That happens all the time, and unlike basketball, the time doesn't usually get put back on the clock. What happens if the ball gets tipped up in the air a couple times before falling to the ground? LSU probably loses. The ball should have been snapped a few seconds sooner, but that's not really Miles' fault and doesn't change the fact that the call itself was a good one.
the play that was called was the right one. a few more seconds ran off the clock between the call and the snap than was intended. miles himself has said that. lsu had one timeout remaining. it was set up to kick a fg if the pass was not successful, but luckily, it was. another case of the media looking at a small portion of what actually happened, and not all the facts, before bestowing their magic wisdom upon us.:rolleye33:
IMO the absolute only danger in that last play was an interception. I think the timing was good, I think upon an incompletion we would have had plenty of time left to kick a field goal. The only thing I remeber thinking at the time was, "what if that CB had turned to look at Flynn a few seconds earlier". I think what it boils down to is that Miles probably thought the chances of a missed field goal were much higher than the chances that the pass gets intercepted. Which I think is a pretty good assumption.
Yeah, but that didn't happen. The only thing that made it a bad call was the time wasted on the clock. Suppose the bad snap to Andre Woodson in OT takes a bounce towards our defense instead of right back into Woodson's hands....we might be undefeated still. I've seen alot of games in TS and beyond. Sometimes you get good bounces and sometimes things go your way, and other times it doesn't. Prime example of this is 2002. We won a game we should not have won (KY) and lost a game we should not have lost (Arky).
Another thing related to the "crazy call" mess is something that struck me last night in the VT game. With 4 minutes to go in the game, up by ten points, Beamer did the fake FG, but instead of trying to score or get the 1st down, he did the pooch punt. BC inexplicably marched down the field and scored not once, but twice. I'll take Les Miles making a gutsy 4th down call or a call like the one in the AU game any day, rather than being as disgusted as the VT fans must feel today. How many talking heads are going to question Beamer's move in giving the ball back to BC when, perhaps, he should've tried to increase his lead?
No it didn't, but the point is, snap the ball a little sooner and that's not even a concern. I don't think you need to worry about the ball being batted around for 5+ seconds, but they cut things too close. So close that a single tip might have been the difference. Right. That's exactly what I said, here: Some things you can't plan for, but there's no reason you can't snap the ball with enough time to be absolutely certain that you will still be able to run another play if you need to.
In the Auburn game, Miles actually passed on trying a 4th and short in favor of kicking a field goal to extend the lead to six. I thought they should have gone for it and was a bit surprised they didn't. I could understand the call - defense was playing well; force them to score a TD - but I am not a big fan of six point leads. Given the weather in last night's game, I think the pooch punt was probably the right call. IIRC, VT wound up downing the ball around the 10 yard line. I don't recall what the fourth down distance was. Maybe if it's fourth and inches you might think about going for it. Otherwise, I don't think there was anything wrong with that call. As it turned out, a field goal there wouldn't have made a difference.
What I find funny, is people talking about all that could have gone wrong with that play. Things can go wrong with any play. If we run, could have been a fumble, etc. Also, if he runs it to middle of field, sets up for a field goal and ends up missing it, then everyone is ready to run him out of town for being to conservative. I liked the call. I would rather win/lose a game by being aggressive, then lose a game by running it up the middle four times. And to be honest, seemed like great clock management. We left Aubarn no time on clock at end. If pass was incomplete, we still have a second or two to try for a field goal. He was a genius for going for it on fourth down five times against Florida when he could have kicked a field goal to tie it, but he is a reckless fool for throwing a pass for a touchdown with time on the clock now. Go figure.
