In November, the Minnesota Golden Gophers – who are preparing to face the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday — have played two very big games: one against the Penn State Nittany Lions, the other against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Both games were hugely affected by game-management decisions. In one, Minnesota’s opponent made the game-management mistakes. In the other, P.J. Fleck made the game-management mistakes. The Gophers beat Penn State and lost to Iowa.
As Minnesota prepares to face Wisconsin in a battle for the Big Ten West Division championship, it is worth noting the large role game management has played in Minnesota’s month of November. If Saturday’s showdown is close in the final minutes, both Fleck and Paul Chryst will need to make sound and responsible chess moves. Fleck in particular has to bounce back from a brutal showing against Iowa two weeks ago.
Here was the situation: Minnesota was trailing Iowa 23-13 late in the game and had first and goal near the Iowa goal line. The play clock, however, was running down, and Fleck called one of his remaining timeouts. On third or fourth down near the goal line, one can make the argument that saving five yards is crucial in the attempt to score the touchdown, thereby necessitating the use of a timeout. That is not an ideal move to make, but it is reasonable and defensible. Calling that same timeout on first or second down is not. There are too many chances to score from the 6- or 7-yard line to justify using a timeout, especially when it is clear that a team will need to get the ball back late in the game (barring the recovery of an onside kick).
Fleck’s use of a timeout – Minnesota did score a touchdown and then failed on the conversion after the touchdown to remain down by four points, 23-19 – cost the Gophers 45 seconds they otherwise would have been able to retain on Iowa’s subsequent possession. Minnesota got the ball back after an Iowa punt, but with 45 fewer seconds than it otherwise would have had. The Gophers lost, 23-19, in part because Fleck did not properly value a timeout.
A few weeks earlier, Fleck’s opponent made the game-management blunders, influencing the shape of the battle in the second half. Penn State’s James Franklin went for two in the third quarter of a game his team trailed, 24-19. There were many plot twists left in this game, but Franklin chased a point well before the fourth quarter. When Penn State failed and Minnesota then scored a touchdown for a 31-19 lead, that point loomed large. Minnesota led by 12, not 11, which meant that when PSU was down 12, a field goal did absolutely nothing for the Nittany Lions.
Sure enough, Penn State got into a red-zone situation where – had it trailed by 11 points – a field goal would have trimmed its deficit to eight, a one-score game. Down 12, Penn State had to go for it. The Nittany Lions failed. Penn State did scramble back to score a touchdown and create a 31-26 game. PSU drove deep into Minnesota territory in the final minute, but got intercepted on a dangerous, risky throw. Had Franklin not chased the point at 24-19 in the third quarter – which meant he would have kicked a field goal later – Penn State might have had 30 points, and would have had at least 29, in that final minute. There would not have been a need to make dangerous throws in range for a winning field goal. Having to score a touchdown, though, necessitated a more aggressive approach. It blew up in Franklin’s face.
Game management – not just making individual decisions in certain moments, but understanding how decisions need to be stacked together in a big-picture view of how a team gains a path to victory – helped Minnesota beat Penn State. Game management helped Minnesota lose to Iowa. When P.J. Fleck and Paul Chryst match wits on Saturday, they will both need to be on their game… in the realm of game management.