This Is Why You Don’t Punt

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ucla-stanford-2016When I objected to Clay Helton’s decision to punt from the Utah 37-yard line in the fourth quarter, this is why: Saturday’s Pac-12 games. Stanford defeated UCLA with 24 seconds left in the game; Colorado interecepted a pass in the end zone with 48 seconds left to defeat Oregon; Washington beat Arizona in OT; Arizona State scored a TD with 48 seconds left; Oh, and Utah scored the winning TD with 16 seconds left.

Pac-12 games tend to go down to the final possession. So don’t assume your defense will make a stop even if Utah has to go 93 yards to score.

41 thoughts on “This Is Why You Don’t Punt”

  1. ucla was in the same situation as USC, just across midfield in the 4th quarter. Mora went for it and Rosen was sacked. Stanford ends up with great field position which is exactly the reason Helton decided to punt.

    • The Blogger doesn’t understand that taking risks, like the 4th down punt and holding safeties back to help with coverage, can result in big plays. Of course its always easier to criticize after the game is over.

    • Stanford punted as well, similar situation. But Helton is an intern.. The other HCs are well above his pay. Darnold is much better than Rosen. Rosen folds and is not a 1st rd pick.

    • Who cares what the sewer across town does, I could care less what the gutties do, USC has a huge problem for a coach, we have our own mess to clean up.

      • Real USC Fans have that attitude. Rah Rahs only care about the tail gate parties and being slightly better than the ruins.

      • Perfectly said regarding not worrying about anyone but ourselves. It’s mission critical time, and to your point, when I first started joining this post, most people were lost in “recruiting” heaven, without looking at the core of the program. Starts at the top ( as it always does), and SC is no different. They are a dysfunctional mess and I hope Swann has the clout to really clean it up.

    • Or better yet, make the 4 yards and keep a drive alive, or even better, ACTUALLY STOP THEM FROM DRIVING 95 YARDS TO WIN THE GAME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  3. Pete Carroll went for it all the time, but he had the talent to actually block people and he had a defense that could stop people..

    I am willing to give Helton a pass for punting against Utah to make them go 95 yards but not against Stanford down 17 with 9 minutes to play.

    But Helton does not get a pass for not having his best RB in the game against Utah in the 4th quarter nor does he get a pass for picking Browne as his starter for the first three games.

    • UFID, What difference did it make playing Max Browne in the first three games ? The Bama and Tribe scores would have stayed the same. You see, the USC OL did not block Bama and the Tribe for Browne. The USc OL would not have blocked for Darnold, either. The USC OL did a fair job blocking for Browne against USU and the Trojans won convincingly 45-7. The Utah Ute defense was missing their All-Everything Defense Lineman and played like crap against the USC OL, providing Darnold all the time he needed to do his thing. Why only 27 points, Sam ?

      • SC would have had a chance against Stanford with Darnold, or didn’t you see the team play with more emotion with him j the game ?

    • Who do you blame for the 9 year brutal beat down by the Nerds. Lol. You are funny, already chanting we want Herman.. You can’t afford his buyout or contract demands. Stuck with the mediocre facecupper! Lol 0-9 now thats a joke.

      • I heard they’ll be giving Lessa a contract extension for keeping it close with Stanfurd.

        BTW has anyone seen rents lately? He said he’d be on here win or lose.

      • I don’t want Herman. I like Mora. He hasn’t beaten Stanford but he has beaten you bozos 3 of 4 and beaten you badly. He provides an excellent alternative to the coach du jour at SoCal which consistently takes 5 star talent and melts it like candle wax. Constant turmoil, constant drama, constant melt-downs. It’s not where a smart recruit would go.
        Grab your ankles for your November beat down, Cal Poly you know it’s coming. The only thing you don’t know is who your interim head coach will be by then.

        • Lol.. We will beat you again this year..Mora will get run out of LA.. FYI you guys will officially be irrelevant once USC announces their newest Football trophy .. I like the guy and know he will do great things for USC .. Chirp when you have a conference championship.. Your BATS are nothing but a useless wet rag.

  7. As I said a couple of days ago the punt was a white flag to both teams. I would have liked the odds if the refs had marked the ball where the play actually ended, but truth is when you punt in that situation you tell the other team, “we give up”
    Sure there was a chance they might have been stopped, there is always that chance but if they had gone for it and continued to move the ball the outcome would have been different.
    It’s playing not to lose rather than playing to win.

      • I’m not one to harass, but I’m waiting for your answer pal?

        Well I’ll ask you again. What should USC do to turn the season around? Who should USC go and hire? How should they go about hiring him? What do you bring to this blog besides negative thoughts?

  8. Clay Helton is making Scott Wolf look like Nostradamus. Not really, but Wolf has been right lately and that is scary.

  9. The real reason you don’t punt in the Pac-12 (unless you are deep in your own territory) is because the referees are apparently trained to give the team not winning at a particular time in the game to get a chance to get back into the game (for TV ratings). That means you can’t play conservative and hold your lead in most cases and better count on the referees letting the team not winning at any one moment back into the game. This means no punting or playing utra-conservative football to contain the opponent. Every game is a shoot out and the last team with the ball wins. This makes it difficult on Clancy Pendergast’s defense as well. These are the unwritten rules and a smart coach would be cognizant of this instead of making calls out of the textbook. It also means you better rotate your players and keep fresh players on the field for the wild and wooly plays in the fourth quarter. This also means having to play the Adorees of the world on offense as well. It means letting your hot running back to run in the fourth quarter unless he is fumbling. And in a game with unwritten rules like this you have to get a player like Ronald Jones into the rotation. With Colorado coming in the coaching has to understand the hidden rules which are made to be equalizers and “level the playing field”.

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