With so many SEC teams on a bye this past weekend as we get set for the heart of the college football season, the coaching mistakes weren’t as blatant this time around as weeks past. However, our Football IQ segment still had plenty of stupidity to go around, so let’s once again dive in with the dumbest decisions made during Week 9.

Brent Venables timeout to punt down two scores in fourth

Typically, our Football IQ segment involves coaches who made one or a collection of stupid decisions to cost their team the game. I’m not necessarily sure Brent Venables cost the Oklahoma Sooners the game with this decision, since they lost to the Ole Miss Rebels by two scores, but he certainly eliminated any unlikely chance they have.

Trailing 26-14 in the fourth quarter, OU brought up a 4th and 3 at their own 32-yard line. Now, with 13 minutes to go, you can make the case for punting here. There will be other scoring opportunities. I oppose it, but it isn’t transcendently stupid. What makes this so dumb is Venables took a timeout to make the decision. If you burn that timeout, you’ve got to go for it. He gave up with that move.

Jonathan Smith onside kick vs. Michigan

Anybody who has seen the Wolverines this year realizes they are not last year’s team that won the College Football Playoff. Michigan’s offense can’t move the ball. As a result, when the Michigan State Spartans brought the game against the to one score on the road in the second half last Saturday with a field goal to make it 16-10, the clear move was to play defense.

Jonathan Smith instead made the boneheaded decision to try to catch them off-guard with an onside kick. Michigan recovered, and although they didn’t score on the next drive, the field position advantage kept them near midfield, so they did on the next drive, which is why the beat MSU 24-17. If this is a shootout, that’s not a bad move. In this case, though, you play it safe.

Bill O’Brien takes it into the half with three timeouts

My theory of college football coaches with Ivy League intelligence would fall on its face when Bill O’Brien comes up, but it doesn’t because O’Brien was a legacy kid at Brown. Legacy kids at Ivy League schools are likely not even of average intelligence, unlike those like Mike Elko who got into Penn on his own.

Anyway, the former Alabama Crimson Tide offensive coordinator and Houston Texas head coach put his stupidity on full display Saturday. The Boston College Eagles head coach was up on the Louisville Cardinals 20-7 and had the ball on his own 25-yard line with one minute and 15 seconds to go in the first half along with all three timeouts.

Despite the timeouts, O’Brien played for halftime, running the clock and content going in with the score what it was. This is a Jeff Brohm offense! You knew he was going to bring them back. You’ve got to get the points when you can get them. Of course, Louisville came back and won 31-27, but this decision to play scared at halftime proved costly.

Barry Odom misuses three timeouts

The UNLV Runnin’ Rebels had the chance to shock the Boise State Broncos last Friday. Barry Odom screwed it up. First, at the end of the first half, Boise State had a 4th and goal from the 2-yard line with roughly 35 seconds to go. Odom had a timeout. You take the timeout in a shootout, which it was with the score already 13-10 BSU, so you can have a shot at some points before the h alf.

Instead, Odom let BSU run it all the way down and score on the next to last play of the half to go in up 20-10. Then early in the second half, Odom took a timeout on a punt to argue a BSU substitution penalty that can’t be reviewed and wouldn’t have even netted a first down for UNLV, meaning they still would’ve punted and likely had a similar result.

All of this together resulted in Boise being able to run out the clock after converting a 4th and 1 late, partially because Odom burned that timeout but also because Odom used a timeout after that first down too quickly not realizing the play clock runs but the game clock doesn’t until the ref spots the ball after a first down. That allowed Boise State to kneel down and win 29-24.

Lance Leipold punts on 4th and 2 past midfield

When the Kansas Jayhawks hired Lance Leipold, they seemed to be bringing in one of the better minds in college football. Maybe he still is, but his in-game mistakes are mind-boggling. Against the Kansas State Jayhawks Saturday, Leipold’s team trailed 23-20 late in the third quarter but had brought up a 3rd and 2 at the KSU 46-yard line.

Despite averaging over five and a half yards a carry on the ground and shaky passing from Jalon Daniels, Leipold’s staff decided to throw it for that first down. They didn’t get it, bringing up a 4th and 2 in KSU territory. Leipold played scared and punted it, which turned into a touchback. Sorry, but you can NEVER punt in those situations.

More importantly, just RUN THE BALL TWICE!!! Kansas scored a touchdown a drive later but still gave up two field goals to lose 29-27. Possessions and scores on possessions matter, and if KU scored there, they would have ended KSU’s College Football Playoff hopes. Leipold playing scared like that was next-level criminal.