Down by two scores under two minutes you basically need to score quick and preserve all 3 timeouts otherwise you have to get the onside kick
They should have just kicked a FG wit like 45 seconds after that big play following the false start
Then after not getting onside kick they could at least stop the clock and get the ball back with like 20 seconds to maybe attempt a Hail Mary
Long shot but using the timeouts wouldn’t have really helped even if it allowed them to score with like 1:30 left.. still would have needed onside kick
Green was sacked with 1:44 to go. They were 46 yards from the end zone with players spread all over the field, and their best-case scenario was snapping it with maybe 1:20, which meant that they were already going to need an onside kick to have any realistic shot at winning and therefore meant a timeout was the obvious right decision. But instead of taking the timeout, they let the clock run until 1:10 to go, then committed a false start that cost them another 10 seconds because they were scrambling to line up and get the play off. So instead of having 1:44, they had 1:00. They burned more time than they could have possibly saved on defense with a TO.
From there, they had 1:10 to go. At that point, they were going to have to try an onside kick even if they scored on that play. But instead, they committed a false start with 1:10 to go and didn’t get the next snap off until 53 seconds were left. A timeout would have saved them 17 seconds and ultimately meant that, if they’d recovered the onside kick, they’d have had time for at least three plays to get into field goal range. Instead, they wound up trying the onside kick with just 10 seconds, and they would have been screwed even if they recovered it.
Taking the timeouts was obviously, obviously the correct thing to do, and they didn’t do it. Having failed twice, they would have needed to use a timeout to try the field goal from the 15, then made the kick, and recovered the onside kick, then had 30ish seconds to go 55 yards for a TD. Going for the TD instead of the field goal made sense, because they’d then need only 20 yards or so—if they’d started throwing for the end zone, instead of burning another 28 seconds on plays that didn’t get there.
I think he was trying to save all 3 so he wouldn't have to onside kick and instead try to force a 3 and out while using all 3 timeouts. Problem with that is Green kept taking sacks instead of scoring super fast like I think Petrino thought they would.
It’s easy to rip on him after the loss, but he was taking a gamble no matter what. He needed an onside kick. If he gets that with 2 time outs he could comfortably get into field goal range and also trot his kicker out with no rush or need to spike the ball with 2 seconds on the clock.
Also if he got one quick TD then he could have even pushed A&M to punt at one point.
But burning his time outs to assure a TD was a low risk low reward scenario and he wasn’t going to win without high reward things going his way
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u/Woolly22 Virginia Tech Hokies • Texas A&M Aggies Oct 19 '25
Why did Petrino refuse to use his timeouts?