Fumblerooski

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As Fumblerooski even Fumblerooski or Fumblerooski in is American football a Trickspielzug designated where the quarterback of the football after the bale transfer by the Center placed on the field and deliberately called a fumble commits. The attacking team then simulates a running play to one side of the field without the ball, while the ball is hidden by an attacking player and cannot be seen by the defending team . As soon as the defending players follow the direction of the feigned play, a player from the offensive line picks up the ball and runs in the direction of the free side of the field opposite the feigned play in order to gain more space or a touchdown .

The first documented use of the Fumblerooski was in 1933 during a high school game for the state championship in Texas . The idea for this move is attributed to coach John Heisman , after whom the Heisman Trophy for the best college football player is named. One of the most famous examples of the use of the fumblerooski is considered to be the 1984 Orange Bowl between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and University of Miami teams . When the score was 17-0 for the Miami Hurricanes , Tom Osborne , the coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers , decided for this move, as a result of which Nebraska could shorten with a touchdown, but still lost the game with 30:31.

Since it is difficult for the referee to decide whether the handover of the ball to the quarterback was compliant with a fumblerooski, this trick play was in the professional field of the National Football League in the early 1960s, and in 1992 by the National Collegiate Athletic Association in college football and 2006 also abolished in high school football through corresponding rule changes: An intentional forward fumble is now considered an (incomplete) forward pass, which stops the play immediately. Until it was banned, it was considered one of the most unusual and entertaining moves in American football. In the sports comedies Little Giants and Game Without Rules , a fumblerooski appears in respective game scenes.

literature

  • David M. Nelson: The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men who Made the Game. University of Delaware Press, Newark 1994, ISBN 0-87-413455-2 , p. 428
  • Loren Nelson: Tough to say Goodbye to Football's best Play In: The San Diego Union-Tribune. Published April 24, 2006 (last accessed October 1, 2017)

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