December 3, 2020
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
GOD BLESS
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone adversely effected by Hurricane Delta… and My heart goes out to my friends in the Lake Area who endured major destruction at the hands of Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta. My thoughts and prayers are with you. We strongly urge readers of this newsletter to donate to a worthwhile Hurricane oriented charity in the Lake Area.
TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott explores an alternate universe for LSU--Alabama
Dennis has a third thing one can be assured of besides Death and Taxes…
Please scroll down below.
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ONE AND ALL AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR WAY SAFELY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC. WE STAND WITH THOSE THAT ARE PEACEFULLY PROTESTING AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AND RACISM.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
If you choose to believe and will not change your mind that last year´s LSU football team was perfect because it was perfectly coached on offense then stop reading now.
LSU was amazing on offense last year. LSU was extremely well coached on offense. LSU was not perfect, though. LSU was either out schemed or out executed on the most iconic plays from last year.
On 3rd and 17 at Texas, the Longhorns had the right defense. Burrow, Edwards-Helaire, and Jefferson made an unreal play.
At Alabama, Saban had the right defense called time and again in the second half. He had an unblocked player in the backfield to tackle Clyde, and Clyde kept spinning out of the tackle. On third down, Alabama made Burrow check down to Clyde well short of the first down, but Diggs had no desire to tackle Clyde that night.
The Heisman moment of the SEC Championship game was Burrow eluding an unblocked Georgia rusher to find Jefferson on the scramble drill.
LSU had the best quarterback, receiver, running back, and offensive line in college football. Yet for a time in the Clemson game, LSU was having a tough time giving Burrow time and running the ball. Keep in mind that Clemson broke some of Burrow´s ribs scheming up a free rusher through the line.
None of that changes the fact that the coaching was great last year. It should give some perspective, though, on the fine line between being the best ever and being good. LSU was good on offense in 2018, they were the best ever in 2019. Chase, Marshall, Jefferson, Edwards-Helaire, Burrow, and others were on the 2018 offense. Yes, the scheme changed some. But the players also grew up, and grew up together.
The even finer line is between being good and not being able to move the ball at Texas A&M at all. Let us not forget that LSU was good on offense at the beginning of the year.
Offensive football is about being able to establish something that forces the defense to overreact. When the defense does that, you have them set up for something else. Last year, LSU was able to establish the run and pass.
At the beginning of the year, Brennan could step up in the pocket and move around just enough to get the ball to Marshall, Gilbert, and other receivers. I am sure there were many adjustments along the way that Brennan was able to make with his knowledge and experience that we will never know about.
The Denver Broncos had nothing to hang their hat on without a quarterback against the Saints. The results were not surprising. LSU will be in a less extreme situation against Alabama without Chase, Marshall, and Brennan who were going to be the three best and most experienced players on offense this year.
Before anyone says anything, I promise you Alabama would not be averaging anywhere near 48 points a game if the following happened. Najee Jones had declared for the draft, like he should have (as a running back he will be drafted late first or early second round). Devonta Smith opted out. Mac Jones got hurt. Alex Leatherwood had declared for the draft like he should have as well. Losing that many players would make Bama average on offense. That would still be only half the number of players LSU lost on offense.
It is not fun to watch and very frustrating as a fan. Still, it is not hard to see the talent is in place. It just needs time to grow up.
HEY REF
I’ve always heard people say there are only two things guaranteed in life and they are death and taxes. I can agree with that but I’d like to include a third which is as you get older things start to wear out. I say this because in just six weeks I’ll reach that dreaded milestone; my 65th birthday. I feel as though I’ve got more than my share of parts that are either wearing out, worn out or have to be replaced. I won’t complain since it’s better than being room temperature. I’ve been sitting in my doctor’s office a little too often and this past week takes the cake.
But as I just wrote, it beats being room temp. I’ve tried to sit in front of my computer the past four days to scribble together a few words of wisdom but I have to surrender to the pain. I feel I’ve got to answer a couple questions asked of me just a week or so ago. Number one went something like this; “What would you say to someone wanting to become a football official”? I’d tell anyone wanting to start WORKING games to go for it. Just make sure your head understands officiating games is a job not a hobby. Too many guys think officiating is a time to have some fun.
I’m not saying you can’t have fun but when you begin this journey there’s just one thing you must do; LEARN the rules and how to apply them. I compare it to learning how to drive a car in that you can’t think what your next step should be or where you should focus your attention. Officiating must become an instinct as it is when driving; you don’t think what to do at a red light, you automatically slow down and get ready to stop. That is what you’re supposed to do but looking at how often red lights aren’t obeyed in Baton Rouge and the local area.
Question #2 went like this “What’s your biggest complaint with officials”? I don’t have a simple or short answer but after thinking on it for a day or two my biggest problem with today’s generation of high school officials is they concentrate at being a single entity instead of concentrating on how to work as part of a 5, 6 or 7 member crew. They just can’t grasp the concept. Too many times they’ll throw every member of the crew “under the bus” to make it look like they’re unable to make a mistake.
We’re human even though some coaches don’t think so and we’re going to make mistakes. But the difference going back to my early days is we LEARNED from our mistakes instead of trying to find someone to pin it on. I would go into this farther but I’m out of time as my back is demanding I go back to bed. Before I end this week’s column I found a simple earlier column that some may find enlightening. I’ll give it a “Best Of” tag and hope you’ll accept my apologies for having to go lay back down on my heating pad.
Best of Hey Ref
Well, it’s playoff time. And just when you think all those little kinks should be worked out after ten games comes a little something that causes you to say “HUH”! Just when it seems I’ve seen and/or heard it all something jumps up and bites me where the sun don’t shine. Case in point two coaches “spin” on what IS the rule in high school football played under Federation rules.
Now these two instances aren’t rumor as I’ve gone under cover and resumed wearing the black and white striped shirt on Friday night. Play one; team “A” attempts a field goal from their opponent’s 20 yard line. The kick is no good and hits about half way into the end zone before going out of bounds, crossing the end line.
I grabbed a new football and placed it on the 20 yard line. As I get to my position for first down I hear the head coach screaming at me that “the ball goes at the spot from the kick”. WHAT? Surely he’s kidding I thought but was I mistaken. I explained to the coach that on Sundays he’d be correct but this is Friday night. After a minute to think about it he apologized and we proceeded with the game.
Well, not to be outdone, just a few minutes later his opposition scores a touchdown. With the score 14 -12 we now have team “B” lining up in a scrimmage formation attempting a two point conversion. The receiver to my side splits wide and on the snap crosses the goal line where the defender hits him BEFORE the pass in thrown.
The receiver turns and tries to catch the ball. Of course he drops it and we have a near riot coming from that sideline. This coach actually stops the game, arguing that the receiver has a five yard cushion where he can’t be touched. Again, I’m stumped as again I’ve got to remind the coach of team “B” we’re playing on Friday not Sunday.
So, the crowd starts booing thinking we’d messed up another call when in fact we were correct in our ruling. I’ll tell everyone that will listen that we, game officials, DO MAKE MISTAKES. But simple day to day plays and situations shouldn’t cause a coach or fan for that matter to become irate. I do wish that all coaches should be required to take the same, exact rules test that all game officials take for the sport that they coach.
Also, to my brother officials, you should take it upon yourself to contact those coaches whose game/games you worked and request copies of those contests. I’ve always been an advocate for coaches and officials to work together and review game tapes in the hopes of learning how to do your job better. I’ve also been the first to admit that I’ve missed (blown) calls during a game and have worked to insure I don’t repeat those mistakes.
I don’t know of a single official that enjoys screwing up a call. I detest officials that refuse to admit they made a mistake because we’re human and we will make mistakes, it’s called being human. But not working to correct whatever you did wrong has no place in the game no matter the level.
Now that I got that off my chest, it’s time for me to go back and read my rulebook. I hope I didn’t shock anyone who thinks we; officials only read the rulebook to take the test. In fact many of us read the rulebook daily so that we don’t get caught on game day not understanding the difference between playing on Friday night opposed to a Saturday or Sunday game!!!!!
Till next week… …
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