Was the Weird Play That Launched Cal's Win a Smart Play?

The play was so odd that Bears quarterback Fernando Mendoza was credited with a touchdown receiving even though he finished the day with no receptions

Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza Cal's first touchdown of the day. / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

It was a bad play. It was a great play. It was an intelligent decision. It was a silly decision. It was a pivotal play that led to a win. It was a potentially demoralizing play that could have led to a loss. It was a lucky decision by the officials. It was a poor decision by the officials. It was a statistical impossibility that created a stat line that makes no sense.

It was nine seconds of a 60-minute game, but it packed a ton of implications, questions, second-guesses, debate and utter bewilderment into those nine seconds.

It was pretty simple really. On a third-and-8 play from the Oregon State 9-yard line with 11:42 left in the first quarter of Cal's game against Oregon State on Saturday, Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza tossed a short pass to Jaivian Thomas, who caught the ball 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage and was stopped almost immediately. But just before he went down -- and just before officials blew the whistle to end the play -- Thomas lateraled to Mendoza, who had followed the play and was yelling for the ball. Mendoza caught the lateral at the 15-yard line, then raced into the end zone for a touchdown and a 7-0 Cal lead with 11:33 remaining in the opening quarter.

NANDO BIG STEPPIN' 🤯@qb_fernando takes the lateral from @jaivianthomas to get in the endzone!

📺 ESPN2
📲 https://t.co/9KCKBeDwEb#GoBears | #ALLIN pic.twitter.com/smiZZV3499

— Cal Football (@CalFootball) October 26, 2024

It worked out fine, and catapulted Cal on its way to a 44-7 victory over the Beavers, ending the Bears' four-game losing streak.

But was it a smart play to lateral the ball, considering the negative effects a fumble in a risky ad-lib move could have caused?

Thomas was in the grasp of a defender and on his way down when he lateraled. A fumble was a distinct possibily, and that would have doomed Cal's scoring chance and given the Beavers a lift. The final score -- Cal won 44-7 -- makes the play seem incidental, but given the bad luck Cal has had the past four games, it could have pushed the game in a completely different direction.

Asked about the play afteward, Coach Head coach Justin Wilcox was facetious:

"That's exactly how we practice that," he said.

After the laughter ended, Wilcox was asked whether Thomas' lateral was a good play or something he should have avoided.

"OK, we didn't plan that," he conceded before pausing a long time to fornulate an answer. "Here's the deal: We don't coach that. Football players need to play football, and from time to time those things happen. I could go into story after story after story about a guy making a decision to make a play, and in those moments you got to be right, the player's got to be right."

In this case, the player was right. However, Wilcox implied that if the play had not worked out, Thomas -- and possible Mendoza as well -- would have been given a tongue-lashing when they got back to the sideline.

And what about the officials' decision to let the play go on long enough for Thomas to make the lateral. He clearly wasn't going anywhere when he was tackled and being pushed back, and a whistle might have ended the play right there. No whistle, and a memorable play results.

However, you could never decifer what happened based on the statistics surrounding the play.

First of all, Mendoza was credited with a touchdown pass AND a receiving touchdown.

But wait, it gets better.

Mendoza was credited with a 15-yard pass and a 15-yard receiving touchdown even though the play started at the 9-yard line.

Wait, there's more.

In the official statistics, Mendoza was credited with a 15-yard touchdown receiving, but not an official reception. So in the final game statistics, Mendoza had 0 receptions, but scored a touchdown on the end of a pass play.

For his Cal career, Mendoza now has no receptions, but has a receiving touchdown and 15 receiving yards.

"As long as I'm in the end zone I'm thrilled," Mendoza said.

In any case, that touchdown launched the Bears' rout. They scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, freshman Derek Morris was 5-for-5 on field goals to a tie a school record for most field goals in a game, and Cal ended a four-game losing streak heading into a bye week.

But the question remains: Was it a smart play?

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