Eleven years ago, Chris Petersen's Boise State team shocked the world by executing the hook-and-lateral on its way to beating Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
This time around against Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl, Petersen's Washington team nearly pulled off the same trick. Except this time, something went terribly wrong.
Down 35-28 with just 15 seconds remaining, Washington executed a perfect hook-and-lateral from Aaron Fuller to Dante Pettis, who took the pitch 14 yards to the Penn State 48-yard line. However, in horrifying fashion, Pettis then desperately lateraled the ball backwards. Penn State recovered the fumble, and took a knee one play later to wind out the clock.
The thing is, Pettis didn't have to lateral the ball. He could have just run out of bounds with about six seconds remaining and Washington would have had time for a Hail Mary.
Clearly, Pettis thought time had run out. When you're scrambling to make a play with such little time left, it can be hard to know exactly where the clock stands. You have to feel for Pettis, who only thought about keeping the play alive when he didn't need to.
