Puzzling Quote From Bielema

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josh087

josh087

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So I'm watching the Badger Sports report as usual and they come to the "Great Dane Question of the Week" sent in by a fan.

Did anyone else catch this?

The question was - When you win a coin toss, what factors go in to what you decide to do?

Bielema answers with a couple sentences you would expect - "there are many factors...," "we decide ahead of time..." - but then adds -

"These are all things that if we win the coin toss, go into whether we decide to take the ball, defer, or even to kick off."

I'd love to think Bret is just really really stupid, but this quote left me puzzled.
 

Him going for the long completion with 2+ min left allowing us to keep a to told me all I need to know about his intellect.


Of course, we suck so it didn't matter.
 

when the team wins the toss it can choose to kick or receive or "defer" its option to the second half. So if a team wins the toss and wants to receive in the second half it will defer and the other team will choose to receive. Teams do have the choice though to kick when it's their half for the choice so it is possible for a team to kick to open both halves. Never actually seen this though.
 

This is going back to Junior Varsity many years ago, but you could simply choose to defend a goal if you won the toss. I've seen it happen a few times where the team that got the ball at the opening kickoff ended up receiving the 2nd half kickoff, mostly in cases where wind was a major factor.
 

Maybe he is just really stupid.

My friend went to school in Texas and was an IM ref there. He told me about a game he called where a frat team chose to "kick off" to start the first half. Then, the captains lined up after halftime and as he should, asked the other team what they would like to do in the second half and they said, of course, "receive." He said he had about a half-dozen frat guys in his face yelling and screaming but that the stunned look in their faces was priceless.
 


Gophers09 said:
when the team wins the toss it can choose to kick or receive or "defer" its option to the second half. So if a team wins the toss and wants to receive in the second half it will defer and the other team will choose to receive. Teams do have the choice though to kick when it's their half for the choice so it is possible for a team to kick to open both halves. Never actually seen this though.
Click to expand...

Minnesota Vs. Illinois 1993...

We chose to kick off both halves in order to have the wind to our backs in the 2nd & 4th Quarters...
 

I swear there was a game where Vikings kicked off twice under Denny Green in a home game in the 90s. Doubt the wind was a factor in Denny's mind - although the calcutta clipper can be fierce inside the Metrodome during the fall season.
 

thailleagle said:
Minnesota Vs. Illinois 1993...

We chose to kick off both halves in order to have the wind to our backs in the 2nd & 4th Quarters...
Click to expand...

You can't choose to kick off twice. I assume Ill. chose to take the ball to start the game, leaving the U to choose to defend a goal at the 2nd half.
 




Breakin' The Plane said:
You can't choose to kick off twice. I assume Ill. chose to take the ball to start the game, leaving the U to choose to defend a goal at the 2nd half.
Click to expand...

Dang - you beat me to it. This is correct. One team cannot choose twice. There could be a scenario in a tight game with adverse conditions where you could choose to kick in the 2nd half.

I just can't imagine a scenario where you would ever choose to kick in the FIRST HALF. This is why the Bielema quote was so puzzling.
 

josh087 said:
Dang - you beat me to it. This is correct. One team cannot choose twice. There could be a scenario in a tight game with adverse conditions where you could choose to kick in the 2nd half.

I just can't imagine a scenario where you would ever choose to kick in the FIRST HALF. This is why the Bielema quote was so puzzling.
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Even if the wind is a major, major factor, you would never choose to kick. If you do, the opposing team gets to decide if they want the wind right away, or in the 2nd quarter.
 

thailleagle said:
Either way we kicked off twice in that game...
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right. That's not the only time it's happened. I'm almost certain it's happened in the NFL that wind has been such a deciding factor that a team (maybe the Vikings) choose to go with the wind rather than take the ball in an overtime game.

EDIT: Nevermind, it was the Lions against the Bears who chose to take the wind. Pretty sure it cost the coach his job.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
I'm sure you're right. That's not the only time it's happened. I'm almost certain it's happened in the NFL that wind has been such a deciding factor that a team (maybe the Vikings) choose to go with the wind rather than take the ball in an overtime game.
Click to expand...

We lost that game I think 24-20 but lead 17-3 at one point...
 



All nothing compared to Marty Mornigwhig (sp) choosing to kick-off in an NFL OT. Classic.
 

josh087 said:
Maybe he is just really stupid.

My friend went to school in Texas and was an IM ref there. He told me about a game he called where a frat team chose to "kick off" to start the first half. Then, the captains lined up after halftime and as he should, asked the other team what they would like to do in the second half and they said, of course, "receive." He said he had about a half-dozen frat guys in his face yelling and screaming but that the stunned look in their faces was priceless.
Click to expand...

That's funny. The exact same thing happened in an IM game I played in. The referee even tried to explain the mistake to them but their captain kept interrupting and blurting out that they wanted to kick.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
I'm sure you're right. That's not the only time it's happened. I'm almost certain it's happened in the NFL that wind has been such a deciding factor that a team (maybe the Vikings) choose to go with the wind rather than take the ball in an overtime game.

EDIT: Nevermind, it was the Lions against the Bears who chose to take the wind. Pretty sure it cost the coach his job.
Click to expand...

I see you beat me to this. It didn't really cost him his job. He sucked. It was just an extra nail in the coffin. Kind of like some of Brew's comments this week.
 

thailleagle said:
Minnesota Vs. Illinois 1993...

We chose to kick off both halves in order to have the wind to our backs in the 2nd & 4th Quarters...
Click to expand...

Is this the game they won in the final minute by having the scorekeeper cheat on the clock so badly that Gov. Carlson wrote the Big 10 a letter?
 


Fascinating discussion, but we're missing the real talker from this thread:

Josh...Badger Sports Report? Only the die-hardest of die-hards goes to such great lengths with the arch-rival to support his squad.

In my household, we don't touch Wisconsin sports shows/days/weeks on BTN with a 10-foot pole. Unless, of course, it's a replay of a great Gopher victory.
 

Vince Lombardi Football

It's funny, this had happened to me when I was a kid and I forgot about it until reading this.

My first year playing Vince Lombardi football in upstate NY and I was one of the captains. As we’re going out for the first game’s coin toss, our coach was telling us we wanted to start on defense. Since we didn’t know any better, my teammate said “we’ll kick-off” after we won the toss. The other team, who was apparently much more prepared than we were, knew right away that we said the wrong thing. So we ended up kicking off for both halves.

I remember just accepting it at the time, but now I think its garbage the refs didn’t do anything to help out the 9(?) year olds in their first game ever. I’m getting soft in my old age.

Even worse, I can’t remember if we won or not.
 

I don't think there are any plaques in the Bielema house extolling Bret's academic accomplishments, but he's shown me that he's a pretty good coach. I watched an interview with him on the Big 10 network a week or so back and he's fine until he runs out of cliches. But again, when I'm looking at a coach, I'll only worry about his SAT scores if they are so low it's obvious his knuckles drag on the ground. I think Bielema has at least an inch to go before having to worry about that.
 

TheSportsAce said:
Fascinating discussion, but we're missing the real talker from this thread:

Josh...Badger Sports Report? Only the die-hardest of die-hards goes to such great lengths with the arch-rival to support his squad.

In my household, we don't touch Wisconsin sports shows/days/weeks on BTN with a 10-foot pole. Unless, of course, it's a replay of a great Gopher victory.
Click to expand...

Ha, Sprenger - I actually watch all 10 Big Ten Coaches' shows every week (for some reason they are not showing the Jim Tressel show this year on the BTN). Not too hard for you to imagine, as you know how obsessed I am with college football. I laugh every time I hear Gary Dolphin say "Iowa football with Kirk Ferentz - powered by Iowa corn." Can't make that stuff up.
 

50PoundHead said:
I don't think there are any plaques in the Bielema house extolling Bret's academic accomplishments, but he's shown me that he's a pretty good coach. I watched an interview with him on the Big 10 network a week or so back and he's fine until he runs out of cliches. But again, when I'm looking at a coach, I'll only worry about his SAT scores if they are so low it's obvious his knuckles drag on the ground. I think Bielema has at least an inch to go before having to worry about that.
Click to expand...

What's weird is that I thought he was a pretty savvy guy with the rules - remember a couple years back they had that game with Penn State where they took advantage of the clock rule on kickoffs to basically drain the clock at the end of the half by blasting several kickoffs into the 20th row.

Maybe that was the brainchild of one of his assistants. Between this quote and that inexcusable timeout he used against Michigan St. two years ago the scales are tipping toward idiot status.
 

Yeah, that was Marty "I'll take the wind" Morningweg who made that bonehead call. In OT! He was probably fired anyway, but that was the piece de la resistance. The amazing thing is that Marty is an OC somewhere now. I think on the Eagles. Football coaching is the ultimate old boys network. You can always get a job somewhere next year, no matter how badly you screwed the pooch this year. Proof that Brewster will be gainfully employed in 2011.
 

howeda7 said:
Is this the game they won in the final minute by having the scorekeeper cheat on the clock so badly that Gov. Carlson wrote the Big 10 a letter?
Click to expand...

Yes it is. I remember that day well. We got the royal screw job. The worst though is when your own guy does it to you (e.g. Purdue 2001).
 

things like this

thailleagle said:
We lost that game I think 24-20 but lead 17-3 at one point...
Click to expand...

Ha! This is all kinds of awesome in how U of M football smashes a fan's heart till it is drained white. Like the one sweet shot out of 100 hundred in golf that has you back on the course in 2 weeks.
 

gophmeister said:
Yes it is. I remember that day well. We got the royal screw job. The worst though is when your own guy does it to you (e.g. Purdue 2001).
Click to expand...

I don't blame the clock guy in that game - I blame the refs 100%. The clock guy started the clock in a reasonable fashion once the ref blew the whistle for the ready to play on the FG. Actually, the play before the kick he could have easily stopped the clock with :02 or even :03 left instead of :01.

The refs literally let the entire Purdue team off the field, let the entire special teams unit on the field, let the holder and kicker line up while the linemen were over the ball, then blew the whistle. Show me another instance in the history of college football where it took longer to wind the clock after a first down and I'll give you my property in the mountains of Iowa.

I don't even want to bring up the Henderson TD in OT - although I actually blame the University on that one - why paint an extra border to the back of the end zone to confuse the refs even more????
 

josh087 said:
What's weird is that I thought he was a pretty savvy guy with the rules - remember a couple years back they had that game with Penn State where they took advantage of the clock rule on kickoffs to basically drain the clock at the end of the half by blasting several kickoffs into the 20th row.

Maybe that was the brainchild of one of his assistants. Between this quote and that inexcusable timeout he used against Michigan St. two years ago the scales are tipping toward idiot status.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong. I do agree that Bielema becomes uncomfortable in the world of the polysyllabic. I also think he has impulse control problems that lead to some odd decisions. Remember, he was a nose guard. He's probably had more cobwebs than your Grandma's attic.
 

Too Long in the Wasteland said:
Yeah, that was Marty "I'll take the wind" Morningweg who made that bonehead call. In OT! He was probably fired anyway, but that was the piece de la resistance. The amazing thing is that Marty is an OC somewhere now. I think on the Eagles. Football coaching is the ultimate old boys network. You can always get a job somewhere next year, no matter how badly you screwed the pooch this year. Proof that Brewster will be gainfully employed in 2011.
Click to expand...
Offense is Andy Reid's baby, but if the Eagles continue to be the NFC's highest scoring team, Marty might get another shot down the road.
 

josh087 said:
I don't blame the clock guy in that game - I blame the refs 100%. The clock guy started the clock in a reasonable fashion once the ref blew the whistle for the ready to play on the FG. Actually, the play before the kick he could have easily stopped the clock with :02 or even :03 left instead of :01.

The refs literally let the entire Purdue team off the field, let the entire special teams unit on the field, let the holder and kicker line up while the linemen were over the ball, then blew the whistle. Show me another instance in the history of college football where it took longer to wind the clock after a first down and I'll give you my property in the mountains of Iowa.
Click to expand...

Actually the officials should have waited longer. They should have waited for all the officials to be in position for the FG. They can't wind it until the down marker is at least set. Purdue won the game on a couple great plays by them.
 

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