For those of you that didn't see, Western Michigan beat Toledo last night in college football by running a fake spike play with 20 seconds left in the game. The team had just gotten a first down on a 18 yard pass play, and as the Broncos offense ran up to the new line of scrimmage at the 9 yard line, several players including the quarterback were yelling, "Spike it!"

Toledo's defense lined up, but anticipating a spiked pass by Western Michigan to stop the clock, they didn't really move after the snap. They were completely caught unaware when instead of spiking the ball, the Broncos quarterback first faked the motion of spiking the football, and then threw it to the wideout who had just strolled uncovered into the end zone and caught the pass without a single defender within 15 yards of him.

So last night following the game, I saw on Twitter where a Cincinnati sports reporter said the following:

"Ready for this hot take? The fake spike should be outlawed. Absolute bush league way to win a game. Abolish it at all levels."



What say you?

Here is the play leading up to the fake spike play, as well as the play itself.
 

 

Nope. I love it.

Defend the play.  Stay on your toes.  No excuses.  

I am all about them. I always root for it during games and love it when it happens.

That's a clownish take from the sportswriter... It's called gamesmanship. 

How is a fake spike any different from a play action pass?

That was just god awful defense.

5 minutes ago, NKYRaider said:

That was just god awful defense.

Right! He didn't even need to fake the spike, he could have just raised up and thrown it out there. 

I don't have any trouble with it.

I'm old enough to remember when Dan Marino did this with the Dolphins. First time I had seen it done.

I don't have a single problem with it, but...that means the offensive line and the qb can't get all huffy about a d-lineman blowing them up when they actually DO spike it.  And there absolutely can't be any penalties because of that, then. 

If you (as the rules committee) are telling the defense that they shouldn't take any plays off, then you can't "protect" the offensive players when they're the ones taking a play off (by spiking it).

Just now, CincySportsFan said:

I don't have a single problem with it, but...that means the offensive line and the qb can't get all huffy about a d-lineman blowing them up when they actually DO spike it.  And there absolutely can't be any penalties because of that, then. 

If you (as the rules committee) are telling the defense that they shouldn't take any plays off, then you can't "protect" the offensive players when they're the ones taking a play off (by spiking it).

I agree. I think people get too caught up in penalties in these situations anyway. As long as it isn't dirty, who's to say the QB doesn't drop the snap when attempting this and by the defense playing normal they can recover the fumble? 

1 minute ago, TheDeuce said:

I agree. I think people get too caught up in penalties in these situations anyway. As long as it isn't dirty, who's to say the QB doesn't drop the snap when attempting this and by the defense playing normal they can recover the fumble? 

Just thinking about it, I'd love to see a NT blow a center up so bad that he gets pushed back into the QB's spike trajectory, and then have a penalty thrown against the offense for an ineligible player being the first to touch the pass.  But, it'll never happen, as there seems to be some sort of unwritten rule or a gentleman's agreement on what's allowed at that time.

8 minutes ago, CincySportsFan said:

I don't have a single problem with it, but...that means the offensive line and the qb can't get all huffy about a d-lineman blowing them up when they actually DO spike it.  And there absolutely can't be any penalties because of that, then. 

If you (as the rules committee) are telling the defense that they shouldn't take any plays off, then you can't "protect" the offensive players when they're the ones taking a play off (by spiking it).

Right, every play should be a 100%.

I have no problem at all with this play or fake spike plays.

 The play I'm having a problem with in today's football is quarterbacks acting like they might run out of bounds or slide and then continuing to run the ball. The defenders are afraid to hit them and quarterbacks are taking advantage of it. Sometime in the near future we are going to see a play where a quarterback fakes like he's running out of bounds and then runs for a score past a defender who is afraid of getting  a penalty if he touches the QB