
Originally Posted by
gsuoption
Last night was a perfect example of why coaches go very conservative with the lead.... The defense stopped blitzing, the offense didn't run the option hardly at all in the 4th quarter because they didn't want to risk a pitch, and they went with the odds. When you are up 24-7 or 24-14 with 6 minutes left, the other team has to do something pretty special to come back and win.
The problem is..... they nearly came back and won. Coaches routinely do this, and I have never seen the numbers on it, but I would GUESS that the winning percentage by just trying to run the clock out and playing conservative is actually pretty good, even though it is frustrating to the fans.
On two of those possessions you should have been able to get a first down even going vanilla and likely end the game, but the defense knew exactly what was coming and they didn't... On the 4th down play that likely would have put the game away, that was just a bad play by Shai Wertz. It was 4th and 3 and if he lowers his pads and goes vertical he gets it... Instead he tried to take it outside and got tackled going that direction instead of forward. The play itself was fine, Shai just didn't do the right thing as a runner.
You have to bet on your team to be able to get one first down... Do that, and the going conservative method would have been nearly zero risk last night. As it was, they had to endure some risk but the odds were still in GSU's favor.
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