S. Evan Townsend's Blog, page 38

AP College Football Top 25

The AP Top 25 college football poll came out today at noon Eastern time (9:00 AM my time).

My beloved University of Washington Huskies were #13. Same as they were at the end of last season. The loathed (by me and most Husky fans) Oregon Ducks are at #11.

Other Pac12 teams in the Top 25 are Utah at #14, Washington State at 23, and Stanford at 25.

At the top of the poll, Clemson is #1 and Alabama is #2. No surprises there. But #3 is Georgia, a big jump for them. Ohio State fell to #5 from the #3 spot.

College football starts next weekend (some call it "week zero") with two games. It starts in earnest August 31st.

College Football, A Primer: The Rules

Today we continue our primer of college football. See here, here, here, and here for previous posts.

 And we'll go over some of the rules of college football.

The Downs

Now we get into the rules and playing of football. There are some differences between college rules and professional football (NFL). The biggest one is that in college, if you catch a ball near the out-of-bounds marker, you only have to get one foot in bounds for it to be considered "in bounds." In the NFL, you have to get two feet down in bounds.

Football is all about downs. A team on offense (with the ball) has four tries, or downs, to get the ball ten yards forward (toward the end zone). Practically, that's three tries, or downs, because the last, or fourth, down the team will often punt the ball or, if close enough, try a field goal.

Sometimes a team will use the fourth down to try to move the ball. This is called "going for it on fourth down." Teams will try this if the distance they have to go is short and they aren't too close to the end zone the opposite team is trying to get into. If they don't make it then, the team that was on defense gets the ball. This is "giving it up on downs."

A punt happens on a fourth down. The offense will kick the ball (punt it) as far down the field as possible to get the other team far away from the end zone they are headed for. But you don't want it to go you the end zone you're kicking toward because then the other team starts on the 25 yard line. The perfect punt stops behind the 5-year line, meaning the other team is more than 95 yards from the end zone they are heading for. The punting team's players can touch the ball. If the receiving team touches it, it becomes a "live ball" and any team that ends up with the ball will get the ball.

Also, on fourth downs, if they are close enough to the end zone, the team may try a field goal instead of punting. In the pros, this is almost possible from the 40 yard line (40 yards from the end zone). In college, it's more likely if they are past the 30 yard line.

The Officials

The officials are the guys wearing black and white striped shirts. They aren't all referees. The head official is the referee. Each one has a title (such as back judge and linesman, and even umpire) and a job to do. If you want to learn more, go here.

The referee is the one who announces what penalties are (see Penalties) over the PA system and on television. You'll often see him confirming with other officials to determine what penalty there is. When an official sees a penalty, he throws a yellow "flag" (cloth) onto the field to signal to the referee (and everyone else) that there was a penalty.

Penalties

There are a lot of penalties in football. A penalty is when a player or team breaks a rule. The "punishment" is moving the ball either closer to the end zone (if the defense makes the penalty) or farther from the end zone (if the offense makes the penalty). The distance depends on the severity of the penalty, usually 5, 10, or 15 yards.

Here are some of the common penalties:

Holding: probably called the most. It's when a player holds a player of the opposite team. Both offense and defense can be called for this. This is a 10 yard penalty.

Off Sides: When a defensive player moves forward before the ball is snapped by the center. (All defensive players can move before the ball is snapped, as long as they don't move forward). This is a 5 yard penalty.

False Start: When an offensive player moves before the ball is snapped. (Again, some offensive players are allowed to move behind the front line). This is a 5 yard penalty.

Delay of Game: When the offense doesn't get the ball snapped before the play clock runs out. This is a 5 yard penalty.

Pass Interference: This is when a player prevents an opposing team play from catching the ball by too much grabbing and holding him. Both offense and defense can be called for this. This is a 15 yard penalty and an automatic first down, unless the offense is guilty, then it's just a 15-yard penalty.

Targeting: This is when a player making a tackle leads with his helmet instead of his shoulder. Especially if he hits the other player's helmet. This is a 15 yard penalty, automatic first down, and the player is ejected from the game.

There are lots of other penalties I haven't mentioned. The best way to learn them is to watch the game.

Kickoffs and Punts

Every game starts with a "kickoff." That is when a team kicks the ball down the field to the other team to start the play. Kickoffs also happen after scores and to start the second half. On a kickoff, the ball is placed on a "Tee" and is kicked from that.

A punt is done on a 4th down to get the ball down the field as far as possible. A punt is an offensive play and the defense will attempt to block it. The ball is snapped to the punter who then drop kicks it. The receiving team will try to catch the ball. If they don't, the kicking team will try to "down" the ball as close to the end zone as possible.

Next week we'll go over some details you'll need to know.

1,000 Posts

This is my 1,000th post on this blog going back to September 19, 2012. So it's taken me just under six years to reach this milestone.

That's 2,525 days. Or an average of a blog post every 2.5 days.

The most common "label" is Random Thoughts at 258 posts (some posts have more than one label).

The next most common is Speculative Fiction Cantina at 176 posts. That was the internet radio show I hosted for about three years. And, apparently, 176 or so episodes.

The third most common label is Writing at 145. You'd think as a writer that would be higher

I try to blog at least once per week, usually on a Thursday (somebody told me that's the best day to post a blog). When college football season is on, I often post more with game previews, game analysis, and just general thoughts. If you've been following this blog you know I'm a huge fan of the University of Washington Huskies.

So, here's to another 1,000 posts. We'll see how long it takes me to reach that point.

SpoCon

This weekend I will be at SpoCon in Spokane, Washington. It is being held at the historic Davenport Hotel. It's going to be a fun time. Come check it out.

Also, here's my schedule:

Saturday 2:00 PM: Reading in the "State B" room.

Sunday 10:00 AM: When Bad People Make Good Art, in the "State A" room.

Sunday 1:00 PM: Impostor Syndrome, also in the "State A" room.

Both those rooms are on the second floor in the northwest corner (if I'm not mistaken on my directions).

I'll be there in my white fedora. Hope to see you there.

College Football, A Primer: More Information

Today we continue our college football primer. For previous posts see here, here, and here.

The Football Field

The standard football field is 100 yards long with end zones at each end. It is 160 feet wide (53 1/3 yards). The end zones are ten yards long and as wide as the field.

The 50-yard line is the middle of the field. From there the yard numbers get lower as they measure the distance in yards to the nearest end zone.  If a team starts on the 25 yard line, they are 75 yards from the end zone they need to get the ball into (their opponent's end zone). As they move forward, the numbers will get bigger until they pass the 50 yard line, then they will get smaller. A team's end zone is the one behind their backs, whether they are play offense or defense. This changes every quarter. This is so there's no advantage in going one way. Say the wind is blowing making passes longer in one direction. Then each team gets to use that advantage.

There are in college and pro football arrows pointing toward the nearest end zone by the numbers.

The Lines

There are two imaginary lines in football that you have to know about. One is the "line of scrimmage." This runs from sideline to sideline where the ball is placed. The offense (with the ball) lines up behind the line of scrimmage facing the defense. On television, a computer is used to project a dark (usually black or blue) line across the field at the line of scrimmage.

The second line is the "first down line." This is an imaginary line that runs from sideline to sideline that a player has to cross with the ball to get his team a first down. On television it is usually yellow except on CBS where it's kind of orange.

The Players

There are eleven men on the field for each team. One team will be playing offense (have the ball) and the other defense. (Kickoffs and punts are slightly different.)

Each person on the field has a job and a title such as "quarterback" or "running back" or "nose tackle." But a lot of those titles you don't have to worry about. I'll go over some of the ones you do have to worry about here.

The Offense

The center holds the ball until the quarterback signals he wants it. Lately that's been done a lot by clapping at the college level. Then the center "snaps" the ball to the quarterback. The center is in the middle of the front line, thus his title.

The quarterback either hands the ball off to a running back or throws the ball to a wide receiver or a running back. Or he might run with the ball himself but this is rare.

A running back, as the name implies, runs with the ball.

A wide receiver runs forward and catches the pass thrown by the quarterback. Or, is supposed to. He doesn't always achieve that.

The front line (how many varies) of the offense has the job of protecting the quarterback as he prepares to hand off or throw the ball, or open up holes in the defense's front line to let running back squirt through.

Other players try to protect the running backs from the defensive players. This is called "blocking."

The Defense

On the defense is the front line. Their job is to try to get to the quarterback or tackle whoever has the ball. If they tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage, that's a "sack."

Safeties try to stop the wide receivers from catching the ball. They are limited in what they can do by the rules.

Everyone else tries to tackle the guy with the ball (pretty much).

Special Teams

Special teams are groups of players who don't play offense or defense. Some of the members might play offense or defense, and also play on special teams. For example, a running back that plays on the offensive squad might also be on the punt-returning or kick-off returning unit because he can run well with the ball.

 Special teams include:

The "punting unit" who punt the ball.
The "punt-returning unit" who try to catch the punted ball and return it for as many yards as possible.
The "field goal unit" who try to kick field goals.
The "kickoff unit" who kick off the ball for a kickoff.
The "kickoff-returning unit" who try to catch the kicked ball and return it for as many yards as possible.

The Clocks

There are two clocks in college (and pro) football.  One is the game clock. This clock count downs how much time is left in a quarter. There are 15 minutes to a quarter, but the clock will often stop so a "one hour" game lasts about three hours. At the end of the first quarter, the teams switch end zones (and thus the direction they face) and keep playing. At the end of the second quarter, it's halftime and play stops for 20 minutes (12 in the NFL). The end of the third quarter is just like the end of the first quarter. And when the fourth quarter ends, the game is over, unless the score is tied.

The other clock is the play clock. This clock counts down how long until the offense has to make a play. It is usually 25 or 40 seconds depending on what happened before. If the game close stopped before the play, it is 25 seconds. If the game clock is still running, it's 40 seconds. If the offense doesn't start the play before the play clock hits zero, they get a "delay of game" penalty (see Penalties which will be posted next week). Play starts when the center gives the ball to the quarterback ("snaps" the ball).

Scoring

There are a lot of ways to score points in football.

The main two are touchdowns and field goals.

A "touchdown" is when a player on your team crossed the plane extending up from the goal line with the ball under his control. He can run the ball in or catch it in the end zone. But the ball has to be under his control. This is worth six points.

A "field goal" is kicking the football through the goal posts. This is usually done because the team can't get into the end zone. It is worth three points. If the team misses the field goal, the other team gets the ball from where the other team had it (the line of scrimmage). See The Downs (coming later).

An "extra point" is kicked after a touchdown. It is a lot like a field goal only is from a set distance (which is more in the NFL than in college) and is worth one point. These are rarely missed. This is also called a PAT (point after touchdown).

A "two-point conversion" is after a touchdown, also. From a set point, the offense tries to get the ball into the end zone like a touchdown. This is harder than a point after touchdown attempt. But it's worth two points.

And finally, a "safety" is when a player is tackled in their own end zone. This doesn't happen often but it does, sometimes. It’s worth two points, too.

Movie Review: Free Solo

Last night I watched the documentary Free Solo . It was both terrifying and exhilarating.

Free Solo tells the story of the man, Alex Honnold, who, in 2017, first free climbed El Capitan's 900-meter (2,950 foot) vertical rock face at Yosemite National Park.

In climber parlance, "free climbing" means without ropes or any safety gear. And "solo" of course means by himself.

Honnold didn't walk up to El Capitan and start climbing. No, he climbed it several times before with ropes to make sure he knew how to climb the mountain. And if he made a mistake, the ropes would save him. He paid particular attention to spots that were difficult to climb and practiced them to get it right.

But even with all the preparation he did, free climbing is a case of "one mistake and you're dead." Literally. He had to concentrate only on the climb and do everything perfectly or he would die. And that was true from probably one hundred feet off the ground to the top.

Alex's strength was amazing. At one point they show him doing pull ups. And you think "okay, he's doing pull ups." Then they show that he's lifting himself by his fingers using a "pull up board" like the one here.

But there are times during the climb he is relying on his fingers to hold his body weight.

He tried to climb the mountain in November of 2016, which required him to start in the pre-dawn darkness so that the sun was in the right position when he got to a particular section so it was light correctly for him to see what he was doing. But he "bailed" after a few hundred feet. He tried again in June of 2017 and that's when he managed to do the climb.

I told my wife it reminded me a bit of driving on the racetrack. It took concentration and if you screwed up there was a chance of death or injury. But usually you just lost time and didn't do a perfect lap.

Free Solo is an intense and exhilarating movie and I recommend it.

College Football, a Primer: The Conference System

Today we continue our primer of college football. For previous posts see here and here.

Today we'll discuss the Conference System.

The Conference System

College football is football played by universities. I presume at the lower levels there might be some colleges playing college football.

There are three divisions in the National College Athletic Conference (NCAA): Division I, Division II, and Division III. Which division a college is in depends on the size (student population) of your university/college with Division I being the biggest schools.

Division I is further broken down into Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for the largest schools and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) for the smaller schools that aren't small enough to be Division II. FBS is the series that you mostly see on television and gets the most attention. As the name implies, they play in the bowl games in December and early January. FCS games are rarely televised. Sometimes an FCS team will play an FBS team, usually so the FBS team can have an easy game to warm up for the beginning of the season.

In Division I FBS there are ten conferences. These are usually geographically based, such as the South East Conference (SEC) or the Pacific 12 (Pac-12) on the west coast (mostly). Of these ten conferences, there are five called the "Power Five" and these are the ones that get the most attention from television and other sports media. Those conferences are: the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference), The Big Ten (which has 14 teams), the Big 12, the Pac-12, and the SEC. These are the conferences considered to have the best teams.

Some universities are "independent" and not in a conference. That includes Notre Dame, BYU, and Army. I'm not sure why they would want to not be in a conference.

Some teams are in one conference for football, and another conference for other sports. There are more basketball conferences than football conferences because there are more teams playing basketball.

There are 129 FBS teams divided among the ten conferences. Those numbers are fluid. For example, Idaho dropped out of the FBS recently to play in the FCS.

Teams usually play three "non-conference" games in a season. That might include playing an FCS team or a team from one of the less regarded conferences. Then they will play nine in-conference games for a 12-game season. That means year after year you're playing the same teams in the regular season. The only time you play teams outside your conference is non-conference play and bowl games.

This was a problem for Boise State University. They are in the Mountain West conference. And they were in the 2000s often undefeated. But they were always playing other teams in the Mountain West conference. They rarely got to play teams from the Power Five Conferences to see how good they actually were.

This is why I'd like to see an actual playoff system for FBS teams. There are 78 bowl games (too many in my opinion) and if we couldn't turn that into a playoff system, that's stupid. The FCS teams do a playoff, why can't the FBS.

Vacation

Last week I took four days off and went to Cannon Beach, Oregon. It was very nice there. Even the weather cooperated giving us mostly sunny days that weren't too warm.

Cannon Beach is an interesting little town. It has purposely kept out chain businesses such as Starbucks. So everything has a local flavor to it. The only problem is, there isn't a gas station in the town. So you'd better plan ahead. (Perhaps that explains why there seemed to be a lot of Teslas there.)

But the scenery is amazing. This was taken from my hotel balcony at sunset:


The big rock in the picture is "Haystack Rock." It's a well-known feature of Cannon Beach. I would joke with the locals that it blocked my view of the ocean. They didn't seem to appreciate my jest.

There is a state park called Ecole State Park. The drive there is a bit unnerving as the road barely fits two cars and has lots of blind hills and corners. But the views are worth it. Here's looking back at Cannon Beach from that park:


One interesting thing about Cannon Beach, at least around my hotel, was the infestation of rabbits. I mentioned within earshot of a hotel employee that I thought they were cute and he said, "Take a few dozen home with you." Here's picture my wife took of one:

I don't think I've ever seen a white rabbit in the wild.

Overall it was a nice, relaxing vacation. I just wish hotel beds didn't make my back hurt so I end up sleeping in a chair for most of the night.

College Football, A Primer: Football in America

Today once again we're talking college football. Today we'll talk about football in America and college sports.

See here for the previous post.

College Sports

There are two college sports that get the most attention: football and basketball. More colleges have basketball teams than football teams, probably because it's cheaper to have a basketball team. I don't know of any college with a football team that doesn't also have a basketball team.

There are regional preferences, too. In the Southeast, high school and college football come right after God and guns in the order of importance. In the Midwest, basketball is king.

But there are a lot more sports in college than that. And there are sports for both men and women. For example, the University of Washington has nine men's sports and eleven women's sports.

Warning: This is a world fraught with acronyms and jargon. I'll try to explain any acronyms and jargon as they come up.

Football in America

In the United States, there are three basic levels of football: high school (sometimes called "prep"), college, and professional (i.e., the National Football League or NFL). Of course there's peewee football for younger kids and semi-professional and professional offshoots such as arena football.

The progression is high school football, then college football, then going "pro" in the NFL. But, only 5% of high school kids make it to the college level, and only 5% of college players make it to the NFL. That means as a high school player, your odds of going pro are 0.25%.

High school players are recruited into the colleges. That is, the colleges go out and try to entice the kid to play for their college. This is a bit unfair as the best teams can recruit the best players. Alabama, who is perpetually the national champion or close to it, has much easier time of recruiting good players than Washington State University that is an okay team but is rarely highly ranked nationally. The job of the coach is to convince as good as players as possible to come to his program.

Ultimately, the kid (and probably his parents) decides where he will go. If a kid wants to play in the NFL (and they almost all do), he's going to want to go to a good school that gets on television a lot. That would be a good FBS team in a Power 5 conference (see "The Conference System" next week).

College kids are "drafted" into the NFL. They have to have been out of high school for three years. The NFL gives their teams a chance to draft college players. The worst NFL teams get the earlier picks and therefore the better players. This is the NFL's way of trying to make it fairer. The player has to go with the team that drafts him for a number of years (I believe that's negotiable but there's probably a minimum) and then becomes a "free agent" and can go to the highest bidder. So he wants to do well at his first team so he's in demand when he's a free agent.

And just this year something called the American Alliance of Football (AAF) started playing in February after the NFL Super Bowl. The AAF was nothing but free agents looking to impress NFL scouts. The AAF even admitted it's trying to help its players get into the NFL. And the NFL must not have minded, they showed games on the NFL Network. The AAF  brought in coaches that are well-known from college and/or the NFL. That probably helped the quality of play. Unfortunately, it went broke near the end of its first season.

Next year the XFL is supposed to start again. That's the "Extreme Football League."  They had one season in 2001. I watched one game and all I remember is lots of salacious shots of cheerleaders. But it's supposed to be back in 2020.

College Football, A Primer: Introduction

Today we start on a seven-part series about college football. And now we'll introduce college football:

This is a primer designed for the person who knows little or nothing about college football or football in general.

Why College Football

I'm a huge fan of college football (and the University of Washington Huskies in particular). In college football, the players don't make mega millions of dollars. In fact, they aren't paid at all except through college scholarships. They don't practice as much as the pros so they still make mistakes. And you can watch a player start out as a rookie and watch him grow over the two to four years he might play for a team.

Now I'm not saying college football isn't big business. It is. Television revenues are in the millions. A good head coach can make a seven-figure salary per year (and are often the highest paid state employee of their state). The money doesn't come from taxpayers (at least not all of it), but from television revenue, stadium ticket sales, and booster donations. For example, Nike's Phil Knight has pledged $10 million per year to get good coaches to Oregon (his alma mater). I assume if the head coach is making millions, the assistance coaches (and there are a lot of them) are making at least six-figures. I read that one assistant coach was making $475,000 per year.

And, according to Forbes, the Washington Huskies make $84 million in revenue and out of that make $36 million in profit. I assume that money goes to pay for other sports that don't make a profit, including Title IX women's sports.

And why football? This game combines grace and violence in a alchemy of skills you don't see anywhere else. It is exciting to watch and fun to cheer on your team. It's never boring (like baseball) and it doesn't have squeaky shoes (like basketball). Also, the odd shape of the football makes it bounce unpredictably. This adds a bit of randomness not found in other sports.

And why the Washington Huskies? I went to college there (a lot). So I feel loyal to my alma mater. I even loved my Huskies the year they went 0-12 in the 2008 season.

And watching football can bring moments of amazement, such as this touchdown by former Husky John Ross.

Or these punt returns by Dante Petis.