[Sun Tzu]

With my starting QB out, and my starting HB banged up, Stanford hosted USC and wasn't expecting the greatest results. We traded blows, and I witnessed a good amount of "wtf?" moments throughout the first 3 quarters...dropped wide open passes, fumbles inside the 5 yard line, and super human feats to get a first down on 3rd and long.

When USC went up by a TD on the last play of the 3rd quarter, I started to think that there was no way it was going to let me win this game. Too many crazy things had gone wrong, too many balls had bounced in their favor, but on the very first play of the drive my HB took a screen pass, followed his blockers, broke one tackle and ran 80 yards for a TD. We stopped them on their next drive, and then drove down the field punching it in with just over 3 minutes left. Unfortunately, USC wound up tying it up with just over 2 minutes left. My next drive went 3 and out (ugh...with a chance to go up too)...and USC burned up one timeout. So now USC has a chance to win the game...the ball is in their court. So...they take the punt to their own 30, and drove down the field hitting clutch play after clutch play to the 26 or 27...great now their in field goal range, and on third down I got my only sack of the game to drop them back to the 35. So, they try the field goal from 52 yards out to go up by 3 with about :50 left in the game. The kick is long enough...looks good...looks good...but it JUST misses to the right. So, I take over with about 45 seconds left on my own 42 yard line and all 3 timeouts. My kicker has a great leg, so I know if I can get to the 35 or 36 and center it then I should be able to kick the game winner. I drive down little by little, using up timeouts along the way...but saving one for "just in case". I get to the 40 yard line, it's 3rd and short, and there's :12 left in the game. I throw to my HB over the middle who is absolutely wide open, but as usual the game says "nuh uh uh" and the throw is 5 yards off to the left...right at one of their LB's. "here we go" I think as soon as I see the trajectory of the pass, but my HB adjusted very well, and jumped in front to snag the pass and get blasted as soon as he caught it. Amazingly he held on.

So, now there is :07 left, I'm on the left hashmark, with about a 42 yard field goal to win it. USC burned their last timeout to ice my kicker, which isn't usually a big deal, but on a long kick from the far outside hashmark, it can be difficult. So, I aim, and kick...but it's too far left. Well...at least at first...it's a good thing it's a long kick because the ball starts inching right...little by little, and by about 3 centimiters the kick skirts past the left upright and is good. So, this puts me up by 3 with :02 left in the game. You can imagine that now I'm thinking "I have to kick it off to them now...ok catch-up code lets see what you've got for me now". They took the kick to the 25 and were greeted by several defenders, and Stanford preserved it's undefeated season for one more week.

Final Score
#6 USC - 42
#2 Stanford - 45

Next week is a very tough game against EF27 and his Huskies.