“Never, never consider that,” Whittingham said. “That’s something that we don’t do, won’t do; that’s just how it is. We weren’t trying to run it up tonight, and we pulled our guys and just start running the football. The reason we left the gas pedal down a little longer tonight is: I watched that Washington State-UCLA game a month ago or whatever, so it was when they came roaring back from down 32 late in the third quarter. That was the reason why we kept the throttle wide open for a little longer than usual.”
I think Whitt is being completely honest here, but I also can’t help but think the committee, style points, and eye test sits there in the back of every coach’s mind and percolates (sometimes subconsciously) and affects decisions.
I think most people I sat around were concerned with Huntley and Moss being in late. I was concerned the first team defense was out but that QB had a cannon for an arm. That pass he overthrew his wideout on I was like they can’t let up. They have to crush them until they bring in a backup. After Kelly expended all of his timeouts it was essentially over.