2020 Week 8
November 17, 2020
Well, apparently the SEC decided to mostly take a week off from football, what with the virus and all. So we didn't get to see Nick Satan's revenge on LSU, nor scintillating SEC matchups like Georgia vs Missouri, Texas A&M vs Tennessee, and Troy vs. Coastal Carolina. I'm not sure what's going on down south but I'm guessing those Mississippi State University halftime ads touting their research into Dr. Pepper as a disinfectant aren't helping.
Not only that, my Panthers' game vs. Georgia Tech got postponed or delayed or something. Even the satellite campus matchup between the University of California at Los Angeles and the University of Texas at Houston ended up not being played.
As far as actual games, one of the craziest plays took place in the Pac-8, when a Washington long snapper fired the ball way over the punter's head, then the punter raced back to get it, was swarmed by Oregon State, tried to kick the ball through the swarm and had it blocked, then both teams booted the ball around before an Oregon State player grabbed it and staggered into the end zone for a touchdown. I haven't seen an Oregon State Duck waddle like that since the aftermath of Coach Corso's Corvallis mascot furry party.
Cross-state rival Oregon pulled away from Washington State, winning 43-29. The Southern Cal Kardiac Kids pulled out a non-conference tilt against Arizona, scoring late to win 34-30.
Hawaii had a long trip to the mainland and it showed as they fell to SDSU, 34-10. I'm not sure how many connections it takes to get to Brookings, but, having spent a week one night in the Sioux Falls airport, I can understand the Rainbow Warriors' exhaustion.
Miami had to come from behind against Virginia Tech, winning 25-24. It's certainly not the good old days for the Canes and I bet Pork Faced Satan Jimmy Johnson (or at least his hair) is spinning in the grave.
Notre Dame showed no hangover from their big win over Clemson, heading to Massachusetts and taking out Frodo, 45-31. Elsewhere in the expanded ACC North Carolina outlasted Wake Forest 59-53.
There was a lot of excitement in the Big Ten. On Friday night Iowa pounded Minnesota 31-7 to claim, for another year, the farming services of Floyd Rosedale. Indiana continued its excellent season with a road shutout against the Michigan State Fighting Chippewas, 24-0. Wisconsin went to Michigan Stadium and pantsed the Wolverines, 49-11.
What I found most interesting in the latter two games wasn't the results, but rather the ABC coverage. My good friend Holly Rowe worked both games, driving from East Lansing to Anne Arbore. However, late in the Indiana game, before she made the trek to U-M, the Hoosiers held up a delicious junk food play signal sign that had a McDonald's logo on one side and a Krispy Kreme logo on the other. Some restaurant along Holly's between games drive probably got cleared out of wings.
Nebraska won the cripple fight against Penn State, holding off the Nittany Lions in Lincoln by a 30-23 score. Northwestern won the Big Ten battle of unbeatens, beating Purdue 30-23. Yes, the Big Ten has Northwestern and Purdue at the top and Nebraska and Penn State at the bottom, which has caused a lot of consternation around here from Coaches Devaney and Rip Engle. Don't know what JoePa thinks. Haven't seen him around since I got here 8 years ago.
Texas Tech had a nice last second comeback win over Baylor, winning 24-23 on a couple last minute field goals, to stay alive in the Southwest Conference. Those 7th and 8th TTU field goals were most impressive.
Among SEC teams that did play, Florida continued its fine season with a big blowout over R Kansas, 63-35. And Ole Southern Miss pounded South Carolina, 59-42.
The wildest finish of the week, however, was one of the finest MACtion games ever. Toledo took a ten point lead over Western Michigan late. Western got a touchdown back then missed the extra point, but recovered the onside kick. They drove down and hit a pass inside the ten to stop the clock briefly with under 15 seconds left. Then Western Michigan's QB pretended to throw the ball into the turf but instead threw a pass to a wide open receiver for the win.
Throwing the ball into the turf to stop the clock is known as "the spike". It only became legal again about 40 years ago as it had been illegal since 1910. The maneuver was initially performed, soon after the forward pass was legalized, by the famous Indian school at Carlisle (best known for producing Jim Thorpe) and was quickly dubbed "spiking" the ball due to the sudden downward throw.
The demise of the spike occurred at a game during the 1910 season. Carlisle's Pennsylvania cross-state rival Kaiser College trailed Lehigh 24-20 late in the game and hit a pass for a first down at the 15 as the clock ticked down. Knowing that his team needed to stop the clock, Kaiser coach Hans von Schtupp yelled at his quarterback "Spike the ball!" as the referee set the ball under the center to prepare for play.
The quarterback "spiked" the ball, but not in the way we understand it. Instead he dove head first at the ball and ended up impaling the ball, his center's hand, and the referee's foot. You see, Kaiser College, located in Pickelhaube, PA, was the first to wear the helmets that later became famous when worn by the German Army during World War I. The quarterback thought spiking the ball involved the spike on his helmet, thus the horrible accident that led to both the center and referee being rushed to the emergency room. And soon after that the NCAA banned the spike play. Kaiser continued with their iconic helmets until an unfortunate incident two years later.
And now you know the rest of the story.