Pat Fitzgerald on two-point conversion attempts: 'I wish I could teach a class at Northwestern on analytics'
Northwestern-Wisconsin was not supposed to be that close of a game Saturday afternoon.
The Badgers were favored by 23.5 points at one point in the week and led 24-3 midway through the fourth quarter. The game looked to be over.
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However, Northwestern scored with 8:45 remaining and made it a 24-9 football game. What did the Wildcats do next? Go for two points.
Instead of making it a 24-10 game, they tried to make it 24-11. Except, the two-point play failed.
Now at 24-9, Northwestern got the ball once again and scored. It was then 24-15. The Wildcats could have kicked an extra point to make it 24-16, trailing by eight and keeping the game a one-score game with 4:10 remaining.
What did they do? Go for two points again. And, again, failed.
The game remained at 24-15 and that’s how the final score read. After the game, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald talked about both decisions to go for two, perhaps at times that are unconventional as to when a team should go for it:
On the 2 point conversions: "We work with some analytics companies." Even brought a chart to the press conference, and referenced a video featuring John Harbaugh. "I wish I could teach a class at Northwestern on analytics."
— Daily NU Sports (@DailyNU_Sports) September 28, 2019
More on the 2-point conversions: "That was a no-brainer for us."
— Daily NU Sports (@DailyNU_Sports) September 28, 2019
Fitz says he thought the play the Cats ran in the moment on the first two-point conversion was the play he thought would work best.
— Daily NU Sports (@DailyNU_Sports) September 28, 2019
Smith on 2-point plays: "Those were plays we repped during the week and they were working. We have to trust in the play calling. It's just about the execution."
— Daily NU Sports (@DailyNU_Sports) September 28, 2019
Fitzgerald talked about analytics and how the numbers say to go for it then. There will of course be arguments against what the coach decided to do. And, that’s easy to do when the plays fail.
However, he has his reasoning. And Fitzgerald’s reasoning is numbers-based. Should he really be bashed for doing what is statistically the better coaching call, despite it being an unpopular one?
That’s for you to decide.