Arkansas State acquitted itself quite well on Saturday, as an upper-division Sun Belt school nearly made waves in the corn belt of the United States. ASU coach Steve Roberts deserves kudos and commendations for having his team ready to play on the heels of a wrenching three-point home loss to conference rival Troy. The Red Wolves and their coaching staff exploited what they could, pouncing on the shaky quarterbacking of Iowa signal caller Ricky Stanzi to remain in the fray for 58 minutes on a nationally-televised ESPN2 broadcast. Roberts and Co. just might have gotten some new recruits to think about coming to Jonesboro, Ark., to play FBS football. On a larger level, the first Saturday of October had to rate as a considerable success for the Red Wolf program.

. . . and the rest of the story . . . http://cfn.scout.com/2/557921.html

(10-05-2009 10:59 AM)ManzanoWolf Wrote:  Arkansas State acquitted itself quite well on Saturday, as an upper-division Sun Belt school nearly made waves in the corn belt of the United States. ASU coach Steve Roberts deserves kudos and commendations for having his team ready to play on the heels of a wrenching three-point home loss to conference rival Troy. The Red Wolves and their coaching staff exploited what they could, pouncing on the shaky quarterbacking of Iowa signal caller Ricky Stanzi to remain in the fray for 58 minutes on a nationally-televised ESPN2 broadcast. Roberts and Co. just might have gotten some new recruits to think about coming to Jonesboro, Ark., to play FBS football. On a larger level, the first Saturday of October had to rate as a considerable success for the Red Wolf program.

. . . and the rest of the story . . . http://cfn.scout.com/2/557921.html

I'm going to go the other way. In my opinion, Roberts choked. He wasted four minutes and two timeouts getting an extra 20 yards for the touchdown when he needed two scores anyway.

Kick the field goal. Then kick it deep and you can get the ball back with 3-plus minutes left.

(10-05-2009 12:45 PM)theboro Wrote:  I'm going to go the other way. In my opinion, Roberts choked. He wasted four minutes and two timeouts getting an extra 20 yards for the touchdown when he needed two scores anyway.

Kick the field goal. Then kick it deep and you can get the ball back with 3-plus minutes left.

I've been arguing this for days. I think Roberts made the wrong decision with 4 minutes left. Fact is that you lose the game if you miss the field goal, regardless of if you miss the field goal with 4 minutes left or 4 seconds left. I say let your kicker try to make the kick with 4 minutes left and less pressure than 4 seconds left and the game on the line. Besides that, you wouldn't have to try the onside kick, instead you can kick deep and make Iowa move the football on you, something they showed they could not do. Aside from that decision, I thought that Roberts had a great gameplan. Its a testament to the coaching staff that they stayed in with the #13 team so I'm only harsh on them for that one point.

(10-05-2009 04:36 PM)Tuffguy21 Wrote:  

(10-05-2009 12:45 PM)theboro Wrote:  I'm going to go the other way. In my opinion, Roberts choked. He wasted four minutes and two timeouts getting an extra 20 yards for the touchdown when he needed two scores anyway.

Kick the field goal. Then kick it deep and you can get the ball back with 3-plus minutes left.

I've been arguing this for days. I think Roberts made the wrong decision with 4 minutes left. Fact is that you lose the game if you miss the field goal, regardless of if you miss the field goal with 4 minutes left or 4 seconds left. I say let your kicker try to make the kick with 4 minutes left and less pressure than 4 seconds left and the game on the line. Besides that, you wouldn't have to try the onside kick, instead you can kick deep and make Iowa move the football on you, something they showed they could not do. Aside from that decision, I thought that Roberts had a great gameplan. Its a testament to the coaching staff that they stayed in with the #13 team so I'm only harsh on them for that one point.

Other than the poor time management, I say you go for the TD while your offense is on a roll. If you stop Iowa after the TD (which they mostly did after the first two drives of the game) and still have clock left, the Iowa defense is forced to play to deny the deep ball because another TD is for the win rather than the tie. Take the FG then and you have to have the TD to force OT unless you go for 2 and the win. On 4th down ASU is looking at a 40 yard field goal and we already know that is at the fringe of Arauco's range.

The key play was the second timeout at 2:09. ASU scored at 2:01. With one more timeout left instead of getting the ball at 0:10, you get it at roughly 0:53.

(10-05-2009 04:36 PM)Tuffguy21 Wrote:  

(10-05-2009 12:45 PM)theboro Wrote:  I'm going to go the other way. In my opinion, Roberts choked. He wasted four minutes and two timeouts getting an extra 20 yards for the touchdown when he needed two scores anyway.

Kick the field goal. Then kick it deep and you can get the ball back with 3-plus minutes left.

I've been arguing this for days. I think Roberts made the wrong decision with 4 minutes left. Fact is that you lose the game if you miss the field goal, regardless of if you miss the field goal with 4 minutes left or 4 seconds left. I say let your kicker try to make the kick with 4 minutes left and less pressure than 4 seconds left and the game on the line. Besides that, you wouldn't have to try the onside kick, instead you can kick deep and make Iowa move the football on you, something they showed they could not do. Aside from that decision, I thought that Roberts had a great gameplan. Its a testament to the coaching staff that they stayed in with the #13 team so I'm only harsh on them for that one point.

40 yard field goal is playing right on the edge of Arauco's range. his career long is 45. but ive seen him, come short from 40. Going for it was not the issue

Calling that 2nd timeout on the goal line is what cost us the game