USC demolishing Fresno at the half 35-6.

Wash St. taking it to Colorado St. in the NM Bowl, 45-30 in the 4th.

P5 handling the W5 in two early contests.

CSU decision to not onside kick after closing within 8 appears to backfire, as WSU gets a first down... but WSU then fumbles on consecutive plays (one overturned by review), giving CSU the ball and chance to tie.

tied. I gave up on that game a long time ago...

2-pter converted on Statue of Liberty play.

And, holy crap, WSU turns the ball over again to piss the game away...

That is incredible...
CSU wins 48-45.

48-45 CSU

What an epic choke job by Mike Leach's team. Could they have run out the clock by kneeling on the ball 3 times at the end (or perhaps having to punt on 4th down). The 2nd fumble was snapped with about 20 seconds on the game clock and time ticking down. Just an epic job of Leach forcing his arrogance into a losing effort.

(12-21-2013 06:26 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  What an epic choke job by Mike Leach's team. Could they have run out the clock by kneeling on the ball 3 times at the end (or perhaps having to punt on 4th down). The 2nd fumble was snapped with about 20 seconds on the game clock and time ticking down. Just an epic job of Leach forcing his arrogance into a losing effort.

Not sure what Leach had to do with two consecutive fumbles and snapping the ball with 20 seconds left. Sure, he responsible for the lack of discipline in execution, ultimately, but Halliday has to be smart about the clock, and the runners have to know to go down. That's Clock-Killing 101.

(12-21-2013 06:47 PM)jwn Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 06:26 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  What an epic choke job by Mike Leach's team. Could they have run out the clock by kneeling on the ball 3 times at the end (or perhaps having to punt on 4th down). The 2nd fumble was snapped with about 20 seconds on the game clock and time ticking down. Just an epic job of Leach forcing his arrogance into a losing effort.

Not sure what Leach had to do with two consecutive fumbles and snapping the ball with 20 seconds left. Sure, he responsible for the lack of discipline in execution, ultimately, but Halliday has to be smart about the clock, and the runners have to know to go down. That's Clock-Killing 101.

But those aren't natural reactions. Therefore it's up to coaches to instill that awareness and understanding. And on the coaches when it's not done.

Not sure what the fumble with 20 seconds left. CSU scored to tie with 33 seconds left, and last fumble was on the ensuing kickoff, so there was no play from scrimmage involved.

Maybe the sequence leading up to the fumble that set up they tying touchdown. That was with well over 20 seconds on the game clock. Play clock perhaps? In that case one question though, that play followed a previous fumble that was reviewed and overturned. Rules question, would the clock be stopped on the challenge until the ball was snapped, making time on the play clock irrelevant?

Regardless of specifics, I would agree that Leach's arrogance bit him. Plus with the Air Raid, there aren't a lot of good four minute offense plays.

Leach made the decision not to take a knee. I don't believe the clock would have run out since it was 2nd down but at the very worst, they would have been punting with an 8 point lead, CSU without any timeouts and no more than 30-40 seconds on the clock. When you just fumbled the ball (but the call was correctly reversed), that should have been the indicator to play it safe. Especially when you have runners who never carry the ball to begin with since you pass all the time.

CSU got the ball with 1:51 to go at the WSU 32 after the 2nd of 3 fumbles. Again, that was the play where WSU snaps the ball with about 20 seconds on the game clock. If they take it down another 20 seconds and take a knee, that would get it to maybe 1:35. Another knee would make it roughly under a minute. And then a 4th down punt would take you to the 20 second mark approximately. I don't blame the kids, I blame Leach.

(12-21-2013 07:10 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  CSU got the ball with 1:51 to go at the WSU 32 after the 2nd of 3 fumbles. Again, that was the play where WSU snaps the ball with about 20 seconds on the game clock. If they take it down another 20 seconds and take a knee, that would get it to maybe 1:35. Another knee would make it roughly under a minute. And then a 4th down punt would take you to the 20 second mark approximately. I don't blame the kids, I blame Leach.

Agree on that analysis. First post was a bit confusing.

(12-21-2013 07:22 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 07:10 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  CSU got the ball with 1:51 to go at the WSU 32 after the 2nd of 3 fumbles. Again, that was the play where WSU snaps the ball with about 20 seconds on the game clock. If they take it down another 20 seconds and take a knee, that would get it to maybe 1:35. Another knee would make it roughly under a minute. And then a 4th down punt would take you to the 20 second mark approximately. I don't blame the kids, I blame Leach.

Agree on that analysis. First post was a bit confusing.

Yeah that makes more sense. Still, Leach isn't the only coach to run the ball and attempt to get the first down in that situation. Most would rather kneel with no time left than punt with 20 seconds.

(12-21-2013 06:47 PM)jwn Wrote:  

(12-21-2013 06:26 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  What an epic choke job by Mike Leach's team. Could they have run out the clock by kneeling on the ball 3 times at the end (or perhaps having to punt on 4th down). The 2nd fumble was snapped with about 20 seconds on the game clock and time ticking down. Just an epic job of Leach forcing his arrogance into a losing effort.

Not sure what Leach had to do with two consecutive fumbles and snapping the ball with 20 seconds left. Sure, he responsible for the lack of discipline in execution, ultimately, but Halliday has to be smart about the clock, and the runners have to know to go down. That's Clock-Killing 101.

Fumbles happen when your team is unprepared. he should have told Halliday to be smart about the clock and told the runners to go down.

This is the guy everybody wanted last year.

Tulane, which was looking like they were going to get destroyed by UL-La after going down 21-0 and looking fairly helpless, scores two TDs in 2 minutes and is only down 7 at half.

I've been half watching the New Orleans Bowl and when I've paid attention, tulane looked awful.

But, they've outgained ULaLa 243 to 185, granting Tulane has two plays for 40+ yards to set up their two touchdowns.

Turnovers, including the pick-6 have more than made up the difference for ULaLa.

(12-21-2013 07:10 PM)Fort Bend Owl Wrote:  CSU got the ball with 1:51 to go at the WSU 32 after the 2nd of 3 fumbles. Again, that was the play where WSU snaps the ball with about 20 seconds on the game clock. If they take it down another 20 seconds and take a knee, that would get it to maybe 1:35. Another knee would make it roughly under a minute. And then a 4th down punt would take you to the 20 second mark approximately. I don't blame the kids, I blame Leach.

+1.

I would love to see Tulane represent the conference well and make the comeback work. It seems like a great atmosphere with ~60,000 fans in the Superdome.

Is Tulane really representing CUSA when this is literally their last game in the conference?