Did you see the Texas/USC football game last night? That was definitely worth staying up until the end. USC really blew it though. I think Pete Carroll made a couple really big coaching mistakes on USC’s final possession. There were less than three minutes left in the game, and USC was up by five. It was second down and close to ten yards to go. Texas still had three time-outs (or times-out as Keith Jackson kept saying). Conventional coaching says you run, but USC ran a pass play and it fell incomplete, stopping the clock and allowing Texas to keep a precious time-out. USC picked up most of the yards on a third down run, setting up fourth and short from near mid-field. This is where another big mistake was made. USC went for it on fourth down and was stopped short of the first down, giving Texas the ball at close to mid-field. If they would have punted, they probably could have pinned the Longhorns deep and forced them to go the length of the field to win. If there ever was a time to play conservatively, this would have been it. I think these decisions were ultimately what cost USC the game. It also didn’t help that USC had to use their final time-out before the Texas two point conversion. With 19 seconds left and one time-out, a lot more is possible than with 19 seconds and no time-outs. All you folks out there calling for Dan McCarney’s job hopefully can rest a little easier after seeing some of the coaching decisions Pete Carroll, one of the best, and most respected coaches in college football made. It happens to the best of them too I guess.
So congratulations to the Texas Longhorns, a team I’ve never really liked, but rooted for last night since they were representing the Big 12.
Was it just me, or did Keith Jackson really seem confused a lot of the time while calling the game? I generally consider him one of the best college football announcers, but he was not on his game last night. He confused the end of a quarter with a team calling a time-out, and really had no clue what was going on when field goals and extra points were kicked. Keith all you have to do on the kicks is watch the officials under the goal posts. At least twice he called kicks incorrectly. There were other mistakes too, like reading the Aflac Trivia Question incorrectly, and totally skipping over the important part of the question which was “Which three players have won the Rose Bowl best player award TWICE.” He totally missed the part about winning it twice, and consequently, Dan Fouts was answering with people who have won it just once. Obviously there would be more than three people to win the award in the “Grandaddy of all bowl games.” It could have been worse though. It could have been Brent Musburger calling the game.
2 comments:
I think the big mistake on going for it on fourth was leaving Reggie Bush off the field. You don't have to give him the ball, but it'd be a nice decoy. The punt question I at least see bother side (even though I think I ultimately would have done what you describe)... Both offenses were having their way, so you'd kinda like to keep your O on the field and theirs off, but then again you'd be talking a pretty long field, not a lot of time, and a touchdown (not FG) requirement. But Bush not being out there? That's befuddling.
You have to play to win... going for it on 4th and short was the right call in my mind. McCarney would have punted and ISU would have still lost the game - that's how it works with McCarney at the helm. And he would have used all three timeouts by the middle of the 3rd quarter so that's not a factor either.
Post a Comment