14-18-2 The Holtz "play not to lose" FALICY

[Dogsince65]

I will never understand on what planet a Handfull of posters believe we paly "not to lose" . Her are stats--2014 we were #14 offense in nation --average win was 14 points 2015 #18 offense in nation -average win 11 points 2016 #2 offense in nation and average win 11 points
3 year average of top 10 in nation !!

Last year was #48 offense and I do not call it and excuse-- I call it explaination-- 70 players missed games / practice with injuries - just never got in synch til the Bowl game , which had most of team healthy.

[MiloBumP]

As a fellow Sunshine Pumper I will take a stab at an explanation for you. It is not the offensive power they refer to. It is the aggressiveness of play calls. Will he call a trick play? Will he kick a field goal or go for it on 4th and 1? Will he punt or go for it on 4th and 1? Will he try to score a touch down when ahead or will he settle for the field goal? Holtz tends to lean toward the conservative answer to these calls which labels him as "playing not to lose" rather than "gambling" or "playing to win".

[Blue Dawg]

As a fellow Sunshine Pumper I will take a stab at an explanation for you. It is not the offensive power they refer to. It is the aggressiveness of play calls. Will he call a trick play? Will he kick a field goal or go for it on 4th and 1? Will he punt or go for it on 4th and 1? Will he try to score a touch down when ahead or will he settle for the field goal? Holtz tends to lean toward the conservative answer to these calls which labels him as "playing not to lose" rather than "gambling" or "playing to win".

In addtion, you can feel the style shift once we go up by about 10 points or so. Unfortunately, the other team usually doesn't just give up like I guess he hopes.

Leaving timeouts on the field at half time, or calling timeouts at odd times to give our opponent a chance to score.

[Houston Techsan]

In addtion, you can feel the style shift once we go up by about 10 points or so. Unfortunately, the other team usually doesn't just give up like I guess he hopes.

Leaving timeouts on the field at half time, or calling timeouts at odd times to give our opponent a chance to score.

What if we get up by four touchdowns? At some point it's just embarrassing the other team. But still when Rice was down sixty something points with less that two minutes to play a few years ago they went for an onside kick. Totally uncalled for and a waste of time. We recovered and probably could have, maybe should have, scored, but took a knee.

[Blue Dawg]

What if we get up by four touchdowns? At some point it's just embarrassing the other team. But still when Rice was down sixty something points with less that two minutes to play a few years ago they went for an onside kick. Totally uncalled for and a waste of time. We recovered and probably could have, maybe should have, scored, but took a knee.

It's their job to stop us. This is college football, not kindergarten.

That being said, if the game is in hand and you're up 28, put in the 3rd string and get them experience. Just don't throw 3 incomplete screens in a row.

[Champ967]

ahem ... "fallacy"

[Dogsince65]

ahem ... "fallacy"

yep-- not going to blame spellcheck -- just lazy --

[FormerPokeCenter]

ahem ... "fallacy"

Thank you. That had to be said...

[olddog75]

Last year was #48 offense and I do not call it and excuse-- I call it explaination-- 70 players missed games / practice with injuries - just never got in synch til the Bowl game , which had most of team healthy.

If you keep up with this kind of stat.....what are you? Yep, if we could play teams when we are healthy and the opposing team didn't have any offensive coaching staff, we could kick butt.

[Blue Dawg]

If you keep up with this kind of stat.....what are you? Yep, if we could play teams when we are healthy and the opposing team didn't have any offensive coaching staff, we could kick butt.

The 70 number is Holtz's go-to excuse for why he kicks a FG to go up 4 instead of a TD to go up 8.

It increases by leaps and bounds depending on how badly we collapsed that week.

Right up there with the 32 seniors excuse or whatever it was.

[Tech52]

Most judgement comes from hindsight.

If he goes for it on 4th and doesnt get it- he's an idiot and should have kicked a FG. If he does the same play and he does make it- he's fine.

And I find that judgement particularly stupid.

[dawg80]

Dooley went for two vs. Top 25 ranked Hawaii in OT. We didn't get it and lost.

[tech70]

Dooley went for two vs. Top 25 ranked Hawaii in OT. We didn't get it and lost.

I was happy he did, we were gassed. I never second guessed the decision. Conventional wisdom is play for overtime at home. I was at the game .

[BhadDawg]

Dooley went for two vs. Top 25 ranked Hawaii in OT. We didn't get it and lost.

That was the best option and he was not afraid to try and win the game, I was proud he went for it.

[Houston Techsan]

That was the best option and he was not afraid to try and win the game, I was proud he went for it.

His reasoning was that he didn't think we could continue to score every time and we couldn't stop them. It was the right decision. Of course Hawaii went on to get donkey stomped by Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Their play against us (I think we went 4-8 that year) convinced me that would happen.