There was a lot of discussion about whether Pitt should have taken more time off the clock on its final drive yesterday. I initially said that I thought it was fine, since they marched 73 yards and took more than 7 minutes to do it.
Now...I kind of agree with the criticism.
Pitt ran 18 plays; 7 of those were snapped on stopped clock due to four incomplete passes, a UNC timeout and the first play of the drive. On the other 11 plays, here's the amount of time left on the play clock when Pitt snapped the ball:
:02
:16
:16
:31
:08
:27
:18
:24
:06
:08
:02
(They also had the play clock down to :16 when UNC called its timeout, so they might have been running the clock there.)
Obviously, there were some considerably early snaps in there, like those at :31, :27 and :24. Incidentally, those were all first down plays, so I wonder if some of the "rules" of the offense - going tempo after getting a first down - caused the players to get up and snap it quickly.
But even the snaps at :16 (twice) and :18 were too soon. My only thought on those plays is that Pitt's offense saw UNC's defense aligned a certain way and didn't want to give them time to adjust pre-snap.
I won't haggle too much over the :06 and :08 snaps; that's just a matter of seconds. But if all of the :16+ were run down to :10, you're looking at an additional 1:12, give or take. UNC got the ball back with 1:54 on the clock, so if we allow for the two-minute stoppage to take at least a few seconds off Pitt's possession time, you're probably looking at shaving a minute or so off the time that UNC had the ball. If you really milk it to :02 or :01 every time, perhaps you get the Tar Heels down under :30 or so.
Ultimately, it worked out: a 73-yard drive that took 7+ minutes and resulted in points was exactly what Pitt needed at that stage of the game. And I thought it was encouraging to see that they could build a drive like that. But next time, they could probably be a little more intentional with the clock.
Now...I kind of agree with the criticism.
Pitt ran 18 plays; 7 of those were snapped on stopped clock due to four incomplete passes, a UNC timeout and the first play of the drive. On the other 11 plays, here's the amount of time left on the play clock when Pitt snapped the ball:
:02
:16
:16
:31
:08
:27
:18
:24
:06
:08
:02
(They also had the play clock down to :16 when UNC called its timeout, so they might have been running the clock there.)
Obviously, there were some considerably early snaps in there, like those at :31, :27 and :24. Incidentally, those were all first down plays, so I wonder if some of the "rules" of the offense - going tempo after getting a first down - caused the players to get up and snap it quickly.
But even the snaps at :16 (twice) and :18 were too soon. My only thought on those plays is that Pitt's offense saw UNC's defense aligned a certain way and didn't want to give them time to adjust pre-snap.
I won't haggle too much over the :06 and :08 snaps; that's just a matter of seconds. But if all of the :16+ were run down to :10, you're looking at an additional 1:12, give or take. UNC got the ball back with 1:54 on the clock, so if we allow for the two-minute stoppage to take at least a few seconds off Pitt's possession time, you're probably looking at shaving a minute or so off the time that UNC had the ball. If you really milk it to :02 or :01 every time, perhaps you get the Tar Heels down under :30 or so.
Ultimately, it worked out: a 73-yard drive that took 7+ minutes and resulted in points was exactly what Pitt needed at that stage of the game. And I thought it was encouraging to see that they could build a drive like that. But next time, they could probably be a little more intentional with the clock.
