Something you don’t see often: a group of football players pirouetting in unison right before a snap. But here’s that, by Boise State, with one of them taking in a screen pass for a TD:
Later in the Broncos’ Las Vegas Bowl against Oregon, they did it again, with all four of them then shifting into a power running formation:
Both simultaneous pirouettes led to touchdowns.
It’s weird, but there’s nothing illegal about this maneuver.
Everyone who executes this pre-snap spin move comes set before the play starts, and none of them simulates the start of the play. So there’s no illegal motion or false start going on here.
What’s Boise actually trying to accomplish?
Maybe we’ll find out later. My guess is that this was an attempt to confuse Oregon’s defensive backs, and maybe it briefly startled the Ducks’ cornerback on the edge of the frame. It’s also possible that the Broncos decided, “Hey, this is the Las Vegas Bowl, and it’s the last game of the season, and we’re going to do this fun thing just for the sake of doing it.”
Guess it worked. Boise State won.