[NU Sports] Using timeouts ...

[SjT (Stephen J. Truog)]

Watching the Iowa/Wisky finish along with our game today, I was wondering why the Hawkeyes and Wildcats didn't use some of their timeouts on defense.

I know you're told to save TOs for the final drive, but with the clock stopping on first down, it seems like in college football they can be used just as much on the defensive side to save time for a comeback drive (certainly a better use than icing the kicker).

You could see our D sucking wind up 27-21 and you could just see Wisconsin running over Iowa as they plowed towards the end zone - a timeout or two might have saved more time for the offense and gave the D a chance to catch their breaths. And at least break some of the momentum.

Just a thought ... looks like Iowa will rue their special teams today as well (and like MSU, Wisky used a fake punt to fuel their scoring comeback - though Sparty's one seemed pretty obvious to everyone in the stadium except the one guy who needed to recognize it, while Bucky's was a gutsy shocker).

Interesting how the SEC and Big Ten are shaping up this year - I still think Bama and OSU are the cream of the crop in their tough, deep leagues ... the difference is that with the title game and schedule, Bama has every chance to work their way back to a title (and perhaps a B(C)S title shot), while OSU must pray for help against the Spartans and Badgers. Should be a mad scramble for the second B(C)S bid in each of those leagues.

Unfortunately for MSU, OSU and Wisky, the B in B(C)S still seems to stand for Big XII, as the league that made a title game with a team who lost their league title game AND with a team who didn't even MAKE their league title game has once again fooled the computers and leapt over everyone - Go Mizzou!:) And hopefully UNL brings some of that computer love to the Big Ten.

GO CATS!!!
-SjT

PS - 26 seconds left now ... Iowa still has 2 timeouts left, but it seems like they'd be better off with 2 minutes and no timeouts left ... :)

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STEPHEN J. TRUOG
sjtruog at yahoo.com
GO CATS!!! GEAUX SAINTS!!!
Super Bowl XLIV Champions!
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