Teddy Greenstein skewers Weis

Here's another: Beanie vs. LSU.

They didn't lose because they were slow, they lost because LSU was better.

 

Another midwest apoligist I see.

 

How is it being an apologist when he has a clip to back it up?

Michigan won that game, remember, as an unranked underdog.

 

Weis went after the No. 1 recruit in the country and so alienated both the player and the coach with his arrogance that he never had a chance at getting the kid. This is not from "sources close to the situation" or from read between the lines quotes, it's straight from the HS coach, on the record, in no uncertain terms. The "three days with me and he'll be incredible" quote, the offering to let them take a picture of his ring, the fact that Pryor never called Weis back -- all good stuff. There could always be more, but what's there is pretty substantial.

 

That's fair. The defensive ends are slow - no burst. The offensive tackles and guards are slow. Or they play that way.

The secondary is difficult to judge because of the murderers' row of quartebacks Notre Dame has faced this year - Chris Crane, Pat Bostick, Nick Sheridan/Steven Threet, Greg Dobbs, Whoever North Carolina's back-up is, Whoever Washington's back-up is, etc., etc.

Now they lost their fastest or second-fastest offensive player (WR Michael Floyd) and fastest defensive player, relative to position (LB Brian Smith) for a month.

USC 60, Notre Dame 6?

 

Just sick of seeing people saying speed is the reason the SEC teams walloped OSU. Didn't the Big Ten also win the Outback bowl against an SEC opponent last year?

The main reason the SEC teams win against Big Ten teams when they do is because they are better teams. Being in the south with warmer weather therefore translating into better speed has little to do with it now. It isn't 1970. Teams have indoor facilities and fields and they work year round on plyometrics and other things to develop fast-twitch muscle training.

 

I agree with this. When UM played ND and Threet threw a moon ball, the defensive back who intercepted the ball was run down by a UM offensive lineman. I've never seen a Michigan lineman run anything down but a large pizza.

 

They are better teams because of their overall team speed.

 

Agree to disagree. You seem to characterize the Big Ten's lack of team speed because they are in the midwest, when in actuality the 3-yards and a cloud of dust has been gone for a while.

OSU, Michigan, Illinois and Purdue are all running variations of the spread. Michigan State was running the spread two years ago.

Anyway, there is no way you are going to tell me players like Pryor, Juice Williams and Martavious Odoms are slow. Not anymore.

Moreover, if we are talking about defensive backs, the speed is there. Both in the college ranks and in the NFL from players who were in the Big Ten and fast. You can look at virtually any team in the NFL and see an OSU or UM DB.

 

There is a difference between speed and quickness (or burst), particularly when you're talking about defensive ends vs. offensive tackles. Florida beat Ohio State because the Buckeyes' tackles, Alex Boone and Kirk Barton, couldn't block the Gators' ends, whose names escape me right now.

And as someone else mentioned, last year's Florida team was no match for Michigan. And Michigan was no match for Ohio State six weeks earlier.

The whole "team speed" thing is overrated. It's not like midwestern teams load up with players who run like Charlie Weis. This isn't 1980 anymore. Half the Big Ten is running the spread in one form or another, and every team in the league has guys in the secondary who can run. You want to talk about individual matchup problems, like a linebacker trying to cover a running back, fine. But the overall team speed argument is BS.

 

I enjoyed the column. Knowing how impossible it is to get anyone to criticize a college coach, Greenstein did a great job getting the Pryor anecdote.

 

It's independence that's the problem, not their standards.
They should have joined the Big East 3/4 years ago, but they're too arrogant.
So actually it's arrogance, not independence, that's the problem.