Not kicking the field goal, the last drive, and the broken shutout streak

Submitted by bo_lives on

So I know the sky is falling and there are bigger concerns at hand, but for those of you folks who are still sober, I was wondering... What's your opinion on the decision to not kick the field goal on the second to last drive? What's the logic behind going for it on fourth down? It's hard to imagine Hoke was unaware of our 30-year no-shutout streak - why not just kick the field goal and send in the defensive 3rd string to finish the game? Obviously Wile could have used the extra in-game practice.

But instead of taking the points, we go for it and don't convert... ND sends in their offense and we let them run the clock down to 24 seconds, despite having 3 timeouts. Okay fine, let's pack it up and go home. Nope just kidding, we're going to send in our starting QB and start passing the ball as if we're still trying to score, and then watch him get leveled on the last play of the game after an INT.

This sequence just defied all logic. Not that this sort of thing has been a rare occurance in recent years or anything.

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VCavman24

September 7th, 2014 at 11:40 AM ^

You kick the field goal and avoid being shut out, end of discussion. But if you're going to go for it on 4th down, WHY THE HELL DO YOU RUN IT UP THE MIDDLE ON 3rd? I'm done with this team and shitty coaching staff

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The Claw

September 7th, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^

I think this was the worse play of the game. I agree Hoke quit coaching. Screw the score, screw the train wreck that was, screw being shut out. Simply put, they should have kicked it to get Wile some confidence. Period. If he is your best kicker, and now is 0-3 on the season, you have to give him the opportunity to nail one and get going on the right track. Terrible, terrible decision. At that point, I felt Hoke just didn't care about his team. And that's sad.


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SHub'68

September 7th, 2014 at 4:35 PM ^

I just can't see Brady Hoke playing to keep something negative out of the record book while we're getting our asses kicked on the field.  Besides, by that point, I think we should have conceded and put in the second string.  Now we got Funchess and Gardner dinged up and that ain't good.

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