FB: American Southwest Conference

exmajor · August 29, 2006, 12:21:33 PM

For those interested, the Millsaps / Miss. College game will be broadcast on the local ESPN affiliate in Jackson on Saturday. The kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm and it is the first time in over 40 years the game will be played at one of the school's home stadiums (Millsaps). Here is a link to ESPN 1240's website:

http://www.espnradio1240.com/default.html

Josh Bowerman · August 29, 2006, 01:51:54 PM

If you've not checked out this month's copy of Texas Monthly, there's a neat photo essay on Texas high school football coaches in it.

At least two of the coaches were of interest to me as a HSU fan: former assistant coach and Austin College alumnus Sam Shields, who is now on the staff at one of the Plano high schools and Darren Allman, who is a HSU alumnus (from '92, I think) and former All American for the Cowboys. Darren is back at his hometown high school, Odessa Permian, as head coach.

Much of the rest of the issue is dedicated to Texas football at all levels, so I'd encourage everyone to check it out, if you haven't already done so.

Josh Bowerman · August 29, 2006, 04:10:22 PM

Quote from: Zmotion10 out on 2 on August 28, 2006, 02:49:39 PM
I was at the scrimmage and did notice that two starters were not participating. The one that you heard the rumor and and one in the secondary. It must not be too bad because I did not notice any limping or anything like that. Hopefully just a minor strain.

From my experience watching HSU football, if they're not playing, they're hurt pretty good--and that's not a good thing. I'm hopeful that they'll both be back for the Linfield game. I think we can probably get by UWSP without them, but not Linfield. Or at least I hope so.

Since the game report is out, I'm going to assume that Daniels and Deaver are out, as they're returning starters on the roster but not listed on the two-deep.

To me, this begs the same question that a lot of folks are asking in the pro game right now. How much "training camp" is too much? I mean, isn't the point of the whole exercise to get your guys ready to play, not to get ready to sit on the trainer's table?

Jimmie has always run a pretty strenuous camp/practice schedule, and I've always had mixed feelings about it, to be honest. These feelings are mostly a result of seeing some pretty darned good players fall out due to injuries suffered outside of game competition. As it stands for this weekend's game, I really don't like the fact that two starters are injured and out--a result of injuries that they most likely suffered in camp.

Yeah, yeah, yeah....I know that injuries can happen anytime during the season, but the whole point--at least IMO--is to get ready in camp/practice without suffering any significant injuries. The limited contact, limited full pads concept has always seemed to work for John Gagliardi and St. John's pretty well....

Warren Thompson · August 29, 2006, 04:21:03 PM

Josh:

I often wonder how many coaches ruin things by what they demand in pre-season camps. (I'm all for Gagliardi's way of doing things; it certainly hasn't hurt the St. John's W/L record over the years, has it?)

BTW remember when there was no water allowed at practice and in games? It took a fairly long time, and some preventable deaths, for coaches to wise up that heat stroke and renal failure were real possibilities when no hydration was available.

Josh Bowerman · August 29, 2006, 04:46:22 PM

Warren, my wife was an athletic trainer in a previous life. I've heard all those horror stories, and more. I'm glad that most coaches have come around.

I hope that nobody misunderstands where I'm coming from. Jimmie runs a great program and is pretty progressive--especially for someone that has been coaching as long as he has. I've just always questioned the amount of hitting and full-pads workouts he's run.

Maybe I'm the one that's wrong--he's won a whole lot of ball games preparing this way, and I'm certainly not in a position to tell him what he's doing is wrong--he's earned the right to be above my general criticism, for sure!

I just want one season--just one--where we get to see what HSU can accomplish with a full compliment of healthy players.

Warren Thompson · August 29, 2006, 05:11:18 PM

Quote from: Josh Bowerman on August 29, 2006, 04:46:22 PM
I just want one season--just one--where we get to see what [a team] can accomplish with a full compliment of healthy players.

Don't we all?!

Josh Bowerman · August 29, 2006, 05:29:40 PM

Well, probably not everybody does, Warren. I can think of about ten teams on HSUs schedule this season that are hoping for every advantage they can get!

Ralph Turner · August 29, 2006, 05:42:47 PM

Quote from: Warren Thompson on August 29, 2006, 04:21:03 PM
Josh:

I often wonder how many coaches ruin things by what they demand in pre-season camps. (I'm all for Gagliardi's way of doing things; it certainly hasn't hurt the St. John's W/L record over the years, has it?)

BTW remember when there was no water allowed at practice and in games? It took a fairly long time, and some preventable deaths, for coaches to wise up that heat stroke and renal failure were real possibilities when no hydration was available.

My high school football coaches had adopted fluid and electrolyte replacement by 1967, shortly after the introduction of Gatorade. We had scheduled water and electrolyte replacement by then. I think that there was a very quick learning curve by the better coaching staffs by that time, at least in Texas.

Warren Thompson · August 29, 2006, 05:51:17 PM

Ralph, was it the death of a UT player from heat stroke that converted Coach Royal into a firm believer in hydration? (Unfortunately, I don't remember the year that this happened, though I think it was sometime in the 1960s.)

roocru · August 29, 2006, 07:07:14 PM

Here is an interesting statistic for you. In the past ten years in Texas High School football there has been one death, that's right, one death, due to heat related problems and it happened last year. All the other deaths attributed to high school football in Texas have been due to heart defects, other congenital problems, etc.

I know that one death is too many, but considering the heat in Texas and the number of athletes participating in football in Texas in the last ten years, I think that says a great deal about the seriousness that Texas high school coaches place upon the well being of the athletes in their charge.

dballa · August 29, 2006, 10:41:45 PM

So what do people think about the new rule changes regarding the clock? It's now going to start immediately on the change of possession and after a free kick.

Does that follow true for the whole game or does it change at the end of the game in the last few minutes? If it continues to start even late in the game it would greatly benefit the team ahead and would hurt a team trying to make a comeback.

This may have already been discussed but i most likely missed it.

Ralph Turner · August 29, 2006, 11:50:16 PM

Quote from: Warren Thompson on August 29, 2006, 05:51:17 PM
Ralph, was it the death of a UT player from heat stroke that converted Coach Royal into a firm believer in hydration? (Unfortunately, I don't remember the year that this happened, though I think it was sometime in the 1960s.)

WT, I think that it was the advances in fluid and electrolyte physiology that convinced the coaches to change.

When one coach changes, and one can see the measureable improvement in performance as one reviews game films, then coaches adapt so as not to give up an edge.

The benefit was that no players were dying after the smarter coaching techniques.

Josh Bowerman · August 30, 2006, 10:01:21 AM

I'm taking a wait and see approach, dballa. I'm pretty sure the new rule will speed up the game--which is a good thing.

Having said that, I'm hoping that my team isn't the one desperately trying to catch up at the end of the game!

Bill McCabe · August 30, 2006, 12:32:46 PM

dballa, I think this rule was adopted once before. I really don't see the reason for the change and I think that was the case before. Sometimes I think the rules committees think they have to make changes for change sake.

Ron Boerger · August 30, 2006, 02:19:12 PM

Quote from: Bill McCabe on August 30, 2006, 12:32:46 PM
dballa, I think this rule was adopted once before. I really don't see the reason for the change and I think that was the case before. Sometimes I think the rules committees think they have to make changes for change sake.

You know, D-1 games would be a lot shorter if they didn't have 15,000 media timeouts. The way to make games faster is to give the media 3 timeouts just like the teams have. D3 doesn't need this rule.