MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Ballcarriers keep racing toward the goal line and then, for reasons inexplicable to mankind, they’re dropping the ball inches shy of the end zone.
It has happened four times this season in college football, an epidemic of carelessness so prevalent that maybe it’s not careless at all: Maybe it’s an initiation into a secret society. And maybe we just wrote the opening scene to “The Skulls IV.”
These players endure all the weight-lifting, offseason conditioning, 95-degree practices and film study only to squander breakaway touchdowns one yard away from the payoff.
Coaches are actually being forced to remind players nowadays how not to embarrass themselves, which is how Dana Holgorsen began a recent team meeting: “Listen, I want to get this off my mind right now. Anybody who scores, you hand the ball to the official.”
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson pointed out that WVU had its own experience with premature fumbling, though luckily, it occurred in a spring scrimmage courtesy of cornerback Antonio Crawford.
“If you guys remember, he picked-six,” Gibson said. “Well, he dropped the ball at the 1-yard line. He dropped it. And Dana showed that play to the guys, and talked about it. Hand the ball to the official.”