The B12 (XII) Forum, home of the 'Front Porch, y'all' at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Yeah. Somebody has dreamed it up. But it would be nice to see it on the field.

If I were King of MSU, the football team would wear that helmet in the bowl game and all next season.

Origin of the Ninja accoring to James Hale:


The great thing about the first Bob Stoops staff is that they were always out and about around town, and the most popular place for them was Othello’s on Campus Corner in Norman. As a reporter covering a college team living in town, I was always out and about at the best spots, and Othello’s was always a top choice. It was nothing for a couple of coaches to be there after games and throughout the week. Thursday was always a popular night, and usually, a few coaches would be there with their families. That didn’t stop them from telling me to pull up a chair, and the information and stories would be flying.
Those were great days as the coaches were young and footloose and free, and if they trusted you, they would talk to you just like you were one of them. Not like today, where coaches are all paranoid and never seem to come out of their houses.
One Thursday night, Coach Leach sits at the bar drinking a glass of wine. He chats up any student or fan that wants to come and say hi, and he is having a good time. He sees me and tells me to take a seat beside him.
I watched a few people come up to Coach Leach and tell him about a play they thought would be good for him. He would always tell them to draw up the play so he could figure out how to block for it. Sometimes that would spook the fan, and sometimes it wouldn’t, but it was always fun to watch fans try to draw up plays with Coach Leach asking them how he would block for this play against a three, four, or five-man front.
He would tell them if I can’t block for it, I can’t run it, and usually, the fans would walk away laughing because the Sooner offensive coordinator had given them the time of day.
A pretty blond sorority girl came up to Coach Leach and was one of the young ladies in college that could always grab the attention of any man, no matter the age of the men. So, she had Coach Leach’s and my attention, and she told the coach that she had a play that she thought he should run. She said it was somewhat of a trick play with Heupel at quarterback and Trent Smith at tight end that she thought there was no way a defensive could cover it. Coach Leach told her to draw it up.
The young woman then told us her dad was a high school football coach, and she had seen a million plays drawn up. Coach Leach asked about what his high school was, and when he heard where it was, he knew it was legit. She proceeded to draw up the play even with a defense on the other side. Coach Leach and her talked for about 30 minutes or more, and when she walked off, he told her he would probably run it Saturday.
I will be damned if Coach Leach did not put that play in his playbook, as that play became the ‘Ninja’ at OU. After the game, I remember somehow getting alone with Coach Leach and asking him if the formation was the play that the sorority girl had drawn for him, and he said that was the inspiration for him to put it in at OU. He told me that the formation had been used at other schools but that the young lady was so into drawing it up he tried to put it in just like she drew it up.

Which team was it, 320? I watched some bits of that game and didn't notice it. I'd guess it was Miami (O). I got a couple of good looks at the dragon-head design on the UAB helmets and didn't notice any pirate stickers.