They say hindsight is 20/20. Mine is 20/10. Whatever happened to coaching with tact? I’m all about going vertical on a team, exposing a weakness, and demoralizing the opposition but Oregon State’s obliteration of Idaho State’s football program earlier this season was on the verge of disrespectful.
The Idaho State Bengals walked off the field with their heads so low they couldn’t see over the blades of the Easter basket grass turf of Reser Stadium.Idaho State was a lesser opponent. It was David and Goliath. The Beavers were bigger faster stronger while Idaho State was smaller, slower and weaker. The second Alexis Serna’s foot connected with the composite leather and knocked the oblong ball off the tee to open the game, the game was over.
The Bengal players didn’t stand a chance from the starting quarterback Russel Hill to the last guy on the depth chart with an irrelevant number and no name.Does that mean you take it “easy” on a team? No. Football is not a sport of playing nice and trying to make everyone feel like winners. It’s not for the weak and squeamish. Football is a gritty sport with winners, losers, rejects, and champions. Can’t hang? Suck it up you are about to get bruised. It’s self-governed with a distinct hierarchy, un-spoken laws and un-written rules. One of which reads, slow your roll when you are up by 44.
On Saturday evening under a clearing sky with temperatures hovering around 65 degrees the Oregon State Beavers, up by 44 points, with a little over seven minutes remaining in the game and threatening inside Idaho State’s 10 yard line decided to go for it on 4th-and-1.
At that point Mike Riley was Ed Grezinsky, the rest of the team was Epiphanny Prince, and the score was 137-32. Idaho State was left on the sidelines repeating the words Vera Springer once said to the USA Today, “It was like picking on a handicapped person.”
Kick the field goal and call it a successful drive. Aside from tact, it’s too dangerous. Players get hurt late in games and this play was no different. An Idaho State lineman had to be helped off the field at the end of the play after he ended up twisted at the bottom of the pile. Besides, at that point Idaho State was playing with minimal motivation. The difference between stopping Patrick Fuller and allowing him to get the first down was most likely five extra sprints after practice.What’s your justification? “We’re trying new a new formation,” or “Wanted to give our players a shot at a different scenario,” or my favorite “Well, that’s football.”
How about “We had our foot on their throat and instead of letting them take a breath we dug our heel in real deep until their face turned blue.” At least that would be truthful. I’m all for coaches trying new things when leading in game. Want to run a new formation? Fine. Want to see how your players react to certain in-game scenarios? Okay. The issue is the timing. Do you need to know if Fuller can gain a yard against a defense that is down 54-10 with seven minutes left in the game? No. Who needs to know that? Who doesn’t already know that?
The Idaho State defense was tired, beat-up, disheartened, rattled, and one yard from walking off the field. If Fuller was short of the first down it would have been a shock. What did you prove? The Beavers have a never give up attitude? The offensive line can gain a yard against third-stringers for a FCS school?
Great. Props to you Beaver football team and offensive line, you dug in and pushed over a bunch of guys who weigh up to 60 pounds less than you. That reminds me, I have to go knock around some 8th graders later with no remorse.This is not to say that a lopsided score is always unnecessary. A 50 point lead happens. In the fourth quarter sometimes a simple dive play can turn into a 37 yard run for a Clinton Polk touchdown. I get it, I’m not oblivious to the facts. But the fact is, this team was up and purposefully went for it on fourth down. It wasn’t a Beaver win, it was a Bengal beating.
Call me old fashion, say I know nothing about football and approach me by saying “You’re that guy who ripped the coaching staff for piling on to Idaho State” I don’t care. The bottom line is, if there was a 37 yard touchdown run to end the third quarter and a pick-six as the fourth quarter opened up and your team still needs more momentum going into the Pac-10 season that you have still go for it on fourth down to beat a lesser team by 51 points, there are bigger issues.
Leave a Reply