Susquehannock's football IQ
The Susquehannock football team has lost four of its five games to start the season, including only its second Division II defeat in the last 26 games, falling 42-14 at home to Littlestown on Friday.
So what's the deal with this year's Susquehannock team? They are perilously close to failing to finish the regular season above .500 since coach Tom Waranavage arrived in Glen Rock in 2004.
I asked Waranavage a few minutes after Friday's loss and he had a theory:
"We have not not played hard," Waranavge said. "We have played hard, but we haven't played smart. I think we have guys getting frustrated because not everybody on the field is toeing the line and doing the job that needs to be done. And it's a team game. And if you're not doing your job on the field, you can't hide -- somebody's going to find you.
"That's what's frustrating. It's not that we don't play hard. We give good effort. We just don't play very smart.. We're just not a naturally football-intelligent football team right now. We're just not a smart football team. I guess some of that is we need to have kids play more, but some of it is, I don't know, I think you're born with a little bit of football IQ.
"I think there's something to be said for, you know, there's certain kids that just make plays and you just stay away from those kids and let them make plays. Right now, we just don't have that kid that's making that play when we need it. We have backs that run hard -- we get four yards. We don't have that back taking it to the house."
Does Waranavage have a good point here? Is there such a thing as football intelligence at birth? Obviously some people are born with more athletic talent than others, but are some kids just better wired mentally to play the game of football than others regardless of talent? Let your thoughts be known in the comments section below.
Gee Whiz · October 2, 2008 10:03 PM
What coah Waranavage means is that his players are playing more on reaction and not on assignment - for a team to be successful all individual players must execute their assignment on offense or defense for the scheme to work. That is Football IQ - knowing and playing your individual assignment and how it produces championships