(10-06-2013 08:39 AM)greyowl72 Wrote:  

(10-06-2013 07:05 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 06:28 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 06:27 PM)JOwl Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 06:25 PM)Rice93 Wrote:  A 1st down dive up the middle was a terrible decision. I'd debate that all night.

It wasn't a dive.

True. Still a crap call.

I find criticism of this play call totally incredible. Anyone who understands the probabilities involved would say that it is an absolute slam dunk that you do exactly what Bailiff did. And that's without even considering that McHargue had not been throwing well. Starting from your own 13 with a minute left, the odds are way, way against you. You are far more likely to hand Tulsa the game than to do anything to win it yourself. Turnover hands them the game. Three incompletes and a punt hands them the game. The odds are simply not in your favor, and by a wide margin. It's not close. If you want to come out slinging just to prove that you are "aggressive" or something like that, then I suppose you can. But the odds say that's not the way to win the football game.

The play call the does deserve criticism is the pass that got picked with 6 minutes left. You're in marginal range for Boswell. Couple of runs that get 6-7 yards total would get the FG under 50 and take you down to the 5 minute mark, unless Tulsa starts taking TO's, which of course would restrict their offensive options when they get the ball back. FG to go up 14 with 5 minutes left puts you in a very strong position.

Excellent point.
The INT at that point killed us. We were moving the ball on the ground and killing the clock. It was a bad play call. IF we were going to pass... Throw it down the field. Not out in the flat.

As noted in my above post, McHargue was not trying to flow it out in the flat. He was trying to throw it away, and didn't get enough mustard on the throw.

(10-06-2013 04:01 PM)Rick Gerlach Wrote:  although we're calling the interception a terrible call, in the post-game interview, McHargue indicated he was trying to throw the ball away. Watching on TV, he was falling back and throwing off his left foot (there was a defender in his face, coming up quick) and just didn't thrown it hard enough. He confirmed this in the interview.
It was an execution issue, and he took ownership. He knows what he needs to do next time I'd wager.

I am certain you know that we didn't call for an interception there, although your wording could leave some doubt. The point was more that no pass play really made a lot of sense there. Obviously, if you see a chance to catch them by surprise then the pass makes sense; but it had better be one with a really high percentage completion expectation.

Throwing it away, but not really throwing it away, is pretty much an inexcusable execution error, particularly for a senior four-year starter.

(10-05-2013 05:12 PM)Caelligh Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 05:11 PM)Ranger Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 05:04 PM)Caelligh Wrote:  Injured Tulsa player has been down for a long time. :(

It looked like his knee went down into the turf with the weight of two players on it.

Thanks. I thought it was just GT being GT and not updating properly.

It took a while to tend to the player. They called for an ambulance.

And the ambulance was spewing some nasty, dirty exhaust on the field. Apparently, they don't believe in regular maintenance on their ambulances, or they choose the dirtiest-spewing one for game duty, in case it needs to be sent on the field for a bad injury.

Hope the player can make a speedy and complete recovery.

(10-05-2013 03:26 PM)Tiki Owl Wrote:  Bryce signalling to get away from the ball, it bounces he picks it up and the great CUSA officials say he signaled for a fair catch.

Yeah, these officials weren't very good, but at least they were better than last week. Barely.

Apparently, the race to the bottom in quality of conference teams includes getting worse officials, too.

(10-05-2013 03:11 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  Taylor Moxie 8-9 111 yds

Which unfortunately means McHargue finished the remaining 3-1/2 quarters plus overtime at 5 of 12 for 66 yards and 1 INT. And 25 of those yards came on the game-winning TD to Dillard. I know that he played half of the game with an injury of some type, presumed to affect his throwing arm, but he still have 1-1/2 quarters of play and barely added to that effective start.

(10-07-2013 07:42 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 03:11 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  Taylor Moxie 8-9 111 yds

Which unfortunately means McHargue finished the remaining 3-1/2 quarters plus overtime at 5 of 12 for 66 yards and 1 INT. And 25 of those yards came on the game-winning TD to Dillard. I know that he played half of the game with an injury of some type, presumed to affect his throwing arm, but he still have 1-1/2 quarters of play and barely added to that effective start.

We had 160 yards before the first quarter ended and I was thrilled to see the rest of the game. I think Bailiff/Reagan decided to try and avoid any turnovers to, surprise, surprise, play it safe. I don't think it was the D changing and us not adjusting, it was our coaching staff going away from what was working. Ugh.

(10-07-2013 08:56 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 07:42 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 03:11 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  Taylor Moxie 8-9 111 yds

Which unfortunately means McHargue finished the remaining 3-1/2 quarters plus overtime at 5 of 12 for 66 yards and 1 INT. And 25 of those yards came on the game-winning TD to Dillard. I know that he played half of the game with an injury of some type, presumed to affect his throwing arm, but he still have 1-1/2 quarters of play and barely added to that effective start.

We had 160 yards before the first quarter ended and I was thrilled to see the rest of the game. I think Bailiff/Reagan decided to try and avoid any turnovers to, surprise, surprise, play it safe. I don't think it was the D changing and us not adjusting, it was our coaching staff going away from what was working. Ugh.

yeah- it was puzzling. Didn't see much of any meerkating during the first couple of drives, and then- as soon as we starting looking to the sideline and taking 25 seconds to get a play off- the 'bad' offense showed up, and never left. Thank goodness for the great play call and execution in OT. Because everything between the 2nd drive and that was awful.

If, as some have suggested, this is because the first 15-20 plays were scripted, then when we get to #20 let's roll back around to #1 and start over. I am mostly kidding.

(10-07-2013 09:26 AM)Middle Ages Wrote:  If, as some have suggested, this is because the first 15-20 plays were scripted, then when we get to #20 let's roll back around to #1 and start over. I am mostly kidding.

I had exactly the same thought. Wash, rinse, repeat!

Serioulsy, I think the pace had as much to do with the early success as anything. Why would they change what was working? Why not go back to it when they bogged down after reverting to the meerkat?

More times than not, the decision making of this offensive staff is more than puzzling. It just seems like "playing not to loose" rather than "playing to win".

(10-07-2013 09:26 AM)Middle Ages Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 08:56 AM)RiceLad15 Wrote:  

(10-07-2013 07:42 AM)gsloth Wrote:  

(10-05-2013 03:11 PM)That Guy 2012 Wrote:  Taylor Moxie 8-9 111 yds

Which unfortunately means McHargue finished the remaining 3-1/2 quarters plus overtime at 5 of 12 for 66 yards and 1 INT. And 25 of those yards came on the game-winning TD to Dillard. I know that he played half of the game with an injury of some type, presumed to affect his throwing arm, but he still have 1-1/2 quarters of play and barely added to that effective start.

We had 160 yards before the first quarter ended and I was thrilled to see the rest of the game. I think Bailiff/Reagan decided to try and avoid any turnovers to, surprise, surprise, play it safe. I don't think it was the D changing and us not adjusting, it was our coaching staff going away from what was working. Ugh.

yeah- it was puzzling. Didn't see much of any meerkating during the first couple of drives, and then- as soon as we starting looking to the sideline and taking 25 seconds to get a play off- the 'bad' offense showed up, and never left. Thank goodness for the great play call and execution in OT. Because everything between the 2nd drive and that was awful.

If, as some have suggested, this is because the first 15-20 plays were scripted, then when we get to #20 let's roll back around to #1 and start over. I am mostly kidding.

Yeah, I don't really understand why we can script the first two drives but not any more than that. Or have a set of different scripts (like columns on a play wristband) and just call the script we're going to run at the beginning of the drive. Sure, there have to be some adjustments based on the game, but you could have different scripts prepared for different situations. (1:40 left in the half and we get the ball at the 35? We'll run column J.)

I watched the game on my DVR. Using the "jump" feature(jump ahead 30 seconds), in the first quarter I would miss plays because they were getting them off fast. later in the game I could usually jump from the end of one play to the snap on the next.

Don't know why the slowdown. FWIW

After coming back rom Tulsa and catching up a bit, I finally have a minute to post just a few observations.

I was at the Rice -Tulsa game in 2006 and remember Skelly Stadium to be a pretty sad venue. In the intervening years, Tulsa has really improved it. It's a perfect size for the team and the city. Capacity around 30,000. The exterior has nice brickwork corresponding to the rest of the buildings on campus. There is a smallish plaza inside the gates..that could easily be utilized for tailgating and other pre-game activities. There's a lot of seating with chair backs. Decent sized score board with good graphics, sound and video. The concourses are a bit narrow and the concessions a bit wanting, but all-in-all it's a very nice stadium and a big improvement. They chose to update and renovate rather than tear down a what I guess they consider to be a historic stadium. I think they made the right decision.

There had to be 300+ Rice supporters at the game..most all of us consigned to sections 107 and 108..5 yards deep in the end zone. Lousy seats...but a good view of the scoreboard and video. I think we definitely made some noise at the appropriate times. And it was great to see the smiles and happy faces..especially from the players' families...when Dillard went in for the game winning TD.

I'm not going to re-hash the absence of offense in the 2nd half. Or the officiating. Or the play calling. Or the QB situation. It was a beautiful day for football. Rice won a game that we would have lost last year or the year before. I was happy. We are 3-2. And I'm looking forward to going to San Antonio this week to watch the Owls win again.