A GREAT GAME IGNORED
Last night, I watched a great game. Carolina fought hard. Clemson fought hard and both teams left it all out there on the field. As a Carolina fan, I can appreciate games that are played like this.
You have to hand to the Clemson football team; they made the plays that they needed to win the game in the last minute. Normally, like with any other team, a game like this is one that I can turn to the team’s fans around me and say: Damn you guys played a hell of a game. Not this one.
Once again, the experience of the game was marred by the Clemson faithful who just can’t seem to conduct themselves in a dignified manner. I understand that the game has high emotions and you get pumped up. However, I watched two Clemson fans sitting very close to us, pick fights with no less than 6 different Carolina fans.
The sad thing about it was who they chose to mess with. On one occasion, a father turned around and asked them to please quit saying: “Fuck you Gamecocks” in front of his 4 year old son. The two Clemson fans responded by saying “FUCK YOU.” The father was rightfully upset but took the high road and moved. Of course, the Clemson fans gave him shit all the way saying things like: That’s right get the fuck out of here.
On another occasion these same two Clemson fans hurled insults at a much older Carolina fan.
It is a sad thing that I simple cannot have a great experience watching Carolina vs. Clemson. It doesn’t matter if it is at the game or watching it in a public place; if a Clemson fan is around they are going to do whatever they can to make it a miserable experience.
I have said it on many occasions but the bottom line is that Clemson fans are the trash of NCAA football. The only fans that rival them are LSU fans.
I too would like to take the high road. So here is my attempt.
Clemson fan,
Congratulations on your win. Your team played a hell of a game and managed to pull it out in the final seconds. It was a good game and one that I can truly say that Clemson deserved to win.
However, your conduct during the game was unbecoming and served to discredit your team’s heart. You are not acting as ambassadors to your team and make it very difficult for us as Carolina fans to ever give the Clemson players the nod and respect they deserve.
In the future, win or lose please remember that this is a game everyone wants to enjoy the game and like his one, there is plenty for both teams to be proud of.
So, please for the betterment of this rivalry, try and act as if you are not troglodytes and watch the game with the class a team of your stature should.
Sincerely,
The Cool Chicken.
13 comments:
Great game? Our final possession, instead of trying to pick up 4 yards on the 4th down, we PUNT the ball back to Clemson and they win the game! I can see if we were ahead by a touchdown, but only 1 point?
How did you not expect that?
IN MY OPINION..
This loss again goes back to what I have been yelling all season... GET RID OF TYRONE NIX.
However, the game overall was exciting. I am saying the game was great as far as the level of play. Not necessarily the result.
Considering that we played with out Captain Munderlyn, I thought our pass D was decent. On that final drive thought the loss of Carlos Thomas, who is overrated but..., was exposed and that hurt us in the end. I am more upset that with 4 minutes left, just before we punted it back to them the last time, that we ran the ball 3 straight times.
Bingo Shades! It's easy to see the defensive weakness on the field and at the sidelines. But the offensive weakness shows through as well.
Punting was the right call. The defense had held them on how many possessions at that point? The score was 21-20 as I recall. That's a grinder which means the defenses are beating the offenses. 4th and 4 is too many. 4th and 1... 1 and a half... maybe, but even then, if your defense is playing well, the risk is just not worth it.
The right call would be to not have to punt. Three straight runs when they are stacked against it. That is not playing to win. That is playing not to lose.
Nope, it was the right call. 4th and 4 is too much. You want Blake Mitchell tossing the pigskin in a do-or-die 4th down when you have a lead late in the game? Defense vs. offense. It's a grinder game. That's not a go-for-it decision.
The gamecocks lost the game and if the get that first down, the game is over. The play that was called resulted in them having to punt. So, obviously it wasn't the right call.
It's always the wrong call in hindsight. Does that make Les Miles' decision to toss it into the endzone against Auburn the "right" call, just because it worked out?
Don't get trapped into that line of thinking. You hold a team to 21 points in 4 quarters, your defense is doing a good job.
Gotta play the percentages. Especially in a grinder.
By the way... yeah, I agree about the three straight runs into a stacked box comment. I was referring to the 4th-and-4 call. It shouldn't have gotten to a 4th-and-4 situation. But once it had, punting was the right call.
That is exactly what determines whether or not it was the right call. If it works, it was the right call. If it doesn't, it was the wrong call.
An onside kick has roughly a 10% chance of success. Which means even if it's executed well, it will only work 1 out of 10 times. It's one of the lowest-probability plays in college football.
A 2-pt. conversion attempt from the 3-yard line has approximately a 40% chance of working if executed well. If you move that back to the 8-yard line, say due to a penalty for a false start, that drops to approximately 20%.
Among other things, football is a game of percentages. Going for it on 4th-and-4 with a lead, when you're up by a point in a low scoring game with only a few minutes left on the clock, is a bad deal. Can it be done? Certainly. You weigh the good with the bad.
Instinct and luck play a role, too.
For a coach, it's rolling the dice with a bunch of 18 to 22 year old kids executing for a desired result. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.
Sometimes there is no clear-cut right or wrong call. Just the best call.
The 'Cocks were 3 of 8 on 3rd down leading up to that point and were getting 3 yards to the Tigers' 4 on each drive.
They gave the ball back to Clemson with 1:40 remaining with a 1-point deficit. It was a pretty good punt by Succup, a 42-yarder, and CJ Spiller was driven back a yard on the return, so Clemson got the ball on their 22. That's good execution. That's what you want if you have to punt.
1:40 is not a lot of time to move from your own 22 to within field goal range (say the 30 yard line for a long kick, the 25 for a high-percentage one).
Obviously Spurrier felt his defense, maligned though it has deservedly been for much of this season, had a better chance of stopping the Tigers with all of the pressure on 'em under those circumstances, than trusting his offense to do something they hadn't been good at doing all night, which is get a first down. (Carolina only had 16 first downs. Eesh.) And he trusted his special teams unit to boot the ball way the hell down there, which they more or less did, and with good coverage too.
Chuck, I know you're the kind of guy who just doesn't like the prospect of changing his mind about something. I know you're going to stick by your guns, which is fine. So let me close with this. There's no question that punting in that situation is what 99% of all college coaches (I guess Les Miles might be the 1% remaining) would have done and rightfully so. That's what gave the 'Cocks the best chance of success based on their strengths, their weaknesses, and the percentages involved. And unfortunately it's not quite so simplistic as being the "right" or "wrong" call based only on the result. College football just doesn't work that way.
Sorry for the long post.
Sure it does. Teams are judged by wether they win or lose. Bottom line.
It is black and white.
Stats and percentages are great but neither matter of you lose.
Post a Comment