End of Half Hail Marry

19clone91

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A few of us talked about this in the gameday thread, but why dont teams ALWAYS toss a hail marry with a second or two left in the 1st half? what do you have to lose? Even if you only score 10% of the time, its drastically more likely that the offense scores than the defense intercepts it and returns it 100 yards.

TCU just did this and got a huge game-changing touchdown at the last second of the 1st half. Texas did this against us a few years ago which changed the entire game momentum. Even if you dont get it, who cares, its better than kneeling it or running a 1 yard play (which you are more likely to turn it over).

The NFL is always made fun of for being conservative, etc. But teams in the NFL constantly throw hail marys, look at Aaron Rodgers.
 

aauummm

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A few of us talked about this in the gameday thread, but why dont teams ALWAYS toss a hail marry with a second or two left in the 1st half? what do you have to lose? Even if you only score 10% of the time, its drastically more likely that the offense scores than the defense intercepts it and returns it 100 yards.

TCU just did this and got a huge game-changing touchdown at the last second of the 1st half. Texas did this against us a few years ago which changed the entire game momentum. Even if you dont get it, who cares, its better than kneeling it or running a 1 yard play (which you are more likely to turn it over).

The NFL is always made fun of for being conservative, etc. But teams in the NFL constantly throw hail marys, look at Aaron Rodgers.
I agree. I thought that we might do it this time, but no. Heck, take a shot.
 

LarryISU

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You may not have heard, but these plays are now commonly referred to as "Hail Larry." Anyway, that's what all my friends say.
 
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19clone91

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Yeah I agree. What gets me is, we were losing momentum and didnt get the ball to start the second half. Same thing last week. To me, anything you can do to get points/momentum going into half is a good thing.

Agreed. Even if you get all the way to the 40 and miss a deep field goal, it at least eats into the other teams momentum. We had already moved the ball like 25 yards or so, the momentum was starting to swing towards us.

And look at the Florida game. Instead of coasting into halftime they threw a deep ball on the last play and won on a TD. Why didn't we do that against Iowa. I think most of us felt uncomfortable going into halftime against Iowa, why not throw the deep ball going into the half when Iowa got the ball first as well.
 
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aauummm

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Yeah I agree. What gets me is, we were losing momentum and didnt get the ball to start the second half. Same thing last week. To me, anything you can do to get points/momentum going into half is a good thing.
I agree and taking a shot shows the team that we don't give up until there's all zeros on the clock.
 
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VeloClone

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How far can Park throw it? ISU had the ball at their own 43 at the end of the half. It would have required a 60 yard throw just to get it to the goal line.
 

madguy30

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Would be interesting especially with the height/size of ISU's receiving corps.
 
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andybernard

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I wouldn't even consider that a Hail Mary. The Florida WR just burned the safety deep and that QB threw a laser to him in stride.

Hail Mary or no Hail Mary, it was amazing.

Tennessee's safeties started that play on the 50. What the heck were they doing? I assume that was a coach's decision? Mind-bottling.
 

NWICY

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I was disappointed we didn't take a shot against Ia. The flip side of this is the pick 6 that Texa$ just put on USC. I would still like to see us go deep at the end of the half.
 
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19210

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A QB hit that results in a fumble that the defense returns for a TD?
Or an interception for a td. Not to mention the percentage of it working is low and the possibility of someone getting hurt on a play like that isn't worth the risk.

The one I will never forget is Texas against us right before half....ugh!
 
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alarson

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Or an interception for a td. Not to mention the percentage of it working is low and the possibility of someone getting hurt on a play like that isn't worth the risk.

I would guess that the odds of either of those happening is much lower than the odds of it working.
 
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jbindm

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I didn't mind Campbell going conservative last week or yesterday at the end of the half. He was going against opponents who aren't quick strike offenses, so there wasn't pressure to get points on the board with every possession. But once they start conference play he's going to have to take some chances. The way some of the Big 12 teams score he can't afford to sit on the ball and just get to halftime.
 

CysRage

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USC also threw downfield before half against UT and caught it around the 25 then out ran the defender to run it in.