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Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

Trying to force it late in the second quarter was an unquestionably stupid coaching call - no doubt about it. But, I have to give some serious credit to Texas for fighting back in the second half. After the way Gilbert performed in the first half, I wouldn't have blamed the Longhorns at all for just cashing it in throughout the second half. That isn't to say that any sportsman anywhere would do that, but Gilbert was awful from the jump. His evolution during the second half was fun to watch, and the UT defense gave him a shot at a nearly unbelievable comeback. I don't know if the defense would have been as inspired as they were if McCoy were not hurt, but I got the feeling that Texas would have run away with that game if he wasn't.

Anyhow, congrats to Alabama. They won themselves a great bowl game. Maybe one day they can meet this year's national champs on the field - Boise State University.

Just to note 4 of the last 7 BCS titles have been won by former BG or Toledo head coaches.

...and the SEC has won 6 of the 12 BCS Championships. What a conference.

doughash wrote:Just to note 4 of the last 7 BCS titles have been won by former BG or Toledo head coaches.

Just wondering if you could elaborate on this.

Since we are discussing coaching screw-ups, and we have been discussing end-of-game scenarios, I think Saban screwed up twice late in the game.

First, after scoring to make it 30-21, they decided to kick the extra point. They are are already up by more than one score with just over two minutes left. It's practically impossible for Texas to score twice in the last two minutes. BUT, a blown XP returned the other way for a score by Texas and all of a sudden it's a 7 point game and Texas is getting the ball. He should not have risked any possiblity that could make it a one score game.

Second, once they got the ball back and had first and goal with 1:40 or so left, they should have just taken a knee. Texas only had one timeout left and IF they had elected to use the TO, maybe Texas gets the ball back with like 10 seconds left. But Texas didn't call time out after first down, so it looks like they were accepting their fate. So the second down snap came with about 50 secs left. Take a knee, take a knee, game ends. But they go ahead and score and as fate would have it, they missed the XP. SO, this keeps it a two score game and gives Texas the ball back. Again, the chances of Texas of scoring twice and getting two two point conversions are incredibly small. But the possibility does exist, whereas if they take a knee, there it absolutely no chance of Texas winning.

To the second point, I would probably say that it was Saban's ego that had them score again. He wanted to make the game look like a bigger blowout than it was. And it would have been more respectful to Texas to take a knee and let the score end up closer, especially given the fact they basically played the entire game without their star QB. Just a another reason to hate on the ex-UT coach.

KeyWestParrot wrote:

doughash wrote:Just to note 4 of the last 7 BCS titles have been won by former BG or Toledo head coaches.

Just wondering if you could elaborate on this.

Saban coached at Toledo and won BCS championships at LSU and Alabama. Urban Meyer coached at BG and won two BCS championships at Florida.

Warthog wrote:Since we are discussing coaching screw-ups, and we have been discussing end-of-game scenarios, I think Saban screwed up twice late in the game.

First, after scoring to make it 30-21, they decided to kick the extra point. They are are already up by more than one score with just over two minutes left. It's practically impossible for Texas to score twice in the last two minutes. BUT, a blown XP returned the other way for a score by Texas and all of a sudden it's a 7 point game and Texas is getting the ball. He should not have risked any possiblity that could make it a one score game.

Second, once they got the ball back and had first and goal with 1:40 or so left, they should have just taken a knee. Texas only had one timeout left and IF they had elected to use the TO, maybe Texas gets the ball back with like 10 seconds left. But Texas didn't call time out after first down, so it looks like they were accepting their fate. So the second down snap came with about 50 secs left. Take a knee, take a knee, game ends. But they go ahead and score and as fate would have it, they missed the XP. SO, this keeps it a two score game and gives Texas the ball back. Again, the chances of Texas of scoring twice and getting two two point conversions are incredibly small. But the possibility does exist, whereas if they take a knee, there it absolutely no chance of Texas winning.

To the second point, I would probably say that it was Saban's ego that had them score again. He wanted to make the game look like a bigger blowout than it was. And it would have been more respectful to Texas to take a knee and let the score end up closer, especially given the fact they basically played the entire game without their star QB. Just a another reason to hate on the ex-UT coach.

I disagree on the first point. I think with 2 minutes left it's more likely for a team to score a TD, get an onside kick, and get a FG than it is to have a blocked XP run back against them for a 2-point score. I agree with you on your 2nd point and that Saban has a huge ego. Pretty darn good coach though.

Sure seems like BG fans have a propensity to discuss worse-case scenarios.

Rollo83 wrote:Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

I think he called that playing thinking it was a safe bet. Think about it. How many shovel passes have you ever seen get intercepted? I can't think of any. It's almost always an incomplete pass as worst.

kdog27 wrote:

Rollo83 wrote:Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

I think he called that playing thinking it was a safe bet. Think about it. How many shovel passes have you ever seen get intercepted? I can't think of any. It's almost always an incomplete pass as worst.

It was a foolish call because it had an element of risk (as we saw) and almost no shot at providing any value to his team. If he trusted his QB to throw the ball downfield and move the chains to get into position for a hail mary/FG, then do that. But it makes no sense to run that shovel pass...even if it works you're not going to be giving yourself a chance to score, and we saw the worst case scenario play out.

hammb wrote:

kdog27 wrote:

Rollo83 wrote:Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

I think he called that playing thinking it was a safe bet. Think about it. How many shovel passes have you ever seen get intercepted? I can't think of any. It's almost always an incomplete pass as worst.

It was a foolish call because it had an element of risk (as we saw) and almost no shot at providing any value to his team. If he trusted his QB to throw the ball downfield and move the chains to get into position for a hail mary/FG, then do that. But it makes no sense to run that shovel pass...even if it works you're not going to be giving yourself a chance to score, and we saw the worst case scenario play out.

Yeah but it's easy to question something after it happens. They could have ran the ball up the middle and fumbled, they could have thrown the ball down field and had it intercepted, etc. That is a low risk play IMO. Seriously have you ever seen a shovel pass get blown up that bad? I haven't.

kdog27 wrote:

hammb wrote:

kdog27 wrote:

Rollo83 wrote:Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

I think he called that playing thinking it was a safe bet. Think about it. How many shovel passes have you ever seen get intercepted? I can't think of any. It's almost always an incomplete pass as worst.

It was a foolish call because it had an element of risk (as we saw) and almost no shot at providing any value to his team. If he trusted his QB to throw the ball downfield and move the chains to get into position for a hail mary/FG, then do that. But it makes no sense to run that shovel pass...even if it works you're not going to be giving yourself a chance to score, and we saw the worst case scenario play out.

Yeah but it's easy to question something after it happens. They could have ran the ball up the middle and fumbled, they could have thrown the ball down field and had it intercepted, etc. That is a low risk play IMO. Seriously have you ever seen a shovel pass get blown up that bad? I haven't.

No, I've never seen one get blown up that badly, my problem is that I don't think there is much reward in the play. If you want to play conservative then take a knee. If you want to try and score then throw downfield.

I don't like the one foot in one foot out approach. It reeks of the type of thing I watch on Sundays with the Browns. Make a decision to either run out the clock, or play to get points. Either approach is acceptable, IMO, but go all out in that approach. I saw the shovel pass call as introducing some level of risk (granted I never would have seen THAT coming), but with very little reward.

Warthog wrote:

KeyWestParrot wrote:

doughash wrote:Just to note 4 of the last 7 BCS titles have been won by former BG or Toledo head coaches.

Just wondering if you could elaborate on this.

Saban coached at Toledo and won BCS championships at LSU and Alabama. Urban Meyer coached at BG and won two BCS championships at Florida.

That makes sense now, I was thinking about individual coaches and not so much coaches with multiple wins. Must still be suffering from New Years hangover to miss that one.

hammb wrote:It was a foolish call because it had an element of risk (as we saw) and almost no shot at providing any value to his team. If he trusted his QB to throw the ball downfield and move the chains to get into position for a hail mary/FG, then do that. But it makes no sense to run that shovel pass...even if it works you're not going to be giving yourself a chance to score, and we saw the worst case scenario play out.

Risk of a fumble on the snap between the C & QB

Risk of a fumble on a hand-off between the QB & FB/RB

Risk of an fumble on a backwards lateral to a wide-receiver in the flat

Risk of an interception if you throw the ball

What play would you call then? Every play has some element of risk.

kdog27 wrote:

Rollo83 wrote:Bet mack Brown wishes he had done the right thing and had his freshman QB take a knee at the end of the first half. Maybe one of the biggest bonehead calls by a head coach in a big game ever.

I think he called that playing thinking it was a safe bet. Think about it. How many shovel passes have you ever seen get intercepted? I can't think of any. It's almost always an incomplete pass as worst.

Have the center snap the ball to the QB. Have the QB put his knee on the ground. While yes, it does have some element of risk...I like the odds.

I see shovel passes get knocked around at the line of scrimmage all the time. How many times have you seen players dive for a lose ball on that play only to have it ruled an incomplete pass. So its not so far fetched that your freshman QB might make a bad decision at that point and something may go wrong.