The Week in Quotes

by 40AS on Sep 16, 2008 12:24 PM CDT in Football Comment 14 comments

"The Week in Quotes" returns for a second go-round, and there was no shortage of stuff to talk about this week in college football. Let's start it off with a couple of thoughts from the Longhorns' head coach:

"The thing that we will explain to the players today is - how selfish of us to feel sorry ourselves that we don't get to play. There are a lot of people this weekend that have got a lot more problems than we have and we need to pray for them." -- Mack Brown on Thursday, Sept. 11. Mack hit the nail on the head with this thought about how small football can seem in comparison to Mother Nature's destructive power and how it can affect the lives of millions. The other side of that coin is, of course, the comfort that seeing the Longhorns play in coming weeks will provide to many families picking up the pieces from Ike's damage. We saw how important the Saints were in helping New Orleanians regain their civic pride and reunite as a community. Sports will, we hope, have a similar effect for the Texas coast.

"Missouri is averaging 597 yards a game, Texas Tech 584, Oklahoma 556 and they're scoring 54 points, Oklahoma State 546; it's hard to do that against air." --Mack Brown on Monday, Sept. 15. Mack started out his Rice week press conference with an opening statement about how great the Big XII has been. Yes, it's possible--nay, probable--that most of Brown's intention here is to lower expectations for Longhorn fans based on some great early performances by future opponents. But we have always been suckers for folksy Southern coach-speak, and hope readers can appreciate it too. One of us (the one that used to play football) was once called "slower than molasses running uphill in January."

"But why, some say, the moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?" --President John F. Kennedy, Nov 21, 1963. It really wouldn't be appropriate not to include this one on Rice week. Rice hung tough with Vanderbilt last Saturday and generally seems to be a better team than usual. That doesn't mean Texas won't still stomp them this weekend, but the Owls are looking like a potential bowl team at 2-1 with five conceivably winnable games left. JFK would be proud...to the extent that he would care.

"Want to hear the most Tulane thing ever? The halftime show is sponsored by the Princeton Review." -- TheWaveReport.com editor Scott Kushner. What Scott couldn't have known was that "the most Tulane thing ever" was yet to come, blowing a late 4th quarter lead to #14 East Carolina in devastating fashion. The Wave have looked solid in their two moral victories on the year and we could see them making some noise in an awful C-USA.

"I wished we would've scored a few more points." -- Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville. Auburn scored the third-fewest points possible for a football game and still won the game (3-2) over Mississippi State. There probably isn't another team in the SEC that Auburn could beat scoring only 3 points, but an SEC win is an SEC win.

"It was a difficult day at the office for us." -- Syracuse coach Greg Robinson. Talk about your understatement of the day from the former Texas defensive coordinator. After a humiliating 55-13 loss to Penn State, Syracuse is now 0-3 and is yet to even have a single-digit loss. Things should get easier for the Orangemen as they face Northeastern next week, but sadly it's not looking good for Robinson's head coaching future in New York. That's why you should stay defensive coordinator at Texas for a few more years, Coach Boom.

This week's "Quote of the Week":

"Buckeyes unable to uphold early lead in road contest vs. No. 1 Trojans." -- subtitle on game story from OhioStateBuckeyes.com. We understand the school's website wants to put as much positive spin as possible on a devastating loss, but come on guys. While technically true, Ohio State only held a 3-0 lead for under three minutes against USC. Less than 10 minutes of game time later USC had built an 11-point lead that might as well have been 100.

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"The most Tulane thing ever?"

Probably that it’s about about five times more likely that you’ll see someone proudly repping any SEC school on gameday than someone in a Tulane shirt/jersey/hat.

proud to swim home

by learned hand on Sep 16, 2008 2:03 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think more along the lines of

this, when I think of Tulane.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Sep 16, 2008 2:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Unsurprisingly, the best ones are still from Texas...nt whills

proud to swim home

by learned hand on Sep 16, 2008 2:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I didnt mean to imply attractiveness.

Moreso the presence of woman and beads, in what looks like a totally sober environment.

Everything is better in Texas.

by BoddickerIsClutch on Sep 16, 2008 3:06 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice Buckeye subtitle

It’s like if the basketball went down 4-2 early in a basketball game and ended up dominating and winning by 40, we’d say something like, “They just couldn’t hold on to their early lead.” Indeed.

by TheElusiveShadow on Sep 16, 2008 3:06 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

The basketball?

I guess basketballs can basketball…

by TheElusiveShadow on Sep 16, 2008 3:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Slower than...

Chuck Amato (sp?), former Florida State and NC State head, once told a buddy of mine: ‘"Steve if you were in a race with a pregnant woman you’d come in third". I couldn’t decide if that was folksy or just true.

One of us (the one that used to play football) was once called “slower than molasses running uphill in January.”

...and ou still sucks.

by UTHomeSearch on Sep 16, 2008 4:14 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That is super. Just super.

by 40AS on Sep 16, 2008 4:28 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I believe this should be fourth fewest possible.

“Auburn scored the third-fewest points possible for a football game…”.

I believe this should be fourth fewest as only scoring 1 point is technically possible in a college football game, though I believe has never actually happened, by scoring a 1 point safety on an extra point try against the trying team. Interestingly a safety on an extra point try against the defending team has happened, by Texas against ATM I believe in 2004, but since the trying team has had to already have scored 6 points, this can’t lead to a 1 point final score.

It can be done if, say, an extra point is blocked or fumbled and picked up by someone on the defending team who runs it way down near the other goal line trying to score 2, then if he fumbles in the field of play and someone on the trying team picks it up and in trying to make a play runs on his own into his own end zone and then gets tackled. That would be a 1 point safety for the defending team who may have had zero points before that play. Also could happen if against a team with 0 points the holder on an extra point inexplicably takes the ball and runs back to his own end zone and then gets tackled (someone should do this at the end of a shutout just to have a game end with a score of X-1).

by tdwalsh on Sep 16, 2008 5:38 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Has that every happened? nt whills

by Wells on Sep 16, 2008 9:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't believe it's ever happened with

the defensive team getting a 1 point safety on an extra point attempt, but here’s the story about the ’horns getting a 1 point safety on an attempt when they were the trying (offensive) team:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/6590924

Of course that is, though rare, much easier as you are playing much closer to that end zone on an extra point attempt. The trying team has to get tackled in the end zone that is 97 yards behind them somehow as in the examples above for the defense (which may have zero points) to score a 1 point safety.

Of course, if you view scoring zero not as points, but as a total lack of points then being shutout and scoring zero wouldn’t be the fewest points possible as you technically scored no points and then 3 would be the third-fewest “points” possible for a football game after 1 and 2, but that’s even more technical than the rule allowing a 1 point defensive safety.

by tdwalsh on Sep 16, 2008 10:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Interesting...

One thing you didn’t mention, that would make a safety by the defending team more likely, is some crazy situation wherein there was an unsportsmanlike penalty on the TD, then maybe another couple of personal fouls on the lengthened extra-point attempts, forcing the trying team to “go for 2” from their own side of the field. with the play moved closer to the trying team’s own endzone, the possibilities increase. Right?

Anyway, thanks for pointing out that rule; I was unaware of it. And, to answer the question below, we were counting zero as a possible number of points, but that’s also an interesting point.

by 40AS on Sep 17, 2008 9:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs