Starting 11: Like Les Miles, Brown's Strategy Deserves Second Guessing -- NCAAFB FanHouse o Clay Travis o Clay Travis is a college football Writer for FanHouse A couple of weeks ago, Les Miles made one of the dumbest coaching decisions at the end of a game that any of us had ever seen. I wrote about that and called Miles an idiot. If you're an LSU fan you still see the end of that Ole Miss game in your nightmares. Given that a head coach is paid millions of dollars for his judgment, I thought the ridicule was much deserved. But then Mack Brown went and one-upped Les Miles with the dumbest decision in the history of the conference championship game, snapping the ball with seven seconds left and his team already in field goal range. By the grace of God, Texas' offensive line was unable to stop Ndamukong Suh from putting heat on Colt McCoy and the Texas quarterback casually tossed the ball out of bounds with one second left. Of course Texas went on to make the field goal to win the game, but that's beside the point, stupidity deserves ridicule. And in this case, Mack Brown's decision-making was every bit as bad as Les Miles'. Especially when you consider that Texas would have been left with a timeout if the clock ran out. Let's begin with a clear thesis: Running a play with a running clock as the game nears the end is a recipe for disaster. No team worth it's salt should ever do this when they've got a timeout left. At the end of this game, Texas could have called a timeout with 29 seconds left and set up a final offensive play. Get a first down, and you spike the football. Fail to get a first down and you still have plenty of time to run your field goal team onto the field after gathering them near you during the preceding timeout. There would have been plenty of time to make this happen. It's what an intelligent coach who manages his team well would have done. Instead Texas, who had allowed McCoy to be sacked eight times, ran a pass play. That decision alone is inexplicable. Why, oh why, would you risk giving up a sack, potentially having the clock run out in the process, and knocking yourself out of field goal range, with no probability for success? But on top of this idiocy, the Longhorns ran such a slow developing play that even if they'd completed a pass, they would have lost the game. In other words, Mack Brown and Texas so bungled the next-to-last play call of the game, that the only way they could have succeeded was by throwing an incomplete pass out of bounds. Think about this if you're a Texas fan. You won that game despite your head coach putting the team in a completely untenable position. The only reason you didn't lose on that play, in other words, is because Nebraska did such a good job of defending the pass and putting pressure onto Colt McCoy. Effectively, once Texas took the snap with seven seconds remaining, the best thing that could happen to them did. And yet Brown has dodged all significant criticism. That's crap. And I can't believe I'm writing this, but what Brown did at the end of that game was even dumber than what Les Miles did at the end of the Ole Miss game. If you're a Texas fan, the fact that you won the game shouldn't wash away the profound stupidity of Brown's decision. Once Texas ran the pass play, they effectively took the ball out of their team's hands and relied on complete luck to survive.
I'm happy someone FINALLY came out and said this! It's much worse than Miles' gaffe. It would've cost the Horns a trip to Pasadena.
I wondered how many people actually caught the fact that Brown almost cost his team a shot at the National Championship. Of course, since they put that second back on the clock, nobody fusses about it. And he even had a timeout left if I'm not mistaken... I think even if the game had ended, he wouldn't have caught as much crap as Miles has over the Ole Miss-take.
Mack Brown was on one of the ESPN shows Sunday morning and during the interview, Mack said that play was Colt's call to run a pass play and he was not concerened at all since there we 2 seconds off. Mack didn't throw Colt under the bus, but he had an easy out for him if time was not put bak on the clock..... :geauxtige:geauxtige :geauxtige:geauxtige
It's actually about the same thing that Les Miles did against Auburn in 07 with a slight time difference.
So, I guess this is something that can happen to even coaches with a chance for the MNC on the line. Hmmmmm No way, only the dummy Miles is capable of such a stupid move. Just ask all the experts on how he isn't a good coach and needs to be fired.
mack did it on purpose because he owed miles for that game in 04 when miles had oklahoma state up by 28 on texas at halftime, and mack brown's team came back and beat oklahoma state 56 - 35. :lol: too much emphasis was put on the .01 second and the spike. the real crime was not running the ball when you are in field goal range, which is pretty much the same thing mack brown decided to do, only with less time, but hey it worked out, so you won't hear anything from the texas faithful.
Both are only as good as their coordinators, and right now I would much rather have Mack Browns coaches.
Gotta say, comparing Miles to Mack Brown is very interesting. I think Mack Brown has underperformed - the right coach could make Texas a dominant force. They are strong now, but not what they could be. Kind of like Miles' LSU.
Colt David was missing field goals left and right in that game. I think that's one reason that play was called.
