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SMU hadn't shown that they could stop Navy in the last few possessions in the 3rd and 4th quarters, had very limited time in the game, knows that Navy will burn many minutes off the clock with their option attack and SMU had only 1 time out remaining?...

Everybody in my section said we do that before we scored. When we kicked deep, we all looked at each other said, "Ridiculous.''

If they cover the onside and run out the clock fine. Give yourself a chance to tie the game and not put it on your defense which had more frustration than success. I think Navy was 7-12 on third downs?

June has no clock management skills. Heck in the wins over Tulane and UCF, he couldn't drain the clock. We throw a pick against UCF -- totally unneccessary to do that. We score a TD against Tulane that was just window dressing.

Welcome to this god forsaken offense.

Esp since true to form June had pissed away most of our timeouts by then

Considering our kicking situation and the aggy game I'm not sure onside was the best option.

couch 'em wrote:Considering our kicking situation and the aggy game I'm not sure onside was the best option.

I think it would have been worth a shot.

The no on-side kick call, at the end of the game, was the worst call this year. We had one time out left playing a wishbone team with just a few minutes to go that we haven't stopped very well all day ? Stupid...

Maybe so...but SMU had everything to gain and limited options to stop them before the game ended. The only way to win the game is to get the ball and score, and maybe they could have actually performed on a tricky kick.

Perhaps the team didn't work on the onside kick last week. If so, that would have been another indication of how unprepared this team was to play this game.

I like how June dismisses obvious questions without discussion. When asked if he considered inside kick, his reponse was a terse "no.". All the was missing was a rosenhaus "next question"

RGV Pony wrote:Esp since true to form June had [deleted] away most of our timeouts by then

I have to admit that never in my long life of watching football have I seen an offense run on the field with a gimmick formation only to have the offense then call a time out. Often I have seen the defense call a time out in order to adjust to the new look, but I was just dumb founded when we called time out.

Gt to youtube and type in SMU on side kick

Hawaii fans said, " you'll have to learn to live with June's head scratching game management BUT his offense is exciting and scores 40+ a game". We said "Okay!!!" This year we've got a slow, boring, predictable offense that can't execute down-field passes, a string of QBs that actually seem to get worse as time progresses and a side-line that is so even keel it feels like watching a practice. I can't chalk it up to growing pains anymore. I only hope that somehow, despite all appearances, June's offense is just so far beyond the mental abilities of most of our players that we have to run this bastardized offense while we're waiting for recruits who finially "get" it.

SMUer wrote:Hawaii fans said, " you'll have to learn to live with June's head scratching game management BUT his offense is exciting and scores 40+ a game". We said "Okay!!!" This year we've got a slow, boring, predictable offense that can't execute down-field passes, a string of QBs that actually seem to get worse as time progresses and a side-line that is so even keel it feels like watching a practice. I can't chalk it up to growing pains anymore. I only hope that somehow, despite all appearances, June's offense is just so far beyond the mental abilities of most of our players that we have to run this bastardized offense while we're waiting for recruits who finially "get" it.

It IS like watching a practice isn't it? NO one except for a few players are excited like its a GAME they need to win.

I don't know the success rate for college football, but in the NFL onside kicks work ~16% of the time. Unless you catch the other team by surprise, it is a low percentage gamble.

If you can't stop the opposition with 3:40 and one timeout left, then the problems with your defense are far bigger than any strategic decisions.

...and a side-line that is so even keel it feels like watching a practice.

How is that relevant to anything?

JJ was pretty clear at the press conference; never considered on-side kick. He didn't elaborate, but I assume the thought process was "give Navy the ball on our side of the field (in 4 down territory) and that game is over" He undoubtedly hoped the defense could make a 3 play stop, we get the ball back with decent field position and the offense has one more chance to redeem themselves