What a bone head call by Brewster

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I just did a quickie blog for the Strib and for GH, and said Brew and crew deserves to be applauded for not curling up when down 24-21...they found a way, with the officials a train wreck all day, to thoroughly outplay NW in the 4th...just can't be convinced on that one particular play.
 

Theoretically it worked, so I have a hard time 2nd guessing that play. They were easily over 50% on 3rd downs. It's just not a horrible gamble, maybe not a great call, but not a no brainer either way.
 

Doogie said:
Respectfully have to disagree...if have any faith in your defense, you make it 3rd & 11...percent chance of converting a 4th & 1 has to be high.
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That is why you are on a message board/working in media instead of coaching on the sidelines. 99% of coaches would make the same decision. Considering Northwestern had no running game I don't feel bad about stopping them on 4th and 1 compared to two shots to get 11 yards.

I personally expected Northwestern to kick the FG which is what most coaches would have done. That is pretty much what Minnesota wanted them to do once they were already in the red zone.

If the replay booth overturns the catch as they should have (his hand clearly landed out of bounds prior to his feet/knees touching the ground in bounds) everybody is saying what a great decision it was to decline the holding penalty.

But in typical media fashion you decide to call out a coach for making the same decision most coaches would make because the decision worked against him. If the refs call that play correctly then Fitz is getting heat for going for it on 4th and 1 instead of taking the points. Hindsight is 20/20.
 

Doogie said:
Section2 -- Hard to sense sarcasm on a message board, but will take guess that tongue was firmly planted in cheek...obviously, it's subjective, but in that circumstance, seconds left in the 3rd, up 4, I make it 3rd-and-11 from the 23...felt at the time, and still feel, would've had a better chance at limiting them to a FG attempt...and maybe a 39-yard FG attempt, which for their kicker would've been no give-me.
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Most coaches would have taken the FG attempt on 4th and a long 1 yard to go. I think Brewster thought he was getting his defense off the field and putting it on the kicker's foot by declining the penalty. That is what I expected.
 

calminnfan said:
The better choice is always in hindsight! I think the choice of having them in 4th down play was the motivating factor. Either position gave NW a field goal, but at least having them at 4th down, they were more likely to try the field goal rather then a shot at a td. Personally I think he made the right call, it just did not work. Some plays are like that. The right call, just doesn't work according to script.
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Amen, brother.
 


Doogie said:
I just did a quickie blog for the Strib and for GH, and said Brew and crew deserves to be applauded for not curling up when down 24-21...they found a way, with the officials a train wreck all day, to thoroughly outplay NW in the 4th...just can't be convinced on that one particular play.
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You said it yourself..."the officials a train wreck all day"...if the refs don't screw up the call the Gophers hold on 4th and 1 and the game is 21-17. You can't fault a coach for declining a penalty and holding the opponent and then getting screwed over on an obvious failure by the replay officials.
 

You're assuming on the most coaches comment...we don't know that......Not hindsight...tweeted this point seconds after it happened...would've questioned Fitzgerald as well, but I am also assuming they would've limited NW to a FG, so maybe I would've been off anyway...as previously stated, it's OK to disagree from time-to-time, while in the process of also offering praise, which I did in my blog.
 

grunkiejr said:
You said it yourself..."the officials a train wreck all day"...if the refs don't screw up the call the Gophers hold on 4th and 1 and the game is 21-17. You can't fault a coach for declining a penalty and holding the opponent and then getting screwed over on an obvious failure by the replay officials.
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Thought Mitchell had it there...they messed up, in my mind, the Decker 22-yard catch,the Sherels pass interference and will trust you that there wasn't a hold on the 3rd-and-11...benefiting the Gophers was...the non-call on the Green fumble on the 3rd-and-7 catch (watched back like 7 times, Big Ten Network never gave a great replay, and it was close, but thought NW DB got it out before his knee hit the ground)...and the non-call on the Decker block in the back in the 4th.
 

Doogie said:
You're assuming on the most coaches comment...we don't know that......Not hindsight...tweeted this point seconds after it happened...would've questioned Fitzgerald as well, but I am also assuming they would've limited NW to a FG, so maybe I would've been off anyway...as previously stated, it's OK to disagree from time-to-time, while in the process of also offering praise, which I did in my blog.
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The percentages are an assumption but I've watched enough football to know that most football coaches decline the holding penalty to put the opponent in 4th down. That in turn leads most coaches take the points with more than 10 minutes to go in the game. I think Fitz going for it on 4th down told you that he either didn't have faith in his defense or he didn't have faith in his kicker.

Brewster's decision is either confidence in his run defense (stop them on 4th and 1), lack of confidence in the pass defense (holding them on 3rd and 11) or confidence that Fitz would kick the FG which is the goal once the offense gets in to the red zone.
 



Doogie said:
Thought Mitchell had it there...they messed up, in my mind, the Decker 22-yard catch,the Sherels pass interference and will trust you that there wasn't a hold on the 3rd-and-11...benefiting the Gophers was...the non-call on the Green fumble on the 3rd-and-7 catch (watched back like 7 times, Big Ten Network never gave a great replay, and it was close, but thought NW DB got it out before his knee hit the ground)...and the non-call on the Decker block in the back in the 4th.
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I watched Green's play multiple times and it was a fumble. Luckily we snapped it quickly enough that there was no challenge.

It clearly was not a TD on the 4th and 1. I watched it 15 times on my DVR. I've still got the game saved if you want to come over and watch it for proof. He bobbled the ball...both of his feet came off the ground...he then corraled the ball and tucked it while his feet were still in the air...and then he put his hand down out of bounds prior to his feet landing in bounds. I have no idea how the replay booth could screw that up.
 

tikited said:
It was the wrong call since it wasn't based on whether or not we stop them on 4th and 1. It was the wrong call because Brew thought they would settle for the field goal and he was wrong. I can't prove it of course--it's just my gut feeling.
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I agree with this.
 

Brew made the only and right call. YOU PUT IT FITZ'S HANDS. By bringing it to 4th down you make NW make the decision.

I liked our chances on 4th and 1 better than 3rd and 11 by a LONGGGGG Shot.

I think Brew has done a great job in his 3 years making these decisions.

How about Danny Hope calling that timeout for Notre Dame giving them 2 shots at the end zone instead of the 1 he should have had.
 

lol, just about ALL penalty's that make it a fourth down is going to be accepted, Why would you want them to have 2 more downs to go for it? thats just dumb, common football knowledge.
 



macmoney said:
lol, just about ALL penalty's that make it a fourth down is going to be accepted, Why would you want them to have 2 more downs to go for it? thats just dumb, common football knowledge.
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I think you're actually making tikited's point for him. If you think they are going to kick the FG, you take the penalty. But if you honestly think they're going to go for it, would you rather they had 2 chances to get 11 yards, or one chance to get 1? I think there are plenty of coaches who would rather force them to gain 11 yards.

I'm not even saying it was the wrong decision - just suggesting that the logic is correct that Brewster thought they'd kick the FG...and that assumption was wrong.
 

Clyde Tester said:
I think you're actually making tikited's point for him. If you think they are going to kick the FG, you take the penalty. But if you honestly think they're going to go for it, would you rather they had 2 chances to get 11 yards, or one chance to get 1? I think there are plenty of coaches who would rather force them to gain 11 yards.

I'm not even saying it was the wrong decision - just suggesting that the logic is correct that Brewster thought they'd kick the FG...and that assumption was wrong.
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Exactly what I thought. I really got the feeling that our coaching staff was a bit surprised by Fitz's choice to go for it. Plenty of coaches would have taken the three points without hesitation. All in all, we won..
 

like gogophs2005 said, 4 &1 or 3rd and 11, Id take are chances on 4th down just about everytime.
 

I thought it was the wrong call. Mostly because of the score at the time. I believe they were down by 4 weren't they. It seemed to me it would have been a bad decision for Northwestern to kick a FG with one yard to go and Kafka shredding us for short yardage all day, being down 4 points late in the game. Plus a TD would have put them up by three meaning they could only lose by us scoring a TD. In the chess match of it all, NW was going for it and so our decision to accept or decline should have been based on that. I agree that I think Brew thought NW was going to take the FG. And that is where the error was. But we won and in the end that's the most important thing.
 

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