MEMPHIS – The game was over, except it wasn’t.
Last Saturday afternoon, heading into the fourth quarter in Tuscaloosa, the Alabama was crushing Texas A&M, 45-16. Sitting on a 29-point lead, barring Aaron Rodgers showing up in a Texas A&M uniform, there was no way this game was going to be interesting down the stretch.
Sitting in a lake house in Arkansas with a few other football fans, I asked if someone could grab the remote. But no. Another gentleman in attendance was nervous. Alabama, you see, was favored to win the game by 24 points. And Texas A&M was driving. And this man had wagered some money on Alabama winning by at least 24 points. Would the Aggies be able to win the game? No, but a score would make them cover the spread. Texas A&M might not win the game, but it wouldn’t exactly lose, either.
The Aggies scored to make it a 22-point deficit. We watched as Alabama got the ball back and mounted a drive toward the other end zone, as even a field goal would push them back over the 24-point mark. But with three minutes to play, Jalen Hurts fumbled near midfield and Texas A&M got the ball back. The Aggies lost. But in some ways, at least to some people, so did Alabama.
I understand why people bet on college football. It gives games another layer, gives people another reason to watch or not to watch. It’s legal now – at least I think it’s legal, thanks to a recent court ruling. So there’s no need to sneak around. And it feels like sports gambling is having something of a moment, with media companies and even sports leagues sniffing around to get involved.
I’m sure everyone who bets on sports believes somewhere down deep inside that this is the year they just might strike it rich. But we all know that’s not going to happen. Have you seen the casinos in Vegas? They build those with the money everyone else believed they were going to parlay into millions.
So I get why folks gamble; I just can’t go down that road. I have a five-year-old who determines how much of my money is spent, and I don’t want a bunch of 20-year-olds to have a say in the rest of it. I also just don’t want to let myself down. I feel like I know way more about sports than I probably actually do, and when put to the test with real money on the line, I am not ready to lose both pride and cash.
Throw your dollars at the games. I’ll hang on to mine, thanks.
2.
Case in point: That Oregon/Stanford game on Saturday night. Oregon leads by three, game seems like it’s over, the Ducks could kneel down and come pretty close to running out the clock. And then, of course, they hand it off, the kid fumbles, Stanford kicks a field goal to tie and then wins in overtime. And Stanford goes from losing to winning, as does everyone who had money on them giving three points.
3.
Last week I wrote about mascots, and this weekend one of my favorite moments came from Cosmo the Cougar, BYU’s mascot, who ran out on the field, did a bunch of flips, and literally lost his head…
The best part is how everyone frantically leaps into action as the Cougar lies there and tried to keep his face covered, as if this were a life or death moment.
4.
My favorite play of the weekend was this final play from Iowa, which had already lost the game but figured why not throw almost a dozen laterals on this final play and try to extend it as long as possible. I like the guy at the end who finally just gets tackled, because I’m sure he was just as tired as the defense.
(This gave me an idea: What if you knew you were going to do a ton of laterals, so you put one guy out there who you just had rest for the first 7 or so laterals, then let him spring into action at full speed against a bunch of tired defenders?)
5.
Leave it to Herm Edwards to innovate along the sideline. Memphis has the turnover Ric Flair robe? Arizona State debuted the turnover curl bar, complete with people counting reps and everything.
6.
This happened two weeks ago, but last week we went heavy on mascots and couldn’t include it. So this isn’t exactly breaking news, but I’ve been thinking about this play regularly since it happened because it was just so great. TCU had two men in the end zone waiting for the kick return, but one of the players laid down flat on his stomach, so it looked like there was just one player back.
The kick went to the standing guy, who ran the ball out to the 10, then stopped and threw a lateral across the field to the other dude, who by now had leaped up and run out of the end zone. He caught the pass and returned it for a TD. It ended up not counting, because the pass was a forward pass. But it was still amazing.
Then, while searching the internet, I realized that they’d used the same play two years ago:
7.
It’s simple, really: If you can carry the football across the goal line, your team gets six points. For some reason, this seems to be a little fuzzy at the University of Georgia, where two weeks ago against South Carolina, Deandre Baker ran for the end zone and then dropped the ball just as he crossed the goal line. But wait! UPON FURTHER REVIEW, he actually dropped the ball just before he crossed. Luckily, another UGA player picked it up in the end zone, so the score stood.
And then on Saturday against Missouri, JJ Holloman did THE SAME THING…
This time, a Missouri player picked up the ball and ran it all the way to the other end zone. Luckily for UGA, there wasn’t a camera with a definitive angle, so the score was not overturned. But good gosh, can’t we just hold onto the ball until we get out of the back of the end zone?
8.
From the same game, we get this week’s best stop by a referee, as this official runs beautiful interference downfield on Missouri QB Drew Lock trying (halfheartedly) to make a tackle following a turnover…
9.
Here’s a great unintentional fake field goal. Wake Forest sent in their special teams to attempt a FG, and everyone was ready for it…except for the actual kicker, who was chilling on the sideline.
10.
For this week’s college spot, I got curious about what kind of commercial the University of Alabama uses, because they could probably just run an ad promoting their football team and nothing else. Perhaps unsurprisingly, and smartly, they end with the GOAT.
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