Impactful Coaching Moves: The best and worst decisions from Week 3

The SEC was 8-1 in non-conference games last weekend and played host to two instant classics in Georgia-South Carolina and Florida-Kentucky. A number of games were decided on the final possession, making every coaching move instrumental in determining the outcome.

Here were the best and worst coaching decisions from around the SEC in Week 3:

Good Call

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier elected to be aggressive with a 3-point lead late in the fourth quarter, leaving his offense on the field facing fourth-and-1 near midfield. Spurrier called a quarterback sneak, and Dylan Thompson and the Gamecocks’ offensive line pushed ahead just far enough to pick up the first down. Seriously, it’s near-impossible to truly distinguish whether South Carolina actually picked up the first down or not, but Spurrier and his squad were awarded a new set of downs, allowing the Gamecocks to run out the clock.

Even if South Carolina hadn’t earned a first down, Spurrier’s call was a wise one. Georgia kicker Marshall Morgan had already missed two kicks in the game, and the Bulldogs would have taken over possession near midfield, needing to gain at least 20-25 yards to give him a real shot at nailing the game-tying field goal. Not to mention, that field goal could only have forced overtime, where South Carolina would have maintained the home-field advantage and a good chance at coming away with a win.

Spurrier saw a chance to seize a victory on that fourth down, and he took advantage. South Carolina is now back in the thick of the SEC East race, making Spurrier’s decision a good call.

Bad Call

In the same game, Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo made a bad call when elected to throw on first down from inside the South Carolina 5-yard line with a chance to take a lead with four minutes left in the game. The Bulldogs took over possession at the 3-yard line following an interception by Damian Swann that he returned deep into enemy territory. The obvious move from Georgia’s perspective would have been to give the ball to Heisman contender Todd Gurley to try and punch it in three straight times.

Instead, Bobo over-thought the situation and called a play-action pass. That play ended in an intentional grounding penalty, moving Georgia outside the 10-yard line with a loss of down. Gurley ran the ball on second down for 3 yards, and Hutson Mason failed to connect with his receiver on third down, forcing the Bulldogs to settle for a field goal.

Mason missed that field goal, failing to tie the game at 38-all. South Carolina never gave the ball back.

Bobo should have given it to Gurley, even if every member of the South Carolina defense knew it was coming. Heisman contenders make memorable plays in big moments, and Gurley never got the chance to make his.

Good Call

LSU offensive coordinator Cam Cameron made a series of good moves by electing to run the ball on more than 72 percent of the Tigers’ plays from scrimmage (52 of 72 plays) against Louisiana Monroe. The Tigers are still a work in progress at the quarterback position, and it wasn’t until they abandoned the passing game that the offense truly took off. Quarterback Anthony Jennings attempted 16 passes in the first half, not including two Louisiana Monroe sacks, and LSU led just 10-0 at halftime.

Jennings attempted just two passes in the second half, as did backup Brandon Harris, and LSU outscored ULM 21-0 for the half. The Tigers have discovered they have two star freshmen tailbacks in highly touted star Leonard Fournette and fellow frosh Darrel Williams. Add seniors Kenny Hilliard and Terrence Magee into the mix, and LSU has a stable of backs capable of masking the Tigers’ deficiencies in the passing game outside of Travin Dural.

Hilliard, Magee, Fournette and Williams combined to carry the ball 41 times for 182 yards, an average of more than 4.4 yards per carry. The run game alone won’t be able to beat the many ranked opponents left on LSU’s schedule, but it can absolutely keep the Tigers in games with the help of John Chavis’ defense. Until Cameron and company get the passing game figured out, sticking with the run against a mid-major opponent was a good call for LSU.

Bad Call

Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason inexplicably elected to burn freshman quarterback Wade Freebeck’s redshirt in order to start him against UMass, and that was a bad call. Mason has been trying to decide on one quarterback among three contenders since the summer, and yet he called upon Freebeck seemingly out of nowhere to start in a game Vanderbilt had to win against a fellow 0-2 team.

Freebeck did not look good, as one might imagine considering he is A) a freshman and B) has not been involved at all with the first team offense while three other quarterbacks battled for the starting job. Mason benched Freebeck after one quarter in favor of Patton Robinette, who led the Commodores to a 3-point victory. But now he can no longer redshirt Freebeck, and if Robinette does turn out to be the guy for Vandy, Mason will have wasted a valuable year of eligibility on one quarter against UMass.

Robinette may be doing Mason a favor, as it seems he still had no idea who his guy was until Robinette seized the job Saturday. But Mason still made a truly horrendous call in playing Freebeck, who accomplished little and wasted a lot in 15 minutes of game time.

Ethan Levine

A former newspaper reporter who has roamed the southeastern United States for years covering football and eating way too many barbecue ribs, if there is such a thing.