4th and 19 fake punt from inside their own endzone

Rank this play among worst play calls in the history of BYU sports?



Keep in mind that this is asking a slow, Australian punter to run 30 yards with the ball to get the first down against a Boise squad that hasn't appeared to be particularly susceptible to even a well designed fake.



The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

hawkwing wrote:

The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Is this referring to the end of the USU game that put Taysom out? That was a miscommunication and not a bad call. Taysom was supposed to take a knee and misinterpreted the signal from the sideline.

Sammich wrote:

The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Is this referring to the end of the USU game that put Taysom out? That was a miscommunication and not a bad call. Taysom was supposed to take a knee and misinterpreted the signal from the sideline.

The bad call is having the two signals so similar.

Our coaches have forgotten more about the game than I know...... But Wow. Just a terrible decision. Biggest bonehead thing I've ever seen. I can't decide if it was worse than the Colts fake punt last year or not.



https://youtu.be/zrtzpdH_uPM

Not just the worst play call in BYU history, possibly one of the worst calls ever in sports. Period.

hawkwing wrote:
Rank this play among worst play calls in the history of BYU sports?



Keep in mind that this is asking a slow, Australian punter to run 30 yards with the ball to get the first down against a Boise squad that hasn't appeared to be particularly susceptible to even a well designed fake.



The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Nope, the fake punt was much worse.



Here's my question. Why not just take the safety there instead. We basically gifted them AT LEAST 3 points. take the 2 point hit when it's apparent you can't make it to the 30 yard line and then at least force boise to drive the field after a kickoff. Either way, it was a terrible call.

dank80 wrote:
Our coaches have forgotten more about the game than I know...... But Wow. Just a terrible decision. Biggest bonehead thing I've ever seen. I can't decide if it was worse than the Colts fake punt last year or not.



https://youtu.be/zrtzpdH_uPM

Nope, last night was worse.

BroncoBot wrote:

Rank this play among worst play calls in the history of BYU sports?



Keep in mind that this is asking a slow, Australian punter to run 30 yards with the ball to get the first down against a Boise squad that hasn't appeared to be particularly susceptible to even a well designed fake.



The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Nope, the fake punt was much worse.



Here's my question. Why not just take the safety there instead. We basically gifted them AT LEAST 3 points. take the 2 point hit when it's apparent you can't make it to the 30 yard line and then at least force boise to drive the field after a kickoff. Either way, it was a terrible call.

The thing is, we didn't gift them 3 points, they missed the FG luckily. It was a boneheaded call that luckily just gave us a 17 yard gain in field position. Well, the defense did their job and we got lucky on the missed FG.

BroncoBot wrote:

Rank this play among worst play calls in the history of BYU sports?



Keep in mind that this is asking a slow, Australian punter to run 30 yards with the ball to get the first down against a Boise squad that hasn't appeared to be particularly susceptible to even a well designed fake.



The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Nope, the fake punt was much worse.



Here's my question. Why not just take the safety there instead. We basically gifted them AT LEAST 3 points. take the 2 point hit when it's apparent you can't make it to the 30 yard line and then at least force boise to drive the field after a kickoff. Either way, it was a terrible call.

The reason you don't take the safety is because it gifts then 2 AND the ball. A punt makes them drive and earn 3 or 6 or 7 ... or you can stop them. Take the safety and you are looking at potentially 9.



At the half, Kalani said they saw something on game films that made them think it would work. Had it worked, we'd all say it was gutsy, and gave the team a needed shot in the arm ... changed the momentum of the game, etc.



I don't know what they saw (Kalani said the response to it was not like anything they had seen in films), but that call will be ridiculed for a long time ... the crazy part is that it didn't hurt the Cougs at all.



That's an easy one to complain about ... but it didn't make any difference. It does just show Kalani's tendency to be over-aggressive at times. I like his willingness to gamble but question it at times. Rookie head coach, new staff, a team who believes in them and a lot of heart ... we'll see where it goes.

mtnradio wrote:

hawkwing wrote:
Rank this play among worst play calls in the history of BYU sports?



Keep in mind that this is asking a slow, Australian punter to run 30 yards with the ball to get the first down against a Boise squad that hasn't appeared to be particularly susceptible to even a well designed fake.



The only other play that is as bad as this that I can think of off the top of my head is calling a QB sneak late in a game that's already decided instead of kneeling down and getting your QB's leg broken.

Nope, the fake punt was much worse.



Here's my question. Why not just take the safety there instead. We basically gifted them AT LEAST 3 points. take the 2 point hit when it's apparent you can't make it to the 30 yard line and then at least force boise to drive the field after a kickoff. Either way, it was a terrible call.

The reason you don't take the safety is because it gifts then 2 AND the ball. A punt makes them drive and earn 3 or 6 or 7 ... or you can stop them. Take the safety and you are looking at potentially 9.



At the half, Kalani said they saw something on game films that made them think it would work. Had it worked, we'd all say it was gutsy, and gave the team a needed shot in the arm ... changed the momentum of the game, etc.



I don't know what they saw (Kalani said the response to it was not like anything they had seen in films), but that call will be ridiculed for a long time ... the crazy part is that it didn't hurt the Cougs at all.



That's an easy one to complain about ... but it didn't make any difference. It does just show Kalani's tendency to be over-aggressive at times. I like his willingness to gamble but question it at times. Rookie head coach, new staff, a team who believes in them and a lot of heart ... we'll see where it goes.

But we didn't punt we ran the ball to the 2 yard line. I'm asking... If you were faking from your endzone and you suddenly knew you weren't going to make it to the 5, why not take the safety instead of most likely a TD (which I realize didn't happen last night, but I'd bet BSU DOES convert a TD 90% of the time if that same scenario plays out 100 times) . Even last night this would have put BSU 3 instead of 1 at the end of the game had the rest of the game (I realize it would have been a completely different game at that point) gone the same. If I'm linehan, I just take the safety.



even if it had worked, that was just careless and stupid.

did byu call timeout immediately before that punt?

a timeout was called immediately before ... I don't remember if it was called by BYU or BSU

The timeout was taken by BYU.

wonder if that gave something away... gave BSU a chance to at least tell their players to watch for something funny going on.

If you are going to do the craziest call ever, at least plan for it! BSU was bringing the house. 10 guys were on the line of scrimmage coming from all sides. At least have one guy flare out so Johnny starts running and if in danger can pass it out...He did not even make it to the LOS!

At least everyone now knows that we're unpredictable... and it really didn't cost us anything so there is that

ABYUFAN wrote:
At least everyone now knows that we're unpredictable... and it really didn't cost us anything so there is that

"Those Mormons are CRAZY!"

BoiseBYU wrote:

At least everyone now knows that we're unpredictable... and it really didn't cost us anything so there is that

"Those Mormons are CRAZY!"

OK - good point. Being crazy is nothing new for us. What hasn't been said is that I'd much rather live with the notoriety of a stupid fake punt against BSU than last year's nut punch against the Broncos. We're getting to a better crazy at least.

My problem is Linehan ran left. He's never run left and punted all season. So if you are a defender, you immediately knew something was different because he wasn't going the normal direction. If that play is to work, it has to catch opponents by surprise. It needs to show them something they've seen all game and all season on tape - and THEN you show them something they haven't seen.



If Johnny Rugby had rolled right and then taken off, it would have been much more similar to his previous punting attempts on the season. So if he had run after going right, then there was a chance to catch them off-guard.



But going left tipped them off that we were running a fake.

I'm still stunned. Even Gary Crouton's 4th down antics can't top that one. If this were a legal case and you were the attorney assigned to defend the call, what would you say??? I still trying to think of an excuse or logical reason. Haven't thought of one yet.