Mad Scientist of High School Football

Does it make sense for a football team to almost never punt, to try onsides kicks on virtually every kickoff and never dare to return a punt? It does to a "mad scientist" high school football coach in Arkansas who has enjoyed a good deal of success. Sports Illustrated has the story that includes Moneyball-type arguments like this:

According to (Coach Kevin) Kelley's figures, after a kickoff the receiving team, on average, takes over at its own 33-yard line. After a failed onside kick the team assumes possession at its 48. Through the years Pulaski has recovered about a quarter of its onside kicks. "So you're giving up 15 yards for a one-in-four chance to get the ball back," says Kelley.

Green Alert Take: I have no doubt that if someone were to really crunch the numbers, a very good case would be made for some significant changes in football philosophy. But as the SI story notes, football coaches are notoriously unadventurous when it comes to plays that can come back to bite them. Rest assured, however, that once a few coaches start taking a particular risk, are regularly rewarded for it and word gets around, the rest of them will jump onboard in short order.

The headline might be "Dual honors for dual-threat quarterback." Greg Sullivan, who will lead Colgate onto Memorial Field Saturday for the Big Green's opener, has been named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week and the ECAC Offensive Player of the Week after throwing for 148 yards and rushing for 113 more in last week's 23-13 win over Stony Brook.

This has been said before, but what if offensively minded New Hampshire ever started playing solid defense? Wonder no more. From a UNH release about its staff being named by Footballscoop.com as the "Game Changing Coaches of the Week," after Saturday's win over FBS foe Ball State:

UNH has allowed just 30 points in two games played this season and is ranked No. 4 in the nation in total defense with an average of 162.50 yards given up to opponents this season. The Wildcats are also ranked No. 7 in rushing defense with an average of 36.50 yards per game and ranked No. 8 in sacks with an average of 4.0 per contest.

During the Ivy League preseason media day teleconference in early August Princeton coach Roger Hughes mentioned several talented players who would be returning this fall after missing last season because of injury. That got me thinking maybe the Tigers might surprise this year. The Daily Princetonian has a story that suggests, "... one of the most intriguing developments to watch will be the progress of the handful of key players who will be returning from injury and could be poised to make significant contributions to the team."

Extra Points
Our Hanover town library has added a personal reading history feature to its website. It includes only the books you've taken out since you activated the list. If my list went back a little further, I wouldn't have gotten about 10 pages into a book earlier this week and suddenly realized I'd already read it. Now, it was a good book but there are so many great books to discover that I have a hard time going back and reading one twice.

When that certain Hanover High School senior was born I started a notebook listing every book we read to her with the idea that once she started writing I would turn it over to her to update. Great idea, huh? I thought so. It lasted, oh, maybe six months. With the Hanover library program it would be easy to keep a lifetime list (although you'd have to figure some way to add in all those children's books you buy). How cool would it be to have a list of every book you've ever read? Probably not quite as cool (or neurotic) as the Missouri fellow Charles Kuralt once wrote about who kept a list of every person he ever met, but pretty cool nonetheless.