The Anatomy of The Trap Game

The Rebel Alliance had a planned attack on the revamped Dethstar. It was well plotted, executed as mapped, and seemingly foolproof. Until…

A coach can have the right schemes and run the right kind of practices leading up to game day, but the gap between concept and completion is wide. Rare is the team that navigates its schedule unscathed. Every season, for virtually every team, there’s a loss on the schedule that elicits a scratch of the head and a bewildered, huh?!

It’s easy to scan a would-be contender’s schedule and pinpoint the match-ups with ranked teams as the championship defining contests. These are the games that require no additional motivation. When Oklahoma State was considered a legitimate BCS contender heading into 2011, the games circled on the Cowboys’ schedule were a road trip to Texas A&M and the annual Bedlam Game vs. Oklahoma.

The pundit who tells you he had the Cowboys’ mid-November meeting with Iowa State slated as a potentially title-deflating affair probably is attempting a Jedi Mind Trick on you.

ISU’s double OT defeat of the then-second ranked Cowboys goes down as the quintessential trap game of 2011. It combined many of the key elements that differentiate such games from their counterparts.

Not all upsets are traps, but all traps are upsets in some fashion. Las Vegas might favor the trap-setter; Clemson was a two-point favorite going into its match-up with Florida State last September, but the Tigers’ eventual win was undoubtedly an upset. And it was certainly a trap.

FSU was coming off one of those aforementioned marquee games, having hosted Oklahoma in a knockdown, drag-out affair a week earlier. Traps are often set immediately after, or immediately before those dates circled on the calendar. Clemson is a team that has a historical precedent for falling short in big games, a contributing factor to its upset status and another ingredient of the trap.

Location, Location, Location

Trap games are not home games, one key distinction between an upset and a trap. Michigan’s loss to Appalachian State and USC’s to Stanford in 2007 would not qualify as traps because each was at home.

However, the Trojans’ loss to Oregon State a season later was a textbook trap. USC rolled into OSU’s Reser Stadium with championship aspirations. A hostile environment awaited the Trojans — but what else is new? Homefield advantage alone isn’t enough to dictate a trap game. After all, USC beat a good Arizona team and rocked Stanford by two touchdowns that season, both on the road. Either could have been traps, but lacked the qualities that combined with a raucous Reser crowd that Thursday night.

Visibility

Traps are often set on national stages. Weeknights are proven, fertile ground for traps in recent seasons. Oregon State’s defeat of USC was seen on a nationwide, ESPN broadcast — as was the aforementioned Iowa State victory.

A national broadcast brings an energizing atmosphere to a college stadium, particularly for those programs that often land on regional coverage. A campus welcoming ESPN has a palpable buzz on game day. That buzz manifests itself through an especially invigorated crowd, which the players reciprocate with an extra bounce in their step.

Weeknights have opened the national stage to more football programs. Either through pure coincidence, astoundingly keen insight from those putting together the schedules, or some serendipity from the gridiron gods, weeknight broadcasts have hosted more trap games per capita in recent seasons.

Oregon State over USC, Iowa State over Oklahoma State, South Carolina over Ole Miss, Arizona over Oregon: four of the most famous trap games of the last half-decade, four weeknight contests. ISU also benefited from the added supernatural force that is the Tessitore Effect. Football fate dictates games with Joe Tessitore on the microphone require a final minute finish, but the Tessitore Effect and trap game are not necessarily intertwined.

The Breakout Performance

Antoine Cason played the game of his college career in UA’s 34-24 defeat of No. 2 Oregon in November 2007, scoring touchdowns on a punt return and off an interception. Sammy Watkins went off against Florida State this season. The world met Jacquizz Rodgers in the Oregon State defeat of USC. Trap games become canvases on which a player can standout most brilliantly.

The electrifying touchdown makers are the most obvious breakout performers in a trap win, but the primary weapon can be a defensive standout who stifles the opponent. Eric Norwood’s ball-hawking and pressure on Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead keyed South Carolina’s Sept. 2009 defeat of the No. 4 Rebels.

Going Cera

There’s a moment in every potential trap when the goings-on stun the trapee. A proverbial deer-in-headlights reaction comes over the team stepping into the trap, a sort of football manifestation of that slack-jawed, doe-eyed face Michael Cera makes on basically every movie poster he’s graced.

A team Going Cera has two distinct byproducts. When a team gets punched in the mouth and experiences that rattling shock, it usually snaps out of it by struggling wildly. This often works the same as struggling with quicksand, serving only to further sink its victim.

For the trapper, the byproduct is an affirmation that, Yes, we can do this. When the reaction is one of faith, the trap is sprung. However, a trap can go awry when the reaction is one of Wait, how are we doing this?

This is all-too common and serves to reverse the shock. The result is typically a ferocious comeback for the victor — see Maryland’s loss to Clemson last October as one example.

Potential Traps in 2012

A quick scan of the 2012 slates reveal some tantalizing trap game possibilities. Oklahoma plays its first Big 12 game against West Virginia midway through the November in Morgantown. The long trip and unwelcoming confines of Mountaineer Field pose serious trap potential for the Sooners’ BCS hopes.

Plenty of folks are already penciling in USC as the Pac-12 champion in its first season back to bowl eligibility, but the Trojans’ first expedition to Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium looms large. The Utes return a solid corps of players who can now boast Pac-12 experience. Furthermore, the game is a Thursday nighter.

Likely Big Ten favorite Michigan has big plans for Brady Hoke’s sweet debut, but after traveling to rival Notre Dame, the Wolverines get an off-date then go to Purdue. The Boilermakers finished 2011 strong and figure to be a conference dark horse.

Florida State’s ACC schedule is no cake walk. The Seminoles must travel to Virginia Tech in a potential title game preview — assuming the Seminoles can get past a good NC State team in Raleigh.