DMN For Tuesday Sep 22

[ponyscott]

Run and Shoot stumbles when SMU leads

10:50 PM CDT on Monday, September 21, 2009
By KATE HAIROPOULOS / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]
UNIVERSITY PARK -- SMU coach June Jones has said the Mustangs need to learn to play with the lead in the Run and Shoot. SMU struggled to maintain a sizable lead at UAB and lost a 17-point lead last week at Washington State. While playing with the lead is somewhat different, it doesn’t mean SMU will stop passing the ball or taking what the defense gives.

In a late possession at Washington State, SMU quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell attempted to hit Emmanuel Sanders with an almost 30-yard pass attempt on third-and-2, but the pass was off, Mitchell said. The Cougars got the ball back with two minutes left and moved 80-yards to tie the score and went on to win in overtime.

“Our offense is our offense,” receivers coach Jeff Reinebold said Monday. “In the critical moments, in the times when you need to make a play to win a football game, you have to rise up. That’s one of the great things about playing quarterback or receiver in this offense. … If you don’t like that or that’s too much pressure for you, you probably shouldn’t play in this offense at those positions.”

Mitchell said Monday that some of his four interceptions were the result of getting mentally lazy with a lead and he needed to stay in attack mode. Sanders said SMU has to learn how to finish teams off.

“Sometimes I feel like we’re looking at the clock, waiting for it to run out,” Sanders said. “Our attitude has got to be to score.”

[RGV Pony]

yeah, holding onto a lead with the RnS isn't unique to SMU. One of the most prolific RnS offenses ever featured Warren Moon, Haywood Jeffries and Andre Givens...up 35-3 at halftime on the road vs. the Bills. Anyone remember the outcome?

[ponyscott]

Wasn't that a Bills win in the 1992 or 93 Playoffs with the great Frank Reich ( sic) directing traffic for the Bills over the Oilers in a come back for the ages?
BTW still commenting on 'thats the way our offense plays so live with it' is not the way to engineer a win...adapt to the circumstances and allow the team to win with an alternative game plan with running and ball control in the last few minutes....we still should have won with a field goal by ball control and those coaches woulnt have to protect JJ's bad late game management of the game....alright enough said, lets look towards those purple heads.....

[The PonyGrad]

Big difference between "rising up" and "getting mentally lazy"