You typically lose. Three straight runs after facing a 1st and 20. Not even pretending to try and get a TD to go up by 8.
This one is on Fitz.
This one is on Fitz.
When you play to not lose
- Thread starter Jonny2TheP
- Start date
Sorry but that is complete bull shit. The play calling was exactly what 99% of coaches would have done. Our kicker missed a 31 yarder with the wind, theirs made a 40 yarder against the wind. Players have to make plays.
Yep I'm sorry but Kuhbander has not made a kick in crunch time all year. Stanford, Nebraska, Purdue.
Agree completely. Milking the clock like we were up by more (clock we could have used later) and making no effort to score a TD. Hyper conservative, doink FG miss, game lost. Bad coaching, bad team, bad season. Dreadful. I wonder if FITZ will spin it as a breakout game for McCall.
That was technically played correctly. Make the kick. Players do bear some responsibility at some point.
What an awful take! The coaches did everything they could to deliver a win. If our Kicker makes what should be an easy kick Northwestern is celebrating their first Big Ten win right now. Players have to make plays.
Two things: if he had made the kick, I still don't trust that our defense wouldn't have given up a touchdown. Purdue probably would've scored a TD if they had kept trying.
The thing that I didn't like was not trying a pass when we had the ball inside their 20. Needed to go up 8 and didn't even try after that dumbass holding penalty.
The thing that I didn't like was not trying a pass when we had the ball inside their 20. Needed to go up 8 and didn't even try after that dumbass holding penalty.
Stop it. If there was a minute and a half left, I’m 100% with you. There were three and a half minutes left and Purdue had all three timeouts when that 1st and 20 started. Even if you make the FG, they have three minutes to go down the field and score. And it’s not like they had an issue moving the ball all day. We are without our best CB. Bell was getting open at will all day or drawing PI calls.
Yes, Charlie should have made the FG. But Fitz played that way too conservatively. Had no interest in even trying to get a TD- showing no trust in the players he always tells to trust themselves.
I love Fitz. This isn’t a “this season is all on Fitz” thread. And sometimes being conservative is the way to go...but not this time. You could see the way that game ended coming from a mile away once we went into a shell and stopped being aggressive.
The whole idea is to bleed clock, make Purdue use their timeouts, make a field goal, avoid mistakes with your QB who tried to throw about five picks, and make Purdue move down the field with its walk-on QB. It’s probably the right call with our current roster.
I get it. Of course I understand the thinking, but there was too much time left for that.
And yes, he’s a walk on, but Purdue is the second best passing team in the conference despite playing without their starter since Game 2. And did he really look like a walk on today? 34 completions. 270 yards passing. 2 TD passes...and he led a game winning drive last week too.
Again, I get the thinking. And I get that our offense has had a terrible season and we like to trust our defense, but just too much time left for my blood to go into a shell like that. With two and a half minutes, even without timeouts (and they had one), with the clock stoppage on 1st downs and out of bounds plays, you have enough time for a ten play drive.
It’s a loss. And it’s not like it makes or breaks the season. Just didn’t think Fitz played that right considering how much time was left.
OConnor had made some pretty awful decisions. If I’m Fitz and the choice is to put the game on my offense or my defense, it’s pretty clear.
I think it was bad coaching decision followed by bad execution.
No way with first and 20 and more than 4 minutes left should we have not thrown it to try to get a first down and/or TD. No way were 3 runs likely to get us 20 yards. If we get a first down then we likely win even if we just run more clock and then go for a chip shot FG. If we get a TD then go for 2, we are up 9 and out of reach.
Their offense was running on quick throws so with 3 minutes left they were going to have plenty of time to score a TD.
Thus, a coaching decision to play for a 4 point lead cost us.
Also true that we could have won if he made the FG.
No way with first and 20 and more than 4 minutes left should we have not thrown it to try to get a first down and/or TD. No way were 3 runs likely to get us 20 yards. If we get a first down then we likely win even if we just run more clock and then go for a chip shot FG. If we get a TD then go for 2, we are up 9 and out of reach.
Their offense was running on quick throws so with 3 minutes left they were going to have plenty of time to score a TD.
Thus, a coaching decision to play for a 4 point lead cost us.
Also true that we could have won if he made the FG.
Agree he played it well enough to win. The placekickers miss, and our veteran OLineman's hold were too much to overcome. Players have to make plays.
Maybe HCPF, no one else.
The play calls were right. Make PU burn its timeouts. Make the FG. Win the game.
i want to revise my observation. Any strategy that relies on our placekicker making a FG during crunch time is a bad decision.
We won a bunch of games the past few years with this style of clock management and such. I’ve always disliked it, and have pointed out that it leads to coin flip games which I was always blasted for when we won. But here are the other sides of said coins.
It’s a strategy. You can’t like it when it works and complain when it doesn’t.
It’s a strategy. You can’t like it when it works and complain when it doesn’t.
Except early in the drive we were snapping the ball with 15-20 left on the play clock. If you’re going to play the conservative mode then go all in and run every sec possible. Even with the miss I would have liked our odds a lot more if Purdue got the ball back with 60-90 secs left vs the time they had.
I mentioned this early in the season- if your coaching strategy is to play defense and be conservative on offense you better make sure you have a good kicker. Typically a 30+ yard fg attempt for us is a 50/50 proposition which isn’t a good thing.
Add it to the list of items the coaching staff needs to work on moving forward. If you’re up one and trying to squeeze out a win it’s probably a good idea at that point to try and take every second off the clock you can. It’s not the only reason we lost, but it’s one of the reasons.
Seems like the coaching staff and many associated with the program spent too much of the offseason reading their press clippings. Maybe a 2 win season will be a nice serving of humble pie
If your overall game plan is to play good D and be conservative on offense then there are a few things your team/staff can do to support that philosophy - proper time management and having a good kicker are two of them.
Be nice to find a punter who can net over 30-35 yards as well.
In Fitzgerald's defense, you can't play to win with this team and these coaches. There's just no way to win with this sad bunch.
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