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Football Wisdom

“At Georgia Southern, we don’t cheat. That costs money and we don’t have any.” – Erk Russell, Georgia Southern

“Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless, Beat Texas.” – Arkansas church sign before the 1969 game

“After you retire, there’s only one big event left… and I ain’t ready for that.” – Bobby Bowden, Florida State

“The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.” – Lou Holtz, Arkansas

“When you win, nothing hurts.” – Joe Namath, Alabama

“Motivation is simple. You eliminate those who are not motivated.” – Lou Holtz, Arkansas

“If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password: ‘Roll, tide, roll!’” – Bear Bryant, Alabama

“A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.” – Frank Leahy, Notre Dame

“There’s nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.” – Woody Hayes, Ohio State

“I don’t expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.” – Bob Devaney, Nebraska

“In Alabama, an atheist is someone who doesn’t believe in Bear Bryant.” – Wally Butts, Georgia

“You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.” – Paul Dietzel, LSU

“It’s kind of hard to rally around a math class.” – Bear Bryant, Alabama

“No, but you can see it from here.” – Lou Holtz, Arkansas (when asked if Fayetteville was the end of the world)

“I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.” – Bear Bryant, Alabama

“There’s one sure way to stop us from scoring – give us the ball near the goal line.”

Matty Bell, SMU –

“Lads, you’re not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.” – Frank Leahy, Notre Dame

“I never graduated from Iowa, but I was only there for two terms – Truman’s and Eisenhower’s.”

Alex Karras, Iowa –

“My advice to defensive players: Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor.” – Bowden Wyatt, Tennessee

“I could have been a Rhodes Scholar, except for my grades.” – Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State

“Always remember: Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.” – Shug Jordan, Auburn

“They cut us up like boarding house pie. And that’s real small pieces.” – Darrell Royal, Texas

“Show me a good and gracious loser, and I’ll show you a failure.” – Knute Rockne, Notre Dame

“They whipped us like a tied up goat.” – Spike Dykes, Texas Tech

“I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn’t recruit me and he said: ‘Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren’t any good.’” – Walt Garrison, Oklahoma State

“Son, you’ve got a good engine, but your hands aren’t on the steering wheel.” – Bobby Bowden, Florida State

“Football is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.” – Duffy Daugherty, Michigan State

“All those who need showers, take them.” – John McKay, USC (post game message to his team after Notre Dame beat USC, 51-0)

“If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.” – Murray Warmath, Minnesota

“The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.” – Knute Rockne, Notre Dame

“Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.” – Spike Dykes, Texas Tech

“It isn’t necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it.” – Knute Rockne, Notre Dame

“We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches.” – Darrell Royal, Texas

“We didn’t tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.” – John McKay, USC

“Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.” – Darrell Royal, University of Texas

“I’ve found that prayers work best when you have big players.” – Knute Rockne, Notre Dame

“Gentlemen, it is better to have died a small boy than to fumble this football” – John Heisman