Turner Gill has done what
some deemed impossible —
Win at Buffalo.
In only his third season, Gill led the Bulls to a school-record eight wins, their first MAC Championship and first bowl berth.
Considering Buffalo won only four games total in the three seasons before he arrived, Gill’s accomplishments are nothing short of amazing.
But it wasn’t easy. Gill literally had to work overtime to pull off one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the history of the FBS.
Since Gill took over in 2006, the Bulls have played in seven overtime games, the most of any FBS team. They are 5-2 in OT games.
After a busy offseason that saw Gill emerge as one of the hottest coaching commodities in the nation, the 46-year-old elected to remain at Buffalo.
He recently visited with Gridiron Strategies’ David Purdum to discuss his philosophy on overtime.
Q: Popular belief is you should always play defense first in overtime. But you mentioned that there might be a situation when you would consider going on offense first. Can you elaborate on that?
A: The majority of the time we want to go on defense first. We’ve never gone on offense first, but we’ve actually debated it, especially in the second or third overtime, because the defense then goes back-to-back. Maybe we’ve got the defense winded, tired. If we take the ball first and take advantage of their tired defense, while also allowing our defense to rest, it might be to our advantage. We’ve never gone on offense first, but it’s something we’ve definitely considered.
Q: Coach, I’m going to put you in a couple overtime situations. First, your opponent takes the opening possession in overtime. You cause a turnover, and now only need a field goal to win. Talk a little bit about your strategy in that situation.
A: For us, it’s about getting it to under a 40-yard field goal. Obviously, you’re already set for a 42-yard field goal, since you start at the 25, so we just need to get four or five yards on the first couple plays, and then on third down, we’ll try to put the ball in the middle of the field to set up for the field goal. Again, our No. 1 goal is to get in position for a field goal under 40 yards.
Q: Next situation. Your opponent scores a touchdown on the opening possession of overtime. You know you have to score a touchdown to force a second overtime. Do you take some shots early? What’s your thought process in that situation?
A: You definitely know you have four downs. So you’re not trying to get it on one or two shots early on. Our focus is to get the initial first down. Then, you have the opportunity to take a shot at the end zone.
I wouldn’t do anything differently than what we’ve done in the past in regulation.
Once you’re inside the green and red zone, we’ll run our green and red zone offenses and see what happens. It wouldn’t be much of a panic situation, until we get to fourth down.
Q: Let’s change things around. You lose the coin toss and are forced to go on offense first. But you fail to score. What is your defensive strategy, knowing that a field goal beats you?
A: We’re going to think back to what we’ve been successful with during the game. That’s the key. Have we been able to get pressure on the quarterback? If so, then we’ll pressure.
If we haven’t, then maybe we’ll stay with what has worked and hope we can prevent them from setting up for a short kick, and hopefully force a miss.
Certainly, in that situation, I don’t believe you can totally sit back and see what happens.
Q: In overtime, obviously fatigue may become more of a factor. Do you substitute more frequently in OT?
A: No. Unless we notice that there are few guys who are absolutely tired, we’re going to play our top guys in OT.
During regulation, we’ve been subbing guys, but now, we’re down to what we hope is just four plays to get off the field. Those guys have to endure and keep playing.
Q: Do you believe in icing the kicker with a timeout or even two?
A: Yes. I’ve done it quite a bit. Until they change the rule, I’m going to keep doing it.