On this one, we're going to spare Charlie Weis a mention of the "decided schematic advantage" quote.
We're not going to bring that up because there is, we'll concede, a reasonable level of doubt as to who, precisely, is to blame for this.
As you can see, Weis' Jayhawks were backed up against their own goal line in the first half of a 10-10 game at home against Texas Tech. If there was a scale that measured when it was a good time to fake a punt, this would have been all the way over to the left, at The Worst.
Exacerbating the decision was the design. There was none. It looked like the idea was to snap it to the punter and just have him run for it while nobody was looking.
@rustindodd @tullycorcoran it looks like when I decide to try a fake punt in NCAA Football.
-- Matthew Ruder (@billikenhawk) October 5, 2013
But the Red Raiders were looking and two plays later they scored a touchdown. The next time you looked, Texas Tech was up 27-10.
There are those who think punter Trevor Padula caught a whiff of glory and decided to run for it and others who suspect the play call gave Padula freedom to fake if he saw the right thing.
Because the alternative -- that Charlie Weis made the worst call in the history of football -- is too difficult to believe. Charlie will do some wild stuff, and Charlie might be getting a little desperate, but this? Take another look at the play in its entirety.
Surely he's not capable of this.
Is he?
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