It's going to take awhile for UCLA's stunning 45-44 comeback victory over Texas A&M to sink in. The Bruins were down 44-10 late in the third quarter and nothing had gone right for them. Quarterback Josh Rosen was getting pummeled by the pressure applied by A&M and even an injury to Aggies quarterback Nick Starkel didn't seem like it would be enough to change the tides.
Oh, how wrong we all were.
Rosen led UCLA to a 35-point rally that ended in an homage to Dan Marino with the fake spike-touchdown. But before all of that happened, UCLA slowly began its comeback. Such improbable events usually require at least a little bit of luck. The Bruins got it when a would-be interception instead turned into a touchdown ...
Thaaat's gonna be a tough one in the film room pic.twitter.com/yAP84AfoF4
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 4, 2017
That's when the feeling in the Rose Bowl shifted. Something was clearly in the air. Texas A&M has produced its share of late-season meltdowns over the past few years, but to play that out over the course of a single game was completely unexpected. And, yet, somehow, completely expected.
Emotionally Texas A&M's gonna play out the entire season tonight.
— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) September 4, 2017
November Aggies in September.
— Barrett Sallee (@BarrettSallee) September 4, 2017
texas a&m presently pic.twitter.com/MlfDz2a6Wb
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) September 4, 2017
BREAKING: Texash A&M releasesh new logo. #UCLAvsTAMU pic.twitter.com/NUtAyeHmeD
— Lou Holtz (@PretendLouHoltz) September 4, 2017
When it became apparent that this was more than a brief surge by the Bruins, the reality that Texas A&M might actually choke this away started to grow.
The spread in the UCLA game could soon be smaller than the spread in the VT-WVU game.#SPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORTS
— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) September 4, 2017
Texas A&M appears to be in peak-September Texas A&M form.
— Elika Sadeghi (@steakNstiffarms) September 4, 2017
And, then, Rosen pulled off the now-infamous fake spike for the go-ahead score. And people lost their minds.
UCLA WERE DOWN 44-10!!!!
— 🚢Titanic TD🏈 (@TitanicTD) September 4, 2017
JOSH ROSEN'S FAKE SPIKE, GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN PASS IS EVEN BETTER WITH TITANIC MUSIC!!! WHAT A COMEBACK!!!
🏈🚢🎶 pic.twitter.com/m2ZAJyURMC
Never in all my years of watching sports or Texas A&M athletics have I seen anything like that. Maybe the Bills-Oilers.
— Billy Liucci (@billyliucci) September 4, 2017
me 2 hrs ago : well, Texas A&M in a blowout. SEC SEC! Netflix it is..
— Bobby Bones (@mrBobbyBones) September 4, 2017
me just now : pic.twitter.com/2NudqPWnqq
Rosen had a hot tub in his dorm, wore an "F- Trump" hat & called out academic hypocrisy. If he does this he may be my favorite player ever.
— Matt Hinton (@MattRHinton) September 4, 2017
Look at how "done" this game was? #UCLA did the impossible. pic.twitter.com/g3YUReQY0z
— Damon Bruce (@DamonBruce) September 4, 2017
Of course, Texas A&M fans predictably lost their minds after watching those events unfold. Kevin Sumlin's job status will absolutely be a talking point from here on out -- as if it wasn't before.
Aggie meltdown pic.twitter.com/H6Ig4ZCpOm
— Mike Scarborough (@ScarboroughMike) September 4, 2017
Texas: What a terrible opener
— TexAgs (@TexAgs) September 4, 2017
Baylor: Hold my beer
A&M: lololololololololol y’all ain’t seen nothin'
35 UNANSWERED FOR UCLA pic.twitter.com/NMtGpaO60E
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) September 4, 2017
Checking in on TexAgs... pic.twitter.com/gGfXlf0svy
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) September 4, 2017
Kevin Sumlin is now 26-22 against P5 teams at A&M...that includes going 7-2 in his first year (so 19-20 since)
— (((Ian Hest))) (@IanHest) September 4, 2017
In fact, the loss was so devastating that fans actually momentarily crashed TexAgs.com, a popular Aggies website.
FYI, TexAgs has crashed. Not metaphorically, either. pic.twitter.com/TSvtVaz7td
— Jake Trotter (@Jake_Trotter) September 4, 2017