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Has "Speed" Moved North Or Is It Over-Rated

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  • Has "Speed" Moved North Or Is It Over-Rated

    Speed Of College Football In The South Has Made A Move North-Miami Herald

    "Agility, strength, coaching, fundamentals, and speed all have a part to play. To try to whittle the major factors of football success away and only focus on speed is horrible journalism."

    Azzgunther, Iowascout.com

    For those watching this year, they'd have noted the performance of the Big Ten's top four teams against rated opponents in the bowl games. We watched such speed notables as Miami, Oregon, LSU, and Georgia Tech take tumbles.

    All four were resounding victories for the Big Ten. In addition, Northwestern nearly beat Auburn in an absolute over-time heart-breaker highlighted by Northwestern Q.B Mike Kafka's 78 pass attempts, four T.D. passes, and 532 yards of passing.

    Has the balance of speed and athleticism shifted northward or is speed over-rated as a component of the college game? All four Big Ten victories featured dominant line play on both sides of the ball. Yet all four games included big plays from the line of scrimmage and viable passing attacks.

    Those teams which lost weren't simply bludgeoned to death.

    Your thoughts?
    "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
    "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

  • #2
    Originally posted by S-2 View Post
    Speed Of College Football In The South Has Made A Move North-Miami Herald

    "Agility, strength, coaching, fundamentals, and speed all have a part to play. To try to whittle the major factors of football success away and only focus on speed is horrible journalism."

    Azzgunther, Iowascout.com

    For those watching this year, they'd have noted the performance of the Big Ten's top four teams against rated opponents in the bowl games. We watched such speed notables as Miami, Oregon, LSU, and Georgia Tech take tumbles.

    All four were resounding victories for the Big Ten. In addition, Northwestern nearly beat Auburn in an absolute over-time heart-breaker highlighted by Northwestern Q.B Mike Kafka's 78 pass attempts, four T.D. passes, and 532 yards of passing.

    Has the balance of speed and athleticism shifted northward or is speed over-rated as a component of the college game? All four Big Ten victories featured dominant line play on both sides of the ball. Yet all four games included big plays from the line of scrimmage and viable passing attacks.

    Those teams which lost weren't simply bludgeoned to death.

    Your thoughts?
    I haven't watched enough football this year to be able to comment on the rebalancing of speed, but I would say that it's nice to see the Big Ten do well for a change on the bowl front. We'll have to see if this was a fluke or if it's a trend.
    "So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3

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    • #3
      Originally posted by S-2 View Post
      Speed Of College Football In The South Has Made A Move North-Miami Herald

      "Agility, strength, coaching, fundamentals, and speed all have a part to play. To try to whittle the major factors of football success away and only focus on speed is horrible journalism."

      Azzgunther, Iowascout.com

      For those watching this year, they'd have noted the performance of the Big Ten's top four teams against rated opponents in the bowl games. We watched such speed notables as Miami, Oregon, LSU, and Georgia Tech take tumbles.

      All four were resounding victories for the Big Ten. In addition, Northwestern nearly beat Auburn in an absolute over-time heart-breaker highlighted by Northwestern Q.B Mike Kafka's 78 pass attempts, four T.D. passes, and 532 yards of passing.

      Has the balance of speed and athleticism shifted northward or is speed over-rated as a component of the college game? All four Big Ten victories featured dominant line play on both sides of the ball. Yet all four games included big plays from the line of scrimmage and viable passing attacks.

      Those teams which lost weren't simply bludgeoned to death.

      Your thoughts?
      Appalachian beating Michigan with the spread made the Big 10 finally realize they had to get pure speed in the backs positions. Sure, you've always had the high passing attacks like my favorite team Purdue with Tiller coaching and Brees the QB there and maybe Northwestern the past couple years (78 passes!), but it's always been a league based on smashmouth line play, if you don't have a good o-line or d-line/linebacker corps, you will not be successful (which is why Georgia Tech's offense against a team like Iowa was hopeless; 32 total yards in the first half they had). Now if they can combine quickness on the outside (both receivers and corners) with smashmouth lines, they have something very special.

      As far as whether that will translate into national titles? I don't think so. The quickest guys are mostly in the South in high school and they're not going to go to Ann Arbor or Minneapolis for college. It's nothing the Big 10 has done wrong, it's just location and the demographics of certain areas of the country. Notre Dame has the same problem plus they actually require their players to pick a major and go to class.

      I personally have always thought the Big 10 should schedule home games against the SEC in November though. Alabama's good but how will their players handle the snow at Columbus with the standard week preparation? :))
      Last edited by rj1; 08 Jan 10,, 16:17.

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      • #4
        Trends

        The Big Ten is 6-6 against the SEC in bowl games in the last five years. The SEC holds a 14-12 edge over the last 10 years. I think there's more data out there than one suspects.
        "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
        "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

        Comment


        • #5
          rj1 Reply

          "I personally have always thought the Big 10 should schedule home games against the SEC in November though. Alabama's good but how will their players handle the snow at Columbus with the standard week preparation?"

          SEC wants no part of a non-conference road game in the north as they're closing out their conference schedule.
          "This aggression will not stand, man!" Jeff Lebowski
          "The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool." Lester Bangs

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by S-2 View Post
            "I personally have always thought the Big 10 should schedule home games against the SEC in November though. Alabama's good but how will their players handle the snow at Columbus with the standard week preparation?"

            SEC wants no part of a non-conference road game in the north as they're closing out their conference schedule.
            It was just an observation on how their players don't know what cold weather is, seeing as they rarely leave the South during the regular season for out-of-conference games, and then play their bowl games in domes in New Orleans, Atlanta, bunch of bowl games in Florida. I'm up for moving the BCS title game to Soldier Field.

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