Biggest coaching blunders of 2016
It is easy to forget that football coaches, while highly paid and tremendously successful, are in fact human.
They are just as prone to blunders, gaffes, and mistakes as anyone else, as was evident during the 2016 regular season. And, man, were there some doozies this fall.
Cue up the "Benny Hill" theme for the biggest coaching screwups in college football this season:
Brian Kelly uses 2 quarterbacks in Notre Dame's loss at Texas
DeShone Kizer led the Irish to five touchdowns and a missed field-goal attempt on 10 meaningful drives in regulation against the Longhorns. Malik Zaire led Notre Dame to no points on three possessions. Want to bet Kizer would have produced at least one more score with three more chances, preventing the game from ever going to overtime? What could the additional reps wasted in fall camp as Kizer and Zaire split time working with the starters have meant against Texas and over the course of the year?
Neither Kizer nor Zaire was happy in the timeshare, and the negative energy never dissipated as Notre Dame stumbled through a miserable 4-8 season. Kelly tried to get too cute and it backfired in spectacular fashion.
Oregon's Mark Helfrich goes for 2 against Nebraska ... five times
Speaking of omens that the season was headed downhill, the Ducks' 35-32 loss to the Cornhuskers also heralded a 4-8 season, and this one ended with a pink slip for Helfrich after four years.
Oregon tried five two-point conversions and missed its last four. It doesn't take a math major to figure out that four points would have won the game.
When Chip Kelly went for two, it was usually after Oregon's first touchdown and essentially served as a pop quiz to see if the opponent had adequately prepared on special teams that week. Go up 8-0, put the other team on its heels, and roll from there. Helfrich seemingly did it because Kelly did it before him, but without understanding why. That's what ultimately did Helfrich in: trying to copy Kelly's approach while lacking his predecessor's innovation or cunning.
Urban Meyer rushes out the field-goal team at Penn State instead of taking a timeout
Ohio State was stuck in no-man's land, facing a fourth-and-7 at the Nittany Lions' 28-yard line. A field goal would put the Buckeyes up by six points with less than five minutes remaining, a first down would burn more clock, and a touchdown would effectively put the game away.
Meyer seemed to be wrestling with those scenarios when he rushed out his kicker despite having a timeout in his pocket. The head coach's confusion seemingly filtered down to the special teams unit, which barely got the ball snapped before the play clock ran out. The 45-yard try was promptly blocked and returned for the game-winning touchdown, a loss that ultimately sent Penn State to the Big Ten title game instead of the Buckeyes.
Sure, Ohio State still made the playoff, but the refusal to call the timeout was baffling. Having the time to make a thoughtful decision is better than having everyone scrambling and uncertain.
NC State coach Dave Doeren settles for field goal late at Clemson
The Wolfpack had the Tigers on the ropes tied at 17-17 late, but ran just two plays in the final 1:05 before attempting a 33-yard field goal. Running back Matt Dayes was punishing the Clemson defense on the drive, but a called pass play resulted in a sack and left Doeren hoping his kicker would save the day. You know what happened next. #CollegeKickers
Keeping the ball on the ground with Dayes might have forced Clemson to make the tactical decision to let him score and hope quarterback Deshaun Watson could respond with a touchdown drive of his own. If something's not broken, why fix it?