[NU Sports] genius or luck?

[Tom Maycock]

> Since no one else has mentioned it:   I think that Walker made a
> HORRIBLE
> decision to punt on 4th and 2 from the Iowa 41 when we were down
> 27-14 and  there were about 8 minutes left in the game.  

Personally, I also thought we should have gone for it at the time, but
at the same time I could understand the more conservative decision. The
fact that we actually lost yardage on the preceeding 3rd and inches
certainly didn't help.

And something else about that decision occurs to me now:

My feeling that we should have gone for it was based in pessimism--I
didn't think our defense could keep stopping them, or that the offense
was playing well enough to afford giving up the ball at that point.

You could argue that Walker's decision was just the opposite: a display
of confidence in both his offense and his defense. His willingness to
display that confidence, *especially* without a lot of supporting
evidence to that point, may be significant. 

Perhaps that's just the kind of thinking that helps mold a team capable
of pulling off what the Wildcats pulled of on Saturday?

And the fact is that he was right. The defense did hold them scoreless
the entire half (the gift FG off the INT shouldn't count against the
D). And the offense ended up having many more chances to get the win,
and won despite blowing a couple of those chances. 

I guess I vote "genius". 

Anyway, that was a hell of a thing to watch. 

Tom