Duke post game thread

[athensjacket]

I've never returned punts, cause I really sucked at football, but I always heard you plant your butt at the 7 or so yard line in that case and don't dare go backwards to catch the punt.

I do think his attempt to catch it was partially due to the prior punt being 70 yards. May have been attempting to make up for that.

I went back and looked at the video, and he actually was camped out around the 7, but misjudged the distance and ran up to the 12 before retreating to the 5. Once he got locked into the punt, I guess he lost track of where he was. I can see how that could happen.

 

[bonham]

He played a hell of a good game Saturday night

I criticize Curry a lot but he had a decent game. He did drop that easy INT though

 

[JJacket]

I went back and looked at the video, and he actually was camped out around the 7, but misjudged the distance and ran up to the 12 before retreating to the 5. Once he got locked into the punt, I guess he lost track of where he was. I can see how that could happen.

And I think he lets it go were it not for the 70 yard punt prior. I think that was in his head.

 

[Techbert]

Dunno. Mistakes were made. And good plays happened, enough for us to have a blowout win.

Feels good hearing announcers relax cuz results are in the bag, and we are on the front end of that. Not everyone here shares that emotion. Pity for them.

 

[vapspwi]

And I think he lets it go were it not for the 70 yard punt prior. I think that was in his head.

Why wouldn’t a previous 70 yard punt be MORE likely to convince you to let it go when you’re lined up on the 10 to field the next one?

JRjr

 

[Old-Fashioned UGA Hater]

Why wouldn’t a previous 70 yard punt be MORE likely to convince you to let it go when you’re lined up on the 10 to field the next one?

JRjr

You let that one go 100% of the time. Especially since you had to track back to try and catch it. Once he started to back up everyone in my living room was yelling "let it go!"

 

[wesleyd21]

I would never let a true freshman return punts.

 

[vapspwi]

You let that one go 100% of the time. Especially since you had to track back to try and catch it. Once he started to back up everyone in my living room was yelling "let it go!"

I guess it’s a coaching thing or a philosophy thing. What I learned, I think during the O’Leary days, was that a common approach is to put your heels on the 10 and if it’s over your head, let it go. Maybe you occasionally get pinned deep by a real good/lucky punter, but mostly you’ll get touchbacks and avoid game-changing mistakes. It seems like a good rule of thumb to me.

I was really hoping the officials would call a safety against Duke, just for the novelty of seeing a safety occur on the kickoff following a safety, which can’t have ever occurred before. I’m curious why the fair catch wasn’t accepted - too late to signal it, or the refs missed it, or something else (can’t fair catch a ball that’s on the ground?). I’m also puzzled why it wasn’t a safety - it looked like he fielded the ball on the 1 and gave ground into the end zone before we ever touched him. Karma balanced things out for us, at least.

JRjr

 

[05GTCorndog]

And then we didn't know how to let a ball go out of bounds on a KO return, stranded our offense at the 2, and gave up a safety.

This is a dumb take that keeps getting repeated. It is clear by watching that he was trying to do the smart thing and catch the ball while out of bounds once it was clear he was that close to the sideline. That gets us the ball at the 35. The ball might've bounced into the end zone and then it was just a touchback. He was obviously coached on the rule and tried to make the play and failed.

It was ööööty execution, but it was clear that the player knew the rule and tried to execute 'the smart play.'

 

[BigGTMike]

Loophole to increase distance covered = run 10 yards the wrong way, then run back the right way and jump on the pile.

 

[beej67]

the smart thing and catch the ball while out of bounds once it was clear he was that close to the sideline

wat

If he's out of bounds then just don't catch it.

You say he was coached to do that ... why? I have never in my entire life seen anyone on any team in any game ever do that.

 

[05GTCorndog]

wat

If he's out of bounds then just don't catch it.

The ball was inbounds. He tried to get one foot out and then touch the ball which therefore puts the ball out of bounds and makes it an illegal procedure and gives us good field position.

Essentially he was trying to do this:

Randall Cobb takes advantage of bizarre NFL rule

On this week's episode of "Odd moments in NFL officiating with the Green Bay Packers" ... Randall Cobb took advantage of a little-known rule to get the Packers

www.si.com

 

[beej67]

The ball was inbounds. He tried to get one foot out and then touch the ball which therefore puts the ball out of bounds and makes it an illegal procedure and gives us good field position.

Essentially he was trying to do this:

Randall Cobb takes advantage of bizarre NFL rule

On this week's episode of "Odd moments in NFL officiating with the Green Bay Packers" ... Randall Cobb took advantage of a little-known rule to get the Packers

www.si.com

That only works if the ball is already on the ground inbounds, dude. If you're catching the ball at chest height, then there is no possible universe in which the ball is out of bounds at chest height and then curves back in bounds by the time it hits the ground, because of this weird thing called "geometry."

 

[vapspwi]

wat

If he's out of bounds then just don't catch it.

You say he was coached to do that ... why? I have never in my entire life seen anyone on any team in any game ever do that.

This came up in a game I was watching a few weeks ago and somebody on Stingtalk educated me about the rule, which I’d never heard before.

The kick this week wasn’t a great time to try it, because it seemed like it was going OOB anyway. But you could exploit the rule for a ball that was going to stay inbounds near the sideline. It’s like if you could make a grounder foul in baseball by standing in foul territory and picking up a fair ball.

JRjr

 

[LaFlavor]

I criticize Curry a lot but he had a decent game. He did drop that easy INT though

Curry is an enigma to me. I like to think if he were just a little bit faster or just a little bit more intuitive he'd be a very good linebacker. If he was both, he'd be a great linebacker. As it is now, he's not smart enough to always be in position and not fast enough to recover when he gets out of position. I don't know, though. He will make some really good plays (like being directly responsible for two turnovers this week) and then completely whiff on what should be a routine tackle. It makes you scratch your head.

 

[05GTCorndog]

That only works if the ball is already on the ground inbounds, dude. If you're catching the ball at chest height, then there is no possible universe in which the ball is out of bounds at chest height and then curves back in bounds by the time it hits the ground, because of this weird thing called "geometry."

Not true.

If he has a foot out of bounds and catches it with the other in the field of play he is out of bounds and the ball is out of bounds.

Find a replay and lets look at it.

 

[05GTCorndog]

The kick this week wasn’t a great time to try it, because it seemed like it was going OOB anyway. But you could exploit the rule for a ball that was going to stay inbounds near the sideline. It’s like if you could make a grounder foul in baseball by standing in foul territory and picking up a fair ball.

I like the spirit here... but in baseball if a fielder fields a ball in fair territory, it doesn't matter where they are standing.

 

[vapspwi]

I like the spirit here... but in baseball if a fielder fields a ball in fair territory, it doesn't matter where they are standing.

Yeah, I know - I’m saying the football rule exploit is like IF you could make a ball foul by standing in foul territory in baseball (which isn’t how it actually works).

JRjr

 

[05GTCorndog]

Yeah, I know - I’m saying the football rule exploit is like IF you could make a ball foul by standing in foul territory in baseball (which isn’t how it actually works).

JRjr

Oh. Gotcha. I see it now.

 

[GTce93]

I like the spirit here... but in baseball if a fielder fields a ball in fair territory, it doesn't matter where they are standing.

That ball still had a ton of momentum. If he lets it go- worst case we get it on the 25. If it continues OOB- best case we get it on the 35. He took a shot at a very small chance of something that at best still gets us to the 35- but at worst puts us on the 4. They should be coached to let it go and not try to pull off a random Randall Cobb crazy thing that rarely happens.