Consider in 09 we drove 70 yards on MSU to win the game with 1:31 remaining

HaydenHawk56

Well-Known Member
Another thing to consider.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4T_WlSX9Qw"]2009 Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Michigan State Spartans Highlights - YouTube[/ame]

It did appear we had the ball at the 30 yard line to start the drive.

So only 10 more yards ahead and about 14 more seconds on the clock........and that was to get it into the endzone that had to be done to win that game.

We only needed 45-50 yards to get into long field goal range where our kicker was doing well starting at the 20 with 1:17 on the clock.....this is referring to ISU 11.

It is a head-scratcher.
 
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Different scenario.
Iowa had to go the distance, no choice.
Iowa was 2nd and 13 from the 17 yard line this time too.
 


I know that.......point is if we could move the ball down field given that amount of time and distance (and we had to).....why can't we drive for the winning field goal with slightly less time and starting 10 yards shorter at the 20? Or at the 17 on 2nd and 13 for that matter.

We did not have to drive as far as we did in 09 MSU, why can't we drive for the field goal in 11 ISU?
 
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game wasn't tied. and a FG wasn't an option.

Right, we only go for it when we HAVE to go for it, or in the case of the MSU game in 08 (I think) when we have 0 faith in our kicker to kick a FG. KF strategy is to play to hope that he other team will make the mistake. This philosophy is starting to cost us a lot of ball games the past couple of years.
 


I know that.......point is if we could move the ball down field given that amount of time and distance (and we had to).....why can't we drive for the winning field goal with slightly less time and starting 10 yards shorter at the 20? Or at the 17 on 2nd and 13 for that matter.

We did not have to drive as far as we did in 09 MSU, why can't we drive for the field goal in 11 ISU?
No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.
 


"No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal."

But, by that notion, why should you even try driving down the field at all, regardless of the time on the clock, down and distance, and the score. Why even play the game?

And, ISU's kicker also missed two ugly field goals and JVB had no interceptions on the day.
 


No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.

That's such a weak excuse. Ferentz ran it with Coker who has fumbled three times already this season. That's just as risky as throwing the ball.
 


Storm, in your gut, what's the higher probability, just considering regulation we go for it and win or we go for it and lose?
 


No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.

As opposed to trying to go toe-to-toe with an offense that we couldn't stop, on a 25-yard field? I like the odds of Mahoney missing a field goal from long range much better than giving Jantz the ball 25 yards out.

We could have just as easily fumbled or thrown a pick in OT. Unless ISU takes it to the house, then they get the ball at the 25 automatically. If they get that pick in regulation, that's not the case.

The odds are more in their favor to go for it in regulation.
 


No one is saying Iowa cant.The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.
That's such a weak excuse. Ferentz ran it with Coker who has fumbled three times already this season. That's just as risky as throwing the ball.

The difference being of course with just one incomplete pass ISU gets the ball back at midfield with plant of rind needing only 3 to win (unless we pick up the first down)
 


No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.

Storm you toe the company line, is KF paying you under the table? :D

I'm willing to bet that over 90% of Coaches around the country would try to win that game rather than go to OT. Your comment they shouldn't is in the minority. That is crazy to play for OT on the road, especially how our D played. The pressure was way to great.
 


Different scenario.
Iowa had to go the distance, no choice.
Iowa was 2nd and 13 from the 17 yard line this time too.

I would counter with, yes, while a different scenario, the way ISU was carving our defense up like a roast, we in reality really had no choice but to try to win the thing using the 2-minute offense in regulation.
 


No one is saying Iowa cant.
The issue was, they shouldn't. One fumble, one pick. One more incomplete pass. And it's ISU's ball back with a short field and a kicker that just pegged a 53 yd field goal.

Sorry Spank...weak sauce.

2-4th quarters, ISU had their way with our defense. We threw everything we had at Jantz and nothing worked. Nothing. During their tying drive, if memory serves me correctly, we had them at 3rd and 10, 3rd and 15, 3rd and 20, and 4th down. All for naught.

ISU was their own worst enemy quite frankly.

To simply sit on the ball and "hope" something good would happen in OT, considering the final 3 quarters, and especially, the final ISU drive, was dumb. Just dumb.

Edit: this is twice now KF has taken the ball out of Vandy's hands when the game(s) was/were very winnable. If it were Stanzi in both instances, I bet we go for it. Just sayn.
 
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I would have taken my chances with the best receiver on the field in McNutt and Keenan Davis, with a good offensive line in front of Vandenburg.
 


Every situation is different. Once it got to 2nd and 13 from inside Iowa's own 20 with a minute to go, the writing was on the wall.

I think too many people watch the NFL and guys like Brees and Peyton. The 2 minute drill works well in the NFL, but it college it's success rate is much lower, something like less than 30% result in scores. So with that in mind - Iowa had greater than 70% chance of giving the ball back to ISU after failing in their 2 minute drill. One more incomplete pass on 2nd down and suddenly the clock is stopped with a minute to go, 3rd and 13 inside Iowa's own 20 yard line, ISU has timeouts and didn't have to blow one on the incomplete pass. Now it just got scary. Incomplete pass on 3rd. Uh oh. Iowa's kick and punt coverages SUCK. S-U-C-K. So now you want the STs to suddenly cover kicks well after they've blown all day. Not to mention even if there isn't a return, the ball is likely somewhere around MIDFIELD for ISU. They need 15-20 yards in a minute's time with timeouts in their pocket and a kicker that already straight nutted a 53 yard FG.

The decision was the right one, guys.

I know a lot of you want to be the dangerous risk taking cool coach, but that's not going to happen. It doesn't make sense in this scenario.
 






Calling the running play on first down becomes a self-fullfilling philosophy for this staff. That play was getting very little ground all day so by calling it and getting very little yardage, we were justified in their eyes to basically take a knee and play for overtime. This is a chickenbleap way to play football.
 


Every situation is different. Once it got to 2nd and 13 from inside Iowa's own 20 with a minute to go, the writing was on the wall.

I think too many people watch the NFL and guys like Brees and Peyton. The 2 minute drill works well in the NFL, but it college it's success rate is much lower, something like less than 30% result in scores. So with that in mind - Iowa had greater than 70% chance of giving the ball back to ISU after failing in their 2 minute drill. One more incomplete pass on 2nd down and suddenly the clock is stopped with a minute to go, 3rd and 13 inside Iowa's own 20 yard line, ISU has timeouts and didn't have to blow one on the incomplete pass. Now it just got scary. Incomplete pass on 3rd. Uh oh. Iowa's kick and punt coverages SUCK. S-U-C-K. So now you want the STs to suddenly cover kicks well after they've blown all day. Not to mention even if there isn't a return, the ball is likely somewhere around MIDFIELD for ISU. They need 15-20 yards in a minute's time with timeouts in their pocket and a kicker that already straight nutted a 53 yard FG.

The decision was the right one, guys.

I know a lot of you want to be the dangerous risk taking cool coach, but that's not going to happen. It doesn't make sense in this scenario.

Well no ****. But if you are seriously trying to score you don't start out with a run up the middle. It was the wrong call, and it's not even debatable. Just like not going for it against OSU in '09 was the wrong call. On the road in a hostile environmental with all the momentum against you it makes no sense to play for overtime.

Plus you say ISU only needed 15-20 yards after the punt to get into FG range, well guess what? In overtime they only needed 25 yards and Ferentz kicked the FG saying he trusted his defense to get the stop. So he trusts his defense more in OT after they had given up two more touchdowns than at the end of regulation? Of course not, it was just a terrible call and to even try to defend it is laughable.
 




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