re: Worst season opening loss over the last half-century

quote:

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I can only imagine how you guys died a thousand deaths watching the big lead slip away

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I forget who, but someone did an analysis of the film and projected how the clock would have run if A&M ran the ball every play after snapping the ball with one second left on the play clock from the 2:18 mark of the 3rd quarter (44-10 A&M) until the end of the game.

He determined that A&M would have won 44-31.

In fact, let me do my own.

2:06 3rd Quarter. A&M receives the ball up 44-17. Touchback

1st Down. Run play.
2nd Down. Ball is snapped at 1:26 with 7 seconds left on the play clock. Run play.
3rd Down. Ball is snapped at 0:41 with 4 seconds left on the play clock. incomplete pass. Clock stopped at 0:37.
4th Down. Punt. UCLA gets ball back with 0:27.

UCLA runs 2 plays before the quarter ends.

4th Quarter

UCLA scores to cut the lead to 44-24 with 13:22 left

A&M gets the ball back with 13:16 left

1st down. Run play
2nd down. Ball snapped at 12:44 with 10 seconds left on the play clock. incomplete pass at 12:39
3rd down. Quarterback run for 1st down. 12:31
1st down. Ball snapped at 12:18 with 27 seconds left on the play clock. run play.
2nd down. Ball snapped at 11:44 with 11 seconds left on the play clock. run play for 1st down. 11:37
1st down. Ball snapped at 11:32 with 14 seconds left on the play clock. pass play. 11:27
2nd down. Ball snapped at 11:02 with 17 seconds left on the play clock. Sacked at 10:55.
3rd down. Ball snapped right before the play clock expires at 10:13. Run play.
4th down. Ball snapped right before the clock expires at 9:27. UCLA gets ball back on punt at 9:18.

UCLA scores at 8:12 to cut the lead to 44-31.

A&M drive starts at 8:12
1st down incomplete pass at 8:06. UCLA flagged for taunting
1st down pass for 1st down at 8:02.
1st down ball snapped at 7:52 with 23 seconds on the play clock. Pass complete at 7:46
2nd down UCLA flagged for offside at 7:19, 1st down
1st down ball snapped at 6:59 with 5 seconds on play clock. incomplete pass at 6:55
2nd down 1st down run by Mond. Would have scored if he didn't step out of bounds. Clock 6:44
1st down. Ball snapped at 6:13 with 10 seconds left on play clock. Run play
2nd down. Ball snapped at 5:39 with 15 seconds left on play clock. run play.
3rd down. Ball snapped at 4:54 with 1 second left. Sacked at 4:50.
4th down. Missed 41 yard FG BY THE PUNTER. Clock 4:42 (UCLA had called timeout)

UCLA scores at 3:10 mark to cut lead to 44-38.

Now, let's have the ball snapped with 1 second left and do all run plays in place of the incomplete pass plays:

4th quarter.

UCLA loses 27 seconds on their first drive, scoring with 12:55 left.

A&M gets the ball back with 12:49 left.
Additional 2 minutes of clock burned. UCLA gets ball back with 7:18, scores with 6:12 left.
A&M gets ball back with 6:12 left
A&M burns an additional 1:33 of time and is in position for a chip shot FG with 3:09 left.

At this point, it's safe to assume Mann makes a 23 yard FG to increase the lead to 47-31.

UCLA scored to cut it to 44-38 with 3:10 remaining.

By simply running the ball every play and snapping the ball at 1 or 0, A&M would have been able to burn 3:33 seconds worth of game clock, leaving UCLA mathematically incapable of coming back.