I've spoken before about Washington State University's unique ability to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory, but today took the cake. I'm used to them messing up, but I've never seen anything quite like what transpired today in Albuquerque.
Quite simply, they Couged it.
So W.S.U. is playing in the New Mexico Bowl against Colorado State. The game has been about what you would expect from a minor bowl game pitting two .500 teams from the Western U.S. – lots of offense, not a whole lot of defense, and a whole bunch of mistakes. On the strength of QB Connor Halliday's 6 TD passes, the Cougars held a 45-30 late in the 4th Quarter. Colorado State puts together a hurry-up drive down the field late to score a TD, cutting the lead to 45-37 with 2:58 left in the game. The Rams have two timeouts left and kickoff, hoping to stop the Cougars quickly and get the ball back. All W.S.U. needs it to pick up one first down and the game should pretty much be over. The Cougars compete two short passes and the Rams call their two timeouts to save seconds on the clock. On 3rd-and-6, Halladay completes a pass to WR Ricky Galvin for 8 yds. to pick up the 1st down.
The game is, for all intents and purposes, over. The clock stops momentarily at 2:36 so they can set the chains. Once the clock starts running, all the Cougars have to do is run the play clock down to near zero and then take a knee. Do this two more times. This is known as the 'victory' formation and it's one of the sweetest plays in football, since getting to do it means you've prevailed. So all W.S.U. has to do here is run 'victory' three times, run the play clock down on 4th down and punt the damn thing nowhere near anyone and the game is over. Cougars win!
One of the things the announcers have said repeatedly during the game is that, unlike on most teams, the W.S.U. QB actually calls most of the plays on the field himself. W.S.U. head coach/mad scientist Mike Leach has always done it that way in his coaching career, believing that the players on the field have a much better sense of what will work than he does on the sideline. Implicit in such tactics is a believe that your QB will know what to do when he's out there. And this particular situation is a no-brainer. Run 'victory' three times, kill the clock, the game will be over.
But this is W.S.U., where defeat is always possible if you put your mind to it. Or, if you lose your mind out on the field.
The Cougs line up in a shotgun formation, which is weird, and the QB Halladay calls a zone read running play for himself. This play makes no sense at all. Halladay runs smack into a stunned Colorado St. linebacker and fumbles. Colorado St. recovers.
But wait. He was down before he fumbled. The video review overturns the call after a lengthy conference. Now, you would think that, maybe during the long delay, Mike Leach or one of the offensive coaches might say something along the lines of, "what on earth were you thinking?" and "just take a knee and let's get this over with." You would think so, wouldn't you?
So it's 2nd down now and the Cougars have caught a break with the video overturn of the fumble. There is 2:07 left and the referee winds the clock. The Cougars should kill as many seconds as possible here, but no. They run a play with 20 seconds left on the play clock. They promptly hand off to a guy who hasn't played all game, who barrels into the same stunned Colorado St. linebacker as before and fumbles. Colorado St. recovers on W.S.U.'s 33-yd. line with 1:51 remaining in the game.
And at this point I'm incredulous. I mean, it's not like I'm speaking to some higher, more complex form of strategy here in saying that the Cougars should take a knee three times and then punt. This is no-brainer stuff. Everyone who has ever watched football has seen that play out at the end of a game. It's common knowledge. Moreover, everyone on the field has run that play before. Take a knee and kill of the clock. It ain't hard.
So now Colorado State has the ball and it's inevitable they'll score, given that they've got 560 yds. of offense and the W.S.U. defense has been on the field for seemingly the entire game. Sure enough, the Rams fashion a quick drive, score a TD with :33 left to cut it to 45-43. They go for two and run a crazy Statue of Liberty play, at first it appears that the runner is stopped short and forced out of bounds, but a review confirms that the ball had touched the pylon when the runner stretched. So the game is now tied at 45-45. OT here we come. This is already a collapse of colossal proportions, but at least they'll still have the opportunity in OT to redeem themselves.
And then the Cougars promptly fumble the kickoff.
So Colorado State has gone from being 15 pts. down with 3:00 to play to having the ball on the W.S.U. 25-yd. line with :27 left in the game. They hand off, run the remaining seconds down, spike it to stop the clock with :04 left, and then kick the FG. Colorado State wins 48:45.
This is, quite simply, the greatest choke that I have ever seen played out on a football field.
The previous worst most definitely was by the 1978 New York Giants, who simply had to run 'victory' to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles:
What that play by Joe Pisarcik did was change the way teams handle playing out the end of the game forever on. You never leave anything to chance at the end. After that Giants mishap, it's pretty much a given that the QB of a team with a lead is going to take a knee. Hell, his teammates will be there to make sure he stays down. And most teams in the 'victory' formation have a guy standing 15 yds. back from the play just in case something weird happens.
So yeah, W.S.U. should know better. The Cougars then went further and compounded the disaster. They fumbled the last three times they touched the ball. (Remember that the one fumble was overturned on review.) It was the most brainless display I've ever seen on a football field.
And all that I could do was laugh.
Why be angry? It's the New Mexico Bowl, for heaven's sake. It's not like there were national championship implications or anything. And I'm so used to seeing W.S.U. give away games after spending 20+ years around that school that it doesn't surprise me in the least when it happens. I just figured I had seen every possible way of screwing up over the years, only to see the Cougars find a new way to do so. As John Madden says at the end of the video I linked to in my post about Tony Romo, "there is nothing automatic in football."
That's true of other sports as well, mind you:
And when the Cougars are involved, it's best to never believe in the no-lose situation.
