Coaching 101: Clock Management

[IrishLax]

WHEN TO KNEEL OUT A GAME

Northwestern called timeout with 1:36 on the clock, or 96 seconds. At this point, Notre Dame had the ball on second down.

Kneeling the ball takes approximately 41-43 seconds off the clock each time you do it. 40 seconds for the play clock, plus the time of the play.

If ND kneels the ball twice, they would've run the clock down to 10-14 seconds. At this point, it would've been 4th down. A punt takes approximately 6-10 seconds off the clock, and running a normal pass play where the ball is aired out deep would take approximately 7 seconds. A stretch running play on 4th down would take 3-5 seconds.

So no matter what you do, if you just kneel the ball Northwestern would get it back with 0 to 11 seconds and no timeouts, needing to go 40+ yards to get into field goal range. Impossible. The game was over.

Instead... Kelly's ignorance, hubris, or (insert reason) led him to inexplicably put the game at risk. And McDaniel coughed it up.

This isn't even touching on the large number of other mistakes he made throughout the game, such as going for 2 when the math says "lol no" or kicking field goals when the math says "more debatable, but still bad idea"... these aren't subjective opinions on play calling, this is inarguable statistics. And this is like the 4th or 5th game where he's made a boneheaded decision going against the math, but the first one where his self-inflicted wounds cost the team a victory.

He's trending into Brady Hoke territory in terms of "what the f*ck is this guy doing..." and someone needs to educate him.

 

[magogian]

WHEN TO KNEEL OUT A GAME

He's trending into Brady Hoke territory in terms of "what the f*ck is this guy doing..." and someone needs to educate him.

But but BK wears a headset!

 

[ryno 24]

So I'm going to say this loss is embarassing but its not Kelly's fault that the most reliable back in the country fumbled the ball.

 

[Buster Bluth]

98.6% chance McDaniel doesn't fumble it.

Golson has fumbled under-center exchanges this season, no? Didn't he do that earlier in the year?

Just saying, if the captain of your team can't be responsible enough to not fumble the ball...you deserve to lose whether you're doing your Brady Hoke impression or you're literally Knute Rockne.

 

[IrishLax]

So I'm going to say this loss is embarassing but its not Kelly's fault that the most reliable back in the country fumbled the ball.

Every time a back carries the ball there is a little over a 1% chance of fumbling the ball. This rate goes up in cold/wet/etc.

Snapping the ball to kneel it out has about a 0% fail right. So Kelly deciding to run it with McDaniel (presumably twice) probably had about a 3-5% chance of resulting in a fumble with no tangible upside.

Kneel the fucking ball.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

98.6% chance McDaniel doesn't fumble it.

Golson has fumbled under-center exchanges this season, no? Didn't he do that earlier in the year?

Just saying, if the captain of your team can't be responsible enough to not fumble the ball...you deserve to lose whether you're doing your Brady Hoke impression or you're literally Knute Rockne.

I agree with your Devils advocate stance.

But in reality, a good coach shouldn't over think things.

 

[FightingIrishLover7]

So I'm going to say this loss is embarassing but its not Kelly's fault that the most reliable back in the country fumbled the ball.

I pray you're using reliable ironically.

I swear, that shit needs to stop.

 

[Sherm Sticky]

This doesn't bother me to much. Going for the 2 pt conversion is what to gripe abiut


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[IrishLax]

98.6% chance McDaniel doesn't fumble it.

Golson has fumbled under-center exchanges this season, no? Didn't he do that earlier in the year?

Just saying, if the captain of your team can't be responsible enough to not fumble the ball...you deserve to lose whether you're doing your Brady Hoke impression or you're literally Knute Rockne.

Honestly, fumbling a center exchange on a real play is completely different from fumbling on the kneel down set. There's no scenario where a running play is a safer call.

 

[Grahambo]

This doesn't bother me to much. Going for the 2 pt conversion is what to gripe abiut


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It shouldn't have even come down to that. The defense completely shit the bed against a horrible opponent. I don't care how reliable you are, fumbling the ball in that scenario is also inexcusable. And why is Cam getting the ball and not Folston who has been a rock all game?

 

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

It's over if we run the ball one more time on the previous drive. Why were we throwing it there...

 

[ickythump1225]

So I'm going to say this loss is embarassing but its not Kelly's fault that the most reliable back in the country fumbled the ball.

Yes it is. It's HIS job to put the players in a position to succeed. Had he thought that decision through Cam never fumbles it. Same with the call to run a jet sweep on the 1 yard line with a WR who never carries the ball. Yes the kids should hang onto the ball but who is responsible for them? Who is supposed to be mentoring them and coaching them up? At some point BK has to start taking responsibility for what players in his program do on the field.

 

[IrishLax]

It's over if we run the ball one more time on the previous drive. Why were we throwing it there...

Or if we didn't snap that one play with 30 seconds left on the play clock lol

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

Coaching 101: Clock Management

I'm not saying your wrong on math or logic but I think this particular gripe is a nonissue. There are much bigger issues from this one to deal with and honestly I don't know that any other coach kneels there.

Can we just bitch about the 2 pt try

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[IrishLax]

I'm not saying your wrong on math or logic but I think this particular gripe is a nonissue. There are much bigger issues from this one to deal with and honestly I don't know that any other coach kneels there.


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Saw someone do it in a similar situation last week. I gotta look up scores from last week in games I watched to figure out who, but they kneeled it out and then ran around a tiny bit on the last one.

 

[Wild Bill]

It shouldn't have even come down to that. The defense completely shit the bed against a horrible opponent. I don't care how reliable you are, fumbling the ball in that scenario is also inexcusable. And why is Cam getting the ball and not Folston who has been a rock all game?

You have to make good coaching decisions in anticipation of the worst case scenario. The two point conversion was just an awful decision. Football karma is a bitch.

 

[Kaneyoufeelit]

Saw someone do it in a similar situation last week. I gotta look up scores from last week in games I watched to figure out who, but they kneeled it out and then ran around a tiny bit on the last one.

I believe you; no need to look it up. I just think this is about the 4th or 5th worst thing that the staff did tonight.

 

[scUM Hater]

They just said on postage show that if ND took knee, they would be punting with roughly 20 sends left. 20.....kick it in end zone and let them start from 20 with 20 seconds left.

 

[Grahambo]

You have to make good coaching decisions in anticipation of the worst case scenario. The two point conversion was just an awful decision. Football karma is a bitch.

I was always taught to never take points off the board and only go for 2 when you absolutely have to.

 

[scUM Hater]

It's all about the blocked field goal for safety, missed field goals, not going for 1, not running the ball more and turnovers turnovers turnovers turnovers turnovers.

 

[IrishLax]

They just said on postage show that if ND took knee, they would be punting with roughly 20 sends left. 20.....kick it in end zone and let them start from 20 with 20 seconds left.

And that's laughably wrong too. 41 seconds is the MINIMUM that runs off for taking a knee.

96-41-41= 14 seconds on 4th down. And then it doesn't even matter what you do on 4th down as long as you don't give a "pick 6"...

 

[Wild Bill]

I was always taught to never take points off the board and only go for 2 when you absolutely have to.

You were raised right, grahambo.

 

[Grahambo]

You were raised right, grahambo.

I was also taught to take care of the ball like your life depended on it and know when to just take a loss and move on to the next play. I also learned that if something isn't working, such as BVG's complicated defense, then to simplify it and keep things basic.

Absolutely maddening loss.

 

[Buster Bluth]

Honestly, fumbling a center exchange on a real play is completely different from fumbling on the kneel down set. There's no scenario where a running play is a safer call.

And yet I don't think there's a scenario where it's worth much blame for the coach. The two-point conversion...abso-fucking-lutely. That run call...not so much.

Practically 100% of people on here were yelling for him to stop passing and to run the ball. He puts in a guy who has zero fumbles and runs the ball. He fumbles.

It's just not that idiotic to not play for the punt-with-only-15-seconds-left when you've been running so well and will almost certainly win the game that way. Almost. Such is football.

In other news, a ranked 8-1 team lost to a 4-5 team, another ranked 8-1 team lost to a 5-5 team. This ranked 7-2 team lost to a 3-6 team. It's just college football man.

 

[T Town Tommy]

Going for two when Kelly did was incredibly horrendous. They make cheat sheets for first year coaches that explain when and when not to go for two. Somebody needs to get Kelly one.

 

[T Town Tommy]

And yet I don't think there's a scenario where it's worth much blame for the coach. The two-point conversion...abso-fucking-lutely. That run call...not so much.

Practically 100% of people on here were yelling for him to stop passing and to run the ball. He puts in a guy who has zero fumbles and runs the ball. He fumbles.

It's just not that idiotic to not play for the punt-with-only-15-seconds-left when you've been running so well and will almost certainly win the game that way. Almost. Such is football.

In other news, a ranked 8-1 team lost to a 4-5 team, another ranked 8-1 team lost to a 5-5 team. This ranked 7-2 team lost to a 3-6 team. It's just college football man.

Sorry buster... at some point the blame for the team's performance MUST go to the coach. Yes, they did not execute. But Kelly trying to milk the clock by handing it off was on him. He tried to get cute... and it bit his as*. Kneel down, punt it inside the 20 and give them one or two plays at most. Basic coaching. He blew it. He created the condition for the fumble... and Lax's statistical breakdown on percentages means he made the wrong decision. Kneel, punt, win.

 

[Grahambo]

Going for two when Kelly did was incredibly horrendous. They make cheat sheets for first year coaches that explain when and when not to go for two. Somebody needs to get Kelly one.

He said his chart said go for 1 in that situation and he ignored it.

 

[dang227]

Two jet sweeps inside the five. Enough said.


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[T Town Tommy]

He said his chart said go for 1 in that situation and he ignored it.

Well then... you can't fix stupid.

 

[Grahambo]

Sorry buster... at some point the blame for the team's performance MUST go to the coach. Yes, they did not execute. But Kelly trying to milk the clock by handing it off was on him. He tried to get cute... and it bit his as*. Kneel down, punt it inside the 20 and give them one or two plays at most. Basic coaching. He blew it. He created the condition for the fumble... and Lax's statistical breakdown on percentages means he made the wrong decision. Kneel, punt, win.

Yup. I've seen many a game when the winning team knelt down until forced to punt and defended 1 or 2 plays.