This is hard for me to write about this today because I'm still very frustrated. Yesterday Dan, brother-in-law, and I went to the first college football game of the year. Kickoff was at 6 just so they could say that. Boston College at Central Michigan. I had a great time. At the same time it was incredibly frustrating. Did you know that the CMU box office doesn't take credit cards? Well actually one of the ticket windows does and they do that over the university web site. They don't have a single credit card swiper thingy. Burger King now takes credit cards but CMU doesn't? So I wait for 45 minutes in line, after the window opens 30 minutes late, only to be told to go wait in another line that is trying to figure out how to do the website thing.
But the frustration is only starting. I hate Boston College. I will root against them anytime. I pretty much feel that way for all Boston teams. How great as a sports fan is it to cheer against an entire city? So I really wanted Central to win. I never imagined they would have a chance. But wait, what happens? They should have won. That's right, when Central had the ball at the end with a chance to tie, they should have been playing for the win. They dropped passes and while that was frustrating, it was nowhere close to the frustration that came from the coaching. I know the great job that Brian Kelly did at GVSU, so quit reminding me. Last night he was awful. The qb substitution thing drove me crazy. He insisted on putting Brooks in at QB when Lefevour was playing great. One instance had Lefevour bringing the team down the field to a first and goal situation and Kelly put Brooks in. CMU had to settle for a field goal. Another time that Brooks was in he fumbled. Coach Kelly also frustrated me by running a trick play at the end when CMU was moving the ball down the field with a chance to tie. The play took 5 players and froze them in 3 point stances for the entire play. Lefevour threw an INT. Why would you cut your team in half for a trick play when you really need to score? Here's Kelly's quote, "We thought we'd get a shot at them either calling a time-out or us cutting someone loose," CMU coach Brian Kelly said afterward. "Dan tried to make too much happen." Maybe coach you tried to make too much happen. Great idea by the way. Down by 7, moving the ball, maybe we can force the other team into calling a time-out. I could go on forever. But I'll leave you with this quote from the Detroit Free Press.
"After the game, Kelly lectured the Chippewas for close to 40 minutes. "It's no consolation to play Boston College close and not beat them," he said. "I didn't want anyone walking out of that locker room, saying, 'Boy, we played hard.' Playing hard is not good enough. If they gave you wins and losses by playing hard, then that'll be fine, but they don't."
Man, I'd love to lecture him right now. He's right but he deserves a good bit of the blame as well. Oh and CMU had a running back carry the ball 7 times the entire game. Zero when the had the ball at the one yard line. In fact, they didn't even have one in the backfield.
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Hey -- I watched Central get overrun by Michigan on Saturday. Yes, I sat through the weather delay. Yes, I stayed outside. (The exits were all clogged anyway.) Yes, I was sitting in the top row of the stadium wearing a metal helmet in a thunderstorm. But no, I'm not a complete nut.
Anyway, CMU vs. Michigan isn't really a good way to evaluate either team, but really, all things considered, CMU didn't look too bad. I'm hoping they improve as the year progresses. At least, I hope they really do learn from the mistakes of the BC game.
Also, a guy from my parents' church is a freshman on the CMU football team. He started playing o-line for Chelsea his junior year, and by the end of his senior year he'd played himself into being recruited by CMU. It'll be fun to keep an eye on him.
Fun fact: he didn't play football until his junior year. In fact, he didn't even know the rules of the game. Seriously. In one interview he said before he started playing football, he spent a bunch of time playing Madden to learn the basics of football. And in two years he worked up to D-1 college football. Great story. Keep an eye out for an o-lineman named Levi Brezee.
(Chelsea has a great football coaching staff, as evidenced by the recent D-1 college players we've developed. Levi last year, Joe Tripodi at Northwestern a few years ago, and Tony Scheffler at Western shortly before that. Scheffler was drafted as a tight end in the second round of the most recent NFL draft. First Chelsea player in the draft, ever.)
By the way, Paul, I recently fired up my own blog. This one is working better than the old one.
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