Why did we rekick?

[soonercastor]

I was kind of distracted during the punt and just assumed they had a decent return to their 30-40 or so.
But I just now read an article that said it was down at the 15 yard line.

Obviously it blew up in our faces, but what was the idea behind rekicking it instead of making them drive 85 yards in 45 seconds and no TOs?
Just trying to see what the coaches thought that I may be missing.

[soonergirlNeugene]

I assume it was because they thought we could get a better result. Kinda boneheaded, especially in retrospect. I'm glad we have three threads about it.

[Therealsouthsider]

....it was a poor decision, but no blame will be placed on the coaches....the standard 'lack of execution' will be applied

ss

[8timechamps]

In his post game press conference, Stoops said he thought they could use the rekick and burn off an extra 8 or 10 seconds, and since they were going to pooch punt, he figured we could cover the 35 yards on the return. He also admitted he made a mistake doing it.

[SoonerorLater]

It was head-scratchingly baffling. Just a terrible coaching decision.

[Rogue]

4 out of 5 dentists agree
...he made a mistake doing it.

[Rogue]

It was head-scratchingly baffling. Just a terrible coaching decision.

Yes it is. That is an automatic DECLINE every time.

[Therealsouthsider]

In his post game press conference, Stoops said he thought they could use the rekick and burn off an extra 8 or 10 seconds, and since they were going to pooch punt, he figured we could cover the 35 yards on the return. He also admitted he made a mistake doing it.

....how about sacking up and running your offense....that would've done the trick!


ss

[jagwelborn]

I agree that Bob made a terrible decision to not decline the penalty. But an interesting stat that would have suggested otherwise at the time is this: for the entire season, up until Hill's 92 yard TD return, the OU punt team had only allowed a total of 85 return yards. Given the point in the game and the threat that Hill was, he made the wrong call. But what an interesting stat.

[birddog]

Stoops also said the punt was supposed to go to the left side of the field. Well, it didn't. Again blaming lack of execution when we didn't even need to 're-kick the damn thing. Oh well, hopefully we can get someone that can punt more than 32 yards.

[Therealsouthsider]

....so the punter is fair game to throw under the bus but never the place-kicker?

ss

[BoulderSooner79]

....so the punter is fair game to throw under the bus but never the place-kicker?

ss

Correct.

[Eielson]

....so the punter is fair game to throw under the bus but never the place-kicker?

ss

Placekickers are delicate.

He's graduated now, though, so we can all breath a sigh of relief.

[soonercastor]

Oh well, hopefully we can get someone that can punt more than 32 yards.

What? He was obviously trying to keep it in play or we wouldn't have reckicked.
And the I don't believe we were trying to pooch kick because it did not look like it at all, and if he's saying the truth then that was not communicated well to the players.

[BoulderSooner79]

The re-kick was obviously for time, not for yards. Just kicking it out of the endzone would have made that trade off worthwhile. A punt can have a hang time of 4 seconds and the snap and punter's step would have added a few more. If we had burned 6-7 seconds that would have been more than 10% of the remaining time and put them on the 20 yard line with no time outs. Still a risky call because of the possibility of a block, but pretty low risk. The thing that killed us was getting greedy and trying to pin them even deeper by pooching it into the field of play and allowing a very dangerous returner to field it.

[soonercastor]

The re-kick was obviously for time, not for yards. Just kicking it out of the endzone would have made that trade off worthwhile. A punt can have a hang time of 4 seconds and the snap and punter's step would have added a few more. If we had burned 6-7 seconds that would have been more than 10% of the remaining time and put them on the 20 yard line with no time outs. Still a risky call because of the possibility of a block, but pretty low risk. The thing that killed us was getting greedy and trying to pin them even deeper by pooching it into the field of play and allowing a very dangerous returner to field it.

If that's the case then why did he say we wanted to pooch it?

[Blue]

Even 8time cant pump sunshine into this trainwreck...

[birddog]

What? He was obviously trying to keep it in play or we wouldn't have reckicked.
And the I don't believe we were trying to pooch kick because it did not look like it at all, and if he's saying the truth then that was not communicated well to the players.

Not necessarily talking about that punt, just barnetts punting in general has been weak all year.

[Sooner8th]

....how about sacking up and running your offense....that would've done the trick!


ss

In total agreement here, but I will say that OSU cheated on the last few drives. I know if it were legal our coaching staff would utilize the same underhanded and obvious illegal tactic of making an in game adjustment when they started putting 9-10 in the box to stop us from running.

[8timechamps]

Even 8time cant pump sunshine into this trainwreck...

There's no sunshine to pump this time. At least the first 3 losses were to quality teams. This was just a terrible loss. Changes need to be made.

[BoulderSooner79]

If that's the case then why did he say we wanted to pooch it?

It was a pooch punt and he also said it was a mistake in retrospect.

I would have declined the penalty too, but I'm just saying that kicking away and sailing it over the endzone would not have been a terrible call. It would have denied any possibility of a return and burned the time he was looking to burn. But any kick that allowed Hill to touch the ball was just dumb. The guy is elusive and known to be one of the fastest guys in all of CFB. I guess I could look at it the other way and say at least he was going for the kill. I never think of the punt coverage team the same way I think of the regular offense and defense since some players don't even like playing ST. Odd Stoops would play so conservative on offense and a bit reckless with the punt team.

[SoonerorLater]

I think this was the worst on-field decision Stoops has made, at least that I recall. You have a punter, who to be kind, is not one of the greatest to ever take the field for OU. He just got roughed up on a near block the previous play but managed to get the kick off and put OU in an advantageous position on the 15 yard line with about a minute left in the game. To expect a better overall result from having the kicker attempt a pooch punt to trim another 8-10 seconds off the clock is IMO, just an incomprehensible blunder.

At that point you have a team with a freshman QB starting his second game on his own 15 yard line, with no timeouts, who had just got picked off the previous possession and you think re-kicking will give you a better chance of winning the game? In order for a coach to even think of doing something like this tells me he has just about zero faith in his defense.

[IslandSooner]

If Bobs goal was to run another 8-10 seconds off the clock, it worked!!! 😉

[BoulderSooner79]

I think this was the worst on-field decision Stoops has made, at least that I recall. You have a punter, who to be kind, is not one of the greatest to ever take the field for OU. He just got roughed up on a near block the previous play but managed to get the kick off and put OU in an advantageous position on the 15 yard line with about a minute left in the game. To expect a better overall result from having the kicker attempt a pooch punt to trim another 8-10 seconds off the clock is IMO, just an incomprehensible blunder.

At that point you have a team with a freshman QB starting his second game on his own 15 yard line, with no timeouts, who had just got picked off the previous possession and you think re-kicking will give you a better chance of winning the game? In order for a coach to even think of doing something like this tells me he has just about zero faith in his defense.

No one is going to disagree with you. I'm just saying that giving them the ball on the 20 and burning 8 seconds is a good tradeoff in that situation vs. keeping it on the 15. We all agree the risk to get that tradeoff is not worth it. But any punter, even a weak one, can sail it out of play from that position on the field, so the risk was low. But Bob went farther than that - he wanted the time and the yardage at significantly more risk and got burned.

[Sooner70]

BoulderSooner79: "...But any kick that allowed Hill to touch the ball was just dumb....."

AMEN!

[cvsooner]

Gunners should have been instructed to interfere with HIll if it was clear he wasn't going to fair catch it. We'd have been better off there too. Honestly, having had Sunday to think about it, I understand the strategy. I don't like it, it's not the choice I'd have made...an extra five yards and maybe burn 7 or 8 seconds off the clock. Risk outweighs the reward when one of the most dangerous returners in the world is back there receiving. I just cannot believe Barnett was not told to kick it anywhere but there. I have no idea, of course, but surely he was told that? So it was a bad punt, or he misunderstood, or he wasn't told, or he did it anyway?

It would be interesting to note what Barnett had to say.

[BoulderSooner79]

Gunners should have been instructed to interfere with HIll if it was clear he wasn't going to fair catch it. We'd have been better off there too. Honestly, having had Sunday to think about it, I understand the strategy. I don't like it, it's not the choice I'd have made...an extra five yards and maybe burn 7 or 8 seconds off the clock. Risk outweighs the reward when one of the most dangerous returners in the world is back there receiving. I just cannot believe Barnett was not told to kick it anywhere but there. I have no idea, of course, but surely he was told that? So it was a bad punt, or he misunderstood, or he wasn't told, or he did it anyway?

It would be interesting to note what Barnett had to say.

I believe Stoops said the kick was supposed to go left, just like it did on the first kick and Barnett kicked it right. I believe that because there was only 1 guy coming down to cover on the right and he was watching the ball instead of Hill and ran right by him. I suspect most the coverage had run to the left and could not get over in time. But that gets back to the risk/reward question. The risk includes your punter messing up vs the reward of burning 8 seconds. Even if he had kicked it left and we had Hill surrounded, you just never know. I've seen incredible escapes by return guys. I remember the returner for the KC Chiefs being totally surround by Bronco coverage guys a few years back and somehow escaping and scoring. He was the "X factor" guy that would put his arms in an 'X' after a big play (Hall maybe?)