I was surprised as well that they declined the 10 second runoff, no reason for them to need more time.
There are times to take your timeouts early on defense and there are times to not do that. I have seen it done both ways many, many times, college as well as pros. Each method is not infallible, but each method DOES work. You need to understand the situation in the game and evaluate the most likely scenario that will play out.
Last night, the way the game was going, the most likely scenario was that NM was likely to score and take the lead. Sad to say that is exactly what I expected to happen, but it was true. NM had been gashing us for the entire second half, and had scored 4 times and only punted once, and had not turned the ball over one time. Were the odds good that we would stop them or were the odds that they would score and we would need to score to win the game? Obviously the odds were that they would score, thus forcing us to score to win. With that being the case, the rational approach is to use at least 2 of your 3 time outs to preserve clock.
Here is the thing-do the TO's do you any good at all if you need to score? Nope. Are they a great liability if they have a turnover or do not score? No, they are not. Realizing that WSU was playing with the Palouse Pussies in the second half and not the Palouse Posse, saving time for your offense to win the game for you was imperative! And maybe having a couple TO breaks would have given the D a chance to catch their breath enough to make a defensive stop?
Sorry 95, but your reasoning is defective in this case. And yes, I was futilely yelling at my TV for them to use the time outs while NM was driving closer.