The art of faking out your own team

Minnesota intentionally confused its own offense ... and it worked! PLUS picking through the pieces of Hugh Freeze's doomed tenure, Gunner Stockton winning for his grandfather, and more!

Hey all, I know it’s Tuesday, but I have some thoughts on life, death, and college football:

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My favorite play of Saturday was Minnesota’s game-winner against Michigan State. The Gophers needed three yards, so they asked their 6-foot-5, 230-pound freshman quarterback to run 10 yards backwards, 25 yards towards the sideline, then 13 yards forwards.

AND IT WORKED!

Lindsey is not exactly a natural runner. He has negative-68 rushing yards on the year, and had negative-5 rushing yards against Michigan State. That’s why I rewatched the play over and over: I will always hit replay when you give me videos of oafs, galoots, and ents set loose.

And on rewatch #17 or so, I noticed something strange: Minnesota’s running back, Fame Ijeboi, didn’t exactly sell the fake. When Lindsey pulled the ball, Ijeboi turned around, as if he was startled, before taking off after Lindsay in a panicked sprint.

So I listened to PJ Fleck’s press conference. Sure enough, somebody asked him about the play, and he gave a very interesting answer.

Yeah, 24 Blast!

(Leaning forward, talking softly) Drake, keep it.

18 second mark on the play clock, Greg said (leaning forward, talking softly again) keep it.

PJ Fleck can be tough to understand — he’s a preposterously caffeinated man who speaks in catchphrases — so let’s translate.

The play call was 24 Blast, which is a run-of-the-mill run play. Notably, it is NOT a fake handoff. Different teams use different numbering systems, but in standard nomenclature, “24 Blast” is a play in which the running back takes the handoff and tries to hit the hole between the guard and the tackle. That’s the play that 10 of Minnesota’s players seemed to be running.

But according to Fleck, offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh (NOT related to the other Harbaughs, believe it or not) told Lindsey, via the one-way microphone inside the QB’s helmet, to keep the ball with 18 seconds left on the play clock. That’s riiiiiiight before the helmet communication system cuts off at the 15-second mark.

So the Gophers lined up for a standard run play, then the OC whispered in the quarterback’s ear at the last possible moment like a devil on his shoulder, telling him run this ridiculous, totally out-of-character play, without telling the other 10 guys on the field.

Was Minnesota’s decision to call a play that most of its players didn’t know it was running a “good” idea? Probably not. But it is one of the coolest playcalling stories you’ll ever hear!

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Of course, our friends at Homefield Apparel have the perfect shirt to celebrate Lindsey’s touchdown run. If you listen closely, you can hear Lindsey saying …

OPE! Let me squeeze right past ya …

Homefield has a full Minnesota collection. And because Minnesota has a great color scheme and its mascot is an adorable chipmunk-but-we’re-calling-him-a-gopher, Homefield crushed it.

But you really can’t beat the OPE! shirt, a celebration of Midwestern rushing excellence. It’s even autographed by Goldy!

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A thaw at Auburn

The Hugh Freeze era is over at Auburn, and with good reason. Freeze was 15-19 in three-ish years at Auburn. And although Freeze is ostensibly an offensive-minded coach, his team is currently 104th in scoring offense and just scored three (3) points in a loss to Kentucky.

Freeze’s hire was a bit of a “DEAD DOVE: DO NOT EAT” situation. All of his personality flaws and shortcomings were well known when Auburn took him on three years ago. He had a string of off-field scandals dating back to when he was a high school coach. He never showed personal growth, doing stuff like sending unsolicited messages to sexual assault victims during his tenure at Liberty. He was difficult to work with, and clearly preferred playing golf to doing his high-pressure job.

The flimsy logic that “justified” the hire was that Freeze could beat Nick Saban, as evidenced by Ole Miss’ two wins over Alabama in 2014 and 2015. That logic immediately became irrelevant when Saban retired after Freeze’s first year in charge at Auburn.

The Freeze hire was so ill-advised that it’s not particularly instructive to break it down. This isn’t 20/20 hindsight; we were trashing the Freeze hire as soon as it was made. (This is my post arguing that Auburn should’ve hired Deion Sanders instead — I stand by it!)

As college football heads towards a particularly unhinged coaching carousel, I just keep thinking: Do not hire people like Hugh Freeze. If a coach has a series of high-profile off-field scandals, do not hire them. If a coach is almost universally described as a bad person, do not sign them to a four-year, $50 million contract. If a coach has already been an embarrassment at a similar school to yours, you can find somebody better. If a coach is best known for a handful of fluky achievements from 10-plus years ago, they are probably not going to be the best person to thrive in an entirely different era of college football.

For much less money than a creepy retread, you could hire one of literally dozens of young, exciting coaches. Then all that money you save could go to the players, who you can actually pay now, and who have a much more direct impact on the success of your football team.

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You killed my grandfather, prepare to lose

Georgia beat Florida this week in Jacksonville behind a strong performance from quarterback Gunner Stockton, who noted before the game that the matchup holds a particular personal significance to his family: Stockton’s grandfather, Lawrence, died at the 2011 Florida-Georgia game, which the Bulldogs lost in overtime.

Really. Gunner’s grandfather died of a heart attack in the Jacksonville parking lot. According to his widow, he was venting about former Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham when he collapsed. All reports indicate that Lawrence was a good man who would have been incredibly proud to see his grandson leading the Bulldogs to a big win over the Gators. (He was also present at the infamous 1986 game, when Auburn police sprayed Georgia fans with hoses.)

That’s the thing about college football: We’re born with it, we live with it, and sometimes, we die with it. Safe to say, Gunner honored his grandfather well.

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Quick Hits

• Buffalo’s Red Murdoch became the all-time FBS leader in forced fumbles Saturday, passing Buffalo’s Khalil Mack. Buffalo is Fumble U! (But, like, in a good way.)

• I have spent the last few days trying to wrap my head around the fact that Syracuse — seemingly voluntarily — started a true freshman quarterback who was recruited to play on the school’s lacrosse team. The Orange started Joe Filardi, the #52 lacrosse prospect in the country, over multiple scholarship quarterbacks, and he went 4-for-18 passing for 39 yards against UNC. Head coach Fran Brown said he wanted to try something new after the team went 0-4 with backup QB Rickie Collins … but even a bad QB had to be a better option than the freshman lacrosse player! Syracuse fans are baffled.

• The nation’s leading receiver is San Jose State’s Danny Scudero, who had 215 yards and two touchdowns against Hawai’i. That is ridiculous, and so is the fact that last year’s leading receiver was also an Aztec Spartan. (Edit: whoops! Got my California based SXSU mascots named after ancient civilizations confused!) SJSU’s Nick Nash, who graduated after leading the nation in receptions, yardage, and touchdowns. What is even more ridiculous is that SJSU head coach Ken Niumatalolo famously spent most of his coaching career at Navy running an offense that barely throws the ball at all!