Old Dominion Had The Craziest Win Of The Day
Game 7 of the NLCS? Nope.
Purdue steamrolling Ohio State? No sir.
I don’t even know what you’re guessing for, I gave it away in the title of this blog. Old Dominion claimed their first conference victory of the season in an absolutely preposterous manner. Giving up the go ahead touchdown on the road with a minute and a half left is a backbreaker for teams that aren’t cut from the same cloth as Old Dom. Did they pout? Did they throw in the towel? Again, no, I said they won in the title of the blog. They march right back down the field and tie that sucker up, leaving a mere ten seconds on the game clock. Most teams would be content heading into overtime and duking it out from there. Western Kentucky probably should have run the “take a knee” play, but instead opted to go for it. Why? No idea. But they did.
Attempting a field goal over a Hail Mary is a wild move when your kicker very clearly is nowhere near his range. Did they just sign this kid before the game? There’s no way the coach knows who his kicker is if he was attempting bombs like this. Was he just banking on a series of penalties eventually giving them a chip shot with zero seconds left on the clock? That had to be it, right? Sadly for Western Kentucky, it was clearly in Old Dominion’s plans all along to commit not one, but TWO brilliant penalties, lulling WKU into a false sense of security that today was their night. That today they would be sipping from the chalice of victory.
Roughing the passer with zero seconds left forced WKU’s hand into even attempting the first field goal. Then, the real genius shone as Old Dominion sent 12 men out on the field, knowing good and well this kid had no chance at making this kick, the ol’ ball coach just wanted to see how short he would be. After realizing he wasn’t even in the same area code, he sent his defense out there with two adjustments for the second attempt: firstly, he only sent out 11 players this time. A dastardly move to say the least. Secondly, one of those 11 happened to be a return man, knowing WKU’s kicker was going to be shorter than Carrabis in quicksand. And that’s when all hell broke loose. A kick six appeared immanent but credit to Western Kentucky, they weren’t going down without a fight. Or leaving ODU’s kick returner with a severely injured neck. Face mask, game STILL can’t end on a defensive penalty no matter how many times these teams try, immediate chip shot for ODU, ballgame. Four plays in total with zeros on the clock. Mid-level college football at its absolute finest.