We’ve seen a lot of bad fake punts in our day. Try as they might, college football coaches and players never seem to learn their lessons and consistently provide us with pitiful fake punt material.

Let’s add today’s fake punt attempt…if we can call it that, by the newly ranked Indiana Hoosiers against the Penn State Nittany Lions.

Down 20-14  in the third quarter and with the ball on their own 44-yard-line on 4th and 1, the Hoosiers decided to punt it away and hope their defense could withstand Penn State a little while longer. Or at least so we thought. Or maybe not? It’s really hard to tell exactly what the plan was. The ball is snapped and the personal protector lined up in front of the punter seems to think about letting the ball go past him but then reaches out and grabs it at the last second. He also bobbles the ball and turns away from the line of scrimmage, so that by the time he’s ready to start moving, there are about five Penn State defenders already in his face ready to tackle him for a loss.

It looked as bad as it sounded. And keep in mind that Indiana burned a timeout in order to draw something up and this is what they came up with.

As if being punished for their insolence, Indiana then let up a 35-yard touchdown run to Journey Brown two plays later, giving Penn State a 27-14 lead.

So did Indiana fake a punt, accidentally fake a punt, or accidentally not fake that punt enough? The world may never truly understand what happened here today.

About Sean Keeley

Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Editorial Strategy Director for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.