When up 21-17 why did Saban go for two?

Edit; wait no I don’t know

Yea the great one fricked that one up

I don't know, but it worked out for us.

Because if you are up 5. 6 beats you. No XP necessary

If you are up 6. A TD doesn't beat you if the XP is missed.

The rationale is that if you make it, it forces the other team to execute an extra point to win. With either a 4 or 5 point lead, the other team wins if they score a TD. I don’t know that anyone thought we would score with enough time for them to operate yet another drive.

I thought both calls were dumb

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He kicks that one and then they probably win 25-24.

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No.

If they kick it to go up 22-17, after LSU scored it would be 22-23 and then LSU would have gone for 2 to try to make it a 3 point game.


But I agree with the earlier comment, always kick the xp unless you absolutely need the 2.

Couldn’t understand it either

Saban chased points twice and it cost him. I’m convinced you don’t start going for 2 unless it’s a necessary late in a game.

A reporter asked Satan in his post game and he got real snarky about having a chart and “2 is more than one”…well 0 is less than one Nicky.

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Following analytics and not accounting for time remaining in the game is what cost Bama. Yes 2 is better than 1, but you need to realize there was a lot more game left and missing out on those two extra points could hurt down the line. It in fact ended up costing them the game.

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I agree that blindly following analytics is no good (though I believe the charts account for time remaining), but I don't think it cost them the game. The first one was so early that you can't really say what would have happened after that had they just kicked the xp. You can't assume everything goes the same way, the butterfly effect comes into play.

For example, say they kicked the first one to go up 16-14, and assume LSU still gets the fg after to make it 16-17. Further assume bama scores the next TD to go up 22-17... NOW they have to go for 2 anyway because it's crunch time and you need to go up 7. If they get it to make it 24-17, then assume LSU scores to tie it up. Maybe after that LSU doesn't play so soft D knowing they can't give up a FG now. Or even if they didn't convert the 2 and LSU went up 24-22 maybe they still don't play soft D knowing they can't give up a FG.

Those decisions change everything that happens after. They didn't cost bama the game. What cost them the game is they played a better team.