Student Voice

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December 11, 2024

Opinion

Play selection contributes to another Falcon loss

October 14, 2010

The Falcons football team dropped yet another game this past weekend against formerly winless UW-La Crosse by a score of 37-20. The Falcons offense moved the ball well early in the game, but after falling behind 21-14, they were unable to get much going.

The glaring story on the day was the offensive game plan and play selection. From the opening kickoff until the Falcons fell down 21-14, the Falcon offense ran 19 rushing plays and 18 passing plays. Once they fell down 21-14 until there was 6:42 left in the game — a span of nearly two quarters — they ran 19 rushing plays to 11 passing plays.

Running the ball 63.3 percent of the time when a team is trailing is not a winning formula. There is no way when losing by as many as 23 points in a game that the Falcons should have been running the football so much. When you take into consideration how great Quarterback B.J. LeTourneau was playing, 20 receptions, 29 attempts, 0 interceptions,  with a 230 total yards gained and 1 touchdown, by far a career day for the young quarterback.

Anybody who follows football knows that when you are down you need to throw the ball more, especially when you’re down big. It also goes without saying that when the Falcon’s number one running back, Taylor Edwards, is out with an injury, they need to lean more heavily towards your passing game.

LeTourneau had a 68.9 percent completion rate, and he threw for over 200 yards. Those numbers don’t lie; the passing game was effective. Running the ball and eating up the clock is not.

All running the ball does is waste time, and last Saturday’s game was a waste of time. Not trying to win wastes the time of all who came down to support the team.

Robert Silvers is a student at UW-River Falls.

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