One Second That Nearly Kept Brian Kelly from Notre Dame and Manti Te'o from the Heisman Trophy (December 07, 2012)

 

A second doesn’t matter, right? In fact, there went one.

 

No single second could affect things so greatly that Brian Kelly is not now coaching at Notre Dame and Manti Te’o is not spending his nights preparing a Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, right?

 

Wrong.

 

For 72 of those seconds on a December 2009 evening in Texas, one tick of the clock did just that.

 

In the closing seconds of the Big 12 Championship game, held at Cowboys Stadium, Colt McCoy and third-ranked Texas face third-and-13 from the Nebraska 29-yard line, trailing the No. 22 Cornhuskers 12-10 (fast forward to 1:01:52 below). A Heisman hopeful, McCoy receives the shotgun snap with seven seconds left. He rolls to his right as Nebraska’s own Heisman hopeful Ndamukong Suh bursts through the line and pursues. Believe it or not, the 300-pound-plus nose tackle may just be quicker than McCoy, and as the Longhorn quarterback reaches the sideline, he casually tosses the ball toward an empty spot of artificial grass out of bounds. The clock reads 0:00. TV commentator Kirk Herbstreit incredulously asks, “Wait a minute, did the game end? Nebraska thinks it over.” Indeed, the Nebraska sideline has emptied onto the field.

 

For the next 72 seconds, Texas has lost. Four hours earlier, top-ranked Florida fell to No. 2 Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. Eight hours earlier No. 5 Cincinnati, coached by none other than Brian Kelly, survived a 45-44 barn-burner against No. 15 Pittsburgh.

 

A week earlier, No. 4 TCU finished its season with a 51-10 thrashing at New Mexico (and Notre Dame lost 45-38 at Stanford in Charlie Weis’s last game as Notre Dame’s head coach), but Cincinnati’s win over a top-20 opponent figures to bump the Bearcats over the Horned Frogs in the final BCS rankings. With both Florida and Texas losing on the same day, Cincinnati jumps to No. 2. Brian Kelly and the Bearcats will face Nick Saban and Alabama in the National Championship game.

 

Fact: Cincinnati ended up 0.0042 points above TCU in the final BCS rankings.

Fact: When announcing his new hire, Notre Dame Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick said, “We also focused on a timeline with the goal of having the candidate announced by this weekend [of Dec. 11, 27 days before the title game]. I am never early at anything. I am really pleased to be here a day early.”

 

Kelly assuredly would not have left Cincinnati if it was preparing for the National Championship in the Rose Bowl rather than the Sugar Bowl and a run-of-the-mill BCS matchup with Florida. Swarbrick would not have waited another four weeks before hiring his new head coach. As it was, the two-week coaching search created more rumors and fuss than any fan could properly comprehend.

 

Thus, Brian Kelly does not make it to South Bend.

 

But, 72 real-time seconds after McCoy’s casual toss bounced off the turf, the official gets on his microphone to the stadium. “After further review, there is one second left on the game clock.” Texas kicker Hunter Lawrence only needed one second to kick a 46-yard field goal and give Texas a 13-12 victory, the Big 12 Championship and a chance to lose to Alabama in four weeks.

 

Brian Kelly leaves Cincinnati, heeding Swarbrick’s siren call.

 

How did that one second affect this year’s Heisman? That is a bit more of a reach than the rather cut-and-dry coaching carousel.

 

If McCoy’s pass hangs in the air for an additional second, forced by Suh’s pressure, McCoy’s Heisman stock not only drops, but presumably plummets. Thanks to that play, Suh’s already high stock rises a bit further. His fourth-place total of 815 points likely gains much of McCoy’s third-place total of 1,145, especially considering his triumph when facing Big 12-rival McCoy. With second-place Toby Gerhart at only 1,276 points and Mark Ingram’s winning total an attainable 1,304, Suh could legitimately challenge for the Heisman Trophy.

 

Three years later, it cannot be denied much of Manti Te’o’s groundswell of support for his Heisman comes from him being the first purely defensive player to truly have a chance at it. If three years ago Suh had won the award or finished runner-up, much of Te’o’s groundswell dissipates. Johnny Football has more reason to practice his charming Texas twang.

 

Instead, instant replay put one second back on the clock three years ago. Brian Kelly brings Notre Dame to the brink of its 12th national championship. Manti Te’o fine-tunes his undoubtedly eloquent remarks. Irish fans breathe easier.