Uncle Pete, I love you, but you are just plain wrong.
With roughly two minutes to go in the game and leading by three, USC found itself with a third and goal at the Washington 4-yard line. Washington had only 1 timeout remaining so conventional wisdom says you should run the ball to force them to call their last timeout. The Trojans went to the air and failed to complete the pass, thus bailing out the Huskies.
Asked if he had thought about running the ball, Pete said, "Yeah, we could have, but it was worth going for the touchdown and seeing if you could score it there. We thought we had a call we could make."
I'm fine with that....AS LONG AS you are planning on going for it on 4th down should you not complete the pass on third down. Pete instead elected to kick the field goal. This makes absolutely no sense.
What good does a six-point lead do when they are getting the ball back at the 20 yard line with a timeout in their pocket and a passing game that has marched down the field at will all day long? It certainly doesn't serve you any better than the three point lead you already have does. Taking the field goal is no better than going for it on 4th and failing; either way, a touchdown beats you. It's actually worse to kick the field goal because your kickoff is most likely going to give Washington the ball at at least their own 20-yard line. If you go for the TD and fail, they are starting from the shadow of their own goal at the 4. I think you absolutely MUST go for the touchdown in this situation. You must put the game away. Win it by going on the offensive, not the defensive. Play to fuckin' WIN, not to avoid losing. Is there no play in the playbook that has a better chance of netting a paltry 4 yards than a defense does of stopping an attack they have not stopped all day? An SC touchdown wins the game outright. A chicken-shit field goal leaves the door wide open and begs them to come on in. And what if it fails? You're still in the lead! A touchdown beats you either way! True, failing to convert the 4th down would allow Washington to send the game to overtime with a field goal. Woopity Friggin' Doo! Are we afraid of going to OT at home against an unranked opponent? I guess so. Not only was Pete's decision strategically illogical, but it makes no sense from an emotional/momentum standpoint either because it makes SC look afraid. I realize that the lack of experienced players is largely responsible for the more conservative playcalling this season. But it doesn't hold water for me. Give your players the experience of going out and claiming this game. Give them that confidence. In this very game, they went for it on 4th down around the Washington 40-yard line to maintain a drive and they converted. And now you're not going to go for it from the 4 to WIN the game?! Foolish and cowardly, I say.
"Kicking the field goal is exactly the right thing to do," Uncle Pete says, "You make them have to score a touchdown with one timeout left. I don't know any other way to do that."
I do. Take the game out of their hands. Put it in the end zone and get ready for a Gatorade shower. Pete is a defense-oriented coach but face the facts, Pete...the defense was not playing well enough on this day to warrant the choice of putting the game on their shoulders rather than on those of the offense. No sacks in two weeks, and very little pressure on the quarterback at any time in the game.
Luckily...and I really mean luckily, the decision Pete and Lane made did not come back to bite us this time. But the fact that the call was made and still defended after the game only sets us up to get beat next time we find ourselves with a choice of gaining 4 yards or defending 80 yards to lock up a win.
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