- Sep 9, 2014
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I was on the fence about that at the time as well. But I don't think it was about being confused, or poor clock management. He clearly was ok to get into half and make the adjustments that ultimately won us the game. The reason he called the TO with :01 was to force a punt and give us either a chance to block it, or return it. The only thing he could've changed there was calling it with :10, so they couldn't just heave it and call it a day.
But otherwise, I'm totally fine with that decision. It was 3rd and 18, from their 15. And they gained 17 on the next play. If by some chance they'd converted, they'd be approaching midfield with :30 left, which gives them time to try to set up a FG or deep pass. The defensive adjustments were night and day in the second half, and I'm pretty sure he just wanted to get to the locker room down 3 in that environment. Maybe hope for a fluke ST's play to close. But he was not going to risk being down more. Especially with us getting the ball to start. Considering the second half play, I think it was clearly the right move.
There's no question he was confused. Go watch his face as he is running up the sideline trying to figure out what's going on.
It was a a really poor decision. If you're not going to call TO in that situation and try and get at least a FG and actually a good shot at a TD then you never are, and all you are interested in is ball control and TOP.
3 TO and sacked them deep in their territory. You're seriously trying to make the point that in a one score game when you sack a team putting them in 3rd and 18 inside at their 15 yard line you shouldn't try to force them to punt because you are scared they might score?
Come on, you're one of the most logical posters here, you can't honestly believe that is winning coaching. It doesn't get any better than 3 TO, 3rd and mega long with them pinned back inside their own redzone. Even Muschamp doesn't hate offense that much.