Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A is for Astounding App State Win

This is NOT the Michigan game. This is WAY better (at least, in some ways).

Here is tape - actual tape! - from the astounding 2002 App St.-Furman game. Here is my dissection of it from last year, after the Michigan game put App in the headlines.

BRIEFLY: App and Furman are bitter rivals, both ranked in the Top 10ish of I-AA.

1. Furman, which has dominated the game but trails by 5, drives the ball and scores a TD to go up by 1 with only seven seconds to go (TD is the first clip of video).
2. Now ahead by 1, Furman's coach decides to go for two, believing a 3-pt lead would be insurance against App winning on a field goal, while a PAT for a 2pt lead does him no good (defensible decision).
3. On the 2pt, QB throws an INT to a slow App St. lineman, who turns upfield (bad luck, but no harm done).
4. Now here's the genius: the lineman IMMEDIATLY laterals to a D-Back who is trailing him. He doesn't wait until he gets hit and in trouble or until the rest of Furman's players turn around and start pursuing, he does it RIGHT AWAY.
5. The D-Back, with an escort, blows by the QB, then stays in bounds against another pursuing Furman player for a length-of-field 2pt-conversion for APP.

Which erases Furman's lead and puts App back in front by 1.


THis video, as you'll see, looks like tape from 2 fans with cameras, one on the sideline (the key lateral takes place just feet from the camera) and one on the sideline.

Bonus Easter Egg: the only guy who has a shot at him is the QB; judging by the lazy slap he lays on the guy, its clear he hasn't done one or both of two math equations:
1 - how far from out of bounds they both are.
2 - what is about to happen on the scoreboard

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