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Is the narrative on "halftime adjustments" overblown

Coldnorth

Well-Known Member
Dec 13, 2003
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The FL game "tale of two halves" has been the narrative and you frequently see people comment on Debord and Shoops "halftime adjustments" as making a huge difference. I have read several times how Debord called a great game "in the second half". My perception is that this may be overblown. The one article that ran the statistics showed that the offensive efficiency would have been about the same in the second half if you account for the dropped passes in the first half. This points more toward execution than strategy. If you look at what happens during the course of a game they start with a game plan based on mismatches, strengths, objectives (wearing down a team), etc. After the game starts the coordinators are making constant adjustments based on what the other team is doing, what works and fails. They run plays in certain formations and then create misdirection out of the same formation later in the game. The score at any point in the game and field position creates adjustments as well. The same thing happens on the defensive side as well.

Halftime is not really that long by the time they get off the field and get organized. I get that you can mentally regroup and point out certain things but you are not putting a new plan together. Adjustments are being made throughout the game. I am sure they make certain calls in the second half they didn't make in the first half but I question whether that was some organized decision that was taken at halftime or simply the constant adjustments that progress during the course of a game.

I thought I would toss this out there if anyone had expertise on this.
 
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