Granted I'm a UAB fan so the last 2 seasons I've had lukewarm interest in college football. At best. Just a bad taste in the mouth. I'm also in Nashville so I've gotten to be a part of the Titans melding into a playoff contender. But the lack of defense in college football is just jarring. Or is it unstoppable offenses? Either way, there are times I watch a game and, while it may be entertaining in the "back-and-forth" sense, I feel like I watched an episode of WWE...more entertainment than sport. Everything goes in cycles but it seems college football has been in this mode for years now with obvious exceptions (mostly the SEC and definitely UAT). Do I need to take my Metamucil and a nap? Get off my lawn!
(09-17-2017 04:00 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Granted I'm a UAB fan so the last 2 seasons I've had lukewarm interest in college football. At best. Just a bad taste in the mouth. I'm also in Nashville so I've gotten to be a part of the Titans melding into a playoff contender. But the lack of defense in college football is just jarring. Or is it unstoppable offenses? Either way, there are times I watch a game and, while it may be entertaining in the "back-and-forth" sense, I feel like I watched an episode of WWE...more entertainment than sport. Everything goes in cycles but it seems college football has been in this mode for years now with obvious exceptions (mostly the SEC and definitely UAT). Do I need to take my Metamucil and a nap? Get off my lawn!
Offenses are getting MUCH harder to stop. Not coincidentally, passing attacks have gotten better in the college ranks - more balance.
(09-17-2017 06:43 AM)Hokie Mark Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017 04:00 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Granted I'm a UAB fan so the last 2 seasons I've had lukewarm interest in college football. At best. Just a bad taste in the mouth. I'm also in Nashville so I've gotten to be a part of the Titans melding into a playoff contender. But the lack of defense in college football is just jarring. Or is it unstoppable offenses? Either way, there are times I watch a game and, while it may be entertaining in the "back-and-forth" sense, I feel like I watched an episode of WWE...more entertainment than sport. Everything goes in cycles but it seems college football has been in this mode for years now with obvious exceptions (mostly the SEC and definitely UAT). Do I need to take my Metamucil and a nap? Get off my lawn!
Offenses are getting MUCH harder to stop. Not coincidentally, passing attacks have gotten better in the college ranks - more balance.
Yeah, but it seems like it's been that way forever and only getting worse. These things are supposed to go in cycles. Spurrier had the "fun n' gun" at UF in the 90s that just shredded defenses. It was adopted by all kinds of folks around the nation then defenses adjusted and shut it down. And even then it was just teams running away from opponents - no back-and-forth shootouts. Was a time you only saw 48-45, 56-36, and 47-21 scores in late-night WAC games.
Do you honestly not understand why?
The rise of fast paced offenses and the spread...
(09-17-2017 04:00 AM)blazr Wrote: [ -> ]Granted I'm a UAB fan so the last 2 seasons I've had lukewarm interest in college football. At best. Just a bad taste in the mouth. I'm also in Nashville so I've gotten to be a part of the Titans melding into a playoff contender. But the lack of defense in college football is just jarring. Or is it unstoppable offenses? Either way, there are times I watch a game and, while it may be entertaining in the "back-and-forth" sense, I feel like I watched an episode of WWE...more entertainment than sport. Everything goes in cycles but it seems college football has been in this mode for years now with obvious exceptions (mostly the SEC and definitely UAT). Do I need to take my Metamucil and a nap? Get off my lawn!
The Texas-USC game was 27-24, but there were only 3 points scored in 56 minutes of the game. There was no scoring until 2:47 left in the first half when there were 3 TDs. And then only a FG until :45 left in the game when there was another TD and FG. Regulation was tied 17-17.
(09-17-2017 09:18 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote: [ -> ]Do you honestly not understand why?
The rise of fast paced offenses and the spread...
Same thing in the NFL (hell, all but a handful of RBs are an afterthought in fantasy football now) but you don't have over/unders in the 70s.
They're also making it harder and harder to play defense. You can't hit the QB low, and you can't hit him high. You can barely touch the receivers. You have to be careful every time you hit anyone, even if you hit them a microsecond after they step out of bounds.
(09-17-2017 11:43 AM)NIU007 Wrote: [ -> ]They're also making it harder and harder to play defense. You can't hit the QB low, and you can't hit him high. You can barely touch the receivers. You have to be careful every time you hit anyone, even if you hit them a microsecond after they step out of bounds.
And they let the offensive line get away with holding 95% of the time they do it.
To understand the rise of offense is to understand the changes in the rules. QB's are so protected now with rule changes against hitting them below the knee being added this year to go along with the late hits (they were once considered another blocker once the ball was out of their hands), targeting which has stopped hits that strike above the shoulders, that they feel emboldened to hang onto to the ball much longer. Couple this with the extension of the line of scrimmage to include the first 3 to 5 yards downfield for linemen to be able to block in on passing routes (the line of scrimmage for pass blocking in the old days was the actual line of scrimmage) and their bubble is expanded. Now mix in the limits on bumping receivers down field, hand checking, and the rise of the picks and rubs that receivers are getting away with and suddenly your defense is overwhelmed.
Now if a defender is about to tackle a ball carrier who has lowered his head and is lunging toward a marker destination the defender has to pause in his approach to make sure he doesn't make helmet to helmet contact or he looses a half of play. There are no rules prohibiting the running back from using the helmet as part of his attack on the defender.
Even on extra points and kicks a player may not leap in any manner in an attempt to block the kick if that results in his falling on another player (either his own or the opposition). To do so results in a 15 yard penalty. It was only about 20 years ago that running into the kicker was added to roughing the kicker, and now simply running into the kicker results in the same 15 yards that true roughing once resulted in.
In the defensive line play has always been very much like Sumo. You charge into the defender in front of you and hand fighting in the form of pushes and slaps was always part of it. Now if your hand accidentally moves into the face guard it's 15 yards.
The result of all of this has been passivity on the part of the defense where you may be hit anywhere, including below the knees provided someone else isn't hitting you up high (this results in a chop block call). So defenders are on the defensive and for anyone who has played the game they know it takes away your aggressiveness. But, you had better be damned careful as to how you strike the lineman blocking you and even more particular about how you grab the ball carrier, otherwise you will be flagged or disqualified.
So what you are witnessing is mostly the result of rules changes. However that is not the full explanation.
The teaching of fundamental skills is practically non existent in high school today. They place all of the fastest and most gifted natural athletes on the offense in high school and everyone else is placed on defense. The largest kids are placed on the line unless they are fast. So blocking has become getting in someone's way or simply being an obstacle like a large immovable rock. Tackling is either body blocking someone to the ground, or hanging on until the pack can pile on to bring them down.
The "Spread" is the result of all of this. Fast tall guys are wide outs and fast short guys are running backs. The best athlete is the QB (passing skills are a perk but not required). So these kids run all over the defenses in high school and garner their 4 and 5 star ratings because of it. Their egos are so large by the time they get to college that they are practically uncoachable. College coaches are under such pressure to recruit that everything is geared to signing these brats. Fail to pamper them and they leave causing boosters who paid to get them to come down on the coaches. Coaches getting paid millions are mostly risk averse so they blame assistants until there is nobody left to blame, and rather than risk actually teaching these dumb jerks how to play the game they coddle them, hype them to the press as the best ever, and let them play like they want to play.
The result is the totally undisciplined play that we watch every Saturday that is either a lopsided romp, a score orgy, or totally discombobulated affairs where not much happens and what does happen happens randomly.
There are minimally about six kinds of blocks and what kind of block you utilize depends on the kind of play you are running. In the old days once you had made a block you fired out and looked to make another on your own. Today they get in the way and if the play is sustained, or moves past them, they give out and stop. Why? They are too fat to keep it up.
If you don't believe me pick out your favorite school's flashback games and watch the athletes in the 80's and before. They weren't fat! There weren't any big bellies hanging over belts and the lines played all 60 minutes. You won't see all of the substitutions because they were in shape.
Auburn would have never had a kick six return on Alabama linemen in the 80's. Go back and watch Dave Remington as Nebraska's center, you know the one the trophy is named for. When he snapped the ball he was the quickest lineman to the block I had ever seen.
The product we are paying for today is like a quality restaurant that has gone downhill. The brand name is the same, but all of the key ingredients are missing from the recipe. The food cost more and tastes blah because the money is now going into the promotion instead of the damned product.
Everybody has million dollar coaches at the P level, but there are only a handful of them that actually know how to teach, care about fundamentals, and employ discipline and don't give a hoot if they have to cut some prima donna's butt from the team, and who still have the nuts enough to tell a booster where to stick it! And it's real easy to spot those coaches because they win, win big, and have teams that aren't painful to watch play.
Sadly my Auburn Tigers are no longer one of them. This is why Nick Saban, Chris Petersen, Urban Meyer, and Mark D'Antonio will always find ways to win. The new coaches coming up behind them will be hit or miss with their recruits. There are at least two, maybe three, notable exceptions that I have witnessed among the younger ones: James Franklin & Dabo Swinney who are now claimed by a destination school (and yes Clemson is becoming a destination school), and Dan Mullen who has consistently won with less quality and less resources at Mississippi State. Somebody will claim him after this year and then the handful of coaches who know how to build better players and better people out of the human debris they recruit will be set in stone while the game they love deteriorates around them like the rest of our society by pandering to the problems instead of addressing them, worrying about what others think of you instead of doing what is right, and by covering up or making quick fixes for structural failures.
The rules HAVE been evolving to favor offense, but the college rules are not as favorable to the offense as the rules are in the NFL where scores aren't so high.
Spread offenses take advantage of the roster differences between the NFL and college.
No matter how good you are, you get four years of playing in college. There are many times more players so there is a greater difference in talent on the field.
Spread operates on the idea keeping help too far away to help out quickly. Rare is the game where an offense cannot find at least one mismatch and better QB's and receivers even if they can't find a mismatch can exploit a mistake.
In the NFL talent is more tightly grouped so it is much harder to have the college type of success.
(09-17-2017 11:53 AM)bullet Wrote: [ -> ]And they let the offensive line get away with holding 95% of the time they do it.
Most O-linemen these days can't keep defenders away from the QB unless they hold.
Which is of course another reason why spread offenses are in vogue. When your linemen can't protect your QB, you damn well better get the ball out fast, or your QB won't stay healthy for long.
(09-17-2017 09:18 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote: [ -> ]Do you honestly not understand why?
The rise of fast paced offenses and the spread...
Summer 7 on 7s....
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thing to me is it feels like offense is a smidge down this year.
Looking- so far this year- FBS teams are averaging 31.4 ppg. Last year for the entire season FBS teams averaged 30.1 ppg. Now I think it's a bit apples to oranges as we've seen only like 16 conference games and I would think that conference games are always lower scoring. Also had a majority of the FBS/FCS games included which are always high scoring for the FBS side... Also yards per game is down microscopically- from 411.97 to 411.88.
Also looking- game lengths are actually down this year. From 3:24 to 3:18. Not a huge drop-- but a good one.
What are you talking about???
-signed FSU, Alabama, and Clemson
Pro defenses are faster than college defenses. But they play on the same size field. So it's easier for the (faster) pro defenses to swarm to the ball anywhere on the field.
Imagine if MLB played with 60 feet between the bases (like in Little League) - batting averages would go up quite a bit. It's the same sort of thing here (although in football it's the defense that benefits from the smaller field).
(09-18-2017 11:56 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: [ -> ]Pro defenses are faster than college defenses. But they play on the same size field. So it's easier for the (faster) pro defenses to swarm to the ball anywhere on the field.
Imagine if MLB played with 60 feet between the bases (like in Little League) - batting averages would go up quite a bit. It's the same sort of thing here (although in football it's the defense that benefits from the smaller field).
actually for offense, the field is a lot bigger in some ways due to the hash marks. The ball in the pros is always in the middle of the field.