Oh No! The Big 3-0

[dlgood]

Yes. Today is my birthday. Am now 30. Horrors. I am now, by my own personal reckoning, officially old. Note. I don't think of 30 as being old for other people. My sister is 33, and she's not old. But me. I am 30, and therefore old. Those of you, who are under 30... You are in that phase of life, where things are trending up. Enjoy it while it lasts... while you still can. Be irresponsible. Not me. I'm 30, and that would be weird. Go out and drink, and have sex with totally random people. Do it now, while you are still in your twenties. But not me, for lo, I am old. And I await my slow and inevitable decline, until I drift peacably into death's icy embrace.

Thank you for all your birthday wishes. Much love to the FList. Once again, I have been gifted with paid time. Now I'm gonna have to generate some legitimate content to justify such generosity.

As expected, I was given a number of gifts. Among these... a cardigan sweater, because some days it is cold in the office, and I must have something warm to wear over my various shirt and tie combos. I was give a pair of comfortable, but somewhat ugly slip on shoes. There was a remarkably ugly sweater, which I will pretend to like. And from my parents... a toaster oven.

It is a sign of my aging, that this toaster excited me so greatly.

And apparently, my sister has decided that trusty surplus jersey #38 is too nasty. Sure, it's three iterations out of date, but old becomes vintage and historical. No matter - I was given one of them swanky Under Armor jerseys. For those at home, #18. Vernon Davis. Who, unsurprisingly, declared for the NFL draft today. Still - this is better than that Michael Westbrook jersey she got me some years ago.

Now. For tomorrow. Yes - the Rose Bowl will be this year's NCAA Football Title Game. There has been talk on ESPN comparing the USC Trojans to great champions of all time. This is silly. USC has a superior offense, but an average defense. They aren't better than 2004 USC. They aren't better than 1991 Washington, 1992 Alabama, 1995 Nebraska, 1997 Michigan, or 2001 Miami.

They aren't better than 2005 Texas.

It has been commonplace to note that Mack Brown has never won "The Big Game" - not at UNC when he could not beat FSU even when his teams were loaded with NFL talent. Not Oklahoma, when he had loaded Texas squads. But this is an old story. Coaches never win the big one, until they do. So questions aside, I take the team that can play the best all around game. USC is still going to score, but they won't stop anybody either.

Final Score: 38 - 33.

Comments

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

LenDale White should be a pretty solid back. I don't think he's Shaun Alexander, but I'm sure he'll be good. Bush, I think, is either going to wind up being a Marshall Faulk level player or a Desmond Howard bust.

Vince? Does he have the arm? For all of the holes in Vick's game, he has the fastball. Young was pretty accurate and he didn't make any bad decisions, but I also didn't see him make any of the throws an NFL QB will have to make. At this point, he reminds me of Steve Young, but without the arm. And the arm is pretty relevant.

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

I've been saying for two years that I don't think Young can make NFL-type throws (for all that Leinart might be fragile and have a weak arm, he can make every single type of throw asked; the actual throw might be crap sometimes, but at least he understands the principle of where it needs to go). Young has a strong arm, but he doesn't have any touch (how many throws were to guys who were down on their knees? I don't know what the YAC for Texas was, but I think it's probably pretty low).

I thought the same thing about Vick and Culpepper, but while Culpepper has learned how to stand in the pocket, Vick is maturing into — well, not actually a legitimate NFL quarterback yet, but he's getting a little better at decision-making. It took Steve Young 10 years to become a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback, but I don't think any team is going to be able to give Vince Young that luxury.

I was actually pretty impressed by Troy Smith's throwing in Monday's game, mostly because it didn't look like he was trying to win the game all by himself. Brady Quinn, on the other hand, is prototypical, but I'm still not sure whether he's any good.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

That's the rub - a big chunk of being a pro-QB is how you deliver the ball, so that other players can make plays. Which Leinart is very good at doing. The only guy Vince seemed to be able to set up was the tight end.

Smith was very impressive. And I'll be pretty honest. I grew up watching the Redskins, and I have fond memories of Doug Williams, Jay Schroeder and Mark Rypien, so a guy who can throw the deep ball is going to make me happy.

The real thing with Young is this - if he doesn't show progress quickly, there's got to be pressure to switch positions at least short-term because he's too good of an athlete to sit while he figures it out.

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

It's taken Randle El a long time to settle into his new role, but doesn't have the size Young does, so QB was never really an option. On the other hand, Kordell Stewart never really did become the QB he had the talent to be, and the switching him around at first I think just confused him. If Young weren't easily one of the best athletes around, I'd love to see what Young could do as a tight end, but that's not a glamorous enough position for someone that talented (can you imagine sending Young in to block on 50% of your plays?).

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

But Kordell's problem may not speak to the idea of QBs being able to switch - but a question of whether Kordell was mentally/emotionally equipped for it. Maybe Young's got the mindset.

If Young weren't easily one of the best athletes around, I'd love to see what Young could do as a tight end

Not Tight End. H-Back. I'd break out the old playbooks and see how guys like Hornung and prior were used. I wouldn't put Vince on the line. Motion him and use hime as a slot receiver. Pitch to him as a running back. Give him zone-options and pass-options. And probably use him at QB inside the 20. THe only problem is that today's NFL is all about standardization and specialization and Teams and Players aren't trained to use a fluid or playground style...

[thelastgoodname.livejournal.com]

That would be fantastic, especially since you could really build an offense around him that way. But no one would ever try it; they're too scared to do anything really revolutionary.

Pete Carroll and Bob Stoops both think is some of these really talented teams today ran the wishbone or something like it, they'd dominate college football, at least for a couple of years.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

While I'd like to see that, or a Wing T team, or a single wing team, that probably won't happen. I would love to see someone run out of the Double Wing formation. It's Navy's bread and butter, but they don't have players like Vince Young...

The year Maryland went to the Orange Bowl, Friedgen generally ran I-Formation or pro-set but occaisionally would switch to three backs. They were very successful with it, but he's had to drop it from the offense because he hasn't had a QB that could handle it recently.

[dlgood.livejournal.com]

But seriously... if you are Atlanta's Offensive Coordinater, and you have Vick, Duckett, Dunn, Alge Crumpler and Justin Griffith. Why haven't you run a few plays out of the flexbone?