For the many of you who jumped the Georgia defenders in the Florida game who tried to pick up fumbles and in doing so failed to recover the ball, here’s the other side of that argument.
By the way, the same lot of you tend to forget what happened when Murray fumbled in that game – that’s right, a Florida defender picked up the ball and advanced it 15-20 yards.
Sometimes it’s just not your day no matter what.
Get The Picture 
I would not want to be slopping the hogs with Pork Rind Jimmy or SonOfMudd today.
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If there’s a time that you don’t just fall on it, this has to be it: The ball is in wide open field, with no Buckeye in the vicinity with any chance to make a recovery or stop Horton (or any of his teammates) from taking it to the end zone – and even if he did flub the recovery and Ohio State somehow managed to come up with it, the end result is still Arkansas ball with a chance to win. In this case, there’s everything to gain by making a conscious effort to stay on your feet, and nothing to lose.
To me this explains the difference very well. But realistically nobody can expect a football player in the heat of a moment like that to do anything other than what the freshman did. But if ever there should have been a scoop and score that was it.
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I am not so sure, it seems like you just laid out in about 30 seconds what they should have drilled in all year in that situation? Seems to me that coaching error cost them the Sugar Bowl.
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Sometimes it’s not your day, or week, or month, or year.
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…or years.
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Yep, its all bad luck, everything else is fine…
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Before I looked at the video, I thought it was a reference to the first OSU touchdown when 2 Arky players should have had the fumble.
Or Pryor’s dead-duck pass in the 4th Q that 3 Arky defenders managed to out-jumpball themselves into a dropped INT.
Add in the dropped passes and the little piggies know they let this one slip away. (see what I did there?)
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I agree that it’s a catch-22. Realistically, a player should never fall on a blocked punt. Even if the other team recovers, the possession changes. But, special teams practice time is limited. How much time can you realistically expect to spend drilling kids on the one time when you should always (even in traffic) try to pick up the ball and advance it?
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You just did it in 15 seconds. Sounds like they could squeeze it into the practice time!
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So you actually think you can mention something to a kid one time and he’ll remember it throughout the year? And not only that, but he’ll be able to recall that one time and then apply it in a split second during the Sugar Bowl?
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You have to apply the rule of reason. If there are players from the other team all around you, fall on the ball. If you are right there next to the ball and no players from the opposition are close to you, pick it up and run with it.
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I was thinking this last night when I watched the game. It’s easy to second guess, but after his first attempt to grab it on the run failed, he just fell on the ball. I wish our players would learn that.
Better to teach Frankenmallet not to throw it to a Dlineman. They catch better than his WRs do.
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Perhaps recruit d-linemen to play receiver?
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I commented to a friend after that play that UGA would have scored or lost the ball from falling all over themselves to try to pick it up to score.
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We might have scooped it up and scored but if we did we would have had a player lined up offsides.
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We haven’t attempted to block a punt in years. We drop Logan Gray back and set up the fair catch.
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+1,000,000 to you sir. Well played. We would’ve been in punt safe in that situation for certain.
Football players are taught from at least middle school to always pick up a blocked punt that is behind the line of scrimmage, regardless of player traffic. Now in this particular case the kid in question was likely not a special teamer in his pre-collegiate days and, therefore, had not been drilled on this situation.
Still Arkansas is 1st-10 from about the 12 yard line with over a minute to play.
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Scoop and score on a blocked punt. Fall on an offensive fumble. That danged oblong ball can cause a fan base so much anguish bouncing on the turf. Georgia and Arkansas fans experienced it two different ways.
On Pryor’s early 1st Qtr fumble that the Ohio State WR recovered for a TD…wish the rule would change so that if the offensive team recovers its own fumble that it goes back to the spot of the fumble.
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dang…harsh, harsh, harsh
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Hackerdog is right, ST players on the punt return rush team should ALWAYS be taught to go for the TD. Beyond that, “scoop, or fall & cover” is exactly like playcalling, if you scoop and make positive yardage you are a genius, if it fails you are doomed to be an idiot. For those who think the Arky players who were running ahead of everyone else to block that punt should have known they were isolated from the OSU players at that point, you must be kiddding. Without a rear view mirror, it is a flash decision.
What made this one worse is the ball bounced chest high into the first Arkansas player but his teammate seemed to reach out for it and knock it free. That seemed to lead to the panic to just fall on it. Tough to lose after a break like that.
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