If Georgia Tech used the entire play clock correctly down the stretch vs Colorado, they would have won the game. On their drive leading by 3 starting with 7:35 left in the game, they snapped the ball far too early on offense several times. In the video below, I... compiled all examples from the drive. They could have burned an additional 83 seconds of game clock by doing this correctly. When Colorado took over down 6 with no timeouts, they had 1:40 to work with. If Georgia Tech had been using the whole play clock, they would have left Colorado with 17 seconds needing 75 yards, a nearly impossible task.show more

A 13 year old playing Madden understands this yet a coach getting 6 million can't figure it out

I’m not sure where the miscommunication is. Even if you had a rule to not snap until under 3-5 seconds they almost certainly win the game

They also burned a timeout when Colorado was going to spike it

Agree with you there

follow along here for more research into all these types of situations in the NFL and college football

Really poor coaching. Clock management on this drive and then calling timeouts on Colorado's final drive to help them compose their offense was so bizarre.

The timeout prior to the spike was interesting

They also called timeout earlier in that drive when it was 3rd and 10. Why allow them extra time to script a play?

I’m old enough to remember when these two teams split a national championship! And only made possible because Colorado won a game that year by getting a 5th down vs Missouri. Not bringing it up for any reason other than thinking about it now! 🤣 You ever see know about it, Ryan?

Need to do a video about it! Imagine Twitter if that happened in 2026

@SalSports When you do this video, make sure to discuss the turf at Mizzou that day.

@RyanPaganetti Became a huge part of the storyline!

@AllbrightNFL They didn’t have the foresight to know they’d score 3 points on the drive. It’s possible that they get stopped on 3rd down multiple times, up 3, and may very well need time to get the lead back.

@AllbrightNFL If you are leading the game in the 4th quarter, each incremental second going off the clock benefits you, not the opponent

@AllbrightNFL I’m not sure I have ever seen a team run the play clock down to 0 on drives with 6-7 minutes left. Too many unknown factors. Statically, the opposition is going to get another chance to score. Average drive length is under 2:30 in CFB.

@AllbrightNFL You are really missing the point on this

@MyColtsAccount Average drive length in the fourth quarter is much longer….when you get to the fourth quarter with a lead and the ball, your enemy is no longer the opposing defense. It’s the clock.

@RyanPaganetti Has any NFL team ever run the play clock to 0 repeatedly with 7:30 left on the clock?

@AllbrightNFL the math I listed did not represent going to 0, and I could very easily update the number to 2 or 3 and the same message would come across that Colorado would not have had enough time for a meaningful drive

@AllbrightNFL With hindsight, absolutely!

Yeah that was real hard to watch in real time

Don't forget GT sprinting to call timeout on a play wehre Colorado was about to spike the ball, giving them a free down (and depriving them of a 2nd TO on their drive to answer)

I remembered, that also was not ideal

They also called the TO on Colorado’s first down when Colorado was about to spike the ball. Colorado shouldn’t have been spiking the ball there anyway but GT bailed them out.

I’m with you there. Wanted to focus on one topic here

I was so perplexed why they were snapping ball so soon.

I was too

What’s the trade off in time vs. points here? Assumption on this is that simply winning means time decay is good. My first instinct is, “Yeah, but if I kill the clock and then they score and take the lead, time decay is now bad.” Is a lead the inflection point? Or something else?

Lead and possession are both key variables. There are obviously edge cases where a team losing actually wants to decay the clock (like deep in opponent territory down less than 3 or less than 7). But if you have the lead and possession with 5 minutes left in the 4th, snapping with 13 on the clock is just gifting 12 seconds to other team. Get it under 5 on play clock at least if you don’t want to be exactly at 1 for strategic reasons

Right. And I’m thinking high scoring games where there’s an expectation of points on nearly every drive. Like KC/BUF where last team with the ball is going to win.

What? Both teams had 3 timeouts. You wouldn’t even begin to start thinking about milking the clock until under 3 minutes or so. Certainly not at 7:35 when there would be a decent chance of 3 total possessions left in the game.

Do you think the thought process was with only 3 point lead, they believed they could lose the lead and wanted a possession after a score? Is this too galaxy brained?

too galaxy brained. If you want to leave a couple seconds on the clock for some of the earlier snaps, fine. But in simple terms, the clock decay helps one team or the other. If you are leading in the mid to late 4th quarter, with the ball, each second of clock going off helps you.

Coach was terrible

The little things add up in those end of game moments

@ReggieChatman Not true. They got the ball back with 37 seconds left. They actually gave themselves time to win the game. Learn to block on a FG try and they win the game.

@Kelly_Quinlan Terrible clock management by key

Would’ve, could’ve, should’ve…didn’t 😎🤣

I was screaming at my TV for Mendoza to work the clock - I guess he could not hear me.

Kinda like the Falcon clock mgt in the SB 🤷

“If” My favorite.

Agreed. That’s poor coaching.

The ONLY counterpoint here is that it gives them enough time for a last drive comeback. Which did happen! But they just couldn’t close

But when you are leading in the mid to late 4th every second going off helps one team and not the other. In this case those seconds going off at the time clearly helped GT

Very much agree, but just trying to think, WONDERING, what could possibly be going through the coaches head at that point. The later timeouts point likely point to that, but the train was way off the rails at that point and they should have adapted.

The GT was horrible all game long and the time managment at the end was shockingly bad

They also should have gone for it on 4th down instead of kicking the field goal. Going up by 6 forces your opponent to try to beat you instead of settling for OT. Also a longer field to travel for the opponent.

Notice how all of these plays are outside of FG range. Do you really want a team to be milking the clock before they know they’re going to get points in the drive? You’re really upset they snapped the ball a few seconds “early” on a 3rd and 8 on their own 20 with 6:30 left?

Truth

So wired that coaches do not understand this.

I’d love to help out GT if they need some guidance

Ryan they 100% need your help.

After they got past their own 40, GA Tech should’ve been playing the clock. At that point a punt is putting Colorado on their own 20 and you have to trust your defense. Either Key didn’t have faith in the unit, or somehow he forgot the situation

@najehwilk 2 bad teams

With your experience what do you think causes coaches to do this in real time? It seems obvious, but it happens so frequently it can’t be obvious.

A huge amount of teams pay for one service to help them and I have tried to warn that I’ve been asked to look at the information and it is incredibly inadequate. I would actually be happy if my opponent was using it.

Ah, that makes sense. It isn’t an in house muscle being developed. I assume you’d believe that getting stuff like this right is about cultural attention to detail than reading off a chart etc

You really advocating milking the clock with half a quarter left in a 3-point game? The longer you wait to snap the ball the more it plays into the defense's hands, and it increases the odds of getting a stop.

@MattThompson87 I am convinced coaches can’t be this dumb. There has to be some other opinion here. I just don’t know how coaches who make millions couldn’t understand this principal

Looks like Brent Key went to the Mario Cristobal school of clock management

Would you have gone for it on 4th and 8 to try to avoid the up 6 late game scenario? Hate giving the other tm 4 downs there

that is a highly complex one, but most likely yes. I would have handled the clock better so the decision was easier