Seeing Bashaud Breeland go down last night with a concussion, I was reminded of a story I read a couple years ago. There are some cues — outside of the hit itself — that can provide quick evidence that someone has experienced a severe head injury, probably a concussion. This can be particularly useful for coaches, players, and trainers… or pretty much anyone, actually.

Led by Jonathan Lifshitz, assistant professor in the UK Spinal Cord & Brain Injury Research Center, the team was collecting data to document a visible, involuntary response to head trauma. Their findings could have immediate value in helping coaches make educated, objective decisions about whether to return an athlete to play after a blow to the head…

Lifshitz describes the response, dubbed the “fencing response,” as a forearm posture that resembles the en garde position in competitive sword fighting. It also can appear as a defensive boxing pose. The fencing response – which has also been observed in rats under experimental conditions – indicates damage to blood vessels and neurons in a critical brainstem region that controls balance, Lifshitz said.

In the course of their research, the team reviewed some 2,000 “knockout” videos on YouTube, eventually narrowing their sample to three dozen that showed moderate-to-severe impacts to the head, where the person receiving the blow did not immediately get up. Of those, two-thirds exhibited a clear fencing response. The response was noted particularly in football and mixed martial arts, Lifshitz said.

“The fencing response frequently takes place before the player even hits the ground,” Lifshitz said.

Among the videos the team reviewed was the head-to-head collision of Baltimore Raven Willis McGahee and Pittsburgh Steeler Ryan Clark in a Jan. 18 AFC playoff game. McGahee’s immediate fencing response is clearly visible in the video.

Moderate-to-severe head trauma can cause permanent brain damage or death if ignored by medical staff. Unfortunately, sometimes these injuries are not readily apparent. The fencing response provides an immediate visual cue that could help injured players get the attention they need, Lifshitz said.

“The observation of the fencing response can help coaches and trainers make immediate and future return-to-play decisions,” Lifshitz said. “But the response is not universal. The absence of a fencing response should not be taken as a sign that no injury has occurred.”

Here’s the McGahee-Clark collision.

Here’s a similar example with a hit on Georgia’s Mario Raley.

For those who want to watch a replay of the hit on Breeland, I don’t know any youtube clips, but the play began with 2:12 left in the first quarter. That is about the start of minute 38 of the replay broadcast on ESPN3.

Addendum
Another good example: Cal’s Jahvid Best against Oregon State in 2009.

Due to a wedding involving a Miami alum, I was unable to see the live broadcast of Clemson-FSU. Leave it to Miami fans to make college football less enjoyable for everyone else. Fortunately, due to the beauty of ESPN3, I was able to watch a replay during the week when I was stuck at work late. Unfortunately, despite the outcome, I wasn’t entirely impressed by the game against FSU. The FSU game doesn’t give me a lot of confidence going into the Tech game. However there may be some upside out there for Clemson.

On the downside for Clemson…

Clemson beat FSU by 5 point in Clemson. And FSU was missing many of their starting offensive skill players. And FSU gave a lot away to Clemson in the way of many stupid penalties (so many I lost count).

Now Clemson has to go on the road, in a tough place to play, to face a team that’s actually pretty tough to beat regardless of location. This is the first road trip for Clemson’s talented true freshman. I’m not aware (not that I’ve really checked) of important injuries to Virginia Tech. And it seems unlikely that VT is going to provide a lot of freebies in the way of stupid penalties and turnovers. For all these reason, there’s a very good reason why VT is favored by 7 points.

On the upside for Clemson…

Clemson is still the underdog. I feel like Clemson plays better (not that they necessarily win) when they are the underdog.

Tonight at 6 we’ll see what happens.

The P&C’s headline says it all.

Tigers throw away another opportunity: Virginia Tech 80, Clemson 77

I’ve got a bad feeling that the last 3 games of the season are all going to be losses.

First half:

Tech was ready for the press. They were getting easy points for a long time, and it seemed to take the Tigers out of the game mentally. That allowed VT to lead by as much as 14pts. Fortunately VT made some mistakes and Clemson toughened up a bit and got the ball down low a bit more while also grabbing some more defensive rebounds.

The Tigers should have ended the half down by a mere, and very respectable given the larger earlier deficits, 6 (or less had they converted on their last possession, but Tech’s Delaney hit a 3/4 court prayer at the buzzer.

Crap. That was deflating.

Second Half:

Clemson came out a little flat, and then something amazing happened, they woke back up. They went on a 20-1 run encompassing about 7 minutes. The lead shifted a few times before Clemson ended up on top. That was a rather remarkable victory. Way to fight back!

Let me state that I emphatically hate idiot callers on radio talk shows. Let me add that I am one of those idiots and I will gladly participate if anyone even so much as pretends that they think I have something valuable to say. And the fine folks at CFB Weekly allowed me to have a return appearance to the show, so go ahead and give it a listen.

From what I recall, I was asked if we could win against BC if Matt Ryan was able to shred our defense. I like our offense, but I don’t think the team can win without a fine effort from the defense (and special teams).

Asked about the status of Bowden, I can say that his position is still up in the air and dependent on how the season ends. It’s great to be 8-2 and on a 4-game winning streak, but the happiness can easily be shattered by 3 straight losses. Additionally, I have the fear that once Tommy really achieves success, he may just up and leave. He certainly has a lot invested in the program, but at some point it just might not be worth dealing with Clemson fans anymore.

Lastly, there was a question about the ACCCG and who I would rather see Clemson play (based on the huge IF about beating BC). I choose Virginia Tech. Sure they’ve got a better defense. And special teams that destroy us. And the momentum in the series recently. However, I think UVA can play with more focus and is more able to will a victory. The destruction of Miami at their hands reminds me too much of Wake’s thrashing of FSU around this time last year. That said, I fucking hate UVA and while I would love to bury the bastards, I have a gut feeling that reason will go out the window and some stupid shit will happen and lead to their victory and I absolutely cannot deal with that.

Somewhere back in the preseason, I predicted that BC fans would be upset that their previous coach left. While that may still prove to be the case, the odds aren’t working in favor of that prediction. Especially after tonight. BC broke the #2 ranking curse and pulled out an amazing victory at Virginia Tech.

For 56 minutes, there were shades of the Clemson-VT game of last year; a highly touted team visits Blacksburg, goes nowhere on offense, and leaves with only the the faintest memory of pride. But those last 4 minutes mattered a lot. From the 10-0 deficit, VT accumulated, per the ESPN stats, 168 yards and 14 pts on the back of Matt Ryan on two drives, the latter drive coming after recovering an onside kick. Prior to those drives, the Eagles had only amassed 149 yards of total offense (Clemson managed just 172 total yards last year)

In other words, life sucks for Hokies right now.

There are two other things I saw during the game that are worth noting:
1 – After leading the two successful drives, Matt Ryan threw up all over the BC sidelines.
2 – The demeanor of head coaches means jack. Two weeks ago USF got beat on Thursday night and I literally feared their head coach’s head was going to pop like “a zit. Get it?” Tonight Jags seemed very calm even when things weren’t going well. Actually, when things were going well he was all smiles. And after BC scored the winning touchdown he was practically prancing around on the sideline.
ADDENDUM
3 – I forgot to add this last night, but one of the things that BC did really well last night was falling on loose footballs. There were a number of times when the ball was squirming around and up for grabs and BC did a really excellent job of gaining or regaining possession.

Let’s just say that I am displeased, but not entirely surprised, by the first half of the game.

But instead of unleashing a real-time rant about the performance, I’m going to wait until later, possibly until the game is over, possibly until I have counted to 10, or possibly until I have consumed more alcohol than is reasonable or safe.

Last week we went on the road to play Tech. Tech’s offense is horrible and we were favored. And of course we lost.

So this week, Tech (no, the other one) goes on the road to visit Clemson. Their offense is horrible and we are favored.

Seems to be a pattern.

But let me admit that I lied. GT’s offense is only pretty bad. Virginia Tech’s is horrible, it’s not quite Notre Dame horrible, but horrible nonetheless. The passing game is 104th in the country and the rushing game is 91st. They combine for a crowd pleasing 286 ypg and 112th ranking (90 yards better than Notre Dame, though).

They’ve managed to play both East Carolina and North Carolina close at home. Actually, they’ve had 4 of 5 games at home so far this season. In Blacksburg they played only well enough to win. (Ok, so they did whip up on William & Mary.) Their lone road trip was to Deaf Valley where the other, other, other Tigers made Tech look like William & Mary.

On defense, the numbers show Tech (Virginia) to be top-20ish, but not as good as Tech (Georgia). They’re both close in terms of special teams as well.

What stands out to me is VT’s negative turnover margin. That’s just not Beamer ball.

I don’t even know what that last sentence means, but I wanted to sound like the guys on TV.

Anyway, let me make my predictions: VT will rush for 130, pass for 200, recover 2 fumbles, make 1 interception, score 14 easy points related to turnovers and get another 7 on special teams. The offense will manage another 10 points. In total, that’s 31 for Tech.

Clemson will not be so lucky. The offense will move the ball with surprising ease but will be unable to overcome a few big mistakes.

Final score: Tech 31, Clemson 27. Another week of frustration ensues. I suggest hiring Lou Holtz just so he can come here, win, and let us spite the hell out of USCe.