Curt McKeever: The art of the trick play

Bo Ruud sat in his hotel room half bored, watching college football on TV while waiting for Nebraska to leave for its game at Iowa State.

Three weeks later, something about what he’d seen on the tube screamed at the NU linebacker when Texas came to the line for a third-and-goal play from the NU 5-yard line.

“I had no idea what they were doing, because they quick-set us and they quick-snapped it,” defensive end Jay Moore said of the play the Longhorns ran on their first series. “Thank God for Bo. ... I don’t know exactly how it (was run), but Bo sniffed it out.”

Texas’ attempt at trickery went something like this: Quarterback Colt McCoy took a snap and then intentionally fumbled the ball before taking off down the line. Jordan Shipley, lined up in the backfield closest to McCoy, then reached down and was going to take off the other way for what the Longhorns hoped would be an easy touchdown.

Instead, he was stopped by Ruud for no gain, and Texas had to settle for a field goal.

“That was the play that Arkansas used against Auburn and (Bo) called out ‘Arkansas! Arkansas!’, starts going to the weak side (and) knew where it was going,” Huskers coach Bill Callahan said. “It was really amazing.”

Ruud’s heads-up play also illustrated how tough it is to recognize plays Callahan refers to as “specials.”

Had Ruud not remembered watching Arkansas execute the same play, Texas might have gotten the same result.

“It’s almost lucky that he saw that play somewhere,” Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor said. “I wouldn’t know what to expect out of a play like that.”

Of course, that’s exactly why Taylor enjoys being the initiator of such plays — and why he’d like to try another when the Huskers face Oklahoma State today.

Last week, NU’s offense ran its first two specials of the season on a series that gave the Huskers a fourth-quarter lead against the Longhorns.

On a first-and-10 play from the Nebraska 41-yard line, receiver Frantz Hardy gained 13 yards on a double reverse. Two snaps later, Taylor handed off to Marlon Lucky on what looked like a “Student Body Right” run, but Lucky pulled up and found receiver Nate Swift behind the defense for a 25-yard touchdown pass.

“You get a little excited,” Taylor said of getting a play call like that from the sideline. “Honestly, when they called that, you kind of got the feeling, ‘This might be the play that kind of sets us up top.’ Obviously, it worked, so, yeah, it was a gutsy play call and it was called exactly at the right time.”

But if it doesn’t work, “then, you don’t look like the great coach that everyone thinks you are,” Taylor added.

Overall, NU is 4-for-4 on gadget plays this season. The other two were called out of special-teams formations.

On the second series at Southern California, facing a fourth-and-2 from the NU 38-yard line, punter Dan Titchener and receiver Todd Peterson pulled off a 28-yard pass play out of a punting formation.

At Kansas State, after lining up for an opening-drive field goal on fourth-and-8 from the Wildcats’ 17, holder Jake Wesch came out of his stance and hit wide-open tight end Hunter Teafatiller for a touchdown.

“You practice during the course of the week,” Callahan said. But “there are times you may have specials in your bag and never call one, because it’s not the right opportunity, the right situation, the right look.”

And creating the perfect setup can be a lot trickier than it may seem.

“I think they are just educated decisions that you feel the way somebody’s playing something — whether it’s a particular formation, or what not — you have an opportunity to take advantage of it,” Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops said. “Sometimes, somebody’s just overzealous or maybe reckless, whether it’s coming to block something, and you take advantage of that by their being a little bit overaggressive.”

Like Kansas State did on its second series against the Huskers. Facing a fourth-and-3 from their 9-yard line, the Wildcats truly lived up to their nickname and, out of a punt formation, snapped the ball to an up back who ran for 38 yards.

While the play kept K-State’s drive alive, the Wildcats eventually ended up punting.

So, in addition to deciding whether the situation is one where the opportunity for success is greater than it is for failure, coaches “have to look at, ‘What’s the reward?’ ” Stoops said. “Sometimes, the reward, when you convert it, isn’t worth the risk.”

Callahan agreed.

“There’s field position. It’s got to be the reaction (by a defense),” he said. “For instance, the halfback pass was set up. I think we ran a particular toss play twice and got stuffed (because) the corner and the safety came flying up in run support. So in order to neutralize that, or defuse their ability to do that again, you have to attempt a special. Whether it was good or not, it’ll slow the force pattern of the secondary down.

“I remember watching the ball get tossed, all I was watching was the corner, and when the corner came right up the field I knew it was going to be ‘six’ if we completed it.”

Taylor said he never knows when a trick play might be coming, only that there are times when he feels like the Huskers are on the verge of calling one.

“Oh, you’re excited when they’re called,” said Stoops, whose team is at Missouri today for the first time since his 2002 squad used a touchdown off a fake field-goal play to spark a 31-24 win. “No question.”

After all, there’s an art to pulling off deception.

“We’re just not throwing caution to the wind and calling fakes,” Callahan said. “The staff does a tremendous job of game planning those particular items, (and) players embrace it.”

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.