« on: November 01, 2010, 08:36:39 AM »
Auburn, Oregon impressing everyone
Don Borst
Updated Oct 31, 2010 5:55 PM ET
Gene Chizik and Chip Kelly are not into publicity stunts.
They don't do things as football coaches simply to draw attention to themselves and their star players. Their No. 1 goal, of course, is to win games.
But they are also smart enough to realize what is good for their teams can also be extremely good for their players and perfectly suited to the long-term prospects of building and maintaining national prominence for their programs. And in the case of Auburn and Oregon, chasing down a Heisman Trophy is good for both these short- and long-term objectives.
This is not something every coach understands. Often, coaches will actually minimize their star players' impact in order to maintain something akin to team unity.
Saturday's impressive victories by the Tigers and Ducks, which kept them atop the polls and BCS rankings while others are fading away, included messages to Heisman Trophy voters, too. The victories got them one step closer to reaching Glendale, Ariz., on Jan. 10, and the performances by Cam Newton and LaMichael James – because of the way the coaches put the stars in position to make incredible plays – moved them a step closer to midtown Manhattan on Dec. 11.
Chizik and Kelly know that the reason the Tigers and Ducks are where they are because they have been able to attract outstanding athletes and help coach them into superstars. The ultimate evidence of one feeding the other has been achieved by only a handful of players in the past 50 years:
1976 – Tony Dorsett, Pittsburgh
1993 – Charlie Ward, Florida State
1997 – Charles Woodson, Michigan
2004 – Matt Leinart, Southern California
2009 – Mark Ingram, Alabama
Those are not fly-by-night, one-and-done programs. It takes a special confluence of factors to achieve college football's trifecta: A perfect record, a national championship, and a Heisman Trophy in the same season. And Chizik and Kelly recognize that their programs are in position to pull it off.
And the one that does – if one does – will be something that they will forever be able to take into recruits homes: "We know how to win, and we know how to feature our superstars (like you)." Thing is, they showed they have the coaching acumen and sense of drama to pull it off perfectly to enhance their teams' chance of winning.
If you didn't see it, Cam Newton's 20-yard touchdown catch Saturday might look like just another highlight contrived for a Heisman Trophy candidate. It's fun to see quarterbacks catch touchdown passes, a la Leinart, Sam Bradford, etc., and Newton's reception was just one of Auburn's six touchdowns Saturday in the 51-31 win over Ole Miss.
But Newton's touchdown catch from Kodi Burns out of the wildcat formation (er, "War Eagle Formation?") was not frosting It was the cake. It came at an important moment in an important game. And it was sensational.
This was not one of those gimmicky flea-flicker throwback passes. It was a simple fade pattern into the corner of the end zone, where the 6-foot-6 Newton, in a full run, leaped high over Mississippi cornerback Jeremy McGee, hauled in the pass and instinctively, barely, got both feet in bounds.
It was a play that sent the Tigers on their way, and it also sent NFL scouts into a panic. This is the pure athlete they love, with football sense, serious leadership qualities, and oh yeah … he's supersized, too.
A few hours later, there was Kelly calling James' number time and again in putting it on USC on the big stage of the L.A. Coliseum. It might not be clear to spectators in other parts of the country, but well, the Coliseum is where big things happen out West. Even if USC is not the elite powerhouse it has been in recent years, there is still something very special about striding into showtime with the klieg lights and showing what you've got.
And Kelly made absolutely certain that James got every bit out of that opportunity, giving him the ball 36 times for 249 yards and three touchdowns – including six carries in a row on the Ducks' final drive that netted him and his team 77 yards and the touchdown that put them over half-a-hundred. James not only looked faster than all of USC players in the 53-32 victory, but he looked tougher, too.
You think that won't play in the living rooms of high-profile recruits? The only thing that could make it play better for the long-term health of Kelly's Oregon program would be a perfect record and national championship to go with the Heisman Trophy. And he's working on it. All of it.
« Last Edit: November 01, 2010, 08:38:04 AM by Saniflush »
Logged
No reactions
No reactions
No reactions
No reactions
"Hey my friends are the ones that wanted to eat at that shitty hole in the wall that only served bread and wine. What kind of brick and mud business model is that. Stick to the cart if that's all you're going to serve. Then that dude came in with like 12 other people, and some of them weren't even wearing shoes, and the restaurant sat them right across from us. It was gross, and they were all stinky and dirty. Then dude starts talking about eating his body and drinking his blood...I almost lost it. That's the last supper I'll ever have there, and I hope he dies a horrible death."
2 Replies
642 Views