The Longest Yard WORK
This is the most vexing scenario in football because you only need one yard, which plays games with your head and heart. Some strategic minds focus on gaining that single yard, leaving little margin for error while creating high drama and summoning chain measurement.
The Longest Yard
The Buckeyes needed one yard. They got exactly one yard. The subtle lesson here is if A.J. Alexander had remembered the low man wins when it comes to blocking in short-yardage situations, we would have been deprived of this drama.
Another 4th & 1, but on the road against the defending conference champions with everything at stake. This decision carried more emotional that strategic risk, as it was early in the 2nd quarter and failure would have meant Sparty taking over inside its own 1-yard line.
Jones still insists this was the right decision. I choose to agree with no.34 on your screen above that he should have gotten the ball instead. El Guapo was averaging over 8 yards per carry in the 2nd half and Michigan State appeared to hate tackling him after three hours of fighting.
Curtis Samuel averaged a staggering 7.9 yards per carry during the 2016 season, which might make you wonder why he only got two of them in the loss to Penn State. He averaged almost 36 yards per carry that night, which football historians inform me is pretty good.
Meanwhile, Barrett had 17 carries that night, getting just 1.5 yards per rush. We summoned that Penn State game for a reason; on 4th & 1 against the Sooners, Ohio State dialed up what would later be known as The Brooklyn Dagger, with Samuel gaining his eventual and exact State College YPC average on that fateful snap. 041b061a72