"Heater": The Ultimate Analysis

As everyone who follows college football, follows sports in general, or has access to a TV, a newspaper, or a nervous system knows by now, NU's Outback Bowl appearance ended with one of the most dramatic, controversial, and analyzed plays in Wildcat history: "Heater," the modified version of Coach Walker's Fastball fumblerooskie play.

I'm pleased to present the following analysis from JimGarrisonCat, who has his own theory of what happened during Heater:

J.G.Cat, left, discusses Heater with
actor Donald Sutherland, for no apparent reason.
J.G.Cat Photo

Wildcat Nation has been duped into believing that Heater was a spur of the moment decision, and that a small slip in timing and one missed block caused it to fail. The truth, as always, is a lot more complicated than that.

Heater had been drawn up months-- perhaps years-- before that grim, fateful day in Tampa.

Original Heater diagram.
Illustration by ClayShawCat

But, as we all know, the play did not unfold exactly as it was so clearly designed to do in the diagram shown above. Instead, many things happened as the ball was to be snapped-- some things as planned, some things unexpected. Unexpected, that is, by the Wildcat brain trust.

Heater unfolds, hotter than expected.
Illustration courtesy of Outback Bowl

From the moment that the first Heater ball was snapped to Kafka (who wasn't even on the field at the time; Persa was), to the moment that the refs reluctantly decided that the game had ended for the third and final time, chaos reigned in Raymond James Stadium.

So, what went wrong? I asked my inside informant:

"Ah, are you kiddin', Daddy-O? Heater was a turkey shoot! Zeke never had a chance of making it into that endzone. No way them Tigers were gonna let that happen-- not pulling to the right, when there was room inside. You ever think of that, Jimbo? Room inside. Where did that come from? And who blew the final block? Who did the Tigers put into place, on NU's side, who blew that block???"

So who did blow the final block? I think these super-exclusive, never seen before images from Heater tell their own story:

The 'Cats line up for Heater, exactly according to the diagram, above,
except for one player, not in correct position on the left

.
And there is the blown block, wafting back. And to the left. Back. And to the left. Back...

(with super-huge apologies to sippinonpurple.com for photo mutilation)