Used to Kirk choosing offense for the sole purpose of getting field position advantage with first possession. Not necessarily to score. I don’t know why this game would be any different, and no factors to change that IE wind.
Hawks win the toss...take ball, defer or play D?
- Thread starter BigOHawk
- Start date
Did this happen in an Iowa vs. Illinois game a few years back? Essentially, a team capt. has to mess up and say "kick" vs. "defer" correct?
Like I said. Deferring has no impact on the number of offensive possessions. Only an idiot would actually choose to kick off in the second half. And yes, I'm aware that Iowa did this in a game several years ago.
I'm not sure whether this was a mistake or not, but yeah, somehow Iowa kicked off to start the 1st AND second half thereby forgoing a possession. I've watched a lot of football and that was the only time I've seen that happen. One would think it HAD to be a mistake, but knowing Kirk.....
I found it. 28-0 in 2016. Illinois didn't kick off the ball a single time.
You may never see this statistic in a college football game again.
Illinois had zero kickoffs in Saturday’s 28-0 home loss to Iowa.
More uncommon than a shutout, the Hawkeyes kicked off to start both halves.
That happened because Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz made this unusual decision for just the second time in his career: Upon winning the toss, he instructed his captains to defend the North end zone.
Usually a team elects to receive or defer their choice to the second half. But Ferentz wanted the 23 mph wind at his team’s back to start both halves in the Big Ten Conference game.
“It was something I’ve never been a part of, to defend a side,” co-captain C.J. Beathard said. “Coach Ferentz made it clear that we wanted to not defer, but defend. I didn’t even know it was possible for a team to get the ball (to start) both halves. It was that big of a factor this game.”
Ferentz tried it one other time, 13 years ago.
“Some of you guys may remember this. But in ’03, it didn’t work out too well up in East Lansing,” Ferentz said. “We took the wind, and they drove it 80 yards and ate up about eight minutes. Double whammy there. This wind, and what it can do in the kicking game especially, just didn’t want to take that chance today.”
Ferentz hoped to win the field-position game in the first quarter, knowing that an early strike would make catching up even more difficult.
It didn’t play out exactly like that, with the teams finishing scoreless after one quarter. But the Hawkeyes did take advantage with the wind in the third quarter, forcing two Illinois three-and-outs and one interception.
Iowa takeaways: Why Kirk Ferentz chose to kick off twice
A look at the unusual decision that worked out fine, plus emerging freshmen Noah Fant and Manny Rugamba.
www.hawkcentral.com
You may never see this statistic in a college football game again.
Illinois had zero kickoffs in Saturday’s 28-0 home loss to Iowa.
More uncommon than a shutout, the Hawkeyes kicked off to start both halves.
That happened because Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz made this unusual decision for just the second time in his career: Upon winning the toss, he instructed his captains to defend the North end zone.
Usually a team elects to receive or defer their choice to the second half. But Ferentz wanted the 23 mph wind at his team’s back to start both halves in the Big Ten Conference game.
“It was something I’ve never been a part of, to defend a side,” co-captain C.J. Beathard said. “Coach Ferentz made it clear that we wanted to not defer, but defend. I didn’t even know it was possible for a team to get the ball (to start) both halves. It was that big of a factor this game.”
Ferentz tried it one other time, 13 years ago.
“Some of you guys may remember this. But in ’03, it didn’t work out too well up in East Lansing,” Ferentz said. “We took the wind, and they drove it 80 yards and ate up about eight minutes. Double whammy there. This wind, and what it can do in the kicking game especially, just didn’t want to take that chance today.”
Ferentz hoped to win the field-position game in the first quarter, knowing that an early strike would make catching up even more difficult.
It didn’t play out exactly like that, with the teams finishing scoreless after one quarter. But the Hawkeyes did take advantage with the wind in the third quarter, forcing two Illinois three-and-outs and one interception.
If I'm up by only one or two TDs of a game at halftime and received the kickoff to begin the game, I will actually choose to kick INTO the wind in the 3rd quarter. Even though I may be sacrificing 15-20 yards of field position on my opponent's first drive, they often want to try and establish/reestablish the run coming out of halftime. I don't want my opponent to have the ball WITH the wind late in the game if things stay tight.
The thread is titled: Hawks win the toss...take ball, defer or play D?
The OP raises the question of what Iowa should do if it wins the toss and identifies three options: (1) take ball; (2) defer or (3) play D. He then answers the question with "I'd send in the D right away if I had a preference." Thus, his answer is choice #3.
That is what people are responding to.
It guarantees two things:
1. The opponent's offense will not end the first half with a possession only to start the second half with possession.
2. The opponent will not have more offensive possessions than you in the second half.
It also opens the door to you having one more offensive possession in the second half than the opponent.
That could be, I don’t recall. Most often, if you see it, it’s because someone screwed up.
Playing d and deferring are the same thing as no one ever says I'll kick and give the opponent the ball first both halves. I know the rule, but it should literally not exist. The coin toss winner should have 2 choices - receive or kick and get ball the 2nd half. The defer option is dumb.
Perhaps, but believe it or not there are some on here who seem to believe it's true 😳
