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+1. You'd think every college coach would have encountered this situation at some point. It's easy to understand how the mistake could be made: you want to receive to begin the 2nd half, so you know you're going to kick off to begin the first half. You win the opening toss so you choose to kick off...oops. Like you say, it needs to be drilled into the players to *defer* and the coaches should know that.

I've never really watched that closely prior to the start of a game. Is it actually the head coach or one of the assistants who speaks directly to the player calling the coin toss and instructs him to either elect to receive the game's initial kickoff or defer the choice to the second half? Whoever it is should not tell the captain that he wants to kick off to begin the first half. The only word that should be used is defer. Say it three times for emphasis -- if we win the coin toss, defer, defer, defer. That's the official term understood by officials to mean that you're using the coin toss win to defer your choice of receiving the ball to the beginning of the second half. Defer is not a word most of us regularly use and one that needs to be drilled into the head of the team captain or whichever player may call the coin toss.

Balsy, I'd say you were spot-on about Hack. I think the kid is great and has a high ceiling, but don't think he is "there" yet. That is both good and bad, of course, for us and opponents. His growth will obviously depend on his surrounding cast -- something a few Lions fans have not yet come to accept. He was heavily dependent on Allen Robinson last year, and while I think we have plenty of talent at WR/TE, it's going to take Christian a few games not to scan the field for ARob as his go-to guy. But, imho, Pohl is the key to the game. If our D-line can be disruptive, you guys will suffer. Holman did move the ball pretty effectively, but he also had linemen and blitzers in his face a lot. I think I'm going to disagree that UCF developed a multi-dimensional game when Holman came in -- the Knight rushing game did not dramatically improve, IIRC. BUT, Holman exploited our secondary a lot better than had DiNovo. If we can pressure Pohl like we did DiNovo (which can also throw off the rushing game), then I think Penn State wins by 10 - 14 points. Obviously the same is true for your defense/our offense. In the end, I'm going completely homer and say Penn State wins by 10. Thoughts/counter-arguments? P.S. Balsy and anyone else who visits BlackShoes, I hope you find the BSD folks very respectful. I'll be disappointed if they turn into ass-hats -- we're saving that for Rutgers and Maryland, I think.

I'll be there with a few friends. Looking forward to seeing the first great win of the Bowden era!

The AD wanted to conduct a national search. Some important people wanted Embick. I don't see the current situation as his fault, though, I blame the players.

I'm still extremely frustrated at the whole situation. Cannot believe a national coaching search was not conducted. Still remember being at a football game where the Rowdies were holding up "Hire Embick" signs..ugh