Reason #2846 why the Zooker is a national treasure:
Why did Illinois go for two after scoring a touchdown Saturday that put it ahead 20-13 with 7:18 left in the second quarter?
Because coach Ron Zook, who tells his players to keep playing and not worry about the score, took his own advice too literally and was so immersed in the game that he didn’t know the score.
‘‘We were down five, right? Up five, I mean,’’ he said. ‘‘It was 20-13? Up seven?’’
You know that airline ad where they show an embarrassing moment and say, ‘‘Wanna get away?’’ This was it.
‘‘Maybe I didn’t know what the score was,’’ Zook said. ‘‘That’s happened to me before. It’s usually when we’re behind. [This will] give you something to pound us about.’’
Like anyone’s needed an excuse before…
Get The Picture 
All those pulling guard hits the Zooker took are still taking their toll.
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It’s scary to know people interview a guy like this and hire him. I guess as long as you are overly intense about something, then people can overlook your absolute stupidity.
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+1. You’d have to be a special kind of stupid to pull this off.
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I was actually thinking about this last night watching Green Bay/Atlanta. If you score a TD to put you up 7 pending the extra point, why not go for 2 and make it a 2 possession game? Miss it and you’re still up 7. With OT looming, very few coaches who score to pull within 1 are going to chance going for 2 anyway. They’ll just kick and go to OT. If it’s a 9 point game, they don’t have that option. Like I said, I had that thought watching the NFL last night and then I see this post this morning.
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Congratulations. You’ve just been hired as Ron Zook’s media consultant.
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Not excusing his ignorance for the game situation, there’s no excuse for that. I just wonder if any coach has ever thought about and, as Puffdawg asks below, what the statistical percentages are to the strategy.
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Oh, I was just trying to make a joke. It was a good question.
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This is an interesting question. I am not a statistician but maybe somebody here can help firgure this out from that angle. From what I could find on the net, 2 point conversion has about a 45% success rate in the pros (b/t 40-55% per wiki). XPs are successful about 99% of the time. So, is it better to take a 45% gamble and risk giving them 99% or 0% chance to tie or take 99% gamble and give them 45% chance to tie.
Without knowing the statiscal outcome, I’d probably say take the XP and force them to convert the two, but then I am extremely conservative in general and when it comes to football strategy. Maybe that explains my allgeiance to CMR. Obviously this whole scenraio has other factors such as how your defense is playing and how many timeouts you/they have left.
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You’re probably right, just thought it was worth at least some thought. 99% of coaches (at least) would kick it to get the 8 point lead. I just wonder if any of them think about it.
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Newt, the question was a good one. Some coaches would probably take the 2 pts if they had more faith in their O than D. Flow of the game , time and many other factors make it a plausible decision. No one, not even the unemployed experts on here, can put the number of variables that come into play together. Sometimes it comes down to coach intuition or stupidity, depending on whether he makes it or not. The coach may “feel” his players can easily run the 2 pts in. A mathematical-driven reason for all decisions would take the “fun” out of the “game”.
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I actually know Ron a little – it’s a long story – but I always thought he was a better coach than he got credit for. I think of him as a less successful version of Les Miles.
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This season, at least so far, he is an equal successful version of Les Miles.
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That he is and worthy of a good ranking. With Wis, Ill and Mich undefeated, I give Wis the best chance to have the best record, but the others deserve a good ranking while it is available. Sad to say, I think that the Porkers and UGA could beat them all. Everything is relative.
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