Worse Coaching Decisions Last Night-Saban Or Brown?

[SoonerForever]

Sabans not limited to first quarter starting with choosing to receive versus defering to the second half, punter pass on 4th and long, going conservative so early into the second half......and then Brown(Davis) with several bonehead play calls of their own....

[MeMyself&Me]

If you believe in making judgments on results and hindsight then they were both really bad calls but Mack's was worse because it resulted in more points.

That said, I'm not a hindsight kind of person. I think the decision to receive on the coin toss was a bizarre and bad move. Both teams were believed to have a good defense. In that case you always defer. The only time you might think of receiving is if you're bringing in a high powered offense and you think you can make their defense look silly. Maybe Saban thought he knew something he could exploit. I don't know but it sure seemed dumb at the time... but not something I expected them to lose the game over.

That 'go for it on 4th and 23 from deep in your own territory' was the dumbest call in the game IMO. You can say that if the pass was thrown better it would have worked but trick passes out of specialty team formations aren't usually thrown very well. As it turned out, Saban was lucky that Texas intercepted... worked out like a short punt anyway.

Regarding Mack's blunder, I don't think it was the right move but I don't think it was as bad as others are saying it was (when you disregard hindsight of course). They should have just taken a knee and regrouped and I think that mainly because they were obviously reeling from losing their QB and needed to go work some things out. The idea they could move down the field and score in that time was far fetched... but certainly not impossible. If they did get a good play to move down the field, they did have a time out I believe. If you're going to decide to run a real play that has any reasonable likelihood of success against the prevent defense Alabama was using AND wanting it to be a safe play, the shovel pass was not so bad a call. And it's failure had nothing to do with their young qb. If that player trying to catch it didn't bobble it, no interception. I can't remember ever seeing an interception on a shovel pass before last night... just a bizarre play.

[swardboy]

Definitely for me it was Texas not taking a knee at halftime.
The punter pass isn't far behind though.

[Breadburner]

Both made bone headed calls.....

[Frozen Sooner]

Mack choosing not to play an available Colt McCoy in the second half.

[rawlingsHOH]

I thought Saban was terrible.

[TUSooner]

Saban screwed up worse. The fake punt was mind-boggling dumb. Plus I think it was a mistake whenever Bama called a pass play.

Mack's "blunder" was really just freaky bad luck on an otherwise low-risk play. Sure, taking a knee is NO risk, but honestly, have you ever before seen a pick-6 on a shovel pass? If the receiver hadn't juggled the ball 52 times that would have been a nothing play and the whorns would have then taken a knee. If he catches it clean, then he probably would have gotten something, maybe enough for a hail Mary.

Saban's fake punt was definitely the brain cramp of the game.

[TopDawg]

Saban chose to receive in the SEC championship game and they came out on the first possession and set the tone for the entire game. I don't fault him for choosing to receive in this game.

I haven't gone back to see the fake punt again, but in hearing Herbstreit talk about it after the game, it sounded like Texas looked like they were bringing the house, but then backed out at the last second. It could've been an audible that the Bama players called when they saw Texas loading up for what looked like a block attempt (leaving the gunner wide open). I don't know...what has Saban said about that play?

Mack's decision was boneheaded. What he said heading into the lockerroom was correct...it's a safe call. But it's also not a call that's likely to move the ball 30 yards in 10 seconds which is what he said they were trying to do. And all that just to get a shot at one Hail Mary attempt before halftime. It's a baffling defense of a stupid decision.

[TopDawg]

haha...I hadn't seen your post until after i posted mine, TU. Looks like we disagree. :)

[SoonerMom2]

Personally didn't think either team looked like national championship caliber with the play calling. At least Saban's conservative play calling makes sense after finding out their quarterback had two broken ribs and the back-up was a true freshman who had never played.

[TopDawg]

Oh, but I do agree about your comment about Bama passing. They almost gave Texas two TDs before getting the ball to their Heisman winning RB.

[TUSooner]

haha...I hadn't seen your post until after i posted mine, TU. Looks like we disagree. :)

Then you are obviously WRONGGGGGGGGGG!!!
:D

[SoonerForever]

In a game of such high emotions and jitters, it didn't make sense to me for Alabama to receive....imo....set your defense, get your legs underneath, and go with it....but the punt/pass was beyond stupid....he must have gotten the bright idea from when we pulled it on them back a few years ago (luckily was a different outcome) with a much shorter distance to go and in a different part of the field

[TopDawg]

Well, I agree with you about the pick-6. If the running back would've executed, it wouldn't have looked nearly as stupid. But at the same time, if the punter would've executed, Saban's call would've been brilliant. Sure, it's more reasonable to expect a running back to catch a shovel pass than for a punter to throw an accurate pass 20 yards...I'm just sayin.

I do agree that if Saban called the fake punt on 4th and 23, it was a boneheaded call. Really dumb. But from what Herbstreit said, it may not have been him. I haven't heard what he has to say about it. I'm not even sure I completely agree with him on the 52-yard FG attempt, but when you've got the Groza winner, that kinda changes things.

I just think the that while it was reasonable for Mack to expect his play to be a lower risk than it turned out, I think he also should've expected it to be lower reward than he did. There were only 15 seconds left when they ran that play...although they were closer to the 50 than I thought. I thought they ran it from the 20 or 25 but it was the 37...so that makes it more forgivable. But it's not like they had reason to expect a good result on two consecutive passing plays when Gilbert had spent most of the game up until that point throwing inaccurately and/or winding up on his backside.

[TopDawg]

In a game of such high emotions and jitters, it didn't make sense to me for Alabama to receive....imo....set your defense, get your legs underneath, and go with it....

Well my opinion is that it's always better to defer. For me it has less to do with the way the game starts and more to do with the fact that many times you can work it out to get two consecutive possessions which can really aid in a rally or in pulling away from someone.

So when Saban did that against Florida (in what was also a highly emotional game) and it worked like a charm, I can't fault him for choosing to do it against Texas. Now the play calling after getting the ball was a little suspect, but I don't have a problem with his decision to take it.

[TopDawg]

In looking at the replay of the pick-6, Gilbert riffled that ball at the running back. "Riffled" may be over-stating it, but I hadn't noticed until today that the ball probably got there a lot quicker than the RB expected.

Look at it, when the ball leaves Gilbert's hands, the RB's hands are little more than a yard away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfHwrkeP-Cw

[mehip]

I thinks Saban's early mistakes almost cost his team the game in the first quarter. The punt and not putting his D on the field to set the tempo were real mistakes in my opinion. Mack's shuffle pass was a bit of a fluke and usually a shuffle pass is very safe.