Saturday, November 6, 2010

Oregon's Novel Approach to Signaling in Plays

Hey, the Irish aren't playing today, so I've decided to talk a look at what's going on with the top "spread offense" on the planet -- the Oregon Ducks -- and the secret to how they play so fast.  IT'S IN THE SIGNS!.  You've got to hand it to Oregon Football Head Coach, Chip Kelly and his unique approach to signaling in plays to his #1 ranked offense.  Whether it's fake, or it's real -- these signs (see photo) are cool and it shows to recruits that they're having fun at Oregon.  And, he's also winning over the "favor" of some of the talking heads at ESPN -- all -- I'm sure have votes in the BCS ranking system.  Here's the story that ESPN is running on the signaling in of the Oregon offense.

LINK:  OREGON'S SIDELINE SIGNALS

What To Do Today -- Cheer for the Utah Utes!

With the Irish not playing today -- it's time to look ahead at next week's opponent Utah -- and their huge game today against TCU.  The ESPN College Gameday crew is in Salt Lake City for what's being hailed as the most important game in the history of the Mountain West Conference.  The #5 ranked Utes are hosting the #3 ranked Horned Frogs in the game of the day today in college football.  Both teams have their sites set on playing in the BCS Championship game -- and the winner will still have that shot.  The game kicks off at 3:30 PM EST on the CBS College Sports Network -- which means it's not on national TV!  And you wonder why Notre Dame fans don't want the Irish to join a conference!  Here's a link to where you can find the CBS College Sports Network on cable today.  What to watch for in today's game (if you can get it on TV):  the Utah offense (the #3 ranked scoring offense in the country) which averages 450 yards and 45 points per game against the TCU defense (the #1 ranked defense in the country) which gives up on average, 217 yards per game.  Unfortunately for Utah -- TCU also has the #8 ranked offense in the land -- averaging  486 yards and 41 points per game.  On offense, keep an eye on Utah QB Jordan Wynn, the 6'-1" sophomore is ranked in the top 50 in total offense this year in the FBS and their two senior running backs Wide and Assiata -- the Utes are averaging 190 yards a game on the ground.  On defense, Utah is led by a defensive line with plenty of depth (Shelby and Cox lead that unit) and a big time safety in Brandon Burton.  It's so unfortunate that only 30 million households will have access to this game today (as a point of reference ESPN is in 100 million households).  WE NEED THE UTES TO BEAT THE HORNED FROGS TODAY -- SO CHEER FOR UTAH!  Here's a link to the CBS College Sports Network website -- maybe you can watch it on the web?


LINK:  CBS COLLEGE SPORTS NETWORK WEBSITE