December 12th, 2020 at 5:27 PM ^
Link didn’t go through in the original post, but here it is:
A quick summary:
WMU is down three and attempts a lateral play in the final seconds. One of the backwards laterals is mishandled, fumbled, and seemingly recovered by Ball State. The Ball State team rushes the field. Not so fast! It’s still a live play, and after a few more laterals a WMU player runs for a touchdown. Luckily, the refs were on top of everything. They correctly assessed an illegal forward pass on WMU during the play. Ball state wins 30-27. Nearly the second coming of the “Stanford Band Play”.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:27 PM ^
Alamo Bowl 2005 replay?
December 12th, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
Much more entertaining than that.
And I remember watching that and being so mad at Tyler Ecker for just running out of bounds with a full head of steam. One more lateral to a nearby teammate and it would have been epic.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:43 PM ^
For some torture (because why not it's 2020) I just re-watched that play and sure enough Breaston is standing a few yards behind Ecker as he goes barreling out of bounds. Unfortunately just as I remembered it.
December 12th, 2020 at 6:03 PM ^
I remember I was so mad after that game I stomped around my neighborhood to cool off.
Now I'm old and mellow but also hollowed out by the last 15 years. I don't get upset, just sad and wistful as all Old Blues do.
December 12th, 2020 at 6:45 PM ^
I believe Kirk Herbstreit was calling the game--and doing a terrible job of it (trolling, blathering, etc).
December 12th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
Herbie DID say that it was also the worst officiated game he’s ever seen.
December 12th, 2020 at 7:54 PM ^
I forgot about that but it was.
December 12th, 2020 at 9:32 PM ^
I think it was Steve Breaston running right next to him. I was screaming at my tv pitch the ball dummy!!
December 12th, 2020 at 6:13 PM ^
I did not expect a sobering reminder our bowl past in this thread. Well done.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:34 PM ^
That was awesome, thanks for posting this. “THEY HAVE NOT BLOWN IT DEAD YET!” was epic.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:37 PM ^
Except for the illegal forward pass part
December 12th, 2020 at 5:39 PM ^
Good job by the refs there, they called all of that right despite the chaos.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:41 PM ^
Great if you are WMU but there appears to have been an illegal forward pass in that play after the first legal forward pass.
December 12th, 2020 at 5:59 PM ^
The touchdown didn't count, for those who are skimming.
December 12th, 2020 at 6:02 PM ^
Play of the year. I’m not convinced there wasn’t at least one illegal forward pass committed in that sequence but it was still a lot of fun to watch.
Hard to blame those Ball State players for not tackling the ball carrier when they had their hands on him. There was a very reasonable assumption, at that point, that the game was over. Of course, they won’t feel that way, and I’m sure it’ll take a long time for them to get over this. They might feel like they let their team down. But it’s not their fault. So much commotion on the field all at one time.
Edit: Looks like the TD didn’t count. So my last paragraph is moot.
December 12th, 2020 at 7:01 PM ^
Yeah -- at least one that I spotted. At 1:05, the throw from 24 is a forward pass. Flag. Ball game over.
December 12th, 2020 at 6:44 PM ^
Isn’t storming the field a penalty? Offsetting penalties result in replaying the down or is that only if the penalty is on just the defense? Did the whistle blow with the illegal forward pass?
December 12th, 2020 at 7:05 PM ^
They called it a penalty, a dead ball foul if I remember. They didn’t blow the whistle but the play was dead after the forward pass
December 12th, 2020 at 10:06 PM ^
That's correct, the ref called it a dead ball penalty. Which seems weird because if the ball was dead, it shouldn't be a penalty.
I was thinking that the two penalties would have offset and they would have replayed it with an untimed down. But you must be right that the illegal forward pass ends the play, so everything after that is dead ball. Although they still called it a penalty for rushing the field, it doesn't offset the illegal pass because it's a dead ball penalty, and thus the game is over.
December 12th, 2020 at 6:47 PM ^
The Band is on the field!
December 12th, 2020 at 6:59 PM ^
Ha! That was absolutely crazy! I loved when one of the big WMU linemen had the ball, and there was an "attempt" to leg-tackle him.
December 12th, 2020 at 7:11 PM ^
I thought the mac season was cancelled?
December 12th, 2020 at 7:27 PM ^
Excellent reminder.
December 12th, 2020 at 8:59 PM ^
Whatever the outcome. MAC is great and the BIG and other (TV) need to make sure the league thrives
December 12th, 2020 at 9:33 PM ^
Leave it to ESPN to screw up the coverage