Cob Of The Week: Ron Zook, Cheap Shot Artist William Gholston, Illinois Defense, Michigan's Al Borges

by Jon Johnston on Oct 17, 2011 4:17 PM CDT in Cobby - Humor

There are not a lot of cob nominees this week, meaning either no one watched a lot of college football or there simply weren't a lot of really bad things happening.

Nevertheless, the Cob must go on. This week's nominees are after the jump!

Husker Mike: I'll take Ron Zook of Illinois. No doubt in my mind. Trailing Ohio State by 10 points and facing a fourth and three at the Ohio State 17 yardline with under two minutes to go, it's an easy call: kick the field goal, and try to recover the onsides kick. You need two scores, so get one when you can. That's what most normal coaches would do. The Zooker is not a normal coach. Last week, he admitted he wasn't paying attention to the score last week when he went for two after scoring to go up 20-13. Now this... maybe he thought the Buckeyes were up by 16.

Jon J: My first cob nomination goes to Michigan State's William Gholston. It's one thing to play a rough sport roughly, but something completely different when you're out to cause injury. If that sounds harsh, look at the videos and tell me how you're going to come to another conclusion.

Another nomination goes to Illinois, specifically the defense. Ohio State attempted FOUR passes the entire game and Braxton Miller completed only one, but for that one went for a 17-yard touchdown. The Illini knew what the Buckeyes were going to do and still couldn't do anything about it. (Maybe this isn't Cob worthy, however, maybe this is just how Big Ten football goes and we need to get used to it.... still..... )

On the other side of the ball, was there a more derpy display of offensive playcalling than that done by offensive coordinator Al Borges of Michigan? You have one of the hottest weapons in the country, Denard Robinson, and instead of letting him make plays with his legs, you have him throw the ball 24 times when it's pretty clear he can't hit the broad side of a barn. Swapping Devin Gardner into the game was cute, but completely unproductive. The two quarterbacks went a combined 12-for-31 for 168 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Michigan's offense deserved Benny Hill.

Poll

Your vote for Cob of the Week?

Illinois' Ron Zook for being hisself

72 votes

Michigan State's William Gholston - for apparently being hisself

241 votes

Illinois' defense - all they had to do was stop the run

11 votes

Michigan's offensive coordinator Al Borges - what was that all about?

34 votes

358 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Gholston

There’s just no place for intentionally trying to injure another player. Delaney needs to sit him out at least a week for that performance. I don’t understand how the ref didn’t see the punch thrown when he threw a flag on him.

But, that call by the Mich OC on the 4th down play was pretty bad, too.

by Lake_show on Oct 17, 2011 4:38 PM CDT reply actions

Unacceptable Behavior

1 game suspension at least.

SEC...great conference or the greatest conference?

by BledRed on Oct 17, 2011 6:04 PM CDT up reply actions

Rex Burkhead sees that Gholston video

And just nods grimly. He knows how it feels.

by Cheeseandcorn on Oct 17, 2011 6:15 PM CDT up reply actions

At least the refs were looking out for the victims last Saturday

And not waiting for the victims teammates to come to their aid so they can flag them instead.

/fuckyouBurks

"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne

by jdhusker on Oct 17, 2011 6:34 PM CDT up reply actions

Gholston

Zooker is the only other one who was even close. Illinois’ defense held OSU to 17, and frankly that should’ve been enough, even against the OSU defense (anybody appreciate our offense yet?) and I won’t go too hard on Borges either. Robinson ran alot, he’s just the only good player on a still pretty bad team, plus he was hurt for part of the game.

"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne

by jdhusker on Oct 17, 2011 5:07 PM CDT reply actions

Zook

The counter argument to the Zook call was that they were on the Ohio State 8 yard line for the first time and the way Ohio State’s defense was playing, chances were good that they weren’t going to get there again. Because of that, they decided it was best to go for it on 4th down, then if they convert it they’ve got four more chances to get to the endzone that drive. If they kick the field goal, chances are good they wouldn’t be able to get that close again and they’d need the touchdown. I think it makes sense.

Look me up on youtube sometime...if you're really bored.

by Billgrip on Oct 17, 2011 5:32 PM CDT reply actions

I pick Illinois Defense

Seriously…Ohio State completed one pass the entire game. ONE PASS

Look me up on youtube sometime...if you're really bored.

by Billgrip on Oct 17, 2011 5:34 PM CDT up reply actions

By going for it instead of taking the points, Zook basically guaranteed he wouldn't get another chance.

Had he made it, his team would have tried the onside kick and if recovered, then they would be in four-down territory.

A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.

by Salt Creek and Stadium on Oct 18, 2011 8:48 AM CDT up reply actions

Gholston

Seriously, how was that guy not ejected after punching that OL? Also, can anybody tell me if that lineman grabbed Gholston’s face mask while supposedly helping him up? The article says he did but it looks iffy to me.

Thank goodness for face masks or a punch like that would’ve been a repeat of the Johnny Bright play minus the racial animosity (one hopes).

Team, remind the refs to keep an eye on this guy in two weeks.

by HailVarsity on Oct 17, 2011 6:06 PM CDT reply actions

Thanks for the link

I honestly had never heard of the Johnny Bright incident before. Disgraceful.

"The ball will be spotted at the six-inch-yardline."

by AU Tiger on Oct 17, 2011 6:09 PM CDT up reply actions

Oh it was disgraceful all right...

…some reporter from Life magazine snapped the photo, and as big as Life was in those days, it became a major story. The photographer won a Pulitzer. In a show of spinelessness surely unsurprising to anybody acquainted with university administration, Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State) refused to do anything about the incident and pretty much acted like it never happened (although they did issue an apology in 2003). Drake, to their credit, never played the Cowboys again

Ivan Maisel has a great section on the incident in this book, which recounts most of the above details and also quotes a newspaper story about Bright detailing how, after he got his jaw broken, he slowly rose to his feet and lined up again with the offense. Tough sucker.

by HailVarsity on Oct 17, 2011 7:45 PM CDT up reply actions

Gholston

Easily, given the choices provided.

Off the board nod to Tuberville at Texas Tech. Down 10, 2 minutes and change remaining, team 4th and goal at the Kansas State 1…and he kicks the field goal??!?

If you don’t trust your offense enough to get a yard, how can you expect them to move 50-some yards after an onside kick recovery? What sort of message does that send to your team?

Go for the yard…if you get it, you “only” need the field goal then — fewer yards for the offense to have to pick up after the onside kick recover. If you fail, there’s still a slim chance you can force a tackle in the endzone for a safety. At which point you’re within a score and a 2-pt. conversion.

Bottom line — if you can’t gain the yard, you don’t deserve to win anyhow.

"Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football." -- Heisman

by ManAgainstWorld on Oct 18, 2011 12:01 AM CDT reply actions

Gholston's a tool, but Zook is the winner

Look, Gholston exhibited no character in those plays. Still, Michigan wasn’t exactly the victim this entire game either. I’m all for playing a tough game, tough, but when the MSU DC basically said they’re trying to teach their players to play rough and that he was pleased with the game… well, you wonder who is at fault here…

On the flipside, Zook is an idiot. He made other bad playcalls in this game, but not taking the points to guarantee that you live to play for the tie is unbelievably stupid. Every person in the stadium knew, everyone watching knew, every person who has ever played Madden or NCAA on their playstation knew that you take the points and live for the onsides that was necessary regardless. He is a terrible coach who makes dumb decisions. I feel bad for Illinois fans who won’t be able to fire him because of their good season.

Always check the words with the red squiggly line. They mean you probably screwed up.

Author @ Off Tackle Empire

by KennardHusker on Oct 18, 2011 2:37 PM CDT reply actions