In the aftermath of Saturday's head-scratching loss to Wisconsin, we were left wondering about a multitude of things: Life, liberty, religion, whether this ringing sound in our ears would go away on its own, etc. But above all else, we were wondering how the coaching staff made the inexplicable decision to burn a timeout with 12 seconds remaining and the clock stopped for a first down, especially because it was idiotic on all levels (on the Slow States podcast this week, I suggested Ferentz did it to avoid having another field goal attempt end with Michael Meyer being eaten by sharks). In the press room following the game, Ferentz dismissed the criticism. At yesterday's weekly press conference, he offered his mea culpa:
Hey, I blew some things, too. Wasn’t counting on that. And all of those things add up. We have to do a better job....
I wish we had clocked it quite frankly. And we had 11 seconds play in there, which is interesting, the one where Reisner ran out of bounds, that took 11 seconds, part of our thought and for whatever, the sneak took one second, I’m not so sure that happened. We thought the clock was going to be down under ten when after the sneak. That was our thinking.
Retrospect, I wish we had clocked it. I think we ended up with 12 on the clock after the sneak. I’m not sure how that happened. But anyway, that was part of the thinking. Retrospect, I wish I had done it over, could do over. I can’t. So, live with it. Cost us one play.
OK Coach, first things first: There has to be a better way of saying that.
Second, it appears as if Ferentz believes that the force of Stanzi's quarterback sneak actually turned the earth one second backwards on its axis, which is completely plausible given The Manzi's supernatural powers. It's either that or we need to buy Ferentz a new monocle so he can better see the clock on the Jumbotron. In any case, apology accepted. Let's get on with it.