CBS: B1G's Best/Worst Close Game Coaches

[Mavric]

I'm guessing Riley was not included due to not coaching any B1G games yet.

Best:Urban Meyer, Ohio State (13-8, .619). Meyer ranks 10th nationally in games decided by four points or less and fourth in one-possession games, in which he's an absurd 11-1 (.917) at Ohio State and 32-12 (.727) for his career. Meyer isn't afraid to be bold in big games. Last season, he called a double-reverse touchdown pass by wide receiver Evan Spencer at the end of the first half in the semifinal win over Alabama.

Worst: Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (20-30, .400). Among active Power Five coaches, Ferentz has the worst close-game record given his large sample size. During Iowa's four 10-win seasons (2002-04 and 2009), Ferentz went 9-1 in games decided by four points or less. He's 11-29 (.275) in those games for the rest of his FBS career -- a remarkably poor record. Ferentz is very fortunate he landed his big contract when he did.

The rest: Technically, Penn State's James Franklin is the Big Ten's best in games decided by four points or less (10-5, .667). I picked Meyer because of his larger body of work and since many of Franklin's close wins have come against mediocre-to-bad teams. … Indiana's Kevin Wilson has the worst record among Power Five coaches in games decided by four points or less (2-8, .200). … Michigan State's Mark Dantonio is 15-7 (.682) in one-possession games since 2010 after starting his Spartans career 6-12 in those games. … On the flip side, Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald is 3-8 in one-possession games over the past two years after going 26-13 during the Wildcats' revival from 2006 to 2012.

Link

[husker B-rent]

James franklins record not counting because he is not urban Meyer makes this article irrelevant.

[knapplc]

Q: Who is Nebraska's best backup long snapper?

 

A: Technically it's Chase Urbach, but I chose Urban Meyer because frontrunner bandwagon media darling well-groomed hair charming playbook word salad.

 

LINK

[NUance]

James franklins record not counting because he is not urban Meyer makes this article irrelevant.

The rest: If you're judging by one-possession games, no one is better with a large body of work than Les Miles, who has a strong .673 winning percentage in those contests while at LSU and .638 for his career. … Auburn's Gus Malzahn leads current Power Five coaches in winning percentage for one-possession games (13-3, .813). He's probably due to see that mark slip some. …

Picking Nick Saban at .613 over Les Miles (.673) and Gus Malzahn (.813) makes the article worse than irrelevant:

[Mavric]

Not sure if they were talking about this but here's a couple of note:

 

Someone asked him about Beamer...

 

 

... and TO

[Moiraine]

I wonder what Pelini's was, but too lazy to look. We won a lot of close games that one year though. And we didn't seem to lose any/many over time games.

There was one season where I watched two Iowa games where they ran up to the line on a 4th down and <1 and snapped it really quick to try to catch the other team off guard and on both occasions got false start penalties and it turned both those games around. The 2nd time it happened I realized Ferentz is an idiot.

[Mavric]

If the mark is four points or less fewer, a quick count gives me 10-7 (after starting 1-6).

Edited August 18, 2015 by Mavric
I erroneously included our Holiday Bowl loss to USC in my first count.

[Moiraine]

If the mark is four points or less fewer, a quick count gives met 10-7 (after starting 1-6).

 

Ya that one year turned it around. 2012 I think? Where we had like 7 comebacks in a row. But the thing is a lot of Pelini's close games should not have been close games.