Two playcalls share the honor of Best Playcall of the Weekend following Week 3, but for completely different reasons. As a result, the honor has been split into two sub-honors in order to give both plays the credit they deserve.

Gutsy Calls Division

We’re all thinking it: Steve Spurrier showed some guts in leaving his offense on the field on a fourth and one near midfield with a three-point lead and less than two minutes remaining against a top 10 team.

Had South Carolina lost its game to Georgia, it could have kissed its chances at an SEC East title goodbye. Instead, the Gamecocks converted on the play, moving the chains and running out the clock on a season-saving win.

Spurrier did not get cute in a huge situation, calling a simple quarterback sneak in hopes his big guys could out-push Georgia’s big guys in the trenches. He simplified the game to its roots and his team gained the yard it needed, barely. There may never be another measurement as razor-thin as the one following Thompson’s sneak Saturday night, but Spurrier’s faith in his offense paid off by a matter of centimeters and the Gamecocks season is as alive as ever.

The Head Ball Coach would have been ripped to shreds had Thompson come up short, but Spurrier never wavered in the moment. He stuck to what has made him a successful coach his entire career, and was rewarded with a victory. Thus, his gutsy playcall earns the Best Playcall of the Weekend honor in the “Gutsy Calls Division.”

Trick Plays Division

Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen used a little trickeration in a 35-3 win over South Alabama last weekend, earning the honor of Best Playcall of the Weekend in the “Trick Plays Division.”

Competing in their first road contest of the year, the Bulldogs led South Alabama 14-3 in the second quarter when Mullen called the trick play to take advantage of two of his dynamic athletes: quarterback Dak Prescott and receiver Jameon Lewis.

The MSU offense had the ball at South Alabama’s 24 yard line when Prescott threw what appeared to be a bubble screen to Lewis on the outside. Prescott had already found Lewis on a handful of similar screen passes, many of which went for productive gains. So when the Bulldogs’ quarterback threw it outside to Lewis, the South Alabama defense immediately converged on Mississippi State’s explosive ball-carrier to keep him from breaking a big play near the red zone.

Unfortunately for the Jaguars’ defense, Lewis, a former high school quarterback, caught the ball slightly behind the line of scrimmage, leaving him eligible to throw a forward pass on the play. He faked as if he planned to run with the ball, then threw back across the field to a wide open Prescott, who strolled into the end zone for an easy touchdown.

The playcall was brilliant, both in its design and its execution. Mullen timed the call perfectly, capitalizing on a few successful screens earlier in the half to fake-out the defense with the throw to Lewis. It was not the first time Lewis has found Prescott for a touchdown completion in their careers, and the two timed out both ends of the play to perfection. The touchdown not only extended Mississippi State’s lead at the time to 21-3, it delivered a crushing blow to South Alabama’s confidence after it had hung close on the scoreboard for most of the first half.