To punt on that fourth and one with three minutes left. Our head coach is so far in over his head, it’s not even funny.
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I’m pretty sure Applewhite lost the players with that one. Is Fertitta willing to pay Applewhite’s buyout? It’s clear he isn’t the answer.
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Yep, it was a mind boggling decision. I’m not a big fan of coaches who coach not to lose as opposed to playing to win
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This one took some guts, up 17-7.
4th and 1 at MEM 6
(6:30 - 3rd) Duke Catalon run for 4 yds to the Memph 2 for a 1ST down
At our own 40, I’d hope we stop them and we had a great punt but the returner gets to the 20 and then they proceed to go 80 yards. We needed a stop. We were only up three and they were about 10 yards from a FG.
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But we didn’t stop them in the second half. They scored all 42 points after halftime. When applewhite made the decision to punt, why should he all of a sudden expect the defense to do something they couldn’t? I don’t know what happens if we get that fourth down, but I like our odds a hell of a lot better if we get it than giving them the ball back.
And if we don’t convert on fourth down they score anyway but leave us more time-probably an additional minute
And Postma fumbles and/or throws a pick so it doesn’t matter anyway.
Agreed.
62, 64 and 64 yard drives before that. You hope you pin them back inside the 10 but we didn’t make the tackle. So, it was a 77 yard drive.
If we’d have kicked a FG when we were 4th and 1 at the Memphis 6 midway through the third, we’d have been down one point and been forced to go for it on the 39 or so where we were.
We “gave up on winning” when we punted the ball on 4th and 1. [God, do I miss Art Briles attitude.] This was the worst decision I have ever witnessed by a UH FB coach, and I’ve been going to UH games for ~50 years.
Whether it was 4th & 1 or 4th & 20, really our only possible chance of winning this game was to go for it with 3 minutes to go, knowing full well that Memphis would score easily in less than 2 minutes irregardless of their field position.
And now we can better understand how the Miami fans felt about their former Defensive Coordinator. In the second half, it seemed we just sat back in a soft zone and let them pick us apart with their half-time adjustments in their passing routes.
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That prevent defense will do that for you all the time. Stupid decisions by the DC.
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Running on 2nd and 1 was very conservative.
I disagree. Duke was a bit banged up and ran for no gain in that series. Birden ran for no gain on 2nd and 1. If we’d have tried another run or a play action (?) and it had failed at our own 41, I just saw the fanbase skewering CMA for allowing them to get an easy FG to tie it. Can’t our defense stop them from scoring TD after TD in the second half? I know that Miller was having a field day in the second half but wow.
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Memphis wouldn’t need to kick a field goal as they were dominating our defense in the 2nd half.
Well, we converted three third downs on the previous drive so there’s that. Too bad our D was getting dominated for whatever reason.
A lot of hindsight going on. First of all, that wasn’t a prevent defense going on last night. A prevent defense doesn’t allow 30 yard pass plays over and over again. That was one of the top 5 QBs in the country and top 5 receivers in the country exploiting the same defensive back over and over again. Second of all, going for it on 4th and 1 on your own 40 yard line up by three with 3 minutes to go after being stuffed on 2nd and 2 and 3rd and 1 is basically like conceding the tie ball game.
So many things could have gone differently on the field to change the final score. The defensive back holds onto the ball in the end zone. Postma holds onto the ball after his big run. Getting a sack on two different jail break blitzes where the defender flops to the ground at Riley’s feet. Having a kicker that can kick the ball through the end zone like Memphis.
Ferguson and Miller made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes in the first half that made our defense look like they were playing much better than they were. Memphis was the better team last night but they were being very charitable in the first half.
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If you watch the video, the punt at the 40 with 3 some minutes left was not designed to be a punt. The ball passed thru the running backs hands, the other two players that line up to stop anyone from blocking a punt run forward to throw blocks for the back receiving the snap. We were lucky that the punter was able to recover, catch the unexpected snap and get a punt away. Everyone needs to watch the video . . . .
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We get that you don’t like Postma.
I don’t like Applewhite and HE was the reason for the loss
You could be a assistant head coach for Applewhite since you agree with his moves.
Probably pays well. !!