4th & 2, six min left in 4th Q?

[LesNessman]

UT 38 OU 35.

OU's ball on their own 48, and OU punts.

Would have liked to see them go for it there, especailly since the D's not very effective and probably worn out.

[JLEW1818]

I agree and was a little surprised.

[colinreturn]

that would have changed the game completely if we made that. 1st and down, down by 3 with 6 mins left and in texas territory? should have gone for it.

[SoonerDood]

that's when TMQ usually says, "Game Over." Hadn't stopped them since RR had been out.

[85Sooner]

Big Game Bobs Balls have shrunk.

[JLEW1818]

Stoops will be thinking about that all night. I'm not blaming him at all, but he is thinking about it right now.

[oumartin]

yep, I don't like that we kicked it away. Obviously they had more faith in the defense than we did. I mean they had only given up 38 points up to then. ;)

[bcgvh]

Yes, fake punt on 4th and 6 when we really didn't need to. Then punt on 4th and 2 when we do. BRILLIANT!!!

[Widescreen]

I was pissed when we punted there. I don't know what made Bob think that our Reynolds-less D was going to start stopping UT all of a sudden.

[Leroy Lizard]

This is mostly hindsight, but I was calling for the fourth-down attempt. I don't think many in here would have criticized Bob for the attempt if it had failed.

[OUthunder]

I think we should have gone for it too.

[Leroy Lizard]

Yes, fake punt on 4th and 6 when we really didn't need to.

Hard to surprise a team when you fake a punt when you need to. :)

[SouthCarolinaSooner]

Ehhh would have gone for it but I'm no coach, my guess is maybe Bob was feeling a little guilty about the fake punt call earlier? I dunno...

[JLEW1818]

In the end The team with the most rushing yards always wins this game.

[BoulderSooner79]

Yep, given our D was exhausted, I was surprised (shocked really) we didn't go for it. No guarantee we make it, but I like our chances much better than our chances of holding UT at that point. Bob must have been hoping to pin them deep, but Knalls only got the punt to the 20. Game over.

[East Coast Bias]

The fake punt on 4th and 6 was ill-conceived. Why would anyone think the punter could run for 6 yards: he had bodies flying around him all day. If we had punted and pinned them deep the odds would have been in our favor. They went on to score a field -goal and never looked back. The time to go was definetely on 4th and 2 with 6 to go, but they were definetely ready for it then with our earlier blunder.
Personally I don't put the problem on Crow, where were the plays from Beal, English, the defensive line? They gassed our entire defense right at the line of scrimmage.Blaming the defeat on RR going down is shallow, others have to make the plays...

[stoopified]

I think he should have gone for it AND not the fake punt with a non-atletic punter on 4th and 6.If you go fake put you need Matt Clapp or Brody Eldridge or Auston English at upback to take the snap not Knall.

[Newbomb Turk]

The fake punt on 4th and 6 was ill-conceived.

might have worked if Gresham decides to block somebody.

[LesNessman]

I thought the earlier fake punt was a decent call, just came up a little short.

On the 4th & 2, they should have had the offense out there, not a fake punt.

That to me was the ball game. Miss it, oh well, but make it you have a chance to score to either tie or lead by 4, run time off, let the defense breathe, and maybe even win the game.

I bet Stoops won't let another opportunity like that slip away again.

[MikeInNorman]

Let's be frank. Punting with 6 minutes left was a terrible decision. The decision not only showed undeserved confidence in the defense, it showed ignorance of how the 40 second rule really affects late game comeback situations. From the 20? Ok, I can see that. But punting in that situation was, in my opinion, the game-losing call, and easily the worst coaching decision I think Bob Stoops has made in his 10 years here.

It was a very Mack-ish call.

[OUmillenium]

might have worked if Gresham decides to block somebody.

Yep, I saw that too. Why am I thinking about basketball right now?

[delhalew]

I dont get payed millions of dollars, but my father and I both said WTF.

4th and 2...

Anybody who thought the clock could be managed after that point with a wore out defense, is kidding themselves.

[Partial Qualifier]

The fake punt on 4th and 6 was ill-conceived. Why would anyone think the punter could run for 6 yards: he had bodies flying around him all day. If we had punted and pinned them deep the odds would have been in our favor. They went on to score a field -goal and never looked back. The time to go was definetely on 4th and 2 with 6 to go, but they were definetely ready for it then with our earlier blunder.
Personally I don't put the problem on Crow, where were the plays from Beal, English, the defensive line? They gassed our entire defense right at the line of scrimmage.Blaming the defeat on RR going down is shallow, others have to make the plays...

^^ yep.



might have worked if Gresham decides to block somebody.

Dude... seriously that was weak: didnt get the downfield guy, turned around and saw the tackler coming up from behind and instead of blocking he was waving knall along... WTF - this is football, not an elementary school crosswalk! Oh well.


Let's be frank. Punting with 6 minutes left was a terrible decision. The decision not only showed undeserved confidence in the defense, it showed ignorance of how the 40 second rule really affects late game comeback situations. From the 20? Ok, I can see that. But punting in that situation was, in my opinion, the game-losing call, and easily the worst coaching decision I think Bob Stoops has made in his 10 years here.

It was a very Mack-ish call.

as much as I hate to admit it: Well-said


Yep, I saw that too. Why am I thinking about basketball right now?

you're not the only one.

[rainiersooner]

The fake punt on 4th and 6 was ill-conceived. Why would anyone think the punter could run for 6 yards: he had bodies flying around him all day. If we had punted and pinned them deep the odds would have been in our favor. They went on to score a field -goal and never looked back. The time to go was definetely on 4th and 2 with 6 to go, but they were definetely ready for it then with our earlier blunder.
Personally I don't put the problem on Crow, where were the plays from Beal, English, the defensive line? They gassed our entire defense right at the line of scrimmage.Blaming the defeat on RR going down is shallow, others have to make the plays...

I agree that there was a lack of big plays from the rest of the D, but all the same, almost all of their points post-Reynolds came from attacking Crow. I'm not calling him out or blaming him, but he was a weak spot that Texas exploited.

[rainiersooner]

Why would anyone think the punter could run for 6 yards

Agreed - but worse than that, it was more like 16 yards with the snap...bad, strange decision imo.

[swardboy]

Well, it doesn't help me feel any better, but Knall, bless his heart, put 100% into the run attempt. Hope whatever happened to his left leg is easily put behind him.

[Pirate Past Fifty]

Stoops will be thinking about that all night. I'm not blaming him at all, but he is thinking about it right now.

The no huddle offense does not work with limited time-they burned precious seconds looking to the side for the play, everybody standing around waiting for the play to be signaled in, giving Tezxass time to adjust.
Losing Reynolds--not good

[Mjcpr]

Well, it doesn't help me feel any better, but Knall, bless his heart, put 100% into the run attempt. Hope whatever happened to his left leg is easily put behind him.

Yeah, he actually made a move or two. The call was bad, Gresham blocked like a ***** (and I've been on his side for a long time) and Knall has no speed or that would've been a success. That's a lot of IF's though.

[BoulderSooner79]

Everyone would have cheered Bob if the fake punt had worked and it came real close. But no, I didn't like the call either :) But hesitating to go for it on 4th and 2 because the fake punt didn't work ? That makes no sense to me. We would have had SB with his pin-point accuracy looking for any open crack 2+ yards down field. I would have like our chances of converting.

[aurorasooner]

I don't have any problem with the fake punt, but after Texas took a 38-35 lead, we get the ball on the KO. 1st down--good pass play for ~7 yards. 2nd down and 3. On 2nd down we run that (**^%%*&( 1-back deep I-back set with DM. Texas LB beats Murray to the telegraphed point of attact for no-gain or a 1 yard loss. DM just can't do it this year with the injury. KW get it through your head. Then a 3rd down incomplete pass.
3 and out, game, set, match. 2 downs to make 3 yards and we haven't got a running game that can get 3 yards on 2 carries---. Geeez us. That was sh*&&y play calling. With our OL I hate that (**%&*()( deep 1 back-I back set where we hand-off to Murray trying to get lucky and find the seam. Has that play worked since DM found the seam against Texas last year? We need a 1st down. Put Chris Brown in in the I formation with a fullback and attact w/o all that waiting before the play to get an audible called in. Just line-up and attack. Then if we don't get it, line-up in the same formation, and either attack again or run the play-action off of it.

[VA Sooner]

Going for the fake punt... OK, I get it... trying to change the momentum that Texas was swinging with. But the fake punt had Knall back about 13-15 yards which added more to the attempt. Came very close.

But 4th and 2 with 6 minutes left? That should have been a no-brainer especially with the defense sputtering. Instead... a punt for 10+ yards and 7 more Texas.

Should have gone for it... would have made more sense after having gone for it on 4th and 8 (+7).

Would have also given the team more moxie for the rest of the season, showing it could get into the trenches and fought harder.

Texas saw our weakness up the middle and exploited it. Ran our defense hard which then opened up their run game.

[HopeSpringsEternal]

OK just STOP with the worn out defense crap. Please for pity's sake just shut the hell up about it. If Bob had thought the defense was worn out at that point he wouldn't have punted it. This guy makes millions to know if his defense is "worn out" or not. I'm quite sure he's capable of judging where they are during a football game. He was hoping in vain they'd hold. They didn't because at that point Texas wanted it more and was more prepared to do something about it. That's it and that's all.