Some plays are worth waiting 20 years to call. Western Michigan’s Tim Lester displayed patience before finally sending in his secret play. The fake-spike worked as the Broncos stunned Toledo, 41-38, in the final seconds of MACtion Wednesday in Kalamazoo.
Setting the scene: Western Michigan trailed 38-28 with 2:54 left. The Broncos scored to draw within four but Thiago Kapps missed the PAT with 45 seconds remaining. That meant Western Michigan still needed a touchdown instead of a field goal to force overtime.
Time for the onside kick. Kapps’ kick is recovered by punter Nick Mihalic.
With the clock stopped momentarily for a first down with 20 seconds left, everything lined up for Lester, who had been awaiting this moment for decades. The final seconds started to tick as Western snapped the ball.
“We have two different plays like that. I’m not going to give you the names of them, but one’s supposed to look like spike it, and it’s pass, and one’s supposed to be a true spike it,” Lester said. “I told them at the beginning of the drive when they came up that I was going to use it and just reminded them of some of the key points, but we run that play every week.
Watch as Broncos quarterback Kaleby Eleby fakes the spike at the Toledo 9 and finds Jaylen Hall in the end zone, who was open by an entire county.
Western Michigan misses the PAT to take the lead then recovers the onside kick and then fakes the spike for a TD to win the game! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/8dQ3j5ATzx
— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) November 12, 2020
For those of you who wager on sports, this had to be the mother of all bad beats. The betting line entering the game was Toledo getting 2.5 points. So, if you went to sleep up 38-28, you woke up to find out the Rockets lost by three points after the PAT. Ouch.
The original fake-spike happened Nov. 27, 1994, when Dan Marino found Mark Ingram after baffling the New York Jets.
Marv Albert and Paul Maguire on the call for NBC:
Watch the entire Western Michigan comeback sequence: