Agree?
From the St Paul MN Pioneer Press:
By ANDY GREDER | agreder@pioneerpress.com
September 2, 2016 at 6:33 pm
Tracy Claeys doesn’t need a chart to tell him when to go for two, particularly when his team is up by seven.
“We’ll always do it,” the Gophers football coach said Friday.
In Thursday night’s opener, the Gophers failed on a two-point conversion attempt in the waning moments of a 30-23 win over Oregon State at TCF Bank Stadium.
“The whole reasoning is this: I think there is a great reward there for very little risk,” Claeys said.
With 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner scored on a sneak to build a seven-point lead. Rather than kick the extra point, Minnesota lined up for a two-point attempt before calling a timeout — because a player was late to the huddle, not because Claeys was having second thoughts.
Claeys, who earned a mathematics education degree from Kansas State in 1994, knew he could put the game away with a nine-point lead and was comfortable with a seven-point lead.
“If we don’t get it, and the other team goes down and scores, 95 percent of the time they are kicking (the extra point), and we are going to overtime anyway,” he said.
Big Ten Network color commentator and former Gophers coach Glen Mason wasn’t convinced.
“When you are playing the percentages, and you have a good defense, you don’t do this,” said Mason, who coached Minnesota 1997-2006.
Leidner’s subsequent pass to freshman receiver Tyler Johnson fell incomplete, giving the Beavers a little bit of life. But the Gophers defense snuffed out Oregon State’s rally attempt without giving up a first down.
The point was rendered moot, but Claeys’ decision was a hot topic of discussion afterward.
“Your kids are feeling good, theirs aren’t feeling good,” Claeys said Friday. “I think you’re going to get that two-point conversion more often than you’re not.”
The success rate of two-point conversions in the Football Bowl Subdivision last year was 39 percent, according to ESPN Sports & Info. Last year, the Gophers were 3 for 3 on two-point conversions.
In 2015, place-kicker Ryan Santoso was 31 for 31 on PATs, and new kicker Emmit Carpenter was 3 for 3 Thursday and hit on a 45-yard field-goal attempt.
The Gophers were in a similar situation against Illinois last November. Shannon Brooks busted off a 75-yard touchdown run for a 30-23 lead with 85 seconds left at TCF Bank Stadium. On the two-point try, Leidner converted on a rush to make it 32-23.
Game over.
“You can survey a bunch of people; they’re going to (say,) ‘I’m kicking the (extra point),’ ” Claeys hypothesized.
There is a scenario in which he would kick in that situation: if the Gophers are a big underdog on the road.
The whole story:
http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/02/gophers-claeys-will-always-go-for-two-when-up-by-seven-late/
From the St Paul MN Pioneer Press:
By ANDY GREDER | agreder@pioneerpress.com
September 2, 2016 at 6:33 pm
Tracy Claeys doesn’t need a chart to tell him when to go for two, particularly when his team is up by seven.
“We’ll always do it,” the Gophers football coach said Friday.
In Thursday night’s opener, the Gophers failed on a two-point conversion attempt in the waning moments of a 30-23 win over Oregon State at TCF Bank Stadium.
“The whole reasoning is this: I think there is a great reward there for very little risk,” Claeys said.
With 1 minute, 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter, Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner scored on a sneak to build a seven-point lead. Rather than kick the extra point, Minnesota lined up for a two-point attempt before calling a timeout — because a player was late to the huddle, not because Claeys was having second thoughts.
Claeys, who earned a mathematics education degree from Kansas State in 1994, knew he could put the game away with a nine-point lead and was comfortable with a seven-point lead.
“If we don’t get it, and the other team goes down and scores, 95 percent of the time they are kicking (the extra point), and we are going to overtime anyway,” he said.
Big Ten Network color commentator and former Gophers coach Glen Mason wasn’t convinced.
“When you are playing the percentages, and you have a good defense, you don’t do this,” said Mason, who coached Minnesota 1997-2006.
Leidner’s subsequent pass to freshman receiver Tyler Johnson fell incomplete, giving the Beavers a little bit of life. But the Gophers defense snuffed out Oregon State’s rally attempt without giving up a first down.
The point was rendered moot, but Claeys’ decision was a hot topic of discussion afterward.
“Your kids are feeling good, theirs aren’t feeling good,” Claeys said Friday. “I think you’re going to get that two-point conversion more often than you’re not.”
The success rate of two-point conversions in the Football Bowl Subdivision last year was 39 percent, according to ESPN Sports & Info. Last year, the Gophers were 3 for 3 on two-point conversions.
In 2015, place-kicker Ryan Santoso was 31 for 31 on PATs, and new kicker Emmit Carpenter was 3 for 3 Thursday and hit on a 45-yard field-goal attempt.
The Gophers were in a similar situation against Illinois last November. Shannon Brooks busted off a 75-yard touchdown run for a 30-23 lead with 85 seconds left at TCF Bank Stadium. On the two-point try, Leidner converted on a rush to make it 32-23.
Game over.
“You can survey a bunch of people; they’re going to (say,) ‘I’m kicking the (extra point),’ ” Claeys hypothesized.
There is a scenario in which he would kick in that situation: if the Gophers are a big underdog on the road.
The whole story:
http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/02/gophers-claeys-will-always-go-for-two-when-up-by-seven-late/
