Dominate the Super Bowl

As Li Wei left the field, Saban’s eye caught Li Wei walking towards Burns; the two exchanged ideas by the sidelines, with Burns covering his mouth with the playbook and nodding repeatedly, then sharing his own ideas with Li Wei.

After their brief exchange, Li Wei’s face remained calm, revealing no emotions, but Saban knew that Li Wei was ready.

This thought made Saban pause slightly. Since when had he started trusting Li Wei so much?

Turning his gaze back to the field, Saban continued to watch the ongoing play.

Emmons’s ground advance was mediocre; the Tigers Defense Squad’s frontline pressure remained fierce. Even though this lineup was missing two main Black-faced Yamas, reducing the intensity slightly, they were still very aggressive, posing a severe test to the Crimson Tide Storm’s offensive line.

However, the deterrence of Li Wei’s recent ground advancement had the Tigers Defense Squad uneasy, with a clear focus on the frontline. Emmons’s mediocre ground progress meant that Beteman’s passes connected successfully.

The Crimson Tide Storm gained another first down and approached midfield.

Unfortunately, under pressure, Beteman’s accuracy faltered, and a subsequent simple short pass failed to connect, forcing the Crimson Tide Storm to confront a second down with ten yards to go. Emmons barely pushed forward two yards, plunging the home team into the mire of third down with eight yards.

Midfield was in close reach.

The Crimson Tide Storm’s offense finally showed some improvement in the second half, opening up the play. They just needed two more first downs to attempt a field goal, but instead, they got stuck here—

The difficulty of a football field goal is slightly less than that of a soccer, but it is still challenging.

Like in soccer, football field goals also use a wall of players. The defensive group would pressure and penetrate as usual, disrupting the kicker’s rhythm; however, since there is no goalkeeper, and as the goalposts face the sky with no boundaries, the success rate of field goals is relatively high but still dependent on distance.

The closer to the goal, the higher the success rate.

The shooting distance should include three parts: the length of the end zone itself, ten yards, because the goalposts are at the end line of the end zone; the second part is the length between the football and the front line of the end zone; the third part is the kicker’s run-up distance, usually about eight yards.

Hence, for an extra point field goal after a touchdown, with the football placed fifteen yards from the front of the end zone, the shooting distance would be about thirty-three yards combining the ten yards plus fifteen yards plus eight yards.

Generally, field goals around forty or forty-five yards show excellent success rates, often nearing 99%; however, once the field goal distance exceeds fifty yards, the success rate dramatically drops.

Therefore, NCAA and NFL traditionally consider the opposing team’s thirty-five-yard line as entering the "field goal range."

Of course, if the advance stops at the opponent’s forty-yard line, the offensive team can still attempt a field goal, facing a fifty-eight-yard field goal which is not impossible.

However, the thirty-five-yard line is safer.

Now, the Crimson Tide Storm was approaching midfield, about two first downs away from the thirty-five-yard line, and then the offense got stuck again.

Saban was also somewhat perplexed—

The inaccuracy of Beteman’s short pass was critical.

But football is a collective sport; it’s not fair to blame just one part harshly. Saban remained calm and replaced Emmons with Li Wei.

Indeed, Emmons had not made a mistake; it was Beteman who mishandled the pass; but facing third down with eight yards, a tough situation, Saban needed Li Wei to distract the opponents’ attention.

Third down and eight yards, a long down distance. From a conventional viewpoint, choosing to pass was wise since ground attacks often cover five yards or less, and passing was the hope of achieving a first down; Saban believed Sweeney thought the same, thus he needed Li Wei as a surprise element—

Originally, Saban planned to use Li Wei this way in the regular season, although he was now uncertain if the original plan would continue, Saban wanted to test the effect of using Li Wei as a wild card.

The strategy was set.

Beteman heard the strategy through his headset, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Li Wei.

Li Wei gave Beteman a smile and mouthed the words, "Poker face."

The implication was, don’t let the opponents decode the strategy, stay cool.

Beteman couldn’t help but smile, somehow feeling a bit more grounded.

He let out a long breath.

"Attack!"

As Beteman announced the snap, he didn’t even look at Li Wei. Instead, he gazed toward the left side of the field. Without stepping back to create space and assess the Defensive group’s formation, he raised his hand, ready to pass the ball—

Quick short pass!

This tactic was to skip the quarterback assessing the offensive and defensive standoff, running a pre-planned play entirely, catching the Defensive group off guard, achieving a short pass connection, and thus advancing.

If executed properly, the Wide Receiver or Tight End could break into open space before the Defensive group was fully in position, advancing a large number of yards. In fact, they didn’t need too many yards; eight was enough for the Crimson Tide Storm to secure the first down.

In an instant, the Tigers Defense Squad surged into action, all moving toward the left side at the first opportunity.

Perhaps, number ninety-nine was the exception.

Farrell, number ninety-nine, had noticed Li Wei.

Having missed the tackle twice during their last head-to-head confrontation was a humiliation for Farrell. He didn’t care about any tactic or formation, his focus was entirely on Li Wei, with the impulsiveness and stubbornness of a high schooler, but he unexpectedly discovered—

Number twenty-three wasn’t moving with the team toward the same side but was heading in the opposite direction, that is, toward the right side of the Crimson Tide Storm and the left side of the Tigers.

What’s going on?

Farrell didn’t have time to ponder, sounded the alarm, his body’s center of gravity had just started shifting right when he quickly halted and turned back, rushing to his left.

In that moment, Farrell had broken away from the team, but without time to observe, he saw the Crimson Tide Storm’s quarterback turn around, casually tossing the football.

Smoothly, straight into the arms of number twenty-three.

False pass, real run!

The Crimson Tide Storm daringly executed a deceptive quick short pass play in the tough situation of third gear and eight yards.

Had Farrell not noticed number twenty-three...

But at this moment, there were no what-ifs.

Farrell immediately rushed forward, keeping his eyes locked on number twenty-three.

He was nearing.

Getting even closer.

Farrell’s muscles were completely tensed because he had seen number twenty-three just charge head-on into O’Daniel and skillfully turn using the momentum. He absolutely wouldn’t make the same mistake, even devoid of impulsiveness, remaining calm, always watching number twenty-three’s footsteps and center of gravity movement.

Here it comes!

As number twenty-three came within reach, Farrell brightened, readying to spring forward, but unexpectedly—

A flicker.

A blur in front of his eyes.

A pause.

There, stopped right in front of him, was that figure which seemed not so robust and even slightly thinner compared to a typical running back. Farrell couldn’t stop and charged past.

Farrell: ???