Iowa City, Iowa – The play is legendary. It’s referred to as “the fumblerooski,” and also as “the annexation of Puerto Rico.” On Saturday, sophomore quarterback Kellen Lewis and senior fullback Josiah Sears had their own serendipitous variation that left the Hoosiers elated and the Hawkeyes stunned.
Setting the scene\nWith the Hoosiers up 14 and just under nine minutes to go until halftime, the team faced a third down and 9 at its own 21-yard line. The play call gave Lewis the option of dumping the ball off to Sears. The objective was to get a quick first down and keep the drive alive. It was regularly used by the Hoosier offense Saturday “because of a certain route we were running and a certain defense they were playing,” IU coach Bill Lynch said. “It’s a play – a base play and a play we use often.”
The play\nThe play went according to plan – but only for a moment. Lewis threw a strike to Sears, who was willing his way towards the first down marker when he was drilled by a pair of Iowa defenders who jarred the ball loose and forced a fumble. The ball bounced backwards, rolled for a moment and was scooped up by the man who threw the pass – Kellen Lewis.\n“First it was ‘Oh crap, I dropped the ball,’” Sears said with a laugh. “Then I looked over and was trying to scramble for it, and there went Kellen down the sideline.”\nLewis, who was loosely trailing the play, said he simply reacted to what was happening in front of him.\n“I saw the ball pop up, so my first instinct was to just grab it,” Lewis said. “I was thinking about diving on it, but it took a funny bounce and popped up into the air about knee high, so I just reached down, scooped it and ran.”
The result\nLewis quickly dodged one Hawkeye defender before sprinting 71 yards for the touchdown, extending the Hoosiers’ lead to 21 points and silencing the home crowd. Sophomore wide receiver Andrew Means, who was on the opposite side of the field during the play, initially didn’t know what had happened. \n“I was on the other side of the field signaling a first down to the Iowa sideline,” Means said. “Then I saw the Iowa fans; all of them just got dead quiet, and I saw Kellen running down the sidelines, so I just started running with him.”
The flip\nLewis put an exclamation point on the play by somersaulting into the end zone. The quarterback’s celebration drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, as well as the ire of his head coach. It was the only thing that went wrong for IU on the play.\n“I’m not going to talk much about the flip because I’ve taken a lot of heat for that – it was not a smart play,” Lewis said. “I kind of got into the moment. Truthfully, I saw Reggie Bush do it a couple of times on TV and he didn’t get a penalty, so apparently there was a rule made after he did it, and I wasn’t notified of it. I’ll try to keep the end zone celebrations to a minimum now.”\nThe box score officially credits Lewis as completing an 8-yard pass to Sears, as well as a 71-yard pass to himself. He will be credited in the record books with a passing touchdown, a receiving touchdown and 71 receiving yards – but no receptions. On the craziest play of the day, Lewis’ final thoughts couldn’t have been simpler.\n“I’ll take it,” he said.
