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Passing on the 3rd down at the end of the game was the right decision

JRK1212

Troll
A lot of people on here have written that it was a dumb choice to pass on the 3rd and 6 with 2 minutes left rather then run the ball. First off, stop being a Monday morning quarterback, if we had gotten the first down you wouldn't be saying it was a dumb decision. Second, the choice was irrelevant based on how quickly they ended up scoring and technically actually helped us since we got the ball back with a minute left. And third, it was the right choice. If we get the first down there the game is over and it's not like we were going to get 6 yards on a running play especially when that's what they're expecting. You play to win the game. You don't just punt the ball and then sit back and pray that your defense can stop the other team, especially when the other team has a strong passing attack and you have a secondary that's been depleted by injuries.

If there had been less time left or if they were down by 7 instead of 3 that would have been one thing but even if we had run the ball they would have still gotten it with about 1:30 left and only needing a FG, that still would have been plenty of time to score. I think we could have come up with a better play call (although is Hansen makes a better throw that's a completion) but it was absolutley the right choice to pass. Given the circumstances you try and put the game away. The only mistake the coaches made was not throwing the ball on 1st and 2nd down as well.
 
I'm ok with the pass - but not the play they called. Nik pointed out yesterday that Hansen hadn't hit a pass rolling that way all day.

If I'm calling that play, I roll Hansen out to his right. If his guy is open, then he makes the pass. If is guy isn't open, then he tucks it and runs to kill the clock. Under no circumstance is he to force the ball.

Ok with the pass, but silly play to call
 
The play call didn't matter, it was a fairly safe play that should have been reasonably high percentage.

The bottom line is that run or pass; or defend the run or the pass; somebody has to step up and make a play that lets us win the football game. Block the pass rush, make the pass, make the catch and advance it for a first down and the game is over. Run the ball and not make the blocks or the run which we hadn't on prior downs and they get the ball back with time.
 
Thought it was a dumb call yesterday, but am fine with it today. We really need better QB play.

If this staff had a QB out there they trust, we would have passed a LOT in the first half, when Wazzu was consistently putting 8 in the box and playing man on the outside. Yardage was there to be had, but the staff went to the ground game quite a bit. I do not necessarily blame them either, Hansen's decision making is questionable.
 
I thought the play call wasnt a good one, not the fact that we passed the ball. Im running something crossing, slant, or something along those lines. Maybe even running a draw or screen, though we really didnt have success with the screen game for obvious reasons. If im rolling him out, I go to his strong hand. Maybe that naked boot pass to the fullback we ran earlier in the game. Im all for trying to win the game though. Hindsight is 20/20 and one play call didnt lose us the game.
 
passing choice was understandable. Playcall was questionable. A caveat is that someone didn't run the play as called. AFter review of the play in question, I agree. Same old same old. Doesn't matter, shouldn't have been in that desperate a situation up 10.

As far as the first half playcalling... ya, super conservative. They were stacking the box with one safety deep (shaded to Prich's side usually), and we refused to go over the top down the sideline. No confidence in Hasen's deep ball. The Funny thing is, that throw was Hansen's forte in high school. And, of course, he missed it on that throw to Tclem on that last drive, only to be bailed out by the refs.:wtf:.
 
SnowBuff said:
passing choice was understandable. Playcall was questionable. A caveat is that someone didn't run the play as called. AFter review of the play in question, I agree. Same old same old. Doesn't matter, shouldn't have been in that desperate a situation up 10.

As far as the first half playcalling... ya, super conservative. They were stacking the box with one safety deep (shaded to Prich's side usually), and we refused to go over the top down the sideline. No confidence in Hasen's deep ball. The Funny thing is, that throw was Hansen's forte in high school. And, of course, he missed it on that throw to Tclem on that last drive, only to be bailed out by the refs.:wtf:.
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The two TDs on fades were funny. Everyone in the stadium could set those up with the Wazzu defensive alignment. The first one to PRich was especially allsome, the CB was playing inside position.:lol:
 
I wanted a pass. No doubt.

I've got a major problem with rolling Hansen to his left, though.

I need to re-watch the game and see what happened on the actual play. It looked like something they'd only practiced like three times, a month ago.
 
Boulder Buff said:
The two TDs on fades were funny. Everyone in the stadium could set those up with the Wazzu defensive alignment. The first one to PRich was especially allsome, the CB was playing inside position.:lol:
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prich had single coverage almost the entire game... i dunno why we didnt throw over there more
 
The problem with the play was that it was 3rd and 6. When you can only manage four yards on first and second down you're not doing yourself any favors. Considering the circumstances, I don't think calling a pass was a bad idea. Hard to say if the specific call was a bad one or if it was just poorly executed. My first impression was that P-Rich was pretty well covered and maybe Hansen should have looked for a second option. Not sure he had time to though. Looking forward to hearing from Buffnik after he's watched the play again.

Btw, if WSU goes to LA and beats UCLA, that might be the nail in the coffin for Slick Rick. He's probably already a goner, but just saying.
 
Boulder Buff said:
The two TDs on fades were funny. Everyone in the stadium could set those up with the Wazzu defensive alignment. The first one to PRich was especially allsome, the CB was playing inside position.:lol:
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no **** right? that was there ALL DAY in the first half especially, and we never took advantage of it down the sideline. sigh.
 
Didnt we try early on to hit TClem on a go route that Tyler overthrew pretty bad? That could be a big reason for not going to it more right there. Another is just simply needing the running game to get going. Tyler hasnt been consistent enough to do it alot. Seems like the Wazzu D knows that too, they were daring us to do it. Have to see this specific play again, the hash we were on might have played a role as well. I really dont wanna ****ing rewatch it tho lol.
 
SnowBuff said:
umm. he had the 30 yard go route to Tclem that he missed on the drive where we missed the 3d and 6.
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That wasn't 30 yards and I wouldn't consider a 30 yard pass a "deep ball" anyways. We got so lucky there, not sure what the ref saw.
 
JRK1212 said:
That wasn't 30 yards and I wouldn't consider a 30 yard pass a "deep ball" anyways. We got so lucky there, not sure what the ref saw.
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Oh, agree completely. If you remember the depth better, go for it. But that was as close as we got to a deep thrwo that i can remember.
 
I hate the call only because Tyler Hansen is our QB and we are who we are.

If you are in the NFL I think you have to pass. If you have a legit college QB, I think you have to pass. But Hansen has done absolutely nothing in his career to prove himself worthy of having the whole game placed on his shoulders like that. Furthermore, we were at home against Wazzou - a historically bad road team with an average offense - make them beat you.

I mean, I agree that you want a coach who has the balls to pass in that situation. But I also want a coach who is experienced and disciplined enough to play the percentages, and Tyler Hansen is never going to give you the best chance to win.

I also reject the notion that it ended up being a moot point because our secondary got burned so quickly. If there is less time on the clock, theoretically you are able to run different defensive schemes, etc. etc.

In the end the whole thing is a moot point because we were always going to lose the game because that's what we do - we lose football games.
 
I am indifferent with pass/run in that situation (I would have run personally). I think EB thought we could complete the pass. The play call which drove me crazy was the 3rd and 2 from about the 15 before the blocked field goal. We ended up tossing the ball to the back of the endzone oppose to trying a run the first down. If we cant get two yards on third down im worried.
 
Still think we should have ran the ball. At worst, we take 40 seconds off of the clock and leave them with less than a minute IIRC to drive. Could have turned out the same, but the urgency could have forced a few mistakes.
 
dio said:
I'm ok with the pass - but not the play they called. Nik pointed out yesterday that Hansen hadn't hit a pass rolling that way all day.

If I'm calling that play, I roll Hansen out to his right. If his guy is open, then he makes the pass. If is guy isn't open, then he tucks it and runs to kill the clock. Under no circumstance is he to force the ball.

Ok with the pass, but silly play to call
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Has Hansen hit any rollouts to his right this season? I think he has maybe completed about 10% of those
 
QB has to make a better decision. Calling a pass is fine. But if it isn't there, even taking a sack is better than a low, low percentage throw. Tyler does not have a good football IQ.
 
Gramburglar said:
I am indifferent with pass/run in that situation (I would have run personally). I think EB thought we could complete the pass. The play call which drove me crazy was the 3rd and 2 from about the 15 before the blocked field goal. We ended up tossing the ball to the back of the endzone oppose to trying a run the first down. If we cant get two yards on third down im worried.
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Totally agree, that was the play i hated more.

To be fair, we had a 3rd and 8 ish late in the game that I thought we ran a great play. We had P Rich split out right who was matched up on a CB, then Speedy went in motion outside of him. As soon as he passed PR, the CB followed him leaving our best WR against a LB. Our section was like "that ball's going to 6" Got the matchup, he made the catch (had to make a guy miss) and got the 1st down. That was a great call.

The fake screen to PRich, screen to SPeedy was great.

I have a question though, why don't we run successful plays again? That screen was an example. We gained about 35 yards, why not try it again? Why not actually throw it to Prich next time? That's what I liked about Wisconsin's offense, or 98G. Run it until the defense proves they can stop it. I feel like we save these plays for when we need them, but then only run it once. WTF? That's my beef with the play calling.
 
As many of you have now said it was not so much the fact EB called a pass as it was the pass he called. I dont like a shallow role out to the short side of the field especially to the left with a right handed QB. If the pass was not there we were screwed. He needed to role to his right with a run pass option. But it is true if the pass was completed no one would have questioned him at all. I think overall EB is going a great job with play calling. Better than I ever thought he would do. He still has some mistakes but seems to be learning and making adjustments. I think he will be great in a year or so.
 
Reminiscent of the later years of Shanny. I can't count the # of games where they would be winning a close game, have a 3rd and xx yards to go, within 3 minutes to play, and Shanny would call a pass -- most of which went incomplete and save the other team a timeout. And the broncs would lose.

Didn't have the misfortune to see the Buffs on Saturday, but if I had, and had seen that play, I'm pretty sure I would have screamed.

A screen or a draw there is also a good call, even if you don't get the 1st down; at least the clock keeps running.
 
Terrible call. You have a team that can't win on the road on the ropes. Why not run the ball and put the pressure on them to make a play. Ultimately they did but why not give them about 45 seconds less to move the ball. It might have changed there strategy to just get into field goal range. Instead they had plenty of time to pick and chose how they were going to move down the field.
 
jpbuff said:
Terrible call. You have a team that can't win on the road on the ropes. Why not run the ball and put the pressure on them to make a play. Ultimately they did but why not give them about 45 seconds less to move the ball. It might have changed there strategy to just get into field goal range. Instead they had plenty of time to pick and chose how they were going to move down the field.
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Totally agree.
 
jpbuff said:
Terrible call. You have a team that can't win on the road on the ropes. Why not run the ball and put the pressure on them to make a play. Ultimately they did but why not give them about 45 seconds less to move the ball. It might have changed there strategy to just get into field goal range. Instead they had plenty of time to pick and chose how they were going to move down the field.
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Pretty obvious to me that they felt like they HAD to get a first down there. Could they have called a better play? Yep. Could they have excecuted better? Yep. But the coaches knew a first down would win the game and not getting one would give WSU a shot.
 
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