Does this work (Southern Utah)?

[JohnStOnge]

Report from a McNeese fan in Cedar City right now is that Southern Utah has let the grass grow really long on its field. The intepretation is that it's an attempt to reduce the Cowboys' speed advantage.

I've heard of that sort of thing. But does it work? Doesn't it slow both teams down? If you have an edge in speed, is it really reduced?

[T-Dog]

They need all the help they can get.

I don't know if it works, cause grass works both ways, but it won't work.

It'll just cause a bouncing ball to not bounce and both teams to run a bit slower. If a slow team runs in high grass, they'll be slower. no advantage at all.

Plus McNeese should win big as it is.

[Cap'n Cat]

Western Illinois used to do it. I loved it, though.

xnodx

And we always beat 'em anyway!

[JohnStOnge]

Plus McNeese should win big as it is.

Well...I don't know. Southern Utah has played an awfully tough schedule. Two top 5 caliber FCS teams and a top 5 caliber D-II (which often times is just as good). They could be pretty darned good and still be 0-3. I'm pretty nervous about it.

[FCS Go!]

Back when Montana had a grass field I remember at least one southern team (SFA?) complaining that Montana was leaving the grass long to slow them down. xlolx

I always thought it played into some fantasy that Southland teams have about their blazing speed...

[JohnStOnge]

Back when Montana had a grass field I remember at least one southern team (SFA?) complaining that Montana was leaving the grass long to slow them down. xlolx

I always thought it played into some fantasy that Southland teams have about their blazing speed...

All that aside, McNeese does have a really fast FCS team this year. Might be the best overall team speed they've ever had. I think Glanville at Portland State would probably believe that.

But a speed advantage doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win. Like the South Dakota State/McNeese game last year. The difference is speed was very obvious. McNeese was much faster. But South Dakota State won the game.

[kick29]

na... long grass just means that lou holtz has something to chew on. I think coach holtz wouldn't coach at school with out a grass turf HAHA. Na anyways.. longer grass does nothing, i think what you need is WIND. That and some good praying that the speedsters don't show up. Cause all you have to do is pick up your knees more. I know in high school the grass was always long on the fields because of drought or because they had a crappy field crew that didn't know how to grow grass. So i think that does nothing.

what you need is a good scheme, then you are good to go.... GTG!

[Golden Eagle]

We did this when I played in high school, it must have worked because the coaches kept it up week after week. We went 0-10 anyway.

[Ronbo]

All that aside, McNeese does have a really fast FCS team this year. Might be the best overall team speed they've ever had. I think Glanville at Portland State would probably believe that.

But a speed advantage doesn't necessarily mean you're going to win. Like the South Dakota State/McNeese game last year. The difference is speed was very obvious. McNeese was much faster. But South Dakota State won the game.

I saw you on a fast turf surface last season and McNeese didn't seem faster than us.xsmiley_wix

[89Hen]

NOTHING is going to help SUU win a game this year. Can't wait for my Griz cap from Ronbo. xthumbsupx

[Ronbo]

You will be in a state of shock while you are slipping my cap in the mail later this year.

[greenG]

We did this when I played in high school, it must have worked because the coaches kept it up week after week. We went 0-10 anyway.

So, how exactly did it work? xeyebrowx Going 0-10 shows it was ineffective.

[catdaddy2402]

Longer grass does slow you down, but it slows down even slow teams so in the end you get a net gain of nothing.

In reality the only place in sports where longer grass has a competitive advantage IMHO is on a baseball infield.

[FormerPokeCenter]

I saw you on a fast turf surface last season and McNeese didn't seem faster than us.xsmiley_wix

Southern boys don't tolerate the cold very well... ;) I think if you played us in a warmer location, you'd be able to see the speed difference ;)

The outcome last year more than likely wouldn't have been different, though....

[Golden Eagle]

So, how exactly did it work? xeyebrowx Going 0-10 shows it was ineffective.

Now that I think about it, our closest game was a 23-0 loss.

Maybe they used that as an excuse not to pay to have the field mowed.

[JohnStOnge]

I saw you on a fast turf surface last season and McNeese didn't seem faster than us.xsmiley_wix

I had a different impression. I actually almost used that game as an example of one in which what appeared to be the faster tream got thumped.

Of course I was watching it on a computer screen; which is why I didn't use that one as an example. On the other hand the guys calling the game for Montana for the telecast thought McNeese was very fast. Early in the game they were actually saying things like Montana "...isn't used to seeing this kind of speed" and frequently commenting in other ways about how fast the Cowboys were.

One particular play I remember was one in which Montana's running back broke clean then had a McNeese linebacker who was well back of him easily overall him from directly behind (i.e., no angle). The linebacker was clearly faster...a lot faster...than the running back was. He made up a lot of ground very quickly. That's not the only play that made me look at McNeese as faster, but it's one that stands out in my mind.

The problem McNeese had in that game, I thought, was that Montana physically dominated both lines of scrimmage. Montana could run the ball with power. McNeese could not. Montana's quarterback had better pass protection. That kind of thing.

Course there's no way to prove things either way. You'd have to get a stopwatch out, time all the players under the same conditions, and see who comes out with the lower average time over some distance.

[Ronbo]

You might have some fast players and overall your team speed could be a little better than ours but Hauck recruits for speed. Our LB's are 4.5 to 4.6 fast. What we do is we recruit big HS DB's and convert them to LB's, and we convert HS LB's to DE's. The strength coach puts muscle and weight on them after they get here. Hauck says you can't teach height and speed but you can add weight and muscle. Most of our LB's were also RB's as well as DB's in HS. On the OL Montana recruits tall guys that are under weight, say 6'5 to 6'7' and 240 lbs., and by the time they are Sophs they have them at 290 to over 300 lbs.

The RB that your very fast LB caught was coming off a devastating knee injury. Lex Hilliard, Greg Coleman, and Reggie Bradshaw are all faster than Thomas Brooks-Fletcher. TBF doesn't have the breakaway speed any more but he's very shifty.

[McNeese_beat]

You might have some fast players and overall your team speed could be a little better than ours but Hauck recruits for speed. Our LB's are 4.5 to 4.6 fast. What we do is we recruit big HS DB's and convert them to LB's, and we convert HS LB's to DE's. The strength coach puts muscle and weight on them after they get here. Hauck says you can't teach height and speed but you can add weight and muscle. Most of our LB's were also RB's as well as DB's in HS. On the OL Montana recruits tall guys that are under weight, say 6'5 to 6'7' and 240 lbs., and by the time they are Sophs they have them at 290 to over 300 lbs.

The RB that your very fast LB caught was coming off a devastating knee injury. Lex Hilliard, Greg Coleman, and Reggie Bradshaw are all faster than Thomas Brooks-Fletcher. TBF doesn't have the breakaway speed any more but he's very shifty.

Your recruiting formula sounds very familiar. McNeese has a DE who came to school as a QB, moved to LB and is now a 6-3, 230-pound DE. I believe Smith played linebacker. The left tackle was a tight end (in fact, he was McNeese's starting TE last year). He's playing this year at 6-6, 275.

By the way, having seen your team play McNeese last year, I'd say it was a step or two slower but very much more physical. I think UMass was a little bit faster.

[McNeese75]

The RB that your very fast LB caught was coming off a devastating knee injury. Lex Hilliard, Greg Coleman, and Reggie Bradshaw are all faster than Thomas Brooks-Fletcher. TBF doesn't have the breakaway speed any more but he's very shifty.

That linebacker would have run down any of your running backs on that particular play.

[Mr. C]

It does help a slower team negate a bit of a speed advantage. VMI used to do that all the time and was much tougher at home against Georgia Southern and Appalachian State, the speed teams in the SoCon. Some years, Alumni Field looked like pasture land.

[Hansel]

Speed doesn't help when you are lying on your back

[slycat]

Speed doesn't help when you are lying on your back

i would laugh if we hadnt lost there last year.xbawlingx