If someone who had no idea what college football in 2025 was asked you to sum it up as quickly as possible, you could do a lot worse than a play made by Stanford defensive lineman Clay Patterson in Saturday’s Week 0 game against Hawaii, as well as the subsequent analysis from CBS announcers Rich Walz and Logan Ryan.
Down 13-7 near the end of the first half, a driving Hawaii team faced a first-and-10 from the Stanford 24. The Rainbow Warriors went into their bag of tricks, trying a flea flicker, but the play was broken up by Patterson. As soon as quarterback Micah Alejado got the ball back, he was tackled by Patterson for what seemed to be a 12-yard loss. Patterson’s heroics were quickly offset by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for dancing.
“Hawaii goes with the trickeration,” Ryan said. “Clay Patterson has been in college seven years. You can’t fool him. But then he does the foolish TikTok dance that looks like it’s gonna be a taunting call. Welcome to Week 0 football, people.”
“The transfer from Yale,” Walz added. “That was a 12-yard loss.”
“Clay Patterson has been in college 7 years. You can’t fool him. But then he does the foolish TikTok dance…”
“It was a disaster play for Hawaii and a disaster dance for Stanford.”
Logan Ryan and Rich Walz discuss Clay Patterson’s unsportsmanlike conduct (dancing) penalty. pic.twitter.com/wrfMBcDD7U
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) August 24, 2025
“Clay Patterson, trying to get trending real quick, cost his team,” added Ryan upon seeing a replay of Patterson’s dance. “That might get you a seat next to the coach on the bench, Rich…and then you get the infamous hand on the head. ‘Oh, doy. What did I do?'”
“It was a disaster play for Hawaii and a disaster dance for Stanford,” Walz said. Then, after the referee officially announced the penalty, Walz added, “That’s a costly dance.”
With the penalty, the play ended up being a three-yard gain for Hawaii. Two plays after the penalty, the Rainbow Warriors were in the end zone.
DIME 🎯
📺 CBS#BRADDAHHOOD x #GoBows pic.twitter.com/Ej0UQoZi8n
— Hawaii Football (@HawaiiFootball) August 24, 2025
So, indeed, it was a costly dance.
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