Tucson Citizen.com
AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Stoops on letting first half expire: ‘I thought it was fourth-and-25′

by on Dec. 30, 2010, under Sports

One of the many, many — and we do mean many — missed opportunities for Arizona came late in the first half when it reached the Oklahoma State 39 in the final minute.

The Wildcats trailed 23-7 at the time.

On third-and-10, Nick Foles connected on a deep pass to Travis Cobb near the goal line, but Cobb was penalized for pass interference.

On third-and-25, Nic Grigsby ran for 13 yards, getting close to the Oklahoma State 40-yard line with about five seconds left. Arizona had a chance to call a timeout and try a Hail Mary pass.

On the sideline, coach Mike Stoops was taking off his headphones and beginning to walk to the locker room. Players or other coaches might have been trying to call timeout, but not Stoops. The clock ran out.

“I thought the couple scoring drives before the half, not getting points, really hurt us,” Stoops said in the postgame news conference.

“We had a couple opportunities there. You know, the play before the half, I thought it was fourth-and-25. That was my fault. Again, I thought offensive interference lost a down. So we just missed those opportunities to close it to a two-score game.”

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 30th, 2010 at 12:22 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • AFAN

    We need a better coach. Yells all the time at players for stupid reasons. Get him out of here!

  • dum coach

    Why am I not surprised? New coach please. Hopefully Foles will stick around we are getting a good qb coach.

  • Fire Stoops

    Mike Stoops needs to be fired tomorrow for Arizona football to move ahead. This guy is a clown.
     
    Byrne, are you listening to your fan base?

  • Phillip

    Fire Stoops.

  • Carlos J. M.

    And then we wonder why we get bone-headed play after dumb-a– play after stupid-idiotic play from the players.  On both sides of the ball.  Players 1 through 22 and all of the rest.  Poster dum coach: Every freakin’ position, QB included, should be wide-open come spring ’11.  Foles hasn’t done anything to convince me that he’s earned it outright.  To the contrary.  UA cannot afford to let Scott sit when this is the kind of football we’re going to get.  That’s defeatist and insane.  And I find it a bit curious how no one’s willing to go after Kish, Bedenbaugh or Littrell.  These guys are in way over their heads.  It’s so painfully obvious. A defense that can’t pass rush, cover or tackle.  An offense whose QB is erratic, prone to deep lulls and coddled to no end, and for what in the end?  Of course, RBs who are non-existent and WRs who of late have become known as much for dropping clutch passes (and interfering?) as they have for making a good catch now and then don’t help matters either.  And then there’s the O-Line…Wait a minute – what O-Line?!  A 6-5, 6-6, 6-7, 320-340 lb. waste of humanity – and space. 

  • Leonard

    Another very frustrating game to watch!  Stoops never should have gone for FGs when down by so much and with a kicker who is beyond awful.  Speaking of…our special teams are pathetic.  How many times this year have we blown games by a horrible less than 10 yd punt by Keenyn Crier or missed FG by Zendejas or mr no fair catch bobble head Bug Wright.  The only bright spot was Cobb and his returns.  There were so many games that came down to special teams play.  Thank God Crier is out of here and we got a new punter coming in.  Need to do same with Zendejas.  Also agree that Matt Scott should have been put in more games this year.  Also need to mix up things a bit more like O State was doing last night.  That quick out on sideline pass by Foles is getting too easy for defenses to predict and pick off for TD.    Thanks to all the tremendous effort by our seniors this year…especially Elmore, Reed,  Baxter, Cobb, Garcia, Grigsby, Mikaele, Perkins, D’Aundre, Simmons, Turner and Wilcox! 

  • Tim

    Why did he tell the reporter on ESPN right before walking into the locker room that he was trying to call a timeout with a second left, but the refs wouldn’t give it to him? I used my fancy little DVR to rewind, and he starts walking away with his headset off as soon as the play is over. I think he gave up. Lies. Lies. Lies…

  • Daniel

    Agreed… Stoops sucks. Always has. Let’s make him the defensive coordinator and get a real head coach.

  • Augie

    EVEN IF……..it was fourth and 25, you got to take a shot at the end zone.
     
    Its called “having a sense or urgency”.

    • Jay

      I think he was saying he thought the 3rd and 25 was 4th and 25, so after the 13 yard run they had turned it over on downs.  Even so, it’s painfully obvious he was out of touch.  Bad deal.

  • http://none Jim Bodkins

    I bet Tucson money likes Stoops.
     
     
    I bet after the way OSU won that Click just loves Stoops. He probably wont support firing Stoops until after the next butt whipping from OSU next year.

  • M Coz

    It is painfully obvious that this is a poorly coached team. Stupid penalties at critical times. The OL couldn’t block the Little Sisters of the Poor, and the DL couldn’t rush through a paper bag. Zendejas and the kicking teams just aren’t getting the job done at all either. The AD has given this regime enough time, time to move to a coach and program that consistently wins 8+ conference games each year, and consistently makes a BCS game every two or three years.

    • Sr. Vincent La Guardia

      M Coz,
      You better watch it young man!  I play LB for the Little Sisters of the Poor and we would kick the hell out of the UA in any bowl game.  My black and white sistas would open a huge can of whoop A on your boys.
      Pax Christi,
      Sr. Vince

  • Mark Johnson

    Here is the deal with Stoops. His only head coaching job has been at Arizona. He has taken a train wreck and made a team that has gone to 3 bowls straight. Stoops is allowed to make some mistakes. He did not throw 3 picks, fumble a punt return, facemask anyone on 4th down. OSU was held under their scoring average even given 3 picks and funbled punt. I put much more on Foles than Stoops for this game; much more.
    The challenge AZ has and will always have it not being able to recruit 4 and 5 star talent. Cal, UW, OSU, UO all get a few 5 stars. It is a big deal and a differentiator. They current team is filled with 3 star talent they believe they can mold into top talent. Case in point; Juron Crinor, Antonio Carson, etc. But the base core talent, speed, etc. on an AZ team will always be an entire tier down that to BCS teams. 

  • UNRBFan

    Man reading these comments is fun, priceless watching you inbred Sucton idiots falling apart at the seems.

  • fraser007

    And they are going to build a multi million dollar stadium addition? Why? The chump rich guy who is putting up millions of his own money is an idiot.

  • Okie Days

    Hi guys,
    Just stopped by to tell you that it is really unfortunate to be you right now! We absolutely hate the Stoops brothers and I laugh out loud every time I see him on the sideline. We are going to wax you again next year! You’re fans are horrible by the way! Suckers! ha ha

  • Mike Floyd

    For those of you that saw the Carolina/Tennessee game last night, you witnessed how two professional coaches “manage” their team and the game.  It was a tight game, lots of mistakes and the lead changed hands several times with the Tar Heels winning in double OT.  Neither coach stomped around on the sidelines, got the screaming in their player’s face and showed them up.  NC won it with one second left on a controversial call but neither coach “lost” it like Stoops does.
    The true read on a great coach is not how he handles himself when he’s winning…it’s easy to be a front runner.  The true test is when you’re losing and looking bad…anybody that would bring those “sandlot” offensive plays to a national bowl game is exactly that…”sandlot”.
    If this
     

  • j-woz

    Stoops continues to be an embarrassment to the UA at large. His demeanor, as with any coach, is reflected in the team. Stoops appears wound tighter than a drum. Are the chronic mistakes on the field a surprise? I think he gave up before the half. Byrne needs to figure out quickly how to replace a quitter.

  • fraser007

    Thats OK “I thought” we had a real football team.

  • beardown

    stoops doesn’t neccessarily need to be fired, we need a new offensive coordinator with better play calling. screen passes and draw plays only work once in a while, not every other down

«
»