Point being there’s a ton of cash flying around and through the game and precious few have any idea where it all lands. So for the bulk of sports fans college football remains either Cuba-sketchy (it’s outlaw backstreets make it an intriguing visit) or Colombia-sketchy (I’m not touching it if you paid me). For those of us who love the game, it’s DisneyWorld sketchy. What reports of mascot heat-strokes? Not here, you say!
[Throughout Spring Practices we'll be running "Worlds of Wisdom," tidbits from "Bobby Bowden's Tales from The Seminoles Sideline," co-authored by Steve Ellis, local writer for the Tallahassee Democrat and former editor of The Osceola. Quotes may or may not be entirely accurate – whichever proves more fun.]
Nostalgia is never so sweet as when pooled with the anguish of yon enemy. And nothing makes FSU’s first national championship more enjoyable than Mr. Trev Alberts’ obvious agony about the game. Super Trev was an All-American LB for the Cornhusker’s that season, and a prescient one at that:
That negativism was largely due to 3 main factors:
Nebraska had lost 6 straight bowl games, and 8 of the last 10;
The ‘Noles had won 12 straight;
FSU had outscored Nebraska 99-59 in their previous 3 bowl meetings.
The game proved to be closer than most expected, culminating in a missed Nebraska field goal attempt to win as time expired. Trev believes the Cornhuskers were robbed in the final minutes, and has alluded to it on the air at ESPN, before exploring his options as a blogger. Turns out, the Huskers got their share of breaks, especially late, as this video demonstrates:
(Fear not- metal is decidedly not “nu”)
But don’t trust the video alone: let’s allow Saint Bobby to guide us from the field goal that won (Scott Bentley’s) to the attempt that didn’t (Byron Bennett’s):
[FSU kicks off with 21 seconds left, and a return and FSU penalty puts the ball at the Nebraska 43. Incomplete pass, then 29-yard completion as time expires]
“We go out there to around midfield, and I start to shake hands with Tom [Osborne], who had really been cheating all game, including a illegal substitution before that last pass; the crowd is all around us. And the official comes up there and says, “Coach Bowden, we got to put one more second on the clock.” I like to have reminded him that the ice-bath I just got had washed the monkey off my back, so there was no putting him back on, but I’m a god-fearing and referee-fearing man, so I held my tongue.
I said, “Where is the ball?” And they said on something like the 33-yard line. Well, their kicker had never kicked one over 47 yards. I knew what his range was, and this was going to be five yards further that that – 50 or maybe more. So I’m thinking, ‘Shit. This kid can’t kick one over 47 yards.’
Know we’re back on the sidelines and the official comes up to me again and says, “Coach, we were wrong. We got to move the ball up five more yards. The press box said the ball was supposed to be up here.” That official still hasn’t done another game after that. I sent his brain to Joe Paterno in exchange for a win the Blockbuster Bowl a couple years later. I believe Mickey [Andrews] ate the rest of him.
And now I’m thinking, ‘Dadgummit, now they’re in range.’ Can you believe this? Not only did they get one second back, but they got five yards out of it. It was really unbelievable. The things you don’t want to happen were happening. You’re trying to get everybody focusing on that kick, and there’s Trev Alberts over there, laughing like a fairy, even though we just put it right down his throat on the last drive.
I just remember people behind me were cussing the officials. Administrators. There were some upset people on the sidelines. It did cross my mind, “Good gracious, we could lose this thing on all of this.” And every time I see ol’ Trev on the ESPN, I get all giggly knowing that game still steams him up so much. What? He got fired? Where? What in tarnation is CSTV? Oh- I thought that was what Janikowski caught from that BW3 waitress back in ’98.”
Nebraska’s field goal attempt, in the Orange Bowl in Miami, was wide left. And FSU won it’s first National Title.
…this segment also known as “Point and Laugh at Over-Analytical NFL Geeky-Type Guy While He Jokingly Picks the Best College Players From 2009.” Or, “We Welcome the SEC and University of Florida as Our Most Gracious Overlords Forever.”Last month Gregg Easterbrook gave us a breakdown of the 2010 NFL draft, complete with future NFL team commentary and uncanny college player observations. Along with the confirmation that the SEC still rulz hardcore 4eva bitchzz (10 selections in the first round, UF producing 4, along with Tim Tebow at #1), and that the Big East is still the rat’s ass (1 pick, tied with Yale and Franklin & Marshall), we have these highlights:
FSU has 2 top-15 picks, including Briscoe High hero, and Deion’s other son, Ryon Williams.
The Giants draft Jason Street, QB from Notre Dame. Whither Clausen? Gay Porn? And are we really to believe that Eli could tag Lyla? Like, OMFG!
Mitch Mustain, going 19th to the Chiefs, apparently finishes his illustrious career in Arkansas. If you don’t know why this is awesome, you’ve never enjoyed Las Cronicas De Boss Hawg.
The Colts, Chargers and Patriots, three of the NFL’s best franchises over the last six years, and owners of 4 of the last 6 Super Bowl trophies, will be among the 10 worst in the league in just three years time. Peter King will have to find a whole new set of stars to bring his kneepads to.
Easterbrook goes deep into the college football recruiting crevasse (not to mention The People’s Republic of Arizona) to foresee the remarkable career of LB Apaiata Tuihalamaka, a youngster that didn’t play a single down his senior season in high school.
“Especially on the offensive side when you replace four of five coaches, you are not going to ask them to come in and do the same thing you were doing before. You are going to ask your new coordinator to come in and put in the offense he thinks is best, that he knows the best and that he thinks fits our personnel the best. That’s going to be interesting to see. Our offensive staff with Jimbo (Fisher) heading it up, they will be in complete control of that offense.”
Not quite a ringing endorsement of nepotism, but a step in the right direction if (BIG if) he’s being honest.
You hired a director of player of personnel (with recruiting and administrative duties) recently.
Bowden: We’ve been way behind in that area. Way behind. We’re gradually catching up some lost ground where some other people got way ahead of us. Bob (LaCivita) will be good.
Is a lot of it just because the whole dynamic of recruiting has changed? You have to recruit all the time.
Bowden: Technology has forced it. A school that has somebody with all the technology there, they can get a year ahead of you in recruiting. They not only know the seniors, they know the juniors and sophomores. We’re behind in that area. We’ll catch up now.
And it appears that Jimbo!! and the offensive staff are “throwing everything” at the players, inundating them with the new offense. Most players expressed surprise that an offense was something that could be “learned” and “implemented”, and not a random selection of four plays spit from a black box in Bangladesh.
It seems pesos can’t be separated from pass routes in college football these days. The Florida Gators can’t get their hands on enough of it. T. Boone Pickens is cheering people to die for it. Miles Brand, while swimming in it Scrooge McDuck-style, is worried about some coaches getting it. And the ACC is using bulldozers to pile it into the yawning chasm that once housed the league’s soul. (Well, everyone but Miami that is, who long for the pro-rated reward days of the Big East. That’s what happens when you don’t play in a BCS bowl for 4 years.) (Does this make you feeling better about 30-0 at home to Wake? –ed.) 
…this segment also known as “Point and Laugh at Over-Analytical NFL Geeky-Type Guy While He Jokingly Picks the Best College Players From 2009.” Or, “We Welcome the SEC and University of Florida as Our Most Gracious Overlords Forever.”
