What if Barnes had taken a knee?

[Freddie]

...instead of scoring that TD with 34 seconds left.

Say he trots to the 1 yard line and takes a knee. We go into the 'victory' formation, take two snaps while Idaho burns their remaining timeouts. We let the clock run down to 1 sec, call a timeout then kick a FG as time expires.
Final score; BG 38, Idaho 35.

[Rollo83]

...instead of scoring that TD with 34 seconds left.

Say he trots to the 1 yard line and takes a knee. We go into the 'victory' formation, take two snaps while Idaho burns their remaining timeouts. We let the clock run down to 1 sec, call a timeout then kick a FG as time expires.
Final score; BG 38, Idaho 35.

I was thinking something similar last night. What if he runs parallel to the goal line and eats another 5 seconds off the clock? But I think you have to take the points when you have the oportunity. We already had one Fg blocked. If defense can't sop for 30 seconds from 70 yard out, you don't deserve to win.

[footballguy51]

...instead of scoring that TD with 34 seconds left.

Say he trots to the 1 yard line and takes a knee. We go into the 'victory' formation, take two snaps while Idaho burns their remaining timeouts. We let the clock run down to 1 sec, call a timeout then kick a FG as time expires.
Final score; BG 38, Idaho 35.

Sure, that might have worked, but who would have seriously thought about that? If Barnes had taken a knee at the 1, I can GUARANTEE that every single person on this board would have been screaming at the TV.

As Rollo said, we had a FG blocked earlier in the game. So, if we had made that FG, we would have won 45-42 if everything else played out as it did. In other words, we can always say, "What if?", but we some of them are more realistic than others.

[professorjackson]

Yeah, good thinking outside the bun, but nobody does that kind of thing, ever. Probably for a reason...

[Flipper]

What if Spartacus had a Cessna?

[freefalcon]

What if the Coach got everyone in a huddle before that last kick off and told the players don't touch the ball so Sheenan can have the last snap and last pass of his career!! Now that would be good coaching, time management and a great memory for a QB who did it all for BGSU

[Warthog]

Yeah, good thinking outside the bun, but nobody does that kind of thing, ever. Probably for a reason...

Happened in the NFL this season. Jax was TRAILING the Jets with like a minute to go. The Jets tried to let the Jags have the TD and Jones-Drew simply stopped at the one and took a knee. Jags kicked a FG on the final play to win.

[Warthog]

...instead of scoring that TD with 34 seconds left.

Say he trots to the 1 yard line and takes a knee. We go into the 'victory' formation, take two snaps while Idaho burns their remaining timeouts. We let the clock run down to 1 sec, call a timeout then kick a FG as time expires.
Final score; BG 38, Idaho 35.

Freddie, I agree with your logic. But I would have still gone for the TD at some point. Take a knee on first and second down and force Idaho to use TOs. But on third down, go for the end zone. We had TOs left. We could have used the TOs to our advantage to run the clock down to like 10 secs, run a play, call TO if we don't score and try the FG.

Personally, I think this end game situation is a point that comes up way too often. Teams score and give the opponent a chance with time on the clock. I think we will see more and more of teams manipulated the clock by NOT scoring so the other team doesn't get a chance at all.

[BGDrew]

I don't think you expect your defense to implode like we did either.

[hammb]

...instead of scoring that TD with 34 seconds left.

Say he trots to the 1 yard line and takes a knee. We go into the 'victory' formation, take two snaps while Idaho burns their remaining timeouts. We let the clock run down to 1 sec, call a timeout then kick a FG as time expires.
Final score; BG 38, Idaho 35.

Freddie, I agree with your logic. But I would have still gone for the TD at some point. Take a knee on first and second down and force Idaho to use TOs. But on third down, go for the end zone. We had TOs left. We could have used the TOs to our advantage to run the clock down to like 10 secs, run a play, call TO if we don't score and try the FG.

Personally, I think this end game situation is a point that comes up way too often. Teams score and give the opponent a chance with time on the clock. I think we will see more and more of teams manipulated the clock by NOT scoring so the other team doesn't get a chance at all.

This.

And actually I WAS screaming at the TV for him to go down.

I can never fault a player for taking the opportunity to score, but the bottom line is that taking a knee puts you in a no lose situation. You SHOULD still win the game...either punching it in from the one or kicking the FG. At the very least it makes it nearly impossible for you to lose the game.

Don't get me wrong, you don't expect the defense to fold up like that, and the game should have been won, but I'm an avid proponent of manipulating the clock to gain/prevent possessions. When you're losing late I'm the one that is always yelling to allow the opposition to score so you can get the ball back. When winning I'm definitely a fan of going down to keep possession. Honestly I don't know why this strategy is so foreign to football, but it's common practice in basketball to foul people and extend the game. The idea is if you're winning you want to shorten the game, if you're losing you want to extend it. Same thing here, but you just don't see it that often.

Kudo's to Jones-Drew this year, and Brian Westbrook a few years back. They've got the right idea.

[Flipper]

I'm sorry....but this thinking is off. You take the sure points when you have them in front of you. We've missed extra points this year...we had a FG blocked early in the game. There's no sure thing with the kicking game...we've failed to score in the red zone a lot this year. There's no sure thing with the red zone offense.

Getting cute like that with 30 secoinds to go is simply asking fate to bite you in the ass. 99.41% of the time your defense will do the job and make the stop...that's the % you play.

Besides..taking a knee in that situation is tantamount to giving your defense a great big middle finger...you're essentially telling them "I don't trust you to do your job". I dont want that kind of thinking on my team.

[BGGrad01]

I agree with the concept, but not in that situation.

If Barnes is coached or thinks about taking a knee, then he probably takes a look at where he's at on the field before making the catch. We all know what happens when a receiver takes his eyes off the ball before catching it. Going full speed on that route, it could easily have become a drop and we would have been stuck in 4th and 10 at midfield.

If we were inside the 10 and tied with 30 seconds to go, I would play for the FG and taken a knee if necessary. To expect Freddie to concentrate on the catch, make it at the 6, identify where he's at on the field and fall down at the 1 is a lot of action in a split second.

[BgWaRrIoR]

....and turst our kicker to make a field goal?? PLEASE.......

Just let it go guys. We lost.

[TG1996]

To expect Freddie to concentrate on the catch, make it at the 6, identify where he's at on the field and fall down at the 1 is a lot of action in a split second.

That was my thought, too. And Freddie deserved that TD to cap off his career, regardless of the final outcome.

[hammb]

To expect Freddie to concentrate on the catch, make it at the 6, identify where he's at on the field and fall down at the 1 is a lot of action in a split second.

That was my thought, too. And Freddie deserved that TD to cap off his career, regardless of the final outcome.

Yeah, I will never fault a player for taking the opportunity to score when it's a given. You have to expect your defense to keep them out of the endzone for 30 seconds.

Still, I think I would prefer my guy to go down in that situation. Again, to me it's comparable to basketball. You have the ball in a tie game with 25 seconds left. You're going to dribble the ball and hold for the final shot; not take the first shot that presents itself. I just find it kind of humorous that this is very much considered standard procedure in a basketball game, but gets laughed at in football speak. I'm not about to say anything negative about Barnes, his season has been the greatest I've ever watched from a WR at any level. I just know that if I were the coach I would probably teach my kids to think about taking a knee in that situation.

In the end we lost. We should have won, but we didn't do what it takes at the end of the game to get it done. Whether he takes a knee at the 1 or runs it into the endzone the result should have been a win 99% of the time. Unfortunately we got bit by that 1%.