Gophers should have batted the block punt out of the end zone for a safety!

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EE_Gopher

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It would have made it an eight point game with Illinois punting the ball back to us.
 


EE_Gopher said:
It would have made it an eight point game with Illinois punting the ball back to us.
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Batting is illegal and Illinois would have gotten the ball back after the penalty. The penalty would have been 15 yards from the goalline or previous spot.
 

You take touchdowns when they present themselves. Even after an onside kick (well-kicked, IMHO, just didn't fall our way) with Illinois having the football, a three-and-out and the Gophers are in a position to drive for the win and/or tie.
 

I didn't literally mean bat it. There are ways to sell it. The main thing is to have it go out of the end zone.
 


I see the point though... it makes a lot of sense. How about let Illinois recover in the end zone? The ball did get recovered just outside of the end zone so perhaps it would have been difficult but I like EE_Gophers thinking.

Either way, a safety would have been better than a touchdown in that situation!
 

Obviously, you take a TD when you get it, but this is kind of fun to think about. The Gophers wouldn't have had to bat it. They could have just watched the ball until play is blown dead. No change of possession, safety, right? Or would it go back to the line of scrimmage or something?
 

...also, thinking about that brings back painful memories of when the Gophers should have TAKEN the blocked punt safety against Sconi back in 2005(was that the year?)
 

EE_Gopher said:
I didn't literally mean bat it. There are ways to sell it. The main thing is to have it go out of the end zone.
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Uh huh...so in the heat of the moment you want our players to try to finesse a ball out of the end zone without picking up a game killing penalty instead of scoring a sure TD and putting ourselves in a position to tie/win?

I was wondering what in the world we could have done Saturday to make things worse. You've given me an answer to that question.
 



Right on GoAUpher.

Hmmm...I wonder what I'd rather have - 6 pts or 2. Especially when, with a safety, there's no guarantee of scoring any more points. Let me think about this.

[Jeopardy theme]

I'll take the TD. 100 times out of 100.
 

In hindsight, a safety in that decision no question would have been a better play for the game. Now, how many teams, players, or people would think, I can't recover this blocked kick and score a TD eventhough there is 3 minutes left and down by 11 (I think we were down 11 maybe 10).

Either way, the special teams made a huge play. I will never ever hold it against them for scooping and scoring.

I was especially impressed with Kuznia. He took his time to make sure he could get the ball in his hands instead of letting it flop around and let it bounce everywhere.
 

You take the TD...anything less would be hawkeye........
 

EE_Gopher said:
I didn't literally mean bat it. There are ways to sell it. The main thing is to have it go out of the end zone.
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It would have been tough to even plan for this in advance. You would almost have to make an assumption that the ball would end up in the end zone unfettered.

How would you coach a guy to "sell" knocking the ball through the endzone on a bang-bang, somewhat unexpected play? You're taught to score.

Off-subject: reminds me of the old Kicks era NASL. They used to give you 6 points for a win and one point for every goal up to a maximum of three. The old Washington team needed a 9-point win to make the play-offs. Late in the game, they were up 2-1 and it looked like they didn't have enough time to score, so their goalkeeper caught the ball and punted it into his own net for a 2-2 tie and overtime. Unfortunately, the other team scored in OT and Washington lost. Stupid, but interesting strategy.
 



highwayman said:
How would you coach a guy to "sell" knocking the ball through the endzone on a bang-bang, somewhat unexpected play? You're taught to score.

.
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Exactly! Eventhough they had a fake punt call on, it still takes luck to block a kick. There is no way you can not coach your players not to get a touchdown.

Obviously in hindsight they block they kick, the Illinois punter recovers in the endzone we tackle him. They kick it. Weber leads us on a flawless drive and we score with :05 left to play, we get the 2 point conversion, and go to overtime. In overtime our defense gets a 3 and out with BPT getting 2 big pass breakups, and on the first play of offense Weber sits in the pocket shaking off defenders and hits a wide open reciever sitting wide open who walks into the endzone.
 

MNfootballfan said:
In hindsight, a safety in that decision no question would have been a better play for the game. Now, how many teams, players, or people would think, I can't recover this blocked kick and score a TD eventhough there is 3 minutes left and down by 11 (I think we were down 11 maybe 10).

Either way, the special teams made a huge play. I will never ever hold it against them for scooping and scoring.

I was especially impressed with Kuznia. He took his time to make sure he could get the ball in his hands instead of letting it flop around and let it bounce everywhere.
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Actually, I'm sure we would have either:
(1) thrown an interception or
(2) fumbled away the ball on a bad snap or
(3) missed the 2-point conversion (probably as time ran out)

So be thankful that the ending wasn't any more painful than it already was with the Illini laying on the ball for the last 3+ minutes.
 

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