Bowl games are cool in part because they don’t mean that much. They’re chances for teams to have fun, to experiment, and to get in touch with their wild sides. Bowl games are like the college of college football.
This Hawaii fake punt is unlike any fake punt I’ve ever seen
This could’ve been the worst fake punt attempt in football history, except for one thing: It worked!
Exhibit A is this fake punt Hawaii used to set up a touchdown against Middle Tennessee in the Rainbow Warriors’ Hawaii Bowl victory on Saturday.
This is bonkers. Hawaii lined up a player seven yards behind its punter and a full 20 yards behind its long snapper on fourth-and-3. Snapper Noah Borden deliberately airmailed the ball over the head of punter Rigoberto Sanchez, and the snap flew to No. 10, receiver Makoa Camanse-Stevens. I have never seen this formation in my life.
Camanse-Stevens caught the snap, and would-be coverage man Ammon Barker (whose day job is wide receiver) shook a defender and caught a 21-yard pass for a first down. The Rainbow Warriors scored six plays later.
Clearly, Middle Tennessee was confused by this. Camanse-Stevens was shrugging his shoulders and looking generally nonplussed before the snap, and the Blue Raiders look like they bought it. And why not? There’s not supposed to be someone just chilling six yards behind the punter. That’s a fake no coaching staff is going to prepare for.
The play looked even better without Camanse-Stevens in the picture.
That’s not an excuse for Middle Tennessee, which should’ve seen him anyway. And at least one Blue Raider seemed not to be fooled, so maybe the Blue Raiders caught on, to some degree. But they still couldn’t stop it.
The final score would be 52-35, Hawaii. The ‘Bows completed a seven-win season that started with a road trip from hell and won their first bowl game since 2006.
See More:
