Former University of Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli gets cleared on Friday to play for the University of Mississippi, only to see his new team lose its home opener…to Jacksonville State?
Masoli was dismissed from a team he guided to a Pac-10 title and the Rose Bowl, and found himself in jeopardy of being forced to sit out a season per NCAA transfer rules. However, he has his degree from Duck Nation, did not “transfer” per say, and apparently only moved to Oxford, cleared to play the night before the Rebels home opener.
Saturday rolls around, and by the late afternoon, the Rebels are 0-1, and Masoli is probably wishing the NCAA had forced him to sit this season out.
The FCS Gamecocks defeated the Rebels in a remarkable comeback win, 49-48, in double overtime that stunned the Oxford faitful Saturday afternoon.
The Rebels led 24-3, and appeared to be cruising in what was supposed to be a warm-up game against an FCS foe. But just ask the 2007 Michigan Wolverines how that turned out. Appalachian State stunned the college football world then, and now it was the Gamecocks turn to do it in 2010.
The Gamecocks coverted on a fourth and long, scoring a touchdown with under twenty seconds left to cut the lead to two points. Two-point conversion to send it into overtime. No problem.
Fourth-and-fifteen in double overtime. That was easy too. True freshman Coty Blanchard threw a strike to the endzone that left a Gamecock receiver displaying his ballet skills, as he dipped one foot in bounds to cap off the third do-or-die play of the game.
With all the momentum on their side, why not go for two to win it all. In case you did not know, it is only in the third overtime that teams must go for two. But the Gamecocks had something else on their mind: a victory over an FBS foe, better yet, an FBS foe from the SEC.
Blanchard showed off his athleticism weaving between Rebels defenders and throwing a little floater to the Gamecocks running back Calvin Middleton, who dove into the end zone to give the Gamecocks the improbable victory.
That’s right folks. Ole Miss is 0-1, and will go down as another team that lost to an FCS opponent.
I admire the Gamecocks for going for two to win it all. As an FCS team, you really have nothing to lose. Here are your options in that situation: either fail to convert, and lose a game you were expected to lose, or convert, and win a triumphant and historical victory for your program.
So the small historically black school from Alabama knocks off the Rebels of Ole Miss. Boise State went for two to beat the Oklahoma Sooners in the 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, Central Michigan went for two last year to beat the Michigan State Spartans, and now the Jacksonville State Gamecocks go for two to beat the Rebs.
What a game, and an inspiration to the underdogs of the world that rise from the bottom and as Benjamin Disraeli famously said, …”climbed to the top of the greasy pole.”
The Gamecocks not only climbed to the top of that greasy Oxford pole, but claimed the stake and permantently administered a place in history as the team that beat the Ole Miss Rebels, on the road.
Well played Jacksonville. Time will only tell when another underdog will find a way to climb to the top of a greasy pole.