W
WickchadUtah was well on their way to turning out the lights on Montana St in the first half. Up 24-0 and their defense was dominating the game. Montana St finally gets a break and their punt is downed at the Utah 1 yard line. Utah doesn't move the ball and is forced to punt (I believe for the first time all game). What does Kwhit decide to do to the FCS team that is already down by 24 points...he successfully executes a fake punt from his own end zone. I was ready for Montana St's coach to give him the bird ala Joe Glenn. Well the football gods appeared to levy their judgment against Kwhit's classy actions. Utah pretty much stunk from that point forward. They ended up punting 3 plays later and did not score another TD for the rest of the game. In fact, from that point forward they were out scored 10-3.
Frankly the decision to fake the punt makes no sense. This was clearly a team that wasn't posing any type of a risk for a come back. Had the fake not worked you would have handed them the ball on the 10 yard line. I don't think Crowton would have even considered calling a fake right there. I realize that Kwhit may not have actually told them to run the fake and their punter may have just had a green light to do a fake if they saw something from film happen on the field. If that is the case it was specifically game planned for and they were probably dying to execute it on the field. Just like in the Wyoming game they were dying to run their onside kick because of a weakness they saw on film. A classy coach understands when a team that is already beat doesn't need to have their weaknesses further displayed so that you can show everyone how smart you think you are. If the green light was there, he should have turned it off once they were up 24-0.
Frankly the decision to fake the punt makes no sense. This was clearly a team that wasn't posing any type of a risk for a come back. Had the fake not worked you would have handed them the ball on the 10 yard line. I don't think Crowton would have even considered calling a fake right there. I realize that Kwhit may not have actually told them to run the fake and their punter may have just had a green light to do a fake if they saw something from film happen on the field. If that is the case it was specifically game planned for and they were probably dying to execute it on the field. Just like in the Wyoming game they were dying to run their onside kick because of a weakness they saw on film. A classy coach understands when a team that is already beat doesn't need to have their weaknesses further displayed so that you can show everyone how smart you think you are. If the green light was there, he should have turned it off once they were up 24-0.