It could have been Kirk Cousins. It probably SHOULD have been Kirk Cousins. Towards the end of the Outback Bowl, when the pressure was on, the Spartans' quarterback made some horrible throws. At times, it seemed like he forgot which color jersey he was supposed to aim at.
Had the Georgia Bulldogs even slightly taken advantage of those mistakes, Michigan State would have lost the game, and Cousins would have had a very long plane ride back to East Lansing. Once there, he likely would have hung his head in shame, holed-up for a while, contemplated how he never won a bowl game in his career, and wondered how far his NFL draft status just dropped. Poor devil.
But it wasn't Cousins. He lucked out. Michigan State won the game. He'll be partying on the plane with his coaches and teammates, get a hero's welcome in East Lansing, finish out his senior year as a BMOC, and likely see his future NFL stock go up a couple points.
MSU head coach Mark Dantonio can hoist the trophy, smile for the cameras, and blather on all he wants about a stout defense, trick plays, the will to win, and anything else he can think of, but even though he'll never admit it, he knows what it all came down to in the end.
Georgia's field goal kicker. That guy had a chance to win it with a 30-some yard field goal. Kids in high school routinely kick them longer than that. The Bulldogs even wasted a down to get the ball smack-dab dead center in the field. Good snap. Good hold. The game should have been over. Nope. Wide right. More overtime.
A while later he had yet another chance to tie it with a medium range field goal to force even more overtime. Good snap. Good hold. Low kick. Blocked. NOW the game is over. He and his teammates hang their heads, and slowly trudge back to the locker room.
The actual flight time from Tampa back to Athens, Georgia probably isn't much more than an hour, but I've got a hunch that will be the longest plane ride of that kid's life. He has to go back on campus himself, and suffer through all the whispers and sideways glances that will inevitably come. BMOC will likely take on another meaning. Botched Most (of) Our Chances. Poor devil.
By a couple quirks of fate, one guy winds up a hero and the other a goat. Maybe it's destiny, or perhaps just luck.
Speaking of Luck, Andrew's ran out in the Fiesta Bowl later on. More specifically, Stanford's kicker's. He missed two of them also in the late stages of the game. Stanford probably should have won. Instead, Oklahoma St. celebrates.
Not sure about poor devils, but I'm thinking that's a Cardinal sin.
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