Funny nobody talks about this. Dana literally lost these last 2 because he can’t figure out you go for the field goal instead of going for it on 4th down. Went for it inside the 20-25 yard line twice against osu. Assuming we made both field goals, we would’ve won. Last night with the score 14-14 early, we go for it on 4th down inside the 20 and fail. We ultimately lose by 3. Sorry folks, but this guy just doesn’t have it.
2 straight losses due to going for it on 4th down
- Thread starter WVU80ate
- Start date
Yes and no. You are playing hindsight 20/20.
He went for it other times on 4th and we ending up getting TDs. He went for 2 and won it at Texas. That’s his style.
We played balls to the wall. I’d rather do that than not. What’s a shame is had we played balls to the wall at OSU instead of conservative play calling in 2nd half vs OSU we’d have beat OSU. If our D wasn’t so bad, maybe Holgs wouldn’t gamble so much.
He went for it other times on 4th and we ending up getting TDs. He went for 2 and won it at Texas. That’s his style.
We played balls to the wall. I’d rather do that than not. What’s a shame is had we played balls to the wall at OSU instead of conservative play calling in 2nd half vs OSU we’d have beat OSU. If our D wasn’t so bad, maybe Holgs wouldn’t gamble so much.
The real question is WHY he decided to go for it in these situations. Because he has too - he feels his defense can't get a stop for them.
Bad coaching either way. Whether going for it is justified or not, it falls back on happy hair and his coaching staff. The clock management against OSU can be thrown out there too, as a bad coaching move that may have led to a loss. Time for the look of desperation from the coaches on our sidelines in every big game ever to go away.
He knew the chances of our defense stopping them were zero so he had to take those chances. I'm ready for a complete house cleaning of coaches. At the very minimum, Gibson must go.
There are calculated risks, and then there is 4th and 6 from guaranteed 3 point land.
I didn't love that call either but when your defense is so bad you are giving up almost 15 yards a play you have to make some questionable decisions.
I agree when you have a D this bad you have to do stupid stuff, but how long has it been this way with no change? Holgs has had to do this the entire time he's coached here. He apparently doesnt care enough about defense to find and hire anyone proven to run a semi-tough D. His choice of DC's has been pathetic.
no. Hindsight is seeing things after the fact. I was screaming at the television when he went for it and the game was tied 14-14. Just idiotic. And essentially the theme of Dana since he’s been here. You get the points. Period
It's funny Dana said field goals weren't going to win the game only for WVU to lose the game by a field goal.
in just under a month dana has gone from hero for his gutsy call in the texas game to epic fail for his gutsy calls against both oklahomas. in all of those cases he made the decision to roll the dice due to having NO confidence at all in his defense. if i'm a head coach and my game plan was torpedoed by a continual lack of confidence in everything defensively, then i fire the person who is in charge of that piece. its not like this is a one year anomaly... i do like dana, but he needs to let gibson go and get someone else in here that can revitalize our defense. he had to do it with deforest...he's going to have to do it again with gibson. if he can do that then i believe he's grown a bit as a head coach. and if spav wants to leave then take that money, along with the d coordinator salary, and buy someone good. dana can go back to calling the plays
hero? Hardly. If you go back to that post Texas win, I was on here calling it stupid then. As I said then, he was only a hero because it luckily worked. It was stupid then to try it, and it’s still stupid today. No great coach in their right mind coaches like that. And let’s say it is because of a lack of confidence in his defense (although I disagree, because Dana has been pulling this nonsense for years). What kind of message does that send to your team? “Hey I recruited you to play defense but you all suck so bad I’d rather go for it on every 4th down”. There’s one guy that sucks, and it’s Dana. He’s the common denominator in all of this.
going for it in those situations wouldn't be my call either. i'm more conservative...hail from the power I run run/5-2 defense era. my point is if dana is going to take shit (justifiably) for decisions that don't work, i'm at least going to give him credit when it does work. if dana clings to gibson like stewart clung to mullen, then maybe it is time to clean house.
If he has no confidence in his defense then why hasn’t he changed it in 8 years ???
