Punting on 4th and short in AU territory?

[MedDawg]

What is y'all's opinion on not going for it? During the game we had

4th and 3 at Auburn 45, delay of game, punted from 50 to endzone/touchback
4th and 2 at Auburn 44, punted to Auburn 11
4th and 5 at Auburn 40, punted to Auburn 10

I wouldn't have been against going for it. Each one converted would likely mean another 3 or 7 points.

With last year's offense we should have gone for each. However, this year our short running game doesn't seem to be as good, and in hindsight, State playing a bend but don't break defense was likely helped by forcing a longer field on Auburn.

[Ifyouonlyknew]

With the way Auburn's offense was looking I had no problem punting. Why give them the potential for a short field.

[Really Clark?]

We went for 4th and 3 in the Auburn 40 when Walley fumbled on our first drive of the second half. So we went for it then. Don't go for it too much with the lead on the road. Pin them back and make them drive the field and eat clock.

[Johnson85]

What is y'all's opinion on not going for it? During the game we had

4th and 3 at Auburn 45, delay of game, punted from 50 to endzone/touchback
4th and 2 at Auburn 44, punted to Auburn 11
4th and 5 at Auburn 40, punted to Auburn 10

I wouldn't have been against going for it. Each one converted would likely mean another 3 or 7 points.

With last year's offense we should have gone for each. However, this year our short running game doesn't seem to be as good, and in hindsight, State playing a bend but don't break defense was likely helped by forcing a longer field on Auburn.

Punting on 4th and short once you're past the 45 is to me is almost always a terrible decision. Unless you have a terrible offense and/or an incredible defense, you don't give up a high likelihood of keeping possession in exchange for 30 yards of field position. How many times do you see somebody punt on 4th and short and their punter boot it into the endzone, for a 25 yard change in field position. Flip it around and see how crazy it is. If Auburn had the ball on the 15 yd line, how many DC's would pass up a 50/50 chance of getting a turnover (say an interception around the 40) in exchange for knowing that if they don't get the turnover, the offense advances the ball to the 45? Would you ever not take those odds?

For this game, it obviously turned out great in hindsight. However, I'm still not sure how much of our scoring defense was our D operating as intended and how much of an outlier it was for Auburn to get so few points off so many trips into the red zone.

[Beaver]

Yep, Mullen deserves some credit for Saturday. Special Teams performed nicely, and the clock was managed pretty well.

[Political Hack]

Yep, Mullen deserves some credit for Saturday. Special Teams performed nicely, and the clock was managed pretty well.

There was one drive in the 4th quarter where we are less than a minute before giving the ball back and they didn't have to use any time outs. That was the only poor clock management I saw. It was enough to make my blood boil though.

[FISHDAWG]

when you are averaging less than 100 yds rushing per game (NW not factored) .... you punt the ball instead of trying for the conversion

[Hypnodawg]

I was steaming at the clock management at the end of the first half. Auburn on our 3 yard line with 2 minutes left, we have 3 timeouts. We let them run the clock down to 45 seconds and then basically take a knee to end the half. Who in the hell starts trying the run out the clock in the first half. We could easily have called 2 timeouts and been in a position to run the 2 minute offense to end the half. Relentless effort starts with coaching.

[HoopsDawg]

Generally, I am 100% against punting in any of those spots. But AU's offense was so bad and we had control of the game so I was ok with it. Against A&M, it's an automatic go for it.

[HoopsDawg]

I was steaming at the clock management at the end of the first half. Auburn on our 3 yard line with 2 minutes left, we have 3 timeouts. We let them run the clock down to 45 seconds and then basically take a knee to end the half. Who in the hell starts trying the run out the clock in the first half. We could easily have called 2 timeouts and been in a position to run the 2 minute offense to end the half. Relentless effort starts with coaching.

Agree, that was really bad. We could have really put the hammer down to close the first half. Mullen always talks about the last few minutes of the 1st half and the first few minutes of the 2nd half. Mullen really dropped the ball here.