Three games, two trophies and one national championship. If it’s a production ratio then Ohio State’s Cardale Jones is superb. College football is the epitome of drama — and when a third-string quarterback leads his team to a dominant performance under the bright lights in Arlington, Texas heads turn and the Google searches pile up exponentially.
Have we ever seen a third-string quarterback in such an important situation? The fact is, it’s very rare. So rare the NFL supplemented a rule in 1991 in response to a game between the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. In this game, “The Body Bag Game,” Redskins quarterback Jeff Rutledge went down.
Backup quarterback Stan Humphries took the reins but would also leave the game. With no third-string quarterback on the roster, the Redskins could either forfeit or substitute a player from a different position. Ex-college quarterback and Redskins running back Brian Mitchell took over for the Redskins, subsequently losing to the Eagles 28-14. The NFL created the third quarterback rule, which states that if a third string quarterback has to enter a game, the first two can’t come back in.
A similar situation occurred during the 2010 NFC championship game between the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers. When Chicago quarterback Caleb Hanie entered the game, Jay Cutler and Todd Collins were no longer eligible. The rule was abolished in 2011, as the active roster was increased from 45 to 46 players. These particular situations produced one common denominator: enacting the third string means defeat.
But, like I said, college football is drama. So when a third-string quarterback, relatively unknown, explodes on the field (going vertical on a fourth and short, for example), hope is instilled in all admiring athletes.
