Instant reaction to tonight's loss

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:23 am

Not so fast my friend. There was only 30 seconds left and UT had only 1 timeout. We run a play that doesn't convert and you are down to around 25 secs left and UT needing to go about 30 yards to try a 43 yard figgie.

Conversely, in OT, UT is already gonna by in FG range to start and only needs to go 25 yards for a TD. Sooooo, why not go for it on fourth down. If you don't convert, isn't the situation for the defense better than what they get put in to start OT?

Coaches get too conservative in this situation. They go for it and it goes bad, there is something BIG to criticize them for. They play conservative and lose it OT is somehow considered more acceptable than trying for the win and losing in regulation. Why is that?

Along those same lines, I applauded Vermiel and Gruden when they recently shunned the conservative, play for OT choice and went for the win. The football gods rewarded them for being brave and certainly would have done the same for us if we would have went for it.

One last thing in this vein. Is it me or has Brandon gotten extremely conservative since Omar got hurt? Sure Partridge threw the TD against Miami, but there was not one trick play tonigt. And the punting/trying FG on fourth down are not what I have come to expect from him.

OSUFALCON · Post by **OSUFALCON** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:37 am

All good points! My key to the game was that 4th and 1, we had 3 TIMEOUTS! Use them Brandon! Why would we run a play with so much confusion? Call a timeout and run that QB sneak or give it to Pope. To have a false start is awful. That is PISS POOR COACHING............Period

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 12:48 am

OSUFALCON wrote:All good points! My key to the game was that 4th and 1, we had 3 TIMEOUTS! Use them Brandon! Why would we run a play with so much confusion? Call a timeout and run that QB sneak or give it to Pope. To have a false start is awful. That is PISS POOR COACHING............Period

Another excellent point. FWIW, that was a terrible play to call as well. We had no one in the backfield and Omar under center. Do you think the defense knew it was going to be a sneak? Did you see how they stacked the middle and the LB were right there? Yes, they knew.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 1:36 am

orangeandbrown wrote:I did think the fourth quarter punt on 4-6 was the right thing to do.

Me too. I thought Brandon punted when he shoulda the whole game.

Lord_Byron · Post by **Lord_Byron** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 6:28 am

At best, overtime is a 50/50 proposition on win/lose. So, if we could tilt the odds to better than 50/50 in regulation, we should have.

What are the chances of makeing the 6 yards we needed for a first down? If we turn it over to Toledo there, does Jabba-the-Coach even try to go for the win and risk a turnover or int?

We'll never know, but I feet taking the chance in regulation is always better than the vagaries of overtime.

Dr. Bucko · Post by **Dr. Bucko** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:09 am

A few simple observations ----- I didn't think that UT's defense was any better than BG'ss; both teams seemed nonathletic on that side of the ball. Offensively, the two bombs that BG threw in the first half (which never work) took us out of sync on both occasions, and halted what looked like promising drives. Ugly play calling at best. The biggest defensive blunder was the second attempt to block a UT kick ---- it worked the first time, but everybody knew it wasn't going to work a second time. It failed, and with the roughing the kicker penality, it put UT on the road to another touchdown. I honestly prayed that they wouldn't try that a second time ---- but who knows what goes on in the minds of the BG coaching staff. I think that play/call was the turning point of the whole ball game. One thing for sure "Fatstutz" as everybody likes to call him, outcoached Brandon. He kept BG's offense off the field, and threw in the razzle-dazzles (second half) at the opportune time catching BG completely off guard. One question: how come UT's tight ends ran so freely all night long? ------ I think the BG players, nontheless, gave it their very best shot; they did what they could. The coaching staff is another question. They get paid big bucks, but they didn't earn it last night.

Schadenfreude · Post by **Schadenfreude** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 8:35 am

Lord_Byron wrote:At best, overtime is a 50/50 proposition on win/lose. So, if we could tilt the odds to better than 50/50 in regulation, we should have.

What are the chances of makeing the 6 yards we needed for a first down? If we turn it over to Toledo there, does Jabba-the-Coach even try to go for the win and risk a turnover or int?

It was literally at midfield, though. Kicking the ball guarantees overtime. It really was the right call, I think.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:10 am

Schadenfreude wrote:Kicking the ball guarantees overtime.

Instead of saying 'kicking the ball guarantees overtime' (which is a 50/50 proposition at best given the state of our defense and kicking game), look at it as saying 'kicking the ball guarantees we will not win the game without letting Toledo's offense have a shot at matching our offense'. How does that make you feel?

And why is guaranteeing OT, which is a 50/50 proposition that we will lose given the state of our defense and kicking game, better then taking a shot at winning the game in regulation, missing, and losing the game then? A loss is a loss, whether it is OT or regulation. IMO, we had a better shot at winning the game in regulation by going for it then we did by going to OT. Looking at it the other way, I think our chances of losing the game were greater by playing for OT then if we had gone for it, didn't convert, and UT had to go 30 yards in 20 seconds to try a 45 yard FG.

JWEIII · Post by **JWEIII** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:23 am

Hack... Cough... Gag... Ack... Hack... Hack...

Sorry, I was CHOKING!

I know nobody wants to hear this, but this was the 3rd annual BG/Brandon choke job.

2003 MACC - Miami comes to the Doyt and eats our lunch!
2004 v. Toledo - 20 point lead, playing for the MACC game, and humm...
2005 v. Toledo - Win and you're in, at the Doyt, and Toledo steals one.

I know being negative does not help. But the biggest knock on Brandon is that he can't "win the big one." His teams always fall short.

With one flick of Bruce's arm (there aren't enough QBs named Bruce in my opinion) we lost the MAC East Title, MACC game and a bowl game. Brutal!

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 9:33 am

JWEIII wrote:Hack... Cough... Gag... Ack... Hack... Hack...

Sorry, I was CHOKING!

I know nobody wants to hear this, but this was the 3rd annual BG/Brandon choke job.

2003 MACC - Miami comes to the Doyt and eats our lunch!
2004 v. Toledo - 20 point lead, playing for the MACC game, and humm...
2005 v. Toledo - Win and you're in, at the Doyt, and Toledo steals one.

I know being negative does not help. But the biggest knock on Brandon is that he can't "win the big one." His teams always fall short.

2003 - That Miami team was one of the best MAC squads ever. Period. If they didn't lose that early season game, they would have been top 10. No shame in that loss.

2004 - Tough loss, but just to clarify, we had practically no chance of getting in the MACC game at that point, while Toledo was, in fact, play for their division title. They had a lot more on the line. That's not an excuse; there's no excuse for blowing a lead like that.

2005 - We can debate play calling and strategy here, but it wasn't like the team came out flat or we got steamrolled. By all accounts the Falcons played with a lot of intensity.

As for winning the Big Game, well, he did beat Purdue and brought home two bowl victories.

And, FWIW, another knock against him was he couldn't win The Big MAC Road Game. Got that monkey of his back in Oxford this year.

Rollo83 · Post by **Rollo83** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:01 am

And, FWIW, another knock against him was he couldn't win The Big MAC Road Game. Got that monkey of his back in Oxford this year.

We didn't win in Miami as much as they gave it to us?

JWEIII · Post by **JWEIII** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:02 am

As for winning the Big Game, well, he did beat Purdue and brought home two bowl victories.

And, FWIW, another knock against him was he couldn't win The Big MAC Road Game. Got that monkey of his back in Oxford this year.[/quote]

The Purdue win and bowl victories were great - I was freaking out too! And it is awesome to score a big game win at Miami. But, with all those Big Games have equated to exactly zero MAC titles.

My point is that Brandon's teams have the talent, and every time they have a chance to win the MAC they, well... don't. This year was a great example. This was their chance, it was their year. They fought through serious adversity and, despite all that, there they were with a chance to go to MACC. One game. Your field. And... can't get it done.

Warthog · Post by **Warthog** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:22 am

1987alum wrote:And, FWIW, another knock against him was he couldn't win The Big MAC Road Game. Got that monkey of his back in Oxford this year.

Yep, but maybe the knock now should be can't win at home. 1-3 at the Doyt vs MAC opponents.

h2oville rocket · Post by **h2oville rocket** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:23 am

One thing for sure "Fatstutz" as everybody likes to call him, outcoached Brandon. He kept BG's offense off the field, and threw in the razzle-dazzles (.[/quote]
If you're referring to winning coach Tom Amstutz of the victorious Toledo Rockets you might note that not everyone likes to call him Fatstutz. Some people don't even think it's OK to do that. Other BG posters from this board have commented that they don't think its OK to do that. So please don't lump all of us in the category of folks who "like to call" him that.

1987alum · Post by **1987alum** » Wed Nov 23, 2005 10:28 am

Rollo83 wrote:
And, FWIW, another knock against him was he couldn't win The Big MAC Road Game. Got that monkey of his back in Oxford this year.
We didn't win in Miami as much as they gave it to us?

Disagree. We outplayed them. Period.

Instant reaction to tonight's loss

Should have gone for it

Re: Should have gone for it

Re: Should have gone for it