3.12.08 YOU MAKE THE CALL

[madpolecat]

Had a moment to kill, so I thought that I would post a series of chances for everybody to play armchair quarterback and chime in with his/her opinions...

Some will be left pretty vague so that we can get a lot of ideas going, hopefully. Some will be more specific.

Be sure to justify your answer. This isn't any fun if you don't explain yourself.

THE SITUATION:

GAME CLOCK: 3:52 remaining in the fourth quarter
SCOREBOARD: You trail your opponent 28-24.
POSSESSION: You have the ball, first and ten at your own 37.
QUESTION: How do you approach getting the winning score? How do approach clock management?

[Sports 101]

Well you have enough time, but dont want to score quick to give your oppenent a chance to score. So I would try to score with less than 40 sec. left.

[someoverkill]

How many timeouts left? Is the wind at my back? Do I have a running oriented team or a good throwing team? Lot of different variables.

[madpolecat]

Let's say two timeouts remaining, clock at your back (this is high school, after all) and the wind in your face.

You choose what kind of offense you have from one of the following:
1. Passing (West Coast)
2. Power Running
3. Wing-T
4. Option

[MTSWNGRVSG]

Need more info. What kind of team do you have? What kind of team does your opponent have? Strengths and weakness of both teams? What about the match ups? Can you formation them? Yes you have left it vague!

You still have enough time and have 63 yards to go. You would be in four down situations the rest of the game. What would you do? The choices would depend on which of the styles of offense you have, but it would come down to the match ups and stengths and weakness of both teams.

Remember this, start this post before you put the one up before this one.

[TrojanXplosion]

I would have my team running a Passing (West Coast) offense. And, I am trying to make some easy throws down the field to pick up first downs. I wouldn't really try to run down the clock so the other team wouldn't have time to score. I would just have faith in my defense. So, I would score as soon as possible, score a touchdown, then, instead of kicking the extra point, I would go for two. That way if I convert on the conversion, I would be up 32-28.

[91Buckeye]

With an option team I would stay with the load or speed options and try to pop a big play off the corner. Once I crossed midfield field try an option look pass or reverse to take advantage of the defense becoming more aggressive defending their own side of the 50. Once we scored I would definitely kick the extra point to prevent my opponent from kicking a game winning field goal with the wind at their back. Score as quickly as possible and trust my defense.

[OVCfan32]

I would try an outside screen not to my main man. . you gotta have a main man at this point in the game. . . . . .and see how the other team covers your man

screens are safe and can possibly be a big play at the same time

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

With that much time left I am going to continue to run my normal offense and then put the game in the hands of the defense after we score.

[boogerred]

With that amount of time it is probably safer now to run the ball b/c teams like to start dropping lbs into a little deeper zones, etc.

Probably would go no huddle and signal in plays.

[blue_balls]

Plenty of time left on the clock and since my teams runs a west coast style offense. I'll call some quickouts because db's in high school don't play much press coverage so five and outs will get em all day. I'll run the fullback some to keep em honest. After three straight fullback dives we will be at a 4th and inches and i run a play action to the fullback and throw one deep and that gives my team the victory until i see the flag on the field and my left tackle got called for holding. I jerk his butt out of there and run the famous throw back to my quarterback who hits tweeder for the game winning score.

[boogerred]

I run the smelly polecat to get a free time out b/c you know the other team's D.C. will crap down his leg when he sees that.

[madpolecat]

ah, the POLECAT.

When I was in college, Hiram College unveiled the polecat just before the end of the second quarter. Of course, our DC called a timeout.

In the locker room at halftime, our DC ranted an raved about "that backyard offense sh*t," and then proceeded to spend the entire halftime working up an answer for the polecat rather than working on the stuff that they ran the rest of the half.

I guess that the Hiram OC accomplished what he wanted to; he ruined our halftime.

I had read Ellison's book the summer before and had seen the polecat in use. I couldn't help but laugh at the arrogance of our DC, and all the while he was crapping down his leg about stopping the polecat.

[10mike]

With that much time remaining simply run the veer until you score. Remember, if you execute they CAN'T stop it, only you can with penalties and turnovers.

[Burg_Grad_77]

Let's say two timeouts remaining, clock at your back (this is high school, after all) and the wind in your face.

You choose what kind of offense you have from one of the following:
1. Passing (West Coast)
2. Power Running
3. Wing-T
4. Option

What does the postion of the clock have to do with anything? Does the concession stand on the left and the mens restroom to right factor in as well?

[madpolecat]

Most high school fields don't have scoreboards on both ends or 25-second clocks. It might figure into the way you allow your QB to manage the clock, no?

[Burg_Grad_77]

Most high school fields don't have scoreboards on both ends or 25-second clocks. It might figure into the way you allow your QB to manage the clock, no?

No, that's why you have 20 coaches roaming the sidelines. The players shouldn't have to worry about watching the clock. If they are watching the clock then they aren't focusing on the situation at hand. Just my opinion. As far as the 25 seconds to get the play off, any QB knows that when the back judge raises his hand it is at I believe the 5 second mark and he needs to either get off the play or call a TO.

[MTSWNGRVSG]

Tiger Ellison "What should we call it"

Offensive Line Coach, "Polecat, because it stinks"

[55buckeyes98]

I think that I would continue to run my offense with that much time left. As a play caller I would look at running plays I feel confident are going to get 6-8 yards at a time. I would run "hurry up" style of offense and find a way to call plays from the sideline or run two plays in a row. If we get a first down I would huddle and get a play or two in as quick as possible. Hopefully the hurry up Offense is something we have practiced. I am not going to go away from what I run the whole game, but I might be more likely to mix in some intermediate passing routes to loosen up the defense. My Offensive philosophy would be a power running game that mixes in options and roll out run/pass option plays. It depends on what defense I would be facing but I also might look at spreading a team out to run the ball and focus on stopping the clock by getting first downs. I would call my timeouts inside of one minute where needed or in a situation where we need to take our time to make the best play call. I do not worry about leaving too much time on the clock for my opponent, I take the points when I can get them because I do not think you can predict when or even if you are going to score. I have to have confidence in my defense that we can stop them after we score. I would much rather have the lead and put the pressure on the other team's offense to have to go 70+ yards and score with 2-3 minutes to go than be trying to get a TD with a minute or less to go.

[RogueWarrior1965]

Well, if I were fortunate enough to have a team with solid running backs, receivers, and QB, I would start out running Power Football. We all know the field tightens up the closer you get to the red zone, so after I had them sucking wind from smash mouth football, I would spread the offense and hit a combination of TEs, WRs on slant patterns and backs out of the backfield. Clock management would definitely be my friend and I would certainly audible some depending on the look they were giving and the personnel they had in the game (e.g., big linemen vs. smaller, faster secondary).