In Reply to: Receiver (TE?) was open in Cal's End Zone but Nico lofted the ball... posted by Born2BBruin on September 15, 2026 at 11:32:28
There were all kinds of things wrong with that play.
First, you have two downs to make 2 yards, but TD machine Wayne Knight not only does not get the ball, he's not even on the field.
Second, the receiving options on the primary side of the field are 1) Thomas, 2) Shane Rosenthal, and 3) Jalen St. Paul, the latter two having never caught a pass in college prior to this game.
Third, St. Paul comes open, but very late in the play, and after Nico has already decided to toss it back over the defense to Brayden Loftin, who caught 6 passes last year at Kansas St.
Not only can I not believe they ran that play, but I can't understand why they would ever let Nico even think throwing the ball over the back that late in the play was even an option.
Just like with the INT vs. cal, the best play was to just throw the ball away.
My read on it is that Kennedy desperately wanted to get Nico a passing TD, at the expense of common sense.