The Onside

Just heard it on the radio, so I'll try to paraphrase:

Bo on the onside: "We figured we had to stop them either way; if they got a first down at all, the game was pretty much over. Would we have had a longer field, sure, we rolled the dice. But we decided to play aggressive, and give ourselves another opportunity. I don't know if it was the right call, but I thought at the time it was the right call."

 
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What Bo said is 100% correct, the field position was irrelevant. If Texas got 1 first down, the game was over. The onside kick gave us two cracks at getting the ball back instead of just one.

 
I agree with it. Say we get it then we have 3 minutes and 2 T.O.'s to score 7. Managable, especially if we would have stayed with Lee. If we kick it deep and somehow stop them then we have something like a a minute 30 with no time outs to score a TD with Lee, who hasnt done a thing this year since he has been on the bench. No way we could have scored with him the way we were calling plays.

 
Sorry still gonna disagree with this one. THREE minutes are left, and the Blackshirts hadn't given up crap the 2nd half. Take a chance in that "vaunted" defense. The odds of them holding Texas to 3 and out is a lot better than getting the onside.

 
A team that just scored a momentum swinging TD, and has 2 timeouts with 3 minutes left, and has shutout the opposition in the 2nd half does not try an onside kick. When we lined up in that formation I knew we were giving away our chance. Oh well. I am not a coach. I was not on the sidelines. I do not get paid big bucks to make that call.

 
PaulCrewe said:
Sorry still gonna disagree with this one. THREE minutes are left, and the Blackshirts hadn't given up crap the 2nd half. Take a chance in that "vaunted" defense. The odds of them holding Texas to 3 and out is a lot better than getting the onside.
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They didn't hold them to a 3 and out. Texas ran it right down inside our 10 yard line.

 
PaulCrewe said:
Sorry still gonna disagree with this one. THREE minutes are left, and the Blackshirts hadn't given up crap the 2nd half. Take a chance in that "vaunted" defense. The odds of them holding Texas to 3 and out is a lot better than getting the onside.
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Three minutes isn't much with a 40 second play clock. Even if we kicked deep they run 2 plays and we get them in 3rd and short with around 2:50 left, they get one first down and snap the ball at 2:10 on first, 1:30 on second, 50 on third and then even if you stop them on third there's 10 seconds left.

So with that said, the onside kick gave us 2 chances to get the ball, one on the kick, and the 2nd if we got a 3 and out. Kick it deep, one first down and the game is basically over anyway with only 1 shot.

 
The fact is we had 2 TIMEOUTS left and 3:02 on the clock. I wouldve lined up like an onside and kicked straight down middle and as high as it would go. That way the have to field it or make a fair catch, either way their prob not gonna make any yards after fielding it.

Our defense played their asses off today(other than lack of tackling) let them win the game for us.

 
huskerscott said:
The fact is we had 2 TIMEOUTS left and 3:02 on the clock. I wouldve lined up like an onside and kicked straight down middle and as high as it would go. That way the have to field it or make a fair catch, either way their prob not gonna make any yards after fielding it.

Our defense played their asses off today(other than lack of tackling) let them win the game for us.
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Again, 2 timeouts mean nothing once you give up a first down.

 
I bet he was afraid of kicking the ball deep out of bounds, followed by a personal foul, refs putting an extra second on the clock and then losing on a last second time out . . oh, wait

 
PaulCrewe said:
I am firmly in Bo's corner as far as what he has done with the program. But that onside kick was the worst decision that he has made as a coach. 3 minutes to go with two timeouts and he goes for one of the lowest percentage plays in football. The field position which we have lacked all game could have been swung to help us and it cost NU any chance of tying this game. A lot of questions have arisen from this game, however this one hurt SO BAD.
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It was a horrible call. With 3 minutes to go you have the ability to give up one first down and still stop the clock any maybe get it back. You force them to change the way the call plays. It really doesn't matter when you have a DB try to tackle with his should and not wrap up. I witnessed on 3 different times, when Thenarse didn't wrap up and big plays were the result.

 
Yeah, because if it weren't for that onside kick, they wouldn't have gotten that last minute touch down... wait... I mean, if it weren't for that, they wouldn't have gotten a first down and run out the clock... wait.. okay, they would have done that... but they would have been in their own territory! HAHA! Take that TEXAS!! You ended the game in your OWN TERRITORY!! That means you have to forfeit the game to us!!!

 
schuhbdoo said:
PaulCrewe said:
I am firmly in Bo's corner as far as what he has done with the program. But that onside kick was the worst decision that he has made as a coach. 3 minutes to go with two timeouts and he goes for one of the lowest percentage plays in football. The field position which we have lacked all game could have been swung to help us and it cost NU any chance of tying this game. A lot of questions have arisen from this game, however this one hurt SO BAD.
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It was a horrible call. With 3 minutes to go you have the ability to give up one first down and still stop the clock any maybe get it back. You force them to change the way the call plays. It really doesn't matter when you have a DB try to tackle with his should and not wrap up. I witnessed on 3 different times, when Thenarse didn't wrap up and big plays were the result.
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Who really thinks our offense had a chance with 2:00 left and no timeouts? They managed 2 field goals all day, and one of those was aided by 30 yards in Texas personal fouls IIRC. The only real chance this team had was to get the onside kick.

 
It's one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't type of plays. If we get that ball he's a genius, and when what happened happens, he's a moron. Alot of things in coaching can go that way.

 
jliehr said:
schuhbdoo said:
PaulCrewe said:
I am firmly in Bo's corner as far as what he has done with the program. But that onside kick was the worst decision that he has made as a coach. 3 minutes to go with two timeouts and he goes for one of the lowest percentage plays in football. The field position which we have lacked all game could have been swung to help us and it cost NU any chance of tying this game. A lot of questions have arisen from this game, however this one hurt SO BAD.
Click to expand...

It was a horrible call. With 3 minutes to go you have the ability to give up one first down and still stop the clock any maybe get it back. You force them to change the way the call plays. It really doesn't matter when you have a DB try to tackle with his should and not wrap up. I witnessed on 3 different times, when Thenarse didn't wrap up and big plays were the result.
Click to expand...
Who really thinks our offense had a chance with 2:00 left and no timeouts? They managed 2 field goals all day, and one of those was aided by 30 yards in Texas personal fouls IIRC. The only real chance this team had was to get the onside kick.
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Actually to me it said our only hope was a turnover deep in their territory OR another big punt return so the ball at midfield with our offense would've left me with little confidence.

 
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