loss LSU will be there on the same field. By all rights, Hawaii should be playing the Buckeyes on January 7th. My gosh, they were undefeated. What more did they need to do?  If the BCS selectors couldn’t bring themselves to pick a non-BCS-conference team for the championship game, then could they have not selected Kansas? Besides Ohio State, the Jayhawks were the only team from a BCS conference with less than two losses. I know of at least one college football fan who will be boycotting the championship game – me! This is the final straw. We need a playoff.

The Unfairness of the BCS Is Now Showing

The University of Hawaii is the only undefeated team in major college football with only weekend left in the regular season. So why are eleven one-loss and two-teams currently ranked ahead of them in the BCS standings? If the Rainbow Warriors defeat the Washington Huskies in their final regular season game, by all rights they should play for the BCS championship in January. Unfortunately, even if they do win that game, they’ll probably have to settle for one of the lesser BCS bowl games as a reward for having the best record in the country (and that’s assuming they maintain their position in the BCS top twelve this weekend).

Of course, the reality is that Missouri and West Virginia, two teams with one loss each, will be playing for the title if they both win their final games. If one of them loses, that team will likely be replaced in the championship game by Ohio State, another one-loss team. However, if they both lose, Kansas, the only other one-loss team among the elite of college football, will curiously be passed over in favor of a two-loss team like Georgia or Oklahoma. If a two-loss team does indeed play for the title, I’ll personally boycott that game.

The BCS has no business jumping one-loss teams over undefeated teams or two-loss teams over one-loss teams. Instead, it should consider strength of schedule to fill the role of a tiebreaker among teams with identical records. For example, if the season ends with three undefeated teams, the BCS should select which two get to play for the championship. If there are exactly two undefeated teams, then the BCS wouldn’t have anything to decide – those two teams would automatically play for the title. If there is one undefeated team and a bunch of one-loss teams, the former would automatically get a bid to the championship game and the BCS would select their opponent among the latter. And so on and so forth. 

Some would argue that this record-based pecking order of selecting teams for the BCS championship would discourage them from scheduling tough non-conference opponents. Not so. Since no school would ever know when they would finish with the same record as others, they would still need to maintain their strength of schedule, as that would be the main factor considered by the BCS in breaking ties.  While some regular seasons in college football end with exactly two undefeated teams, or even three, there is usually no more than one – with a horde of one-loss teams.

College Football Is Incomplete Without a Playoff

College football is great game. The individual rivalries are unmatched anywhere else. Its pageantry is superb. However, all of this is overcome by the fact that a major college team can be eliminated from national championship consideration by a early season loss. To surpass the popularity of the NFL,  Division 1-A college football must adopt a playoff system.

Pragmatic Sports Rooting

This weekend I will have to hold my nose and root for the Dallas Cowboys. Normally, I would root for anyone against the hated Cowboys. I often tell people that my two favorite NFL teams are the Washington Redskins and whoever is playing Dallas this week. However, this is one weekend in which I feel that I must make an exception. That’s because the Cowboys are playing the New York Giants, a team that I believe to be a greater threat to the playoff hopes of my beloved Redskins.

Currently, Dallas leads the NFC East with a record of 7-1, followed by the Giants at 6-2 and Washington at 5-3. With Dallas ahead of them by two games, I hold out little hope of the Redskins winning the division and I have pretty much given up on that. However, I think they have an excellent shot at capturing one of the two NFC wildcard spots. The Giants (along with the Detroit Lions) are currently one game ahead of them in the wildcard race. The Redskins will to need to catch at least one of those two teams in order to make the playoffs. No other NFC team that is not currently leading its division has a record better than 4-4. 

So I’ll have to be a Dallas fan for about three hours on Sunday afternoon. It’s not going to kill me. It hasn’t before.

Oregon vs. Kansas for the National Title? Don’t Laugh

How about a BCS championship game on January 7 featuring Oregon and Kansas? Don’t laugh; it could happen even though neither team was ranked in the top 25 in the preseason polls. More amazingly, Kansas, known more for its basketball success than for football, never got a single vote in either of the preseason polls.

Of course, both teams have to care of business and then get a little help as well. Oregon will be favored in their final three games (on the road against Arizona and UCLA and at home against Oregon State). Likewise, Kansas will be the favorite in its final three regular season games (at Oklahoma State and then at home against Iowa State and Missouri). However, the Jayhawks would then likely have to face Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game.

Assuming both teams are successful, they would then probably need to have both Ohio State and LSU lose (although it’s possible that an undefeated Kansas team could leapfrog over LSU, a team that has one loss this season). Ohio State has two tough games remaining, a home game against Illinois and a road game against big rival Michigan. LSU finishes the regular season with home games against Louisiana Tech and Arkansas and a road game against Mississippi. While the Tigers are not in much danger of losing any of those games, they would then have to face the East division winner (likely Tennessee, Georgia, or Florida) in the Southeastern Conference championship in Atlanta.

When Is an Interception Not a Turnover?

There are times in a football game when an interception should not count as a turnover. Those made at the end of a half, or at the end of a game, that are not returned for touchdowns and after which that team's offense never gets to run a play should not count as turnovers. In addition, passes picked off on fourth down should not add to the turnover tally, unless they are returned beyond the line of scrimmage.

If I Were a Football Coach

If I were a football coach, I would request at least three unusual things of my players:

First, I would request that any of my ball carriers try to position himself for first-and-ten on the 11 yard line, rather than first-and-goal on the 10 yard line, even if that meant going down sooner and giving up a yard. Doing this gives your team a shot a four extra downs to score (even without a penalty on the defense).

Second, with less than five minutes left in a game and the other team inside our 10 yard line, I would request that my defense allow them to score a touchdown, if the game was tied or we were ahead by one or two points or the other team was ahead by only one point. This keeps the other team from running out most of the clock and then kicking a field goal to go ahead or extend their lead. My strategy would give us time to tie or win the game.

Third, I would require that my defensive players avoid intercepting a pass on fourth down unless they are certain they can bring the ball past the line of scrimmage. Otherwise, the interception is costing our team valuable field position and becomes a net negative. I'm thoroughly amazed at the number of players, both college and pro, who will dance and prance around after intercepting a 30-yard fourth-down pass!  They obviously don't realize that they have just hurt their own team. Their coach should quickly clear that up for them.