'Canes Pundit

- Recruiting season is heating up.  Miami’s 2012 class somehow sits at #6 on Scout.com’s rankings, and #7 on Rival.com’s.  The fact that Golden is doing this with impending NCAA sanctions looming overhead is unfathomable.  With less than 10 days to go until Signing Day, there is still room for improvement.  Still, anything near the top 10 is a coup considering the situation we’re in.

- Of the top 25 recruiting classes ranked on Scout and Rivals, only one school has over 30 commits.  Miami.  Yet another recruit, TE Dwayne Hoilett, will enroll early thus counting towards last year’s class.  This frees up some much needed space in this year’s class.  Whether it be enrolling early or coming in as a walk on, there are several legal ways around the 25 scholarship per class limit.

- Man, as a Dolphins fan I can’t take another Tom Brady Super Bowl.  5 in 11 years?  Meanwhile the Phins haven’t played in a Super Bowl in 27 years.  27!  There’s only 16 teams in the AFC.  Ugh.  I like the Philbin hire.  That dude kinda looks like Larry Coker.  Let’s just hope he doesn’t coach like Coker.

Quick Hits: As I said, once Pacquiao agreed to the testing, Mayweather would think of something else – and sure enough, demanding more than 50-50 is it.  If anything, Pacquiao is the bigger draw and deserves the higher percentage….Watched ‘The Ides of March’ over the weekend.  Eh, kinda slow in the beginning but got better as it went along and was OK….Nice to see Duke Johnson upgraded to a 5 star recruit, but does it really matter?  I’m looking forward to next year and think that he will get lots of playing time….Coughlin totally should have given Harbaugh the ‘Power Shake’ at the end of OT.

I watched the movie ‘Moneyball’ last night and thought it was a decent flick.  It got me thinking about football and some of the major statistical oversights, namely clock management. 

 

I’ve always said that pro and college teams need to hire an individual that is solely responsible for clock management.  It amazes me how there are special teams assistant coaches, graduate assistant coaches, interns, etc. yet there is no sole individual assigned to maximizing the efficiency of offenses in the two minute drill.  Sure, they practice it during the week and the head coach has the ultimate say on when to call timeouts, but there needs to be a dedicated unit of teaching to ingrain in these young minds what to do when there a precious seconds left in a crucial situation.  Does Bobby Bowden lose Wide Right I if he runs another play to gain a couple of yards?  Does he lose Wide Right III if he doesn’t waste precious seconds prior to Matt Munyon’s field goal attempt?

 

The NFL is not immune, either.  Take a look at the Saints-49ers playoff game from this past weekend.  With a little over 2 minutes remaining, San Francisco QB Alex Smith is facing a 3rd and 8 at New Orleans’ 28 yard line, down by 1.  New Orleans has 1 timeout left.  He runs a bootleg and is in the clear.  Sprinting down the sidelines, Smith heads towards the end zone untouched.  If I were the clock management coach, I would have told him, ‘If you get in the open, go down at the 2.’  Think about it.  Instead of scoring a touchdown – as he did – Smith purposely falls down at the 2, bringing the game to the two minute warning.  San Francisco now has a 1st and Goal at the 2.  They take a knee on 1st down, New Orleans calls their last timeout.  1:55 remaining.  Smith takes another knee and with the Saints out of timeouts, the clock is brought down to 1:10.  On 3rd down, they take another knee, bringing the clock down to approximately 27 seconds.  They bring on John Kasay to kick the go ahead 21 yard field goal with about 20-30 seconds left.  Wouldn’t you rather have a two point lead with 25 seconds left than a 5 point lead with 2:11 left?

 

Sure enough, All Pro QB Drew Brees marched his team down for the go ahead touchdown.  Only problem is, the Saints don’t have a clock management specialist either so they scored too soon, thus allowing the 49ers to retake the lead for good with 9 seconds left. [click to continue…]