Suddenly, Sunday Became Interesting
☆ ESPN College Football Final
/Week 4 Recap
(Matt Barrie) — ESPN Host
"Let's get things started here on College Football Final — we'll kick things off with the Best Finish. Texas State and Boston College."
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(Matt Barrie)
"This was a hugely important week for college football. First of all, we have to welcome back the Pac-12, and the Mountain West has returned along with it. The MAC has decided to begin its football season as well. And folks? The most important fact of all — the SEC football season has finally begun. We can finally start talking about a national champion. But before we get to that, I simply can't go on without mentioning this game. Georgia versus Arkansas."
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(Matt Barrie)
"This matchup captured the most attention in the entire country for one single reason. And that reason is this young man right here — Dwayne Moi Stone! A freshman quarterback, born in 2001, out of Kahuku High School in Hawaii. For the first time in the history of NCAA football, he received a 6-Star grade from every single recruiting service, and 247Sports gave him an absurd score of 110 to go along with it."
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(Matt Barrie)
"So of course, we were all curious. Was Dwayne Moi Stone really a quarterback worthy of a 6-Star and a 110? Could we trust the level of Hawaii's high school leagues? Was he overhyped? Well, today, Dwayne Moi Stone answered. NO! One hundred percent NO! In Georgia's 47-10 victory over Arkansas, Dwayne Moi Stone was utterly dominant. He completed 31 of 36 pass attempts for 316 passing yards and 4 touchdowns. And not a single interception. What do you think?"
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(Joey Galloway) — ESPN Analyst
"This kid is unbelievable. He just — in one game — erased every single doubt! Thirty-one completions, 316 yards. There wasn't a single pass over 30 yards, but honestly, he never needed one."
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(Joey Galloway)
"I was watching the game from inside the stadium, and his pocket presence is on another dimension. I mean, straight-up insane. I know it's only his first game, and I'll admit I'm getting carried away. But I can't just sit here quietly! This kid's play is… NFL-level. I went ahead and did it. I threw the bomb! Damn it! The internet is going to melt over this, but even if I get torn apart for saying it, I had to. I genuinely felt it!"
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(Jesse Palmer) — ESPN Analyst
"What worries me even more is that it's not just about the touchdowns. He deliberately burned the clock at the end of the first quarter, then converted a third down on the very first play of the second. And he took 80% of his snaps from under center — you almost never see that in college football."
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(Matt Barrie)
"And right now the internet is, quite literally, on fire. The Georgia-Arkansas game drew a peak of 13.2 million viewers — the highest-rated regular-season game that wasn't a bowl game in history. Congratulations, CBS! I hate to say it, but you folks are going to make a killing this year! And the online world has gone absolutely bonkers. 'MoI has a fan for life.' 'The second Tom Brady — or better.' 'The No. 01 quarterback in the NCAA.' Every one of those is a real reaction trending on social media right now."
#. September 27, 2020
#-1. Athens, Georgia, USA
#-2. University of Georgia
#-3. Vandiver Hall, Room 607
All I'd done was fall asleep and wake up.
And yet something enormous had happened.
Twitter followers: 1.49 million.
Instagram followers: 2.06 million.
Both had more than doubled overnight.
"Shiiiiiiiit… kid's a killer."
Ahem.
My throat must have been dry — my voice came out like grinding metal.
First things first, I got out of bed.
6:20 a.m.
I'd slept about 90 minutes longer than usual.
"Hoo-ah!"
After a good stretch, I filled the kettle with water and set it to boil, then dropped a tea bag into a cup.
Most people don't know this, but Hawaii actually has a deep tea culture.
High-quality tea leaves are harvested up in Mililani — green tea, oolong, even black tea, the whole spread.
Uncle Iwai, who came over from Japan, taught me what he called the way of tea when I was little, and I took a real liking to it, so I drink it often to this day.
Sluuurp—
"Aaah—"
On a dry morning like this, nothing beats a properly steeped, hot cup of tea.
Right then.
Should I get something to eat?
The moment I reached to open the fridge, a dull pain shot through my arm and chest.
I stopped what I was doing and stepped straight in front of the mirror.
I usually sleep in just a pair of shorts.
"Hm—"
I'd taken two sacks yesterday. Looked like the bruises came from those hits.
It stung, sure.
But this much was bearable.
Back to the fridge.
I pulled out a banana and some eggs.
The plan: pan-fry pancakes, top them with banana and syrup, and throw together a quick omelet.
The school had originally offered to hire me a personal chef, but the NCAA became a target of the Supreme Court, and then COVID blew everything up, so that deal quietly died.
Instead, the school bumped up my meal stipend.
I'd been quietly stacking it away — using it to buy extra groceries or treat my friends to dinner — and mostly cooked for myself.
On weekdays I ate at the cafeteria anyway, so I had no complaints on the food front.
Ssssss—
While the pancakes cooked, I whipped up a protein shake.
Shake mix.
Chicken breast.
Blueberries.
At first, drinking it was pure torture. Now it went down like water.
Whirrrr!
Click.
I popped the lid off the blender, chugged the whole thing in one go, and kept right on flipping pancakes.
Once the cooking was done, I carried everything to the table and turned on the TV.
And then —
Ding—
Ding—
There was no question about it — Alexi had a thing for me.
And honestly? I found her looks attractive too.
From what social media showed, Alexi was the classic daughter of a well-off white family, and the easy confidence that came layered on top of her pretty face had a certain appeal.
We had a game against Auburn next week, and she'd decided to come with her family.
That would be our first time meeting.
Just a little.
I was looking forward to it.
Ding—
"Hm?"
I was taking one more look at Alexi's photos on Instagram when another DM arrived.
Who on earth —
At seven in the morning?
Mindlessly chewing my pancake, I tapped the phone sitting on the table with one finger and checked the DM that had just come in.
WHAAAAAT??
Is this for real?
Oh — my — God.
It's real. It's actually real.
Samuel L. Jackson had DM'd me at seven in the morning telling me to come to the Atlanta Falcons someday.
"Shiiiiit!!"
Aren't I kind of a big deal?
One day after my first college game.
Flirting with a girl.
And a DM from Samuel L. Jackson.
Sure, back when I launched the #WeWantToPlayFB hashtag, plenty of NFL stars had reached out.
Donald Trump had even followed me.
But I didn't follow back, nope.
I don't like the guy.
Fork still in my mouth, I started typing with both hands and sent Samuel L. Jackson a reply.
And just like that —
Sunday got interesting.
#. 10:40 a.m.
#-1. Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA
#-2. University of Alabama
#-3. Nick Saban's Office
With the SEC opening its football season, Week 4 had been the most-watched stretch of the year — and Alabama, too, had come out a winner.
They'd gone on the road to Missouri and won 38-19.
The fourth quarter left a little to be desired.
But overall, it wasn't bad.
Starting quarterback Mac Jones delivered exactly the performance Nick Saban had hoped for — 18 of 24, 249 yards, 2 touchdowns — and running back Najee Harris chipped in three touchdowns of his own.
And yet.
Alabama's coaching staff, Saban included, carried a strange, sour feeling — as if they'd somehow lost.
"316 yards?"
"Yes, sir. Four touchdown passes alone."
"A freshman. That's a first, you know."
"And he's basically already locked up POW."
"…"
POW stood for Player of the Week.
The SEC named one per position, every single week.
"Wow. Look at that pass right there…"
"Fast release."
"More than that — how did he even see that?"
"That wasn't designed."
In football, the term design gets thrown around constantly.
It covers everything a team has prepared beforehand.
Not designed meant one thing: this wasn't part of the original game plan.
"The X-receiver was completely taken away."
"The corner played it well."
"But look right here."
Click.
Click. Click.
After taking the snap and settling into the pocket, Moi turned his eyes to the X-receiver running his route to the left, ready to execute the called play.
But Arkansas's defense had diagnosed the concept and reacted well — if he'd thrown it there, the ball was either falling incomplete or getting picked off.
Normally, in a situation like this —
"Most QBs just throw it anyway."
"Exactly."
The reason dual-threat quarterbacks dominate the college level in such overwhelming numbers is that a certain set of skills simply runs short at that level.
Audibles.
Scrabbles.
And moments exactly like this one, among others.
When PLAN A dies — do you have the ability to move to PLAN B?
The simplest answer to that question had long been "if the quarterback can run, everything works out" — and that's why running quarterbacks rule college football.
Because college defenses struggle just as much to stop a scrambling QB as college QBs do to create a PLAN B.
But.
"Watch."
Click.
Click.
Frame by frame, the film told the story of when Moi abandoned PLAN A.
"About one second."
"Good Lord…"
The instant he judged that the throwing lane to George Pickens was closed, Moi didn't even glance back — his eyes snapped straight downfield.
The slot receiver, deployed as a decoy —
seemed to know he was wide open.
And again, normally, in this situation —
"You'd check the right-side receiver, or look for the safety."
This had been a passing-game design; as a quarterback, Moi knew the concept cold.
Which is exactly why, when a quarterback's first option dies, his eyes go to the side with the most receivers.
In this case, the right side.
Georgia had stacked two Z-recevers to the right, drawing the linebackers that way on purpose.
But Moi never even looked right.
He looked down the middle, of all places —
Click.
"One second again."
"…"
"…"
In the end, Georgia's tight end dropped the ball, and it became one of the five incompletions of the day.
But that was on the receiver's preparation — he didn't expect the throw, and his hands were in the wrong spot.
The media and casual fans never see plays like this one, the failures — but the people inside the game check every last one of them.
"This kid is the real deal."
"Damn it."
The coaches kept catching themselves marveling at Moi's play.
Nick Saban hated it.
"What in the hell are you all doing?"
"No, sir, I was just—"
"We didn't gather here for this. Let's begin."
"Yes, sir."
While the players rested on Sunday, the coaches kept grinding away at their work.
Opinions flew back and forth across the table —
and Nick Saban found it impossible to concentrate.
"…"
#. Same hour
#-1. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
#-2. Louisiana State University
#-3. Ed Orgeron's Office
After failing to land Moi, LSU's head coach had been tormented by insomnia for a long stretch.
The first few days were manageable.
But from about a week onward, Ed Orgeron wandered the halls like a ghost.
He had spent years giving his absolute best to bring a quarterback out of Hawaii to Baton Rouge, and because his eyes had been fixed on Moi and Moi alone, he'd never even considered recruiting another quarterback.
The vibes had felt right, too.
Grandma had loved LSU, especially.
But then.
Something had started feeling off from the moment the recruiting results were being discussed, and then — I think we're light at receiver and along the line, Coach. We need to think this over.
He'd belatedly tried to win the family back by adding Arik Gilbert at tight end, but by then the bus had already left the station.
It took Ed Orgeron nearly a month to recover.
Disappointing, yes — but LSU had to move forward.
There'd been another scary moment back in April, at the official signing declaration.
Even then, he'd steadied himself, stayed focused on the work, and hadn't wobbled.
But today —
today he couldn't.
"Ed?"
"…"
"Uh, Ed? You hearing me?"
Georgia's result yesterday — and the Dwayne Moi Stone highlight reel he'd watched immediately afterward — had gifted Ed Orgeron a fresh case of insomnia.
And the knockout blow was LSU's own result.
LSU had opened the season at home against Mississippi State, trailed from wire to wire, and lost a hollow 44-34.
You could blame the 44 points allowed on the defense, sure.
But the difference in quarterback quality was unmistakable.
LSU had anointed junior quarterback Myles Brannan as the season starter, and naturally, he'd started yesterday's opener.
The result: failure.
Myles Brannan completed barely 58% of his passes and threw two interceptions.
He did pile up 345 yards.
But Mississippi State's defense is weak.
"We Fucked Up."
"Excuse me?"
"We screwed the pooch. God damn it. If Moi had told us to go to the moon and grab a receiver, we should've built a rocket and done it. We lost our future. Three years of it — three years that could've been glorious. Damn it all. Why on earth did I make that call back then?"
Ed Orgeron had treated Moi's opinions as mere reference material.
He hadn't really incorporated them into his recruiting.
But now —
now Ed Orgeron was drowning in regret.
He should have built the team exactly the way Moi wanted.
It had only ever been three or four players.
Adding them wouldn't have been hard.
Recruiting is the head coach's domain, and the player falls in line — trapped inside that old conventional wisdom, complacent and comfortable, he'd been so pathetically foolish he could barely stand himself.
LSU's staff meeting fizzled out without any real conclusion.
The assistant coaches traded worried looks —
and quietly braced themselves.
"Whew. Road ahead's going to be rough."
"…"
This season would not be easy.
#. 2:57 p.m.
#-1. Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
#-2. NCAA National Office
There was a time when Dwayne Moi Stone was a name the NCAA loved and hated in equal measure.
A talent capable of blowing the entire college football industry up to colossal new heights.
But that magnitude — as big as it was — was simply too big.
Unprecedented, even.
With the federal courts already digging into the NCAA's corruption, the office prayed, desperately, that no D1 school would stir up any unnecessary trouble.
But those prayers went unanswered in the most spectacular way possible:
the trouble detonated immediately.
Ever since his freshman year of high school, Dwayne Moi Stone had turned down dozens of universities, and every single step of his journey drew massive attention — his visits to more than twenty campuses were unprecedented in themselves.
All that buzz spilled into rumors that he was being offered astronomical sums, and the federal court moved to form a new task force in cooperation with the FBI.
In the end, the NCAA had to look away before the fire spread any further — and formally recognized players' rights to their own name, image, and likeness.
The consequence: NCAA revenue would fall.
Roughly two to three billion dollars' worth, give or take?
For a while, then, Moi's name had been taboo inside the NCAA National Office — but with the football season about to kick off, it found its way back into every conversation.
For one reason only.
Except One.
That grandiose title had been pinned to the game between an SEC team and an ACC team scheduled for Thanksgiving week this coming November.
Both conferences had originally announced that, for public-health reasons, the 2020 season would be played only against teams within their own divisions — but neither could walk away from the one guaranteed box-office jackpot, the first and probably the last of its kind.
Namely:
Georgia vs. Clemson.
Or, put another way:
Dwayne Moi Stone vs. Trevor Lawrence.
To make the matchup every football fan in America was dying to see actually happen, the NCAA had labored tirelessly — leaning hard on the fact that Athens, Georgia and Clemson, South Carolina sit a mere 70 miles (about 112.7 km) apart, and pushing every lever until the game became reality.
There was more tangled up in it than just the two conferences, too —
the public health laws of both states were in the mix.
But then Donald Trump stepped in, things moved quickly, and the week the SEC released its schedule in late August, Georgia-versus-Clemson was spelled out in black and white.
Football fans had cheered at the announcement.
But on the other hand —
the skeptics had surfaced too: there's no guarantee Dwayne Moi Stone is still Georgia's starting quarterback by November.
What if Moi flops?
Then it's nothing but an empty shell of a marquee matchup.
Expecting too much from a freshman quarterback.
Those negative takes, lying in wait for their moment, had made the NCAA plenty nervous as well — which is why, the day before, the people here had gathered in little clusters to watch Georgia versus Arkansas on CBS.
And right now —
"Georgia. Georgia wins, no question."
"You're writing off Trevor Lawrence already?"
.
"Georgia wins even if the QB doesn't play…"
"Clemson's receivers are nasty, though."
.
"Y'all sleep on Clemson's D-line—"
"Yeah yeah~ Moi's gonna shred 'em anyway~"
Every break between tasks, people talked about Georgia and Clemson without a flicker of hesitation.
Except One hadn't even begun its marketing push yet.
But soon —
America would burn white-hot.
Hotter than any COVID fever ever could.
Think I might be falling in love.
(🔥🔥 emoji)
❤️ ❤️ 😘 😘
is that a crime?
A question tossed out casually by an actress born in 1997.