D'Ernest Johnson, RB Immokalee HS

[ckparrothead]

 

 

Who punts from the opponent's 38?

skip holtz.

 

 

Nick Saban would absolutely 100% punt in that situation.  But he's not like a good coach or anything.

 

 

You can't cite as evidence a completely made-up statement. You have no idea what Nick Saban would do in that situation.

[Triple B]

 

 

 

Who punts from the opponent's 38?

skip holtz.

 

 

Nick Saban would absolutely 100% punt in that situation.  But he's not like a good coach or anything.

 

 

You can't cite as evidence a completely made-up statement. You have no idea what Nick Saban would do in that situation.

 

 

I don't know .... You could cite last year's UA-AU end of game as evidence that he would do something that stupid.

[Apis Bull]

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

This to Swanson or whoever was playing FB would have been better:

 

 

Or fake to Mack and hand off to FB (inverse of this):

 

[Apis Bull]

Maybe, but you don't know if either would have worked.

[ckparrothead]

I personally can't even believe this is an argument. I've been covering and analyzing football for a long time and the decision on that play probably should have been a dive play regardless of anything about records.

 

It was 4th & 1 at the opponent's 35 yard line. Actually it was a little less than a yard, closer to two feet. The ball was just over the 35 yard line and the 1st down marker was right on the 34 yard line. That's a coin flip situation even if you completely disregard the score and clock.

 

If they can move the ball just two feet, the game is over. And the percentages were absolutely with them moving the ball that far. They had gashed WCU's defense for 294 yards on the ground at about 9 yards per carry.

 

The field goal gets you nothing because it would still be a two-touchdown game at 15 points (touchdown, two-point conversion, touchdown, extra point). As it stood at 12 points there was no way to tie or win the game with a combination of a touchdown and field goal, so two touchdowns were already necessary for WCU at that point. If you miss the 52-yard field goal you give them the ball near mid-field, giving them a nice leg-up on the first of those touchdowns. And if you made the field goal, you've gained virtually nothing.

 

If you punt from the 35 yard line, you're probably going to end up with a touchback. You can try and drop it inside the 20 yard line but WCU would just let the ball roll into the end zone. Maybe your punter can kick the thing out of bounds at the 10 yard line but he'd have to be extremely good at directional punting to do that, and we've got no clue if that's even a tool in his toolbox.

 

So punting nets you what, 15 yards? And it puts the game back in their hands. And they'd already won an onside kick in the second half.

 

Going for it on 4th & 1 has an insanely high success percentage. In the NFL the percentage is 69%. I don't know what it is in NCAA football but I'm positive it's higher. And it's FAR higher in a game where you've already gashed the opponent for 300 yards on the ground at 9 yards per carry. So you're tossing 15 little yards into the pot for like an 80% chance to END the game.

 

Yeah. That's an effing no-brainer.

 

The only part of the decision that MIGHT have been affected by the possibility of Marlon Mack getting the record was the decision to let Mack try for that 1 yard rather than going with someone who wasn't gassed. But there are also football reasons you could do that regardless of records and whatnot.

 

For one thing he was clearly the hot hand and the best back in the stables.

 

For another, I'm sure evaluation is ongoing especially in a game against Western Carolina where you're winning by two touchdowns with less than two minutes left in the game. You keep feeding Mack because you want to know where his limits are.

[DELdaBull]

This to Swanson or whoever was playing FB would have been better:

Or fake to Mack and hand off to FB (inverse of this):

These are terrible I need 1 yard to win the game plays.

Maybe hand the ball to Johnson

[JTrue]

The top video is an argument for Mack getting the ball. The bottom video is a quick compilation of Kennard Swanson's college carries for comparison:

 

 

 

 

Edited September 3, 2014 by JTrue

[Who'sYourData?]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Additionally, with the night Mack was having, it's not a stretch to assume he can get one yard in that situation.

 

Except that every person in the stadium knew he was getting the ball.  Even the hot dog guy.  And they ran the exact same play the previous play and  got less than one yard.

 

Dumb decision. 

 

The decision wasn't dumb. Running the same play again, with TERRIBLE blocking was the problem. As stated earlier, the entire stadium knew what was coming.

 

 

Again, you don't think everyone knew he was getting the ball on the short yardage TD?

 

 

Was that fourth down, and was he one yard from a record?  I think not.

 

Punt it and they would not have had the time even to get the first TD, much less recover an onside kick.  No brainer, unless the record is more important to you as a coach than winning the game is.

 

I find it funny that you continue to argue for a failed strategy. 

 

 

He's arguing because the prime objective is to win the game. Going for it, whether making it or not, was part of the strategy that preceded the win so I find it funny you continue to argue against a successful strategy .... because, fact is, nobody knows what the outcome would have been if we tried the punt strategy. 

 

 

 

Thank you.  I don't care about the record.  They hadn't been able to stop Mack even when they knew he was getting the ball. Get that first down and the game is over.

 

 

But we KNOW that strategy didn't work. 

 

But hey, you guys are right.  Clearly WCU did not know we were going to run Mack in that situation, and clearly they were unable to stop it.  So that was the right call. 

[Fold FB Invest in BB]

Going for it was definitely the right call.