George lost in rivalry hatefest

One week ago today, Andrew George made a catch and run that will be a highlight of his athletic life.

But George's moment of glory, a 25-yard TD catch in an overtime win over Utah, got hijacked by a quote from his quarterback, Max Hall. What subtracted from George's play in days that followed was fallout of The Quote, Hall's subsequent apology, and rise of indignant rivalry victimhood.

What happened to the love of George?

After all, all Andrew George ever did is humbly and patiently play in the shadow of All-American Dennis Pitta, taking what leftovers went his way while turning them into gems.

In this regard, the winning play of BYU-Utah 2009 reflected George's career-long recipe and is now his legacy. It deserves its own spot, perhaps above them all.

George is a 6-foot-5, 251-pound athlete who looks like Tom Brady. People tease him for his Brady look-alike face all the time.

He's as nice a guy as you'll find on the planet. He's smart, astute and skillful, and his abilities are genetic as well as developed talent. His father, Richard George, remains one of Utah's greatest high school and collegiate track athletes, a U.S. Olympian and BYU Hall of Famer.

On the early evening of Nov. 28, at LaVell Edwards Stadium's north end zone at approximately the 25-yard marker, George took off on a pass pattern called a double out. Utah had just kicked an overtime field goal and led 23-20. The Cougars had just been flagged with illegal motion and backed up 5 yards. George noticed a Utah blitz and cut his route short.

George also faked the outside move and spun inside where he was isolated on Utah's best linebacker, who'd made a lightning-quick reaction to the fake.

On the other side, Utah defensive coordinator Kilani Sitake had called the perfect coverage, a bracket zone with safety Joe Dale showing shallow coverage, then moving pre-snap back deep on the strong-side hash mark.

Linebacker Stevenson Sylvester took a stance into coverage to complete the bracket. Free safety Robert Johnson moved over to help a Ute corner take away BYU's McKay Jacobson.

Because George cut his route short, it forced Dale to run toward the line of scrimmage at full speed to cover him. It also allowed Hall to spot George quickly and fire an optimal pass. Sylvester, seeing the play, made a sound run toward George to stop the reception dead and engaged George as he gave his fake and moved inside. Sylvester, who'd just bumped George, followed George, leaning in and riding George's hip as the ball met the target.

The 6-2, 230-pound Sylvester battled the 6-5, 251-pound George with pads and hands as Hall's pass got to George, who had turned back to the middle of the field in stride as he pivoted to run vertical to the end zone.