Fixing the False Starts

[nanacat]

Listened to Keaton and Leo's coverage of the Natty yesterday, gave me chills again! Of course the "highlight" that was mentioned several times was the penalties, specifically the false starts, which were ridiculous. I know there's been discussion about the phantom ones, and the likelihood that ISU was mimicking like SFA did. It's also been said that there's not a whole lot the coaches can do to make guys not jump. I feel like Cedric Jefferson had one every game last season, so maybe there are guys who are just jumpy. But on the ESPN broadcast Brock mentioned them needing to do a silent count. Several on here, who know way more about football, said changing cadence and/or going under center are not just simple things you do in the middle of the game. So does anyone think some adjustments might be made this season to minimize that happening again? Obviously we'll have a new center, but several returning O-lineman, and it seems like we gave opposing teams a recipe for how to affect our offense, especially if refs won't call it, like at the natty. I mean the hopeful answer is, of course they'll fix it.

[wbtfg]

Listened to Keaton and Leo's coverage of the Natty yesterday, gave me chills again! Of course the "highlight" that was mentioned several times was the penalties, specifically the false starts, which were ridiculous. I know there's been discussion about the phantom ones, and the likelihood that ISU was mimicking like SFA did. It's also been said that there's not a whole lot the coaches can do to make guys not jump. I feel like Cedric Jefferson had one every game last season, so maybe there are guys who are just jumpy. But on the ESPN broadcast Brock mentioned them needing to do a silent count. Several on here, who know way more about football, said changing cadence and/or going under center are not just simple things you do in the middle of the game. So does anyone think some adjustments might be made this season to minimize that happening again? Obviously we'll have a new center, but several returning O-lineman, and it seems like we gave opposing teams a recipe for how to affect our offense, especially if refs won't call it, like at the natty. I mean the hopeful answer is, of course they'll fix it.

I imagine that Coach Vigen will be asked about this multiple times at every single booster/bqc/collective appearance throughout the summer. Of course they will fix it.

[MSU01]

Of course the coaching staff will analyze what went wrong and implement adjustments if they feel there's a way to prevent it from happening again. That's their full-time job and they've proven to be incredibly good at it. But as much as you coach players on how to avoid certain things sometimes weird stuff just happens or players get in their own heads somewhat. When I used to play golf it seemed like whenever I would hit a bad shot and think about something specific on the next shot to avoid doing it again, that thinking about it just made it worse and more likely that I'd hit another bad shot...and another, and another. The best thing to do is just to forget about the last play and move on to the next one, but that's much easier said than done especially in a game with so much on the line like the National Championship. If I got flustered by my own mistakes playing golf on a random Tuesday afternoon I can't imagine how much pressure the team was under in that game as things were seemingly getting away from them in the second half. It was an anomaly, it will be addressed and likely won't happen again to that extent, we should all be very happy that the team overcame those issues and still won the game!

[nanacat]

Oh absolutely!!! I agree Vigen will likely tire of hearing questions regarding that, and also, it's incredible they overcame all those penalties and still won! Which, despite the miscues, is the main takeaway.

[The Butcher]

If the Cats don't have those false starts that game would have been a 2+ score win versus 1 point.
It also wouldn't have been one of the most exciting and unforgettable games ever!

[Joe Bobcat]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

[91catAlum]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

[AFCAT]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

How many false starts did JT Reed have, plus the bad snap? I remember JT had at least one false start in the semi too, just before the big throw to Taco. I haven’t watched the Natty replay because my heart can’t handle it.

Tights ends also had a false start issues, at least one in both Cat-gris games.

[91catAlum]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

How many false starts did JT Reed have, plus the bad snap? I remember JT had at least one false start in the semi too, just before the big throw to Taco. I haven’t watched the Natty replay because my heart can’t handle it.

I wanna say Reed and Jefferson each had 3 but I'm not sure. I'm almost positive the phantom false start in OT was called on Jefferson. Yes Reed also had the premature snaps on 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter, and near the end of regulation.

[MSU01]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

The false start in OT was called on Zimmer, I checked to be sure which is about the 50th time I've watched that play...and I still can't see where he moved!

[nanacat]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

The false start in OT was called on Zimmer, I checked to be sure which is about the 50th time I've watched that play...and I still can't see where he moved!

Both announcers questioned that call as well.

[Run-the-ball]

The break down was as follows:
Reed-3
Zimmer-2
Master-2
Provience-1
Boyd-1

This is according to ESPN. Fox sports does have a different opinion of who committed the penalties.
Rewatching these plays to confirm that the espn breakdown is correct. There were at least 3 plays that were runs that were stopped due to the penalties.

[technoCat]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

The false start in OT was called on Zimmer, I checked to be sure which is about the 50th time I've watched that play...and I still can't see where he moved!

Both announcers questioned that call as well.

Zimmer moved. It was a very slight knee twitch that you could see from one angle but not the other.

[CelticCat]

According to the live stat tool:

Reed - 3
Mastel - 2
Zimmer - 1
Provience - 1
Davis - 1
Boyd - 1

[Run-the-ball]

The live state tool must be where Fox gets their info from. Davis didn’t have one. Zimmer had the 1st and last.

Still frustrating to see them. I did see Lamson try to talk to the ref directly after one of them, probably to advise they were simulating the snap count.

[91catAlum]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

The false start in OT was called on Zimmer, I checked to be sure which is about the 50th time I've watched that play...and I still can't see where he moved!

Oh shoot you're right. My bad.

[Joe Bobcat]

It is no secret that MSU had trouble with false starts all year. Leading the team in false starts through the year was Cedric Jefferson, and it wasn't even close. However, it needs to be pointed out that in the championship game Jefferson didn't commit a single false start. Joining him with no false starts was Titan Fleischmann. It's interesting too that not all false starts were on the O line. I'm sure that Vigen and company will leave no stone unturned in trying to figure out the problem and implement the solution, even if the solution is to hardly address it at all. (doubt that's the solution though) I would not even count out that ISU was doing something legal that made Lamson pause a little or a lot thus causing his normal cadence to be off from what O linemen were expecting.

Are you sure about that? I'm pretty sure Jefferson had 3 of the false starts. The one in overtime was called on him, although that one was BS.

The false start in OT was called on Zimmer, I checked to be sure which is about the 50th time I've watched that play...and I still can't see where he moved!

Oh shoot you're right. My bad.

Haha, not a big deal at all. To be honest when the first false start was called, I was fully expecting it to be on Jefferson, and each one after that it was surprising that it was never on him. Like everyone I could hardly believe all the false start penalties and for none of them to be on Jefferson was just as mind boggling to me. When I finally got to watch the replay, I paid real close attention and sure enough Jefferson was clean. After having such negative expectations about his play I felt like I owed it to him to set the record straight in this thread.