Arkstfan

You need an official to review. Monitors, recorders, buzzer system, camera people, etc. Bare minimum is a three camera set-up and realistically you want 5. You also need a fair level of competency for the people running the cameras. Each camera has to be connected to a broadcast quality DVR. ASU for example normally uses a three or four camera system at home games to run the video board and to record games for the cable replay during the week. All are connected to DVR's. In that set-up they are going to need the switching capability to feed the video to the replay booth but not to the video board. The director will have to have headset communication with the replay official so the replay official can ask for each view and the replay speed (full or slow motion or freeze).

The league experimented with it this year. I know the schools have been opposed due to the cost but I would think a highlight video from all our telecasts this year and the Alamo Bowl, not of the plays but of the announcers ragging the Belt for not having replay ought to change their mind so they understand there is a credibility cost to saving the money replay costs.

If I'm the Texans I either take Bush or trade to fill needs. If I'm the Saints. I want Leinhart.

Has anyone noticed how replay is changing the way games are called? I think it was the Penn State game (they are starting to blur together) where a player fumbled in a big pack. Ball pops out and is returned for a TD and during the return a flag is thrown. No big deal right? The ruling on the field was that the player was down before the fumble but the officials didn't blow the play dead. Using correct procedures the play should have been whistled over if the ruling was that the ball carrier was down. Then if the review found a fumble the recovering team awarded the ball at the spot of recovery with the play dead there due to an inadvertent whistle. Officials are already starting to let plays go in order to allow the replay official to resolve it.

Actually the biggest reason Jackson leans toward the Pac-10 is because when he retired ABC kept trying to lure him back and he told them he wanted to be home more. So ABC offered to take him off the #1 crew doing the top ABC game of the week and assigned him to do the Pac-10 regional game each week, which has at times been the top ABC game. For the past several years he has done almost exclusively Pac-10 games. Back in the day, he was a big fan (and friend) of Bear Bryant and seemed pro-SEC. The guy is a vault of knowledge though. He did games in the old USFL. Maurice Carthon of ASU broke a big run for New Jersey and threw some great blocks for Walker. Jackson started talking about Arkansas State and how Larry Lacewell was building a great program and told a story about how he had complimented Lacewell on the job he was doing and that Lacewell replied he wasn't that smart of a coach. He had put Carthon at TE for two years before he turned him into a FB (position he played in the USFL and then several years in the NFL). The guy either keeps boxes and boxes of notes or has an awesome memory. For years his broadcast partner was Arkansas AD Frank Broyles and with those two Georgia accents going I'm sure folks up north and out west were miserable all game long. Their partnership ended because of Bo Jackson. Broyles had learned Jackson was injured and would see limited action if any but Auburn had kept it under wraps. Game starts and he wasn't in the backfield. Keith Jackson notes that and Broyles then launches into the story. Keith Jackson was furious that Broyles hadn't let him in on the secret and at the end of the year his contract wasn't renewed.

Tonight is a tough call on who to root for. Never cared much for Texas except when they were beating Arkansas. USC never really cared for them except when they were playing UCLA with their Queer Eye uniforms. On one hand seeing a team take three titles in a row would be pretty cool. On the other hand it'd be nice to see a team that beat Arkansas 70-17 not be national champs

They are playing for their 11th national championship and third in a row. This will be the 43rd time they've finished a season ranked. They are playing for their 29th bowl victory and fourth in a row. More amazing given that for decades Pac-8 schools were only allowed to go to the Rose Bowl. You could be 10-1 but if that one loss kept you from winning the conference, you stayed home. They've won 10 or more games in a season 22 times. Seven Heisman Trophy winners all the other schools in the Mountain and Pacific time zones combined have three. 77-12. Number of winning seasons or .500 seasons vs. losing seasons. In their entire history they've given up 50 or more points only twice. They don't have much reason to be humble.

Mike Tirico graduated from Syracuse in 1988 with a degree in political science and broadcast journalism. Until 1991 when ESPN hired him he was working local TV in Syracuse, the 76th largest TV market (just behind Omaha just ahead of Springfield, MO). He's ABC's golf and NBA guy in addition to doing college football for ESPN. Believe it or not he lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kirk Herbstreit at least played ball at Big 10 member Ohio State.

They aren't supposed to. It's not the referee's job, that is the sole discretion of the replay official. Calling timeout does not trigger a review. On the second timeout Michigan called, the replay official had already looked at the play and did not attempt to trigger a stoppage because he didn't think the play was close enough. Michigan called a timeout in hopes of a review but they weren't playing under the rules that permit a "challenge". The referee took the initiative to make sure there had not been a buzzer failure and was told the play was correct and that the replay official had not tried to stop play. Nice try by Carr but he wasted a timeout in his own ignorance which is shocking given that he has two years experience under precisely the system being used. Now you are complaining for the sake of complaining. The horn sounds. The play is blown dead on the tackle. Time has expired and all the officials still have their flags in their pocket. What are they going to do? Conference in the middle of the teams shaking hands and then have one of them step out of the conference and throw a flag? Then ask for the field to be cleared? Yeah that works. I can just see that policy being adopted. Player runs for a TD and as they are lining up for the PAT the officials confer and one of them says "I know I'm supposed to throw a flag when I see a foul but I didn't throw a flag on a hold back at the line of scrimmage. Let's go ahead enforce the penalty even though none of us threw a flag." You can't conference to find out what kind of call to make when there isn't a flag on the ground.

Except it turned out that the complaint was like most complaints. It was firmly rooted in ignorance. The replay booth tried to stop play but the buzzer failed. A problem the Big 10 has had repeatedly. The replay official watched the second close play and did not think it was sufficient to overturn the call. Michigan called timeout and the referee being proactive called the replay booth to check. The replay official said he had already looked at it, play stands. The refs blew an pass interference call in that game but how often does that call not get blown at least once per game. The final play? It was a mess. Both squads had players on the field and none impacted the play, only one person potentially impacted the play and that was a photographer and even that is a weak argument. The Belt officials handled replay correctly. Period.

Let's see Michigan comes from a league where the officials blew so many calls in 2003 that resulted in public statements from the conference admitting the mistakes that they went to the NCAA and petitioned to experiment with replay. If not for the Big 10 refs being inept, there is no replay in college and they want to complain about our refs?

Uhh you mean Utah and Utah State, right?

Mumme totally scrapped the NMSU offense and installed a pass happy attack with players recruited to run a basically option attack. Last year O'Leary totally scrapped the scheme UCF had they went 0 for 2004 including being whipped by Buffalo. The issue isn't what conference the players were recruited for the issue was what scheme they were recruited for. You lost to Utah State and Idaho this year, two teams that tied for last place in the Sun Belt last season. Blame the Sun Belt for your woes. From 1971 to 1982 you were in the MoValley and posted one season over .500. From 1983 to 2000 you were in a western league and posted two winning seasons and six seasons with 1 win or no wins. Five seasons in the Belt you posted 1 winning season. The one winning season you had a 3 point win over ULL under a first year head coach and a 6 point win (in OT as I recall) over ASU under a first year head coach. Throw in a 13 point over ULM who had fired their coach three games into the season. You beat a 2-10 UTEP that had one I-A win, a 3pt win over Rice. Your most "impressive" win was over 7-7 New Mexico who had beaten I-AA Weber State by 14. If the Sun Belt were to blame for anything at NMSU, it was giving you a false sense of success in 2002 when you racked up three of your seven wins in close games over schools that had coaching turmoil and a fourth win over an atrocious UTEP team that went 6-30 from 2001 to 2003. Your failures have been your own without regard to your conference affiliation.

Idaho has 1.4 million people and Boise is the big thing in the area. That area and surronding counties is around 560,000. Their average attendance in football this year was roughly 5% of that population. UNT's attendance this year was roughly 3% of Denton County. Boise clinched a winning record in game 8 of 12. UNT clinched a losing season in game 8. You look at the numbers and Denton County alone has sufficent population to support UNT athletics. Yeah UNT has greater competition (2 local I-A programs, NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, plus the non-local I-A programs) and yet is drawing a fair crowd despite clinching a losing season early this year and despite not having ever opened league play above .500. Someone may have mentioned this once or twice, but a few non-conference wins could do wonders for the program.

The logic is wrong. When you assert yourself as being legitimate (or in the weird world of CUSA you offer a TV market they would like to be in) other leagues call. There are four reasons schools are picked in expansion. 1. Program merit. (Marshall to CUSA) 2. Perception that the program may have something offer (see UCF in CUSA). 3. Politics (Va.Tech to ACC, Texas Tech and Baylor to Big 12) 4. Desperation (Idaho to WAC) But it all goes back to the conference wanting or needing to expand.

In the Big East they joined with UConn who has been in I-A just as long as they have. They joined Cincinnati (who they split with in CUSA), they joined Louisville (who they split with in CUSA). They joined Pitt (whom they had defeated their first year in I-A), Rutgers (who played their first bowl game in 30 years a couple days ago), and Syracuse who won one game this year and probably would have been winless had that one game not been against Buffalo. Outside West Virginia which school in the Big East that was in the league last year am I supposed to be impressed with compared to last year's CUSA? Where's the huge jump?

Might want to rethink your example. I-A Independent 8-3 9-2 (played four CUSA schools) CUSA Member 7-4 4-7 Big East 6-5 One off season after three of accomplishment. Think they were on track.

#1. I'm not trying to convince you to stay in the Belt. Your administration has made that decision already. #2. No one comes to the Sun Belt games. Gee is it because you are playing SBC schools or is it because UNT's record going into your home conference opener has been: 2001 0-5 2002 3-5 2003 1-3 2004 0-4 2005 1-2 (you remember the 108-9 debacles the two weeks prior) Why don't you hold off assuming what sort of crowd you can draw for Sun Belt teams until you open league play at home sniffing a .500 record? What about the games that drew well? 2005 Tulsa game you came in 1-0 on the heels of 4 bowl appearances and three straight winning seasons. 2003 Baylor. They brought some fans, UNT was 0-1 but had done a credible job against an OU team coming off a top 5 ranking and a 12-2 record. 2001 TCU. Season opener against a neighbor. 2000 Baylor Season opener against basically a neighbor. The problem with UNT's attendance for Sun Belt games is that A. We aren't located in Texas and can't bring as many fans with us and B. You've already run the fans off with your non-conference play. #3. No need to hit the brakes regarding Baylor. Their share of Big 12 money is roughly equal to UNT's entire budget. You said they are finally beating teams in the Big 12. They beat TWO of them last year. The last place team in the South and one of the three tied at 4-4 and second place in the North. That is a 100% improvement over the three years prior when they went 1-7 in the Big 12, and an improvement over the 0-8 campaigns over 1999, 2000, and 2001. At that pace they should go .500 in the South in 2011. They have a whopping 19 wins since 2000 and 6 are over I-AA's. 2 over UNT and 2 over SMU. Yeah I'd trade places with them too because I think our administration might actually be capable of generating RESULTS given their advantages in money, TV, and bowl access, but Baylor's sure hasn't. Over the long-term good management yields good results. If it smells like a turd in the Sun Belt it will smell worse, not better in a tougher league. San Jose State went 2-9, 3-8, 3-8 in its last three years in the Big West. They stepped up to the WAC and where is the great success? Oh yeah they tied for next to last in the WAC this year. They tied with Utah State who tied for last in the Sun Belt last year, and they tied with Idaho, who tied for last in the Sun Belt last year. What's more attendance fell at Utah State and Idaho playing in that superior league. I wouldn't be turning my nose up at the F*U's given UNT is 0-2 against one of them and only 1-0 against the other (an impressive win I might add given it was by three points despite FIU turning the ball over EIGHT times). If you think a school that has beaten you in consecutive years is beneath you I suggest stop standing on your head and stand on your feet to get a better viewpoint on the action. The bottom line remains the same. If you cannot achieve in the Sun Belt you cannot achieve anywhere and sitting around hoping for membership in a league that is even stronger is counter-productive because you won't achieve there without having built a program.

The Bowl Alliance takes officials in proportion to the number of teams sent to bowls the year before. Last year we sent one crew to either the Peach or Champs Sports and got good reviews. I believe we also had a crew at Champs this year and got positive marks. Apparently we have one good crew.

They were right the speed of the game was too much for them because they couldn't keep up with Sun Belt teams.

Worst bowl game my aunt's fanny. At least the viewers saw a better game than they did from a number of games this year. Just because some arrogant snot who never saw either team play on TV and probably can't name the color of the helmets much less the starting QB is an "expert" on what is the best bowl game? My grandpa used to tell the story of the two frogs in a milk can. One saw there was no way out, gave up and drowned. The other kept kicking and kicking until he finally churned up butter, stood on it and lept out to safety. Losers who sit around and whine about what some snot sitting behind a computer in New York City thinks about COLLEGE FOOTBALL are headed to the bottom of the milk can. The winners will be the ones that keep kicking and eat it up when them big school leg humpers disrespect them because it puts even more fire in their belly.

Has it occured to any of you folks that get a boner over the WAC that Boise State became a very good team while playing in the WORST CONFERENCE IN AMERICA?? How did they do it? Well they built great facilities for a school with that level of budget. They have an awesome recruiting base, if I remember right the state of Idaho produced TWO I-A recruits last year, one signed by Boise and one signed by Idaho. They waded off into the highly contested California recruiting grounds (along with other western states) and found players that could run and could play their run + deep pass offense. They scheduled a lot of I-AA games at home and basically avoided ever going on the road against BCS schools that were a serious threat to be in the Top 25. They built their PROGRAM and that opened the door for them to get into a better league. They were merely following the same path of Fresno State. The Bulldogs built a great Big West program and got called up for membership in the GOOD WAC (ie. the one that had BYU, Utah, Colorado State, Wyoming, etc). Conference membership doesn't build programs. Fans, coaches and the quality of administration at a university builds a program. WAC membership has done wonders for San Jose State or could it be they have crappy stadium in need of work and have an administration that hasn't made the right moves? Conference membership builds programs? Yeah those football dynasties at Baylor, Vanderbilt, Duke, Mississippi State, etc are proof positive.

Plumm, there are three kinds of coaches outside the BCS. 1. Them that are so good they move up the ladder. 2. Them that are so bad they get fired. 3. Them that aren't good enough to move up but not quite bad enough to fire (at least if they have the right friends). ASU is saddled with #3 in basketball. It is a hell beyond description. Another truism. Schools outside the BCS don't have the resources to get away with firing coaches with recent success. Ie. you can't pay enough to wash away the concern of smart coaches over what is going to be "good enough". 2006 is another day. And as a person with a degree of affinity for gang green, the nightmare scenario for you is 6-6 and finishing second or lower.

2-4 against Division I competition and fourth worst RPI in the Sun Belt is doing great? Really not a basketball school.

UNT football bombs after four conference titles and all hell breaks loose needing the coach replaced. Men's basketball is firmly entrenched again in the bottom third of the nation despite having a far superior facility than football does (compared to peer institutions) and I see few grumbles about the hoops situation.