WSU Final Thoughts & Civil War Game Week

I’ve been invited by Angry to elaborate on my thinking, and I am happy to oblige. There were a few comments offered since I last chimed in on this issue in the 2 o’clock hour that I would like to insert at this juncture instead. I really appreciate the critical thinking my “allies” (krol, Texasbeav, Ohiobeav) have offered to inform this discussion, and perhaps inadvertent support by others, like Scotty.

To address several issues In no particular order: there weren’t “seconds” left in the game, it was over a minute. As stated before, the number of timeouts WSU had at its disposal was irrelevant, as the actual event proved. Get a first down on a play or two, and if the receiver doesn’t go out of bounds, spike it. The TV broadcasters made a big point, before all this played out, that Leach doesn’t husband TO’s for the offense’s need; the point being, WSU’s offense doesn’t need them. It’s that efficient. Also as noted earlier, WSU scored long-distance TD’s twice in FOUR plays! They got TEN plays off in just 1:08! They scored the previous TD with ease.

Let’s pay attention to Scotty’s “OSU needed to steal a possession” argument in defense of the onside kick. My point, Angry, is that in the situation at hand OSU had to “PRESERVE a possession” because to turn it over to WSU risked a game winning score.

So, let’s now turn to the question of eccentric risk taking or going against the odds. The best way to re-create a contingent dynamic retrospectively is to offer a few counterfactuals. Let’s suppose WSU eschews the onside, and tries a variation on the theme, to pooch it, the point being OSU has the ball on its side of the 50, let’s say, just to pick a spot, it’s own 35. OSU Gains 6 yards on three plays, same amount of gain in the same number of plays as happened in the event. Clearly the call here is punt and pray to heaven OSU can hold on for dear life. WSU might get that ball, with a decent return, within 5-10 yards of where they did anyway. Smith punts, they still lose.

Or, let’s say OSU recovers the onside kick at the WSU 45, rather than the 48. Everything else plays out. Is Smith going to punt it away on 4th and 4 at the Coug 39? To ask the question is to answer it. Just to make my thinking explicit, Angry, the point isn’t to take risk without regard to game circumstances or out of some manic impulse, but at that spot on the field, in my view, Smith did the right thing. The odds are, if he converts on 4th down, OSU wins. If he punts, it’s a 50/50 proposition. He may win with that guaranteed turnover we’ve seen discussed in this thread, or in the equally unlikely scenario that somehow the OSU D is going to hold.

But its ohiobeav who has truly discerned what I have been trying to say in fits and starts for two days over two threads. Smith is, indeed, the anti-Riley who is tying to build a Boise State-like football culture and worldview in Corvallis. Confident, brash, making the surprise call. You yourself, Angry, seemed to get his point. The two point conversion, which changed the whole trajectory of the 4th qtr, or Chokair’s onside, going for it on 4th, are all of a piece with that objective.

I’ll conclude with this: when Andersen left my favorite candidate was Les Miles. Great coach. He will make Kansas a winner. HIs nickname, The Mad Hatter, of course. We should be so fortunate to have Smith replicate his won/loss record.