BAD STRATEGERY BY TRESSEL

[okcusooner]

As soon as Daniel Herron scored with 2:05 left, I knew the Longhorns would win.

I was telling all my buddies that it made more sense to milk the clock and settle for a field goal.

Herron should have taken a page out of Brian Westbrook's book and gone down short of the goal line...Clock stops to move the chains. First down announced....clock begins.

Texas probably calls time out. (two minutes left) Take a knee on first down. Texas calls its last time out. (1:55 left) Take a knee on second down, and let another 30 seconds run off the clock...hence about 1:25 left. Take a knee on third down (or try to run for the touchdown)...then with 55 seconds remaining, kick the short field goal.

Texas has less than a minute and no timeouts to drive for the winning field goal.

I like those odds better than 2:05 left and two timeouts to drive for a winning touchdown.

[catsigater]

Tressel, for all his reputation as a football genius, seems to make some seriously bad decisions in BCS games.

[Sooner5030]

At one time, in a bowl, I think we were up by 1 late in the 4th. We could've sat on it but scored instead. The other team went down the field and scored a TD +2. OT loss.

But then again I've drank and slept since then.

[BoulderSooner79]

I see your point, but I don't totally agree. Kicking the FG may leave little time, but then UT only needs a FG to win. And then there is that nasty possibility of a bad snap/blocked kick/missed kick that would eat your guts out for eternity:(

Besides, they needed the 1st down and once the hole opened, no running back is going to do anything but score. The REAL BAD strategery was crowding the line with less than 25secs to play and leaving the quick slant open that UT had been hitting all night.

[okcusooner]

I see your point, but I don't totally agree. Kicking the FG may leave little time, but then UT only needs a FG to win. And then there is that nasty possibility of a bad snap/blocked kick/missed kick that would eat your guts out for eternity:(

Besides, they needed the 1st down and once the hole opened, no running back is going to do anything but score. The REAL BAD strategery was crowding the line with less than 25secs to play and leaving the quick slant open that UT had been hitting all night.


No. No. No...That is precisely what Brian Westbrook purposely DID NOT do against the Cowboys in 2007. After breaking out in the open, he took a knee at the one. The pundits considered it a brilliant move.

[BoulderSooner79]

I'm not disagreeing, but Westbrook is a veteran NFL player and very aware of the game situation. Herron is a college kid who just knows his number was called and his team needed a 1st down. The play was not designed to score, but UT gambled and it opened up. Not much time in the huddle and the coaches really only talk to the QB, who in this case is a true freshman. I just don't see many college teams trying to get that fancy.

BTW, I thought the same thing in our game against Boise. If Walker would have downed it at the one on that interception instead of scoring, we could have drained the timeouts and the clock and kicked the winning FG. But it's hard to expect a kid with a pick-6 in his hands to not score.

[SoonerShark]

But since UT scored the winning points with only seconds left, its win should not count against Ohio State.

[SoonerShark]

Tressel, for all his reputation as a football genius, seems to make some seriously bad decisions in BCS games.

UT should have been 21 points better than this Ohio State game. Tressel did a good job, winning the first half and the fourth quarter. But that was not quite enough.

In the UT record book this will be listed as a 45 to 3.5 win.

[JLEW1818]

Field goals are not automatic,

say he shanks it,

then Jim gets fired

[Jacie]

If there was any bad strategic moves by Tressel it wasn't in not telling his offense not to score. This is college ball. But he could have used his timeouts on defense where he had a better chance of winning by stopping Te*as instead of holding them for a last ditch drive in the event they were behind. Calling time once the horns were in the red zone would have given his defense a few seconds to catch their breath and get set. The horns would have to score by beating them in coverage instead of Cosby walking into the endzone.

After the buckeyes go up by two, everyone knew 2:05 was plenty of time for the horns. The only real chance they had was to stop em on downs or force a turnover. They almost managed to do both during the crucial drive but in the end, the tOSU defense was worn out. They had not seen or played against a hurry-up spread offense and it cost them. They did well when Te*as wasn't in the no huddle, sacked Ponyboy and stuffed the run but the ran outa gas at the end. More than once, linemen were out of their stance when the horns snapped the ball and the safeties were all over the place and out of position. And despite all that, they still almost pulled this one out.

[Hot Rod]

Clock management is why tOSU lost. On their last drive, before Texass scored, they could've easily ran down the play clock, milking it for every second, before the snap. It was a good game, but as okcu said, I knew they'd win with that much time.

Funny though, OSU had a player drop an INT and Texas did as well. I hope Texas fans see the humor in that one.

[fadada1]

STRATEGY?????

i saw no strategy by ohio state. seriously, that was one of the worst called games i've seen. not worse that a john blake coached team, but pretty darn close. the fact they were even in this game is amazing - especially considering their defense was on the field for about 25 minutes in the second half.

the first (or at least the most visible) mistake i saw was not going for it on 4th and 2 in the 2nd quarter. it was their second FG attempt from 51 yards. seriously??? what was he thinking not going for it with wells running well and pryor running well???? it just got worse from there. the 2 QB system really hindered them, imo. stupid, stupid, stupid.

[ashley]

As an old coach I will say that there is no way you don't get the TD if you can.

[soonerinabilene]

The two qb system was what kept them in the game. Todd played a fantastic role, i thought. The bad strategy i thought was calling a 3man blitz leaving no safety in the middle with 25 seconds left. That was just stupid.

[GrapevineSooner]

No. No. No...That is precisely what Brian Westbrook purposely DID NOT do against the Cowboys in 2007. After breaking out in the open, he took a knee at the one. The pundits considered it a brilliant move.

The two situations are barely comparable.

Westbrook went down at the 1 because they knew a first down without a score would allow them to run out the clock.

tOSU, even if they had made the FG, would have still left plenty of time on the clock for Texas to drive into position to kick a potential game winning field goal themselves.

I agree with Jacie that the defense they played on the Cosby score cost them more than the decision to not milk the clock. I don't have a problem with the scheme or the decision to blitz.

But as a CB, you've got to know you're not going to have any help behind you if the WR beats you on that slant. So under no circumstances can you allow the WR to get behind you.

[TUSooner]

I see your point, but I don't totally agree. Kicking the FG may leave little time, but then UT only needs a FG to win. And then there is that nasty possibility of a bad snap/blocked kick/missed kick that would eat your guts out for eternity:(

Besides, they needed the 1st down and once the hole opened, no running back is going to do anything but score. The REAL BAD strategery was crowding the line with less than 25secs to play and leaving the quick slant open that UT had been hitting all night.

BINGO !!!!

[TUSooner]

Recall that the Eagles ALREADY HAD THE LEAD when Westbrook took his famous knee at the one yard line.

[SouthFortySooner]

I'm so simple minded. I was thinking all Ohio State had to do to win was stop them from scoring. :rolleyes:

[Dan Thompson]

The only time I have seen a college team work at clock management, was when Illinois was playing tOSU and ran over 8 miinutes off the clock to beat tOSU.

[OUmillenium]

I think this is a great argument everytime it comes up and I see the advantages to both sides.

For me, I still like the idea of getting a touchdown and leaving it up to your defense with the other team having to drive down the field(barring a big return) and need more than a field goal to win it.

If your defense can't get the big stop...you don't deserve to win. IMO

Another perspective - Always take the TD when available and never leave it up to a kicker (fumbled snap, etc. might happen) to win the game because you are "afraid" of the other teams offense getting another chance.

[OUAlumni1990]

Bottom line is Jim Tressel got outcoached by a guy that did nothing but sit on the sidelines with his arms folded (in other words, Tressel outcoached himself).