After our game was over the bar switched over to the end of the ASU/UM game...no Buckeye fans (there were about 50 or so of us, along with about 8-10 UM fans), left. When App State put the FG unit on the field on first down, everyone of us what like, "What the fuck?!" You run at least two plays, if not three, for three huge reasons: Take time off the clock, force UM to burn TOs, and improve your kicking angle.
I was so stunned, I don't recall if UM did indeed call a TO before the kick, but let's say they did. Now they have two timeouts with 30 seconds, and App State has first and goal from the five or so and a tough kicking angle. Say App runs a QB sneak towards the right...it puts the ball at a better angle (if not gaining yardage), takes at least 5-10 seconds off the clock, and forces UM to burn their second TO. Then on second down (with 20-25 seconds left), run the same play...now, UM burns its final TO and there's anywhere from 10-20 seconds left (depending how much time each sneak takes). Now, it's third down with UM having no more TOs, and you have the choice of running one more sneak to line up the kick and run the clock down to about 2 seconds so that time expires as the FG is in flight, or kicking the FG on third down so you have a possible chance at a re-kick on fourth down if the snap is bad. Even if you kick on third down instead of fourth, you'll be kicking off with maybe 10 seconds or less remaining, forcing UM to return the KO for a TD, or if its a short return forcing them to throw the ball the length of the field for a TD. However, what they did by kicking on first down was let Michigan keep TOs and gave them enough time for a few big plays (which indeed happened).
Just think how badly ASU's staff would've been second-guessed from now to eternity of their FG kicker missed the winning FG because of the tight angle, or had ASU not blocked the FG and UM made it. They were very lucky things turned out as they did in the final 30 seconds of play.
