Big Ten Football 2020: Week 1 Recap

Comment by Ken

Ken — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 18:12:21 +0000

I stand corrected. I looked at the ESPN play-by-play to count IU's timeouts and they must have not included one. Here I was trying to give James Franklin the benefit of the doubt about the ambiguity of the situation, but if IU only had one timeout, you're right... the scenario is this:

1:42 1st and goal from the 1. Indiana calls its final timeout.

1:42 1st and goal from the 1, QB kneel. Three seconds of game clock elapse; the 40-second play clock starts at 1:39.

1:00 2rd and goal from the 1, QB kneel. 40-second clock starts at 0:57.

0:18 3th and goal from the 1, QB kneel. Clock runs out.

I see this as a coaching mistake. Sure, Ford could have figured out that he needed not to score on his own, but good coaches would have told him that before he got to the huddle.

And yes, you're certainly right about all the other points PSU gave away. The game should never have been that close. Sorry, man. It sucks.

Comment by Dan (Guest)

Dan (Guest) — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 19:46:18 +0000

Hi Ken, good to see you back for another season of commentary! Looking forward to some football.

Congrats on the Wolverines' win! First game with a new QB is always nerve-wracking, but Milton passed the test.

On the PSU ending, I have to point out a small error. When PSU got the ball at the IU 14, Indiana only had one timeout left, not two. They burned one early in the half, as you pointed out, but they also used their 2nd on their last possession before turning the ball over to PSU on downs. So, if Devyn Ford stops at the 1 yard line with a first down, IU could only stop it once more and we could have just run out the clock on 3 kneel-downs.

So, Ford learned a huge lesson there, but he wasn't the only goat. Three turnovers, three missed field goals (one that's a chip shot), 10 penalties for 100 yards (many in crucial situations), poor use of our own timeouts, an "accidental" touchdown, and finally a bad call (my opinion) on a 2-point conversion that gives IU the game.

It's 2020, man. Whaddya gonna do?

Big Ten Football 2020: Week 1 Recap

Ken — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 20:19:49 +0000

Michigan wins convincingly; Penn State dominates statistically but implodes spectacularly at the end of the game, and for a change I have a lot more to say about the PSU game than the Michigan game.