Photo Credit: ESPN2
By Reice Shipley on

Friday’s Cotton Bowl matchup between the Ohio State Buckeyes had an incredibly intense conclusion, coming down to the wire late in the fourth quarter. Given the nature of the hectic ending, no man was better on the call of the action than the always energetic Pat McAfee.

McAfee, who was on the call of the Field Pass alternate broadcast on ESPN2, had several great moments throughout the game. But none were better than the biggest play of the game, a strip sack from Ohio State linebacker Jack Sawyer that Sawyer was able to recover and return all the way for a touchdown to put the game out of reach.

“Fourth and goal in the fourth quarter for the Texas Longhorns,” said McAfee as Texas snapped the ball. “Quinn Ewers pressured on fourth and 13. Jack Sawyer, give me that! Strip sack for Jack! He scoops, he runs! Jack Sawyer touchdown! JTT, Jack Sawyer, and this Buckeyes D with a punctuation mark on this Cotton Bowl.”

Perhaps the greatest part of seeing this play on the alternate broadcast compared to the main broadcast on ESPN with Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit is the side-by-side view of the Ohio State and Texas coaching staff.

On the one hand, Ohio State head coach Ryan Day took off running on the sidelines with Jack Sawyer, while Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian remained in a squatting position looking down at the turf knowing that the game was now over.

For reference, here is the call on the main broadcast.

Obviously, there are plenty who probably preferred Fowler’s far more composed call than McAfee’s. But given just how crazy the play was, there were also plenty of viewers who appreciated McAfee’s raw emotion to match the moment.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley