The object of the game is to score as often as possible -- until it's not. This past weekend saw two games turn on touchdowns teams shouldn't have scored, the most egregious being Penn State's ill-gotten touchdown, creating a 28-20 lead that ultimately led to a 36-35 loss.
After forcing a turnover on downs deep in Indiana territory, Penn State took over at the IU 14 with 1:47 to play. The Hoosiers had one timeout.
"After this game I looked it up. It's 1:22, and there was 1:47 left on the clock. Penn State was right. They had to run one more play," Meyer said, meaning the Nittany Lions needed one more first down to ice the game.
The interesting thing here is that Meyer said his teams regularly practiced this scenario, tagging "Down" to a regular inside zone play to indicate the ball-carrier should fall down after crossing the sticks, despite the fact no Urban Meyer-led team actually faced this specific scenario in a game. That indicates just how rare it is, and how difficult it can be to train players to restrain their instincts in a highly-specific, intense situation.
The other interesting part of this clip? When asked by Gerry DiNardo to mention game management mistakes he made in his coaching career, the only specific example Meyer brought up was Nick Saban kicking the 57-yard field goal that led to the Kick Six.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.