Rivalry Week is always one of the most anticipated weeks of the college football season as there is nothing quite like beating a school that you don't care for all that much. Also with so many games on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the football weekend lasts for an extra day and no one should complain about that. One of the first games to kick off on Friday saw NC State traveling to Chapel Hill and upsetting the favored North Carolina Tar Heels 28-21. It was a tough, chippy game throughout, but the very first touchdown of the game was a thing of beauty if you are a Wolfpack fan.
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We see a lot of trick plays in college football today with players lining up in strange positions to try to catch a defense out. One of the original trick plays, however, was the old halfback pass and it has fallen out of vogue to the point that we don't see it all that often. With just under five minutes gone in the first quarter of the Carolina-State game today, the Wolfpack pulled out a version of the halfback pass that went for 59 yards and the first score of the game.
This wasn't an exact replica of the halfback pass that you used to run on Madden 2004, but it is close. The main difference is that instead of tossing the ball to his running back, QB Ryan Finley turns and throws the ball to RB/WR Jaylen Samuels as he sweeps behind him. Samuels takes just a few steps as he transfers the ball and, with the defense collapsing in on him and letting the receivers run free, he guns the ball downfield to WR Stephen Lewis who is left wide open on the play.
The pass is almost perfect as the ball drops down in front of Lewis who catches it on a full sprint and cruises in for the score. The key to this play is how quickly Samuels was able to get the ball out there and the surprising touch he was able to put on the ball to hit Lewis in strife.
Check out more highlights on the ACC Digital Network YouTube Channel.
