That's not what we are saying either. 99.9% of the time a coach will run the ball to get the proper spot for the field goal attempt. Then line up on third. That way, if something bad happens, they can not kick the ball and line up on fourth.
Not that many coaches would have done that giving the scenario and matchups, but I'll concede that most coaches would do that. At the same time, how many times do teams lose games while doing your above scenario? Even if 99.9% of coaches would do that, and they don't, is the success rate in winning the game that high?
Regardless, you keep acting like it had something to do with the down. It didn't.
Yes, I am. It did have to do with the down, and also the weather. And the matchups. And coming off a timeout. And having Michael Floyd. And a PAT being blocked earlier.
We needed one freeking point and were in easy field goal range. Time was winding down and there was no need to take risk (especially in a game that we had frequent errors in).
The field goal attempt was far from easy.
This is probably the crux of what I'm trying to argue. In the same situation, with calm weather, against a team like USC with a strong defense when we didn't have as great of a matchup advantage---I think the smart decision would have been to go-ultra conservative and set the offense up for a field goal.
As I was sitting behind the end zone where the Irish were moving toward I vividly remember thinking...
1) A touchdown wouldn't have been a bad idea in that situation. A field goal only puts us up two points and yes we could have run the clock down (not sure how many timeouts Tulsa had left), but with the way that game was going I had the feeling Tulsa would have taken 10 seconds on a kick return and quick pass play with Damaris Johnson and went right back and kicked their own field goal for the win (see Michigan 2011).
2) The field goal didn't feel like a sure thing, even just inside the red zone. You say things like "easy" and I disagree. You say things like "taking a risk" throwing to perhaps Notre Dame's greatest receiver against perhaps the worst defense in the land, and I submit that it seemed just as risky to sit back and kick a field goal in those conditions that day.
So run the damn ball.... kick the FG. That's what almost every other major coach would have called. It's what I think Kelly would do if the scenario arose again.
Perhaps Kelly would have. Perhaps we miss the field goal and there's just as many Monday morning quarterbacks pulling their hair out with that playcalling too.
But is in the past. We should let it go. Let us move on and (hopefully) celebrate Jaylon Smith today.
