CFB MVP
Kansas' walk-on fullback Jared Casey (and his parents) won the college football weekend after stunning Texas
Unless it got close late, Texas vs. Kansas was never making TV1 on Saturday night, or TV2 for that matter. Unfortunately, as Texas fans came to find out, it got close, thus making it the main event on social media, where folks LIVE to watch programs like Texas crumble in real time, giving everyone something to collectively point and laugh at.
Of course, Texas didn't just crumble. This wasn't an eventually-flick-away-the-gnat type deal where Texas hung on to win 50-48 over the Jayhawks like they did in 2019. This was a "holy sh-t, we're about to lose to 1-8 Kansas as 31-point favorites" type deal. The worst kind imaginable for first-year head coach Steve Sarkisian.
After trailing by as many as 21 points, the Longhorns were able to find a way to tie the game at 49-49 and send it to OT, which would have been an embarrassing enough outcome even if they did win. Texas struck first in OT, taking a 56-49 lead, but Kansas responded immediately, making it 56-55 and setting up a decision - go for two and the win now or kick the extra point and move on to double OT. Being that the Jayhawks were 1-8, the decision was an easy one for head coach Lance Leipold.
So they went for it, with quarterback Jalon Daniels taking a shotgun snap and promptly facing pressure off the edge. He rolled out and launched one from back at the 18-yard line, connecting with Kansas walk-on fullback Jared Casey, who somehow got open, secured the catch and won the game for the Jayhawks:
Casey is obviously the hero here (Daniels too), and thus should win the college football weekend, but we have to bestow that honor upon his parents, who watched this madness unfold from the end zone at the other end of the field. Thankfully, Jared's brother Justin was filming the moment as it happened, and you can hear their parents find out in real time that it was Jared who hauled in the game-winner, and their reaction is absolutely priceless. Enjoy:
Yes mom and pops, that was, indeed, Jared. Goosebumps city. The only thing missing was Jared finding them in the stands and embracing them, which it appeared like he was trying to do. "THAT'S OUR SON! THAT'S OUR SON!" Hell yeah it is. Shout it from the rooftops, Mr. Casey.
The real play of the game came during the celebration, when Jared did the unthinkable. He went horns down. THE HORROR!!!
Legendary. According to Casey, he had never played an offensive snap for the Jayhawks until Saturday night, a result of starting Kansas tight end Mason Fairchild going down with an injury. In came Casey and the rest, as they say, is Kansas football history.
A Kansas kid catching a game-winner for Kansas against what's supposedly one of the most storied programs in college football history, with his family there to watch. Impossible to script this stuff.
Helmet Stickers
(In this section, we'll dole out helmet stickers for those who *almost* won the weekend.)
Five Helmet Stickers: THE BIG FELLA!
There is simply nothing in sports like a fat-guy touchdown. Did you see that dive for the pylon? Such grace. That big boy is Rutgers tackle Raiqwon O'Neal, who is 6-foot-4 and wighs 305 pounds. The Scarlet Knights went on to win this won 38-3, putting them one win away from getting back to a bowl game for the first time since the 2014 season. Head coach Greg Schiano might actually have the program going in the right direction, especially if his boys are pulling off perfectly-run fat-guy TDs.
Four Helmet Stickers: The no-shirt Hoosiers fan club
It pains us to dedicate two sections to this disgusting Big Ten football game, but this gaggle of dudes at the Indiana game who took their shirts off and made a little student section in the nosebleeds deserve some love. Trailing 17-0 against Rutgers at home, this was there way of attempting to turn the tide:
After a while, that section began to grow, as more and more frat stars realized they couldn't possibly miss out on a trend:
The final product was a hilarious scene that wound up looking pretty sad in retrospect considering Indiana's offense mustered up three total points in the game. Still, these guys gave it a good effort:
Three Helmet Stickers: Whoever was behind this camera
For those wondering, this is the reaction to the insane 62-yard field goal that Red Raiders kicker Jonathan Garibay connected on as time expired to give his team a 41-38 win over Iowa State. Chaos promptly ensued, and the person behind the camera here did a bang-up job at capturing it all and making it look like it was 10 times as crazy as it looked. Great sense for the moment by this mystery man/woman. Here's the actual kick itself from the broadcast:
By the way, count me on team "storm the field whenever you want," at least for the rest of this college football season (and for basketball season, too). It's technically not a "post-COVID" world, but obviously people are getting more and more comfortable with acting normal again and if these college kids want to go wild after being stuck inside for a year-plus they should have at it. You only go to college once, and a lot of kids currently in college may have had a whole year robbed from them. So yeah, if you want to storm the field after beating a 6-4 disappointment of an Iowa State team, storm the damn field.
Hometown call was a good one:
The year of the kicker continues.
Two Helmet Stickers: South Dakota
Incredible. After losing 10 straight to South Dakota State, South Dakota has now won the last two meetings, including this one on an epic last-second Hail Mary. Beating your rival is always sweet, but ripping their heart out like this is that much sweeter.
One Helmet Sticker: Wyoming with the backdoor cover of the century
Good teams win, great teams cover.
ZERO Helmet Stickers: Dan Mullen
As of now, Mullen still is the head coach at Florida, which may not have been the case had his Gators ended up losing to FCS Samford, which appeared to be very much in the cards when UF was down 42-28. They did come back to win 70-52, avoiding catastrophe.
Now, you'd think giving up half a hundy to Samford and barely eeking out a win would not be cause for celebration, but for introspection. Sure, it's already a lost season and now UF is just playing for a bowl game, so each win matters in that regard, but again, you're supposed to beat Samford. You're supposed to beat Samford by a lot of points, shake hands and move on to the next, far more important opponent. Mullen's Gators, however, partied like it was 1969 over beating Samford. A tough scene:
Just a hunch, but we don't think Alabama celebrated like this after beating New Mexico State on Saturday, and the Crimson Tide actually covered the 50-plus-point spread. Florida on the other hand is having a dance party over ending a brutal three-game losing streak against... Samford. Cannot stress the Samford part enough. #FireMullen is probably not the answer, but he is now 5-8 in his last 13 games as Gators head coach, and only two of those wins were against SEC opponents. That seat has got to be hotter than the Florida sun.