Like a growing number of former NFL players, Mike Vick became a college football coach. Unlike many college football coaches, a direct order from Vick was not followed Saturday.
This turned a likely victory into a defeat.
With 1:34 left in Saturday’s game between Vick’s Norfolk State and North Carolina Central, Norfolk State led 28-23. Norfolk State had the ball, facing second and five from the 50. North Carolina Central had no more timeouts.
Even though a pair of knees wouldn’t have completely exhausted the remaining time, Vick told the offense to take their knees in victory formation. Two consecutive takedowns would have resulted in a punt with less than 15 seconds left.
Instead, Norfolk State lined up in a shotgun formation, the quarterback ran to the left, a defender hit him and the quarterback fumbled.
North Carolina Central recovered at the Norfolk State 37. Five plays later, North Carolina scored a touchdown, on a 26-yard touchdown pass, making the score 29-28. (The two-point conversion attempt failed.)
There were twenty-seven seconds left. Norfolk State put itself in position to attempt a game-winning field goal. The 37-yard try missed the left side.
“I don’t know what happened at the end of the game,” Vick told reporters after a loss that dropped Norfolk State to 4-6 on the season. “I put my helmet down. I called the victory formation. All we had to do was kneel down, kneel down after the clock. It’s just situational football. I don’t know what happened about that. I looked up and we were running with the ball and then I saw the fumble. But my last instruction was the victory formation. That’s when you take a knee. And they had, I think, no timeouts and the match was pretty much over.”
“Well, I put my helmet down and I took my helmet off because all we had to do was throw it three or two times, or kneel it. That’s what we call winning. I don’t know what happened. A running play was called. I looked up, I saw us running the ball. I don’t know what happened. I really don’t know. I don’t know what the play was. I don’t even know not why we even ran this game.
“People will watch this, and it will serve as a teaching tape for many teams across the country for years to come. I hate that it’s us. But I called the victory lineup. Just so everyone knows. I called the victory.”
Although this strategy wouldn’t have completely exhausted the time limit, it was the right decision. And even if it wasn’t, the coach gave the order. The order was not followed.
So what happened? Vick said he took off his helmet and later realized a running play had been called. The fact that the offense went straight to shotgun suggests that it wasn’t the players who went rogue. Apparently, offensive coordinator Brian Sheppard decided to ignore Vick’s directive.
Indeed, a somewhat chaotic post-match video (posted by Vick on Twitter) shows Vick telling his players “that was supposed to have been victory.”
The video moments leading up to the game in question shows the offense gathered in front of the numbers near the Norfolk State bench, speaking to a group of coaches who were still wearing headphones. The helmetless coach (who appears to be Vick) headed toward the sideline before turning around and heading back to the meeting.
It’s clear the coaches and players were talking. From Vick’s point of view, there was nothing to discuss.
And while Vick claims his instructions were ignored, he seemed a little too nonchalant at a time when he should have realized that something more detailed than telling the quarterback to line up under center, receive the snap and take a knee was being planned.
If Vick believes Sheppard or other coaches overrode the head coach’s decision, Vick should issue pink slips immediately. It is possible, however, that Vick himself bears most of the responsibility for not noticing that something other than the implementation of victory training was afoot.
Gn sports
