On Sunday, with the college football weekend already over, the recaps, analyses, columns, provisional rankings and, above all, the consequences of everything that had happened on Saturday began to appear.
In theory, the most anticipated game of the day had been Alabama vs. LSU.
It had delivered.
A close, physical and tense matchup until the very end that Alabama ultimately won 21-17. It drew enormous ratings, national coverage, and during any other week it would have monopolized a good portion of the sports conversation on Sunday.
The problem was that a few hours earlier, something had happened in Eugene.
What had initially been considered the second-biggest game of the day ended up swallowing practically the entire conversation.
Oregon vs. UCLA.
First because the Ducks had completely run over the Bruins during a first half that seemed destined to turn into a national humiliation.
And then because UCLA had done something that, statistically, almost nobody had considered possible.
The greatest comeback in college football history.
Naturally, Twitter became a graveyard of bad predictions.
During halftime, sports accounts, journalists and fans had practically declared the game over. Many of those tweets had filled with replies mocking Andrew, UCLA and especially anyone who still believed something could happen.
Now, the exact opposite was happening.
Some users had quietly deleted their comments.
Bad decision.
The screenshots already existed.
Others had decided to leave them up and accept the consequences. Their mentions had become a rather unpleasant place.
One of the most widely shared examples was a tweet from ESPN College Football posted during halftime.
@ESPNCFB:
HALFTIME in Eugene: No. 2 Oregon leads No. 6 UCLA, 45-8. Ducks have taken complete control at Autzen.
The original replies were still there.
@DylanMorrow.s:
Welcome to Autzen, Andrew.
Hours later.
@elliotMJ (replying to @DylanMorrow.s):
What happened, buddy? Autzen got real quiet when Football Jesus came back from the dead.
Another one.
@KevinBishop92:
45-8 😂 pretty sure last year's UCLA team everyone called terrible looked better against Oregon
@missycooper93 (replying to @KevinBishop92):
Still pretty sure, Kevin?
Sports Illustrated hadn't escaped either.
@SInews:
A long night in Eugene for Andrew Pritchett and UCLA. Oregon leads 45-8 at halftime.
💬 Tweet replies:
@robben110:
Where's Pritchett?
@BruinNation19 (replying to @robben110):
Did you find him? 😂
@JaredCollins1991:
Look at the scoreboard, Pritchett. You gonna pose for the picture this time too?
@MattwalledWestwood (replying to @JaredCollins1991):
Andrew after coming back from 37 points down and scoring 7 touchdowns: yes
Bleacher Report had also posted when the deficit reached thirty-seven.
@BleacherReport:
Oregon leads UCLA by 37 after TWO quarters. This could get historically ugly in Eugene.
Technically, they had been right.
Just not in the way they had imagined.
@wzeinst:
Karma works fast.
@ReedMons (replying to @wzeinst):
Karma doesn't work against a God.
@Adams-l2g:
Klein is undefeated. Andrew is getting embarrassed on national television.
@KyleBruin (replying to @Adams-12g):
Dude, delete the tweet. It aged horribly. And I'm not even going to explain why the Heisman race is now much farther out of Klein's reach than ever.
…
That was only a small part of it.
One of the posts that began circulating rapidly came from ESPN Stats & Info.
@ESPNStatsInfo:
Andrew Pritchett-Tucker vs. No. 2 Oregon:
1st Half:
132 passing yards
21 rushing yards
153 total yards
1 TD, 1 INT
2nd Half + OT:
354 passing yards
75 rushing yards
429 total yards
6 TD, 0 INT
FINAL:
34/48, 486 PASS YDS, 96 RUSH YDS, 582 TOTAL YDS, 7 TD, 1 INT
The replies began piling up almost immediately.
@richardyesful:
bro…
@Ericjohnson66:
429 yards and 6 touchdowns AFTER HALFTIME???
@GodofbusnesL:
He had more total yards after halftime than most QBs get in an entire game
@DucksFan541:
I'm unfollowing this account
@mathewtyr:
If Pritchett wasn't No. 1 on your Heisman ballot before tonight, explain what exactly you need to see.
@JohnnyAandM12:
Manziel still better.
@johnsteew (replying to @JohnnyAandM12):
😂😂😂😂😂
@missycooper93 (replying to @JohnnyAandM12):
Manziel played all 4 quarters in his last game and had 2 rushing TDs and a little over 400 total yards. Andrew had seven. SEVEN. AND VS OREGON
The girl wasn't lying.
Although anyone who knew that Missy attended Texas A&M, was from Texas, and still defended Andrew with that level of intensity probably would have considered her a minor traitor to her own university.
That same Saturday, Johnny Manziel's No. 16 Texas A&M had faced No. 17 Mississippi State in a matchup between ranked teams.
Manziel had played well.
Very well, even.
He had surpassed four hundred total yards, scored two rushing touchdowns, and led the Aggies to another important victory.
It was exactly the kind of performance that would normally add even more fuel to a Heisman campaign.
Except it had happened on the same day as what happened in Eugene.
That was where the comparison began to become far too lopsided. Because Andrew hadn't just finished with better numbers.
He had led a comeback that was already being treated as one of the most extraordinary games in college football history.
ABC, which had broadcast the game, began recirculating several clips from the postgame interviews throughout Sunday.
One of the most widely shared was Jim Mora still standing on the field, the stadium emptying behind him, with an expression that mixed exhaustion, disbelief, and a happiness that was difficult to hide.
@ESPNCFB:
Jim Mora on Andrew Pritchett-Tucker after UCLA's historic comeback: "What he did tonight isn't normal."
The tweet was accompanied by a clip only a few seconds long.
Heather Cox first asked him what it meant to have completed the greatest comeback in NCAA history.
Mora took a second before answering.
JIM MORA:
If you don't believe in miracles, or if you don't believe in the character of young people today, you had to watch this game. We were dead. Buried. And these kids just refused to stop playing. The final result... well, it was pretty damn fun.
Heather smiled before continuing.
The entire team had been part of it, but there was one name that was impossible to ignore.
HEATHER COX:
Coach, obviously this was a complete team effort, but Andrew Pritchett-Tucker finishes with seven touchdowns and makes that final play when it looked like there was nowhere to go. What can you even say about him after something like this?
Mora looked at her, smiled, and slowly shook his head.
JIM MORA:
Andrew? I don't know. No words. No words.
He shook his head again, still smiling.
JIM MORA:
What am I supposed to say? Anything I say right now is probably unnecessary. I saw him after the game, gave him a hug... what he did tonight isn't normal. You get to a point where you don't even know what to tell the kid anymore.
💬 Tweet replies:
@JR8WEST:
When your own head coach runs out of adjectives, you probably had a decent game.
@clashers931:
Best part is Mora sounds less like a coach and more like a guy who just witnessed a magic trick.
@jonathanreed92:
Jim Mora basically said: I coach him and even I don't understand what I just watched.
…
Another sports account began circulating one of the clips from Andrew's on-field interview shortly afterward.
@SportsCenter:
"Instinct." Andrew Pritchett-Tucker explains the left-handed pass that completed UCLA's historic comeback.
🎥 WATCH: Postgame interview with Heather Cox
The video began with Andrew still dressed in uniform, his hair damp with sweat and an expression where exhaustion was finally beginning to overtake the adrenaline.
Heather Cox stood beside him.
HEATHER COX:
Andrew, unbelievable performance. What you and this team just did tonight is history. But take me back to halftime. You're down 45-8, Oregon has controlled almost everything... what changed when you came back out for the second half?
Andrew let out a small laugh.
ANDREW:
Yeah, they had us in the first half, not gonna lie.
Heather smiled.
Andrew continued.
ANDREW:
But that's this group. We don't really quit on each other. At halftime we weren't talking about scoring thirty points or somehow winning the game in one quarter. You can't think like that. We just said, let's play our football. One drive. Then another one. Stop looking at the scoreboard and just keep giving ourselves another chance.
Heather nodded.
Then she inevitably got to the play everyone was talking about.
HEATHER COX:
Now take us through that final play in the second overtime. You escape, Dion Jordan closes on you, and somehow you switch the football into your left hand and make the winning throw. At what exact moment did you realize you were going to have to throw left-handed?
Andrew thought for a moment.
ANDREW:
I guess... pretty much as soon as I started moving that direction.
Heather raised her eyebrows slightly.
ANDREW:
The play wasn't designed for me to run. Once I had to escape that way, though, throwing across my body with my right hand was already going to be difficult.
He moved his hand slightly as he reconstructed the play.
ANDREW:
Then Dion came really fast from that side and he was basically taking away my right arm. At that point something just clicked. I switched the ball, saw Steve and threw it.
HEATHER COX:
So there wasn't really time to think about it?
Andrew shook his head.
ANDREW:
No, not much. It was mostly instinct. I only had a few seconds to really think about it.
Heather smiled, still somewhat incredulous.
HEATHER COX:
Have you ever thrown a left-handed pass in an actual game before?
Andrew nodded.
ANDREW:
Yeah. Once in high school. It was actually a playoff game ESPN televised. My right shoulder was bothering me, though, so that one was different. I knew before the snap that I had to throw it left-handed.
Heather let out a small laugh.
HEATHER COX:
Of course you have.
Andrew smiled, and that was where the clip ended.
💬 Tweet replies:
@Jordanvanrym:
"Something just clicked." Brother changed hands while being tackled by Dion Jordan like he was switching forks.
@SarahColeman:
Heather's "of course you have" is all of us.
@JohnnyFootballIsGod:
Okay the left hand thing is ridiculous, I'll give him that.
@willihofmann:
The fact that he casually says "yeah, once in high school" makes this so much worse.
…
However, as the hours passed, the part of the video that began escaping the purely sports world wasn't the explanation of the left-handed pass.
It was a much simpler sentence.
"Yeah, they had us in the first half, not gonna lie."
At first, some people shared it simply because they found it funny how casually Andrew summarized being down by that many points while half the internet was mocking him at the time.
@megandallas:
why did he say this like Oregon was up by three and not thirty seven
@aaronharris:
"They had us in the first half, not gonna lie" might be the funniest possible description of that first half.
…
Andrew also ended up seeing several of the tweets that had appeared after the game.
Some came from people he already knew.
Justin, for example.
They weren't super close friends, but they had already met. They had made the football challenge video for Andrew's channel, gone to a party together, and crossed paths a couple more times afterward.
@justinbieber:
That was CRAZY. 7 TDs?? You're crazy bro. Proud of you @AndrewPritchett. Never quit.
Selena had written something too.
Andrew knew her much less than Justin. They had only met once, at that party after his UCLA debut. In fact, he had kissed her during that game they played.
And now, on top of that, the internet had spent weeks talking about supposed problems and distance between the two of them.
Even so:
@selenagomez:
Okay that was actually insane haha. Congrats Andrew!! :)
Taylor Swift had shown up again too.
She had already commented on his performance against Arizona, and this time she hadn't just reacted to the game.
Andrew saw that she had favorited and replied to a tweet from Chandler.
Yes.
That Chandler.
He could probably consider him some kind of long-distance friend.
They weren't especially close, but they had met in Texas, played football that afternoon with Monica, Steve and the others, and afterward had ended up playing online a few times with Ross, Howard and Leonard.
During the first half, when UCLA looked completely finished, Chandler had posted a Bible verse.
He had been one of the very few people who had dared to say something like that while UCLA was losing.
The tweet aged so well that it ended up becoming one of the most widely shared posts of the entire night.
The replies filled up with a lot of amens.
And when Taylor Swift Favorited and commented on the post, it blew up even more.
Chandler, naturally, took full advantage of the situation.
Andrew laughed when he saw it and then clicked the little Favorite star too.
That was enough to give the tweet another life.
Because now it had Taylor Swift and the quarterback behind the comeback himself validating the joke.
Although those were only the names Andrew had some kind of connection with.
There were many more.
@KingJames:
WOW!!!! This kid Pritchett is SPECIAL!! Down 37 on the road and comes all the way back?!? 7 TDs!! #ColdBlooded
@MagicJohnson:
Andrew Pritchett-Tucker gave UCLA fans a performance they will never forget! 7 touchdowns and an incredible comeback against Oregon!
@SnoopDogg:
UCLA!!!! lil homie #19 went CRAZY tonight!!! 37 down?? sheeeesh
@MattLeinartQB:
Is this Pritchett kid for real? Wow! 7 TDs and that comeback at Autzen. Incredible.
@TheRock:
Down 37. Hostile stadium. Never quit. That's heart. Hell of a performance by that young UCLA QB. Respect. #Relentless
@TroyAikman:
Incredible performance by Andrew Pritchett-Tucker tonight. To show that kind of composure as a freshman, in that environment, is remarkable.
…
Andrew had been receiving attention for years.
He had been an internet celebrity before he had even arrived at Mater Dei. He had played nationally televised games, appeared on ESPN, accumulated millions of subscribers, and spent much of his adolescence listening to people talk about him as if he were something extraordinary.
He wasn't easily impressed anymore.
Even so, there was something strange about opening Twitter and seeing LeBron James call him special.
Or The Rock talking about his mentality.
Or Magic Johnson celebrating a UCLA victory.
Andrew left Favorites on several of those tweets as a simple way of thanking them.
But there were two he stared at for a little longer.
Matt Leinart and, especially, Troy Aikman.
Leinart had played for USC, yes.
That alone should have been enough for Andrew to want to ignore him on principle.
But he had also won a Heisman and had one of the best college careers by a quarterback in recent history.
Aikman was different. One of his idols. And not just because of UCLA.
For years, Aikman had been one of Andrew's references for the quarterback position. On top of that, he had played for the Dallas Cowboys, the team Andrew had been a fan of since his first life.
Seeing him write that his composure had been remarkable...
Well.
That did give him a sense of pride he wasn't planning to admit too openly.
He even had the immediate thought that it was something he would have liked to show his grandfather Richard.
All that attention had very visible consequences.
Before the game against Oregon, Andrew's Twitter account had been hovering around 1.90 million followers.
Four days later: 2.56 million.
More than six hundred and fifty thousand new followers in less than a week.
The number was enormous even compared to professional players.
Andrew was already approximately among the three most-followed American football players on Twitter, including the NFL. Only names like Reggie Bush and Chad Johnson remained ahead of him.
But among active college football players, there was no competition.
Andrew was, by a huge margin, the most-followed college player in the country.
Huge stars from that season like Johnny Manziel, Collin Klein, AJ McCarron, Marcus Mariota, Matt Barkley, or Manti Te'o were far behind him on social media.
Not because they were unknown.
Quite the opposite.
Several of them were among the most famous players in the country.
Andrew had simply arrived in college with something none of them had, beyond just football, records, and documentaries about his talent.
Meanwhile, by Wednesday, the rankings had already been updated.
UCLA had officially reached the Top 4 of the AP Poll.
1. Alabama — undefeated
2. Kansas State — undefeated
3. Notre Dame — undefeated
4. UCLA — 8-1
Oregon, meanwhile, had fallen to sixth.
The exact same spot the Bruins had occupied before traveling to Eugene.
Andrew stared at the rankings on his phone for a few seconds.
No. 4 UCLA.
Not bad.
All three teams ahead of them were undefeated, which made sense as to why UCLA hadn't been able to climb to third or second. It was also discouraging, because if they wanted to reach the national championship, they not only had to win every remaining game, but also needed either Kansas State or Notre Dame to lose one.
Andrew glanced at the time at the top of the screen.
It was time.
He locked his phone, opened the door, and got out of the car. It was Wednesday, and he had come for his session with Sean.
His therapist.
Considering everything that had happened over the past few days, Andrew had been looking forward to that hour for a while.
Sean would probably mention Oregon. It was practically impossible not to.
But not in the same way everyone else did.
As for UCLA's next game, which was only three days away, it seemed to have been pushed into the background.
They would face Washington State at the Rose Bowl.
Around UCLA, the atmosphere already felt more like a celebration than a normal game week.
Washington State had only two wins, had accumulated seven losses, and was coming off six consecutive defeats.
Nobody inside the team was going to publicly say the game was already won.
Andrew least of all.
But outside the locker room, practically everyone was treating it as a given.
For the fans, Washington State seemed more like an opportunity to welcome the Bruins back home after the madness in Eugene than a real threat.
The Rose Bowl would be packed.
People wanted to see the new No. 4 team in the country.
They wanted to see Andrew and celebrate the victory over Oregon.
Above all, though, they were already beginning to look one week ahead.
USC.
That name was appearing more and more often.
Washington State was beginning to feel like the prelude to something much bigger.
Because after that would come the Trojans, and this time it would be at the Rose Bowl.
Only a year earlier, UCLA had suffered a humiliation that was difficult to forget.
50-0.
At USC's home field.
A defeat Bruins fans had been forced to endure for almost twelve months.
Now everything was different. They were the favorites.
They had momentum, confidence, and the most talked-about player in college football.
USC, meanwhile, had failed to live up to the enormous expectations surrounding the team during the preseason.
Barkley had started the year as one of the major Heisman favorites.
Now he wasn't even part of the main conversation.
For the first time in quite a while, UCLA fans weren't waiting for the USC game with resignation.
They were looking forward to it.
They wanted revenge.
Andrew closed the car door and started walking toward the building.
-------------------------------------------------
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