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SURVEYING THE LANDSCAPE
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Pirate Notebook No. 272
Thursday, June 22, 2006
By Denny O'Brien |
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Red flag for coaches
deserves challenge
©2006 Bonesville.net
Not everyone is waving the green flag over
the decision to add the coach's challenge to college football. In fact, the
introduction of that new wrinkle to instant replay is a source of heartburn
for some Division I-A coaches.
Count Skip Holtz among them.
Though the East Carolina coach is very much
in favor of replay, he strongly opposes the distribution of red flags to
coaches.
The reason? The possibility of being served
a helping of home cooking.
"If you're playing at home, they're going
to show (the replay) to you so you can see it and you can throw your red
flag," Holtz said. "If you're playing on the road, they're not going to show
(the replay) to you.
"They're not going to show it to you
because then you'll get to see it and throw (the flag). So you're going to
have to make those calls as they go."
When East Carolina hosts West Virginia or
Tulsa this season, Holtz should benefit from the opportunities he'll have to
review questionable calls from the Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium video board. But
when ECU visits Raleigh to face rival N.C. State?
You can bet that any replay that might
remotely prompt Holtz to toss the red hanky will be replaced by a John Deere
ad on the big screen.
Much of that could be avoided if the NCAA
provided the same replay amenities as the NFL. To do that, each stadium must
be outfitted with a giant video board, all of the necessary camera angles,
and a screen in the booth that assistants can monitor.
"If I had a chance to watch film and then
throw a red flag, I'm all for it," Holtz said. "In the NFL, they have replay
televisions in the coach's booths. We don't have those. We're not allowed to
have those in college football.
"You're putting a human element into ...
the coach's decision. It's one more thing for us to think about and consider
and go through. I don't know. Maybe a year or two from now, I'll say it's a
great thing."
Don't count on it.
Better approach
The NCAA's Playing Rules Oversight Panel at
least got one thing right when it decided that instant replay will be
implemented uniformly across Division I-A.
That's a change from last year when each
conference had the runway to decide on the replay system to use not to
mention the fact that two leagues didn't use replay at all.
In addition to the one challenge that
coaches will have per game, the oversight panel decided that a video
official must decide whether or not a call is overturned. And that's a
drastic change for Conference USA.
During C-USA's first year using replay, the
referee not a video official in the press box made the final call after
reviewing the play from a monitor on the sidelines. The end result was the
lowest percentage of overturned plays of any league in Division I-A.
That means C-USA either has the best
officials in college football, or the ones that it has are reluctant to
admit they missed a call. I'll take the latter.
Molding Clay
Exiting spring practice, redshirt freshman
Brett Clay was firmly implanted as the No. 2 quarterback on ECU's depth
chart. But don't think for a second that he emerged as James Pinkney's
understudy due to a lack of competition.
"There was a heck of a battle between him
and Patrick (Pinkney) and Rob Kass," Holtz said. "I think all three of them
have done a lot of good things, but right now I think Brett has been the
most productive."
If you think the battle on the field was
nip-and-tuck, you should check out their results in the classroom. All three
reserve QB's carry a 3.5 GPA according to Holtz, which is a glowing example
of how the Pirates coach re-emphasized the importance of academics within
the program.
For Clay, the ability to think both quickly
and decisively in the pocket is largely why he enters fall camp as the
backup.
"I think the thing where he has
distinguished himself is he's got a very quick release," Holtz said. "He's
been productive. He's been productive because he's extremely accurate with
the ball, and he knows where he's going with it.
"(Brett) makes quick decisions. He still
doesn't know the offense but none of the three know the offense as good as
James does right now."
Injury update
If you're concerned about the health of
running back Chris Johnson and defensive end Marcus Hands, don't be. Both
are expected to be at full strength this fall.
Johnson has been a concern due to a neck
injury that was suffered in spring practice. Hands missed the final four
games last season because of a separated shoulder, but still garnered
All-C-USA honors.
But they're not the only two who could make
a welcome return. Defensive end Shauntae Hunt might be available by
midseason after originally thought to be lost for the year.
Hunt emerged as one of the team leaders
this spring, and his performance carried over to some of the younger players
on the depth chart.
"He played with a bum ankle and a bad
shoulder a little bit last year, but he had a great spring," defensive
coordinator Greg Hudson said. "He sort of set the bar as far as the way that
you take the field and hustle and that carried over to Scotty Robinson and
Zach Slate playing up to that level at defensive end."
Hunt injured a knee while moving into an
apartment following spring practice.
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02/23/2007 02:03:08 AM |
