Let Iowa Score?

Submitted by Sten Carlson on
First off ... Fucking Kinnick. Night games there are Michigan's historical nemisis. Sucks, and I'm not surprised. Iowa's DL totally dominated our OL and our LB's were exposed. A lot of people in here were worried about both those units preseason. Seems like some holes that were papered over were exposed by a fired up Iowa team. Why not let Iowa score after the facemasking call put them right outside FG range? To me, there's no hope in watching a team drain the clock and set up for the winning kick. Yes, they miss them from time to time, and yes some kicks are blocked. But, why not take the kill shot away from them? Sure, people would second guess you if it didn't work, but at least you have a CHANCE to come back. As it was, there's no chance at all. It just seems defeatist to just sit and watch the clock, hoping for (serval) big TFL(s) that hadn't been there all game, a fumble, or a missed/blocked chip shot FG. *should I duck or stand defiently?* OL
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allintime23

November 13th, 2016 at 10:10 AM ^

Letting a team score with that D would have been stupid and who's to say they'd even had went a scored? And then what? An offense that couldn't move the ball with a possibly hurt QB just rolls down the field and scores?



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Sten Carlson

November 13th, 2016 at 11:00 AM ^

How'd "that D" do? "That D," is not the point. After the 15 yards were tacked on Iowa was already in FG range. When this happened, they have the "kill shot" of which I spoke -- bleed the clock for a last second FG. Yes, they could miss the FG or It could be blocked. But they still have the kill shot in the chamber. You cannot let them have that shot. Even if the defense stones them, we're still only getting the ball back with :30 or so It's a very dicey situation, for sure, with no certainties anywhere. But, the one thing Michigan needed was a chip and seat, and letting them bleed the clock and kick the FG isn't a chip and a seat. It's a weird "situational football" play -- one that doesn't arise often. All too often I watch football coaches let the other team calmly load that kill shot round, slowly take aim, and fire. Sometimes they miss, and more so in college with young kickers, but I'm of the camp that doing something, ANYTHING to keep that shot from being fired is the only real chance (aside for hoping for a miss) a team has.

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Muttley

November 13th, 2016 at 12:39 PM ^

you'll soon be sitting with 'em."  This is a quintessential example.

No, just no.  Bad idea.

Prior to the FG, the last play Iowa ran was from the 23.  That's a 40yd FG.  The chances of a miss on a 40 yd FG were much greater than the chances of taking the ensuing kickoff, going the length of the field for a TD, and making the 2-point conversion.  In a game where we had scored all of 13 points.

http://www.espn.com/college-football/playbyplay?gameId=400869690

  • (1:23 - 4th) Timeout MICHIGAN, clock 01:23

  • 1st and 10 at MICH 36

    (1:16 - 4th) C.J. Beathard pass complete to Akrum Wadley for 10 yds to the Mich 26 for a 1ST down

  • 1st and 10 at MICH 26

    (1:09 - 4th) Akrum Wadley run for 3 yds to the Mich 23

  • 2nd and 7 at MICH 23

    (0:35 - 4th) Akrum Wadley run for no gain to the Mich 23

  • (0:34 - 4th) Timeout MICHIGAN, clock 00:34

  • 3rd and 7 at MICH 23

    (0:16 - 4th) C.J. Beathard run for 8 yds to the Mich 15 for a 1ST down

  • (0:03 - 4th) Timeout IOWA, clock 00:03

  • (0:03 - 4th) Timeout MICHIGAN, clock 00:03

  • 1st and 10 at MICH 15

    (0:00 - 4th) Keith Duncan 33 Yd Field Goal

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Muttley

November 13th, 2016 at 12:20 PM ^

by Ferentz to let the clock run down to 0:03.  I think the best strategy there is to leave enough time on the clock for a mulligan if there's a bad snap, etc.  (It was 1st down.)

Of course, it was a Hoke-like execution for us to utilize only 10 players on the kick.  It likely woudn't have made any difference, but those are the 1% improvements of which Harbaugh speaks.  (Here, it's the avoidance of a reduction in chances.)

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Muttley

November 13th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

with a super high-powered hand-held projector, to superimpose a delayed time on the Iowa scoreboard clock.

Like the basketball crowd counting down a false shot clot.   

I wonder if there's ever been a head coach in that situation that had a seizure, etc, that prevented him from making the timeout call on time.

Go Blue!  We still control our own destiny, so I'm going to go ahead and raise these crazy hypotheticals.  We laid an egg at a time that we can recover from it.

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trustBlue

November 13th, 2016 at 5:34 PM ^

You have a Top 2-3 defense in the country and a #30-50th offense on road with a QB who has not completed a pass over 10 yard the entire game.

What a minute to left to play, would you rather:

A) Have a 2 pt lead with the opposing team at your 35 yard line, or 

B) Take a kickoff down 5 points with under 1 minute to play.

Neither option is great, but your odds of winning with option A are probably closer to 40-50%. Your odds with option B are probably 20% or less. 

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