Simulated snap.

[blonthang]

IMHO using a safety in rare circumstances can be a smart offensive tactic.

Cotton Bowl Classic - Wikipedia

"The 1979 Cotton Bowl Classic, nicknamed the Chicken Soup Game, featured one of the most historic comebacks in bowl history. Notre Dame trailed Houston 34–12 midway through the fourth quarter. Thanks to a blocked punt and the brilliance of future NFL Hall of Famer Joe Montana, the Irish rallied to win 35–34, their second consecutive Cotton Bowl Classic victory."

What this wiki clip doesn't talk about:

The Cotton Bowl was frozen, no exaggeration. Joe Namath was suffering from hypothermia and they fed him hot chicken broth at halftime to get his body temperature up, thus "the Chicken Soup Game."

After half there was virtually NO ONE in the stands, the field was frozen solid, making the football game look more like prelims to an Olympic ice skating event.

So, the Coogs are up IIRC 34-28 late 4th quarter, something like minute and half to go, around their own 30 yard line. Fourth down. My buddies and I watching on the tube were screaming at HC Yoeman of the Coogs: "Have the QB run straight back to the Coogs endzone, stand there, run around until imminent tackle, then toss the ball backwards out of play. Safety. 34-30. Get a free kick. ND is deep in their end of an icy field. Win.

The two points would have meant bupkiss, nada, zilch. ND needed a TD to win, a FG would neither tie nor win the game for them.

No. Yoeman went for the first down. Fail. Montana took the Domers the 30 or so yards. TD. Domers win.

Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Found the wiki with more detail on this game; worse than I even noted above, Coogs up 6 points 34-28, at their own 29, ------ 30 SECONDS to go in the GAME for their 4th down try??? It was likely that the Coog QB could have run off all that time, with or without the safety, but Jeez Louise.

1979 Cotton Bowl Classic - Wikipedia

 

[horninchicago]

Wait a minute. If a safety was called against Texas, Texas would have to kick to okie lite. Isn't that correct? We could have swapped the field position, but am I misreading the last couple of posts about taking a safety?

 

[Phil Elliott]

Wait a minute. If a safety was called against Texas, Texas would have to kick to okie lite. Isn't that correct? We could have swapped the field position, but am I misreading the last couple of posts about taking a safety?

Yes but they get the ball on their 35 instead of our 35. You give up 2 points to give yourself a better shot to not give up 7.

 

[horninchicago]

Yes but they get the ball on their 35 instead of our 35. You give up 2 points to give yourself a better shot to not give up 7.

I understand that. You are counting on the D to stop them and flip the field position. The way some of the posts read, to me, made it sound like they would be kicking to us after a safety.

 

[blonthang]

Right, got turned around on the free kick. My bad.

Not as beneficial as I explained, but still maybe a consideration under the circumstances.

On the other hand, Texas' defense wasn't playing well, so oSu may have been able to kill the clock or even score again.

Sorry, got my free kick backwards, need more coffee this morning.

 

[nashhorn]

Uh no, with a safety you must kick. Tx would have free kicked to OkS.

 

[nashhorn]

Sorry, didn't get previous correction before I posted.

 

[Phil Elliott]

On the other hand, Texas' defense wasn't playing well.

We had shut them out in the 2nd half up until that point. We might still have shut them out completely if not for giving them the ball on our 35 PLUS the uncalled hold on Kris Boyd on their TD.

 

[ProdigalHorn]

However, IMHO “deserve to win” is a hard concept in football. For example, Okie squandered the lead in the second half and held on for dear life. Had we completed the comeback I’m not sure I’d agree we didn’t deserve to win.

By the same token, if the roles had been reversed and WE had gotten the big lead and held on, we'd be hearing from some how WE didn't deserve to win.

 

[dukesteer]

I was thinking at the time that a safety wouldn't have been the end of the world, maybe even a smart play.

I was thinking about this last night and completely agree. Taking a safety would have been a great call. It’s all about field position. They started on the plus 33 after our punt. I suspect that had we taken the safety and kicked or punted from the 20, OSU would probably have started between their 20
& 35. A very different situation. At that point in the game, I give up two points — making the spread five — to flip the field.