What he ‘observed’ was this was the wrong play to run, so David checked out of it.
“Check! Check! … 98! 98!”
‘98’ told his team what formation he wanted. David stepped back and got into the shotgun as his two tight ends widened their stances. Chuy moved to a slot receiver position, leaving David as the lone person in the backfield.
What he’d done was ‘orient’ his troops to give USC an advantage. Now he could ‘decide’ to run the ball where he saw his best chance to gain the yard needed, or he could throw a pass.
Notre Dame had sold out on preventing the run, so David ‘decided’ to pass the ball.
“Trojan One! Trojan One!” he called.
This was one of the plays Bud Mason had come up with to take the top off the Notre Dame defense. With only two true defensive backs in the game, they would be hard-pressed to cover five receivers.
David ‘acted’ when he clapped his hands before Notre Dame could call a time-out.
The ‘observation’ and ‘orientation’ looped at that point.
David used his eyes to assess how his line was protecting him and what his receivers were doing, then would ‘orient’
his feet to either run or throw the ball.
Notre Dame’s linebackers dropped back into coverage, but they would have no bearing on the play because this was going to be a long ball; the USC receivers should be able to outrun them. The two safeties had half the field to cover deep, and when Bill hit the twenty-yard mark, he broke his route so he was now running a drag route over the middle. That drew their attention because they’d done their homework and knew he was David’s favorite receiver.
When the safety left of the ball moved to cover Bill, he turned his back to the Trojans’ other wide receiver, Craig Hendricks. That caused David to ‘decide’ and ‘act’ all at once. He threw a bomb to Craig toward the front pylon of
the end zone. This meant that only Craig could catch the ball since he was between the defender and the sideline.
The safety saw the ball launched into the air and realized his mistake. He had to turn around and try to run down USC’s streaking receiver. His only hope was that Craig would drop the ball.
David was buried, so he never saw what happened.
◊◊◊
“The ball is in the air …” Tom announced.
Everyone in the stadium gasped. They, like Notre Dame, thought the Trojans were going to run the ball.
The ball dropped right over Craig’s shoulder and into his hands. He bobbled it a bit but pulled it in and walked into the end zone. USC’s fanbase lost their minds when he scored.
“Touchdown, USC!” Tom yelled.
“Dawson changed the play and caught the Fighting Irish with their pants down. You can see Coach Brian frantically trying to call the time-out because he knew what was about to happen. USC simply had too many players deep.
“I tell you, that is a brave move by a freshman quarterback. I know that when I was his age, I would never have had the guts to make a decision like that. But he recognized they were gunning for him to run the sneak.
“I said it earlier. I thought David Dawson would be the wild card in this game, and he’s proving to be just that,”
Brett said.
USC kicked off to Notre Dame. They decided to run out the clock to regroup at halftime with the score 21–10 in favor of the good guys.
◊◊◊
During the third quarter, USC kicked a field goal, and Notre Dame scored a touchdown to make the score 24–17.
On the next possession, David handed the ball off to Marcus, who was hit at an odd angle, causing the ball to pop free. A Notre Dame defender picked it up and scored to tie the game at 24. That was how the third quarter ended.
◊◊◊
During the TV time-out, Coach Thomas brought the team together.
“Notre Dame is shitting themselves right now. They are one quarter away from losing their spot in the College Football Playoffs. If we can make that happen, we will become part of USC lore and become gods to our fanbase. I personally want to send them packing!”
The team roared their agreement.
Coach Thomas quickly gathered the offense.
“It’s time to unwrap the special plays. Let’s run them off the field.”
David couldn’t agree more.
◊◊◊
As the broadcast returned to the game, Brett and Tom had a moment to set the stage.
“Today, Michigan lost, and anyone watching college football right now is aware that the Irish are on the ropes.
If two of the top four teams go down, it will send the College Football Playoff selections into chaos. My guess is that every true football fan is tuned in to see what happens,” Tom said.
“I agree, but this is where Notre Dame’s running game wins it for them. USC has to figure out a way to stop the inside run if they plan to win, and I haven’t seen that yet today,” Brett said.
◊◊◊
David stepped out onto the field, feeling calm and confident as he fell into the zone. It was a state that blocked out everything except what was in front of him. He checked the defense and saw they were in their standard 4-2-5 alignment, showing zone coverage.
USC had Marcus and Chuy lined up on either side of David in the backfield.
“Set!” David called out and then clapped his hands.
Up until this point, when they called ‘set,’ USC had looked over at the sideline to see if another play was being called. Snapping the ball so soon caught the Irish moving people to react to USC’s alignment. Referring back to the OODA Loop, they called this getting into your opponent’s loop because you responded faster than they could, which gave you an advantage.
The play was an option where David had to make several reads. The first was whether he should hand off to Chuy, who would run up the middle. The second was when David ran down the line and had to decide whether he should toss the ball to Marcus. Another option was to pass the ball to Craig, who was running a deep slant. Finally, David could keep the ball himself.
When David ran down the line, he saw Bear demolish the Irish’s defensive tackle, who had containment on the play. David stepped around Bear and cut upfield. Marcus followed him and made himself available for the pitch.
When a linebacker got close, David tossed the ball to Marcus.
The linebacker raced to stop Marcus as two safeties closed in on him. Marcus glanced back and saw David had found open grass, so he tossed the ball back to his quarterback. David exploded upfield and ran seventy yards for a touchdown.
On the next series, Notre Dame handed the ball off to Jessup, their running back, who found a crease and was gone to tie the score at 31.
◊◊◊
With just over two minutes left in the game, the score was tied at 45 all. Notre Dame had to punt but had pinned the Trojans at their own two-yard line when their kick returner didn’t catch the ball and allowed it to roll inside the five-yard line. The plan had been to let it roll into the end zone, but it took a funny bounce and found its way out of bounds.
“What does USC need to do in this situation?” Tom asked.
“First, they must get out from under the shadow of their end zone. If they can get a few first downs, they can run out the clock and take their chances in overtime.”
“This just feels like one of those games where whoever has the ball last will win.”
“Neither defense has shown much in the fourth quarter, so it may come down to which one can make a stop,” Brett said.