One Foot Down

10 Things to Change about College Football: The BCS

2012-05-17T11:00:28Z

Since the offseason is now in full swing and the OFD crew is rolling out content reserved for such times, I thought I would embark on a Murtaugh-esque 10 part piece on things I would like to see changed in college football.

The changes I will be proposing will range from minor (no effect on the actual game) to a little more drastic. As always, I hope this encourages a good debate as I am sure not everyone will agree with my thoughts.

For the first installment, I am going to tackle the BCS.

A brief history of the BCS:

The BCS as we know it today began in 1992 with the Bowl Coalition (which lasted through 1994). The aim of the coalition was simple--to pair the top two teams in the country in a bowl game to determine the national champion. It was successful in creating this match-up in two of the three years it existed, but also had some drawbacks.

Starting in 1995, the Bowl Alliance replaced the Bowl Coalition in order to improve the odds of pairing the #1 and #2 teams, but still didn't have the full buy-in as the Big Ten and Pac-10 maintained their traditional match-up in the Rose Bowl.

In 1997, the BCS (as it is known today) first saw the light of day under the title of "Super Alliance" since it was successful in creating as system that included the Big Ten and Pac-10. There have been several changes and modifications over its history, with one of the most significant coming in 2007 and the addition of a dedicated Championship Game rotating between the four host bowl sites.

The one important thing to keep in mind about the BCS system is this--the only thing it was ever meant to do was to pair the #1 and #2 teams in a title game to determine a "true" (or mythical, if you prefer) national champion.

For a more complete history, feel free to read up at the official BCS website.

Changes:

Don't get me wrong--changes are already on the way. I may not agree with it 100%, but the old system appears to be moving towards a four team playoff scenario with all games at current bowl sites.

My plan is pretty simple, and consists of a few key points:

1. The playoffs will consist of six teams. Four is too few and eight seems like too many (at least in the beginning. For reference, the ~~FCS~~ D-1AA is set to expand playoffs to 24 teams (currently 20) in 2013, Division II has 24 teams and Division III has 32 teams in their respective playoffs.

2. The playoff will be run by the NCAA. I really have no idea why the NCAA is leaving so much money on the table in the television contract that a playoff would generate money that could go for scholarships to future college students.

3. Eliminate ALL conference championship games. This allows the playoffs to begin the first weekend of December.

4. Teams and seeding are determined by an independent committee. I would prefer that OFD has some representation on this committee, but I could be flexible on that one.

Teams will be selected based on the following criteria: overall record, strength of schedule (including their opponent's strength of schedule), record against ranked teams, and head-to-head wins. Sound complicated? It can't be that complicated--DIII already uses a very similar system.

5. First round (first Saturday in December) and semi-final (second Saturday in December) games will be played on the home field of the higher seeded team.

6. The championship game will be played on the first Saturday on or after New Year's Day. The site will be rotated among several different cities, much in the way that the Final Four is in basketball.

So there is my simple plan for eliminating the BCS and installing a playoff system. Under this system, the current bowl games are not eliminated or utilized in the system. Too bad it will never happen this way.

Related Reading:

Michael Collins' four part series on the BCS (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

Michael Collins' break-down of media contracts and the BCS

Dan Wetzel, Josh Peter, and Jeff Passan's "Death to the BCS"

Eric Murtaugh's Strange Love: The Big Ten & The Rose Bowl

Strange Love: The Big Ten & The Rose Bowl

2012-05-16T16:00:46Z

Like many people who follow college football on a consistent basis, I find myself often agreeing with Dan Wetzel, especially with his views on the playoff system and how that should look in the future.

Ever since he published Death to the BCS I knew this is someone who had his head on straight and had a smart plan for a better college football system.

Or perhaps he didn't have a perfect system---there's plenty to argue about there---but he is really adept at pointing out what definitely needs to be removed from college football and any ensuing playoff.

Over the past few months there's been a debate raging about how to pull stage this playoff in college football, and if one thing has been made clear through it all so far, it's that the Big Ten continues to be the fool in this game.

Cue Wetzel's recent article on the Big Ten and their love for the Rose Bowl.

Normally, we like to offer rebuttals to articles if that will promote some discussion but this is one of the instances where I feel obliged to reinforce some of the things Wetzel brings up with the Big Ten and its thinking.

Let's take a look at some quotes from his story.

"It's wrong to criticize someone for who they choose to love. Instead, just marvel at the depth of the relationship. The Big Ten has abandoned its smart, savvy push for a playoff that featured on-campus semifinal sites and a title game open to bid by cities across the country, including the Midwest, because it just couldn't bear the thought of cheating on a bowl game."

I twitch uncontrollably every time a certain facet of a new playoff is thrown to the wayside because of the bowl games. Throwing away on-campus semifinal games is such an egregious error that I pray it won't last very long.

"There are still plenty of sober voices out there who think outsourcing hundreds of millions in postseason games is at best illogical and at worst corrupt."

Corrupt---remember that word. The bowl games are corrupt organizations hiding behind tax-free status and blatantly stealing money from college football and universities who desperately could use millions of dollars right now.

"In an effort to help the Rose Bowl, the conference is willing for a playoff to also be staged in Miami Gardens and Glendale, and so on, rather than Columbus and Ann Arbor."

The playoff will be awesome, but who would rather see these games be played at Sun Life Stadium instead of The Big House? Seriously, who can argue that the bowl sites are better?

"A playoff will be great no matter where the games are played. It'd just be better on campus."

Nodding...

"But the bowl lobby has won, and a select few of them are about to become even more fabulously wealthy off the labors of student-athletes. Leave it to the inevitable congressional investigation to sort out how the no-bid deals were reached."

This is a big one for me. Yes, I want a playoff but I wanted a playoff that was free from the greedy hands of the bowl lobby. When you actually do some research on these bowls it's sickening how grotesquely wealthy their leaders have become from staging ONE game a year. It's even more sickening how they've got their claws in the athletic directors, presidents, and minions of the universities who take what amounts to bribes to keep this strip club spending, golf bash, and cruise ship vacation party going.

All that money wasted that could have been in the coffers of these money-poor universities and instead is blown on a select few elites.

We got our hopes up that with a playoff all of this (or most of it) would come to a end, but instead, now these bowl chairmen and lobbyists are going to have more money than ever once the playoffs begin. A huge selling point to a playoff was that it would generate a ton more money for schools, but now they are going to throw it away to the bowl games.

These bowl executives must be laughing uncontrollably at the irony of it all. Laughing all the way to the bank.

"Whoa, some people and government were coming down hard on us there for a couple years...even threw some people in jail. We came through it though and now we'll have more money than ever!!"

"Possible home-field advantage for Big Ten teams? We love the Rose Bowl."

Dumb.

"Making the elements, which Big Ten teams are presumably better equipped to handle, a factor in the playoffs? We love the Rose Bowl."

Dumber.

"Showcasing the incredible game-day environment of Camp Randall, Happy Valley or the Big House? We love the Rose Bowl."

Dumb and dumber.

"Creating economic impact in the league's hometowns? We love the Rose Bowl."

Beyond dumb.

"Somewhere Mike Slive of the SEC and Larry Scott of the Pac-12 are kicking back with a cackle of delight. These guys are angling for every possible edge while the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl sit in adjacent bathtubs, holding hands and waiting for the moment to be right."

This feels like such a Notre Dame-y thing to do. Purposely turn your back on advantages for your teams---both competitively and financially---in the name of a rusty old tradition. You're damn right the Big Ten's opponents are laughing about this.

"It would be a competitive advantage to have semifinal games at home fields ... but the bowls have been good to us," Nebraska AD Tom Osborne said."

Oh no, Tom. One year in the Big Ten and they've already got you?

"If rampant profiteering, indictments charging corruption and millions in unnecessary expenses passed onto the schools counts as "been good to us" than the Big Ten may be the battered spouse here."

Just throwing important money out the window...it's all good.

"Yes, the vaunted bowl experience must be protected for the players. It's cool. Bowls are fun. Except in the same meeting the Big Ten proposed moving bowl eligibility from 6-6 to 7-5, which means maybe half a dozen smaller bowls will, indeed, be destroyed and the experience of those players apparently isn't worth protecting. If only those games were as loveable as the Rose Bowl."

Even when they try to do something right (raising the standards for bowl games) it exposes their hypocrisy.

"The athletic directors talk about trying to maintain or improve the meaning of the regular season, but then they want to take out the incentive of home-field advantage so it really doesn't matter whether you finish first or fourth."

This is a crying shame. Watching the home-field advantage play out towards the end of the season would add so much to the regular season---and that doesn't even take into account how much more hype and pageantry would result from the games themselves held on campus' across the country.

"There's a part of me that wants to play a team from the Southwest or the Southeast in five-degree weather," Ohio State's Gene Smith told the Sporting News. "But is it really right for the game?"

No, college football simply cannot take a page out of the country's most successful sport and play these games inside the home stadiums of the higher ranked team. How could that ever be right for the game???

"Plenty of them [the Big Ten teams] could use the economic impact of staging these massive events in the Midwest too. But you can't put a price on love."

How sad. Hopefully this doesn't last.

Blue-Gold Game Review: Cierre Wood/Theo Riddick

2012-05-16T11:00:36Z

Welcome back to the second installment in my Blue-Gold Game reviews.

Here who we’ve looked at so far:

George Atkinson III

Today we’ll finish off the running game by looking at Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick. Wood didn’t get many touches in the Blue-Gold Game, so it was easier to just combine him with Riddick.

Like last time, this review will focus more on the offensive line. Wood and Riddick are both veteran running backs, so there’s not a lot to critique about their play.

To the video…

Cierre Wood/Theo Riddick - Blue-Gold Game 2012 (via OneFootDownND)

Let’s get right to the plays.

The Irish line up with two tight ends. Ben Koyack motions into the backfield behind Connor Hanratty.

The offense runs power O with Koyack acting as the fullback (harrumph!). Alex Welch blocks down, meaning he blocks the man inside of him. Koyack kicks out Ben Councell and Bruce Heggie pulls from his backside guard spot and acts as the lead blocker. Hanratty and Matt Hegarty have to fill the spot Heggie vacates, so Hegarty cuts off the backside defensive end while Hanratty reaches to block Louis Nix.

Hanratty (circled) makes an excellent block on the big nose guard. Heggie is still pulling, but Koyack and Welch begin to open a nice hole for Wood.

The play is well-defended. Jarrett Grace (circled) reads the play and fills the hole before Heggie can pull around and Austin Collinsworth keeps contain on the outside. However, Justin Utupo is caught in no man’s land. You can see a hole opening up on either side of Nix and Utupo has to choose which lane to fill.

Utupo is in a no-win situation. He goes to Nix’s right and Wood runs through the other hole.

Hanratty’s reach block was the key to this play. If he doesn’t make that block, Wood has nowhere to go.

This play also highlights how hard it is to stop a well-executed power O run. The offense has so many blockers at the point of attack that the defense needs to commit a lot of defenders to stopping it. Notre Dame’s defense does a nice job stopping it, but Wood still rips off a long run.

Let’s see what happens when that key block isn’t made.

The Irish line up in the same formation but with Theo Riddick in the backfield.

This picture isn’t the clearest, so bear with me. Connor Hanratty (red arrow) tries to make the same reach block on Nix (blue arrow) as Heggie (yellow arrow) pulls around. Hanratty can’t make the same block and Nix actually gets in Heggie’s way.

Riddick is able to stay away from Nix and it looks like there are blockers in front of him, but with Heggie out of the way, Kendall Moore is left unblocked. Danny McCarthy keeps contain on the outside.

Riddick has nowhere to go and runs right into Moore.

After Hanratty made that great block on Nix in the first play, it was Hanratty’s missed block that blew up this play. As I said before, the power O gives the offense a lot of blockers at the point of attack, but they need to actually make a block for the play to be effective.

The video above combined with the one from last week contains every run by Irish running backs in the Blue-Gold Game. One thing that I found interesting was the lack of variety in the run game. The offense ran only three running plays: power O, inside zone, and outside zone (with and without the read option). Not making an appearance were the counter play, the power play, and the pin-and-pull outside zone, three staples from last season. There was very little pulling from the linemen in the Blue-Gold Game. I’m not saying those plays are gone from the playbook, but it was interesting that they didn’t even show up.

The other difference from what we saw last year is the use of the tight ends. Notre Dame used a lot of two tight end sets early last season, but went away from it when Mike Ragone went down. Just as Kelly promised earlier in the spring, we saw the tight end used as a fullback a number of times, not only in power O but also in the inside/outside zone. We may even see the offense look more like Stanford or Wisconsin and less like Cincinnati as time goes on.

This Week in Notre Dame Athletics: More Big East Titles & NCAA Tournament Action

2012-05-15T11:00:11Z

The regular season is almost over for every Notre Dame sports team. Some have already had their seasons come to an end, but many of them reached the NCAA Tournament or competed well in the Big East Tournament.

This Week in Notre Dame Athletics brings news of another Big East title coming home to South Bend, plus some big action in men's lacrosse and track and field.

More after the jump.

Tennis: 21-9 (Men's) & 20-7 (Women's)

In the first round of the NCAA tournament, the Notre Dame men's tennis team defeated Vanderbilt 4-3. However, the Irish lost in the second round to Ohio State 4-0 thus ending their season.

However, the season is not over for a few of the players on the team.

Three members of the team will now turn their attention towards the singles and doubles portion of the championship. Andrews will take place in the NCAA Singles Championship, while Fitzgerald and Watt will compete in the NCAA Doubles Championship. The brackets will be released soon and action gets underway on May 23 and goes through May 28 at the University of Georgia. Stay tuned to UND.com for complete information on the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.

Over on the women's side, it was the same result. The Irish shutout Hawaii 4-0 in the NCAA tournament first round, but fell 4-2 to Northwestern in the second round.

The women also have a few athletes participating in the individual portions of the NCAA tournament.

Despite seeing their team season come to a close, Mathews and Frilling now turn their attention to the NCAA Individual Championships. Mathews will compete in both the singles and doubles draw, while Frilling will team with Mathews in the doubles tournament. Competition is set to take place May 23-28 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga

Track and Field

The track team is preparing for the NCAA East Regionals and participated in the Grand Valley Last Chance---winning six events on the weekend.

Sophomore Michelle Brown (55.08) won the 400m dash.

Freshman Emily Morris won the shot put with a throw of 14.45m.

Senior Susanna Sullivan won the 5,000m run in 17:11.24, finishing more than five seconds before her nearest competition.

Senior Mitch Lorenz won the men's 800m run in 1:50.41.

Senior Johnathan Shawel won the 1,500m run by over two seconds with a time of 3:45.65.

Senior Kevin Schipper took another pole vault title, this time vaulting 5.22m, to win by .15 meters.

Golf: Men's & Women's

The men's golf team has another couple weeks until the NCAA Regionals begin in Ann Arbor, but last week senior Max Scodro was named the Big East Player of the Year while Notre Dame head coach Jim Kubinksi was also named Big East Coach of the Year. Both won the awards for the second straight season.

The women's golf team had their season come to a close over the weekend as they finished in 15th place at the NCAA Central Regional.

Baseball: 27-23

The Irish baseball team is entering their last week of regular season play and took 2 out of 3 games from Rutgers this past weekend.

Notre Dame will hit the road today for one game at Northwestern and then to Connecticut for a 3-game series to wrap up the season this weekend.

Softball: 38-14

The Notre Dame softball team had a tremendous season and came so close to winning the Big East tournament over the weekend. The Irish roughed up Rutgers 5-0 in the quarterfinals as well as St. John's 9-3 in the semifinals, but they ultimately were defeated in heartbreaking extra-inning walk-off homerun fashion, falling to Louisville 4-3 in 8 innings.

The good news is that Notre Dame earned an at-large big to the NCAA Tournament and will be playing Hawaii in the Tuscon Region.

Lacrosse: 12-2 (Men's) & 13-5 (Women's)

The men's lacrosse team opened up the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a 13-7 win over Yale.

"I thought it was a similar game to what I hoped it would be and in a lot of ways expected it to be, but I didn't expect us to pull away from them," Notre Dame head coach Kevin Corrigan said. "These were two very similar teams in a lot of ways. We got a lead early, which made them have to come to us and not be able to stall quite as much. That was an important part of the game."

Notre Dame will face-off against Virginia in the quarterfinals this Sunday.

The women's lacrosse team had their season end with a 12-7 loss to Northwestern in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Rowing

Out on the water, Notre Dame won its 9th consecutive Big East title with five victories on Mercer Lake in New Jersey over the weekend.

As a result of their success at the 2012 BIG EAST Championship, the Irish coaching staff was selected as the Coaching Staff of the Year and six rowers were named members of the all-BIG EAST teams. Kacsits, Kelly and O'Neill each earned first-team billing with Boxberger, Gaberino and Sheehan being named to the second team.

Notre Dame now awaits its fate for the 2012 NCAA Championships. The field, comprised of the top 16 crews in the country, will be selected Tuesday at 5 p.m. (ET). The Irish are hoping to earn a spot in the regatta for the first time since 2007.

Go Irish.

Previewing the Top Games of 2012: Week Two

2012-05-14T11:00:02Z

16 more weeks to go until the regular season starts and we're already into the top week two games of 2012.

After a pretty solid opening week---and let's hope a Irish blasting of Navy---the second week pulls back a little bit as most programs compete against some sacrificial lambs.

Fear not, as college football is always good for a bunch of entertaining games. The top games for the second week after the jump.

Week One Top Games

Thursday

Pittsburgh at Cincinnati

Pitt comes into this Big East opener having hosted Youngstown State the week prior, while Cincinnati will be playing their first game. Last season, the Bearcats won by 3 points and took home a share of the Big East title.

If Paul Chryst can turn around the Panther program this early season matchup against Cincinnati could be very important.

Saturday

USC vs. Syracuse (East Rutherford)

The Trojans will be coming off a home game against Hawaii and traveling east for a game in Giants Stadium against the Orange. USC is 3-0 all-time against Syracuse including last year's 38-17 victory in the Coliseum.

Over/under 900 passing yards through two games for Matt Barkley---make a pick!

Air Force at Michigan

How beat up is Michigan going to be after playing Alabama in week one? Will this game be closer than most think due to Air Force's crazy multiple formation offense?

This might be a tough game for Michigan but as long as Denard Robinson is in the game the Wolverines should have no problem moving the ball up and down the field. If it's close in the 3rd quarter it will be worth checking out---plus it's always good to scout Michigan early and often.

Auburn at Mississippi State

This has to be a game Mississippi State must win if they ever want to take the next step under Dan Mullen. I'm sure Mullen feels the same way as Auburn will be coming off a tough game against Clemson and traveling to Starkville.

Lose a game like this and the Bulldogs may be resigned to 4th place in the SEC West. Miss State has also lost 10 out of the past 11 games in the series as well.

Florida at Texas A&M

This will be only the 32nd game in the entire history of Florida football that the Gators play a game outside of the South (they are 9-21-1 all-time). Since 1950, it's only the 15th game (6-8-1 record) and just the 10th regular season game over that same time span (5-3-1 record).

We're witnessing history---hooray conference realignment!

Aside from that, there should be plenty of hype for this game as both teams are breaking in young quarterbacks and both coaching staff's will have a lot to prove.

Georgia at Missouri

Another new SEC matchup---you have to admit these will be pretty fun for the first couple years.

I like Georgia a lot in this game and I'm not so sure Missouri is prepared to do battle in the SEC right now. Actually, I'm not sure Missouri ever will be.

Miami at Kansas State

Miami doesn't have a very friendly schedule to open up Al Golden's second season at Da U. After opening on the road at Boston College, they'll have to hightail west to Manhattan, Kansas for a battle against Bill Snyder and the Wildcats.

Does anyone anywhere at any time know what to expect from Kansas State because I don't. These two teams played for the first time last year and the Wildcats won by 4 points. I suppose I'd expect another result similar to that in 2012.

Nebraska at UCLA

There's a chance that Nebraska may be coming off an upset by Southern Miss in week one and the Corn could be desperate. This will also be Jim Mora Jr.'s first game in the national spotlight and we'll be watching to see if there's anything different with the Bruins.

These teams haven't met since 1994 and UCLA leads the series 6-4-0. For some reason I foresee this being a really entertaining game.

Oklahoma State at Arizona

As of right now Oklahoma State is going to be breaking in a freshman quarterback and of course Rich Rodriguez has taken over in Tuscon so there's another major storyline.

Okie State won't be challenged in week one but Arizona has to deal with some MACtion in the form of Toledo before this matchup. Both of these programs have played each other over the past two seasons (the Cowboys have won both by a combined scored of 73-24) so there's a little bit of a recent rivalry involved here.

I suspect a much closer game as Rich Rod amps up the offense at Arizona and Oklahoma State replaced Weeden, Blackmon & company.

Penn State at Virginia

This will be a mildly interesting game as the Nittany Lions embark on the Bill O'Brien era and square off on the road against a better-than-you-think Virginia team.

There's a good chance that Matt McGloin is still the Penn State quarterback so be prepared to take UVA and the points.

Washington at LSU

This will be only the third meeting all-time between these two programs. We know the Huskies will have their work cut out for them playing in Death Valley, but you do wonder what LSU's quarterback situation will look like early in the season---let's hope that player has a chest.

This is a quality out of conference matchup that should be worth a look on Saturday.

Wisconsin at Oregon State

The Badgers wrecked Oregon State 35-0 last year in Madison, but the 2012 game should be a little bit more competitive. It also says a lot about the pathetic nature of Wisconsin's annual schedules that this is their first mildly challenging road game out of conference since 2005 when they visited North Carolina.

Wisconsin has perfected the art of playing cupcakes and only mid-to-low-level BCS teams out of conference. That's how the program seemingly never dips below 8 wins a season. At some point, you'd think Wisconsin will lose a game like this.

Which game are you looking forward to?

The Week In News: Swinging Swords, More Realignment Talk and Irish Speed Merchants

2012-05-12T22:05:04Z

I am experimenting with the format a little bit this week. We have this little "clipper tool" that I never use. We'll see how it turns out. Feel free to tell me what you think about it.

Consider this the getting right to the point version. Starting elsewhere and ending in South Bend.

Swing Your Sword Reddit! The Mike Leach Chat. This is chock full of greatness.

I suspect Bill Snyder may be a sorcerer...he's one of the coaches that I admire most!

Texas-OU to Remain at Cotton Bowl Through 2020. The deal is now official. The Shootout will stay in Dallas through the end of the decade.

BlogPoll Returns! New No. 1 Team Overtakes Preseason Rankings. LSU is #1. Notre Dame is #24.

3 Arkansas Football Players Arrested On Multiple Felony Burglary Charges. At least John L. has something to do now.

Bob Stoops suspends four players indefinitely to include 3 receivers. The guys over at Crimson And Cream Machine tell us what this means for the Sooners lineup.

The rise of Trey Metoyer, proving that he's game ready this spring, makes this blow much easier to absorb. He and Kenny Stills have the outside receiver spots locked up and when you add Courtney Gardner's 6-3/215 frame into the mix then you have a very solid trio of receivers to start with.

Update: Charles Eric Waugh Arrested. Land-Grant Holy Land follows up after breaking the story.

Charles Eric Waugh was formally booked, Monday, May 7th after a week of turmoil surrounding the Ohio State superfan and his use of the social media platform twitter to communicate with under aged recruits.

On the Ohio State note, Terrelle Pryor says he accepted money for memorabilia to help his family.

"Let me remind you it was freezing cold in November, December and she's using the oven as heat. That's what I did as a kid. I was telling the NCAA, 'Please, anything that you can do. I gave my mother this so my sister wouldn't be cold, so my mother wouldn't be cold.' They didn't have any sympathy for me."

Pittsburgh sues Big East in hopes of moving exit date up a year.

Pitt argues since the Big East allowed West Virginia and TCU to exit the conference immediately that Pitt is no longer required to abide by the 27-month waiting period.

Florida State to the Big 12? Chip Brown seems to think so.

The ACC and ESPN announced a new media rights package on Wednesday. The contract includes football-only third tier rights revenue. And that's where the future of Florida State in the ACC and whether it would ever seriously consider jumping to the Big 12 could take on a life of its own.

With Lynch leaving Notre Dame, USF pursuing eligibility waiver. Keith Arnold tracked this one down too.

As expected, South Florida is pursuing a waiver to let former Irish defensive end Aaron Lynch played in 2012. Bulls head coach Skip Holtz, while hosting an interactive Google+ Hangout, mentioned the process of getting Lynch integrated into the South Florida football program.

ND CLINIC 2012. Someone took their notes from the Notre Dame Coaches Clinic and built this presentation on Google Docs. The color scheme is tough but it is interesting to flip through.

Speed in context: How fast are the Atkinsons? Keith Arnold takes a closer look.
With their performances in the 100m over the weekend proof that George and Josh Atkinson are fast, I wanted to dig a little deeper into the question, "How fast are they?" The answer, as it turns out, is really, really fast.

Between our crack team of writers and the commentariat cranking out FanPosts at the rapid rate I think we pretty much covered everything else this week. Keep it up with the FanPosts by the way. The more topics of discussion around here the better!

Have a great weekend and a relaxing Mother's Day!

Five Wide Fullbacks: The Mother's Day Edition

2012-05-11T18:30:15Z

Welcome to another edition of 5WF---One Foot Down's best 5-question article.

This week I answer some burning questions, some historically debatable questions, and even sneak in some hockey in honor of my mom for this Sunday's Mother's Day.

Five Wide Fullbacks coming at you in full HD right after the jump.

1. Rank the top five coaches in Notre Dame history

If you just go by winning percentage the list goes: Rockne, Harper, Leahy, Parseghian, Layden, Holtz, and Devine for men who coached at least 2 seasons.

My rankings would go like this:

5) Jesse Harper

He basically built the modern version of the football program and set up Knute Rockne for all the success he and Notre Dame would find in the late 1910's and 1920's. He's second in winning percentage, coached perhaps the most significant game in school history, and is responsible for Notre Dame turning into an unknown and into a football powerhouse. That's kind of important.

4) Lou Holtz

Since he's the last coach to win a national title and Notre Dame went into its biggest historic funk ever after he left, I'm sure people will hold Holtz in very high esteem. But does he belong any higher on this list?

He deserves major credit for turning around the program and delivering the aforementioned national title, but there's only 4 elite seasons out of 11 total, and many have said that Holtz' success at Notre Dame was due to the recruiting efforts of Vinny Cerato in the late 1980's. Once Cerato left, Notre Dame never quite got back to that elite level---and still hasn't.

Still, it's hard to bump him any higher when he had 3 times as many losses in the same amount of years as the coach ahead of him on my list.

3) Frank Leahy

I really hate to have Leahy down this far, but I feel like I have to do it. I know some intelligent people will make a convincing case that he should be No. 1 as well. But here's my argument: He took over from a coach that still had Notre Dame among the best teams in the country.

The program took a hard dive (compared to Rockne's standards) after 1930 for a couple seasons, but 7 seasons of nearly .800 winning football is nothing to sniff at. Put another way, Leahy walked into perhaps the finest situation any Notre Dame coach ever will. The school was popular, had a lot of tradition and national titles to hang its hat on, while the talent about to come streaming into South Bend after World War II was beyond absurd.

So while 11 losses in 11 season is ridiculous in its own right, it's a testament to Notre Dame and the legendary coaches that Leahy is outside the top two, not necessarily a knock on Leahy's accomplishments.

2) Ara Parseghian

You could wonder "what would have happened to Notre Dame if Lou Holtz didn't come around in the late 80's" but I think there could have been even more problems---and perhaps 4 fewer national titles---if Ara didn't come around in the early 1960's.

Notre Dame was way below its historical winning percentage for a decade and downright bad in the few years before Parseghian and he completely turned the program around. His turnaround was drastic, lasting, and as impressive as any coach in college football history.

He won two national titles, was a couple losses away from perhaps a couple more championships, and suffered 2 or fewer losses in 10 out of his 11 seasons in South Bend. That's amazing.

1) Knute Rockne

Could it be anyone else? Maybe...if you prescribe to the theory that Harper set Rockne up for success and that success was so long ago that its meaning has been diminished.

Yet, only 12 losses in 14 seasons, 5 undefeated seasons, and he left the game on top with back-to-back perfect seasons and national titles. If he coaches just 5 more seasons how many more national titles does Notre Dame own?

2. If the spread for the Navy game is set at Notre Dame (-26.5) will you take the Irish to cover?

I'll take Notre Dame to cover.

We should put up 50 points---let's say 5 rushing touchdowns, a couple more through the air and a field goal or two. I really think the Irish are ready to dominate the triple option and hold Navy under 20 points.

That should amount to an easy cover.

3. Notre Dame rushed for 2,000 yards last season for the first time since 2001, and for only the third time since the 1995 season. 5 BCS conference teams (Oregon, Georgia Tech, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Baylor) rushed for 3,000 yards last season---will Notre Dame ever achieve this feat under Brian Kelly?

My immediate reaction is hell-to-the-no.

But then...maybe?

Two of the above teams (Wisconsin and Georgia Tech) play a completely different offense, but the other three are similar to Notre Dame's under Brian Kelly.

Obviously, the Irish would need two things to happen: The offense would have to start running at a much higher tempo (and running the ball more but yeah...duh) and the quarterback would have to chip in a good amount of yards.

Out of Baylor, Oregon, and Missouri their quarterbacks ran for an average of 700 yards on the season. I don't think there's anyone on the Notre Dame roster who can do that right now, but maybe, just maybe, Everett Golson could do that (54 yards a game) in 2013 if Cierre Wood comes back and George Atkinson has a tremendous sophomore season this year.

But probably not happening.

4. RKG Contest: Out of the trio of Bruce Heggie, Matthias Farely, and Brad Carrico who will have the most successful football career under the Golden Dome?

It's tough to pick two guys who will likely be journeymen backups on the offensive line, so I'll go with Farley.

He may never start at safety (or wherever he finally settles on the depth chart) but he should be a very valuable special teams player and someone who can lay the occasional big hit. I also think his potential is much higher and maybe as a senior he'll make his way into the rotation in the secondary.

5. Explain the coolest thing your mother ever did for you.

Well, my mom has done a lot of cool things for me because I've been blessed with a pretty awesome mother, but one thing sticks out above all the rest from my childhood.

I'm a 4-year old little guy just learning how to play hockey and really getting into the sport. The cool thing to do was to collect baseball and hockey cards which pretty much any kid at that age did back then. But there was also something else me and my friends collected which I thought was way more amazing.

You had to be there, you just did.

Panini hockey sticker albums!!!

Holy crap were these things amazeballs on so many levels.

Essentially what happened was every late-summer these books would be put on the shelf at your local grocery store. Inside of them they had two pages devoted to every team in the league, and they sold these thin little individual packets of stickers (I think 5 per packet) and you had to collect all of them to fill the book.

You had to collect about 8 to 10 players per team, each team's logo, each team's uniform, and they also made extra stickers and room in the book for All-Star teams and the NHL awards trophies. Best of all, in one particular year you had to collect like 20 different stickers to form the Stanley Cup in a two-page layout.

Ah, childhood.

As far as I was concerned this blew collecting cards out of the water.

Anyway back to my story with my mom. At that age I did not want to tie my shoe laces---didn't care, didn't want to put in the effort, and would rather walk around without them tied than "struggle" with it. Well, my mom made me a deal. She probably got sick of me begging for a packet or two of stickers every time we left the house so she said that once I learned to tie my shoes, she'd buy me as many packets as I wanted.

I didn't believe her but when I finally learned how to tie those laces, I came home and there were multiple cases of the stickers waiting for me to rip open. Needless to say, I opened those packets for hours until my fingers bled and yes, I did finally fill the entire book for once!

Thanks, mom.

Happy Mother's Day to all the great mom's out there!

Blue-Gold Game Review: George Atkinson III

2012-05-11T11:00:31Z

This post is the first in an in-depth look at the Blue-Gold game. Because the spring game is more of a practice than an actual game, it’s a futile exercise to analyze the scheme and play-calling and try to make predictions about next year. So instead, I’m going to look at individual players and break down plays that were particularly brilliant or bone-headed. To begin, we’ll look at a player that amazed most of us with his ability to both run through defenders and also turn the ball over in new and creative ways – George Atkinson III.

This post also marks the introduction of the One Foot Down YouTube channel. I’ll be using it to post videos of the plays I’ll be breaking down in each article, but look out for the others to add their own stuff. I’m sure we’ll be seeing Eric modeling uniforms he developed in his basement and Jim posting grainy videos of recruits he took with his cell phone. Be sure to check us out at OneFootDownND.

GAIII showed Irish fans a lot of gold things in the Blue-Gold Game – speed, power, elusiveness, and patience – but he also showed the ability to make incredibly stupid mistakes. But I think I speak for most fans when I say we’ll tolerate those mistakes as long as he also makes plays like that on a consistent basis.

You may have noticed that I included one play in the video where Atkinson doesn’t touch the ball. That’s because it was the one play where he stayed back in pass protection. Watch him try and engage a lineman and get shoved backwards ten feet. Luckily, one of the offensive linemen bails him out. Pass protection will be something to keep an eye on in the fall. If there’s one thing that could keep Atkinson off the field (besides playing behind Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick), it’s that.

On to the breakdowns. This first play showed great patience and awareness from Atkinson.

The Irish are lined up with two tight ends and Andrew Hendrix under center.

You can see the blocks starting to develop. This is Zone Blocking 101. As the men on the ends of the line, Ben Koyack and Alex Welch block the two outside linebackers, Ben Councell and Anthony Rabasa. Christian Lombard and Mike Golic are "covered" and block the men in front of them. Nick Martin was uncovered, so he immediately moved up to engage with Jarrett Grace, one of the middle linebackers. Both Chris Watt and Zach Martin were partially covered by Tyler Stockton, so they both took him on. Watt quickly disengaged and moved up to the second level to block the other middle linebacker, Justin Utupo.

Louis Nix got an angle on Golic and is in Atkinson’s way. This is an inside zone, so Atkinson’s target is the B gap between the right guard and right tackle. Golic isn’t beaten, but Nix has done enough to force a cutback. Luckily, you can see Martin and Watt forging a path for Atkinson.

Martin plants Tyler Stockton into the ground and Watt rides Utupo towards the middle of the field. Atkinson makes the cut, reads the hole, and explodes though it.

This is a great job by Atkinson. He could have still tried to run to the right side, but he probably would have either run into Nix’s arms or had to bounce it outside. Instead, he saw the cutback lane open up for him and took it. Watt and Martin basically parted the Red Sea for him, but it’s still nice to see the rising sophomore read the play correctly and not try to force it.

This next play is almost exactly the same as the last one.

The Irish are lined up under center with two tight ends.

Once again, the Irish run an inside zone. And, once again, there is someone right in Atkinson’s way. Atkinson cuts back to his left…

…and drops the ball.

That wasn’t great, but Atkinson showed his vision again on that run. That play was dead once Connor Hanratty let his man by, but GAIII made the right read and probably would have picked up a lot of yards if he hadn’t put the ball on the ground.

One of the good things about talking about a running back is that it let me take a good look at the offensive line. While Atkinson was juking guys out of their shoes and blowing by them down the sideline, the offensive line was opening up big holes.

What really made this last play was this block by Jordan Prestwood:

He drives his man backwards and blocks him into another defender, sealing off the edge. Just a fantastic play by the young tackle.

Speaking of great plays by left tackles, here’s one by Zach Martin.

The offense lines up with only one tight end this time.

The Irish run an outside zone this time. Martin and Watt were both partially covered, so they both drove their man backwards.

It’s hard to tell from this picture, but Martin (above the red arrow) releases from is man and lets Watt (to the left of the yellow arrow) finish the block. Martin is now parallel to Carlo Calabrese, but facing the other way.

So Martin simply does an about-face and seals off the edge, leaving a big alley for Atkinson to run through. I’m not sure how many tackles in college football can stop on a dime, change directions, and push a charging linebacker backwards.

If you want to see a clinic on how to play offensive line, watch the video again and focus on the left tackle. Both Martin and Prestwood are flawless. Poor Tyler Stockton and Sheldon Day just got abused all day by those two.

It’s crazy to think that Jordan Prestwood is a backup on this team. How many teams on Notre Dame’s schedule would plug a guy like him in at left tackle in a heartbeat?

Hopefully this gives Irish fans some hope for the future, despite the questions at quarterback and wide receiver. We’ll be in good shape if the line can open up holes for Atkinson to run through and force defenders to try and tackle him one-on-one in space. Assuming he holds on to the ball.

Next week we'll look at the other two running backs, Cierre Wood and Theo Riddick. If anyone has a suggestion for a player they want me to look at, leave a comment. And, yes, I will get to the four quarterbacks eventually.

(And part three of The Evolution of the Brian Kelly Offense is coming. I just don't know when.)