Football Physics with Dooley

Coaches love to speak in simple, worn out phrases.

I think they're called cliches, but I wouldn't know because I've never used one.

So, I'm approaching our Spring football coverage one-practice-at-a-time, when Coach Dooley stuns me with something I haven't heard since high school. I am serious.

In discussing new rules aimed at preventing injuries in college football, Dooley lays some physics on us dunces who write (or speak) for a living.

Force=Mass x Acceleration (F=ma). 

I've been covering college football since 1988. I've been a sports fan since, well, probably conception, and I have never heard ANY coach in ANY sport lay-out Newton's Second Law of Motion during a post-practice interview session.

(ed note: Newton's Three Laws of Motion should not be confused with Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion which will be covered in a future blog).

Usually, coaches say stuff like, "We need more slobber-knockers," (hard hits).  Visually, much more effective, but beyond that, not exactly pure science.

Dooley laid out a list of injuries he suffered during his college career at Virginia (including 3 concussions). Big guys playing fast and hitting hard sometimes lead to someone getting hurt. 

Force= Mass x Acceleration.

It was like an apple hit me on the head.

Class dismissed.

Kickoff is September 4th.