Clock Management
Not sure if this was already brought up, but I have to commend Rich Rod for his clock management. No way we have an opportunity to win the game if we did not have all 3 timeouts left. This of course also reflects well on Tate, who only in his 2nd game was able to get the plays called no matter the ND scheme and did not have to waste early timeouts as Clausen did in the 2nd half.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:15 AM ^
Time management was a huge ally of ours at the end for sure. But you cant necessarily blame Weis for trying the long ball when we had been so shaky and they so close all day. That being said, I'm glad he did it.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:25 AM ^
It was funny in the CiL when quite a few people cursed his clock management as he called that time out right before the Savoy catch. There had to be 20 or so comments about "oh god, there goes the game. WTF clock management was that!"
September 14th, 2009 at 10:25 AM ^
Stadium noise was definitely a factor. It was nice to see Michigan get a little home-field advantage for a chance, as the Domers had to burns timeouts on playcalls and took delay of game penalties. It was fun being part of one of, if not the, most raucous crowds in recent memory.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:44 AM ^
The Stadium was the loudest I had ever heard it, but the delay of games were more likely the fault of Weis getting the play calls in slowly. Each of the times ND either was forced to burn a TO or take a delay of game penalty, ND was late in breaking the huddle. I would guess that would have more to do with getting the play call in, rather than an inability to execute once at the line of scrimmage.
September 14th, 2009 at 12:10 PM ^
I think the stadium was loud when Clausen was calling the plays in the huddle, so it took longer to make the call and break the huddle.
This is why the crowd needs to be loud not just when the opponent lines up, but also when they're in the huddle calling the plays.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:32 AM ^
Actually, didn't we just have two time-outs remaining at the start of the last drive? It that was the case, that last drive was even more impressive.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:41 AM ^
You are correct. We burned our first timeout on 1st down. 2nd and 3rd downs were incomplete passes, leaving us with two timeouts for the final drive.
September 14th, 2009 at 10:37 AM ^
was pretty damn good too. Love the call to pass to the senior wide receiver when the game is on the line. I was impressed with the coaching staff's management of this game overall - clock management, play-calling, adjustments, etc...
September 14th, 2009 at 10:41 AM ^
Weis has taken a lot of heat in the MSM about passing the ball during their last meaningful possession. And frankly, it's not justified. After the 10-11 yard gain on the first play of the drive, Allen limped off the field. He was ND's only credible running threat.
The backup gets stuffed on first down for no gain. Then the two pass plays. The only fault that I could find with Weis' play calling was taking the deep shot on second down instead of a highly percentage pass. The third down pass hit Evans in the hand and would have gone for a first down.
ND has a QB that is going to get some Heisman votes, Golden Tate is a great receiver, Evans is/was a highly prized recruit, and RB Allen was out of the game. Given that fact set, throwing the ball is the right decision.
And look at the flip side of the argument. If ND runs three times and doesn't get the first down, M still gets the ball back with 2:12 to play, just with no TOs instead of two. That is a lot of time in college football. And if M pulled that out, the MSM would be tearing into Weis for being too conservative and giving M a chance with so much time to play.
September 14th, 2009 at 2:10 PM ^
2:12 with 2 timeouts is alot easier to do than 2:12 with no timeouts. Weis should have either tried to pound the ball for 2 consecutive plays to waste timeouts or run the ball once and then on third down use a screen or then take a shot at completing a longer pass to seal the game.
2 pass plays was a bad move IMO
September 14th, 2009 at 10:43 AM ^
that coach Rod is a gambler. He is not afraid to go for it, which really is the opposite of someone like Weiss. Weiss went for it at a dumb time at the end of the game. He had Clausen throw two passes that landed incomplete. Both time it stopped the clock, which allowed us to not have to use timeouts. He basically thought that Clausen had picked us apart all day (which he pretty much had) and could put the game away. Our D really stepped up.
September 14th, 2009 at 1:10 PM ^
He [Rodriguez] is not afraid to go for it, which really is the opposite of someone like Weiss [sic].Weis went for the win. How is that not a gamble?
September 14th, 2009 at 2:21 PM ^
that Weiss gambled with the two pass plays on their last possession. Personally I think it was stupid. He should have run of the clock by at least running once and making us use some timeouts. Also, I think his play calling was poor. He has two stud receivers and a 3rd year QB who is playing well. He should have taken more deep shots. He was too conservative throughout the game and only got aggressive when it was too late.
September 14th, 2009 at 3:26 PM ^
He'll gamble, but he makes percentage gambles, not just completely reckless ones. Going for it on 4th and 11 in the first half might have seemed crazy at first, but there were only 24 seconds left, and a pass play typically takes 7-9 seconds. RR correctly concluded that there wasn't too much danger in giving ND the ball there (at around the 35-yard line) if it failed, so he went for it.
Similarly, a 4th and 3 isn't that hard to convert when you've got a mobile QB who is good at improvisation. With a guy like Forcier at QB, I feel like we've got over a 50-50 shot at converting that (and we did).