The Question (Seth):
Name a great coaching mishap...that happened to the the other guys!
(To clarify, by "mishap" I meant like a single play or series, not worst coaching choices. Blunder. Miscue. Bungle. Goof. Lapse. Miscalculation.)
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Adam: The first thing that came to mind was 2011 against Ohio State. OSU, down 6, got the ball with 1:59 to go at the 20-yard line. They converted on 4th and 6 and continued driving with a minute to go until they decided moving the ball was overrated and the key to winning was to stay right where they were. On 3rd and 6 from their 36 they ran 15 seconds off the clock...and then spiked the ball.
After the game Braxton Miller said that was what interim HC Luke Fickell told him to do. I'm no coach, but lighting the clock on fire and giving away a down to put yourself in a must-convert situation (and needing six yards, no less) with 45 seconds to go seems like a bad strategy.
[Hit THE JUMP for the Big Guy.]
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Ace: This post can't go without a Charlie Weis mention. In the 2009 Notre Dame game, the Irish took a late 34-31 lead on an Armando Allen touchdown, and Michigan's ensuing drive ended in a punt, giving ND the ball with 3:07 to kill. A first-down run by Allen and a subsequent run into the line caused Michigan to burn their first timeout with 2:29 on the clock. Facing second-and-ten, Weis called for consecutive passes, both of which fell incomplete.
Michigan got the ball back with 2:13 remaining and two timeouts in hand; Weis had failed to burn even a minute off the clock. Both the time and the timeouts proved crucial. Tate Forcier worked the offense down the field in nine plays, hitting Greg Mathews for the winning touchdown with 11 seconds left. Notre Dame got only one play off on their final drive, and Weis could only order his minions to chase the officials up the tunnel in the aftermath.
Miss you big guy xoxoxo.
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Seth: It wasn't just that Weis called two passes, Ace, it was the typeof pass on 2nd down that really put the "misdeed" in his decided schematic advantage. A short slant, or a screen, or a stick, or any high-percentage throw short of the sticks would have been tough to defense, had a shot at picking up the first down that ends the game, and probably wouldn't stop the clock if it doesn't. Instead Weis had Jimmy Clausen throw a fade at Donovan Warren. It takes a special kind of brain to talk itself into risking an 85% chance to win on a 30% shot downfield.
That was going to be mine but there are so many other great ones. In fact you could make a separate post about dumb conservative play calls with just Iowa-Penn State games. Like when Penn State got a 1st down on the Iowa 2 with 5 seconds left at the end of the half and spiked the ball (burning 3 seconds) when they still had timeouts. Or later that game when Paterno woke up long enough to punt it with 5 minutes left down 17-3 on 4th and 6 at midfield.
But the true honor goes to Kirk Ferentz—and don't even try to argue he was right because it worked it—when he purposefully took a SAFETY with 8 minutes left to make the score 6-4. I mean the offenses in that game were awful, but outside of 1950 Michigan-Ohio State weather in actual 1950 there is no situation when giving a team the game-winning margin if they get a field goal and the ball nearly in field goal range is worth the fraction of a possibility your punt is blocked.
Honorable mention: In 2004 Glen Mason had Lawrence Maroney and Marion Barber and had torched Michigan's run defense inside, but on 4th and 2 on their final drive they chose instead to have Cupito throw at a guy covered by Leon Hall. That's defendable but man when he dropped back to pass I screamed "Thank you!" Then Braylon did a backflip.
Dishonorable mention: When Zook kicked a field goal late in the fourth quarter against the Buckeyes to make it 17-13. There's a reason his name is on all the internet awards for stupid.
Mention just to mention: John L. Smith's problems with never having the right number of guys on special teams, that led to the mat with everybody's number on it, and then they screwed it up anyway and the announcers cut back to footage of who wasn't standing on their number on the mat and oh man I was dying!
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Brian: Hmmm.
Got a three point lead.
About ten seconds left.
Seems pretty pretty good to me. Pretty pretty good.
Sure, decades ago they put in something called the "three point line" but I don't see what relevance that might have.
Wait.
WAIT.
Something's bothering me.
How many points are we up?
Is there any sort of... similarity that I should maybe be picking up on here?
I feel like maybe I could take some sort of action here.
Ah, who cares
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David: Probably one of the biggest coaching blunders I can remember took place in 2009. Let's set the stage. LSU is down 25-23 to Ole Miss and has 1st and 10 on their own 41. About 40 or so yards from a < 40 yard FG to win. There is 1:13 remaining. More than sufficient. They have two timeouts. Ha, easy. Let's look at ESPN's Play-by-Play chart!
1st and 10 at LSU 42
(1:13 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson pass incomplete.2nd and 10 at LSU 42
(1:04 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson pass complete to Brandon LaFell for 26 yards to the Miss 32 for a 1ST down.1st and 10 at MISS 32
(0:40 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson pass incomplete.2nd and 10 at MISS 32
(0:32 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson sacked by Emmanuel Stephens for a loss of 9 yards to the Miss 41.3rd and 19 at MISS 41
(0:32 - 4th) Timeout LSU, clock 00:32.3rd and 19 at MISS 41
(0:09 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson pass complete to Stevan Ridley for a loss of 7 yards to the Miss 48.4th and 26 at MISS 48
(0:09 - 4th) Timeout LSU, clock 00:09.4th and 26 at MISS 48
(0:01 - 4th) Jordan Jefferson pass complete to Terrance Toliver for 42 yards to the Miss 6 for a 1ST down.
Uhhhh...wut. The first four plays are fine (Jefferson was a little careless in the pocket and got sacked but that can happen). They call timeout immediately after the sack. Makes sense.
Then...they run quick swing screen to Ridley. Not great. I get they wanted to get a few yards back, but does that play have 10+ yards to get a still ehhhhhhhh FG from 45+? I would guess not usually. In this case, they LOSE seven more yards.
This is where it gets interesting. This play ends with 26 seconds on the game clock. They FINALLY call a timeout with 9 seconds remaining. That's 17 seconds of standing around and NOT CALLING A TIMEOUT. Finally, LSU throws a hail mary that is actually caught at the 6 but they have no timeouts and not enough time to spike the ball...which is what they try to do. And -surprise!- the game ends. Verne and Gary are literally yelling "GET YOUR FG TEAM ON TO THE FIELD." There are probably 2-3 things that LSU could have done, other than whatever that was, and still had a play to win the game.
After the game, a reporter asked Les Miles which coach made the decision to spike the ball. He answered that he wasn't sure and would have to find out. I have a guess.
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BiSB: Late in the 2014 Penn State/Michigan game, it looked like Brady Hoke had secured the Worst Coaching Thing of the Game award by calling a timeout at the end of the first half to give Penn State a free Hail Mary. But James Franklin is no quitter, and he kept grinding and looking for an opportunity. And then, with 1:43 left in the game, he saw his chance. Down 16-13, Christian Hackenberg was sacked at his own 3 yard line to bring up 4th and 32. Penn State still had two timeouts, which meant that if they punted and held Michigan to a 3-and-out, they might get the ball back with 40-ish seconds for a final drive. But they could also take the safety and either play the same play-for-the-three-and-out scenario in better field position or go for the onside kick. SO MANY GOOD OPTIONS. And Franklin puzzled and puzzled until his puzzler was sore.
Franklin eventually listened to his Dedicated 14 Year Old Who Only Plays Madden Assistant Coach and decided to go with the intentional safety. But by then, the play clock was running out. So instead of taking a delay of game penalty of approximately four feet (which is a big deal on 4th and 32 when you are going to attempt an intentional safety anyway), or attempting a hurried play (because it requires intricate planning to be able to take a safety from your own 3), Franklin burned a timeout - despite his timeouts being literally the only things he had going for him - to set up the PROPER intentional safety. This forced Penn State to attempt the onside kick, which they actually recovered but were inches offside so it didn't count.
And we danced.