End of Half & End of Game Clock Management

If IM not mistaken wasnt Texas backed up very deep late in the first half...you call that time out 10 times out of 10 and hope for a punt and short field. Particularly with a kicker who can hit it from 60.

 

THIS.
If you trust you defense, you call that TO every time to ensure they have to snap it on 4th down. That was a flub.

 

Good point. Texas obviously would decline the runoff. The announcers were completely confused. This instance does not justify criticism but our inability to run a 2 minute offense does.

 

2nd half was fine, 1st half was a a screw up.
That 15 seconds he delayed cost a punt from the texas endzone and an offensive play for uf.....a 40 yard net punt would have given Smack a good field goal attempt.
And if you are afraid of Texas doing something offensively then dont call time out at all. Waiting 15 seconds insured Texas doesnt punt if the clock is running, and still gave Texas time to do something if they converted 3rd down. We got the worst of both worlds

 

What was the penalty called on Texas that took 3 and 9 to 2nd and 14 on that possession? Did Napier accept a penalty to do that or was it one that could not be declined? Could not hear the ref in the stadium.

 

False start (dead ball)

 

Watched Pat Dooley’s podcast with the HBC. Dooley said when our LT lost his helmet, CBN should have put in a backup and not taken the TO. That would have kept the clock running. We likely were not going to get the yardage for the first down no matter who was at LT. could have shortened the remaining time by 40 seconds.

20-20 hindsight is great but Dooley is correct. Just another example of poor clock management.

 

This has been addressed ad nauseam and every indicator suggests that the clock would not start until the ball was snapped, t/o or not.

 

Dooley is dead wrong. Clock stopped regardless of timeout

 

I don't care about the one incident at the end of the Texas game. Billy Napier is the absolute worst in-game coach and time manager I have ever seen in my 73 years on this earth.

 

The main blunder was accepting the offside to go from 2nd and 1 to 1st and 10.

Sark schooled him there. Billy should have known better.

It was a huge blunder that nearly cost the game.

 

Regarding your point I bolded, he should have had the awareness to hold onto the TO as calling it at that point was pointless. The playclock had ran down to 30 seconds, with 42 seconds left on the game clock. Calling the TO at that point accomplishes nothing. Assumes everything plays out the same from that point, holding onto that TO forces Texas to punt from their 2 yard line, or at worst, has them punting from their 10 yard line with around 10 seconds left on the clock. With a bad punt or good return, it is an instant FG attempt. It was another wasted opportunity.

That is also not factoring in him accepting the 10 seconds left runoff on the previous down. His clock management is atrocious.

 

You hold onto it if you are at 42 seconds when you call it. He let 10 seconds run off the clock before he made the decision. At that point, the only thing that made sense is to hold onto the TO and call it after the 3rd down play. He made the worst possible decision on when to call the TO.

 

The end-of -half sequence went as follows:
-1st and 10 from the 11 with 1:46 left in the half.
-2nd and 9, Texas committed a false start with 1:19 left in the half, and Napier took the 10 second runoff to make it 2nd and 14 with 1:09 left in the half.
-Even with the clock starting on the ready for play, Texas snapped the ball quickly and ran the ball. That resulted in a 3rd and 8 with 52 seconds left in the half when the 40 second play clock started.
-Napier let the clock run down to 41 seconds before calling a TO, meaning Texas could just run the ball and not have to punt.
-The defense gets a sack at the 4-5 yard line and the clock runs out on the half.

So if Napier had not accepted the 10 second run-off on the 2nd down penalty OR held on to his TO, Texas would have been forced to punt from their 5 yard line with 10 seconds left in the half. By accepting the 10 second run-off, it seems he was happy with the 10 point lead, and wasn’t thinking of more points. If that was the case, he should have held onto his TO and called it after the sack. Instead, he essentially wasted that TO by calling it at the worst possible time.

 

It wasn't really a blunder. I personally think CBN made the right call, but its a judgment.
Let's review the options here since you've posted this so many times like it was a 100% correct to decline, when it clearly wasn't..

By declining the penalty we would be facing a 2nd and 1, instead of 1st and 10...
If we keep the 2nd and 1, let 40 seconds run off the clock, then make the 1st down, you are right, we've won the game.
But was it a 100% certainty that we get the 1st down...
Not in my opinion. Not even close...
We could
1) get stuffed twice behind the LOS. AFter all, Texas knew we were running up the middle.
2) We could have a false start or other stupid penalty. Then be faced with 2nd and 6. Then not get the 1st down...

IMO- the sequence could/should have went like this...As a worst case scenario without a major screwup...
1) TAKE THE PENALTY. Now its 1st and 10...2.41 left. we have to snap the ball once which runs the clock down to the 2 minute warning
2) 2nd/ 10 2:00. Run a play up the middle. the play takes 5 seconds, then the play clock runs for 40 so...
3) 3rd down at 1.15 Run a play up the middle...play takes 5 seconds, play clock runs for 40. Call TO w/ 30 seconds left...
4) Punt w/ 30 seconds. left. PUnt goes for 40 yards, takes 10 seconds...(Punts take longer than a typical play.)
Tx takes over at mid field w/ 20 seconds to go.
The odds of TX scoring a TD from the 50 in 20 seconds are low. Not zero but less than 5%...IMO this was our best chance of winning given (to me) the high % that we somehow blow the 2nd and 1.

If we do it your way, and DON'T get the 1st down, TX has close to a full minute from mid-field. Or more. Odds then are far higher. IMO 40%...
So to me Billy made the right call. You are assuming a scenario that was not even close to a done deal...

So someone could say- then how did TX still have 55 seconds...
IMO that's really where Billy screwed up. But not one poster has mentioned it...
At the 2 minute warning he should have said to the O- guys, you can get the clock down close to zero and win the game, but we can't stop the clock under any circumstances... We cannot...
1) get a penalty...
2) go out of bounds. (Shout out to ETN.)
3) have your helmet come off.
4) Avoid fumbling at all costs. (i"m sure the guys knew this.)
DO ALL YOU CAN TO KEEP THE CLOCK RUNNING...

Obviously he did not do this.

This is where Napier screwed up- by not stressing what we had to do to keep the clock rolling. Which he also clearly did not do vs. Mizzou in 23...
But taking the penalty- that was a good move...
This is a Napier offense...

 

And thanks for this...I've been wanting to start its own thread.
There's so much false information being floated, or false assumptions, that clock mgmt deserved its own thread.

Napier got the win- and kudos for that. But he clearly screwed up too many places vs TX. Two that stand out...

1) The Lagway pass w/ 6.30 left in the 4th qtr was beyond idiotic.
2) The playcalling 1st possession 2nd half was probably the dumbest sequence I could imagine. (Go back and watch.)

But the clock mgmt end of 1st and 2nd half- not as bad as has been portrayed. As I said above- his biggest flaw was not stressing to the guys to keep the clock moving...The clock stoppage would have happened no matter what once the helmet came off...

 

Not only that, Billy took the 10 second run-off which comes with that penalty. And since Billy took the run-off, the game clock started on the ready to play, instead of the snap. So instead of Texas having 2nd and 14 at the 7 yard line with 1:19 left in the half, Texas had 2nd and 14 with 1:09 left in the half and a chance to run the clock down to 44 seconds before having to snap the ball.

The whole end of half was screwed up by both coaching staffs. Napier had Sarkisian by the balls with the false start on 2nd down, because Napier could have kept the clock at 1:19 and forced Texas into a 3rd down situation with at worst 1:09 left in the half. Instead, Napier gave Sarkisian an out by accepting the 10 second run-off, and then Sarkisian screwed up by not letting the game clock run down to 45 seconds before snapping the ball.

Just a cluster of decision making by Napier. What should have happened is as follows:
-2nd and 14 from the Texas 8 with 1:19 left in the half. 5-10 seconds run off after the snap.
-3rd and 8 from the Texas 13 with game clock starting at 1:09. With no TO, Texas has to snap the ball with 0:29 left in half. If Napier takes his TO immediately after 2nd down ends, 1:09 left in the half. 5-10 seconds run off during the play.
-4th and 18 from the Texas 4. Texas has to punt the ball with at minimum 20 seconds left in the half, maybe more time if Texas doesn’t use the entire play-clock.
-We should get the ball in great field position and 10-15 seconds to work with. Or a punt block/return.

 

The chances of Texas driving 90 plus yards for a td or 50 yards for a fg in that scenario was very low since we dont have Todd Grantham or Mr. 30 year old defensive genius coaching the defense. The chances of us fielding a punt mid field and getting a quick pass/fg were much higher. It was a bone head move which sadly we have come to expect out of this coach.

 

I have to disagree with you about the first half. The clock management at the end of the first half was terrible, by both coaches. Napier wasted an opportunity to force Texas to punt from their goal-line. By accepting the run-off after their penalty on 2nd down, he gave Sarkisian an out. Sarkisian then handed Napier another opportunity by not running down the play-clock on 2nd and 14, and Napier handed it right back by waiting 10 seconds to call the TO. Sarkisian then tried to hand it back a 3rd time by trying to pass on 3rd down but got lucky when Manning got sacked. If there was an incompletion, then Texas would have been punting from their 13 yard line with 30 seconds left in the half. Both coaches sucked at the end of the first half.