Hank Brown reveals original plans for final play
- Thread starter BigD
- Start date
I've watched that final sequence over and over. I got curious about the rules had there not been an injury timeout. They absolutely were ready and had time. The ref never gave the signal to wind the clock. He was way down field with the injured player. That being said, he was the only official I can see (possibly the side judge) who was even aware of the injury. Other officials who were not aware of the injury were still getting in place when the ref blew the whistle....which is when the ball was snapped or even possibly after. Meaning, the Hawks were set and ready BEFORE all the officials were in place and the ref COULD have given the "wind the clock" signal.
Anyway....irrelevant.
Brown was clearly communicating to Diaz as they were going up to the line. He was yelling and motioning with his hands on the side of his helmet. They were gonna toss it into the end zone and let Diaz go and get it. Which, I woulda done and probably woulda worked. I wanna go back and watch if they double teamed Diaz. If so? Lester is one brilliant SOB. And used that injury timeout exceptionally wisely. Or have someone who knows football better than me tell me they were keying in on Diaz or not. From a 10,000 foot strategery level, I'm thinking it was a masterstroke that call. On so many levels.
Anyway....irrelevant.
Brown was clearly communicating to Diaz as they were going up to the line. He was yelling and motioning with his hands on the side of his helmet. They were gonna toss it into the end zone and let Diaz go and get it. Which, I woulda done and probably woulda worked. I wanna go back and watch if they double teamed Diaz. If so? Lester is one brilliant SOB. And used that injury timeout exceptionally wisely. Or have someone who knows football better than me tell me they were keying in on Diaz or not. From a 10,000 foot strategery level, I'm thinking it was a masterstroke that call. On so many levels.
Captain Insane-O
Well-Known Member
They didn't key on Diaz, they chose to play press man across the board with C2 on the back end. We lined up Moulton wide right, Diaz in the slot right, Ostrenga on the right side of LOS, James in the slot left and RVZ wide left. We were lined up on the left hash. The 2 safeties basically covered up the other 3 receivers so the only play was the back shoulder to RVZ. The part where Michigan would re-think anything would be, if they had it all to do over again would they have left that linebacker in to spy on Hank or put another DB in to take away that boundary? Both improbabilities, but do you think that Brown-RVZ would have a better shot at that play or Hank scrambling for 16 with the safeties eyes on him?
Other interesting things on that sequence for me?
1. With the clock under real scrutiny right now at end of game situations, what do you do if the operator runs off more time than they should? Ostrenga was down with 3 seconds left, which under normal conditions puts the spike in play. I am sure a coach can't challenge it, especially with no timeouts. Everything is bang-bang then so any stoppage of play is an advantage to the offense. If the injury did not occur and we lose, we would be talking about that.
2. They didn't show it on TV, but know that Michigan had 11 players out there on defense while the other player was injured way back at midfield. So Michigan just left their dude on the field and marched somebody else out there. So that last play was a free play any way you look at it because it would have either been 12 men on the field or offside, take your pick. We would have had 2 chances to win it.
3. DJ was not on the field on the last play. Was he hurt? Did they believe in Ostrenga?
So, now I'm really effing curious. I get curious about stupid stuff that has no relevance.
I think I got it now. The 3 second spike thing seemed weird to me even with the ISU ending. If you have 2-3 seconds, you can run a play. Which would mean time to spike the ball. But I guess not 1 second. the spike has to account for time.
So I guess it makes sense. At 2 or 3 seconds you have time for a play. A final play. But you cannot spike it. I mean, they obviously CAN snap on 2 seconds. Even without the injury. I looked up (had AI deliver me the text and verifiable NCAA rules link and it specifically says you can run a play, ONE play) if there's 2 seconds left. BUT not a spike. Then I assumed that a spike was a mandatory 3 second runoff.
But it's not. The timekeepers do try to start right on the snap and and stop right when the ball hits the turf. Reaction times/speed of the buttons/electronics/etc. average 1-2 seconds. I see now the 3 seconds is just an arbitrary boundary and it makes. It gives some room for the timekeeper to be "wrong" or "slow".....but removes their ability to do a little homecooking and be real slow on starting the clock if they're team has the ball and could use an extra second or two. Just an arbitrary boundary.
Weird. I suppose all this kind of stuff has come up at some point or another in the last forever and a rule was put in place. Probably something in place and then adjusted when something else exposed an additional issue.
I mean, Iowa's been in two games where this came in to play. Odd. And against a team that also had a 1 second left in the game issue. Game of inches? Game of seconds.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
I watched Hank on an interview with CBS guys and they were going over the final drive and having Hank explain or comment on each play. When they got down to the last play, one of them asked if Hank was planning to fake spike the ball and Hank admitted that was the plan. He said he was going to fake it but the ref stopped the clock due to the injury. I wish he wouldn't have admitted that at this point. Wonder if Lester also wishes he wouldn't have disclosed this.
I can't remember what the announcers were saying exactly. I should go back for another watch.
My recollection on the broadcast during replays of the previous play during the injury stoppage they were praising Brown and the Hawks for understanding the rules and were thinking that Iowa was prepared to run a play. Maybe even noted they couldn't spike it? Course, I could be misremembering exactly.
Either way I don't think it means much. I would be that every team is reviewing this whole .01, .02, .03 thing and no team will be prepared for a spike under .03 and no team will spike it under 3.
MelroseHawkins
Well-Known Member
Nessler was commenting that they needed .03 to spike and that couldn't with .02. Davis commented that he thought that Hank was going to fake spike it.
Interestingly, I was lurking on the Western Michigan site the other day to see if they had any comments about beating Michigan in the last seconds. It seems I ran across a post where someone commented that Iowa's QB was going to do the famous Lester fake spike, almost like they knew of it from when Lester was the head coach there back in the day.
The ONLY thing that would have made Hank's pass to VDZ better is if Hank would have licked the ball before passing it!
The ONLY thing that would have made Hank's pass to VDZ better is if Hank would have licked the ball before passing it!
Ya can't win if you ain't broke a sweat.
guffus
Well-Known Member
Maybe Lester also did the fake spike when he was the WMU QB way back in the day.
