With mere minutes to go before the college football season starts, we thought it was time to tie up some loose ends. Namely, our promise to highlight all of the USC-relevant plays that show up in Ivan Maisel’s “The 100.” But first, by way of preparation, The Extrapolator brings us the five least exciting plays in football:
5. The Prevent defense.
4. The punt from midfield.
3. The Extra Point.
2. Fullback dive to end the first half.
1. The QB kneel-down.
Personally, instead of the Extra Point, I would substitute the “ice the kicker” timeout before field goals. It rarely works, and even when it does, how do you know that it did? Plus, the extra point can be exciting when it’s missed.*
Anyway, stay tuned for the rest of The 100.
* A timeout isn’t really a play, of course, but then again neither is the Prevent defense.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
I actually agree with you about the Prevent. It was my misguided attempt to include defense in the top five.
But ye gods, does icing the kicker annoy.
August 30th, 2007 at 5:19 pm
[...] What is this play, of all plays, doing on the eve(ish) of a new season? Well, we’re just wrapping up some loose ends to clear the slate. With Texas trailing USC 38-33, Vince Young already had used 928 Sneak to score in the fourth quarter of the 2006 BCS Championship Game. On fourth down at the Trojans’ 8, Young called it again. He saw no one open. When USC end Frostee Rucker moved inside, Young moved outside, eluded Rucker and raced to the pylon. Young ran for 200 yards, threw for 267 and won the national title on his last collegiate snap. [...]
August 30th, 2007 at 5:24 pm
The worst is when a coach uses two (or three!) timeouts as part of his icing attempt. Here’s an idea: calling a timeout to ice the kicker should come with a penalty, kind of like a failed challenge. So if you try to ice the kicker, and he still nails it, you lose a timeout. And if that was your last timeout, you get … a technical? This is where the idea breaks down.