Project Self: Twenty Aught Seven

This is my last full year in the 20's. I have half a mind to make it a year-long Mardi Gras. And since I only have half a mind to begin with, it's unanimous.

It's time to rock out with my Glock out. I think that it's time for me to embrace my right-winged, 2nd Amendment, conservative, Christian side. If I'm going to (not) vote Republican, I may as well enjoy the fruits of my (non) votes.

But more seriously, it's also time to just lie in the Blue Turf. I need to be like Boise St. If you happened to watch the Fiesta Bowl, you happened to see a heck of a ball game. I was really pulling for Boise St. (I'm the one who voted for Boise St. in my poll), which worked out. But even beyond that, you can take away a lot of lessons from a game like that. I'm going to discuss 8 of them:

1) You can win with solid fundamentals. Boise St. went out to a big lead playing relatively conservative (for them), solid football. Plus, they were disciplined enough to still have 2 timeouts left for their last drive.

2) You have to be true to what you are. Oklahoma stormed back to tie the ball game, but they didn't abandon their gameplan, running the ball quite a bit, until their last drive.

3) Sometimes, there will be miscommunications - you have to accept the consequences and then be ready to keep moving forward. Not only did Boise St. let Oklahoma tie the game with about a minute and a half left, they even came out throwing, trying to win (and adhering to Lesson #2, above). But the first play resulted in a Pick 6 when the QB threw a 10 and out, when the reciever was running a deep route. But, they were undaunted, and came back out ready to play on the next drive.

4) Things may look bleak, but you always play until the final whistle. Boise St. starts their final drive with under a minute left from their own 23 or so. They got a couple completions, and got it out to the Oklahoma 40, when they took a sack, and threw an incomplete pass, setting up 4th and 18, with only 18 seconds left, but they were poised...

5) Practicing for all situations, even unlikely ones, can only improve performance. Boise St. was poised because they practiced the hook-and-lateral that they ended up running on a regular basis in practice. And on gameday, they executed it to perfection. The Broncos scored a 50-yard TD with only 7 seconds left, sending the game into overtime on a spectacular play - a 12-yard in-route, where the reciever has space to keep running, which he does, drawing in the Oklahoma defenders, and then makes a perfect lateral. A second Boise St. reciever running toward the sideline catches the lateral in stride, and runs down the sideline, all the way for a score.

6) Adversity will have to be overcome on a regular basis. Right after they came back to tie the game, Boise St. promptly gave up a 25-yard touchdown run on the first play of overtime, to fall back down by 7 points. Once Boise St. got the ball back, they moved the ball relatively well, until they got to 3rd and 1 on the 6 yard line. Oklahoma stuffed the run up the middle, setting up 4th and 2, the second time that Boise St. was down to it's last play.

7) For the big situations, you have to have the guts to make unconventional calls. They ended up having a relatively unused, 5'5", sophomore wide reciever roll out with the ball on what looked like an end-around, only to have him throw a touchdown pass when the Oklahoma defense all flowed toward the runner. No one saw that one coming, save for the Boise St. sidelines, and maybe not even most of them. But, they were still down by one.

8) You play to win the game. The odds of winning outright were better for Boise St. by going for the win. You can reduce everything to a single play, where you're about 50-50. The alternative would be to take a 95% shot at tying up a game in which Oklahoma had the momentum, and was favored to begin with. Boise St. stuck with Lesson #7, and gave Oklahoma a look that they had previously shown, where they set up with trips right, and go with a quick pass. Of course, one look at the formation reveals that there were no defenders outside the tackles. My guess was that they were going to fake a pitch to the running back, and have the QB keep it to the left. Instead, they pulled out the old Statue of Liberty play, and they ran it to perfection. The QB drops back with a three-step drop, and squares up to throw to the right like he had all night. The QB makes the throwing motion to the right, and fools everyone in the stadium, because this time, the ball was still in the left hand, with the left arm extended to the side, down by the waist. Again, the front four were blocked, all of the linebackers and safeties flowed toward the recievers, while the running back runs up, takes the ball from the QB and runs out to the left, untouched. Ballgame. ESPN Instant Classic.

I think that if I can my make Twenty Aught Seven look like I'm using these 8 lessons, I'll have a pretty good year.

-Chairman