Between Saturday night and the following Wednesday, college football talked about practically nothing else.
The weekend had produced several important results, upsets, movements in the rankings, and outstanding individual performances. However, one of the most discussed games, if not the most discussed of them all, had been Arizona's destruction at the hands of UCLA.
Sports programs replayed the footage for days.
The five two-point conversions.
The late hits.
The arguments between players.
And Andrew sitting on the bench before the third quarter was over.
Online, the reactions began as soon as the game ended.
@ABCCollegeFootball — 11:31 PM · Oct 27, 2012
FINAL from Tucson.
UCLA Bruins 66 Vs Arizona Wildcats 9
Andrew Pritchett-Tucker promised during the week that the game would be over before the fourth quarter.
He delivered.
The true freshman leaves the field during the third quarter after leading one of the most dominant offensive performances of the season.
UCLA converted all FIVE of its two-point conversion attempts.
#UCLA #Arizona #Pac12
💬 Replies to the tweet
@BruinNation94:
He said he would be sitting during the third quarter, and that is exactly how it ended. This kid is completely insane, and he's ours! GO BRUINS!
@Wildcatchris12:
I'm not going to defend our performance, but going for two five times when the game was already over was disrespectful.
@Irins1993:
Very impressive. Next week they aren't playing Arizona. They're playing Oregon, the number two team in the country!
@Andrewnation99 (replying to @Irins1993):
It's always the same argument. First, it was that he padded his stats against unranked teams. Now he beats a ranked team and they ignore it. If he beats Oregon, what are they going to say? That it isn't Alabama or Florida?
@ReiUSCTrojan20:
Arizona made UCLA look like Alabama. Embarrassing.
@Kimsmod77 (replying to @ReiUSCTrojan20):
You talk too much for someone who still has to play us. Mark the date, Trojan: November 17. The clock is already ticking. Tick-tock. 🫵
@Youngred2:
I've followed him since YouTube. I only remember one time an opponent provoked him before a game. Palisades won 80-0. Fischer should have kept his mouth shut. RIP. 🕊️
@ChandlerBing:
He promised three quarters and rested during the third. The scriptures have been fulfilled once again. Amen.
...
That reply quickly began circulating across the internet, especially among UCLA students and the millions of people who had followed Andrew long before his arrival in college football.
During his high school years, Chandler had christened him the "Jesus Christ of high school football," and the nickname became incredibly famous. It was exaggerated, born from his performances, his undefeated record, and the ease with which he seemed to do things no one else could replicate.
Now, however, the title had lost its final part.
He was no longer merely the Jesus Christ of high school football.
To his followers, he had simply become the Jesus Christ of football.
Until then, the nickname had always been used as an outrageous joke. Another way to exaggerate his talent and fuel the cult surrounding his figure.
But after what happened in Tucson, it began to carry a different kind of weight.
Andrew had assured everyone that UCLA would finish the game before the fourth quarter and that, by then, he would already be sitting on the bench, admiring the scenery.
That was exactly what happened. He had spoken a prophecy and fulfilled it.
…
@ESPNCFB — 11:38 PM · Oct 27, 2012
HISTORY AT UCLA.
With his five touchdowns against Arizona, Andrew Pritchett-Tucker reaches 35 touchdowns on the season and surpasses Drew Olson's record.
Drew Olson, 2005: 34 TDs in 12 games.
Andrew Pritchett-Tucker, 2012: 35 TDs in 8 games.
Pritchett-Tucker becomes the quarterback with the most touchdowns in a single season in UCLA history.
It isn't even November yet.
The next record?
Matt Barkley threw 39 touchdowns for USC during the 2011 season, the most ever in a single season by a Pac-12 quarterback.
Andrew is four away.
Will he get it?
💬 Comments on the tweet
@FoundeMOS:
At this pace, Andrew passes Barkley within the next two games. 😂 Sorry, Matt. Nothing personal.
@Briansxz9:
UCLA was still throwing and chasing the record with a lead of more than thirty points. They shouldn't pretend it happened naturally.
@Qansd:
Every week, his stats look like they were made up by someone playing Madden on Rookie difficulty.
@WilliamKing19:
Thirty-five touchdowns in eight games as a true freshman. They can cry about the two-point conversions all they want. The numbers are still there.
…
@CFBSpotlight — 11:58 PM · Oct 27, 2012
THE PHOTO OF THE NIGHT?
While UCLA and Arizona players shoved one another behind him, Andrew Pritchett-Tucker removed his helmet, walked out of the end zone, and stood staring at the scoreboard.
Arizona 9 — UCLA 53.
The photograph was taken seconds after Pritchett-Tucker scored the fifth two-point conversion and took a dangerous hit from Jake Fischer.
[The tweet included a photo of Andrew with his back to the confrontation, without his helmet, looking at the scoreboard while the fight continued behind him]
💬 Replies to the tweet
@its_justkend:
New profile picture 🤑
@ashtondownson102:
The coldest walk in football 🥶
@BearDownAshl33:
I can't decide whether this photo is incredible or whether I want to smash my computer.
@denshen1996:
this looks like when the main character in a movie doesn't look at the explosion behind him lol
@Cuino_gd:
Andrew looking at the scoreboard:
"Yeah, I think they got the message."
…
The photograph was only one of the countless images, recordings, and screenshots that began circulating that night.
For the rest of Saturday and much of Sunday, the game remained a trending topic on Twitter.
And it wasn't merely online noise.
The game had been the second-most-watched matchup of the entire day.
ABC's broadcast earned a rating of nearly 4.9, drawing 8.1 million viewers, with even higher peaks during the second half, when the margin on the scoreboard was already enormous, but the two-point conversions, late hits, and growing tension between both teams turned every possession into a spectacle.
It finished behind only the matchup between Notre Dame, ranked fifth in the country, and Oklahoma, ranked eighth, which earned a rating of approximately 5.2 and drew more than eight and a half million viewers.
For UCLA, those numbers were enormous.
During Rick Neuheisel's final season as head coach, the program's most-watched game had been the first conference championship game in Pac-12 history, also against the Oregon Ducks.
That game, played in prime time and broadcast by FOX, had earned a rating of around 3.2 and drawn approximately four and a half million viewers.
The national attention was understandable. It was the new conference's first championship game and featured UCLA against one of the most important programs in the country, even though Oregon ultimately won with relative ease, 49-31.
Another of UCLA's most-watched games during that period had been against Texas, one of the most recognizable brands in college football, with a rating close to 3.1.
Until then, those had been the program's two highest-reaching television broadcasts in recent years.
Now, however, UCLA had surpassed both by a wide margin in the middle of the regular season.
Arizona was a ranked opponent, but it did not carry Oregon's national weight. It was not a conference championship game. Nor did it possess the history, audience, or commercial strength of an institution like Texas.
And yet, millions of people had chosen to remain in front of their televisions to watch UCLA.
Or, more specifically, to watch Andrew.
For the university, that represented far more than a simple victory.
It meant national exposure, more television coverage, and greater interest from sponsors, donors, and future recruits.
More jerseys sold, more ticket requests, and a level of media attention the program had not received in a very long time.
UCLA was no longer appearing in major time slots only because it was facing a historic powerhouse or participating in a championship game.
Now it was beginning to become, by itself, the reason people turned on their televisions.
And everyone within the institution understood who was primarily responsible.
The Andrew effect was not limited to his performance on the field or the impact he could have on recruiting.
It was also reflected in the ratings, and the game against Arizona had not been an isolated exception.
His college debut against Rice had already produced extraordinary numbers for UCLA. The broadcast earned a rating close to 3.5 and finished among the three most-watched games of the day.
An impressive figure for a matchup that, under normal circumstances, would not have attracted much interest outside the followers of both programs.
The following week, against Nebraska, the audience increased even further.
The game approached a 4.5 rating and surpassed seven million viewers during its most-watched moments, becoming the most-watched game of the entire day.
The loss did not reduce the interest either.
The exact opposite happened.
When UCLA hosted Oregon State a week later, much of the country wanted to see how Andrew would respond after the first football loss of his life.
The opponent also added to the tension.
Oregon State had unexpectedly entered the rankings at number twenty-three after defeating the thirteenth-ranked team in the country, turning the matchup into a far more dangerous test than it had appeared to be at the beginning of the season.
The broadcast earned a rating close to 4.3 and once again became the most-watched game of the day, even surpassing Michigan against Notre Dame.
The games that followed did not feature opponents with the same national appeal or such significant rankings, but their numbers were not bad either.
Quite the opposite.
They proved that Andrew's presence had considerably raised UCLA's television floor.
A game that might once have drawn one and a half million viewers could now attract two and a half million or even three.
It no longer mattered only who the Bruins were playing.
A significant portion of the audience simply wanted to see what Andrew would do that week.
For the networks, UCLA was beginning to become a safe bet. For the university, it was a commercial opportunity they could not afford to waste.
Another important piece of news arrived on Monday morning.
After the crushing victory in Tucson, UCLA reached number six in the country in both the AP Poll and the BCS standings.
The AP ranking was determined by the votes of sports journalists from across the country. Each week, they ranked the top twenty-five teams based on their performance, the quality of their victories, and the overall impression they left on the field.
The BCS, by contrast, combined several different elements.
It included the Harris Interactive Poll, the Coaches Poll, and a series of computer rankings that analyzed results, strength of schedule, and quality of opponents. That was the system that, at the end of the season, would decide which two universities would compete for the national championship.
For the first time since the season had begun, both rankings agreed completely.
UCLA was the number six team in the country according to both the AP and the BCS.
With a 7-1 record, leading the Pac-12 South, and only one loss, the Bruins were no longer viewed as a pleasant surprise or as a rebuilding program that had started better than expected.
That same Monday, the conference's weekly awards were also announced.
As had already become customary, Andrew received the Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award.
It was the seventh time he had won it in nine weeks of competition. Although he had only played eight games because of a bye week, there had been only one week in which he had not received the award.
By that point, the announcement barely surprised anyone. The truly important news came with the next recognition.
The Pac-12 also named Andrew Offensive Player of the Week.
The decision had not been entirely simple.
Marqise Lee, USC's wide receiver, had delivered an extraordinary performance and continued to prove that, despite all the attention Matt Barkley received, he had become the Trojans' biggest star.
After the loss to Stanford, USC had managed to recover. The previous Saturday, it defeated Arizona State 38-17, remaining ranked tenth in the country.
Lee had been fundamental to that victory.
He finished the game with sixteen receptions, 345 yards, and two touchdowns.
In almost any other week, a performance like that would have been enough to win the award without much debate.
But he was playing in the same conference as Andrew.
Andrew completed twenty-four of thirty passes for an extraordinary eighty percent completion rate.
He threw for 368 yards, added another 51 on the ground, and finished with 419 total yards of offense.
He accounted for five touchdowns.
He did not throw a single interception.
He had also done it on the road, against a ranked opponent, and in front of one of the largest television audiences of the entire day.
Lee's performance had been spectacular.
Andrew's had completely dominated the national conversation.
The conference ultimately chose UCLA's quarterback, and with that recognition, Andrew did not merely add another weekly award.
He also broke a record.
@Pac12 — 1:14 PM · Oct 29, 2012
ANOTHER RECORD FOR ANDREW PRITCHETT-TUCKER
The UCLA quarterback has been named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week after leading the 66-9 victory over Arizona.
It is his fifth weekly offensive award of the season, the most ever won by a player in a single year in conference history.
Matt Barkley had set the previous record with four during the 2011 season.
💬 Replies to the tweet
@TrojanEmpire12:
Marqise Lee had 345 receiving yards. THREE HUNDRED AND FORTY-FIVE. What more was he supposed to do?
@APTWestwoodKing19 (replying to @TrojanEmpire12):
Not play in the same conference as Andrew.
…
Five conference Offensive Player of the Week awards in only eight games.
As for the national honors, Andrew did not win either the Walter Camp National Offensive Player of the Week or the Davey O'Brien Quarterback of the Week that week.
He had come close in both.
Even so, no one inside UCLA or among his YouTube fans could complain too much.
Andrew had already won the Walter Camp national offensive award once and had accumulated three weekly Davey O'Brien honors.
The number was beginning to be considered historic.
There were quarterbacks who had gone on to win the Heisman without receiving the Davey O'Brien weekly award three times in the same season.
And Andrew had not even reached November yet.
The difficulty of winning those honors could not be compared to that of a conference award either.
The Walter Camp committee had to choose only one offensive player from the entire FBS, regardless of position. Quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers all competed for the same recognition.
The Davey O'Brien, meanwhile, compared Andrew against every quarterback in the country.
The committees also did not limit themselves to looking at statistics.
They considered the importance of the game, the quality of the opponent, the national context, and the story surrounding each performance. Once a player had already won several times, the natural tendency was to look for a different name, especially if someone produced an unexpected upset against a powerhouse.
For Andrew to win again, simply playing well was no longer enough.
He needed a performance that was impossible to ignore.
A monstrous statistical night.
A truly important opponent.
Or both.
Among all the discussions that emerged after the game, one of the most persistent began among Arizona fans, supporters of other Pac-12 programs, and those who were already growing tired of the constant attention Andrew received.
Over the following days, several of them compiled moments from the game in which, according to them, he should have been penalized.
The conversation grew especially large on Reddit.
Andrew found one of those threads on Wednesday afternoon after returning from class.
It was Halloween, but there was still some time before any gathering or party. With no practice left and nothing urgent to do, he was lying on his bed, scrolling through his phone without much interest, until the title of a post caught his attention.
He opened it out of simple curiosity and also because he expected to have some fun reading the complaints.
His team had just won by fifty-seven points. Even assuming the referees had ignored a fifteen-yard penalty, it was difficult to imagine that it would have changed anything.
r/CFB
Posted by u/PoruswildcatIV
How many unsportsmanlike conduct penalties was Andrew Pritchett-Tucker allowed to get away with because he is ABC's new star?
I'm not trying to defend Arizona's performance. They destroyed us, and Fischer made a fool of himself all week.
But I rewatched the broadcast and counted at least three situations in which Andrew could have been given fifteen yards.
1. After the second touchdown, he looks directly toward Arizona's sideline and makes a hand gesture as if telling them to keep talking.
2. After another score, he spreads his arms in front of the ZonaZoo and stares at them while they insult him.
3. After the fifth conversion, he takes off his helmet on the field while looking at the scoreboard.
If any other quarterback does that, he gets flagged.
But because Pritchett is the conference's new marketing machine, the referees would rather look the other way.
1.8k upvotes | 624 comments
Andrew finished reading and frowned slightly.
He remembered the first moment perfectly. It seemed ridiculous to him that anyone would expect a penalty for that.
Throughout the entire game, there had been a constant exchange of comments between both teams. Arizona's players talked after plays, UCLA's players responded, and the referees only stepped in when the situation threatened to escalate.
If they had penalized every word, every stare, or every small movement of a hand, the game would have ended with twenty personal fouls on each side.
Besides, Andrew had not made that gesture for no reason.
Several players and members of Arizona's sideline had been shouting at him after the score. He had simply looked at them and moved his fingers to indicate that they should keep talking.
Provocative?
Yes.
Worth fifteen yards?
Not even close.
The second point was different.
Andrew had to admit that the Reddit user was probably right.
Spreading his arms in front of the ZonaZoo and standing there watching the students while they insulted him fell quite clearly within what the NCAA considered unsportsmanlike conduct.
College rules were extremely strict about celebrations. Far stricter than Andrew considered reasonable.
However, that time he had acted while knowing exactly what he was doing.
Fischer had just committed a penalty against him.
Andrew knew that if the referees also penalized his celebration, the two penalties would offset. It would not hurt UCLA, and considering the difference on the scoreboard, there was no real risk to the outcome either.
He had taken advantage of Fischer's penalty to provoke the crowd without putting the team in danger, however nonexistent that danger might have been.
But because Fischer got up and ran toward him with the obvious intention of confronting him, the referees had to focus on preventing a full-scale fight.
Andrew did not remain there. He calmly walked away.
Perhaps that caused the officials to simply forget about the gesture in the middle of the chaos. Or perhaps they decided that, because he had left the confrontation instead of taking part in it, it was not worth penalizing him.
The third point was the only one that made Andrew truly frown.
Taking off his helmet after the conversion while he was still on the field.
Yes.
The guy on Reddit was right.
It was a penalty.
NCAA rules stated that no player could intentionally remove his helmet while remaining on the field, except during a timeout, halftime, or another authorized situation.
Andrew stared at the screen for a few seconds.
'What a stupid rule,' he thought.
Someone on UCLA's coaching staff had already explained why it existed.
The first reason was to prevent taunting and mockery.
The NCAA was especially sensitive to any celebration that could be interpreted as disrespectful. The organization had found that some players removed their helmets after scoring to look directly at the cameras, yell at the opposing crowd, or confront a defender face-to-face.
According to the organization's logic, forcing them to keep their helmets on reduced the chances of a celebration turning into a fight.
Andrew was not particularly convinced.
It was football.
A contact sport in which strong players crashed into one another for three hours, but apparently showing your face after scoring could be considered too aggressive.
The second explanation was related to safety.
After a touchdown or conversion, the field quickly filled with teammates running over to celebrate, frustrated defenders, referees trying to separate players, and members of the special teams units entering for the next play.
A player with his head uncovered could take an accidental hit in the middle of that crowd.
It sounded exaggerated.
The third reason seemed even more stupid to him.
To the NCAA, the identity of the university and the collective effort had to remain above any individual.
Removing your helmet during a moment of peak television exposure, deliberately showing your face to the cameras, could be interpreted as a selfish attempt to turn a team play into a personal exhibition.
That explanation seemed almost schizophrenic to him.
Everyone knew who had scored.
His name was on his jersey, the commentators repeated it throughout the broadcast, and the cameras followed him even while he was sitting on the bench.
But according to the NCAA, taking off his helmet for a few seconds could endanger the collective spirit of the sport.
Andrew let out a short nasal laugh.
Even so, he could not deny the main point. He had removed his helmet while still on the field.
That did not mean he believed he had received special treatment.
The officials had probably been too busy trying to control the confrontation behind him. Since Andrew had moved away from everyone else and taken off his helmet when no one was near him anymore, he had also managed to avoid the penalty.
From any other angle, it did not look as though he was provoking anyone.
He had simply forgotten that he had not yet completely crossed the sideline.
Andrew slid his finger downward and began reading the comments.
If the title was already that dramatic over a couple of minor gestures in a football game, the replies promised to be quite entertaining.
Only a few minutes later, he heard several voices coming from the living room.
Even through the closed door, he recognized Sam's and Steve's.
If Sam had already arrived, then Paige was probably there too.
Andrew locked his phone, left it on the bed, and stood up.
Howard and Leonard should not be too far behind either. They had all agreed to meet there before heading to the Dunphys' house.
His aunt Claire had prepared one of her usual haunted houses. She did it almost every year, considering Halloween was her favorite holiday, and it had already become a family tradition.
The plan was to arrive around six and stay until eight.
That would be the quiet part of the night.
Afterward, from what Andrew knew, Steve, Sam, Haley, Rachel, Leonard, and the others planned to go to a party more suited to college students.
If it started around eight or nine, it could easily last until one or two in the morning. Many would probably leave earlier, considering it was Wednesday, but those with late classes the next day, a lighter academic workload, or simply no concern about showing up tired could continue until two or three.
The fact that Halloween weekend had already passed did not mean much either.
They were still in Los Angeles, and it was the night of the thirty-first.
There was no chance Halloween would go unnoticed simply because it had fallen in the middle of the week.
Andrew still had not decided what he would do after leaving his uncles' house.
He could join everyone at a party for a while.
Or he could return straight home, rest, and continue studying all the material he had gathered on Oregon.
Since Monday, amid the awards, records, ratings, and constant noise surrounding the game against Arizona, his routine had been far less exciting than it appeared from the outside.
Practices.
Hours in the film room with Norm and Rip studying the Ducks' defense.
He had never prepared so intensely for a game.
'Two hours of Halloween, I record Claire falling for my prank, and then I come home to study Oregon's defense a little more before going to sleep,' Andrew thought as he placed his hand on the doorknob.
The plan sounded quite appealing.
-------------------------------------------------
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