May it ever be so humble, sometimes there isn’t anything quite so powerful in a football game as the two-point safety.
Once upon a time in the land of three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, no coach who wanted to keep his job ever, ever thought about calling a pass play from his own end zone. The only exception would come late in the game when it became “nothing-to-lose.”
This ironclad strategy all changed in the 1990s thanks to an arrogant remark by coach Steve Spurrier, but more later on Spurrier and the current-day penchant for winging it from near his end-line.
Two teams—Connecticut and Penn State—have reason this season to regret bold decisions about flinging it from their end zones. Each suffered their only loss partly because of a key two-point safety that went against them.
In Week 2, UConn led most of the way at home against North Carolina but was tied 10-10, backed up to its 8-yard-line, and facing 3rd-and-22 with a little more than 1:30 to play in regulation. Jeez, run it up the middle, punt, and play for overtime! Instead, tackle Dan Ryan was called for holding in the end zone and the two points given away on the safety meant the Huskies had lost 12-10.
Last week, Penn State led Iowa 10-0 at home in the second quarter when it faced 3rd-and-13 from its 2-yard-line. Quarterback Daryll Clark was sacked, fumbled into the arms Nittany Lions guard Johnnie Troutman, but the safety turned the tide against Penn State. Iowa’s fine defense carried the rest of the game as the Hawkeyes pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 21-10.
It would be unfair to Iowa to say the safety cost Penn State the same way the two points cost UConn. But, both the Lions and Huskies should have made conservative calls because each have inexperienced offensive lines, each lost a star left tackle and center from last year’s team, and each was facing an opponent with a fine defensive front.
So how did Steve Spurrier change the thinking about passing from one’s own end zone? He made a bizarre comment when he coached Florida about passing from his end zone because it forced the other team to “defend the whole field.” Come again?! You can get your receivers 90 yards downfield to the far 5-yard-line and block the defense, which comes even harder when it smells a safety, for the 9.5 seconds it would require for even the fastest wide-outs to run that far? I understand you want to stretch the defense, but that defend-the-whole-field comment is truly bizarre.
Today, Spurrier is enjoying some success at South Carolina, but it is built on defensive strength, and I’ll bet he wishes his opponents would throw from their end zone.
Coaches, all of you, let’s go back to (almost) never throwing—especially on third down when the defense is snarling for a sack—from one’s own end zone.
Once upon a time in the land of three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust, no coach who wanted to keep his job ever, ever thought about calling a pass play from his own end zone. The only exception would come late in the game when it became “nothing-to-lose.”
This ironclad strategy all changed in the 1990s thanks to an arrogant remark by coach Steve Spurrier, but more later on Spurrier and the current-day penchant for winging it from near his end-line.
Two teams—Connecticut and Penn State—have reason this season to regret bold decisions about flinging it from their end zones. Each suffered their only loss partly because of a key two-point safety that went against them.
In Week 2, UConn led most of the way at home against North Carolina but was tied 10-10, backed up to its 8-yard-line, and facing 3rd-and-22 with a little more than 1:30 to play in regulation. Jeez, run it up the middle, punt, and play for overtime! Instead, tackle Dan Ryan was called for holding in the end zone and the two points given away on the safety meant the Huskies had lost 12-10.
Last week, Penn State led Iowa 10-0 at home in the second quarter when it faced 3rd-and-13 from its 2-yard-line. Quarterback Daryll Clark was sacked, fumbled into the arms Nittany Lions guard Johnnie Troutman, but the safety turned the tide against Penn State. Iowa’s fine defense carried the rest of the game as the Hawkeyes pulled away in the fourth quarter to win 21-10.
It would be unfair to Iowa to say the safety cost Penn State the same way the two points cost UConn. But, both the Lions and Huskies should have made conservative calls because each have inexperienced offensive lines, each lost a star left tackle and center from last year’s team, and each was facing an opponent with a fine defensive front.
So how did Steve Spurrier change the thinking about passing from one’s own end zone? He made a bizarre comment when he coached Florida about passing from his end zone because it forced the other team to “defend the whole field.” Come again?! You can get your receivers 90 yards downfield to the far 5-yard-line and block the defense, which comes even harder when it smells a safety, for the 9.5 seconds it would require for even the fastest wide-outs to run that far? I understand you want to stretch the defense, but that defend-the-whole-field comment is truly bizarre.
Today, Spurrier is enjoying some success at South Carolina, but it is built on defensive strength, and I’ll bet he wishes his opponents would throw from their end zone.
Coaches, all of you, let’s go back to (almost) never throwing—especially on third down when the defense is snarling for a sack—from one’s own end zone.
--Bob Boyles
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