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Revisiting the "Chop Block Controversy"

BobStackFan4Life

BobStackFan4Life

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I read an old article not too long ago that basically asked if Jim Grobe was dirty because of Wake's blocking. Can't find it but found this one instead. Do you think the bad press could've eventually had an impact? I always felt it had more to do with other fans being sore losers that they lost to "little ole Wake Forest".
"I definitely have a lot of animosity toward the Wake Forest (offensive) linemen because of that," Page told the Winston-Salem Journal. "I thought, 'These guys are trying to hurt me, so I'm going to try and hurt them."

Wake Forest is first in the ACC in first downs (193), second in time of possession (31:59), third in total offense (407.1 yards per game) and first in rushing offense (249.3 ypg). While FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews has not accused Wake Forest of chop blocking, he and others have questioned their approach.
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"Well, it's just ridiculous," Grobe said of the accusations.

"In no way do we do that. First of all, you have to have two guys blocking one to end up in a chop-block situation. Our feeling is in our running game if we are wasting blockers if we've got two guys blocking one guy. We are just trying to run the football. We're a team that leads the ACC in rushing and that's by design. We want to run the football. You can't run the football by blocking people up high. That's just the way we are.

"I think North Carolina is a team that throws the football. They do a lot of drop-back passing and probably against each other a lot. I can see when you get into a week where you have a week to prepare for our running game, where we block you low, it's a tough preparation. We are not doing anything outside the rules. We are not the National Football League, and I think that's one of the best things about college football. We have a lot of different types of offenses. We're not a team that's going to drop back and throw the football 50-60 times a game.

"We primarily a team that's going to run it and we block low to do that. It's good, fundamental football. We teach our kids to play low with a flat back and a low pad level, and off the back side. If you're thought is defensively that you're going to run up the football on us and we're going to try to get you on the ground. So, it makes you have play on defense with your hands down. It makes you have to play good, technique football with your pads square, and if you're not going to do that you are going to get on the ground quite a bit. That's just the way we always played.

"When I was at the Air Force Academy, at Ohio University and here, we've got athletic offensive linemen. We don't have a lot of big, file cabinets on wheels. We've got guys who aren't very big but have fairly good athletic ability. The only way we can run the football effectively is if we block low. It has absolutely nothing to do with chop blocks. We've never chopped anybody. We've never taught that. We won't teach that. We would never try to hurt anybody, but we do block low. We are a good, fundamental offensive line and that's the way we play.
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Cut blocking, or blocking below the waist, is legal at the line of scrimmage.

"They really stretch you defensively with misdirection and angle blocks," Andrews told the Tallahassee Democrat. "Very seldom do they ask a lineman to reach back and knock you off the line. A lot of cutting. A lot of it, you know, I don't know why it's allowed in football to begin with. Diving at somebody's knee, cutting them like that. We don't make the rules. That's their type of football. You just hope you go out there and play low and play hard and come out of the game healthy."

North Carolina coach John Bunting said that the blocks are dangerous and that he has seen careers end because of them.

"We had three called in the game," Bunting said. "There probably could have been some more. I know one thing: I won't allow it to be coached on this football team. I'm not going to comment on Wake Forest."
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http://floridastate.scout.com/2/72963.html
 
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We've had plenty of bad press about both football and basketball at Wake recently, and nothing's come if it. So no I doubt bad press forced Grobe's hand.
 
That middle quote is why we all used to love Grobe. That's the coach that I want back in charge of our team.
 
Great find!

I think this is precisely why we stopped cut blocking. And I doubt that it was Grobe's idea; but that is pure suspicion.

Cut blocking is the great equalizer for teams that cannot recruit huge NFL type linemen. That is why the academies use it and are so effective. When we stopped cut blocking we essentially stopped rushing the ball effectively. We need to return to it. That is what I thought was going to happen this season.
 
It would not surprise me in the least if this was a directive from Wellman. We wouldn't want to use a strategy that our opponents would consider ungentlemanly (regardless of whether it was effective or not). Heaven forbid!
 
Yep, that used to be our coach. Where is he? Where is that 'screw em all' attitude? Its the only thing that can work at Wake. For Prossers faults, he was a dang competitor, and he HATED duke. I want coaches that arent afraid to piss someone off. Wellmans idea of sportsmanship is lame - this nice guy stuff has gotten very old.
 
Or did we stop cut blocking because we started throwing the ball all the time.
 
The reason the FSUs and UNCs of the world criticized cut blocking was that it required a great deal more prep. than they wanted to give to WF. After all, before this Wake was essentially a week off (as it will be this season) and their big money supporters would not tolerate losing to WF! It made them look really bad to lose to Wake.

Johnson is not willing to be bullied and people aren't so willing to try. We allowed ourselves to be bullied back into nothingness.
 
Chip Kelley's new offense in Philly does a ton of cut blocking. It is effective.
 
The more I think about it, the more I think Wellman probably did have something to do with it. Sure, going to more of a throw game with Riley may have meant less cut blocking, but why would we just throw it out almost entirely? I certainly can see Wellman saying ," Jim we don't want to be known as a dirty team, it's not very cultured." Of course, if that's true to any extent, Grobe should've said "up yours" and kept doing it.
 
Someone alluded to it earlier but the coach quoted in the OP seems so far removed from the coach on our sidelines now.
 
BobStackFan4Life said:
I read an old article not too long ago that basically asked if Jim Grobe was dirty because of Wake's blocking. Can't find it but found this one instead. Do you think the bad press could've eventually had an impact? I always felt it had more to do with other fans being sore losers that they lost to "little ole Wake Forest".



http://floridastate.scout.com/2/72963.html
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I remember how pissed I got reading the stuff at the bottom back in they day. Bunting was such a whiny baby over it. I remember in 2003 I think, he had their DE Chase Page take a dive early in the game. It was so funny because Page was rolling on the ground holding his knee, Bunting comes out there shaking his head, they had two reserve lineman basically carry Page off the field, but on our next possession Page was back in there. Total set-up. No respect for that man after that. Bobby Bowden on the other hand, I remember saying there was nothing wrong with what we were doing. We need to get back to other teams calling us "dirty" and talking about how hard it is to play against us. So many college teams use cut-blocking from Army, Navy, Air Force and Ga. Tech who use it a ton, to teams that use it some. I dare say almost all teams will use low blocking to an extent.

Edit: Oh and by the way, Bunting was also a liar in that I specifically remember UNC blocking low at times in that game.
 
liveanddiedeac said:
I remember how pissed I got reading the stuff at the bottom back in they day. Bunting was such a whiny baby over it. I remember in 2003 I think, he had their DE Chase Page take a dive early in the game. It was so funny because Page was rolling on the ground holding his knee, Bunting comes out there shaking his head, they had two reserve lineman basically carry Page off the field, but on our next possession Page was back in there. Total set-up. No respect for that man after that. Bobby Bowden on the other hand, I remember saying there was nothing wrong with what we were doing. We need to get back to other teams calling us "dirty" and talking about how hard it is to play against us. So many college teams use cut-blocking from Army, Navy, Air Force and Ga. Tech who use it a ton, to teams that use it some. I dare say almost all teams will use low blocking to an extent.

Edit: Oh and by the way, Bunting was also a liar in that I specifically remember UNC blocking low at times in that game.
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It isn't just the option teams that do it - any team that runs a zone blocking scheme utilizes cut blocking heavily. Its basic football, I don't understand why so many coaches bitch and moan about it.
 
w84it said:
It isn't just the option teams that do it - any team that runs a zone blocking scheme utilizes cut blocking heavily. Its basic football, I don't understand why so many coaches bitch and moan about it.
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They bitched and moaned because when Grobe got here Wake ceased to be that easy W on the schedule that they couldn't just roll their helmets out on the field against and we became a pain in the butt to play. Even the games we lost back then, were very competitive. Unfortunately, we're turning back into that easy W for teams again.
 
liveanddiedeac said:
They bitched and moaned because when Grobe got here Wake ceased to be that easy W on the schedule that they couldn't just roll their helmets out on the field against and we became a pain in the butt to play. Even the games we lost back then, were very competitive. Unfortunately, we're turning back into that easy W for teams again.
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I get that, but choosing to harp on the cut blocking just makes them look like they don't know their football - shit, I got cut blocked playing Pee Wee ball back in the day.
 
w84it said:
I get that, but choosing to harp on the cut blocking just makes them look like they don't know their football - shit, I got cut blocked playing Pee Wee ball back in the day.
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Well, based on Bunting's run at UNC, I think you could argue he didn't know his football.
 
DeacLaw05 said:
It would not surprise me in the least if this was a directive from Wellman. We wouldn't want to use a strategy that our opponents would consider ungentlemanly (regardless of whether it was effective or not). Heaven forbid!
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The same man who decided our band should play the other team's fight song. Is that nonsense still going on?
 
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