w michigan vs ball state

From the time of the snap until the moment the whistle blew, the play lasted 62 seconds. Perchance the final play of Ball Land'southward xxx-27 win over Western Michigan was the most bizarre finish we've seen in college football history. The ball was exchanged xvi times, the population of the field was over 100 people at its summit, and nobody knew who won for several minutes post-obit the decision of the play.

Hither's a full breakup of the madness which ensued Saturday in Muncie, IN:

No Hail Mary?

First off, Western Michigan snaps the ball on the final play of the game from its own 49-m line. Kaleb Eleby (#5) can sling it 51 yards with ease. Earlier this twelvemonth, head charabanc Tim Lester said of Eleby, "Arm strength wise, he'south every bit adept every bit I've ever had and information technology allows us to utilize the whole field, especially nowadays where defenses are picking and choosing what they're gonna take away, they know the like shooting fish in a barrel throws."

Western Michigan has the most talented receiving corps in the MAC. The Broncos likewise are equipped with a jump brawl specialist in 6'4" wideout Jaylen Hall. Going against the wind likely played a major factor, but the fact that they didn't elect to go for a Hail Mary here is jarring. Instead, they gave us arguably the most ridiculous, memorable lateral play in college football history.

Play groundwork

Western Michigan lines upwards in a traditional four verticals fix. D'Wayne Eskridge (#1) is the lonely receiver to the left. 3 receivers are spaced out to the right of the line — tight end Luke Sanders (#83), slot receiver Skyy Moore (#24), and wideout Jaylen Hall (#11), from left to right. Ball State counters with a iii-human being rush, a cornerback in press coverage on Eskridge, and vii defensive backs in deep zone.

Quarterback Kaleb Eleby, in shotgun side by side to running back La'Darius Jefferson (#three), handles the snap. Eskridge, Sanders, and Hall commit to running streak patterns for about seven yards, while Moore stays abode and remains in the vicinity of the line of scrimmage. The left and right tackles mishandle their assignments, merely fifty-fifty earlier the laissez passer rush gets to Eleby, he immediately directs his focus toward Moore and dumps off a screen pass.

The laterals gain steam

One thing to note — every Western Michigan player that touches the brawl pitches it rugby style, with the exception of two. Eleby and Moore throw their laterals like bodily quarterback passes. Moore, the original recipient of the laissez passer, was an all-conference high school quarterback at Shady Side Academy in Western Pennsylvania, and the quarterback background was evident on this play.

Anyway, Moore is the first recipient of the ball and has an entire pasture of running room to his right side. Given his speed, he could pick upwardly 20 yards in his sleep, potentially xxx with Hall serving as a lead blocker in front end of him. Instead, Moore immediately mails the brawl beyond the field to the running dorsum, Jefferson.

Swinging the ball to the left wasn't the most effective decision at the time due to Ball State'south college concentration of defenders on the weak side of the field, and upon seeing a defender in front of him, Jefferson chop-chop pitches information technology back to Eleby. Then, Eleby sends it dorsum to Moore while getting admittedly leveled for the first time in the play. Merely what happened next was surprisingly not disastrous.

A lineman enters the equation

Lateral plays usually become sideways when linemen go involved. This was non the case here.

Whether Moore's pass here — which was indeed a astern lateral because information technology was thrown from the WMU 49 and caught at the WMU 48 — was intended for baby-sit Mike Caliendo (#61) is yet to exist determined. Caliendo cuts in front end of Jefferson and makes an able-bodied take hold of at the 48-1000 line. A Ball State defender comes in with a full head of steam, but the All-MAC lineman efficiently pitches information technology dorsum to Eleby to keep the play afloat.

Western Michigan makes its but mistake

The adjacent two laterals just move Western Michigan increasingly afar from the original line of scrimmage. Eleby throws information technology to Sanders, who subsequently pitches it to Moore. Then Moore, with his high school quarterbacking abilities on full display, fires an impressive pass to Jefferson from far beyond the right hash to the reverse side of the field. Ane problem — Moore's throw originated from the WMU 33 and Jefferson corralled it at the WMU 34. A flag is thrown for an illegal forward pass, but information technology's probable that the 22 players on the field are unaware of the yellow laundry.

Moore was one one thousand away from another successful cross-field lateral pass, simply nevertheless, the sequence progresses. Jefferson, no stranger to giving upwards the ball instantaneously, pitches it back to Eleby, who gets clipped from backside. Information technology nigh becomes a running gag as Eleby goes to the footing for the second time in the play. Earlier his knees touch on the field, the quarterback gets a new thespian involved — Jaylen Hall, who receives Eleby's pitch at the Western Michigan 22-k line.

The ball is loose

Hall runs forward to about the 35-yard line so tosses it to Jefferson. The running back sends it back to Eleby, the same player he has targeted on each of his laterals. Eleby, facing a charging Brawl State defender, flings the ball backward toward Jefferson and misses him completely. The ball rolls back to the 19-k line, and the player in the well-nigh favorable position to recover the fumble is wearing black and cerise — Ball State within linebacker Jimmy Daw (#27). He dives over information technology, merely never really gains full control with his hands.

The field rush

Offensive tackle Mark Brooks (#60) bulldozes into Daw and the pigskin flies out from nether his body. Merely the instant before Brooks delivers the critical accident, Ball State'south players believe Daw recovered the fumble and ended the competition. The Cardinals' elated sideline, ecstatic after ending a streak of 6-directly losing seasons, stormed their domicile turf to celebrate their first MAC Championship Game appearance since 2008.

Except the play wasn't over. Eleby scoops up the loose ball at the 21-thousand line, runs forward six yards, and gets devastatingly trucked. Luckily, he was able to pitch information technology off to his tight finish Sanders earlier getting flattened to the ground. This time, Eleby's helmet flew off, and it is unknown whether he even got upwards again for the balance of the play.

Hither'due south a major consequence. The play is still thriving, the whistle has yet to be diddled, and there are roughly 100 Ball State players and staff members on the field. Some take their helmets on, some take their helmets off, and nobody knows who belongs on the field and what on world is going on. Almost members of the Cardinals roster only watch everything unfold with a front row seat to the action before halfheartedly jogging back to the sideline.

MAXIMUM CHAOS

Ane role player from the Ball State sideline makes contact with Sanders, considers tackling him, and so refrains. If you lot're wondering what happens in college football when a player on the sidelines makes a tackle, there'due south actually a precedent. In the 1954 Cotton Bowl Classic, Alabama's Tommy Lewis flew in from the sideline to tackle Rice running back Dicky Moegle at the 42-yard line. Moegle was rewarded a touchdown by the officials.

While information technology is unclear if Ball State was aware of that rarely utilized dominion, a helmetless Hassan Littles (#16) approaches Sanders, slows him down, and then chases him down while enthusiastically directing his teammates to brand a tackle. Two players that belong on the field, cornerback Amechi Uzodinma (#three) and outside linebacker Christian Albright (#ix), wrap up Sanders like they're recording a sack in the NFL Pro Basin, without serious intent to bring him down.

Several Western Michigan players and coaches stroll onto the field, and Sanders pitches it to Moore. One member of the Broncos' coaching staff acts like a third base omnibus and emphatically communicates to Moore to dart toward the end zone. Moore follows orders and runs 56 yards to the stop zone unobstructed.

The side judge and back judge put their hands upwards when Moore crosses the plane, signaling a Western Michigan walk-off touchdown. A successful touchdown stands every bit the official ruling before the penalty flag is addressed.

ESPN+ cuts out

How practise you add together chaos to THAT? Just cutting out the alive feed completely immediately after the touchdown.

Brawl State wins?

Well, subsequently most five minutes of not knowing who won the game, it was determined that one illegal forward laissez passer past Western Michigan prevented the almost cool lateral play from resulting in a touchdown. Ball Country, despite drawing arguably the greatest sideline interference penalty in history, still got to celebrate afterward downing Western Michigan, xxx-27, while punching a ticket to Detroit for the MAC Championship Game.

Source: https://www.hustlebelt.com/2020/12/15/22173662/ball-state-cardinals-western-michigan-broncos-lateral-play-fumble-field-rush-skyy-moore-maction

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