Heads or Tails/Kick, Defer or Recieve?

[EddieISU]

With the first game just a few days ahead, what should we do if we win the coin toss? First, I call heads. No big reason, just something I always did when playing. Second, we receive and make a statement with our new offense and drive down and score points. None of this deferring to the second half crap, in the first game. Its a new era of Cyclone football and we need to get confidence going with the strength of our team!

I'm so pumped for Thursday and need some football stategy talk going before the kick off. Thanks.

 

[whirlybirds]

i always choose to kick

 

[IcSyU]

Well, we won't be calling it until we head to Kent State.

#2, Kick or defer

Oh, and #3, tails never fails. :biggrin:

 

[CyBelieve]

So did Mac. He's the only coach I have ever known to defer while playing basically in a dome.

Pick tails and take the ball!

 

[chuckd4735]

I think our defense needs to make a bigger statement than our offense. Defer and give our defense a chance to make a stop.

 

[nhclone]

Tails. No question about that.
As far as kick/defer or recieve, go with your strengths. In this case, take the ball and set the tone with our strong O early. If we had a great D and not so good O, I would say defer and make a big stop. Whatever you can do to get the momentum rolling early.

 

[Al_4_State]

Kick it. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So often I see close games get out of hand because a team scores at the end of the 1st half and gets the ball to start the 2nd. If it's an offensive shootout (like we'll likely be in this year) not getting that ball to start the 2nd half can really hurt.

 

[cyfan964]

Kick it. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So often I see close games get out of hand because a team scores at the end of the 1st half and gets the ball to start the 2nd. If it's an offensive shootout (like we'll likely be in this year) not getting that ball to start the 2nd half can really hurt.

Agreed. In the B12 I would kick it every time when offenses can score in such a quick order. NDSU I take the ball and ram it down their throats.

 

[Cycofan1]

Defer play good D, Get a stop, Pump up the growd score a td on offense.

 

[dualthreat]

Kick it. EVERY SINGLE TIME. So often I see close games get out of hand because a team scores at the end of the 1st half and gets the ball to start the 2nd. If it's an offensive shootout (like we'll likely be in this year) not getting that ball to start the 2nd half can really hurt.

Contrary to video game football, if a team chooses to kickoff to start the game, they lose the option to receive in the second half!

Most teams defer to the second half, or chose to receive the opening kickoff. If you chose kick, the other team has their choice in the second half, and you would end up kicking for both halves

 

[jaretac]

I would say we should receive if at all possible, get the offense started early and establish momentum.

 

[ripvdub]

Well... we all know in overtime that you take offense first. :nah:

 

[ianoconnor]

CyBookie event?!

 

[Erik4Cy]

I believe the stats say kickoff and take the ball in the 2nd half

 

[swammi]

Hate to quote KF, but I think he has it right. He states: "it's not rocket science. You have to have the ball to score, and you have to score to win, so we'll take the ball."

With our offense being so much stronger than our D, I can't imagine we would defer.

Don't be a wuss. Gimme the ball and make sure you're wearin' your cup.
Plus, we have an excellent punter (who I hope never kicks when the clock is running).

 

[Al_4_State]

Contrary to video game football, if a team chooses to kickoff to start the game, they lose the option to receive in the second half!

Most teams defer to the second half, or chose to receive the opening kickoff. If you chose kick, the other team has their choice in the second half, and you would end up kicking for both halves

I feel like an idiot. I've always thought that deferring was just giving the other team the option of receiving or kicking.

Then I change my answer to defer. I'm a firm believer in starting the 2nd half w/the ball.

 

[IcSyU]

I feel like an idiot.

That shouldn't be any different than normal...

And I didn't know until 7th grade when I was a Cpt on the football team and our coach told us before we went out to midfield to defer if we had the choice and we asked what the difference between deferring and kicking was.

 

[clonedude]

There's only one answer.... take the ball first IMO.

Defense is supposed to be our weakness. So why give them the ball first and the chance to take the ball down and put points on the board? If they are able to do that, which will take our crowd out of the game immediately, we will be in for a dogfight I'm afraid.

If we take the kickoff, ram it down their throat and score, we have a chance of taking them out of the game in the first 5 minutes of the game. All of their doubts about being able to upset us will be wiped away in that first drive IMO.

It's a no brainer IMO.

 

[MontyBurns]

I agree with swammi. The strength of our team is offense so we should take right away. If it were the other way around and our defense was almost certainly going to get a 3-and-out, then kick because we'll get better field position. But until our defense shows they're capable of that, we should take the ball. It won't really matter against NDSU, we could kick at the start of every quarter and still blow them out, but it will matter later in the year.

 

[IcSyU]

There's only one answer.... take the ball first IMO.

Defense is supposed to be our weakness. So why give them the ball first and the chance to take the ball down and put points on the board? If they are able to do that, which will take our crowd out of the game immediately, we will be in for a dogfight I'm afraid.

If we take the kickoff, ram it down their throat and score, we have a chance of taking them out of the game in the first 5 minutes of the game. All of their doubts about being able to upset us will be wiped away in that first drive IMO.

It's a no brainer IMO.

At the same time, if our defense stops them right out of the gate, you have every person in the stadium excited. We know our offense can put points on the board. If they go 3 and out right off the bat, and then our offense puts points on the board, they're on their heels.

If you take the ball and take a 10 point lead into the locker room, they can come out and make it a 1 possession game. If you kick off and take a 10 point lead into the locker room, you can make it 3 possessions right away in the second half.