Just wondering if anyone else noticed, but LSU had the ball 1st and goal with like 40 seconds left and 2 timeouts(Ole Miss had 1), and LSU went for the TD instead of lining up a close field goal and draining the clock. IMO, they should have done that, and not given Ole Miss the ball back. It didn't affect the game, however I think it wasn't the correct play. Anyone else agree?
Nope. You are wrong. :grin: :milesmic: The way it happened was that LSU was running the ball to just see if they could score, with the FG obviously in the back of their head. If I may remind you of the 2006 LSU-Ole Miss matchup, LSU tied the game at 20 with almost no time on the clock, and had the game-winning extra point blocked. I think there was a better chance of that FG getting blocked than Ole Miss going 80 yards in 44 seconds with no time outs JUST to tie.
Any other game, I'd agree to let the clock run down. But given last year's game vs. Ole Miss, I was glad to just go ahead and get the TD this time, and not have to endure any more nervous countdowns.
I also figured once they got the first and goal, they'd kneel on the ball, run it down to the end, then kick the chip shot FG. They didn't, but everything worked out, so no complaints.
there are so many things that can go wrong with playing for a field goal. Hell look at the Mississippi St - R-Kansas game last night. Miss St. fumbles on their opening OT drive so Petrino runs the ball up the middle 3 times to set up the FG and then they miss it. They ended up winning so people aren't gonna talk about the missed FG but it was absolutely the wrong thing to do. You always try to get the most amount of points possible.
I can agree with that. However, the opposite happened this year against UNC when we ran the ball to end the game and Ridley fumbled. It very nearly cost us the game then, so there's always the possibility of a fumble. I know it didn't affect the game. I'm just discussing because it's something different to discuss, plus I wonder what the correct play is if you were to be writing a book on coaching. It doesn't really come into play that much other than overtimes.
Its also possible that some Ole Miss defender could have come up and forced Ridley to fumble on the touchdown play. When I advocate playing for the field goal, its because I didn't want to give Ole Miss the ball back. And sure enough, they almost pulled off a miracle completion on the second to last play. Why is it only assumed that something can only go wrong by playing for the field goal? We had time outs left; we even could have attempted the kick with about :10 left, so if there was a bad snap, we could cover the ball and call time out with time left for a second chance. Now I've been sucked into pointlessly hypothetical ways to win a game we've already won! Dam you, OP!! :rofl:
Yea the possibility of a fumble is there but as Gary Danielson said last night we have gone 230+ straight carries without a fumble. And I know that Jasper is money but if i had to put money on either not fumbling or making a FG I would go with not fumbling.
40 seconds and no timeouts and needing to get a TD is ok with me. I am usually a proponent of not giving the opponent ANY chance of coming back, but this time it was not warranted. I would not have wanted to chance it. Had that Ole Miss receiver caught that rebound catch at the LSU 33, they would have stopped the clock and Ole Miss would have had one decent heave at the endzone. Thank goodness he didn't catch it.
With style points apparently counting for Wisconsin and Stanford, LSU needed to finish as strong as possible
