Quote:
Originally Posted by tibor75
Sorry, that strategy we are arguing for is the strategy that 99% of intelligent coaches would pick.
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I'm not sorry. I'm arguing for that 1%. There's no way I'd want Ohio State to do anything remotely resembling what App. State did to close the game. However, I believe their coach qualifies as an "intelligent coach", having been a head coach for about 20 years and being the leader of the two-time defending national champions at his level - and it is entirely plausible that in his assessment of the situation he found his team in one of those 1%-of-the-time situations.
It's easy for all of us to sit here and say what we would've done in that situation, or how simple it is to manage the clock in that situation. Keep in mind though that we're talking about college students here, and especially on the road in pressure situations, and in the first game of the year, they are prone to doing inexplicable things the completely screw things up (Chris Webber says "hi"). Then again, coaches make mistakes in pressure situations too (LLLLLoyd Carr says "hi"), so maybe the ASU coach lost his mind at the end of the game. I don't know, and I don't think it's as cut & dried as it's being made out to seem. Sometimes you're lucky, but I think the best and most successful coaches are the ones who can sort these things out calmly on the fly.
I also think it's much easier for us to criticize because we're spoiled by having a head coach in Jim Tressel who is able to prepare for and react to these kinds of situations better than most others in the business.