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Arkansas vs Kansas State – Cotton Bowl Drama

January 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The Friday evening, “Cotton Bowl” between Arkansas and Kansas State seemed thoroughly entertaining to me. As a Southerner, I was pulling for The Hogs and was glad to see them get the W. I thought the FOX coverage guys did a good job and we (my husband and I) remarked that it was a welcome change from the CBS duo that we’ve endured for yet another season. I realize some of you might really enjoy the Danielson/”Vern” coverage, so I apologize if I offend. Truthfully, it’s not just them that I mind…it’s the graphics they have up between plays that obscure the view of the actual plays and the fact that they replay the previous plays so often that we miss the real-time action. Enough. I did like the game, the stadium, the coverage and the graphics via FOX and, the score turned out to my liking as well.

There was a lot of drama in the game despite the rather lop-sided 29 to 16 score. Two Kansas State players collided and one was immobilized by the medical staff and removed via stretcher from the field. Very thankfully, he was okay and had no severe injuries. Moments like that during a game really call to mind how very brutal the play is and how quickly the focus can go to the more important things in Life.

On the sidelines, we observed Petrino and the “Anti-Petrino”. No two coaches have ever appeared more polar opposite to me. Bill Snyder, with his serene and grandfatherly demeanor was poised, pleasant and positive as he stood calmly directing his team. He just looks like the “kindliest of gentlemen”. He came onto the field each time one of his players was “shaken up”; holding an arm, speaking a word of encouragement, kneeling to comfort the young player. I never saw him raise his voice (or his arms) and he appeared thoroughly composed and assured throughout. Bobby Petrino, on the other hand, showed a fiery, petulant, explosive temperment with lips bearing easy-to-read explotives as he looked likely to explode, himself. His team was winning, by the way. Petrino is a good coach, and I recognize the great strides he has made at Arkansas. I’m just saying…wow, they were so different!

I wanted to address an odd situation that occurred when Kansas State blocked an extra point attempt (Point After Touchdown-PAT) by Arkansas. We rarely see this happen, so its not a “rule” that I list in “Let’s Kick it Off, Ladies”. When an extra point attempt (kick) is blocked by the defensive team and recovered by a defensive player, the player may advance the ball toward the opposite end of the field as long as the player is not ruled “down”.

We saw this strange event unfold during this game! When Arkansas’ PAT was blocked, the defense scooped the ball up off the ground and ran for the opposite END ZONE, pursued by only a few stunned Arkansas players who didn’t catch him. The ball carrier was awarded 2 points for his team, the points associated with a Safety. Just as with any Safety, insult is added to injury when the next kick off goes right back to the team receiving the 2 points. To be honest, I don’t think I have ever seen this happen while watching a game. Interesting, huh?

We are coming down to the wire here, folks. Monday night, January 9th will bring another SEC BCS National Champion. Will it be Alabama or LSU? New Orleans is the site and the Super Dome is the locale. Don’t forget to watch!

Filed Under: Fundamentals, General

Special Teams – Week #7 Head Turner

October 13, 2011 By 2 Comments

Recently, we had a follower write in asking for clarification about a two-word phrase she was hearing regularly during football games. The term, “SPECIAL TEAMS” was the source of confusion for this reader, so I thought we might shed a little light on it and combine it with this week’s Head Turner.

Special Teams play is often referred to by TV and radio announcers during the course of the game and/or in evaluating the team’s success (or lack thereof) during a post-game discussion. Clear definitions of Offense and Defense can be found in our “Definitions ” and “Fundamentals” post sections of the blog, but in VERY brief review: Offense has the ball, Defense does not. It is very rare indeed for players to play both offense and defense these days.

Special Teams in general, refers to players who participate in the aspects of the game that involve: Kick offs, Field Goals, and Punting. These players are commonly called “specialists”. All of these definitions are also available in the sections of the blog I mentioned above and in the E-Book.

  • Kick Offs obviously involve Kickers, right? So kickers are Special Teams players-they kick from a “T” placed on the field.
  • On a Field Goal or Point After Touchdown (PAT) attempt, a “Long Snapper“, snaps the ball to a “Holder” who places the ball in an ideal kicking position and holds it with a finger for the Kicker.
  • A Long Snapper also snaps the ball to the “Punter” who  kicks the ball after dropping it toward his foot. The idea behind “Punting” is to punt  the ball to the other team with the intention of driving them as far back as possible (usually on a 4th Down play).
  • So, we have a Kicker, a Long Snapper, a Holder and a Punter who qualify as Specialists. All these players are Specialists for the “Kicking” side of Special Teams.

The players who are designated to be on the “receiving end” of the Kick Offs and Punts are generally fast and explosvie runners – called “Kick Off or Punt Return” players.

  • “Returners” are to catch the ball and run with it toward the end zone of the opposite team.
  • Also playing on Punts and Kick Off’s are players who are blocking for the Returners.  AND, there are players on the Kicking of Punting Team that are trying to tackle the Returner.

Important Note: Specialists other than the Kicker, Long Snapper and Punter often play on offense and defense in other capacities.

Just as within the medical field, “Specialists” refer to docs that specialize in a particular field…the football specialists are designated for a very specific set of circumstances in the game. The collective term, “Special Teams” covers all the aspects of play that involve “putting a foot to the ball”.

For this week’s Head Turner, let’s just focus on ONE aspect of Special Teams play – Punting.  Try pointing out that the punting of Southern Teams isn’t always a strongsuit. It seems that the Big 12 and the Big 10 have been showing us up in this department. If you want to really turn a head, try mentioning that Punter, Michael Reichenstein of Oklahoma State averages 49 yards per punt and Cody Webster of Purdue averages 48.1 . How’d you know that? Well, you were just perusing the NCAA Punting Stats for 2011 on ESPN.com and thought it was interesting.

If you can’t remember the names, just aim for the teams they play for – both are equally impressive! Enjoy your weekend.

Filed Under: Definitions, Fundamentals

How’dya know that was a penalty?

September 11, 2009 By 5 Comments

The men wearing the black and white stripes and white britches are called “officials”. These guys are real important and do all sorts of things to make the game go smoothly. Sometimes, they become unpopular when they throw these little yellow cloths down. Folks call these “flags” and the terminology used is “there is a flag on the play”. When officials pull a yellow flag out of their pocket, they are signaling that someone has broken a rule (there are a LOT of rules). Then, all the officials get close together and discuss what they saw and what should be done. A penalty means that the team being punished gives up 5, 10 or even 15 yards. There can be more than one penalty on a given play.

By the way, the officials use hand signals for all these penalties. You might want to learn these later on.

Here are some common penalties to watch for:

  1. “Delay of game” – this means the Offense took too much time to get lined up and get the ball in the hands of the quarterback. 5 yard penalty (FYI: the “center” squats down over the ball and “snaps” it back into the hands of the quarterback).
  2. “Off-sides/Encroachment” – a Defensive player moved across the yard line where the ball is sitting (line of scrimmage). If he gets back BEFORE the snap without bumping any Offensive player it’s okay, but if not, the Defense is penalized 5 yards. If the Offense is off-sides, it is called a “false-start” and it carries a penalty as well.
  3. “Holding” – an Offensive lineman (guy who lines up on the ‘line of scrimmage’/the line where ball sits) uses his hands to keep a Defensive player from getting away. 10 yard penalty.
  4. “Pass Interference”- this is called if there is grabbing, tackling, or messing with the arms of someone trying to catch the pass while it’s in the air. Mostly this is called on the Defense because he must wait until the ball arrives to disrupt the pass or even catch it himself (an interception). This penalty is 15 yards and a first down is awarded. Big penalty. (I should tell you that on rare occasions, Offensive pass interference is called).
  5. ”Clipping, Chop Block, Block in the Back” – this is hitting the player from behind. These “illegal blocks” are dangerous because the player doesn’t see what’s coming and can be injured badly. 10 yard penalty.

 

Some Really Serious Penalties….15 yards.

“Unnecessary roughness, roughing the passer or the kicker” – involves hitting the player after the play is over, the player no longer has the ball, or the player is out of bounds.

“Facemask” – grabbing another player’s facemask or helmet.

“Unsportsmanlike conduct/personal foul” – Can cover a lot of bad behavior including temper tantrums, punching/hitting, arguing with an official/referee, helmet to helmet contact, taunting, over celebrating a positive play, etc. Coaches can get in trouble as well.

“Horse-collar” – this is a tackle that involves a Defensive player putting his hands on/under  the ball carrier’s shoulder pads to bring him down.

Now, I am going ahead and listing these EXTENSIVE sites where you can learn about Official’s Hand Signals and even the “sacred” NCAA site listing all the rules….and I mean ALL of them. Don’t visit them unless you have some extra time on your hands.        http://www.hilhiyouthfootball.com

http://www.ncaapublications.com/Uploads/PDF/Football_Rulesadc982b5-03fb-4e27

 

 

 

Filed Under: Definitions, Fundamentals

Stuff for categories 2, 2.5 and 3!!

September 4, 2009 By 4 Comments

Offense and Defense. The OFFENSE has the ball, the DEFENSE doesn’t….

Each team has a goal line to defend. It’s actually marked as the “O” yard line. The “DEFENSE” tries to  keep the team who has the ball (the “OFFENSE”) from moving the ball across the goal line they defend. 

Yard Lines

Mid-field is marked as the 50 yard line, on either side of the 50, the yard lines are marked in 5 yard increments in descending order to the 0 yard line. So the whole field is a total of 100 yards; from 0 at one end, to 0 at the other. Take a look at a field. It’ll make perfect sense.

The “Down” deal

The offense has 4 tries to move the ball 10 yards. They may throw the ball (called a “pass”) or run with it. First Down  means the team has moved the ball forward 10 yards and they get a gift….4 more DOWNS to try it all again.

If a team does not make the first down in three tries , they usually decide to PUNT ( a type of kick) the ball as far as possible in the other direction (away from their goal line) on their 4th down. This is most often done when things aren’t going so well for the offense and they just can’t seem to move the ball the 10 yards they need. This is called, punting on 4th down.

Sometimes, the offense will actually decide to “go for it” on 4th down. If they make it past the marker, its all good and they get another series of “downs”, BUT if they don’t make it, the other team gets to take over possession of the ball right there where the offense landed.

SCORING

Touchdown

Teams score 6 points when they carry the ball or pass and catch it, past the other team’s goal line. This is a TOUCHDOWN.

P.A. T. (point after Touchdown)

After each touchdown, the scoring team gets a chance to place the ball on a little stand (called a tee) and kick the ball through the arms of the goal post. This counts for 1 point and is called a P.A.T. (point after touchdown). suggestion: to sound like you are knowledgeable, just turn your head during the kick to speak to someone, THEN when you turn back around ask aloud, “did he get the P. A. T.?” (be careful to spell this out, don’t say it like a person’s name…it’ll give you away)

On rather rare occasions, a team may elect to go for “2″ after a touchdown. This means that the team decides not to kick the P.A.T., but will run ONE PLAY to see if they can get it across the Goal line. 2 points if they do.                                                               

Field Goal

Field goals count 3 points. A player kicks the ball (while a teammate holds it steady) through the goal posts…usually on a 4th Down.  If he kicks it through the goal posts it’s good for 3 points,but if he misses, the other team gets the ball.

Safety

These are pretty unusual, but they are good for 2 points.This means the Offense is doing terribly and the Defensive team actually tackles the ball carrier behind the Offense’s goal line. It’s a sort of demoralizing thing for the Offense, but the Defense gets the 2 points. (I know, that really is hard to explain, but clear when you see it happen) 

Defense

The job of the Defense put simply, is to thwart the attempts of the Offense to move the ball down the field to score. They tackle the ball carrier, harrass the quarterback, try to keep the passes from being caught and the kicks from getting off the ground.

Filed Under: Fundamentals