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Impactful coaching moves: The best and worst decisions of Week 5
By Randy Capps
Published:
Week 5 of the college football season is behind us, and since it’s Monday, it’s time to take a look back at the Saturday that was in the SEC.
Call it Monday morning quarterbacking, if you will. Coaching is much easier from the recliner, especially with the benefit of hindsight. As always, players decide games. But coaches put the players into positions to succeed — or fail — based on their decisions.
With that in mind, here are the best and worst coaching decisions from around the SEC in Week 5:
GOOD MOVE
I’ve picked on Arkansas in this space a few times already this season — and rightly so. But I come here today not to bury Bret Bielema but to praise him. Sure, we could quibble with that fake field goal call in the fourth quarter. But winning covers a multitude of sins, and that one is a prime example.
Instead, let’s talk about how the Razorbacks gave up a kickoff return for a touchdown to start the game and found themselves in a 14-0 hole midway through the first quarter. At that point, playing on the road under the stress of a potential 1-4 start to the season, Bielema and his staff settled things down on both sides of the ball and roared back to a 24-20 win.
Offensively, they pounded the rock with Alex Collins and Rawleigh Williams III while getting the occasional big play from Brandon Allen. Defensively, Arkansas limited Tennessee to 90 second-half yards and a single field goal.
It was a remarkable turnaround under trying conditions. And Bielema and his staff deserve a ton of credit.
BAD MOVE
My colleague, Brad Crawford, wrote this about South Carolina’s loss to Missouri:
To put it bluntly, South Carolina has rarely looked prepared this season. The fans see it. The beat writers see it. Spurrier often admits as much postgame. Lots of backward plays offensively and the lack of an aggressive style that seemed to carry this team over the last several seasons. Confidence isn’t there in the locker room or on the sideline, and it’s starting to show.
I think this is spot-on. Steve Spurrier has had his share of challenges this season. By now, I’m sure he figured that Connor Mitch would be getting comfortable at the quarterback position and he could incrementally expand the playbook as his confidence grew.
Instead, true freshman Lorenzo Nunez is starting in Mitch’s absence. And he couldn’t be more different. He’s unpolished and even more inexperienced, but he’s fast. Heading into a road game against an attacking defense, I think a simpler offensive plan with a greater emphasis on running and pass protection would have played more to Nunez’s strengths. Instead, Missouri sacked him four times and recorded three interceptions, and his lone scoring pass should have really been another pick.
Sometimes with a young quarterback, less really is more.
GOOD MOVE
Alabama had a 10-3 lead over Georgia with about five minutes to go until halftime in Saturday’s game.
Georgia lined up for a punt, and Alabama freshman Minkah Fitzpatrick sliced through the Bulldogs’ formation to block the punt and score a touchdown. In an instant, a close game began its transformation into a blowout.
Guys usually don’t come through untouched and block punts at this level unless a coaching staff finds a hole in the blocking scheme and exploits it. Alabama tight ends and special teams coach Bobby Williams may have done just that.
BAD MOVE
Mississippi’s trip to Gainesville was an unmitigated disaster. And there wasn’t one moment that decided the outcome. But you do have to wonder why Hugh Freeze elected to kick a 22-yard field goal at the tail end of a 19-play, 70-yard drive with under six minutes left in the third quarter on the wrong end of a 25-0 score?
I understand that it’s a four-score game, and a field goal in that spot gets you back within three touchdowns. But in a game where nothing has gone right, the chance to seize some momentum with a touchdown on fourth-and-goal should have been too good to pass up.
Randy Capps is a contributing writer for Saturday Down South. He covers SEC football, South Carolina and Georgia.