With no live sports, I have spent a lot of time watching replays of last season's Tiger football games. I just watched us at USF. The ending of the first half was very familiar. We get the ball on a punt with 1:37 on the clock. Damon's Coxie scores a TD with 5 seconds left to make the halftime score 28-10.

As I recall, it was amazing how many times last season we scored in the last 2 minutes of the first half to either take the lead or extend the lead. If somebody has the energy to do the research, I would like to know how many times that happened.

Scoring late in that first half has to demoralize the opposing team. They are thinking "Let's just run out the half, go to the locker room, and reorganize". Instead, the Tigers add a late score that they didn't expect.

I think those late scores point out how Coach Norvell would "go for the jugular" with his play calling. I hope that Coach Silverfield will follow the same philosophy.

Intriguing, so I bit.

Summarized facts, then the data:
We had the final score of the 1st half in 11 of 14 games. Although it wasn't always our final possession of the half.
We scored on our final possession in 9 games. The others were 2 missed FGs (hard to believe), 2 turnovers, and 1 time expiration.
We had the lead at half in 10 games. We did not lead in the 2 losses, plus Navy and Cincy II.
We scored with less than 20 seconds left in the half, 6 times.
Only 1 score was to take the lead.

We ramped up our 2-minute drill in the 2nd half of the season. During the 1st 7 games, our average final possession went for 25 yards. Over the last 7 games, our final possession went for 59 yds.

The data:
Ole Miss, 37-yd drive, scored a TD with 40 seconds left.
Southern, 34-yd drive, scored a FG with 2 seconds left.
USA, 38-yd drive, scored a FG with 39 seconds left.
Navy, -3 yds, missed a FG with 3:13 left.
Monroe, 41-yd drive, fumbled with 1:40 left.
Temple, 4 yds, time expired.
Tulane, 21-yd drive, scored a TD with 19 seconds left.
Tulsa, 60-yd drive, missed a FG as time expired.
SMU, 37-yd drive, scored a FG with 12 seconds left.
Houston, 98-yd drive, scored a TD with 19 seconds left.
USF, 73-yd drive, scored a TD with 5 seconds left.
Cincy I, 65-yd drive, scored a FG with 1:21 left.
Cincy II, 30-yd drive, interception as time expired.
Penn St, 49-yd drive, scored a FG as time expired.

Thanks for the details. Data bears out what I had recalled.

Just watching Tulane game. We score with 1:49 in the first half, kicked off, Tulane threw an INT, we score again with 0:19 left in the half. Pushed the score from 20-10 to 34-10 in that last 1:49 before the half. Tulane was done for at that point.

I’ll state the obvious:
If we fix the defense (as I think we are) and can stop people, we will be a FORCE. We can score from anywhere at anytime.

(07-22-2020 04:33 PM)Tiger87 Wrote:  Intriguing, so I bit.

Summarized facts, then the data:
We had the final score of the 1st half in 11 of 14 games. Although it wasn't always our final possession of the half.
We scored on our final possession in 9 games. The others were 2 missed FGs (hard to believe), 2 turnovers, and 1 time expiration.
We had the lead at half in 10 games. We did not lead in the 2 losses, plus Navy and Cincy II.
We scored with less than 20 seconds left in the half, 6 times.
Only 1 score was to take the lead.

We ramped up our 2-minute drill in the 2nd half of the season. During the 1st 7 games, our average final possession went for 25 yards. Over the last 7 games, our final possession went for 59 yds.

The data:
Ole Miss, 37-yd drive, scored a TD with 40 seconds left.
Southern, 34-yd drive, scored a FG with 2 seconds left.
USA, 38-yd drive, scored a FG with 39 seconds left.
Navy, -3 yds, missed a FG with 3:13 left.
Monroe, 41-yd drive, fumbled with 1:40 left.
Temple, 4 yds, time expired.
Tulane, 21-yd drive, scored a TD with 19 seconds left.
Tulsa, 60-yd drive, missed a FG as time expired.
SMU, 37-yd drive, scored a FG with 12 seconds left.
Houston, 98-yd drive, scored a TD with 19 seconds left.
USF, 73-yd drive, scored a TD with 5 seconds left.
Cincy I, 65-yd drive, scored a FG with 1:21 left.
Cincy II, 30-yd drive, interception as time expired.
Penn St, 49-yd drive, scored a FG as time expired.

Norvell was ultra aggressive with end of half situations...Even calling timeouts when the other team had the ball and where still in the process of trying to score (3rd and 2nd and short situations). Most coaches wouldn't do those things.