Cool, weird play in Georgia State’s 21-13 win against South Alabama on Thursday:
This offensive line froze completely on a TD pass. This is probably why.
It’s a clever way to make sure refs get a call right.
ESPN
With the Panthers trying to add to an eight-point lead in the fourth quarter, a South Alabama defensive end jumps offside. GSU immediately snaps the ball, setting up a free play. It’s third-and-goal, and the worst that can happen to the Panthers now is a penalty for half the distance to the goal and a repeated play. The offensive line stays entirely still aside from the center snapping, and quarterback Conner Manning immediately rolls out and throws a touchdown to receiver Penny Hart.
So why are all of GSU’s offensive linemen just not moving? It’s likely to make sure the officiating crew made the right call: offside or a neutral zone infraction on South Alabama, not a false start against Georgia State. Because none of GSU’s offensive linemen so much as flinches, it’s abundantly easy to make the right call on USA.
Tennessee pulled something like this against Florida in 2013.
“The rationale is we don’t want to give any doubt to the officials as to who jumped offside, also, to a certain extent, it catches the defense off guard,” then-Tennessee offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian explained at the time.
Georgia State offensive coordinator Travis Trickett’s dad, Rick, has employed the same strategy at Florida State, where he’s the offensive line coach, and at West Virginia before that.
Maybe there’s some worry that by not moving, the offensive line is affording the defensive end a free shot at the quarterback. But officials often blow the play dead before an offside defender has an overtly free shot at a QB, and in this case, the end was clearly trying to get back to the right side of the line, anyway.
See More:
