Coach Joe calls off the dogs and this joker keeps playing his starters trying to pad stats to look like his team put up a fight. Then late in the 4th when we have our 2nd and 3rd string in there he does a squib kick to get the ball back. The Radio Annoucers were going nuts on that one. Then Joe puts back in his 1st string Defense and proceeds to get three sacks in a row priceless!!!!!
CPT D
I think Darnell was trying to save his job. Aren't Darnell and Novak good friends??
It looked like Darnell and Novak were having a real long friendly conversation at the end of the game. Perhaps he was explaining himself?
Didn't Randy Walker pull a similar stunt against NIU at Miami in 1998? 35 point lead late in the fourth quarter. MU second string offense in the game. MU moves the ball to the Huskie 2 for first and goal. Walker puts the starting QB and RB in, and the RB gets the TD, which was his 4th or 5th of the game.
And Steve Spurrier left a starting QB in against NIU in 95(?) to throw a (then) school record 7th TD pass.
Too bad these guys don't follow Joe Paterno's example.
Am I the only person here that does not get what you are talking about. Western was losing the game-what coach in his right mind would just give up, which is what you are saying Darnell should do? Just because Joe pulled his starters it doesn't mean the other team has to.
NIUFAN Wrote:Am I the only person here that does not get what you are talking about. Western was losing the game-what coach in his right mind would just give up, which is what you are saying Darnell should do? Just because Joe pulled his starters it doesn't mean the other team has to.
agreed!
I think Walker's and Spurrier's actions were worse than Darnell's because NIU was out of both games. So, I'll move to your side and assume Darnell was tyring to stay in the game. Then why did he not go for the 2-point conversion when WMU scored in the third quarter to make it 49-23? 49-24 is still 4 scores to pull ahead, and 49-25 is only 3 scores to tie (with 2-point conversions), with about 19 minutes remaining. Or why not try the squib kick after that score? The issue may be more about timing than the play.
I don't have much of a problem with it. The squib kick did not appear to be an attempt at an onsides kick - Carter stuck his arm out and knocked the ball down, or it would have carried through to towards the deep backs.
But for those bemoaning the score and our D, keep that in mind. Their starting O, which isn't half bad when they aren't turning the ball over, was still trying to score against our second team D. After they recovered that kickoff, we put the starting D back in and summarily shut them down.
Joe's look when he met Darnell was "whew". I don't think Darnell will keep his job, but it says a lot that his team didn't quit.
I dont think it was a bad move on Darnell's part. If anything, it makes your players taste defeat for longer time, and have them take lessons out of it. I almost felt like he was saying, "fine you wanna play like that, then im gonna make this as drawn out and long for you as possible" Nothing compared to the joke Amstutz pulled on Ohio.
MaddDawgz02 Wrote:I dont think it was a bad move on Darnell's part. If anything, it makes your players taste defeat for longer time, and have them take lessons out of it. I almost felt like he was saying, "fine you wanna play like that, then im gonna make this as drawn out and long for you as possible" Nothing compared to the joke Amstutz pulled on Ohio.
I don't know a lot of coaches that are willing to let their team simply give up. We played the entire 4th quarter with our backup QB, or we could have put more points up. WMU just simply wasn't going to run the clock out, and I wouldn't expect them to do so.
I don't see that as classless at all. They weren't trying to embarrass us, and we weren't trying to embarrass them. I still think Amstutz was trying to embarrass OU - that's completely different.
NIUFAN Wrote:Am I the only person here that does not get what you are talking about. Western was losing the game-what coach in his right mind would just give up, which is what you are saying Darnell should do? Just because Joe pulled his starters it doesn't mean the other team has to.
You're not the only person. I don't know what these guys are talking about. Darnell was not giving up--- And I don't think he should!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A coach needs to do whatever is best for his team at the time. I think Haldi has his rythum back, and so it was good to pull him ( 1. to keep him healthy nad 2. to continue the development of the back up). If Haldi still neede the work, I'd keep him in.
I think we shouldn't throw the word "classless" around that cavalierly.
I haven't watched the broadcast yet, but I was at the game and things were getting very chippy at the end, especially in the last 3-4 minutes. The game was over and you run out the clock so players on neither team get hurt. Hawkins got creamed on a blind side hit off the ball and WMU's receiver got clocked coming across the middle after the onside kick. I was sitting with some players' parents and they were not happy and I don't blame 'em. You can talk all you want about "Western kept playing," but that game had been over for a looooooooooong time, regardless of what the scoreboard said.
DiehardHuskie Wrote:I haven't watched the broadcast yet, but I was at the game and things were getting very chippy at the end, especially in the last 3-4 minutes. The game was over and you run out the clock so players on neither team get hurt. Hawkins got creamed on a blind side hit off the ball and WMU's receiver got clocked coming across the middle after the onside kick. I was sitting with some players' parents and they were not happy and I don't blame 'em. You can talk all you want about "Western kept playing," but that game had been over for a looooooooooong time, regardless of what the scoreboard said.
Chippy or not, the game of football is supposed to be played hard for all 60 minutes. last time i looked, there were no slaughter rules in college football.
It looked to me like WMU was playing hard to try to win up until the last couple of minutes, when they apparently decided it was over and started running the ball to end the game, probably to avoid injuries. I have no problem with what they were doing.