Should Harbaugh have used his final TO?

Submitted by 1464 on
Lost in the sea of takes following the devastating defeat was a question that I had during the game. When OSU had third and goal at the end of regulation, why didn't Harbaugh call a timeout? We'd have had 30 seconds on the clock and with all things being equal, Lewis gave is great field position. Could have won it in regulation with a walk off field goal. The downside would have been OSU got their play in on third down, but so would Michigan. Seems that taking the TO would have a net positive outcome in most instances.
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CoverZero

November 28th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^

Yeah, I thought so at the time too.  Harbaugh was pulling a Belichick Super Bowl move.  Perhaps he did not want to give them more time to organize a potential TD play.

Amazing that Lewis almost took that KO to the house.

 

 

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theytookourjobs

November 28th, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^

but I totally agree with you.  I was also bitching about that, and then when Lewis had the great return that's all I could think about.  It amazes me how many coaches at all levels waste little opportunities like that

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Nofx1728

November 28th, 2016 at 12:06 PM ^

Without question. I was going nuts. Especially with the explosiveness of the returns. High probability of getting out to the 40 and only needing 20 yards to give yourself a chance at the win.



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Harvest Wain

November 28th, 2016 at 12:07 PM ^

After the 3rd down play, there were about 25 seconds left. Absolutely should have called a timeout there. It's not like OSU was going to forget they had a timeout and run the clock out.

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MH20

November 28th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

According to the ESPN play-by-play, there were 22 seconds on the clock after the 3rd-and-goal from the 18.  OSU called timeout with :06 left for their FG attempt.

Anyone else notice that two extra seconds ticked off after the ball hit the netting behind the goal posts?  When does the clock stop on a FG attempt?  Seems like it's whenever the timer damn well feels like it.

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kevin holt

November 28th, 2016 at 1:36 PM ^

Yup. I noticed that too. I think it's supposed to be on the whistle I guess, but definitely seemed like the clock operator was like "whoops if I make it tick to 0 it'll REALLY look like I'm doing this on purpose, better leave 1 second"

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wayneandgarth

November 28th, 2016 at 12:09 PM ^

I thought about this at the time too.  I think Harbaugh was being cautious in that if they make the 1st down, they could have gone for the TD to end it.  He was conceding the OT to help guard against an immediate loss.

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theytookourjobs

November 28th, 2016 at 12:16 PM ^

but that's the wrong line of thinking.  That is Lloyd ball to the 10th degree.  I can't tell you how many games I watched where Lloyd sat there with 2 timeouts in his pocket and let the opposition run the clock down to nothing, then kick the winning field goal, or score the TD with no time left for us to try anything.  It killed me every time

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MGoBeast

November 28th, 2016 at 12:12 PM ^

I forget if we had a TO left after that 4th down conversion (fucking refs) in the 2nd OT. I don't have the heart to go back and watch that play. 

 

If so, that would have been a great time to use one just to get the defense to settle down and get re-focused. 

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Contact Courage

November 28th, 2016 at 12:15 PM ^

It thought at the time that he should have. It was 3rd and goal. It wouldn't have given them more play time. I guess the negative being giving them more time to think about a potential TD play.

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CoverZero

November 28th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

It was not JH's best game on Saturday.  However he did have the team jacked and ready to play.  He just made some tactical errors which were costly, not to mention some odd play calling choices.

Also, Meyer was playing to win and taking chances in the 4th Q.  Harbaugh was playing more conservative and 'not to lose'.  That may be a byproduct of playing on the road vs. at home for Meyer.

That said, its difficult to criticize a man who works his ass off to put Michigan in to that position to begin with. 

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1VaBlue1

November 28th, 2016 at 12:18 PM ^

I also thought they should have taken a TO before the tying FG.  It looked like the ball was snapped when the defense was standing around waiting to call a TO.  The defense looked a little surprised at the snap, and it was somewhat of a free kick.

Also very disappointed in Peppers not looking around for a block on Lewis' return.  All he had to do was look behind him and slow down the guy that tackled Lewis from behind.  But he kept looking ahead into 3 other white uni's in front of Lewis.  Had Peppers made that block (all he had to do was stop running), lewis was in the end zone free of charge.  FUCK!!! 

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lhglrkwg

November 28th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

I wish he'd have called it too, but my thought is that he wanted to sit on it to freeze their kicker. Durbin had been so bad all day he was probably hoping he could freeze him and get another shank

Then again, it was basically a PAT at that point so I'd still think taking the timeout to preserve time would've been the right call

That return by Lewis almost gave me flashbacks to the non-pitch vs Nebraska oh so many years ago

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Mgoscottie

November 28th, 2016 at 12:34 PM ^

I believe it should have been called after the 2nd down, 3rd down is more likely to be a pass, and you still save 40 seconds either way.  If 3rd down is incomplete or goes out of bounds then you have a lot of time.  They should have called the timeout because osu was down to 1 left, and so if we got the ball without them scoring it was victory formation and if they scored we would have had more time.  The chances of affecting the field goal were small in my opinion, even with missing 2 field goals earlier.  

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TrueBlue2003

November 28th, 2016 at 2:57 PM ^

doesn't apply here at all.  That expression applies when the outcome of a result makes you wish you did something differently leading up to the result. Here it's the opposite because the new information meant that it actually didn't matter, even though he absolutely, 100% should have called the TO to leave time in case they scored a TD on third down.  

In hindsight it ended up not making a difference because OSU didn't score a TD and was able to run the clock down anyway (which we again allowed them to do, not sure why, but they would have been able to do it if we had already called the TO), so in hindsight the result would have been the same assuming that they still would have reached the 5 on the third down play.

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jdon

November 28th, 2016 at 12:54 PM ^

At the game I got in an argument with some of the other michigan fans at the time.

Plain and simple:  they couldn't get another first down, they could have scored a touchdown.  We should have called timeouts after 2nd and 3rd down.  

Flat out.

love,

jdon

 

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jdon

November 28th, 2016 at 12:55 PM ^

At the game I got in an argument with some of the other michigan fans at the time.

Plain and simple:  they couldn't get another first down, they could have scored a touchdown.  We should have called timeouts after 2nd and 3rd down.  

Flat out.

love,

jdon

 

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Black and Blue Balls

November 30th, 2016 at 12:30 AM ^

OK, so first of all, they only had one timeout left. When Ohio State hit that long play to get to first and goal that was a backhanded blessing for Michigan. Because now, there's no chance for another first down. The time to take the final time out without any any any any doubt… Was immediately after the sack on second down. Capital letter SECOND DOWN Why? Because it was third and 20. If you call a time out with about a minute remaining, you make urban Meyer think. If theyre content with a field goal and going to overtime… Because they want to run the clock down… They have to throw a very safe pass or run the ball. And that likely leaves a long field goal for the shaky kicker. If they throw, and it's incomplete, they get that same long field goal and Michigan still has nearly a minute even if they make it. If they score a touchdown, Michigan has nearly a minute to rally. And finally, if they throw and managed to complete the pass in bounds, just like actually occurred, Ohio State can only run the clock down to about 25 seconds. Then even with the kick, and the kick return, there are still 10 or 15 seconds left… Given that kick return, you've got a reasonable Hail Mary or one quick play try to get out of bounds get 10 yards and kick a long field goal. Kickers good from 50 or so. We needed 10 yards There is no downside to calling that time out on the end of second down. Guarantees you will have time on the clock after fourth down. But let's just play it out… Even if you don't call time out there... now they complete a pass to about the 5 yard line. There's a little less than 30 seconds left. That kicker just missed an extra point a minute ago is about to get another extra point essentially to send the game to overtime. The odds of him missing again or not good. But why even factor that in? If he misses we win. If he makes it… Hey… Hey wait… We could actually get the ball back… Hike it to Peppers and let him try to run one of the most crazy wildcat miracle touchdowns of all time… Or we might run the kick back really far... I'm stunned there wasn't someone on the team or someone on the staff who played enough video football even if they were stoned out of her mind with one eye closed, who know when you're up against the clock… Opponent trying to run the clock out… Call your time out and save yourself a chance Hey, um, Jim… We're looking at a pretty ugly situation here… If we stop em we win, but if they kick a field goal or score a touchdown we're gonna want to have a few seconds on the clock just in case we do some crazy right? What if our kick return gets passed the 50… Maybe we could run one play and kick a long field goal to win… What do you know about that? Should we try and save a few? or should we just let them disappear for no good reason and hope that the kicker bricks another Chipshot. Put all our eggs in that one thick-headed inexcusable basket. Is that what you wanna do? Or should we give ourselves a chance to control the final snap or two Harbaugh was right about one thing after the game… There were some terrible calls. The worst one was the non-timeout call. Without any freaking doubt. All the overtime BS would never of even happened

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Black and Blue Balls

November 30th, 2016 at 12:32 AM ^

Iowa was just as bad… He called a timeout before they hiked the ball on first down… They had three timeouts, they could've gotten the ball back. You call one after first down after second down and after third down. You sure as hell don't call one before first down That was inexcusable. But it really didn't matter as long as we beat Ohio State. Which makes the second inexcusable monstrously super duper Triple Lindy inexcusable

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Swazi

November 28th, 2016 at 2:05 PM ^

After seeing Lewis almost take the ensuing kickoff to the house, yes. He should've.

I get his reasoning for saving it though. Kid missed two very makable kicks already and wanted to ice him.



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redjugador24

November 28th, 2016 at 2:09 PM ^

A pass interference or defensive holding would have turned 3 and goal into 1st and goal.... If OSU was content sending their 0-2 kicker out to try to tie the game with virtually no time left, that seemed like a safer bet than allowing the possibility of a 1st and goal scenario with 35 or so seconds left if there was a defensive penalty.  I think he made the right call.

 

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J.

November 28th, 2016 at 2:20 PM ^

You're suffering from recency bias.  The kicker was 16/19 on the year, which is a much better estimate of his ability than 0/2.  Furthermore, never once have I seen any proof of the efficacy of icing the kicker -- until I see someone run the stats on it, I consider it an urban myth.

Besides, if we're only talking about a single timeout, he could have used it after third down.  Meyer may be an aggressive coach, but there's no way he was going for the touchdown from 6+ yards away, regardless of the amount of time on the clock.

This was a mistake on Harbaugh's part, full stop.  Worse, it was a repeated mistake -- he did almost exactly the same thing against Iowa.  The difference was that Beathard had (allegedly) picked up the first down on his scramble, so Iowa would merely have needed to take another knee.  However, there's always the possibility of a mishandled snap, and even one more kneeldown adds a yard or two to the length of the ensuing kick.

Here's hoping that someone with a working knowledge of game theory can put a bug in Jim's ear and incite him to attack better decision making with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.

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