Going for 2

This is probably the wrong crowd for this post, but...it's my blog and the "mark as read" button is easy to click :)

Last night I watched Nebraska play Missouri (football) and make an amazing 4th quarter comeback and win (GO HUSKERS!) They started the 4th quarter down 12-0. First touchdown, extra point, 12-7. Next touchdown, 13-12, 12:49 left in the 4th quarter. Now, nearly all coaches have a card that tells them on what scores they should go for a 2-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point. The theory is that if you're up by 1, 4, or 5 (or 7 + one of those), going for 2 would put you up by 3 (a full FG), 6 (2 full FG) or 7 (1 full TD) and kicking the extra point doesn't really give you anything more than you have.

BUT...my addendum to this theory is that the more time left in the game, the more unpredictable possible combinations of scoring that are left. So, with 12:49 left in the game, there are potentially many scoring opportunities left in the game for both teams. Nebraska went for 2 and missed. Sure, they're still up 1, and could have been up 3. BUT...later in the quarter they scored again. NOW, they kicked the extra point, and are up 20-12, up by 8. In this case, being up 9 (kicking both extra points and not going for 2 on the previous TD) would have been MUCH better, because up 9 means the other team ABSOLUTELY has to score twice to catch up, up 8 means they could score a TD and a 2-point conversion.

So...my football rant for the day. In this game it didn't really matter, Missouri didn't score another point and Nebraska was victorious 27-12.