To quote one of my favorite movies, Dodgeball: “It’s a bold strategy, Cotton, let’s see if it pays off for em.” In the first quarter of the Quick Lane Bowl between Duke and Northern Illinois, the Huskies were facing their third three-and-out of the game, already down 7-0. Setting up to punt on fourth-and-18, out of nowhere, NIU opted to fake the punt from its own end zone. As you can suspect, it went rather poorly.
NIU faked a punt from their own end zone ON 4TH-AND-18. It did not work
Oh no, baby, what is you doing?
As a result, Duke got the ball back at the NIU 11-yard line, and the Blue Devils’ offense was able to easily score four plays later, giving Duke a 14-0 lead. Whether this was the NIU punter’s decision or the special teams coordinator, they aren’t gonna forget making that risky call anytime soon, to say the least.
Believe it or not, we’ve seen this same exact decision be made before. Earlier this season, BYU attempted a fake punt from its own end zone against LSU, and it ended equally as badly as NIU’s.
Oh, and this was somehow even worse than BYU’s terrible fake punt from the 2016 season.
God bless you, teams who keep calling fake punts from their own end zones. Please keep trying them.
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