Originally Posted by besserheimerphat 
Actually we're only averaging 6 fewer ppg so far this season - 22.X vs. 28.2. Where would that number be if we hadn't attempted 13 4th down conversions so far this season? We've only converted 4 by the way. I don't know how many failed attempts were within Shaggy's field goal range, but I'm guessing we've lost some points here too.
I really don't understand what we're doing on 4th down. We punted it twice against Nebraska with a yard or less to go when we were still in the game and had a chance to keep momentum, and then late in the game we went for it on 4th and 7 with a ridiculous fake kick and another time on 4th and 15.
Against Iowa we went for it on 4th and 10 after passing up chances on 4th and short earlier. Why not reverse that and go for it early in the game on a yard to go, so that we don't get ourselves so far behind that we get desperate? Is it really that hard to understand that 1 is a small number while 7,10 and 15 are big numbers? Our aggressiveness in the 2nd quarter of games this year has been pathetic. We sat on the ball against Iowa with almost 2 minutes left and went into halftime on a weak note with 3 timeouts still in the bank. We punted it to Nebraska on 4th and 1 with 5 minutes to go in the half and then gave up trying for a first down with 2 minutes to go when we got the ball back. Our timidity gave up 7 points right before half to a Nebraska offense that doesn't think there's a wrong time in the game to try to score.
I honestly don't mind losing when we get outplayed. I understand that other schools have bigger budgets and better athletes. It's getting outcoached on game day every week that upsets me.
