I guess I'm just confused as you have yet to offer another strategy that would logically make sense in the situation...
Here are the play sequences after the turnover:
2:32 left - 1st & 10 at ILL 47
Reggie Corbin run for no gain to the Illin 47
2:02 left - 2nd & 10 at ILL 47
Reggie Corbin run for 4 yds to the Wisc 49
1:30 left - 3rd & 6 at WIS 49
Brandon Peters pass complete to Daniel Barker for 9 yds to the Wisc 40 for a 1ST down
0:55 left - 1st & 10 at WIS 40
(0:47 - 4th) Reggie Corbin run for 2 yds to the Wisc 38
0:47 left - 2nd & 8 at WIS 38
Dre Brown run for 13 yds to the Wisc 25 for a 1ST down
Timeout WISCONSIN
0:33 left - 1st & 10 at WIS 25
Reggie Corbin run for 2 yds to the Wisc 23
Timeout WISCONSIN
0:28 left - 2nd & 8 at WIS 23
Dre Brown run for 1 yd to the Wisc 22
Timeout WISCONSIN
0:24 left - 3rd & 7 at WIS 22
Dre Brown run for 1 yd to the Wisc 21
Timeout ILLINOIS
0:04 left - 4th & 6 at WIS 21
James McCourt 39 Yd Field Goal
What play in this drive would you have called differently? Are we "lucky" Dre Brown got 13 yards on that one run? Maybe, but he's also an excellent runner and it certainly wasn't a "bad play call".
If you could give any sort of alternative play calling that an actual coach with a chance to beat the #6 tam in the country would have called, I'm all ears...
I truly don't want to belabor this... but let me go macro, instead of micro, to see if it helps.
We obtain the ball, as you said, w/ 2:32 on the clock, needing 30 yards for a manageable 40 yarder, to win. (Or a touchdown to not have to sweat a kick, from a somewhat unproven still, kicker. Who I love.) That is your MINIMUM goal (while Lovie plays as if it his maximum goal.)
According to your timeline, with only :55 to go, we've gone a grand total of 13 yards... in 4 plays... and used 0 timeouts to have limited any of that loss of time.
That means at :55, we are looking at a 57 yarder. Not good.
I could stop there, as those were my biggest issues with the drive. When you get tackled in the field of play, at that point, in that scenario ... you use a timeou, to save :30.... that is the miss... Bc on another play, you can run OOB to stop the clock. A smart coach knows to preserve 1 TO for your field goal, but you absolutely utilize the others, if necessary, to optimize your chance to score.
and that's the issue...
You don't play for a long field goal... which we did... and fortunately Dre's run decreased the distance of that long field goal. And Chryst called us a timeout after that run.
Even then, we were satisfied with a 38-42 yard attempt.
Again, I repeat, it worked... but as someone who believes in
optimizing the chance, and not just doing what we do and hope it works out... the drive could have been better/smarter, and I personally want a coach that recognizes that (and also a fan base that recognizes that.)
It
is possible to succeed, while not doing your best. We did that on that drive. But to become a better team and program, you have to be smart enough to recognize it and improve.
It worked. I'm grateful. Ill take it all day any day. It was still mishandled. And if we don't fix that, it will bite us again.
(So it's not the play calls. No issue. It's the mismanagement of the time requiring a bit of a bailout by Dre, and Chryst.