I have a hard time blaming Callahan for the loss.  However, his fake punt call was horrible.  Tie game early on and deep in own territory.  Odds are terrible.

The fourth down call in the 4th quarter was weird.  It would have been a 47 yard fg right?  Give it a shot.  

One thing stuck out to me.  We seemed to continue to go back to a few plays that worked in the 1st quarter, but Auburn had them snuffed out (ie-shovel pass that cost us field position at the end).

Tough loss.

It comes down to an earlier post on what you call plays that seem unorthodox.  Callahan's evolving offense seems to like to gamble a bit more than most.  Maybe, just maybe, there's a niche out there for a team that takes a few more chances.  Maybe that will be who we are, I dunno.

There is some evidence that even pro teams are more conservative than they should be, especially on 4th down, statistically speaking.

Its clear, however, that if that play would have worked, everyone would be talking about the size of BC's cojones.  I seem to recall that TO's reputation got a huge boost by an unconventional call in a bowl game.

Off topic, but did Sumerall have the mother of all hangovers?

with Mike on the call on 4th. Though saying he cant kick a 48 yarder because he missed a 42 yarder earlier in the year is not right. He had the distance on that kick to kick it from 50 but he missed it left. I sure would have called a different play and sent more then one reciever out. I think that Bills play calling was what cost us the game today. There is a good a bad time for trick plays (esp. fake punts) and a fake punt from your own 20 in a tie game when the offense has been moving the ball and the d is not letting the other team even get a first down is not that time. It cost us the game. Also the shovel pass on the last drive on third and 9 sucked as did the fourth down play.

As far as Bill is concerned I have not been sure since he was hired that he was the right man for the job and have seen nothing to convince me otherwise. I am tired of watching NU lose games due to his stupid play calling.

And no I am not a Frank Solich fan and disliking Bill and wanting him gone are by no means a show of support for Frank. I just dont like Bill.  

I am going to reply to your last game day thread post here.

I didn't say we needed to hire the perfect coach (mostly since there is no such thing) but a good coach would be an improvement. You know people complained of this type of football under Solich saying he couldn't recruit or whatever and now say Callahan is recruiting great football players but the record and the quality of football have not improved. So if the players are so much better, the coaching must be worse right?