Hoke Chimes In and Would Not Have Punted
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/2015/10/21/ex-michigan-coach-br…
Okay, you guys are sick of seeing MSU threads, chew on this one.
Personally, if we have the No. 1 defense in the nation I'm going to test those guys," Hoke said. "You've got to play to the strength of your football team and the strength of the Michigan football team all year long has been their defense." He said he was sure "Jimmy" went over what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it but Hoke said there are too many potential breakdowns on a punt. "No. 1, I think the one gunner to the field should have been in a little bit more and if you're going to punt it there's ways to protect it a little better," Hoke said. Hoke first credited the MSU defense for forcing fourth down and said he would have gone for it at that point, handing the ball to De'Veon Smith and "challenge your offensive line" or play-action pass to take four to five seconds off the clock.
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:28 AM ^
Only thing I can say is ... if your reading JH, we got your back bro ...& take no mercy on those bastard Spartans in the future.
October 22nd, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
There's one factor here that I'm surprised I haven't heard more people mention. If you get stuffed on 4th down, you leave MSU one Hail Mary pass interference penalty (from that top notch officiating crew) away from a 49-50 yard field goal try, albeit with a shaky kicker. Burbridge is one of the best in the country and from the 47, Cook could get a reasonably accurate throw in the air. I get the logic behind going for it and always get nervous when the game hinges on infrequent specialist plays like long snaps/holds/whatever, but I think that discussion has to start when MSU is at least 20 yards out of field goal range, just like any discussion of trying to run out the clock starts with a max of 6 seconds being left instead of 10.
All of the scenarios we're debating here still had a very small probability. But I have to think that under the circumstances, even if you bump up the punt disaster chances with MSU selling out and us being nervous, it's still less than half the chance of losing when going for it. Put it this way: if we had gone for it and MSU ended up winning, wouldn't the decision in question look much worse than this decision to punt does?
October 22nd, 2015 at 12:45 PM ^
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October 22nd, 2015 at 1:24 PM ^
Joel Klatt (FS1) was being interviewed on his old radio station in Denver this morning, and the host asked Klatt to weigh in on Hokes recent comments about how he wouldn't have punted. Klatt responded with quite possibly the best answer ever.
"What a joke. Hoke wouldn't have even known what was going on at that exact moment because he wouldn't have had a headset on"
I don't know what Klatt's affiliation is with UofM, but he kept calling Hoke a ''joke'' and ''moron'' for his comments.
October 22nd, 2015 at 3:09 PM ^
Hoke wouldn't have been in the same position to go for it. Except for 2011, every game against Staee was a tire fire. Good luck rebuilding the bridge you just torched Flintstone!
October 22nd, 2015 at 4:12 PM ^