We've seen it happen too many times -- the double-pass is well-covered, and the skill position player tasked with throwing the ball downfield is in no way equipped with the quarterback instincts necessary to admit defeat and either tuck and run or throw the ball away. If a trick play like that hasn't already worked by the time the ball reaches whoever is playing the Bud Sasser role, it's probably doomed to not only fail, but fail in disastrous fashion.
So I think my reflexes were justifiable. But my reflexes were not tuned to account for either the quality of Bud Sasser's arm or the zone in which L'Damian Washington found himself for most of the afternoon. Sasser threw an absolutely gorgeous ball (for a receiver), and Washington made a ridiculous catch while getting positively mauled by Shaq Wiggins in the end zone.
(We're all in agreement that the back judge was simply playing "advantage" on that play, like in soccer, right? Like, if the pass had fallen incomplete, he'd have definitely thrown a flag, right? Right? Tell me I'm right because, wow, did Washington get mugged. And he caught it anyway.)
The Missourian: Missouri football silences Bulldogs fans with trick play, upsets Georgia 41-26
The Tigers call it "Colt 45." Quarterback Maty Mauk threw the ball to wide receiver Bud Sasser, who scrambled toward the sideline, red jerseys closing in on him. L'Damian Washington was streaking down the sideline, covered tightly by Georgia cornerback Shaq Wiggins.
With each millisecond that Sasser held the ball, Henson's nerves heightened. Then the wide receiver became a quarterback, leaning back and lofting a wobbly pass through the air toward Washington, who was a few strides from the end zone.
Washington was surprised to see the ball coming toward him, but he trusted it would get there. He jumped in the air, accompanied by Wiggins, and out-muscled the cornerback for the ball, hitting the grass with his second touchdown of the day and the decisive play in Missouri's 41-24 win over No. 7 Georgia.
"Fourteen things could go wrong," Henson said. "They all flashed through my head right after I called the play. It's a dangerous call."
"But I felt like we had to be aggressive to score and go win the game."
Henson didn't look like an idiot. Instead, he was a genius for wanting to call something different, simply because they wanted different results.
"It's a great call, because it worked," Missouri coach Gary Pinkel joked after the game.
PowerMizzou: A score and a stand
"Yeah, it's a dangerous call," Henson said. "Second and two. If you lose yardage or somebody comes off -- but I felt like we had to be aggressive to try to go score and win the game.
"Credit to Coach Washington, he talked me into running it."
"Colt 45" is the play call. Three receivers lined up toward Missouri's sideline, bunched. Mauk threw a long lateral to Bud Sasser. Sasser, eligible to throw the ball, looked downfield and saw Washington in single-coverage on Georgia freshman cornerback Shaq Wiggins.
It didn't fool Georgia. Wiggins ran with Washington. He was the only read on that play. But during the week, Sasser told Washington that he would make the throw if he saw single coverage.
"You even with anybody, I'm gonna throw you the ball," Washington remembered Sasser saying. "He was like, 'I know you're gonna beat him.'"
"I don't know if I beat the guy. I was a little bit behind him or whatnot. It was just a great throw by Bud."
"Bud just trusts L'Damian, that's what, he trusts him, because he'll go get it," Pinkel said.
Everybody in this fan base should trust L'Damian Washington at the moment.