Take a knee? Go for two?

[MGGopher]

I've said for a long time that teams should employ a kid who plays Madden all the time. Experts in clock management. How coaches who get paid millions can't figure it out is beyond me.

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[Spoofin]

So true.

Another example in the Vikings game today. It was 3rd and goal at the 1 and Zimmer took a TO with 27 seconds left. Why not let it go down to 15 seconds or so. That still give you enough time for at least two more plays.

I got this one. Had the same conversation during the game. :15 is fine for 2 plays, but what if there is a defensive penalty giving you a first down so you need enough time to run 5 plays instead of just 2?


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[PMWinSTP]

Preposterous statement entry?

Yeah...that pass was pretty stupid...without it Gophs win by 20, cover spread.

 

[2727Gopher]

Dumbest coaching moves he has "ever seen" so I'm guessing he has seen all of that one play or something...

Yes, you're right - your brilliant expertise on how to take a certain win and turn it into a possible loss and a suspension to one of our players has convinced me! Too bad we couldn't have had an injury or two on that last drive to really make your point!

 

[GophersInIowa]

I got this one. Had the same conversation during the game. :15 is fine for 2 plays, but what if there is a defensive penalty giving you a first down so you need enough time to run 5 plays instead of just 2?


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I get that but the chances of not only a penalty occurring that resulted in a auto first down happening and them needing 5 downs to score from within the 1 is extremely small compared to what happened.

 

[year of the gopher]

There was a decision made by Purdue on the same series that I don't understand so maybe someone can enlighten me. On first down Rodney Smith runs out of bounds for a loss of a couple of yards. On that same play we are called for holding, why would Purdue accept the penalty and push us back as opposed to taking the play? It would have been 2nd and 12 or something like that with the clock stopped as opposed to first and 20. In a game where you absolutely need to figure out a way to get the ball back with time on the clock it would sure make sense to me to take a full down out of the mix for the other team. Am I missing something obvious? Moving back 10 yards didn't push us out of field goal range so I just don't get the decision to not take the play.

We talked about that in the stands as it happened. It pushed us back toward the edge of field goal range. Purdue was banking on making us kick a FG and trying to push us further back to increase the chances of a miss, giving them better field position for a desperation play in a one possession game. It was their least worst option.

 

[MNVCGUY]

We talked about that in the stands as it happened. It pushed us back toward the edge of field goal range. Purdue was banking on making us kick a FG and trying to push us further back to increase the chances of a miss, giving them better field position for a desperation play in a one possession game. It was their least worst option.

I guess I can see that line of thinking on some levels. Watching the game on TV it looked like Smith had gone out of bounds for a loss but it appears it was a 1 yard gain according to the play by play. Pushing us back does get the ball to the 36 which would be a long field goal but with Purdue's defense they had to assume we would get some yardage running 3 straight running plays so would have been well back within Carpenter's range (especially on a night where he had already drilled 2 - 50+ yarders.

I may have been inclined to save the timeout and take the play but that is easy to say sitting at home in your living room.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Not kneeing out the clock when you are a position to end the game with 3 kneels is insane. There is no way Claeys could have predicted the specific Rallis situation, but we were in a spot to end the game with a win and jog into the locker room. Instead, we extended the game and any one of the following could have happened:

1) a catastrophic meltdown where Purdue pulls off a long touchdown pass, recovers the onside kick, and scores another long touchdown (unlikely, but more likely than fumbling while kneeling the clock out, and our secondary had given up some huge plays on missed tackles in that game).
2) an injury
3) a suspension

I don't know why a coach would ever not kneel out the clock when they can end a game they are winning.

 

[tikited]

Not kneeing out the clock when you are a position to end the game with 3 kneels is insane. There is no way Claeys could have predicted the specific Rallis situation, but we were in a spot to end the game with a win and jog into the locker room. Instead, we extended the game and any one of the following could have happened:

1) a catastrophic meltdown where Purdue pulls off a long touchdown pass, recovers the onside kick, and scores another long touchdown (unlikely, but more likely than fumbling while kneeling the clock out, and our secondary had given up some huge plays on missed tackles in that game).
2) an injury
3) a suspension

I don't know why a coach would ever not kneel out the clock when they can end a game they are winning.

I'm still trying to figure out why Claeys has done a lot of things (last season and this season).

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Yes, you're right - your brilliant expertise on how to take a certain win and turn it into a possible loss and a suspension to one of our players has convinced me! Too bad we couldn't have had an injury or two on that last drive to really make your point!

 

[MNVCGUY]

I'm still trying to figure out why Claeys has done a lot of things (last season and this season).

I think Claeys does need to give Bielema a call and see if he can get that chart he has because yeah some of the clock management decisions that have been made with Claeys at the helm have been truly mind boggling. For a math guy those situations seem to mystify him for some reason. Not kneeling to run out the clock was stupid, trying to score from your 20 something with under 20 seconds and no timeouts with the lead was unnecessarily reckless.

Claeys has forgotten more about football then I will ever know but those decisions on Saturday made no sense. Thankfully neither of them, especially the one leading into halftime, didn't end up costing us the game. Had Purdue ended up winning the game Claeys would have been destroyed for the decision to go for points before halftime in that situation.

 

[Spoofin]

I get that but the chances of not only a penalty occurring that resulted in a auto first down happening and them needing 5 downs to score from within the 1 is extremely small compared to what happened.

I don't disagree. Just my theory on what Zimm might have been thinking.


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[PMWinSTP]

Between the pass at the half and this kneel/run the ball discussion, that pass was a worse decision as it resulted in 7 points...which in turn pretty much gave life to this entire thread. All things being equal, Gophs would have been up by two scores and nobody would really care that much if they knelt or ran at the end don't you think?