Football Stuff

No college football rankings this week, so I think I will just write about some stuff that I have been thinking about the past few days. My bowl game picks will be done in a day or two, so I should have that posted shortly.

Ch-Ch-Changes…
If I were in charge of football, I would make some changes. First up, I would fix overtime in the NFL. I like having an extra period as opposed to the college system (which I think works for college, but I do not want to see it in the pros), but I hate the idea of a tie. It is so stupid. I think after the OT period, they should find another way to resolve the game. You could go to the two-point conversion setup that college uses after the third OT (I think that is the rule). OR, they could go with a field goal kicking contest. Start at a 50 yarder, then move back in five yard increments until someone misses. But, there would be no defense, just a snapper/holder/kicker. No worries about anyone getting hurt. Who doesn’t want to see Justin Tucker attempt a 70 yard FG??? 

Speaking of kicking. I hate kickoffs. Either it is a touchback every time or if they do attempt to run, there is a penalty. It sucks to watch. I think they should give the receiving team the option: automatic touchback before the kick, which keeps the ball at the 25 OR take the kick, but if it is a touchback, then you start at the 20. Also, if the kicker hits the field goal post, that team receives a point. We need a way to get more 1-point situations in games. 

I will stick with kicking for one more change. Field goals themselves need to change. I think the scoring needs to be tiered. Any field goal inside 30 yards should be worth 1 point. 31-44: 2 45-55: 3 55-60: 4 61+: 5. I want to see more teams going for crazy 70 yard FGs, but it being short and someone running it back (like Auburn against Alabama). 

Oh hell, we might as well talk about the onside kick. When was the last time one worked? 1984? Just kidding, it wasn’t that long ago. The rules have changed and it just ends up being recovered by the receiving team. There needs to be a new system. I do not know what would work, but anything would be better.

I would probably consider moving the line judge in the NFL back to the defensive side. They moved to the offensive side years ago (maybe 10?) and there has been a huge uptick in holding penalties called. I realize that holding is against the rules, but damn, there is holding on practically every play. Especially running plays. Hence why teams do not run nearly as much as they did. Also, if the hold occurs on the other side of the field and did not affect the play, the penalty should be assessed from the end of the play (unless it already is, then I apologize for being an idiot). 

Moving over to college. I think they need to fix the coaching situation. Coaches should not be hired/fired/retired until after the national championship game. That way there are no oddities about who is coaching bowl games. Yes, it will hurt teams for recruiting purposes, but we have the transfer portal, so it will even out.

Thiel Losing Streak
Remember when I wrote about the Thiel losing streak because of that commercial? Well I am happy to report that…just kidding, that streak continues. They are now at 38 straight losses. They were outscored 464-80. Their closest game this year was a 30-12 loss to Case Western Reserve University.

Heisman
Bryce Young won the Heisman and his performance against Georgia sealed the deal. Early in the season I took two futures bets for Heisman: Kenny Pickett (+4000) and C.J. Stroud (+450). After the Penn State/Michigan game, I took Haskins (+10000). Young was the favorite for almost the entire year, at least once the first games were played. I have no problem with him winning it. I can understand some Pitt fans being upset about it though. They felt that Pickett did not get the recognition he deserved early on, although to be fair, many of those fans complained about Pickett during his time at Pitt and bitched about him early in the year…so maybe it is just Pitt fans being Pitt fans. If I had a vote (eventually I will be on the playoff committee and given a Heisman vote):
1. Bryce Young
2. Kenny Pickett
3. C.J. Stroud
4. Aidan Hutchinson
5. Matt Corral

The James Franklin Situation
Franklin received a massive contract extension. Some fans are happy, some hate it. I do not know where I stand right now. Hiring Manny Diaz as defensive coordinator shows me that Penn State listened to Franklin about resources. They need to allocate more money for assistant coaches. Normally, a big time coach gets fired and it seems like they take a job at Alabama as a coordinator OR a special assistant. I am not saying Penn State is in the same realm as Alabama, but it is nice to see a coach who probably could have found head coaching jobs at some smaller schools come to Penn State.

The concerning thing though is the record against ranked teams. 11-16 (2-13 vs. top ten teams). Oh, and he has not beat Ohio State since 2016. This year it felt like he cost them games. Against Iowa, his backup QB could not function due to the crowd noise. How was he that unprepared??? Against Illinois, why was Clifford even in there? They did not work with the backups at all to make sure they could play at even a moderate level? Michigan game…a fake field goal? Ughhhhhh. Seriously, I ranted about that before.

The other concern is the offensive line. Every year it seems like the o-line is a problem. Franklin seems to recruit decent prospects at the position, so there is a coaching issue. Does he need to hire a better o-line coach? Not sure, but whatever the problem, it needs fixed and they need to fix it fast.

I think the extension buys him at least five more years (who knows how the contract is structured, I think Penn State is fairly secretive about that stuff), if they continue to flounder between 7-9 wins during that time, I could see them firing him and just paying him to go away (many schools have a coach out there still being paid). The amount of money they invested though says they want to see results. I am not saying it is national championship or bust, but I would think a Big Ten title needs to happen in the next half decade.

The Mike Tomlin Situation
Steelers fans hate Mike Tomlin. Everything that happens, they immediately blame Tomlin. They usually say something stupid like “Cowher would never let that happen!” JuJu dancing, Claypool wanting music at practice, blah blah blah. It gets old listening to it. Part of me wants them to fire Tomlin, then watching as the Steelers go through like a bunch of coaches trying to find the right one. Even better would be if Tomlin went somewhere else and won a Super Bowl.

Look, I think Tomlin is a great coach. I look forward to seeing what he and this team can do when Big Ben are gone. I have talked about this numerous times on here. No need to rehash it. If Ben retires and they get a new QB (either draft, trade, sign) and after a year or two, the team is still losing in the first round of the playoffs…then yeah, it is time to move on from Tomlin.

Do I think he is a perfect coach? Nope, not at all. He is terrible at challenges. I have no clue how he can be so bad at it. Fans love to complain about him being too conventional or conservative. Especially the analytics crowd. And yet, those people blasted John Harbaugh for going for the win and not getting the 2-point conversion. They mocked Harbaugh for being cocky and all sorts of things. But, the analytics were in his favor (it is not a cut & dry issue, there can be some debate about the analytics). The conventional wisdom would be to kick the extra point and then head to overtime. EXACTLY WHAT MIKE TOMLIN WOULD DO!

People like to complain about his clock management, but do these people watch other games? Almost every team is meh with clock management. Steelers fans were spoiled with Bill Cowher, who loved to grind out the clock (it did not hurt having Bettis as his running back). The only coach out there that I think is a clock management genius is Bill Belichick. The Patriots can eat the clock better than any team. The game against Buffalo on Monday, I think the Patriots had the ball with ten minutes to go, the next thing you know, there is under three minutes and they have only went like forty yards. That is impressive.