Sean,

Congrats on the win--yeah!!! I have just made the two and a half hour drive home and have made the resolution not to come back to watch this football team under it's current leadership.

For the last 1:15 of the first half, all of the second half and my entire ride home I have search for ONE solid football reason NOT to call a timeout with 1:20 left in the half, but can't come up with one.

Here are the facts as I remember them.

---Ohio had 4th down with about 1:15 left
---they were punting into the wind (NIU had the wind)
---NIU led by 2----not 62
---NIU had three timeouts left

Here's what I remember

---your coach did not take a timeout and Ohio punted and the receiver caught the ball and the clock stopped with 27 SECONDS left in the half at midfield
---your coach who seemed intent at letting the clock run down before the punt---then threw the ball twice and ran once and the Ohio coach called a timeout forcing NIU to punt at the end of the half

STF---please enlighten me----how did your coach not get fired at half time? What football logic or strategy allows you to not get the ball back with two timeouts and approx. 1:05 or 1:10 left to try to score??

Did the NCAA adopt a rule I don't know about that allows six timeouts in the second half if you don't use any in the first.

If you give me one solid football reason why letting the clock get down to less than 30 seconds when you have the wind and three full timeouts is sound, I may come back.

Don't get me wrong---I'm certainly glad we won---but there was a good portion of the 3rd and 4th quarter I was wishing we tried to score at the end of the first half.

Tick, tick, tick STF.......please help me.

Signed,

Totally Frustrated when I could have been watching baseball

STF was on the sidelines among the players most of the game. Maybe STF told Carey not to take any timeouts in the first half.

I agree that this was an ultra conservative approach to close out the half. I think Carey had PTSD from the Childers interception the week prior. For all of us watching, it was incredibly frustrating. Ultimately, we're relying way too much on our defense. Maybe Childers' performance this week will motivate the coaches and the offense to start opening it up.

Sent from my SM-N910V using CSNbbs mobile app

Carey does this nearly every game, nothing to see here.

Classic "Carey Ball"

My god you people are idiots

“FRC”

The clock management (or lack thereof) at the end of the first half was mind boggling. Stuff like that can cost you dearly in close games, which NIU is gonna play a lot of with their style of play. THAT being said, the lack of panic from the players or coaches down 21-9 to a good MAC team has to be complimented. The composure in all 4 MAC games this year really. Also watching on ESPN+, this was the most engaged I have seen the NIU sideline in a long time. It was great to see. And calling the play they called for the 2pt conversion and giving a senior leader a chance to score can really rally/win over the locker room. STF being as enthusiastic and engaged as he was on the sidelines was great to see too. With all the rumors of discontent or lack of a caring the last couple seasons, it was great to see a sideline who seemed like they cared and were having a lot of fun today

We freaking won the game. Childers had 170 yards rushing.
Were there some questionable calls and dumb penalties? Yes, but day-um, enjoy and savor the come from behind victory.

(10-13-2018 10:48 PM)Flames24Rulz Wrote:  “FRC”

BBR!!!

LOL! I love this board!

(10-13-2018 10:45 PM)7 Wrote:  My god you people are idiots

7-----I will certainly accept the idiot comment if you can please give one solid football reason that with the wind, potential field position, etc that a timeout wasn't used. I'm only searching for one.

And yet another factor that I left out in my first post---NIU was kicking off to start the second half and Ohio was getting the ball back down only 2.

I will retract my early request---I don't need STF to give me a good reason---I need ONE sane football fan/person to give me a good football reason.

(10-13-2018 10:58 PM)machoman83 Wrote:  The clock management (or lack thereof) at the end of the first half was mind boggling. Stuff like that can cost you dearly in close games, which NIU is gonna play a lot of with their style of play. THAT being said, the lack of panic from the players or coaches down 21-9 to a good MAC team has to be complimented. The composure in all 4 MAC games this year really. Also watching on ESPN+, this was the most engaged I have seen the NIU sideline in a long time. It was great to see. And calling the play they called for the 2pt conversion and giving a senior leader a chance to score can really rally/win over the locker room. STF being as enthusiastic and engaged as he was on the sidelines was great to see too. With all the rumors of discontent or lack of a caring the last couple seasons, it was great to see a sideline who seemed like they cared and were having a lot of fun today

Macho--I agree with you 100%, but in a game that is ultimately decided by the comeback and lack of panic---and three points, I just am looking for one reason it's OK to give up a possession of the ball with potentially good field position. As bad as the third quarter was let's not forgot that Ohio fumbled on their first possession and threw an interception on the other. Following those turnovers---we did nothing with those possessions. It was a great win---it just didn't have to be "great"----winning by leading almost the whole game is OK too.

Carey must think timeouts roll over like cell phone minutes did 10+ years ago. He barely uses them and seems to save them for no reason at all.

(10-14-2018 05:21 AM)Milwaukee Pilot Wrote:  

(10-13-2018 10:58 PM)machoman83 Wrote:  The clock management (or lack thereof) at the end of the first half was mind boggling. Stuff like that can cost you dearly in close games, which NIU is gonna play a lot of with their style of play. THAT being said, the lack of panic from the players or coaches down 21-9 to a good MAC team has to be complimented. The composure in all 4 MAC games this year really. Also watching on ESPN+, this was the most engaged I have seen the NIU sideline in a long time. It was great to see. And calling the play they called for the 2pt conversion and giving a senior leader a chance to score can really rally/win over the locker room. STF being as enthusiastic and engaged as he was on the sidelines was great to see too. With all the rumors of discontent or lack of a caring the last couple seasons, it was great to see a sideline who seemed like they cared and were having a lot of fun today

Macho--I agree with you 100%, but in a game that is ultimately decided by the comeback and lack of panic---and three points, I just am looking for one reason it's OK to give up a possession of the ball with potentially good field position. As bad as the third quarter was let's not forgot that Ohio fumbled on their first possession and threw an interception on the other. Following those turnovers---we did nothing with those possessions. It was a great win---it just didn't have to be "great"----winning by leading almost the whole game is OK too.

The only explanation is that MD is right - Carey doesn't value offensive series' as he should.

gonna be a test of wills in kalamazoo as wmu has inherited the niu will to win.

(10-13-2018 10:45 PM)7 Wrote:  My god you people are idiots

7, I always enjoy your analysis though I do not always agree with all of it. Why do you feel that Carey should not have been aggressive closing out the first half? Given the field position, time remaining and favorable wind conditions it seemed like a no brainer to me to try to score in that situation.

There is no sane reasonable explanation for not stopping the clock before half. Outside of Rod having irritable bowl syndrome, he needs to explain that to the fans. That’s bad football.

NIU games have come down to 1 thing when I watch. Who screws up the game, Carey or Childers? If both guys do their job well I could probably sit back and enjoy a satisfying lead in the second half.

(10-14-2018 08:17 AM)Rabid Squirrel Wrote:  There is no sane reasonable explanation for not stopping the clock before half. Outside of Rod having irritable bowl syndrome, he needs to explain that to the fans. That’s bad football.

NIU games have come down to 1 thing when I watch. Who screws up the game, Carey or Childers? If both guys do their job well I could probably sit back and enjoy a satisfying lead in the second half.

Exactly if you want to run out the clock, then why pass when you get the ball back? That move made absolutely no sense. I would have been pissed if he just ran it a couple of times to just run clock, but at least it would have made sense. 6+ years into his tenure and he still doesn't understand clock management.

I remember complaints about Kill's clock management but I don't remember him doing stuff like Carey does. I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't call TOs there.