We Report, You Decide
Just asked Pete Carroll about throwing a pass on third-and-goal at the 4-yard line with about 1:42 left instead of running the ball and forcing Washington to use its last timeout.
``We could have but we wanted to go for the touchdown, we thought we had a play we could make it. We thought it was the right thing to call a play for a touchdown.''
John David Booty's pass was nearly intercepted and the Trojans settled for a field goal and 26-20 lead.
I wrote after game on USC website:
"As with Lane's call in RB, I disagree with strategy on last USC drive that ended with 3rd down incomplete pass and FG. On 3rd down I would have run it and make Huskies use last time out. With 90 seconds left go for it again. If not make it the clock is winding and under new rules is not stopped for change of possession. Wash has to come in and spike it. About 55 seconds on clock, no timeouts and on their own 1 yard line. I like that better than kicking off with 6 point lead, but 94 seconds left and one time out."
Plain simple I am not a Kiffin fan. And PC should take back the defense. As head coach he needs to think percentages as does a baseball coach.
Plain and simple, this is not a top-of-the-table coaching staff. Sir Peter needs to take a long look at himself and his mates.
Scott,
I always wanted to replace Yogi Berra as catcher for the Yankees. What you want is generally and should be past your capabilities at a particular point in time; I do not recall JDB completing a short pass over the middle in this game in the traffic that was at the goal line. If he did, I stand corrected; i still think running two plays, one of which would have burned Washington's last time out, would have left them with a minute to go 80 yards to put them in position for a tying field goal.
LOTTA SNIPING AT PETE ... 5-0 IS RECORD AND THESE TROJANS R MOST INJURED GRP I HAVE SEEN AT USC..
THE DEF IS LAYING BACK TO AVOID BIG PLAY AND OFF IS PLAYING IT SAFE---- 17 TROJANS HAVE GONE DOWN--
THIS IS BEST COACHING JOB PETE HAS DONE AT TROY...
I think Pete is doing a fantastic job with all the challenges, but, critical decisions do not seem to make sense at game breaking times, ie time out against Texas to defend against a two point conversion,(actually called by an ex-assistant), not going to two against Washington State, (Pete admitted he should have gone for two ) and not burning the clock on the four yard line.
Scott, Thanks for getting the answer to that question. Frankly, I am still not happy with the answer. Of course, I love trying to go for the touchdown, but do it on the ground so that if you don't get it, at least something good comes out of it, like UW taking the last timeout.
Let's all snipe a Pete Carroll and wish for the days of Paul Hackett. Now THAT was a finely coached team.
Who would you rather have? Jeff Tedford? No. Mike Bellotti? No. Phil Fulmer? Heck no. Joe Paterno? Bobby Bowden? Mark Richt?
Pete Carroll is the best coach in the NCAA, possibly even in its history. Period. Look at his win-loss record. Dude just wins games.
IN PETE WE TRUST!!!
Get over it. Coach Carroll is a "riverboat gambler," and will not change. He gets a td in that situation, game over! I like his style, even if he plays against the odds at times.
These things happen at a Dynasty guys, refill your beers and get used to it. Bad decisions become corrected. Our defense bends but doesn't break. Young teams grow each game.
Coach Carroll sees the writing on the wall and will make required adjustments. We're in the 2nd half of the season and PC is legendary for his W-L record in that time span.
SC should have a great game in the desert this wknd. The team is getting healthy. The 3-Headed attack will be back; DJ, Smith, Turner. C-Dub is finally looking great.
Oregon is exposed. Cal is going to be the toughest game in years. If SC wins that one with a complete effort then we'll be setup well for the Domers, Bruins & post-season.
The Reign will continue...
It would have been smarter to run the ball on that 3rd down call. Even more so after Booty almost had it picked by the same guy that picked him last year and took it to the house. That could have ended the game right there in UWs favor.
It seems like we are being outcoached each week lately. Willingham really got the most out of the least on Sat.
They should have ran it, if they got to the one they should have ran it again. That's going for the TD. If there was little to no gain they could have kicked the FG and UW would have had no TO's.
I don't have that big of a problem with USC trying to throw for the touchdown. I do have a problem with us trying to force it into traffic in the middle of the field when we have several 6'5" receivers and a tight end that tall. A high pass to the back of the end zone, or a fade to the corner would probably work better in my opinion. And I would also like to see them just do some type of sweep to the outside with Moody, or maybe Gable near the goal line, they would be hard to catch before they got to the corner of the end zone. But hey I'm just glad we are winning, would like to see us more continuity especially on offense.
I don't think the 3rd down call can be characterized as a "bad call". It's much more likely you score a TD by throwing it and that would have ended the game so it is a reasonable shot. I agree with kicking the FG on 4th down although many were calling on Carroll to go for it (duh!).
I'm much more concerned about the D-Line play than the coaching strategy and decisions.
I thought Kif/Sark did a pretty good job managing the game in the second half with the top to WRs out. That's not an easy situation and the last drive was well called overall (let's think big picture for a second).
This blog is excellent at pointing out the fact that many fans have a ridiculous level of expectation after the run of the last few years. This site also points out the fact that many fans have little clue when it comes to basic questions of strategy and game management.
50 out of the last 52 ain't bad. Just think how Auburn fans feel today. Now that is bad.
Field Goal call was right. It made touchdown the goal for Washington. If play missed on 4th down Washington would have needed only field goal to tie and go overtime.