Poor Coaching decisions almost cost BYU the Poinsettia Bowl

1. BYU failed to go for it on 4th and 1 from the SDSU 49 and the BYU 41 and 4th and 3 from the SDSU 36. In addition BYU punted on from the SDSU 35 and 38 yd lines.



Mean net distance for those punts was 29 yds.

Mean distance of the following SDSU drive was 28 yds.

SDSU scored 3 points on those drives.

KVN had an INT return on one punt after 4th and 14 at the SDSU 38.

On the remaining 3 drives SDSU net punt distance was 35 yds.



Read that at let me know if you still think it was a good idea to punt.



2. Lark was pulled after his best series of the first half (3/6 for 24 yards and two first downs). His next drive resulted in a field goal (5/9 for 66 yards).



3. Wasted timeouts by the coaches. On 4th and 10 from the SDSU 35 yd line Bronco called a timeout to set up a punt. Yes Bronco called it. Can you think of anything more stupid than this from a coaching standpoint? I can't. There was another wasted timeout on defense on 3rd and 9 after which SDSU converted (FYI there is evidence that offenses actually do a better job of converting after a defensive timeout).



Sorry guys but Bronco just isn't a very bright dude when it comes to coaching during the game. Maybe you think he does a good job developing players and defensive game planning but when it comes to making decisions during the game he is pretty horrible.



Bronco's decisions cost BYU 2-3 games this season and would have cost BYU the Poinsettia bowl if it weren't for a man named Kyle Van Noy.

Bronco said in the post game show that teams that have to drive 90+ yards score only 14% of the time. Bronco is going to play that statistic every time and since Stevenson was pinning SDSU on their 1,2, and 3 yard lines, I think it was the right decision. If Stevenson was putting those punts into the end zone every time, you would have a case here. As far as Bronco's in game decisions, I agree that it is stupid to call a time out in order to get your punt team in the game on 4th and 10 but Bronco also explained that. He said he was set to go for it on 4th down when our special teams coach convinced him that Stevenson was good at pooch punting and Bronco changed his mind. Yes, that is a coaching error to not already have that mindset but it was good that they called the time out instead of blowing a 4th and 10 and giving SDSU good field position since Stevenson pinned SDSU back on that very punt. Bronco said that changed his mindset on 4th down for the rest of the game and SDSU was pinned with their own end zone at their backs for the rest of the game and one of thse possesions set up KVN's fumble for a touchdown which won the game for us. You can criticize a lot of things about the SDSU game but BYU not going for it on 4th down, IMO, is ridiculous.

One more thing. Bronco was calling the plays that KVN was involved in that "won the game". You can't have it both ways, either Bronco was coaching a good defense, with a great player making the plays or he wasn't.

You can't claim "almost" in this case. Any time a team is within one score the game is a toss-up. Thank goodness we had a defense, and in particular KVN, because we wouldn't have won the game with that offensive line and that offensive play calling. The two biggest detriments to our entire season. You can blame Bronco for allowing Weber to coach, or Doman to be the Offensive Coordinator, but you can't say that we almost lost because we punted, or called a T.O.

We won by a bunch because of smart play calling on the defensive side of the ball (yeah, Bronco). Bronco put his faith in the D, which he obviously should have, and this game ended as a blowout. It was obvious to anyone with a squick of football knowledge that the offense was anemic and the defense was going to need to play a little higher risk/higher reward in the second half, which they did and won us the game easily. We coached to our strengths and it paid off big time (glad Bronco knows more about football than just playing Madden and having suited up until his junior year of high school).

There was a lot of poor coaching in the game, but it was all by Doman.



Anyone who complains about the punting game and the strategy of the game when that's exactly what won us the game is showing their ignorance.

hawkwing wrote:
There was a lot of poor coaching in the game, but it was all by Doman.

IIRC, SDSU has been strong against the run all year, but had trouble with the pass. Why did we continue to run out of one back sets? That was the most frustrating part of the Offensive game for me.

HoosierCougar wrote:

There was a lot of poor coaching in the game, but it was all by Doman.

IIRC, SDSU has been strong against the run all year, but had trouble with the pass. Why did we continue to run out of one back sets? That was the most frustrating part of the Offensive game for me.

To keep the defense honest. If you pass every time, especially with our O-line, you run into trouble. Also, many plays in most offensive schemes rely on bringing the linebackers and/or safeties up by using play-action.

Schmoe wrote:

hawkwing wrote:
There was a lot of poor coaching in the game, but it was all by Doman.

IIRC, SDSU has been strong against the run all year, but had trouble with the pass. Why did we continue to run out of one back sets? That was the most frustrating part of the Offensive game for me.

To keep the defense honest. If you pass every time, especially with our O-line, you run into trouble. Also, many plays in most offensive schemes rely on bringing the linebackers and/or safeties up by using play-action.

Agreed... but if you run play action out of a 2 back set, it keeps them more honest, IMHO. Baby J's TD (14 yards) was run out of split backs. Was Zed Mendenhall hurt? Didn't see him all night.

If BM quoted the 14% chance of scoring when starting from within the 10 yd line he demonstrates his own ignorance.



He would rather lose 6-3 than win 28-27. The 14% chance of scoring is only a third of the equation. If Sdsu got the ball at their 50 their average number of points scored is 1.7. If they get the ball at the 14 yd line (which was there mean starting field position on after those punts) there average number of points scored is -0.1 points (which means BYU is more likely to score first) however BYU has a 76% success rate on 4th and < 5 this year. If you add it all up every time BYU punted in the 4th and short situations they gave away 1.3 points.



BM got lucky. Without the KVN sack/fumble/TD BYU loses (Sdsu only started passing after that series). BTW that play was not after a punt. The defense was great. BM coaching the defense was great. His decision making on 4th down should have cost BYU the game.



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I know 2 coaches who disagree with you and both of them have won a lot more college football games than you. One of them is Rocky Long, and the other is Bronco and both of thier opinions carry a lot more weight than yours. Bronco's decision to keep SDSU pinned was the soul reason we won, not the reason we "almost lost". Last I checked a 17 point margin of victory is far from "almost lost".

jvquarterback wrote:
If BM quoted the 14% chance of scoring when starting from within the 10 yd line he demonstrates his own ignorance.



He would rather lose 6-3 than win 28-27. The 14% chance of scoring is only a third of the equation. If Sdsu got the ball at their 50 their average number of points scored is 1.7. If they get the ball at the 14 yd line (which was there mean starting field position on after those punts) there average number of points scored is -0.1 points (which means BYU is more likely to score first) however BYU has a 76% success rate on 4th and < 5 this year. If you add it all up every time BYU punted in the 4th and short situations they gave away 1.3 points.



BM got lucky. Without the KVN sack/fumble/TD BYU loses (Sdsu only started passing after that series). BTW that play was not after a punt. The defense was great. BM coaching the defense was great. His decision making on 4th down should have cost BYU the game.



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I've seen a lot of dumb stuff on CC, some of it posted by me, but this may be far and away the dumbest thread and dumbest post ever, if it's intended as serious. If this is very clever satire of how dumb dumb fans are, then well played, sir.

I agree with you jv. Don't let these Internet bullies get to you. Tons of stupid coaching mistakes. But they will defend bronco and Riley to the death on here. It is called man crush goggles and it seems several on here have them and share them with bronco.



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No one has defended Riley on this site in over two months. Bronco made good coaching decisions that win us that bowl game. His defensive play calling alone won us the game. His decisions to point, when our punter was clearly in the zone and nailing every point out SDSU in awful field positions all night.



Bronco's coaching decisions may have cost us some wins this season but the bowl game wasn't one of them.

frdbtr wrote:
I know 2 coaches who disagree with you and both of them have won a lot more college football games than you. One of them is Rocky Long, and the other is Bronco and both of thier opinions carry a lot more weight than yours. Bronco's decision to keep SDSU pinned was the soul reason we won, not the reason we "almost lost". Last I checked a 17 point margin of victory is far from "almost lost".

I guess Bronco's mom never asked him the if your friend jumped off a cliff question. It is a good thing for BM Rocky Long and Gary Andersen agree with him about punting on 4th and short or he would have had a losing season this year. Most college (and pro) coaches are risk averse and so give up points. Watch the patriots play calling. Their coaches are the best in the business at maximizing point differential. There is no way they would have punted on any of those fourth and short plays.



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In RETROSPECT the punting decisions were brilliant. IMHO Stephenson is the player of the game, even over Van Noy's monstrous performance. I don't know the statistics on this but I wonder how many games a defensive player has scored twice vs how many games a punter pinned the opponent inside the 5 yard line 4 times (3 in the 2nd half at the 1,2,1 yd lines) and once more inside the 10 yd line (9) and once more inside the 20 (16). That my friends is the best punting performance I've ever seen. Ever.



Stephenson = player of the game.



Now, if Bronco had shown in the past that he makes brilliant in-game adjustments and personnel decisions I'd say Bronco was a genius with theses calls to pin SDSU deep with the most on-fire punter I've ever seen and then bring the pressure with KVN and Ansah & Co. Seriously brilliant gameplan that won the game.



Unfortunately, I've so rarely seen anything close to in-game adjustments in the Bronco era that I have to chalk this up to luck. Sorry guys that disagree.



I was one of the guys that was glad Chow left when he did because he was getting so stale (which he fixed by necessity upon changing jobs). But one thing I LOVED about Chow and totally took for granted was that BYU could be down 31-3 at half and I'd be smiling because I knew Chow had spent the first half finding the weak link among the 11 guys on the opposing defense and he was gonna come out and attack that weakness until BYU took the lead.



There is nobody on the team now who can make in-game adjustments like that. Hence BYUs lack of a BCS game. Ever.



So I agree with the initial post in principle that before hand it was not the greatest decision to punt all those times. But hindsight is 20/20 and it was precisely the punting game that won the game for us and saying otherwise is ridiculous.



Stephenson should be the first punter PotG in a bowl.

I was watching ESPN with their ND Coaches Show and they were talking about Lou Holtz as one of the all time best in-game coaches. It got me thinking.



Bronco is an awesome Sunday-Friday coach. I totally support his approach as I understand it. But man, his end-game clock management is horrendous and in-game adjustments are typically non-existent, although in his defense the most noticeable in-game adjustments fall on the OC. It's much harder to identify defensive shifts in gameplan throughout a game compared to offensive play calling. And for sure the play calling this year by BD has been offensive :)



People will hate me for saying this but I'd love to have Bronco as HC during the week and then on Saturdays just be the DC, which he is brilliant at. And then have Crowton not allowed near the team during the week :) since his coaching somehow ruins teams over time but have him in the booth calling the offensive plays like he's playing Madden. BD could interact with the players during the week and then get Crowton snacks during the game.

Stephenson should be a close second to KVN.

Even with they great punts and punt coverage it was definitely a bad decision to punt on all of the 4th and < 5 plays.



Anyone who thinks differently needs to show their data.



BM said a team inside their ten scores < 14% of he time but that is insufficient data to make a call. Make your own calculations on the odds of success on 4th and 1 or 4th and 3 which were the situations in which BM decided to punt. I say it is 76% so even if BM is right about the 14% number inside the ten (remember the mean starting field position after these punts was the 14, not the ten) he has to tell us what the chances Sdsu would score from their own 45 ( which would have been their mean starting field position if BYU had gone for it and failed). I say that is about 35%. So the chance that Sdsu scores when going for it is .35*.25=.09 vs BMs best case scenario of .14 and that is before you even consider BYUs chance of scoring after succeeding 75% of he time on 4th and short.



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He obviously didn't think that our anemic offense would convert, and they probably wouldn't. He made the right decisions.