Situational Analysis-SEC Game II

This should be on situation one.

I haven't seen any of the interviews post game..but to me, watching it one or two times (once live, once replay) I thought the throw MIGHT have been going to the WR in the endzone, and was tipped at the line, changing the trajectory a bit and having the ball go to the out route.

Impossible to cover that situation in a game, because generally the WR's are trusting the QB's. WR makes break, sees ball coming to him... he has to trust that there is a reason for it.

Something interesting to think about though, is that a very similar situation JUST HAPPENED two days ago IN THAT VERY BUILDING. Drew Brees made a poor decision, through an under route that didn't allow the Saints to attempt a FG or another shot at the endzone on Thursday.

First it is not possible to go over every situation possible. I mean what do you do when aliens land on the 2 with 12 seconds left and down by 4? Now what if they land with with 3 seconds left? Just kidding, but I am making your point that you can't account for EVERYTHING possible.

But, you are missing 360 days here. You don't do that stuff in 5 days or less. You have all year to do that. And really you have 4 years with your seniors.

I'm not sure if anyone else thought of this...but for those of you who have read the great Homer Smith's book on clock management, you will remember that the man who wrote the foreword for that book was none other than Mark Richt. In the book, Homer Smith points out that it is almost always a losing play to spike the ball. I just wonder if Richt believes in that philosophy and therefore, refuses to spike it.

However, in this situation, I think spiking the ball was the thing to do. Anytime you get below 16-18 seconds, I think you spike the ball on first down because, most likely, you cannot get four plays off anyways. Therefore, you spike it and make sure you get the right play called on second down.

Yes, they did seemed rushed..that was the most perplexing part to me....I can't tell you how many times i've seen teams (BCS) or otherwise can't get the right people on the field...when Bama lost to A&M they were having trouble all day on defense getting the personel on the field

Have to disagree here. The coaching point wouldn't be to the WR to bat the ball down, but rather to the QB to throw it away (at his feet or something). The WR needs to operate under the assumption that the QB is making the correct decision in throwing HIM the ball. He has his back to the play after the cut.

Ummmmm.... the ball was tipped prior to the WR break (didn't see) and the WR didn't dive for the ball..he caught the ball and slipped attempting to make a cut. So from the WR's point of view, the ball was being thrown to him.

Murray wanted to clock the ball, but was told not too (you can see him showing the spike signal to the sidelines..then stopping and reading the sideline play signal.

I think one BIG thing to glean from this is HOW MUCH TIME runs off between ready for play and snapping the ball. The clock was stopped after the 1st down at 15 seconds, the ball was snapped at 9 seconds. Had they clocked the ball, it probably would have been closer to 12 seconds.

I am betting that GA felt they had better odds hitting Bama while they were "reeling" than letting bama get set up and organized, however, they executed poorly (not throwing a jump ball FADE, but what appeared to be more a back shoulder throw that got tipped)

That said, I would have also clocked the ball.

The problem is Bama reeling is just a feeling, not the case. Bama covered the fade stop and the out fine.

Think about this another way. Let's say there is a minute left instead of 15 seconds. Do you think Georgia is going to rush up there because Bama is reeling and run that play or set up?

Homer Smith argues correctly that the spike is ALMOST always the incorrect play call. He is right. Of course there are situations when it is absolutely the correct call. Let's say they were down 2 instead of down 4. Anybody here want to say the spike is the wrong call then? The spike was the correct call and this is not hindsight. I knew it at the time and could NOT believe they didn't.

After re-watching, I stand corrected. He didn't dive.

The protection was fine..the player who tipped the ball was an inside LB scraping around the line and being picked up by the back. The back blocked him, but he jumped, braced against the back, got his hand up and deflected. Also, after another look, I think it was not a fade-stop, but just a fade...and once the ball was tipped the WR came back to it. Again, just execution.

Now, as a total Sunday Morning Armchair QB, I do think an argument could be made that the time pressure may have contributed to the poor execution. It doesn't appear that GA has a generally accepted practice to NOT clock the ball, but rather run the play (evidenced by Murray running down the field asking the sideline if he should spike). I don't like the alignments of the WR's..who may have been anticipating killing the clock. The WR to the top seems to be very close to the boundary, not leaving himself much room to run the fade. Because of the time pressure, you are locked into formations and no motion possibilities. But I wouldn't say it was WRONG, as the flip side was that bama was definitely "reeling". Now they recovered, and thats why they are playing for the NC for the 3rd time in 4 years.

I don't know not a tempo coach...BUT again, I do think it might be important to consider that "leakage" time (for lack of a better term) that occurs with trying to run an actual play as opposed to clocking, specifically formation alignment and pre snap reads. The clock is running while these things are happening if you don't clock the ball.

All that much...when we are talking 15 seconds left..could be 3 or 4 seconds..which is 20%-30% of the time remaining. Plus there is a difference between having to be aligned LEGALLY...and having to line up properly for the play. That difference might only take 2 seconds...but again, we are talking more than 10% of the remaining time. Then since you are running an actual play, the QB is going to scan the defensee pre snap (but in all likelyhood post ready for play clock start) Again, may only be 2 seconds...but now we have run 4-5 seconds off total.

Couldn't agree more coach!

Duece

I hate to be the disagree man in this thread, but this isn't true.

One of the absolute worst 2 minute drills I have ever seen was Auburn vs Alabama in 2009. The OC was Malzahn. It was embarassing. They took forever to get plays in, ran the ball when inapproprate, and play-actioned faked. Are you serious?

There is a huge difference in warp speed tempo and 2 minute drill. 2 minute drill is about wasting no clock. Warp speed is about getting as many plays as you can during the course of a normal game. I know this sounds crazy, but the warp speed teams aren't any better and I believe worse in 2 minute drill. The reason they are worse? Becasue they think that since they can go warp speed that that is fast enough for 2 minute drill. It is not in crucial time situations.

If you are in warp speed mode and get a first down, you can just call a run or whatever play you want it doesn't matter. If it messes up it just 2nd and 10. And then if you mess up there you can have 3rd and 10. And if you mess up there, you can punt. And hopefully you put enough together during the course of the game that the defense gets tired by the fourth quarter. But more realistically, you get ready on third and 10 quickly and then check and then snap the ball with 3 seconds left on the play clock becasue you have time and you want to get a good play in. That does not work in 2 minute drill.

It is a completely different thing to go as fast as possible becasue you can and want to tempo and to go fast as possible becasue you HAVE to.

If they spike the ball, they have at worst 13 seconds left. Time for 2 play calls. Your best play calls! And maybe a third.

Spiking the ball takes as little time as possible if you do it right and my guess is that you will sometimes also get the ref to "add" a little time back when you spike.

Also, about catching Bama reeling again, Bama covered the fade, covered the out, and rushed well enough to deflect the pass. Reeling is an emotion or feeling, not reality. Georgia also had Bama reeling after the blocked FG. Bama also had Georgia reeling after scoring and then making Georgia punt. Momentum doesn't matter!