Before play can be called, weeks spent on preparation

Many actions and decisions go into getting a snap off within the requisite 25 seconds, but few are more important than what first occurs after a play: deciding on the next one. Notwithstanding the significance of this task, the call must be sent into the huddle as fast as possible, giving head coach Roger Hughes a mere eight seconds to decide on a play.

But to narrow the timeline of this choice to the first eight seconds of the play clock would be a gross understatement. Crammed into those few ticks are weeks worth of practice and preparation.

After scouting their opponent, scouting themselves and running plays during practice in the preceding week, the coaches prepare a call sheet composed of roughly 150 plays the team might run during a game.

The composition of this sheet is not a haphazard list of the coaches' favorite plays. For instance, the coaches know that a third-and-one scenario occurs roughly 0.6 times per game. Thus, they assume they will run one play from that situation per game. To give themselves room for adjustment, the coaches put three or four third-and-one plays on that game's call sheet.

On the other hand, first-and-10 occurs much more frequently, so the coaches have many more plays ready for that occasion.

"What we have on our call sheet are situations lined up," Hughes said. "And depending on the situation, you have to have a couple calls in your mind before that play is over."

So when Hughes — who holds primary play-calling responsibilities, a duty he assumed this fall after previously deferring to offensive coordinator Dave Rackovan — sees it is third-and-three on the Tigers' own 20-yard line late in the third quarter, he looks to his call sheet for plays to run in that situation.

Once the call sheet has been used to narrow his choice, Hughes takes into account other factors, such as what has happened so far in the game, to select the specific play. Aiding him in this decision are many of the other coaches on the staff.

The other coaches, specifically Rackovan, spend much of their time watching the game looking for trends and tendencies from both teams that could assist in selecting a more effective play. On the defensive side of the ball, Rackovan will watch for a slew of tendencies from blitz percentages in specific conditions to how the defense has responded to similar plays earlier in the game.

Princeton's coaches also scout themselves, looking for trends in their own team that they could exploit for future success. They will study anything from their own run-pass ratio to formations that the defense has yet to see, all in an effort to call the play most likely to gain yardage.

This information is then fed to Hughes, who will use it to decide which package to send into the huddle.

Sometimes, very little decision-making goes into selecting a play. For instance, Hughes scripts out the first 12 plays of every game. With those first plays, he tries to go against every tendency that Princeton has in order to force the defensive coordinator to alter his own game plan to adapt to how the Tiger offense is playing that game.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

"He's made his game plan based on what he thinks we're going to do out of personnel groups or out of formations," Hughes said. "And I want to make sure he knows that, 'You know what? Today, we're not doing it that way.' "

The Tigers also have charts that determine whether or not to go for a two-point conversion, and specific preplanned plays for if they do attempt the conversion.

Once the call has been made to the huddle, despite all of the coaches' preparation, the success of the play is beyond their control. Rather, it is up to the players to carry out the coaches' design.

"Sometimes, you can have the worst call in America, but the receiver makes a great play," Hughes said. "Or you make a great call and the receiver drops the ball; it wasn't a bad call, it was just poor execution."

Nevertheless, it is the job of the coaches to put the players in a position to execute the plays properly, a job which begins long before the play clock starts ticking.