Another somewhat bizarre ending to a game I attended this weekend. On a truly gorgeous autumn afternoon, in an X-2 League Central Division battle at Kawasaki Stadium, the Unisys Bulls led Bullseyes Tokyo 21-13 in the final minute of the game. The Bulleyes had already used all of their timeouts earlier to stop the clock. So when the Unisys came up short on 3rd down, I was quite surprised to see the Bulls call their second timeout, stopping the clock with exactly 25 seconds remaining- before the officials had even given the ready-for-play signal and thus started the play clock (which gives the offense 25 seconds to snap the ball). So that meant that rather than simply letting time expire, they would be forced to punt, thus giving the Bullseyes at least a chance to get the ball back and try to score. Then the Bulls called another timeout- their last- instead of keeping it for any emergencies on defense.
The Bulls finally punted the ball a short distance, downing it immediately, rather than letting it roll, so only a few seconds ticked off the clock. As it turned out, the Bullseyes' QB (for lack of a better word, as the Bullseyes have no actual QBs on their roster this year) was sacked on first down. They were unable to get another play off, so the game ended 21-13.
The Bulls had scored on their opening drive of the game in part due to several missed tackles, but the Bullseyes defense held them scoreless the rest of the afternoon. The Bullseyes offense- and running a version of the Nevada-style shotgun- perhaps better described as single wing offense, with a back in the trigger position- were able to move the ball on the ground despite the 4-4 front the Bulls threw at them, managing to score a touchdown in each half. But breakdowns in the kicking game- misplaying an onside kick, protections, bad snaps, and blocked kicks- ultimately resulted in two second half returns for touchdowns for Unisys to get the win.
Both teams are now 3-1 on the season, with their final game coming in mid-November.
