We got 10 possessions on Saturday. Last year we averaged 13 possessions per game and had 15 possessions against IU.  Saturday, most of IU's drives lasted less than 6 plays and we still got three possessions less than our season average last year.  And that was against a team who sucks on offense and couldn't sustain drives.

So my mind has gone to some dark places thinking about this and what Saturday could have looked like against a team like scUM.  We could have had as few as 7 or 8 possessions TOTAL.  That's terrifying to think about when we know that this team has a bit of a tendency to start slow.  It could very well be that all scum (or any team for that matter) needs to beat us this year is to score 17 points on long, plodding drives and get just 4 stops on defense.  

And I was thinking, what would the last 15 years have looked like with these clock rules. So I tried to compile a list of all comeback games the last 15 years where we were losing in the fourth qtr.

• 2008 - Wisconsin - losing 17-13 and scored the go ahead with a Pryor keeper 1:08 left in the 4th.
• 2010 Iowa - losing 20-17 with 1:50 to go in the fourth qtr. Sanzenbacher makes a diving catch to get us in scoring position
• 2011 Wisconsin - leading most of the 4th, wisconsin takes a 3 point lead with 1:18 to go. We still win.
• 2012 Purdue - losing all through the 4th and down 22-14 with SIX seconds left. If you don't know how this one ended, shame, for shame.
• 2013 NW - losing 23-20 with 11:18 left in the 4th and get the go ahead, and then lose it are down 30-27 with 5:20 left in regulation and get the go-ahead again. This is exactly the kind of game where a couple less possessions and one more stop could have made the difference for NW.
• 2016 michigan - losing 17-14, get the tying field goal with six seconds left. It's hard to say this is a sure loss but it sure feels like all scum needed was one less possession by us to seal it.
• 2017 Penn State - down 38-27 with 4 mins left in the game. I have no doubt this is a loss with the new clock rules.
• 2018 Penn State - down 26-20 with 2 mins left in the game. Again hard to feel good about this one with the new clock rules.  Where is OSU football right now with back-to-back losses to James F'n Franklin?
• 2018 Maryland - tied 31-31 most of the fourth, then Maryland goes up by a score with 8 minutes left. We tie them again with 4 minutes left at 38. They go up a score and we tie them again with 40 seconds left.  Win in OT.

I'm not saying that all of these are losses just trying to find some that may have ended up as losses. Then my mind goes to even darker places extrapolating what some of these losses would have meant for the state of the program today. With that said, let me leave this on a positive note:

• 2022 Georgia (don't click it) - Up 38-27 with 8:48 to go. Up 41-35 with 1 minute to go. Had the new clock rules started last year, we may very well have a natty in Columbus right now.

So I guess it goes both ways... I'm still worried about how this affects our matchups with scum more so than anything. What do you think?