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From massive comebacks to cartwheels, to rabid bats and even the rare signs of life from Northwestern's offense, this weeks' college football action truly had it all.
Here are the seven craziest things that happened in Week 12 of the college football season.
Ohio lineman does cartwheel during a play
MACtion was in full swing on Tuesday with a game between Western Michigan and Ohio. Unless you went to either of those schools, you probably don't care. I bring it up, however, because of one glorious play in which an offensive lineman did a cartwheel.
This wasn't a fun touchdown celebration, this wasn't a taunt after a big play. This was, the ball is snapped, the play is being run and this dude straight up does a cartwheel while people around him are playing actual football.
They went deep into the playbook on this one 🤣 pic.twitter.com/moU6CcRyNZ
— ESPN (@espn) November 13, 2019
Make no mistake, this was planned. That was an actual play in Ohio's playbook. He did it immediately off the snap. Quarterback Nathan Rourke threw a 25-yard completion on the play so I guess you would have to say it worked. Hopefully, that means more of this in the future.
Michigan State wore their helmets on the bus to the Michigan game
Trying to motivate a group of college kids throughout an entire season is tough. Some coaches are masters at it. There are some techniques, however, that fall flat. I think you can put this one in the latter category.
Michigan State played rival Michigan on Saturday and the Spartans got off the bus on the way to the game with their helmets already strapped on. I guess the message was supposed to be that they were ready to play. The message that actually sent was, we are all out of ideas so here's something we will be mocked for when it doesn't work.
Spartans are ready to play rival Michigan. pic.twitter.com/XWow7cdU6e
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 16, 2019
Michigan State lost to Michigan 44-10.
There were rabid bats at Mississippi State
First off, here's wishing the Alabama quarterback a speedy recovery. As it was the biggest story of the week, I would be remiss not to mention it when talking about the Alabama-Mississippi State game.
Tagovailoa's injury overshadowed what I thought would be the biggest story coming out of Starkville: rabid bats.
Announcement at Davis Wade Stadium that there are bats in the venue that are considered a “high risk for rabies."
— Mike Rodak (@mikerodak) November 16, 2019
From great catch to miraculous fumble
This was just whacky. Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor made an incredible one-handed catch as he grabbed a ball thrown behind him. A great play quickly turned into a disaster as he turned up the field and tucked the ball, but immediately had it punched out for a fumble.
How'd the ball not go out of bounds?
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 16, 2019
And how'd Jonathan Taylor catch it, in the first place?
Wild play early in the @BadgerFootball-@HuskerFBNation game. pic.twitter.com/8Xtp7W2LtB
We have all seen players tiptoe down the sideline, but not often do you see a ball do it. Luckily for Nebraska, Lamar Jackson pounced on the loose ball while the rest of his teammates stood watching seemingly oblivious to the fact that the ball was live.
Columbia had a punt blocked by the butt of its own player
You have heard of the butt fumble, but how about the butt punt block?
The Bears block the Columbia punt! pic.twitter.com/qZyE3qDxfm
— Brown Athletics (@BrownAthletics) November 16, 2019
Northwestern scores 45 points
What happens when a stoppable force meets a movable object? That was the question on everyone's mind in Evanston when Northwestern met UMass.
Northwestern's offense entered the week averaging 11.1 points per game. That's not just the worst scoring offense among Power 5 teams this year, it is the worst of the decade. Its previous season-high for points was 30 which it scored against UNLV. So how in the world did the Wildcats manage to put up 45 points? Because UMass just so happens to be one of the worst teams in the FBS this year.
Running back Evan Hull went off for Northwestern with 220 rushing yards and four touchdowns to give the illusion of a competent offense. That won't last as next week they play Minnesota.
Oklahoma overcame a 25-point deficit to beat Baylor
Oklahoma has an illustrious history. Since 1895, the Sooners have won seven national titles. One thing they had never done? Overcome a 25-point deficit.
Oklahoma did just that on Saturday on the road against an undefeated Baylor team and without its top wide receiver in CeeDee Lamb. Somehow, the Sooners managed to rally to win the game 34-31 with an incredible second-half performance to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive.
The 2nd half disparity was unbelievable tonight.
— Max Olson (@max_olson) November 17, 2019
Oklahoma: 58 plays, 368 yards
Baylor: 16 plays, 69 yards
