The CBS and Yahoo bloggers have me to thank... I asked GOL to go into detail about his spring game exhibition idea. Here's the full quote that I posted in a story on the front page (I'm also testing the copy/paste feature to see how it handles photos in a story):
O'Leary in favor of spring exhibitions
"UCF" defeated the "Knights" 20-6 at the annual spring "game" at Bright House Networks Stadium last Saturday.
They call it a game, but in reality it was far from it. Sure, it was played inside the stadium with officials and the scoreboard showed four quarters, but let's not fool ourselves: It was just a glorified scrimmage.
UCFSports.com
If George O'Leary had his way, UCF would play someone like Florida, Miami, Florida State or FAU in a spring game.
George O'Leary would like to change that. He'd love to play another Florida school in an exhibition and he's hoping the idea catches on.
"I've always been a big believer of (playing another team to end the spring)," O'Leary said. "The spring game is fine when you had 20 practices and you could get 16, 17, 18 practices in. I get so much more out of practice than I do a spring game. I always thought that if you took the kicking game out of it, you didn't make it a flying thing, take a bus, just play home-and-home with teams and give the money to charity. I'd much rather see the competition level improve. That way where you can make a true evaluation of where you're at.
"Some coaches obviously don't want to do it. That's their opinion. My opinion, I'd love to do something like that. You're not going to game plan things. You just go out and execute. Take the kicking game out of it except for PAT and field goal. I think it'd be a lot of fun, myself. At least you'd get more interest than some of the spring games that go on."
Playing another school in an offseason exhibition certainly isn't a foreign concept. Many of the Olympic sports, such as soccer and volleyball, play several exhibitions during their spring seasons. Some baseball programs do the same, including Rice. It's not currently allowed in football, something O'Leary would like to see changed.
"I'm going to bring it up in the spring," O'Leary said. "I've always thought spring ball was great, but right now when you look at 15 days, one day is for spring game, the other one you're trying to get ready for the spring game. That leaves 13 practices and three of those practices are without pads on. Then you're supposed to get better at blocking and tackling and you don't have enough days to do it. I think it would be something neat. We have enough teams in the state of Florida to do it. I don't know how those coaches would react to it. I think the fanbases would love it. I think the kids would love it. I think there'd be less injuries. You're only playing 11 at a time instead of 22."
Link: https://ucf.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1759120
O'Leary in favor of spring exhibitions
"UCF" defeated the "Knights" 20-6 at the annual spring "game" at Bright House Networks Stadium last Saturday.
They call it a game, but in reality it was far from it. Sure, it was played inside the stadium with officials and the scoreboard showed four quarters, but let's not fool ourselves: It was just a glorified scrimmage.
UCFSports.com
If George O'Leary had his way, UCF would play someone like Florida, Miami, Florida State or FAU in a spring game.
George O'Leary would like to change that. He'd love to play another Florida school in an exhibition and he's hoping the idea catches on.
"I've always been a big believer of (playing another team to end the spring)," O'Leary said. "The spring game is fine when you had 20 practices and you could get 16, 17, 18 practices in. I get so much more out of practice than I do a spring game. I always thought that if you took the kicking game out of it, you didn't make it a flying thing, take a bus, just play home-and-home with teams and give the money to charity. I'd much rather see the competition level improve. That way where you can make a true evaluation of where you're at.
"Some coaches obviously don't want to do it. That's their opinion. My opinion, I'd love to do something like that. You're not going to game plan things. You just go out and execute. Take the kicking game out of it except for PAT and field goal. I think it'd be a lot of fun, myself. At least you'd get more interest than some of the spring games that go on."
Playing another school in an offseason exhibition certainly isn't a foreign concept. Many of the Olympic sports, such as soccer and volleyball, play several exhibitions during their spring seasons. Some baseball programs do the same, including Rice. It's not currently allowed in football, something O'Leary would like to see changed.
"I'm going to bring it up in the spring," O'Leary said. "I've always thought spring ball was great, but right now when you look at 15 days, one day is for spring game, the other one you're trying to get ready for the spring game. That leaves 13 practices and three of those practices are without pads on. Then you're supposed to get better at blocking and tackling and you don't have enough days to do it. I think it would be something neat. We have enough teams in the state of Florida to do it. I don't know how those coaches would react to it. I think the fanbases would love it. I think the kids would love it. I think there'd be less injuries. You're only playing 11 at a time instead of 22."
Link: https://ucf.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1759120
