USC-Troy sequence featured 3 fumbles, overturned TD and bevy of baffled onlookers
David Spaulding could only smirk. Shane Beamer said he aged 40 years. Josh Vann flung his arms in every which direction to try and diagram what he just watched.
The first play of Saturday’s fourth quarter that included a strip, three fumbles, a 62-yard touchdown return, a video review, an overturned call and a touchback took up 357 characters, 66 words and five lines of text in the game’s final stat sheet.
It left just about everyone involved in South Carolina’s 23-14 win over Troy speechless.
“That was like the longest play in the history of college football with the way it happened,” Beamer said through an ear-to-ear grin.
Safety Jaylan Foster wouldn’t divulge state secrets, but said the play defensive coordinator Clayton White called on third-and-9 from the South Carolina 18-yard line had been drawn up and installed this week.
As Troy quarterback Taylor Powell dipped back and called for the snap, Foster crept toward the line. Trojans left tackle Austin Stidham promptly dipped inside and matched up on Gamecocks defensive end Aaron Sterling. Foster ran free.
Slamming into Powell, Foster jarred the ball loose. Outside linebacker Damani Staley — who returned an interception 63 yards for a score against East Carolina three weeks ago — scooped up the sputtering football and began to scamper toward midfield.
As Staley began his trot, receiver Josh Vann began to run on the sidelines. The groin ailment that limited Vann Saturday didn’t matter in the moment. He was heading toward the end zone to celebrate.
Staley dodged one tackler. Two more piled onto his back. He stumbled toward the ground. The ball came free again. The game of pinball persisted.
“I’ll be honest with you, I was just excited that I knocked the ball out,” Foster said as a wry smile graced his face when asked what he saw on the 16-second play. “I thought Damani had just fallen on it and I look up and I see Jahmar running with it toward the end zone I was like, ‘Oh, jump! He’s still running!’
Six minutes after being credited with a blocked punt, safety Jahmar Brown scooped up Staley’s fumble and slipped into the open field.
Vann continued to run. Those on the South Carolina sideline ran with him. Towels around Williams-Brice stadium whipped in a frenzy.
Brown was gone. Not just gone. He was off to the races and then some.
“I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen a play like that,” Vann said laughing. “...I’m like right there where Damani gets the ball, then the ball came out and the only thing I see is J-Brown running with the ball.”
Brown neared the goal line, flipped the ball up into the air and looped in an L-shape off the “O” in “Gamecocks” emblazoned on the turf in the south end zone as he ran back toward the South Carolina sideline.
Defensive tackle Jabari Ellis greeted Brown with a slap of the backside. Freshman running back Juju McDowell rushed across the painted lines of the players box before Beamer sprinted 30 yards down the bench to pull him back.
Some paint on the grass sure as hell wasn’t going to stop McDowell. His head coach only slowed him ever so slightly from greeting Brown.
Only a whistle and subsequent call for a video review stopped the celebration.
Beamer after the game told reporter the officials wanted to check if Staley’s knee was down. His coaches up in the box had another message for him: It looked like Brown dropped the ball before he crossed the goal line.
The line in the NCAA rule book is technically titled Section 2 Article 1.a. It reads that a touchdown is scored when, “A ball carrier advancing from the field of play has possession of a live ball when it penetrates the plane of the opponents goal line.”
Brown, though, never penetrated the goal line. Instead, he dropped the ball before crossing the plane and it rolled into, then out of, the end zone. What was originally credited as a 62-yard return became 61 yards on the official stat sheet and a USC fumble at the 1-yard line. Troy was awarded possession on a touch back.
The 60,686 garnet and black-clad fans at Williams-Brice Stadium erupted in disapproval as the points were peeled off the scoreboard.
“Talk about emotional roller coaster,” Troy head coach Chip Lindsey said later. “Went from mad to relief and what is it going to be?”
Lindsey has a point. Football always has an ebb and flow, a push and pull. It’s equal parts beautiful and bonkers.
College football gives us highlight-reel snags, like Jalen Brooks’ one-handed catch at Georgia. It offers us dramatics, like Parker White’s game-winning field goal at East Carolina. Saturday, South Carolina and Troy gifted onlookers some pure, unfettered madness in 16 seconds, 357 characters, 66 words and five lines of text.
What could be better?
This story was originally published October 2, 2021 at 10:38 PM with the headline "USC-Troy sequence featured 3 fumbles, overturned TD and bevy of baffled onlookers."
