“Head football coach J.D. Brookhart announced who received a game ball for his performance in the Zips’ 30-27 win at Kent during his post-game news conference. I gave myself the game ball for the five heart attacks I had, Brookhart joked. While the Zips’ fifth-year head coach wasn’t being serious, he deserves credit for making the gutsy decision to call timeout after redshirt junior quarterback Chris Jacquemain’s pass to Deryn Bowser late in the fourth quarter was ruled an incompletion.”
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Head football coach J.D. Brookhart announced who received a game ball for his performance in the Zips’ 30-27 win at Kent during his post-game news conference.

I gave myself the game ball for the five heart attacks I had, Brookhart joked.

While the Zips’ fifth-year head coach wasn’t being serious, he deserves credit for making the gutsy decision to call timeout after redshirt junior quarterback Chris Jacquemain’s pass to Deryn Bowser late in the fourth quarter was ruled an incompletion.

The on-field ruling was overturned after the timeout, and UA was awarded the game-changing touchdown.

I know one thing: I wouldn’t have called timeout. If the play wasn’t overturned, the Zips would have had only two timeouts in which to get the ball back and score before the game’s final 1:23 ticked off the clock.

The chances of that happening would have been minute and Brookhart would have been criticized endlessly for wasting one of the team’s precious timeouts.

Most questionable calls of that magnitude are sent for review without much thought, but for some reason, this one wasn’t.

Brookhart did what he thought he had to do.

I was giving the umpire as much chance as I could to wait and get the booth to review it, he said. I had to make, in my mind, a desperate decision to use that timeout. I thought that was our best chance.

The decision paid big dividends, and the guts it took to call the timeout are game-ball worthy.

Poor Sport

It is common for coaches to acknowledge the effort put forth by the opposing team’s coaches and players during their post-game news conferences. Often, the remarks don’t make it into stories or sound bites, but they are a way of showing good sportsmanship.

While Brookhart acknowledged the solid game planning of KSU head coach Doug Martin and defensive coordinator Pete Rekstis, Martin did not compliment UA in anyway.

Instead, Martin repeatedly reiterated his team’s statistical dominance in the game.

Look at what we did statistically, Martin said. We dominated that football team. It’s a fact.

While the Golden Flashes did outplay the Zips for much of the contest, there’s no denying that UA made plays when it needed to and capitalized on KSU’s miscues.

Obviously, we had a better offensive and defensive scheme than they did, Martin said in response to another question.

While that statement might be appropriate in a locker room speech, it’s not an appropriate response to a reporter because it cannot be proven.

Given Martin’s 16-36 record in his five years at KSU, I think I’d take UA’s coaching staff if given the choice.

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