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Play to win

budbear

budbear

Active member
I was able to see the game in person last Saturday and I agree with the call to go for the win. It seems that you have two chances to lose with the kick and only one chance to lose with the try for the 2 pts. If you do the kick, you could have it blocked or the kicker could just miss the pt. If the point is made, then you have to win in overtime and they were a very good team with a strong running game. I think with our young defense we made the right decision to go for the win. It is easy to find falut with the call when it doesn't work.
 
Its not the decision to play for the win, its the calls Downing and co. are using to do so. Both the QB sneak at the end against Tx. State and the trick play at the end of the NAU game were probably two of the most idiotic coaching decisions I've ever seen. There is nothing wrong with showing confidence in your kids at the end of a close game and showing the guts needed to go for it. However, the play calls in both these situations are IDIOTIC. Regardless of the outcome of that stupid fake XP stunt, we still would be wondering what the hell Downing had been thinking. These calls also have another effect. You have to wonder about the mental state of this team after their coaches have cost them two games in a row because of moronic play calling. This is the reason why Scott Downing and his staff must be shown the door in December (if not before).
 
This is a team that has gone what, 2-25 over the last 3 seasons? I think you kick the ball and go to OT.

However, I can deal with the 2 point try but you get your offense out there and run a regular play. As mentioned by others the trick play didn't fool anyone, they had already ran it once. Downing claims in interviews they got the look they wanted and audibled to that play. I have to take issue with that, if NAU didn't have the play covered how was their guy able to recover the snap as it bounced along the turf and Sewell couldn't? Logic would dictate that the NAU guys knew what was coming (as we all did) and jumped the play. So realistically even if Sewell had got the snap that same guy and 4 of his buddies would have been right there to stuff it for a loss.

When in the history of football has the same trick play worked twice in the same game?

Also I think it shows a lack of faith in your offense to say "we need 2 yet I'd rather try a trick play than let my offense make or break it on their own." If I'm Waggoner I'm pissed that I didn't have that chance to win or lose going for two and instead it all came down to a long snapper and a back up TE. Why is the most critical play in the game in the hands of those two?

In addition, how often do we see a sideways snap of 10 yards??????? I'm going to go with never... sure it caught them off guard the first time but the second time proved it's not so easy to pull off. I'm thinking because we never see anyone else, and lets face it, decades and decades of football with thousands upon thousands of more talented athletes and yet nobody else is trying the sideways 10 yard long snap... I'm guessing maybe because it's extremely risky and difficult to pull off.

So yeah, worst play call ever. He cost us the game and I'm guessing he's lost faith in the locker room. I know if I was on the team I'd be like WTF dude?
 
hoel4800 said:
Its not the decision to play for the win, its the calls Downing and co. are using to do so. Both the QB sneak at the end against Tx. State and the trick play at the end of the NAU game were probably two of the most idiotic coaching decisions I've ever seen. There is nothing wrong with showing confidence in your kids at the end of a close game and showing the guts needed to go for it. However, the play calls in both these situations are IDIOTIC. Regardless of the outcome of that stupid fake XP stunt, we still would be wondering what the hell Downing had been thinking. These calls also have another effect. You have to wonder about the mental state of this team after their coaches have cost them two games in a row because of moronic play calling. This is the reason why Scott Downing and his staff must be shown the door in December (if not before).
Click to expand...


Dude, get it through your thick head. That play at the end of the Texas game was not called by Downing. He wanted to spike the ball and then run a play. The signals were mixed by Waggener and the other players. We've been over this a million times.
 
I actually would have run a QB sneak there also so I agreed with that play even though it turns out he didnt' call that. I'm thinking whatever my instinct is it's the opposite from Downing but of course I was wrong on that one we all know what happened... Although the fumble was Waggoners fault and nobody else's.
 
Easy to blame the players on that BearDown. The fact that the sign was misinterpreted is in fact a bigger red flag to me that the coaching is suspect than if the play was actually called. First, if you can even remotely confuse the "kill the clock" sign with the "QB sneak" sign that is a major issue. Second, every well prepared team in the country practices two minute situations to nauseum. The playbook is usually pretty reduced and their are a set number of plays that are in the arsenal. Down and distance, clock management, time out situations, etc are all practiced and reviewed so there is not panic about what to do in any situation. From what I can tell, the team was not prepared for the situation.
Click to expand...
 
BeardownDude, get it through your thick head. That play at the end of the Texas game was not called by Downing. He wanted to spike the ball and then run a play. The signals were mixed by Waggener and the other players. We've been over this a million times.
Click to expand...
Easy to blame the players on that BearDown. The fact that the sign was misinterpreted is in fact a bigger red flag to me that the coaching is suspect than if the play was actually called. First, if you can even remotely confuse the "kill the clock" sign with the "QB sneak" sign that is a major issue. Second, every well prepared team in the country practices two minute situations to nauseum. The playbook is usually pretty reduced and their are a set number of plays that are in the arsenal. Down and distance, clock management, time out situations, etc are all practiced and reviewed so there is not panic about what to do in any situation. From what I can tell, the team was not prepared for the situation.
 
Don't forget that these are all students at the University of Northern Colorado. They have a certain number of hours they can practice and they still need to go to class and study and write papers (unless you are a Gopher and the coach pays someone to write the papers for you).
 
budbear said:
I was able to see the game in person last Saturday and I agree with the call to go for the win. It seems that you have two chances to lose with the kick and only one chance to lose with the try for the 2 pts. If you do the kick, you could have it blocked or the kicker could just miss the pt. If the point is made, then you have to win in overtime and they were a very good team with a strong running game. I think with our young defense we made the right decision to go for the win. It is easy to find falut with the call when it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
I don't necessarily disagree with you to go for the win - personally I think at home you play for OT but I won't argue that point. I do have a couple of different thoughts on your other thoughts though. There is a reason that teams kick the PAT most times - it is exponentially easier than trying to score from the two. There is also more than "one way" to lose with the two point conversion (fumbled snap, missed handoff, regular old fumble, interception, sack, stopped short of the goal, incomplete pass, how many am I up to :lol:) What I really think is stupid though is to try the trick play again. If you are going to go for two, put the offense out there and go for it. Trick plays work once, maybe twice a year. You can run different trick plays with a little more success, but again in the same game - just not smart in my opinion.
 
budbear said:
I was able to see the game in person last Saturday and I agree with the call to go for the win. It seems that you have two chances to lose with the kick and only one chance to lose with the try for the 2 pts. If you do the kick, you could have it blocked or the kicker could just miss the pt. If the point is made, then you have to win in overtime and they were a very good team with a strong running game. I think with our young defense we made the right decision to go for the win. It is easy to find falut with the call when it doesn't work.
Click to expand...
I don't necessarily disagree with you to go for the win - personally I think at home you play for OT but I won't argue that point. I do have a couple of different thoughts on your comments though. There is a reason that teams kick the PAT most times - it is exponentially easier than trying to score from the two. There is also more than "one way" to lose with the two point conversion (fumbled snap, missed handoff, regular old fumble, interception, sack, stopped short of the goal, incomplete pass, how many am I up to :lol:) What I really think is stupid though is to try the trick play again. If you are going to go for two, put the offense out there and go for it. Trick plays work once, maybe twice a year. You can run different trick plays with a little more success, but again in the same game - just not smart in my opinion.
 
Let's talk about the Texas State game for a minute. This is on Downing and Waggoner, as you all have said.
How on earth do you confuse the spike the ball signal with the qb sneak signal? Dont we work on this kind of thing like every other football team?
NAU---Why not put the offense out there to go for 2? If that stunt had worked I think we'd still wonder what he was thinking
 
hoel4800 said:
Let's talk about the Texas State game for a minute. This is on Downing and Waggoner, as you all have said.
How on earth do you confuse the spike the ball signal with the qb sneak signal? Dont we work on this kind of thing like every other football team?
NAU---Why not put the offense out there to go for 2? If that stunt had worked I think we'd still wonder what he was thinking
Click to expand...


Who's to say Downing even made the call during the Texas game? It was probably Darnell.

On the NAU game, I do agree it was one of the worst calls I've ever seen.
 
When you've only won 2 games in the last few years, and you're trying a 2 point conversion like you're the Broncos, come on. Kick the extra point, tie the game, put your D back on the field which had played good all game and make Northern Arizona beat you instead of beating yourselves. Bad call.
 
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