Michigan State 35, Purdue 31 - Don't Call It a Comeback
by Pete Rossman on Nov 21, 2010 3:42 PM CST
in Michigan State Spartans Football
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PrintMany of us thought the past bye week would rejuvenate the Spartans and MSU's opening drive, a nine play, 72-yard trek culminating in a gorgeous 24-yard TD reception by Mark Dell, did nothing to dissuade that notion. Nearly halfway through the third quarter however, Michigan State found itself down 28-13 due to several defensive breakdowns, a massive brain fart from Kirk Cousins, and the first missed extra point from Dan Conroy on the season. Yet somehow, in stark contrast to previous seasons, I kept believing MSU would find a way to win. Sure enough, aided and abetted by Rob Henry and the Purdue special teams unit, MSU scored 22 points in the 4th quarter to eke out a 35-31 victory, and stand to clam their first share of a Big Ten title in two decades.
First, let's review the gaffes that allowed Purdue to build such a lead:
- Trenton Robinson overpursues Keith Carlos, allowing Carlos to run past him. This wouldn't be such a big deal if Robinson wasn't the free safety, but alas, and Carlos runs 80 yards for a touchdown.
- On the following series on a third and four, Kirk Cousins throws to a spot to Keith Nichol coming off a slant. Now if this spot is open it's a first down, but corner back Ricardo Allen is in this spot, and 35 yards later Purdue is up 14-7.
- Hey, Edwin Baker scores! Neat! Surely Dan Conroy can make this extra point! *DOINK* Aw, hamburgers. 14-13 Purdue.
- Remember those late hit penalties from a few weeks ago? They're still here! Purdue gets one of these and a holding call on their 2nd quarter touchdown drive. Purdue 21-13.
Purdue would add another touchdown to make it 28-13. After a Michigan State punt early in the 4th quarter expectations for a win were looking slim, at best. Hope can come in many forms though. It could be through a kind word from a friend. It can come in the form of a new job opportunity. It can also come by the wings of a magnificent arm-punt, which is what happened yesterday. Henry lofted a ball to no one in particular, resulting in an easy interception by Chris L. Rucker. Four plays later Cousins completed a five yard pass to B.J. Cunningham to make the score 28-20.
(Brief quibble of the day - why did the coaching staff only go for one here? I'd much prefer that MSU went for two in that scenario; if they miss, they know they need two scores, if they get it, they can go for the extra point later. I'd love to know the game theory behind this to see which is more advantageous.)
After the TD MSU held Purdue to a three-and-out. Sadly this three-and-out started at the MSU 40 thanks to porous kick coverage, and Carson Wiggs nailed a 52-yarder to put Purdue up 11. From there on out it was the Kirk Cousins show. Cousins completed 6 of his 8 passes on the next drive to 5 different receivers, including the TD and 2-point conversion tosses each to Mark Dell. The score was now 31-28 with seven minutes left.
After another Purdue three-and-out the Boilermaker punting team came on with one of those three-man wedges guarding the punter that's become so en vogue these days. These wedges are quite effective at protecting the punter, with this caveat -- the blockers must actually block the rush. Whoever was on the left end of the wedge must've forgotten that fact since Denicos Allen went around the wedge and subsequently blocked the punt. First and goal Spartans at the Purdue three-yard line. Two plays later Kirk Cousins ran towards the end zone, fumbling the ball shortly before the goal line. Luckily, the ball bounced right underneath Joel Foreman who fell on it for the touchdown.
Purdue had one last chance to score and got the ball into Michigan State territory with help from YET ANOTHER LATE HIT PENALTY. Three ineffective plays after the personal foul Purdue was facing a 4th-and-8. Greg Jones pressured the quarterback out of the pocket and Henry had no choice but to wing a pass downfield. It found the hands of Chris Norman, and that was the ballgame.
So what to take from this game? First of all, despite the one and a half big mistakes Kirk Cousins had a great game: 28-of-37 for 276 yards, three touchdowns, the aforementioned interception, and only took one sack. He was also playing hurt and missed some time in the first half; this is how Cousins himself put it:
I've been battling a sprained ankle and sprained shoulder three or four weeks now and they just don't heal when you keep playing on them. I've been battling and getting a lot of treatment on but they are very tender so when you get driven into the ground or twisted in the pile it's not going to react to well. Sprains are something that you can keep playing as long as you can handle the pain but it slows you down.
It was halftime when we had to make the decision because at that point the shoulder and ankle had been aggravated. We just made the decision and went for it, and after the first series I felt I could do it. Obviously I wasn't at full strength but I was able to do it enough, but when you have players like this around you like Mark Dell, who is one of the best receivers in the Big Ten, and you have a blocked punt and interceptions, which we've had in all of our close games, it makes a bad ankle and shoulder easy to deal with because you have guys helping you out.
That's one of the gutsiest performances I've seen from a quarterback in my time following Michigan State, and it explains why Cousins has seemingly fallen off in the past few weeks. He'll have some time to rest up after the Penn State game but, to state the obvious, Michigan State will need him to play every bit as solidly minus the one or two huge mistakes against the Nittany Lions on Saturday. All other aspects of the offense were terrific - the offensive line held Ryan Kerrigan to one sack, the receivers led by Mark Dell had great games, and Edwin Baker was solid, gaining 91 yards on 16 carries.
The defense...ugh. They made plays when they needed to, but far too many mental mistakes occurred for me to feel comfortable about the Big Ten finale in six days. While they didn't give up too many big plays (Purdue only had three plays of more than 20 yards, although two of those were for more than 60), the dumb penalties haven't been fixed, and Penn State's offense has finally found its stride. To put it shortly, the defense needs to play smarter, not harder.
The regular season concludes this season at Happy Valley against a rapidly improving Nittany Lion squad. A win guarantees a share of the Big Ten Title. A win coupled with a Wisconsin loss against Northwestern could give the Spartans a non-Rose Bowl BCS berth, while a win and a Ohio State loss means MSU's headed to Pasadena. Needless to say a loss and MSU is off to either the Capital One or Outback bowl, depending on whether two Big Ten teams go to BCS bowls.
It'll be a bit frustrating to see MSU have their best season in recent memory and miss out on a BCS appearance. On the other hand, I don't know if a cogent argument can be crafted explaining how MSU is one of the top two teams in the Big Ten if Ohio State and Wisconsin win out. Although MSU beat Wisconsin, Wisconsin has looked like the much superior team in the second half of the season, and although Ohio State and MSU have similar resumes, Ohio State didn't lose at Wisconsin in quite the spectacular fashion that MSU did at Iowa. Nevertheless, a Big Ten Title is pretty awesome, so all MSU can do in this situation is beat Penn State and hope for the best.
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Dont Call it a comeback Call it a choke job
by Delaware Boiler on Nov 21, 2010 4:07 PM CST reply actions
Split the difference
I think this one was half comeback, half choke job.
"You can look at the dinosaur that weighs you down or you can look at the big pot of gold (and) try to say, 'You know what? I'm going to try to live up to expectations.' " -Tom Izzo, Iron Mountain Philosopher
by Ducking Delvon on Nov 21, 2010 4:15 PM CST up reply actions
Three Points
1. Anybody know what the deal was with the “arm punt”? Was that an attempt at a throw away, a broken play, or some other ill-conceived idea?
2. Dell should definitely be in line for a biggie. He was a monster and the 2 point conversion catch (that ended up being the difference) was great.
3. What happened to the various offensive plays we run that are not the bubble screen? Seriously, how many of those did we run? 10, 15? That was infuriating. Treadwell made some nice calls to bring us back, but the offense really stalled in the middle of the game thanks to some very dubious play calling.
Really injured and in pain QB...
…probably has something to do with running the plays where he doesn’t have to move much and can get rid of the ball right away…
hmm didn't think of that
Still, once it became apparent they weren’t really working, I would’ve liked to see the offense try something else.
The bubble screens were mildly successful...
…A couple of them went for 6-8 yards, which is really all that play is designed to get. On a couple other attempts, the play was set up correctly, but the BJ couldn’t make the first tackler miss (Ricardo Allen made a couple nice plays on those). For the bubble screen, the goal is to get your receiver with the ball in a 1 on 1 situation against the defender. The receiver has to get past that first guy on his own.
Early MSU-PSU line
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 21, 2010 6:16 PM CST reply actions
Cousins got the TD, not a fumble.. just FYI.
Just a small correction – You can’t fumble the ball forward into the end zone, so that means that the refs decided that Cousins was in the endzone before the fumble and that joel foreman falling on it was inconsequential.
Not true (regarding the rules)
I believe Cousins got credit for the TD, but there’s nothing special about a forward fumble into the end zone that is recovered before going out of bounds. A forward fumble out of bounds is returned to the spot of the fumble (except if it went out in the end zone; then it’s a touchback and turnover), but a forward fumble in bounds can be recovered and advanced by any offensive player except on 4th down or a PAT (the Holy Roller rule). On 4th down or a PAT, no offensive player other than the one who fumbled can advance a fumble (the ball is immediately dead if they recover, whether down or not), and if they recover forward of the spot of the fumble it goes back to the spot.
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Going for 2
I think Dantonio clearly made the right decision going for the XP when we scored to make it 20-28. When your down like that you make it a one-possession game. If you go for 2 and don’t make it you’re putting yourself in a tough position down 2 possessions. If we go for 2 there and miss it, you put more pressure on your team for no good reason. Also if we miss it there, then Purdue is only down 3 at the end of the game with a game-tying field goal in their back pocket at our 22-yard line.
by AlkalineKidAP on Nov 21, 2010 8:56 PM CST via mobile reply actions
I disagree completely
to me, the information is worth more than emotion. Down 15, you need the 2 at some point and aren’t more or less likely to get it first or second. You might as well try it first so you know whether it’s successful or not and can play call accordingly for an extra possession.
Schadenfreude ist die schoenste Freude
Completely wrong
If you miss, you need another score whether you miss the first time or the second. You can’t assume 8 points is a one-score game. You can’t assume it’s two either, which is the problem. If you go for 1 the first time, you DO NOT know whether you need one more score or two. You can’t plan adequately for that situation; if you’re deep in opposing territory with a couple minutes left you can try to use up the clock and make sure the opponent doesn’t have time for a winning FG drive before OT … but you may find that you were the ones who needed that time. Or you can try to save time in case you miss the two-pointer, only to find your opponents very grateful for that extra minute to go for the winning FG.
Early in the game, too much can happen yet, you don’t want to spend all game chasing a point. But by the 4th quarter, if “needing X number of scores” depends on getting a two-point conversion, take it at the first opportunity. Your strategy depends on knowing how many times you need to score. Find out as soon as you can.
(Also, if we miss the 2-pointer when we did take it Purdue is in position to tie or win with a FG, depending on whether we get the 2 we would take when the following TD put us up 32-31.)
Unless you think when you attempt the 2 affects how likely you are to make it – and I doubt there’s enough data to draw any conclusion, nor can I visualize any plausible mechanism for it – there is absolutely nothing to gain by waiting and finding out that you need one more score than you thought after it’s too late to do anything about it. This is even more strongly true if down 22: go for 2 the first time, and you can still recover from a miss by getting two TD+2s later. Wait even until your second TD, and no such recovery is possible.
(Short version: what Seer said.)
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I agree from a pure strategic standpoint
But it’s not something I get too worked up about. I can see why a head coach would reasonably think it’s important to avoid deflating the team if you fail on the early 2-point conversion, and the chances the decision to wait end up costing you the game are pretty small, I think.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 21, 2010 9:48 PM CST up reply actions
With 10 minutes left, it's less obviously a problem
But I see it all the time with only four minutes or so, and there it absolutely can cost you. If you need two more scores, you’d better onside kick. If you need one, maybe you’re better off hoping for a defensive stop. Kick the first one, and there’s no hope of recovery if you miss the second. Go for 2 and miss the first time, and yeah, you’re in pretty dire straits, but at least you know what sort of miracle you need (instead of finding out when there are 15 seconds left).
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Sure,
but the odds you’re going to get the ball back on an onside kick and score twice are exceeding low. So, yes, I agree with your argument, but it’s low on my list of football coaching decision gripes.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 21, 2010 10:00 PM CST up reply actions
Agree with AlkalineKid
In this situation, with MSU down 15 with 11 minutes left, you’re going to get the ball back at least twice (three timeouts … plus you have to assume at least one three-and-out if you’re going to have any sort of chance). So you want to take the easy points.
As we saw, 11 minutes is a TON of time (i.e. a ton of information to be gained by simply letting the game play out). If you have a more talented team, you have to put some faith in your defense to get a stop and force the opposition to blink first. By keeping it a one-score game, you’re not only giving your own team a boost but you’re also applying a bunch of pressure to the other team. They played conservative and cracked.
I tend to think you always take the easy points until the situation forces you to earn the difficult points. With three minutes left? Then I can see the argument for going for two early b/c it forces your decision on whether or not to go for an onside kick. I think Dantonio made the correct call here.
The only scenario where going for two comes back to haunt you if you miss
is if you give up two FGs to make it a total of 21 needed. (Or a safety to make it 17.) Otherwise, you need a two at some point no matter how it plays out down the stretch. At that point in the game, if we give up two FG drives there may not be enough time for a comeback anyway.
I wouldn’t chase by going for two before the fourth quarter, but by the 4th you generally know what you’ll need.
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Remember Oklahoma-Mizzou earlier this year?
Sooners went for 2 in a similar situation, failed the attempt, and Stoops was heavily criticized for going for it. There was less time left in that game, however, so the criticism was justified.
IMO, you do whatever you can to make it a 1 possession game at that point. If you score another TD to get within 2, a lot of pressure shifts to the opposing defense to get the stop.
It ISN'T a one-possession game at 8.
It might be. And most of the Stoops criticism was focused on the wrong things: once you miss, with six minutes left you have to seriously consider an onside kick (if you miss, you were going to need a quick stop anyway if you kicked away; maybe you’ll force a long FG miss), and you absolutely CANNOT punt at any time from anywhere on the field.
The problem is that Stoops gave up after he missed, instead of playing for the two possessions he needed.
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I am not in any way, shape or form suggesting a playoff.
If a 10-2/11-1 MSU or 10-2 OK St. miss out on the reputable bowls…Orange, Rose, Sugar or Fiesta while an 11-2 Va Tech (which lost at home to a I-AA) or an 8-4 Pittsburgh whose best win is Rutgers(?) are included, well that will show just how screwed up the BCS system is. At least the Okies have the Cotton Bowl to fall back on.
(The fact that Boise and TCU have managed to play one or two meaningful games and are somehow included, just adds fuel to the fire).
The bowl games are exhibitions. The “national championship” is still mythical. Let the bowls put who they want against who they want. In a fair selection scenario MSU would be selected over either of the ACC or “Big” East entrants. Maybe over either of BSU or TCU (but not both).
I'd rather have the old mess than the BCS
At least then everybody acknowledged the “M” in “MNC”. But I think that ship has sailed. There will be a playoff for the foreseeable future (there already is, it’s just a two-team playoff in a sport that has about 10% connectivity in its season graph and 120 teams – in other words, the sort of playoff one would only come up with on some really powerful drugs). So let’s have one that doesn’t suck.
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by SpartanDan on Nov 21, 2010 9:43 PM CST up reply actions 2 recs
I can...
…them following Phil Steele’s advice and putting in a four-team playoff, with a MNC game a week after New Years. It’d be better than the current system, but wouldn’t solve my biggest problem with the current system. It doesn’t give every team the same shot to win, because it uses the polls. You have to have some hype coming in to the year, or be in a BCS conference to have a shot at the MNC.
I too would prefer the old days, the tradition of Big 10 v. Pac 10 in the Rose Bowl is more fun than the BCS system.
by witless chum on Nov 22, 2010 6:01 AM CST up reply actions
"Fair" being the operative word.
If bowls were allowed to choose who they want it would have nothing to do with the talent or season each team has had. It would be entirely concerned with 1. The ability of the fanbase to travel, and 2. The national TV draw a team can pull.
And while I agree with you about the Big East, Va Tech is real and so are BSU and TCU.
TCU? BSU?
Give me a break. Have you watched either of these teams play any sort of meaningful game? No? Oh, that’s because the only meaningful games they play is the one game per year against a BCS school followed up by creampuff games. As someone who has watched a number of these creampuff games, let me tell you something; If MSU had TCUs schedule they would win all of their games by 50 points, and rather easily at that.
Check out TCUs schedule, for example: http://espn.go.com/college-football/team/_/id/2628/tcu-horned-frogs
“Big” game 1: 9 point win over soon-to-be 5-7 Oregon St.
“Big” game 2: Blowout of Baylor, who is on their way to whatever the Big 12 has for a Little Caesars Bowl
Other meaningful games: None
Sure this is a good season, but uh, national championship? The sad thing is they can literally put 4 months of prep into the bowl game; their last meaningful game was on Sept 18th
"It's a trap!"
by AdmiralAkbar on Nov 22, 2010 12:00 AM CST up reply actions
They've played teams better than Purdue or Minnesota
And we sure didn’t win those two by 50. Utah may have gotten drilled by Notre Dame, but they also beat the crap out of a halfway-decent Iowa State team. And while Air Force and San Diego State didn’t quite pull off the wins against their Big XII foes, scaring Oklahoma and Missouri, respectively, isn’t exactly bad.
Besides, if winning all their games isn’t good enough to earn them a shot at the title, they ought to just break off and form Division 1-and-a-half-A for the non-BCS leagues. (Of course, the really smart solution would be to let more than two teams play for the title.)
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Come on Akbar
Don’t use the “have you watched” argument to the table. You are better than that. Yes i have watched several of their games. They are complete and dangerous teams. Oregon St by the way has only collapsed after the season ending injury to one of their two best players.
And Boise’s win over Va Tech is better than any win we have other than Wisconsin. And they did it on the road. They scheduled a tough OOC, and they have absolutely crushed their conference. CFB either needs to let one of them in to the NC game, create a playoff, or decide that everyone not in a power six conference is not actually in the FBS and create a NC game for them. Any sporting league where a team can be totally dismissed before the season even starts is BS.
And didn't....
….OSU (west) crunch USC Saturday? They are a decent team, especially with both Rodgers’. And neither BSU or TCU had much trouble with them.
by witless chum on Nov 22, 2010 5:57 AM CST up reply actions
Actually...
TCU vs. OSU was a 1 score game with about 4 mins. remaining – that was a pretty close game
You can't look at tihngs in a vacuum
They beat Va Tech in a close game, then Va Tech follows up the next week by getting blasted by a “meh” FCS team?
Utah gets crushed by TCU, then gets crushed the next week almost as bad by a ND team that actually lost to both Navy and Tulsa in the same season.
They crushed an Iowa State team that finished 5-7 and will be watching the bowl season from a cornfield?
As I’ve said several times on this board, the saddest part of all of this is the fact that these teams will continue to:
A. Dominate their terrible conferences
B. Win the one or two “big games” every year because they have the ENTIRE YEAR to prepare for them
If you think that TCU hasn’t been preparing for the BCS game they are going to have since Sept 18th, you are just kidding yourself. They don’t have to bring their “A” game to beat the likes of BYU, SMU or Colorado St, or any of the other teams on their schedule. In fact, actually watching these games, I would say they probably brought a C game to Colorado St, and a D- game to SDSU, but still managed to win. If they have to actually spend the game week every week preparing for an actual opponent, I think you would see them losing games here and there, to teams like Northwestern, Iowa, Illinois, etc. Sure they would win some games against those teams, but they would lose some too, which is my point here.
"It's a trap!"
by AdmiralAkbar on Nov 22, 2010 1:30 PM CST up reply actions
You are right.
You can’t look at things in a vacuum. The Va Tech loss to James Madison was clearly a fluke. They were coming off an emotional loss that probably cost them any shot at an NC, and they were playing of a short week. They didn’t show up, and were rightly punished in the polls. Since then, they are UNDEFEATED. They have not lost. Meaning their only two losses are to the #3 team in the country, and the flukey upset that I outlined above. Va Tech is for real. And by the way, that was the first game of the season so both teams had “the ENTIRE YEAR” to prepare for it.
And while we are talking about vacuums… OSU is not the same team as it was when it played TCU and Boise. It lost one of the most dynamic playmakers on offense in the country AFTER those two games. It has only recently figured out how to deal with it. You can’t discredit that victory because of an injury that happened after the fact.
by steinfi2 on Nov 22, 2010 2:32 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
Va Tech
I’m not sure how you can qualify them as legit. Sure they are UNDEFEATED if you don’t the two losses (MSU is UNDEFEATED if you don’t count the Iowa loss, but that is beside the point), but who have they played since then? The ACC is pretty bad, and the ACC coastal is terrible. Not saying that they are a terrible team or anything, but its tough to call them “for real” in my opinion.
As for OSU, injuries happen. We laugh at the obscene reliance that UofM places on good ol’ shoelaces, but when Oregon State does this its understandable. If one guy is the difference between between 5 wins and 10 wins, your football team has some issues.
I’m not trying to “discredit victories” here, just trying to add some context. Are Boise St and TCU good teams? Sure. Should they be playing for a national championship, or are they among the best 5 teams in the country? No.
"It's a trap!"
by AdmiralAkbar on Nov 22, 2010 4:08 PM CST up reply actions
Context
My point was that they have not lost since those two losses which were their first two games of the season, and the second and more egregious loss requires some context to understand. And yes, injuries do happen. And frequently teams that rely on one player are bit by that. A good example is Auburn. If Cam Newton gets injured they are a 6-8 win team, as opposed to a possible NC team. Injuries are part of the context of college football. Very often one player can make a difference in a team’s season. If that player is present for a group of games, but not present for others, that is an important factor to take into account.
Boise scheduled a tough OOC??
They scheduled a tough OOC
Really?
Let’s examine their schedule…
-“@” VA Tech (tough game)
-home against a 5 win OSU team (not a bad team, but also a very winnable game, especially at home, not much different than playing Northwestern at home would be)
-home against Toledo and Wyoming (cupcakes)
Now this is where I have my problem. Boise knows their situation. They know that their entire conference is garbage, so why would they schedule Toledo and Wyoming?
Schedule, at minimum, three tough games and then we can reconsider.
Three truths
1) It is unlikely that Boise State or TCU are fundamentally among the best two teams in the country.
2) It is grossly inequitable they never get a chance to prove point (1) wrong in something other than a meaningless bowl game.
3) We need an expanded system for determining a national champion that provides some reasonable level of access to plausible contenders.
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 22, 2010 3:27 PM CST up reply actions
OSU was ranked at the beginning of the year
You are really going to blame BSU’s scheduling because OSU didn’t live up to expectations? How many top power conference teams scheduled two games against ranked foes in their non-conference schedule? And by the way, Toledo is not a total cupcake. Ask the Purdue team they beat in West Lafayette by double digits. BSU’s non conference schedule was VASTLY more difficult than MSU’s.
Again. It's an exhibition. That should be the prime motivation.
As far as Va Tech. Sure they are playing great (as they usually do…drop a couple of OOC games and run rough shod over the ACC) but shouldn’t the fact that they lost to a I-AA team (at home?!) count against them?
How does losing a game against a tough conference opponent on the road compare with losing to a CAA team that finished behind seven other schools at home?
Which team will bring more fans? A disappointed VA Tech fanbase who expected to be in the MNC game or a Spartan fanbase that hasn’t been to a major game in 23 seasons? (As UM’s selection to the Orange over us in 1999 showed, brand names win – just or unjust).
I will say this until I am blue in the face. BSU and TCU while good teams, do not go undefeated in one of the Big 4 conferences. They are effectively playing 7-9 I-AA schools every year.
One other major complaint
After Dantonio was so willing to go for it on 4th earlier this season when it was warranted, three punts in Purdue territory? NOT COOL. The first was the most inexcusable of the bunch, as it was 4th and 2 at the 40. (The others were at least 4th and longer, but short of 4th and 10+ from midfield you’re almost always better off going for it once you cross midfield. 30 yards of field position on a touchback – or a reasonably well executed pooch punt from the 40 – is nowhere near enough to be worth giving up your chance at scoring unless that chance is minimal, and 4th and 2 certainly is not.)
It’s worth giving up a little expectation to reduce variance if you’re sufficiently far ahead (or likely to be), but not when you’re behind. Both of the late 3rd-quarter punts are examples where you have to increase variance due to being behind, and you’re gaining expected value in the process too. I wrote the game off right before the Henry arm-punt, because a team that is playing to win rather than to hold down the margin of loss simply does not punt on either of those. Yes, you risk making things worse, but you greatly increase your odds of winning by going for it.
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Dantonio's split personality
He thinks like Saban on 4th-and-short at the goal line, but thinks like Tressel on 4th-and-short near midfield. (More or less; I know he’s gone for it a couple times near midfield earlier in the season.)
Fight for The Only Colors: Green and White!
by KJ@theonlycolors on Nov 22, 2010 6:32 AM CST up reply actions
In Coach D's defense...
…2 of those punts were downed inside the 5, so I can’t complain much. The first one I thought they should have gone for it though.
Agree completely
I got into a rather vehement argument with the guy who sits next to me about this very issue. He loved the punts, and I was tearing my hair out.
PP-TPW.
The Only Colors
Please tell me...
…Trenton Robinson is in line for a super-size slappy this week.
- Bad pursuit on Carlos’ 80 yard run
- Letting a receiver run behind him for a 70 yard pass play
- Late hit out of bounds on the QB
Holy crap- what an awful game he had.
I would call this a mess.
THIS is what you have to do to Purdue at home.
Beat Northwestern, THEN I'll talk Wisconsin in the BCS. But not until that happens.
For all the crap we give Wil Wheaton, he can still tackle better than Asante Samuel...
by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Nov 22, 2010 4:01 PM CST reply actions
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