Touchdown!
Touchdown!
Touchdown!
The entire stadium erupted into frenzy. They were not yet mentally prepared, yet the touchdown had already come, from the reserve team, and in such a way; it was the familiar recipe of the Crimson Tide Storm, an unexpected surprise catching everyone off guard.
The entire place was boiling over.
Li Wei stood still, a smile crawling over his lips, so this was the taste of scoring a touchdown, so sudden, so thrilling, he felt he might get addicted to it.
Why not score a few more?
"Li Wei, aaah!"
"Touchdown!"
One by one, the reserve offensive group members who had just walked shoulder to shoulder with Li Wei, helping clear the blocks, swarmed over, enveloping Li Wei in their midst.
Even Beteman was no exception.
Normally, a quarterback would patiently stand in the pocket and watch the chaos ahead, but he couldn’t contain his excitement and followed the offensive line in the charge.
Li Wei looked at Beteman’s face, so overjoyed he was speechless, and bumped him hard on the shoulder, "How about it, are you ready now?"
Beteman touched his helmet and laughed sheepishly, "Ready."
On the edge of the field, Burns couldn’t hold back either, throwing his arms up in the air, and then clenching his fists, shouting, "Well done, well done, well done," in passionate celebration.
Turning around, Burns saw Saban with a smile but a hint of helplessness, "Burns, is this really okay? The kids are watching."
Burns curled his lip, "A little excitement is good. The Red Team’s offense didn’t come through, they need to learn from the White Team’s spirit."
Saban took a deep look at the field, as Li Wei and Allen exchanged a gaze. Even without any special movement, the tension of strong forces clashing already filled the air, "Who do you think planned that last offensive play for the White Team?"
"Beteman, who else?" Burns said as if it were obvious.
Li Wei continued his impressive performance, but relying solely on him proved ineffective. Ultimately, the Achilles’ heel was quarterback Beteman’s lack of precision in clutch passing situations. Without the ability to open up the game through passing, they resorted to ground attacks again and again, only to metaphorically run into a wall—
Because the opponents knew that Beteman’s passing couldn’t break through, they correctly guessed a ground attack was likely. The defensive group’s strategy then became much simpler, just needing to crowd the short-pass area and the front line.
A numbers game in football can be a decisive advantage.
Hertz performed mediocrely under pressure while Beteman fared even worse.
Li Wei... shouldering the team’s offense alone meant he couldn’t go far. After all, the opponents were the main team, and the main team’s absolute strength eventually suppressed the substitutes.
Nevertheless, Li Wei still shone in this game, with a total ground advance of two hundred yards. Even after deducting the seventy-five yards from the first long run, he still easily broke past the one-hundred-yard mark, securing nine first downs for the White Team’s offensive group with his exceptional performance.
Unfortunately, the standoff between the two teams continued—
At this point, one could see the shortcomings of NCAA football, where tactics are not as varied. Without the guidance of a coach, the players have too few options, which leads them to repeatedly hit the same wall.
And Li Wei?
Smart as he was, his study of football had been a mere three weeks, and much of his knowledge was still at a beginner’s level, so he had no immediate solutions.
Then, amidst the standoff, Hertz finally brought out his talent, alternatively pushing on the ground himself and making consecutive short passes to open up the play. Somehow, he managed to cross midfield through a series of stumbles.
In the end, the White Team’s defensive group narrowly intercepted Hertz near their own twenty-five-yard line, but the Red Team’s Special Duty Group easily kicked a field goal, putting the main team on the scoreboard at last.
"3:7".
They had finally broken the deadlock.
The Red Team’s morale soared with ample time left in the game. If Hertz could maintain his performance, they still had a chance.
Ah!
Hertz finally let out a roar, showing the fearlessness of a green cow, proving with his actions that there was a reason he could serve as the main quarterback.
The air was ablaze.
Li Wei immediately felt the shift in the atmosphere; although the main team had only scored a field goal, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the substitute team’s offense had also been hitting a wall. Now, with the main team’s momentum rising, the dazzling red sea seemed to turn into their energy.
The crisis was subtly creeping in.