GTmorris1970
09-15-2005, 01:26 AM
Posted on Wed, Sep. 14, 2005
By RON MORRIS
Sports Columnist
SAY IT AIN’T SO, Steve. Say it ain’t so.
Tell us that your call for a field goal attempt late in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Georgia does not mean you have gone Rush Limbaugh on us. Tell us that your brief stay in Washington, D.C., did not make you lean to the right when it comes to play calling. Please, please tell us you have not tossed aside your bag of tricks in the name of conservative football.
The situation was this: South Carolina trailed 10-9 in the waning seconds of the third quarter when it faced a fourth down at the Georgia 29-yard line. The official distance for a first down was 2 yards, but the Gamecocks were about a yard and a half from continuing a drive that started at their 6-yard line.
Steve Spurrier faced perhaps his first crucial in-game decision as USC’s coach.
Understand, these are the kinds of decisions that made Spurrier famous at Florida for going against conventional coaching wisdom. He likes his teams to have possession of the football, and few things are more maddening to him than having to punt.
During his Florida days, Spurrier was known to poke fun at teams that kicked field goals. He bragged that his Gators enjoyed trading touchdowns for opponents’ field goals. Good luck attempting to find a Florida game of his that was won or lost by the Gators attempting a last-second field goal. It never happened.
At Duke in the late ’80s, Spurrier called plays with little regard to down and distance. Fourth-and-short on his side of the 50-yard line sometimes meant a good time to try out a “new ball play.”
Perhaps his most famous go-for-broke play-calling at Florida came in the third week of the 1996 national championship season. The fourth-ranked Gators were playing at No. 2-ranked Tennessee. Florida received the opening kickoff and drove to the Tennessee 35-yard line, where it faced a fourth-and-12.
Without so much as calling a timeout to contemplate the situation, Spurrier signaled in a play to quarterback Danny Weurffel.
“We had a crossing route trying to make the 15 (yards and a first down),” Spurrier says. “Danny saw (Tennessee) wasn’t covering the guy deep, so he lofted it down there.”
Reidel Anthony ran under Weurffel’s pass for a touchdown, and Florida rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead and, ultimately, a 35-29 victory.
That call was easy for Spurrier. He had a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Wuerffel. He had a stable of All-America receivers. He had an offensive line that allowed Florida to balance its running and passing games.
That hardly is the case at USC. Spurrier now has a quarterback playing in what amounts to his first season, a crew of inexperienced receivers and an offensive line that has been unable to clear holes for its running backs.
Those factors played heavily into Spurrier’s decision to attempt a field goal against Georgia. He did not have enough confidence in his running game to gain almost 2 yards on fourth down. Also, his call for a trick play earlier in the game blew up when Georgia covered Mitchell, who was to receive a pass after handing off on an end around.
On top of that, Spurrier believes that freshman Ryan Succop has a strong leg and is capable of hitting field goals in the 50-yard range. Even though Succop missed a 50-yard attempt in the season-opener against Central Florida, Spurrier says he was confident that the 46-yard attempt against Georgia was well within Succop’s range.
Instead, Succop hit what Spurrier calls a “slider” that fell short of the goal post and wide to the right.
“I thought that was the right call,” Spurrier says of the attempt. “If we had gone for it and missed, that would have been stupid. Of course, obviously, looking back I wish we had tried a trick play because we couldn’t do anything worse than missing a field goal.”
Spurrier’s decision was what he thought worked best for this particular team in this situation. Next season, two seasons from now, four seasons from now, Spurrier might have the weapons he needs to go for broke.
In the end, Spurrier says Saturday’s decision was no indication that he has gone conservative. Whew!
By RON MORRIS
Sports Columnist
SAY IT AIN’T SO, Steve. Say it ain’t so.
Tell us that your call for a field goal attempt late in the third quarter of Saturday’s loss to Georgia does not mean you have gone Rush Limbaugh on us. Tell us that your brief stay in Washington, D.C., did not make you lean to the right when it comes to play calling. Please, please tell us you have not tossed aside your bag of tricks in the name of conservative football.
The situation was this: South Carolina trailed 10-9 in the waning seconds of the third quarter when it faced a fourth down at the Georgia 29-yard line. The official distance for a first down was 2 yards, but the Gamecocks were about a yard and a half from continuing a drive that started at their 6-yard line.
Steve Spurrier faced perhaps his first crucial in-game decision as USC’s coach.
Understand, these are the kinds of decisions that made Spurrier famous at Florida for going against conventional coaching wisdom. He likes his teams to have possession of the football, and few things are more maddening to him than having to punt.
During his Florida days, Spurrier was known to poke fun at teams that kicked field goals. He bragged that his Gators enjoyed trading touchdowns for opponents’ field goals. Good luck attempting to find a Florida game of his that was won or lost by the Gators attempting a last-second field goal. It never happened.
At Duke in the late ’80s, Spurrier called plays with little regard to down and distance. Fourth-and-short on his side of the 50-yard line sometimes meant a good time to try out a “new ball play.”
Perhaps his most famous go-for-broke play-calling at Florida came in the third week of the 1996 national championship season. The fourth-ranked Gators were playing at No. 2-ranked Tennessee. Florida received the opening kickoff and drove to the Tennessee 35-yard line, where it faced a fourth-and-12.
Without so much as calling a timeout to contemplate the situation, Spurrier signaled in a play to quarterback Danny Weurffel.
“We had a crossing route trying to make the 15 (yards and a first down),” Spurrier says. “Danny saw (Tennessee) wasn’t covering the guy deep, so he lofted it down there.”
Reidel Anthony ran under Weurffel’s pass for a touchdown, and Florida rolled to a 35-0 halftime lead and, ultimately, a 35-29 victory.
That call was easy for Spurrier. He had a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in Wuerffel. He had a stable of All-America receivers. He had an offensive line that allowed Florida to balance its running and passing games.
That hardly is the case at USC. Spurrier now has a quarterback playing in what amounts to his first season, a crew of inexperienced receivers and an offensive line that has been unable to clear holes for its running backs.
Those factors played heavily into Spurrier’s decision to attempt a field goal against Georgia. He did not have enough confidence in his running game to gain almost 2 yards on fourth down. Also, his call for a trick play earlier in the game blew up when Georgia covered Mitchell, who was to receive a pass after handing off on an end around.
On top of that, Spurrier believes that freshman Ryan Succop has a strong leg and is capable of hitting field goals in the 50-yard range. Even though Succop missed a 50-yard attempt in the season-opener against Central Florida, Spurrier says he was confident that the 46-yard attempt against Georgia was well within Succop’s range.
Instead, Succop hit what Spurrier calls a “slider” that fell short of the goal post and wide to the right.
“I thought that was the right call,” Spurrier says of the attempt. “If we had gone for it and missed, that would have been stupid. Of course, obviously, looking back I wish we had tried a trick play because we couldn’t do anything worse than missing a field goal.”
Spurrier’s decision was what he thought worked best for this particular team in this situation. Next season, two seasons from now, four seasons from now, Spurrier might have the weapons he needs to go for broke.
In the end, Spurrier says Saturday’s decision was no indication that he has gone conservative. Whew!