Spiking the Ball
November 17, 2020
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.