Craziest call of all time in a championship game.

Fake punt on 4th and 23 from your own 20 yard line in the first quarter when the score is 0-0... and you are playing for the national championship!!! So little to gain, so much to lose, and such a small chance of success with that call.

I could not believe what I had just seen when it happened.

Craziest call of all time IMO. Too bad his team let him off the hook by winning anyway. If we had won by the score from that crazy call, Saban would have been crucified for the rest of his life for being so dumb. As it is now, I have barely seen it mentioned at all.

 

I believe that was not called by the staff. They, like many ST units have an automatic check to that when the gunner isn't covered at all. Gideon quickly recovered over there to make the play.

This is akin to the automatic green light we USED to have on the rugby punt.

 

I thought this was gonna be about the PI that didn't get called that killed our drive late in the game.

 

In reply to:

---

---

 

Dumbest coaching call I have ever seen. Does anyone have a rational explanation?

 

Furthermore, I believe Super Nicky made that call to flip the field position early.
Well....................he did. UT ball deep in Bama territory. What an overrated dipsh**.

 

I'm glad some people agree. It was an insane risk with little chance of any payoff, and the most likely outcome putting Texas in scoring position.

They actually got off easy. The smartest play for Texas would be to knock it down and we get the ball 17 yards further up at the line of scrimmage.

People keep criticizing the shovel pass call by Texas...but the fake punt by Bama was way worse.

 

If Colt had not gone down and we had won, that call would have been forever questioned.

 

I don't believe it was automatic on 4th and 23, had to have been called. you never ever go for a fake on 4th and 23. The 4th and 9 that Boise pulled off was about as far as a team will go and be successful.

 

That's true. You can give a pretty big cushion to defend 4th and 23 with the punter receiving the snap.

 

had to be an audible by the punter. that call doesnt seem like it would come from a guy who only attempted what 11 passes the entire game?

there's ballsy and stupid. and that call was flat out stupid.

 

******* Saban... gets his first "championship" by getting to play against the over-rated Gooners who had just lost to KSate in the big 12 championship game.
This time, he stumbles to a win in spite of being clearly overmatched between the headsets, and outwitting his own dumbass self trying to make up for it. Stupid lucky bastard.

With time, most losses get easier to handle. This one just hurts worse, thinking of al the different reasons why we should have won if not for the hand fate dealt us.

 

Blake should have batted, not caught, the ball. Hard to blame him in that situation though. I was amped when he caught it.

 

IT was also dumb to throw it towards the UT sideline where 100ish people were probably yelling "fake!!!"

 

This is very very similar to a fake Texas ran earlier this year (against Wyoming, I think?). Mack said the punter had to freedom to make that check if the opportunity presented itself. I'm sure he no longer has that responsibility.

If this is the same deal, it's baffling that you would allow your punter the ability to make such a risky decision that could have ended up costing them the game.

If Texas scores a TD there, and Colt doesn't get hurt and we end up winning the game, it goes down as one of the biggest gaffs in sports history. Right up there with Chris Webber's "timeout" in the Final Four.

 

I agree that it was crazy. Just to pour some cold water on the post, our shovel pass just before the end of the first half came close.

 

The odds were terrible, but the upside to the fake punt was incredible. The odds on the shovel pass weren't terrible, but there was NO UPSIDE at all.

 

Do you it was worse than the shuddle pass call that Texas made with just a few seconds left in the first half? Our dumb call only resulted in 3 points for you, but yours resulted in 7 for us. I would call someone else stupid if I had made a call like that,

 

Texas lined up for the block and left the gunners wide open.

Gideon pulled out of the center of the line to drop into coverage.

If the punter had thrown the ball earlier or farther it would have been an easy catch and a huge gain.

Risky as hell but I kind of liked the call.

Besides, Saban knew if he didn't take some risks he wouldn't beat us.

 

Even if the pass was throw better or if Gideon doesn't recovery quickly enough and the gunner is wide open, 4th and 23 is still a very low-odds play because at that distance the punt returner functions as a free safety. Remember Nathan Vasher against Tech?

---

 

I'm glad people in Alabama can't afford computers. Otherwise they'd have a link to this thread titled "Tha stoopidist thred ever".

 

Call it what you want but in my opinon it proved that Saban felt UT had no chance of stopping them. If it had worked he would have been the next Head Coaching god. And if they had lost that game he would have never heard the last of it. And with all that said i like it. Mans got some balls and shows he has confidence in his team.

 

Call it what you want but in my opinon it proved that Saban felt UT had no chance of____moving the ball consistently. He needed a big splash to get momentum. Actually it was neither, simply an option they've had in their punting game when the gunner is not covered. Much like our previously mentioned rugby punt green light, I'm sure next year it's more amber... Some might argue the dumbest call would be running your relatively frail franchise passing qb on a down the los option on the 4th play of the mnc game. I doubt Indy would consider intentionally putting Peyton in any situation where you know he's probably gonna get hit by a big DE or blindsided by LB or backside DT on a play that has hardly gained a yard all season. I don't know, maybe it was a good call.....