What connects Congress and college football?

Football (American style) is a bedrock of our nation. From peewee leagues up to the pros in the NFL, America loves the sport.

On the other side of things, Americans have never had much love for Congress. In my 40+ years of life I have heard multiple generations decry how miserable Congress is at doing ANYTHING. The most recent iteration of Congress is arguably at least as bad as average, if not worse.

Now the question you might have is what do the 2 have to do with each other?

Congress is now debating on being involved in college football. Yes, while there is 10% unemployment in the nation, while President Obama is seeking to create another stimulus to do what the first did not, while American troops are under fire in Iraq and Afghanistan, Congress is debating football.

The shock I have on this is beyond that I had for the claims of creating or "saving" jobs while unemployment levels rose for months in a row. I was more amazed than when Congress claimed they could create a program that does not spend more than it costs (ie Health Care Reform). This is about the worst idea, and timing yet.

Can you imagine this? The Government, particularly Congress, can't balance a budget, can't manage anything, can't even read laws they are enacting yet they want to be involved in college football? Can you imagine how convoluted college football will become once Congress gets their hands on this.

Texas Representative Joe Barton is the one behind this disaster waiting to happen. Considering all the things in front of the House of Representatives right now, I would think that his constituents in Texas would want him focused on many other things beside college Bowl match-ups.

HR 390 - The College Football Playoffs Act - is the bill in question. If you are represented by Rep. Barton in Texas I suggest you go to his contact page - found at this link - and tell him to forget about a Government controlled college football and focus on jobs, the economy, health care reform, the deficit, Iraq, Afghanistan, or any of a dozen other far more serious and responsible issues.

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The college football play of the year

OK, in the past I have provided videos of a hole in one that made $1 million dollars. I have shown video of futbol players that make the tricks of basketball look lame. I have even found video of the world's fastest goal in soccer - sure to never be broken, maybe not even tied.

But this video really stands out from the rest. It just makes you think, "What in the hell were they thinking?"



And no it was not your computer, there was no sound in the video.

But I really would have loved to hear whomever came up with the idea for that play. Can you just imagine them trying to explain the no look over the shoulder pass. Can you imagine what the rest of the team was thinking?

The team that made this play was Bethel College, during a huge win for the team. The Quarterback is Garrett Hiebert #16, making the catch was tight end Joel Maple #40. This will certainly make the highlight reels of sports for the year.

College football: Tennessee vs. UCLA

For those that watched the UCLA – Tennessee college football game, I imagine the question in your mind right now is

“What was the Tennessee coach thinking?”

For those that were not watching the game here is a quick recap.

With about 3 minutes left in the game, in the 4th quarter, Tennessee had the ball. They were around the 20 yard line. And in the next roughly minute and a half they rolled down the field to score a touchdown bringing the game to a 21 – 17 lead. The game looked in the bag.

But UCLA was far from done. In roughly 40 seconds UCLA had a huge set of passes, the most critical being a 20 yard pass (as I recall) that was taken out of bounds and stopped the clock. In the next 2 plays UCLA muscled over to the get an expected winning touchdown with a score of 24 – 21.

But Tennessee was not done. With all of 34 seconds on the clock they came back up field to the UCLA 37 yard line. Now at this point they had 1 timeout and 5 seconds on the clock. The choices in front of them were simply a Hail Mary pass – which rarely works - or a field goal attempt. The kicker has a record of having 48 yards as his longest attempt. So there is a risk no matter which you choose.

There was no wind on the field. The Tennessee kicker looked like he wanted to pass out from the pressure. And nailed the kick, from about the center of the field, with enough height to presumably make the kick from at least another 5 yards back.

Tied game 24 - 24 and here comes overtime.

UCLA starts off and just romps on the Tennessee defense. They barnstorm across the field with little trouble, till the 20 yard line. They decide to go for a field goal and take the lead. From about 35 yards, and somewhat to the right, they nail it. Score now 27 – 24.

Tennessee takes the field. From the kickoff it’s apparent that they are being busted up. There was hardly any movement once they got up to the mid-field. So with 2 yards to go on 4th down and a timeout available the decision was made without a hesitation.

This is where I disagree with the coach. I think everyone would disagree with him if they ever watch football. I can’t imagine a single team in the NFL that would go this route. Football is about winning, making the tough plays – and the coach decides to go for… the tie.

In comes the same kicker that just made a huge kick to put the game into overtime. In my opinion he had performed well enough to up his value to any NFL scouts. Without question he had just pumped up his adrenaline to overdrive, and focused intensely to get his team into an opportunity to win. Without question he was at the bench catching his breathe and trying to cool down. And now he had to go back out and do it again.

So in one fell swoop the coach had stated he had no confidence in his offense that had been winning the game for about half the game. An offense that in the 4th quarter played hard to try to win the game. And no confidence in an offense where just the play before the quarterback had just had enough time to sit in the pocket and then decided to run, gaining 5 yards.

But the coach decided that a tie was the best plan. Because football is about ties. Because the offense doesn’t want to win. Because quarterbacks can’t throw and running backs are slow. Hell let’s be honest, 2 yards is just too far and a timeout is useless.

So from the far-right, at 34 yards, after having sweated his balls off on getting his team into overtime the Tennessee kicker came back onto the field.

As you might imagine from my tone I’m not pleased with the decision.

And the result bore me out. The kick missed and UCLA won the game.

I don’t blame the kicker I blame the coach. You go for the win. But if you disagree I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Black College Footbal Experience - 10.4.2007.1

Get ready for a video game that has some color that you haven't seen before.



Do I need to say more?

The early upset of the Fiesta Bowl - 1.1.07

What a start to the New Year. I must say this was a day of surprises to me. One was an upset the other was upsetting. Let me explain. I’m not a big fan of college football. That said I have occasionally watch how my Rutgers Football team has done for the last 20 years. This year they finally got the bowl game and recognition they deserve, and has been promised since I went to school there. But this is not what I am speaking of.

Boise State played in the Fiesta Bowl tonight against Oklahoma. I’m a fan of neither team and knew little of the history of either team. Luckily for me a friend of mine was aware. Boise State deserved to play Ohio as an undefeated team, but instead they played Oklahoma. It was a good game, which Boise dominated. Like another friend of mine watching the game I agree that the announcers, and the referees were biased against Boise. The 2 pass interference calls in the 4th quarter, with fewer than 3 minutes to play, were absolutely wrong. The announcers seemed resigned to see Oklahoma win. Thankfully the Boise State coach was not listening to either.

If you fell asleep or failed to see the end of the game you missed out on what may well become a classic college football game. With the game tied (due to bad calls by the referees in my opinion) the game went into overtime. Oklahoma seemed to have deflated the opposing spirit with a one play overtime touchdown. But Boise had some tricks left. After fighting for the initial first down, they moved forward and set up a wonderful series of plays. The bold touchdown they scored was impressive, but it was only a setup for what was to come. While I and my friends were screaming for the extra point to tie the game, and to rely on the defense that had played extremely well versus Oklahoma the coach called the team over for a special play. With the quarterback going into motion the ball was thrown by a receiver for a touchdown. Who knew that was in the playbook.

I believe it is called a statue of Liberty play. What I do know is that it was a superbly executed behind the back off-hand hand off to get the 2 point conversion and the win. Again I say who knew that was in the playbook. There was no point in which Boise was not stepping up and playing like they were going to win. The special plays they pulled showed that they were ready and determined to win. If I were a fan of either team I think I would have been going insane watching the end of this game. And if I were betting this is the dream over that you would want. If you stayed up, you have to agree it was worth it. If you missed the game, shame on you. And I have to ask, why didn’t they deserve to play against the other undefeated team, Ohio?