How did it not work out? We didn't give them opportunities to get good field position with turnovers. We did what we did offensively, the defense played very well, and the clock kept running. They were down nineteen points at the half and only scored nine points in the second half. They had the same mumber of possessions in the second half as we did. It worked out as well as it possibly could have.
Don't know if I'm the only one but I started having visions of the 2003 game against Miami in which we were up 33-10 late in the third quarter and ended up losing 38-33 after Coach Zook went into what was essentially a prevent defense and called an extremely conservative game on offense. It seemed to me that Coach Napier was following a similar game plan especially on offense. Fortunately the end result was much different.
New clock rules make this more conservative approach a more viable way to secure the victory. Particularly when we had been running the ball effectively.
Take a win any way we can get it. I remember at the end of the Spurrier era he said fans were complaining because they did not score enough. Ugly win is better than a pretty loss. And beating the hillbillies was a beautiful thing.
Particularly when you are the underdog and don't need to cover a number, just get the win. Everybody should be happy.
And there was also the "Choke at Doak" where SOS had us leading 31-3 but the 'Noles somehow scored 4 TDs in the 4th quarter and tied it up! Felt like a loss!
Yeah I imagine coach was surprised when they started containing the run. In hindsight maybe go back to some end arounds or other nontypical run plays to shake it up.
The other side of your depiction of getting bitten in the butt is if he opened up the O with a large lead, we could have easily turned the ball over a few times and lost the game. That too would have left a tooth mark on his butt. This win was crucial to turning the narrative around, and considering our past performance, our numerous inexperienced freshmen playing, Mertz's injuries... Billy took the win rather than the style points. I'm glad he did.
Answer: because Mertz had injuries to both hands. Oh, and also because Billy said he was too conservative.
Still, how is giving the opponent an opportunity to close the gap a better option than to keep doing what you did last half to kick their backside. This crap happens in hoops too and turns a game into a nail bitter.
I posted the stats in another thread, but I'll repeat them. TN 1st half possessions 5, 2nd half 5 (I am not including last play kneel down off camera). TN plays in first half 22, 2nd half 42. TOP 1st half 8:18, 2nd half 14:14. Starting field position 1st half TN 25.8, 2nd TN 29.4. By any measure, we did not limit TN by changing our offense to be conservative. I'm not arguing the outcome, why would I, we all know what it was and I was as pumped as everyone else. I'm providing data to the conclusion that we limited them by being conservative is simply not true.
One critic here is taking a lot of grief but I don't think he's complaining or unhappy with the win. Conservative is fine but going 3 and out over and over running still gives the ball right back and tires out the defense. It worked this time but we were close to sweating a bit at the end because even if they aren't the offense they were last year they still scored quickly at times. Even Napier said he went too conservative. You don't stop trying to stress the defense with a whole half left. Maybe late 3rd or start of the 4th sure.
Ahhh..the miraculously reincarnated Steve Spurrier, the coach who never stopped scoring, who always had his foot to the gas, right until the clock ticked off its final seconds. Except it is a fiction. He ran up a big lead in the first half passing, handed the ball off to the running backs in the second half to conserve that lead. Fact. And there are examples. Gators v. Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl. We lost. Choke at Doke. We were up 31-3 to start the FOURTH quarter. Ended up tied. UT up 35-3, win 35-29. But carry on with your fantasies.
UT missed some opportunities for sure. I’m not sure I was too upset with being “conservative”, but I did have the sense if we scored another TD it was game over, and the offense didn’t produce that in the 2nd half. We didn’t need to throw bombs, but one more clock eating drive in the 2nd half drive would have iced the game and put a cap on the dominant 1st half. Fortunately our D seems to be coming along, and UT offense is a far cry from last year. So they didn’t threaten us too much. Although they did have some opportunities to hit big plays against 1 on 1 coverage which they missed. They hit the one, if there was a second connection it would have been nervous time. I was glad we started putting the two safeties back there.
