I'm worried PJ will become a thrill seeking degenerate play calling gambler now

I often think PJ is too risk averse, but I said to my group before the play that I thought we should kick it. 3 was closer to a sure thing than 6. If we had kicked it, and then USC got to field goal range in less than a minute with no timeouts, I'd have blamed the defense and/kickoff team for letting that happen. That said, we got it. I'll never fault a coach for being riskier than I think they should if they convert on it.

Another way of thinking about it is who do you trust. Do you trust that your offense can get the half yard and win the game? Or do you trust that your defense can hold the line and keep them out of field goal range with less than a minute and no timeouts. Based on this season, I trusted the defense more.

All of that said, the offense proved PJ made the right call when we punched it in.
 

The screen game was huge.
Taylor being healthy is huge.
Johnson being more and more comfortable at center is huge.


By the way I think the fans booed Fleck into going for it earlier in the game when he trotted out the punt team. It led to flipping the field with a punt to the 4 and then a turnover on the next series.
We got a couple more (meaningful) offensive drive opportunities simply because no “arm twitch” false starts by Johnson. Little things like that make a big difference in OL play in a close game against a very talented team.
 
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This might be a wild theory, but maybe the real PJ has been in a coma since January 2, 2020 and has recently and just woke up. In between we've been getting Cyber PJ programmed to extreme risk aversion and this is the first game for the real PJ since the Outback Bowl. Entirely plausible!
 

This might be a wild theory, but maybe the real PJ has been in a coma since January 2, 2020 and has recently and just woke up. In between we've been getting Cyber PJ programmed to extreme risk aversion and this is the first game for the real PJ since the Outback Bowl. Entirely plausible!
They did go for it in the outback bowl…
 




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