Going for it on 4th down...

[Littlemeyer]

I thought it was the right call. Poor execution, but the right call. We had a chance to cut the lead to 10. We had a bit of momentum at the time, and a conversion right there would have been huge.

Of course, with Archer's defense, it may've just delayed the inevitable...:?

[Mountain Cat]

I thought it was a stupid play. We had the momentum, and could have pinned UL inside the 10, but let them have a midfield look to get rolling again.

RB blew it on that call, IMO.

[Littlemeyer]

We needed to keep Louisville's offense off the field. Defensive stops were few and far between tonight. They could score from 90 yards out as easily as they would from 55 yards out.

Good decision. Poor execution.

[bluescat]

:thumbdownMountain Cat, I agree with you, we had some momentum and had just stopped them deep in their territory. I think you punt it, pin them down inside their ten and let Brohm's phsyce start to get to him. But we didn't and they made us pay. That's exactly what good football teams do.

[Tbird]

Bad call, no question. Still plenty of timeat that point, have the momentum, chance to pin em back deep. If you don't get the first down, immediate momentum swing, crowd back in the game. Not to mention, one series before and you have 4th and less than a yard and punt. Either way, we don't beat Louisville this year but, we are debating the 4th down call on this thread.

[TrueblueCATfan]

Ithought it was stupid and it they scored..............we gave them 2 TD's tonight..the other when Pulley dropped the pass in the endzone

[Littlemeyer]

Tbird wrote: Either way, we don't beat Louisville this year...

You're probably right.

The difference (psyche wise) from this play and the series before is that Louisville had yet to lose Bush. I felt if we scored that drive, the momentum might just carry us far enough to do something silly (like actually have a chance to win). Of course, the only way we were going to score on that drive was to go for it on 4th.

Heck, what can I say. I like to gamble at times.

At that time, I felt that however we give UL the ball back, they were going to score. Whether they had to go 90 yards, or 55 yards. Probably wouldn't have mattered.

But one of those ways at least gave us a chance of keeping possession.

Oh well. That's probably why I work at a rock quarry instead of coaching a D1 football team. :)

[Mountain Cat]

Littlemeyer wrote: Oh well. That's probably why I work at a rock quarry instead of coaching a D1 football team. :)

:lol:I'm not cashing any D-1 checks either........but I did stay in the Holiday Inn Express

[dbe]

As soon as I saw they were going for it on 4th down I started hollering no no no. Not only did it kill our momentum, it changed the field position advantage we had. We still had 23+ minutes left in the game.

To top it off, we were confused and not prepared to go for it and so we rushed to get the play off before the 25 second clock ran out.

It basically destroyed any chance we had to come back,(which we probably would not have anyway). After that play many UK fans around me started leaving. It killed what ever hope they had as well. It was the wrong call at the wrong time.

Not a smart call at all.

[BigblueDrew]

I think it was the right call. When a team is running up and down the field at will on you , you have to take a shot when you have it. The only remote chance we have of getting the gamecloser (nobdy really believes we had a chance to win this game do they) is to keep ournonexistent defense off the field.

[EricBigNally]

Its actually hard to say it was or wasn't the right call. It may have been one of the most critical snaps the entire game.

It would have been the right call if they made it.

It would be considered the wrong play since they didn't make it.

It was one of those genious/idiot plays. You're a genius if it works and an idiot if it doesn't.

Had the defense been reliable and able to shut down any aspect of UL offnese, punt it and pin them as best as possible. Hope for a 3 and out and give it another go. Since the defense looked like a high school team playing in the NFL, it was probably the right call. When you are obviously out manned, you have to gamble a bit to try and get ahead in the game or at least try to draw it even. Especially since mometmum was actually on our side.

[Levi]

It was a call that was meant to reverse the way the game was unfolding. It was meant to be a call that showed we had taken control of the game. If the had not been batted down the reciver was wide open and it would have been a great momentum shift to our side. That call was one of the few good ones all night. UL just did what they had to do.

[ukfanman]

Great decision if you make it, poor decision if you don't.

I would have punted, pinned them down hope we held. When they had that easy score from midfield, that was it.

[Spanish Moss]

It would have been a good call for a Hal Mumme offense but it was a horrible call for a Joker Phillips offense.

But that didn't win or lose the game for us. We were beat when we took the field because for the upteenth time we did not show up to play. Mike Archer's defense in the first 3 or 4 minutes was the telling tale. We were in for a butt kicking and we deserved it.

[Mark Blueblood]

To set the record straight - and attempt to prove that I am not a total "yes man" - I thought it was a BAD call.

Maybe if you're the 1961 Packers, but not if you're the 2006 Wildcats.

[Spanish Moss]

Mark Blueblood wrote: To set the record straight - and attempt to prove that I am not a total "yes man" - I thought it was a BAD call.

Maybe if you're the 1961 Packers, but not if you're the 2006 Wildcats.


:thumbup

[johnkyblue]

That call didn't matter at all.

[DaytonKat]

Was Coach Brooks trying to be the reincarnation of Hal Mumme? I didn't like the call. 10-15 more yards into enemy territory, then okay. 10 more minutes into the 3rd quarter, then I'm with ya. Not there, not then. When UveL had the ball the preceding series, didn't we just stop them fand make them put for what seemed like the first time?

[Athens2005]

Here's a problem:


We had similar field position on the previous possession, which was the first possession of the second half. At that point, even prior to the Bush injury, you could certainly argue that we had the momentum (14 straight points). But, we decided to punt.

The next possession (post- Bush injury), we decided to go for it on 4th, but:

A) We had not played very aggressively on the possession
1) Our 1st and 3rd down plays were "patty cake" plays, not indicative of a team that wanted to go for the jugular.
2) Yes, the 2nd down play was a nice call, but why wait until 2nd down? Why not go for it on first down when we supposedly had the momentum? If not the deep ball, why not at least send a guy 10 - 15 yards out and get the chains moving?
3) Then, after jacking around 2/3 plays, we go for it on 4th down, and (I'll be honest, I can't visualize the 4th down play that well) quite frankly, we didn't look all that aggressive in our attempt to pick up the necessary yardage. We looked, scared/surprised on the play.


When you're a team like Kentucky, if you're going to take risks, you've either got to choose your spots very well (and then know that you can execute 70 - 80% of the time); or, you consistently take risks, recognizing that the more you do it, the greater number of times you will succeed (although the percentage may still remain somewhat low).

If we go for it on 4th down on both possessions, we probably get 1 of the 2. As it turns out, we punt first, and then go for it; and some people are inevitably disappointed in both decisions.

Ironically, had we gone for it the first time, Bush probably doesn't break his leg.

[Dr. H Lecter]

Littlemeyer wrote: I thought it was the right call. Poor execution, but the right call. We had a chance to cut the lead to 10. We had a bit of momentum at the time, and a conversion right there would have been huge.

Of course, with Archer's defense, it may've just delayed the inevitable...:?

I liked going for it but think doing it with a fake punt rather than simply trying to run the ball 2 yards might have caught them a bit more off guard.

[Athens2005]

Dr. H Lecter wrote: Littlemeyer wrote: I thought it was the right call. Poor execution, but the right call. We had a chance to cut the lead to 10. We had a bit of momentum at the time, and a conversion right there would have been huge.

Of course, with Archer's defense, it may've just delayed the inevitable...:?

I liked going for it but think doing it with a fake punt rather than simply trying to run the ball 2 yards might have caught them a bit more off guard.

Maybe if we had brought Pulley in to run it, we might've had a better shot. :P

[Dr. H Lecter]

Athens2005 wrote: Dr. H Lecter wrote: Littlemeyer wrote: I thought it was the right call. Poor execution, but the right call. We had a chance to cut the lead to 10. We had a bit of momentum at the time, and a conversion right there would have been huge.

Of course, with Archer's defense, it may've just delayed the inevitable...:?

I liked going for it but think doing it with a fake punt rather than simply trying to run the ball 2 yards might have caught them a bit more off guard.

Maybe if we had brought Pulley in to run it, we might've had a better shot. :P

I think Pulley was suffering from cramps at that time. UofL's "D" looked bored. Good time for a fake punt IMO.

[Littlemeyer]

A fake punt would've been nice. It probably would have worked too. IMO, the best chance we had of winning that game was to maximize the time that Brohm and Co. were standing on the sidelines.

I'm pretty sure we attempted to pass on the 4th down in question. Seems like I remember the pass being batted down (incomplete), and one of our lineman tried to pick it up and run with it.

[Aike]

I agree with Athens that the biggest mistake in that series was not going for the jugular on 1st down. With UL shaken by the Bush injury, the right play, imo, would have been to go for the home run. Instead, we run two yards straight up the middle. :shrug: