3rd Worst Coaching Decision in 2009 - Mack Brown

[Huskerz2010]

I didnt see this on here - Article from Collegefootballnews.com http://http://cfn.scout.com/2/987443.html

 

It was certainly a long evening, and therefore we can appreciate that Texas head man Mack Brown might have been spent. Heck, we were all exhausted watching the complete beat down Ndamukong Suh and his Nebraska teammates were hanging on the Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game particularly on QB Colt McCoy.

 

As you do when a freakishly swift 300 lb man repeatedly uses your head as a shovel, McCoy was struggling; arguably through the worst game of his college career. Before his last two drives, McCoy was 12-for-25, for just 110 yards, zero TDs but 2 INTs, and had been sacked seven times - four of them by Suh. Moreover, there was still another INT and two sacks waiting for him in those final minutes.

 

A long night by even the most generous standard.

 

That McCoy (and by extension the Texas offense) was beleaguered was obvious to everyone, except apparently the Texas coaching staff, which is Browns job.

 

Nevertheless, Brown marshaled the troops after they had squandered the lead, and with just 1:44 left, orchestrated the comeback that would send Bevo & Co. on to Pasadena and a date with Alabama. And glory, no doubt.

 

First, though, was the matter of one small FG. And one long second.

 

When youre already in FG range and your QB is having the mother-of-all off nights, AND youre losing, you try to maximize chance and minimize mistakes. Particularly with the National Championship game on the line, and a good kicker on your bench.

 

With just seconds remaining on a ticking clock (seven to be precise), the last thing you do is anything that risks those seconds. A Pop Warner coach knows this. YOU know this. One thing you dont do is call a rollout pass. And if you do, you most certainly remind your QB to throw it in the dirt if nothings there. Time is the enemy, not an extra handful of yards.

 

Yet here was Texas, with the Brass Ring invite on the line, after struggling on offense all night (and were being polite), running a rollout pass, wasting time with its battered QB… Who not that shockingly lofted the ball aside when nothing was available, a split second before being pounded for the 100th time by Suh. And with it, almost tossing away the season.

 

We wont debate the merit of the one second added back on the clock, but it never should have come to that. It was a bonehead decision, executed poorly, and coached poorly. There were ~27 seconds at the end of the previous play. McCoy actually had time to walk towards the sideline for the next call.

 

Brown should have emphasized the clock to his coaches. He should have motioned McCoy to throw the ball away quickly if nothing was there. He should have coached him to throw it away quickly if nothing was there; hed had the kid for four years. He should have overruled a rollout pass. Or while not optimal, he could have even used his timeout once the rollout was called, knowing better. Theres more, but you can pick from those.

 

The play to run is shotgun, quick read, and if the primary receiver isn't open - WIDE open - throw the ball at the feet of the safety valve. And throw it hard.

 

Again, remember where we are: well within FG range (obviously), and with an offense that had been tripping over itself for 59 and a half minutes.

 

What are you doing, Brown? Was it arrogance or stupidity? Or most likely just poor coaching.

 

Bottom Line: the down should never have unfolded the way it did, and as the head coach the buck stops with Mack as hed be the first to tell you.

 

Were this game @ Baylor in October, particularly with the happy happy, joy joy ending, it might have just slipped by unnotic

 

-Huskerzfan2010

[zoogs]

Didn't Colt call that play himself after rushing back to the line?

[irafreak]

Again he should know better...coaching. It reminds me of 07 when all Mack had to do was run the same same zone read play that every team before them had run on us and it took them until the 4th quarter in a dogfight to finally call it.

[Ringer02]

Again he should know better...coaching. It reminds me of 07 when all Mack had to do was run the same same zone read play that every team before them had run on us and it took them until the 4th quarter in a dogfight to finally call it.

Exactly! I bring this up every time I get into a conversation about Mack Brown. He may be a great motivator and great recruiter, but he can not make a game plan...

[lilred]

People really overlook the monumental boneheadedness of this play. All they want to talk about is how adding one second was the right call (OK, we'll grant you that one but what about that half second that runs off after every other play that is of course not reviewed and added back?). Texas won the Big 12 championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl by the sheerest of accidents. The fact that there was a fraction of a second (not even a whole second) left when that ball hit the sidelines was undoubtedly not by design. It was the dumbest of luck. Everyone (except this guy apparently) seems to forgive Texas of this.

 

I'll never forget how right after that game, when ESPN interviewed Colt McCoy, he said, "We had so many things not go our way tonight." Very few things have ever made me as mad as that statement right there. Instead of acknowledging that his team got whooped by the top defense in the country, and that he proceeded to get three of the most incredible breaks a man could ask for (kick out of bounds, personal foul, miraculous resolution of an unthinkable f*ck up), he insists that his team is the one that just couldn't find a whiff of luck. Bottom line, a team that makes that grave of a game-management error without question deserves no such miracle. I rest my case.

[Heartbeats4Huskers]

I always wonder if there would be one second left on the clock if the ball had hit the ground instead of the rail.

[irafreak]

People really overlook the monumental boneheadedness of this play. All they want to talk about is how adding one second was the right call (OK, we'll grant you that one but what about that half second that runs off after every other play that is of course not reviewed and added back?). Texas won the Big 12 championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl by the sheerest of accidents. The fact that there was a fraction of a second (not even a whole second) left when that ball hit the sidelines was undoubtedly not by design. It was the dumbest of luck. Everyone (except this guy apparently) seems to forgive Texas of this.

 

I'll never forget how right after that game, when ESPN interviewed Colt McCoy, he said, "We had so many things not go our way tonight." Very few things have ever made me as mad as that statement right there. Instead of acknowledging that his team got whooped by the top defense in the country, and that he proceeded to get three of the most incredible breaks a man could ask for (kick out of bounds, personal foul, miraculous resolution of an unthinkable f*ck up), he insists that his team is the one that just couldn't find a whiff of luck. Bottom line, a team that makes that grave of a game-management error without question deserves no such miracle. I rest my case.

Here here! And Amen!

[deedsker15]

not to mention that mack brown is one of the most conservative play callers i know...he throws WR screens like nebraska ran options in 95...

[wildman]

Lets not forget the one and only touchdown where colt was laying on the ground in a dog pile on the 1 yard line. Then slide the ball past to be called a touchdown. There was enough evidence with a perfect placed camera to show it was not a touchdown. Even the commentators stated it would be called back. Sure enough head referee got the call it was a touchdown.

[mturn087]

My personal favorite quote from that game was actually from Colt McCoy "I knew there would be one second left, I wanted us to be exactly one second better after last year's game against Texas Tech" That quote came from Sportcenter a few days after the game. Thats awesome aint it? NOT Everyone remebers seeing Mack Brown begging for a second to be put back on the clock. Whether it been luck or something else had the Longhorns called time out with 4-7 seconds and kicked the field goa, this wouldnt have been as big of a deal as it is.

[NUance]

Oh, that last play of regulation was a doozy all right——an all new low for Mack, Colt and the entire UT offense.

 

It’s a good thing for the whorns that the refs gave ‘em a mulligan.