There’s some bad beats and there’s some bad beats.
SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt following Week 11’s Monday Night Football was one for the ages. His weekly segment with Stanford Steve, which looks at unlikely garbage time moments and (most often) mishaps that lead to a gambling outcome sure to leave losing bettors frustrated, devastated or catatonic, depending on their financial stake, was must-watch television.
Bad Beats
Week 12
My word, you have to see what happened in San Jose. pic.twitter.com/6WSBo6GCrm— Stanford Steve (@StanfordSteve82) November 19, 2024
It’s an over 12-minute segment, but the two most important minutes happen when Van Pelt broke down — literally and figuratively — San José State’s 42-21 loss to Boise State. Down 14 with just under two minutes to play, SJSU QB Walker Eget threw a pick six, which Boise State’s Devon Banks took 70 yards for a touchdown.
42-21.
The Broncos came into Saturday’s Mountain West Conference matchup as 14.5-point favorites.
It can’t end like this — right? Right?
“You’re watching, and you’re cursing, and your kids hear, and you’re like, ‘I’m sorry, daddy’s on Spartans,'” said Van Pelt. “But, wait, we’ve got time, and the Spartans signed up for 60, and here they come. (San José State redshirt wide receiver) Sebastian Macaluso, by the way, great Italian joint in Miami — Macaluso… Here comes San José and that’s PI, and we’re going to get the backdoor…everything’s fine.”
In the wise words of Lee Corso, not so fast, my friend.
The Spartans had the ball at the one-yard line with just a tick over 50 seconds remaining…
“Get in! (Junior running back) Floyd Chalk IV allegedly stopped short,” Van Pelt continued. “The clock still running, we need a bit of urgency here. All right, here we go. Throw it out in the flat — (redshirt junior tight end) Jackson Canaan is stopped short… Tick, tick, tick. There’s so many people. Boise’s just walking; hurry up! Snap the ball! For God’s sake, snap the ball!
“Oh my god! They only have one last chance! Did he get sacked?!?!?”
There was a few momentary seconds of silence followed by some laughter, in which Van Pelt had his head firmly pinned down at the desk live from AT&T Stadium. All Stanford Steve could do was muster up a couple of chuckles.
“Did you see that?!?!? They are getting 14.5! There was a pick-six, and they were at the 1,” said Van Pelt. “What are the people doing? And I’m watching it… My God, come on, man. Seriously! I’m literally sweating from this right now. They didn’t cover! I still went 5-3-1…”
This one will haunt Spartans’ bettors — and Van Pelt — for a long, long time.
At least it made for some entertaining TV after a lackluster night of Monday Night Football. But we’re not so sure Van Pelt will take any solace in that. Perhaps he’ll take solace in going 5-3-1 this past weekend, though.
