I don’t know about MTSU Football Coach Rick Stockstill, but I’m still ticked off at Kentucky Coach Rich Brooks for his classless, unfounded allegations last week after the Wildcats barely beat the Blue Raiders up in Lexington.
Middle Tennessee, of course, played the 18-point favorites to a near draw, finally losing 20-14 when a last-second Hail Mary came up about a yard short of the Kentucky end zone as the final horn sounded.
If you didn’t see the game, and most of us didn’t, just think back to the Titans-Rams Super Bowl game and the last play of that game when Kevin Dyson was stopped just about a yard short as he stretched for the end zone as the game ended.
That’s how close Blue Raider receiver Eldred King came after grabbing a long pass tipped by teammate Malcolm Beyah as Middle Tennessee perfectly executed the desperation scenario.
Brooks was obviously upset that his team was almost upset.
So, last week he came up with the ridiculous allegation that Middle Tennessee was stealing his team’s signals.
His evidence?
Well, nothing.
Zip.
Nada.
Total bull poop.
We know this because he said the Middle coaches were stealing his signals either on the field or from the press box.
So, we know he knows nothing about what he was saying.
He carried the line of stupidity further by claiming a Middle-Tennessee conspiracy since he made the same charges against the Volunteers last fall after UT beat the Wildcats in overtime.
One, after helping disclose cheating by Alabama a few years back, Tennessee’s Phil Fulmer knows he had better toe every line of the rules in the SEC because coaches don’t like it at all when one of their own point out a cheater.
And, what would Fulmer have told Stockstill?
When the Kentucky coach flaps his arms, Andre Woodson is going to throw the bomb?
Last year Kentucky had an NFL prospect at quarterback. This year’s QB couldn’t start for Middle.
Stockstill early on was fairly calm about the unfounded charges but as the week went on and he saw the fabrications get national attention he became more robust in his refuting of Brooks’ misrepresentations.
Here’s the real story.
Brooks needed a distraction from the fact that even with the anticipated SEC-officiating homecooking, the 18-point spread predictions and home field, his team just barely beat Middle.
And …
Brooks desperately needed to draw attention away from the fact his idiot coaching came just a yard and a heads=up defensive back’s play from getting his own team beat.
You see, Middle should never have had the chance to almost win the game.
With less than a minute to play, leading 20-14, Kentucky faced a fourth down deep in Middle territory.
As I was listening to the game on the radio and heard the announcers say Kentucky was lining up for a field goal try, I was hollering, “It’s a fake, it’s a fake.”
I mean you would have to be a total duffus to chance a field goal and maybe getting it blocked and returned for a touchdown when you have a lead, little time on the clock and are deep in the other team’s territory, right?
Youth league coaches know that.
Heck, my wife who barely watches football knows that.
Well, Brooks obviously doesn’t know that.
So, instead of a time-eating running play that might have earned a first down and ended the game and at worst would have left Middle with a long field and tiny time, Brooks sent his kicker on the field.
Well, duh.
Middle blocked the kick and returned it to mid-field. SEC officials moved it back to the Raider 38 but from there Middle’s hot quarterback Joe Craddock launched a rocket that resulted in the stretch for the end zone finale.
Even later on ESPN highlights of the day, it was exciting.
Of course, it made people wonder why kind of numbskull coach would be getting a field goal blocked in that situation.
We now know it’s the kind of numbskull coach who will make up ridiculous charges against his opponent to try to keep people from realizing his boneheaded decision. |
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