“USC was your third choice?”
He gave her a wan smile.
“I guess you could say that. If I’d known I was on my own from the beginning, I probably would’ve ended up at Ohio State,” David shared. Then he added, “But the place I fell in love with was Kentucky. They have a gorgeous campus.”
“What do you think of USC now?” Mrs. Macklin asked.
“We will win a national championship next year. USC is on the precipice of rejoining the top programs across the country. I plan to leave a legacy of success, and I want to turn the keys over to Colt when I’m done.
“Colt would be playing just thirty minutes from your home, and USC provides one of the best educations in the country. If I were him, I would accept USC’s offer and end his recruitment so he can enjoy his junior and senior years.
They have a long history of getting quarterbacks to the NFL, and I’m sure Colt will be one of them,” David said.
“I can see why they have you talk to recruits,” Mrs.
Macklin said.
David chuckled.
“This is my first group. Please let Bryant know I’ve done a good job,” David half-joked.
While they waited, they got to know each other better.
When Colt returned, his mom dragged him and his dad off for a quick word. Colt gave him the thumbs-up when he returned.
◊◊◊
David took his charges to his parents’ tailgating tent, and Duke bounded over the fence to say hello to all the little ones. David left the recruits in his parents’ charge as he changed to dad mode and spent time playing with his
children. His mom finally saved him so he could down a couple of brats before he had to go to the team locker room.
His recruits and their parents had seats in the VIP
section behind the bench. His parents made their way to their box seats. When you had five kids under the age of three, it was best to have them in a confined area, or they would be wandering everywhere.
David went to the locker room, where the team was preparing for the game. He and the other injured players, and those who weren’t dressing, walked out to the sideline to watch the pregame festivities before the team came out.
David looked into the stands, and the crowd was similar to what he would expect at State back home. The combination of it being a Friday-night game and USC’s shaky start—losing back-to-back games to Stanford and Texas—hurt the attendance.
Matt had asked him for advice for the game in the quarterback room, and David responded, “Run the damn ball.”
Washington State had a high-powered passing offense that put up a lot of points. What they didn’t have was a defense. David’s suggestion was based on USC’s strong running game, with Marcus Eshete leading the way. If they ran the ball, it would take time off the clock, keeping Washington State’s offensive juggernaut off the field.
It looked like his team had taken his advice when USC
scored their first touchdown. The drive took only five running plays, the highlight being Marcus’s fifty-yard run off right tackle. After only two minutes, USC was up 7-0.
After receiving the kickoff, Washington State threw five incompletions in six plays and had to punt.
USC got the ball back on their twenty-four-yard line. The key play on their drive was Matt being sacked for a nine-yard loss. He got up rubbing his shoulder, which had the team’s medical people in a frenzy.
After just one completion, Washington State got good field position and kicked a field goal to make it 7–3.
USC and Washington State traded touchdowns on the following three possessions to put Washington State up 17–
14.
That was when a pivotal moment in the game occurred.
USC was driving down the field when Matt tossed the ball to Marcus, but Matt had turned the wrong way. He made up for his mistake by recovering the football, but they’d lost seventeen yards on the play. A short punt—USC missed Knackers—put Washington State in good field position.
Eleven plays later, they scored again to go up 24–14.
At that point, the boo birds came out.
That was when Matt turned his season around. Instead of getting down on himself, he orchestrated a twelve-play series with only a minute thirty-nine left in the half. USC
worked their way down to the Washington State eight-yard line so Alex could kick a twenty-six-yard field goal with no time left on the clock. That made it 24–17.
Matt spent halftime having his shoulder checked out. He came out bouncing around like he could take on the world.
David recognized it for what it was: they’d shot him up with painkillers. He knew because they’d done something similar for him in high school after his car accident so he could get back onto the field.
The danger was Matt could get a serious injury and not know it. He looked at Coach Stackhouse and saw the frown on her face. She glanced over at David, and he grimly shook his head ‘no.’ To his disappointment, Amy looked down at the ground and didn’t say anything.
The second half was a shoot-out as neither defense helped their team until Todd, their new star linebacker, made a play. USC had just gone up 39–36 in the middle of the fourth quarter. Washington State crossed the fifty-yard line and was almost in field goal range when Todd flushed
their quarterback from the pocket and tackled him for a loss.
The Cougars brought in their field-goal unit and missed the kick wide right.
Matt was hit hard after a pass on the next series and went down and didn’t get up. It looked to be his shoulder again. He was helped off the field, and Jaden Ponder came in. During spring ball, his throws seemed to sail over the receivers’ heads. It hadn’t improved much in the fall, so USC was forced to run the ball.
Recognizing that the Trojans wouldn’t pass, Washington State put eight men in the box to stop the run. It worked because USC had to punt.
They got a good punt for once, and Washington State had to start their drive at their own twenty-six with five minutes left.
What made the Cougars so dangerous was that their head coach taught their quarterbacks to not throw to receivers but to open spaces on the field. Their receivers ran to the opening and got the ball. It was a difficult offense to defend against because they threw to where you weren’t.
Washington State’s quarterback began to pick the USC
secondary apart. They moved the ball to USC’s twenty-one-yard line with just a minute to go. It was fourth down and six. The field goal was the safe option, and with Jaden at quarterback, Washington State had to feel good about their chances in overtime.
If David were the coach, he would have gone for it because USC hadn’t shown they could stop them. He would’ve gambled for the win because winning on the road was hard. But he wasn’t paid to make that decision, and the Washington State coach decided to kick the field goal.
The ball was on the right hash mark. David noted that USC had put Percy in the guard-center gap because he was USC’s best rusher. When the kicker lined up, USC called
time right before the snap. If they hadn’t, they would’ve been tied since the Washington State kicker kicked it anyway, and the ball had gone straight through the center of the uprights.
USC put in both Willy and John to bracket Percy. Their job was to drive the Washington State linemen back so that Percy might have a chance to go untouched through the gap. On the snap, David held his breath.