North Texas just pulled off the most dastardly punt return TD ever

The video of a fake-fair catch TD is even better than that description sounds.

“Greatest football play ever” is an accurate description of the play you’re about to watch:

North Texas’ Keegan Brewer fielded a punt against Arkansas at his own 10-yard line. He just stood still and started to walk away, as someone might do after calling for a fair catch.

The rub? Brewer didn’t call for a fair catch. And as he snuck away from oncoming Arkansas punt-coverage men, none of those Razorbacks had the presence of mind to flatten him into the turf. Once Brewer was sufficiently away from everyone, he took off into a sprint, and nobody caught him until his own teammates mobbed him in the Hogs’ end zone.

There’s no rule against what Brewer did here.

There are rules against signaling a fair catch and then running with the ball. That’s delay of game, and it’s designed to keep returners safe while being fair to defenders. As the NCAA rulebook puts it, with “Team B” meaning the returning team:

No Team B player shall carry a caught or recovered ball more than two steps in any direction after any Team B player gives a valid or invalid fair catch signal.

But just playing dead and then taking off? That’s fine.

Of course, there are still some obvious questions about this masterpiece.

• Did Brewer go rogue, or did UNT’s coaching staff put him up to it? (The answer seems clear from the police escort-sized group of blockers who were waiting for him as he started to run. All those Mean Green players sure looked like they knew he was coming.)
• Was Brewer (or anyone else) worried that an oncoming Arkansas gunner was going to railroad him into Oklahoma?
• What were all the Arkansas players at the scene looking at?
• What were all the Arkansas players at the scene listening to, if not an official’s whistle, which is the only thing that would have rendered the play dead?

And I have one for you, too: Have you ever seen this before in your life?

Let me know in the comments if you have. Personally, I have not, and now that Brewer’s gone viral for doing it, I’m not sure how much time is going to have to pass before someone else can get away with it, but my guess is: a lot.