In its game Saturday, the University of Southern Mississippi had the ball third-and-goal on the 2-yard line. So quarterback Micky D’Angelo faked a handoff to the running back and then rolled left and into the end zone.
The only problem was the line judge completely bought the fake handoff and when the running back entered the end zone (without the football), the line judge blew the play dead and signaled touchdown — all a second or two before D’Angelo ended up, who actually had the football, rolled into the endzone.
I love the quarterback’s perspective from The Clarion Ledger (Mississippi),
“I was at the 4-yard line, and I looked over and there was the ref with his hands up,” said D’Angelo, who wound up plowing into Scherrens, sending the official sprawling to the turf and prompting a call for medical attention.
“I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute, I’ve got the ball.'”
Ultimately, the play was negated and USM was given the ball at the 2-yard line and forced to run a third down play again. USM failed to score a touchdown and ended up settling for a short field goal. Bizarre.
Source:
Odd play: Fake so good it cost TD Tim Doherty, November 10, 2002.