Villanova quarterback Daniel Smith pulled off one of the most ridiculous plays you’ll ever see in college football.
With just over three minutes left and his team trailing Delaware 27-13 in the 2021 “Battle of the Blue,” Smith rolled right under pressure. A Delaware defender tripped him up. As he went down, Smith somehow flipped, somersaulted, and flicked the ball toward the end zone.
Tight end Charlie Gilroy was right there. He hauled in the one-yard touchdown.
The extra point made it 27-20. The crowd at Villanova Stadium lost it.
Smith later described the play simply: as he was falling, he just threw it over his shoulder. He couldn’t even see the end zone. He thought it was going to be intercepted. Then he turned around and saw Gilroy catch it.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, we scored,” Smith said afterward.
The clip immediately exploded online. People compared it to a video-game glitch. Others said the announcer sounded like Owen Wilson. Fans posted it with captions like “NCAA 14 is glitching again.”Delaware still won the game 27-20 and claimed the CAA title that spring. But nobody was talking about the final score. They were talking about the flip.
It was the kind of play that reminds you why you watch sports. A quarterback gets wrecked, does a mid-air somersault, and still finds a way to get the ball in the end zone.
You can watch a thousand games and never see that again.
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