How one pass significantly changed college football history and its future trajectory

CrimsonForce

Hall of Fame
Dec 20, 2012
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You are misunderstanding me. I wasn't referring to looking off the safety as being a weird way to play football.
I was specifically referring to the idea of taking in everything with peripheral vision ONLY, as opposed to scanning the field.
I'm not disputing that QB's manipulate defenders, because they do. But their cognition is not necessarily locked into the direction their head is turned.
Also, I sincerely doubt safeties actually see the QB's actual eyes, as opposed to the direction their helmet faces.

Here's what it looks like to me.

1) The playcall has multiple deep routes and Tua knows where they are all going.
2) Tua sees the safety inside the left hash mark, and expects an opportunity on the left in the deep part of the field.
3) Post snap, Tua is looking right, making sure the safety is staying in the middle of the field where he can't help deep left. He also sees in his peripheral vision the WR and CB going deep left . Maybe he even sees that Smith has beaten his man this way. I doubted this at first, but I now accept that it is possible. These guys get a lot of practice and know what it looks like.
4) Tua turns his head, his vision, and attention, toward the left, giving him a chance to confirm what he may have seen earlier, and throws the pass on target. This accuracy would not be feasible with peripheral vision only. If the corner had stayed with Smith, or had forced him out of bounds, or some other thing like that, I don't think Tua throws the ball there, and I don't think he throws left without at least looking left first.
With most QBs no - but with Tua (and a lot of NFL QBs) it certainly is. If you think he looked before he threw the ball you may be right but there's no way to know because there isn't a close up of his face during the play. Really a pointless thing to debate TBH..
 

JTBama

All-American
Jul 2, 2005
2,652
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Tua's head clearly snaps left a split second before he throws it. He knew what the rest of the defense was doing and he snapped his head to confirm it and then rip the most beautiful pass I have ever seen. I heard the Titanic music in the background as he let it go. Celine Deion was belting out notes and I was running around my house like a crazy person.
At least it was Georgia's lifeboats that were sinking
 

teamplayer

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2001
7,573
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cullman, al, usa
Yeah but he doesn't know for sure if Smith beat the corner, or that the corner had given up on the play. If he doesn't at least glance over there to confirm what he thinks might be true, then he's taking a risk he should not. You literally cannot look straight ahead the entire time and expect your peripheral vision to take in the detail required to make good decisions, and it would be a weird way to play football. Your eyes are going to moving quickly from place to place to see clearly what is going on in different places.
When you read coverages correctly and know the routes your receivers will run, you are usually only looking at what happens to the defenders after the snap. He looks off the deep coverage and trusts his receiver to beat his man deep. He threw to a spot where his receiver should be. Most freshmen are not that capable when it comes to pre and post-snap reads. If the receiver hadn't gotten there, that would have been on him. Every guy did their job on that play. It worked and will go down in history as bringing us number 17.
 

92tide

TideFans Legend
May 9, 2000
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East Point, Ga, USA
i have to say that one thing that really impressed me about tua, he sure got his eye black off quick before his post-game on-field interviews. ;)
 

mlh

All-American
Apr 28, 2004
3,072
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The difference is that Tua played the equivalent of about 3 games over the course of the season, not just 1 half, and it was obvious from the start that he was insanely talented. Not to mention there's no comparison in the half games the Aubies are referring to. JJ played against Arkansas in a regular SEC game. Tua came in against UGA (better that Arkansas) in the 2nd half of the National Championship Game.
 

Valley View

3rd Team
Nov 7, 2016
287
30
47
Williamson County, TN
I have always thought we were a sleeping giant on offense. We have always had talent, but for some reason it never really took off. A. Cooper brought some excitement but that quickly died. Now we are poised for a future that is extremely bright. Roll Tide!
 

JTBama

All-American
Jul 2, 2005
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This was funny. Tua’s actually lived up to his hype when he got his chance unlike JJ from Auburn. Bama “luck” is really player development.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I figured Auburn would be happy with their preseason Heisman qb and preseason national championship.....or did they figure out those don't count?
 

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