Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Does the outcome of the Michigan-Michigan State game justify Chuck Noll's decision to go for it on 4th down in Super Bowl X?

Bryan wrote:Does the outcome of the Michigan-Michigan State game justify Chuck Noll's decision to go for it on 4th down in Super Bowl X?

Not necessarily, since all the Michigan punter had to do was fall on the ball and the story would have been how Michigan ALMOST blew the game. MSU would have gotten one (MAYBE two) shots at a 40-yard Hail Mary. The Cowboys got the ball on their own 39 with 1:22 left, which was plenty of time. However, if you watch the video of SB X, you almost want to scream about how casual Staubach seems to be, since they took close to a minute just for two plays to get to the Steeler 38. Obviously, the spike wasn't available back then, but Staubach eats up about 15 seconds just getting each play called and snapped.

BD Sullivan wrote:Not necessarily, since all the Michigan punter had to do was fall on the ball and the story would have been how Michigan ALMOST blew the game.

All the more reason not to try to punt the ball away and risk a big play, no?

Bryan wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:Not necessarily, since all the Michigan punter had to do was fall on the ball and the story would have been how Michigan ALMOST blew the game.

All the more reason not to try to punt the ball away and risk a big play, no?

As noted, the main difference between the two situations was the amount of time remaining.

BD Sullivan wrote:

Bryan wrote:Does the outcome of the Michigan-Michigan State game justify Chuck Noll's decision to go for it on 4th down in Super Bowl X?

Not necessarily, since all the Michigan punter had to do was fall on the ball and the story would have been how Michigan ALMOST blew the game. MSU would have gotten one (MAYBE two) shots at a 40-yard Hail Mary. The Cowboys got the ball on their own 39 with 1:22 left, which was plenty of time. However, if you watch the video of SB X, you almost want to scream about how casual Staubach seems to be, since they took close to a minute just for two plays to get to the Steeler 38. Obviously, the spike wasn't available back then, but Staubach eats up about 15 seconds just getting each play called and snapped.

Didn't MSU only need a field goal to win? Couldn't they have gotten close enough to kick one in the remaining 8 seconds?

John Grasso wrote:

BD Sullivan wrote:

Bryan wrote:Does the outcome of the Michigan-Michigan State game justify Chuck Noll's decision to go for it on 4th down in Super Bowl X?

Not necessarily, since all the Michigan punter had to do was fall on the ball and the story would have been how Michigan ALMOST blew the game. MSU would have gotten one (MAYBE two) shots at a 40-yard Hail Mary. The Cowboys got the ball on their own 39 with 1:22 left, which was plenty of time. However, if you watch the video of SB X, you almost want to scream about how casual Staubach seems to be, since they took close to a minute just for two plays to get to the Steeler 38. Obviously, the spike wasn't available back then, but Staubach eats up about 15 seconds just getting each play called and snapped.

Didn't MSU only need a field goal to win? Couldn't they have gotten close enough to kick one in the remaining 8 seconds?

A field goal would have tied it. They were trailing 23-20.

Upon further review, Michigan led 23-21, so a field goal would indeed have won for Michigan State.

A field goal would have won, but they would have started from the Michigan 38 with 6-7 seconds left. Maybe they get a quick down and out, but it still would have been a 50-yarder, at least.

I watched recently the 1977 Lions-Colts game when leading by 4, Baltimore punter David Lee's punt was blocked and returned for a TD by Leonard Thompson in the last play of the game, and Detroit won 13-10. The original NBC broadcast was cut short (as it appeared that Baltimore would won) and then switched to a Oakland game.

Teo wrote:I watched recently the 1977 Lions-Colts game when leading by 4, Baltimore punter David Lee's punt was blocked and returned for a TD by Leonard Thompson in the last play of the game, and Detroit won 13-10. The original NBC broadcast was cut short (as it appeared that Baltimore would won) and then switched to a Oakland game.

Both those games were on CBS, since the home teams of the non-conference contests were in the AFC. The Raiders were hosting the Vikings.