The NFL differs from other sports in one major way: the sport is so relentlessly complicated it really does take years (if not generations) to master the fine points.

WSJ: Football: Where Nepotism Works-Harbaugh, Ryan, Shanahan, Schottenheimer

"We think it's really powerful, " said Gabriel Trisca, a Boise State master's degree student who developed GROVER's software.

ENGADGET: NASA's GROVER eco-rover to examine Greenland's ice sheet (video)