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SEC Football

Impactful Coaching Moves: The best and worst decisions of Week 9

Ethan Levine

By Ethan Levine

Published:

With five weeks remaining in the regular season, seemingly every SEC game will have major postseason implications, making for a highly competitive final stretch of the year.

If Week 9 was any indication things have already begun to tighten up throughout the conference, as four of five SEC contests were one-score games at some point in the fourth quarter. As a result, every coaching decision will be picked apart the rest of the year, and most of those decisions will help decide who wins a given ballgame, and perhaps who wins the SEC’s two divisions come season’s end.

With that in mind, here are the best and worst coaching decisions from around the SEC in Week 9:

GOOD MOVE

South Carolina head coach Steve Spurrier made a series of gutsy decisions in the Gamecocks’ 42-35 loss to Auburn on Saturday, but those decisions paid off to keep the Gamecocks within a touchdown of Auburn in Jordan-Hare Stadium.

The Gamecocks’ defense was helpless all game, allowing Auburn to score touchdowns on six straight possessions to maintain control of the contest for most of the night. As a result, Spurrier allowed his offense to play more aggressive, knowing he’d need a huge night offensively to score an upset of the Tigers.

Spurrier left his offense on the field in five different fourth down situations throughout the game, doing everything he could to keep his defense off the field as much as possible. The Head Ball Coach’s risk-taking paid off, as South Carolina converted all five fourth downs and matched Auburn score for score for most of the game. The Gamecocks had the ball in Auburn territory late in the game with a chance to win, and although they couldn’t come through the only reason they even had that opportunity was because of Spurrier’s game management.

BAD MOVE

We will all remember Bo Wallace’s late interception against LSU as one of the defining moments of the Rebels’ loss in Death Valley, but the play was preceded by one of the worst coaching blunders of Week 9 by Ole Miss head coach Hugh Freeze.

With Ole Miss trailing 10-7 and just nine seconds left on the clock, Freeze took his time in trying to decide between attempting a 42-yard field goal to tie the game or trying to advance the ball with one final play to make a potential game-tying kick m0re manageable. Freeze used too much time in making this decision, however, as he didn’t send his kicking team onto the field until there were fewer than 20 seconds left on the play clock. The Rebels couldn’t get a kick away before suffering a delay of game penalty, which moved the offense back five yards to make the kick that much tougher.

Freeze elected to send his offense back onto the field to set up an easier kick, Wallace threw the interception and the rest is history. Wallace is certainly at fault for his poor decision making on the final play, but Freeze’s indecisiveness on the play before is what truly cost Ole Miss in Baton Rouge.

GOOD MOVE

Tennessee head coach Butch Jones elected to start Nathan Peterman at quarterback for the Vols’ home date with Alabama, but after Peterman struggled during Tennessee’s first two possessions, Jones was quick and deliberate in substituting Joshua Dobbs in at quarterback to salvage the game. Dobbs did just that, leading Tennessee to all 20 of its points in a 34-20 loss to the Crimson Tide.

Peterman led Tennessee to two first downs and zero points on its first two possessions, and UT trailed 13-0 when Dobbs took over the offense. The Tide outscored the Vols 21-20 the rest of the way, as Dobbs matched Alabama tick for tack for most of the night in his first consistent playing time of the season. He finished the game 19 of 32 passing with two touchdowns and just one pick, and Tennessee made the game interesting in the fourth quarter as a result.

Had Jones been stubborn and stuck with Peterman, UT might have suffered a rout. Instead, he made the right move inserting Dobbs into the lineup, and the move paid off even though Tennessee lost the game.

BAD MOVE

Before elaborating on the final decision of the week, let me preface by saying the decision was not bad, but instead just poorly timed.

The decision is regarding Arkansas’ 350-pound offensive lineman Sebastian Tretola, and the touchdown pass he threw on an awesome trick play against UAB.

The play design was so awesome. However, it has me wondering why Bielema didn’t wait to use the play in a closely contested SEC showdown. Bielema has already proven Arkansas does not have trouble taking down non-conference foes, as evidenced by wins this season against Nicholls State, Texas Tech and Northern Illinois. The monkey on his back has been his 0-12 record against the SEC in two seasons in Fayetteville, and with a play that well-crafted he should have waited to unleash it in a big moment to help earn his first SEC win with the Razorbacks.

Instead, he essentially wasted the play in what was already a lopsided victory for Arkansas over UAB, which is a huge letdown considering how incredible the play actually was. So, again, the decision was not bad, and Arkansas did score a touchdown on the play, but it does seem poorly timed.

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.

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