Pat Forde's Top 40 Villains

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5. Matt Davison -- Nebraska wide receiver, 1997-2000

Hated by: Missouri, Michigan.

Claim to Infamy: Davison was the previously anonymous guy on the receiving end of the flea-kicker, a pass that altered the course of the 1997 season. Trailing 38-31 against Missouri on the last play of regulation, the pass flew from Cornhuskers quarterback Scott Frost to wingback Shevin Wiggins -- who did not catch it, instead kicking it into the air as he fell to the ground. Davison then dove in out of nowhere to cradle the ball inches above the ground for the tying touchdown. Nebraska went on to win in overtime and share the national championship with Michigan, which would have had the title to itself if the officials had correctly called the play an illegal catch after the kick.

Was the play really illegal is he did not mean to kick the ball? How can you prove on the field of play he meant to kick the ball? Sounds like a Missouri grad is still a little ticked off over this...

 
And there's your explanation for why Forde left the Huskers off his preseason rankings.

No, it was not intentional. No, it was not illegal. Had the pass bounced off Wiggins' knee or elbow it would have been the same. It happened to bounce off his foot, and that's why Forde and Mizzou cry foul.

But to declare Matt Davison #5 on any list of "villains" is ridiculous. He has two "villains" in his top ten who "victimized" Missouri - Davison at #5 and the chain gang who gave Colorado their fifth down at #9. I suppose this article would play well if he was writing it for the local paper in Columbia, but this is for a national audience, Forde. Most readers are going to just shake their heads at stuff like this, and walk away.

I cruised through this list, which once again confirms what I already think of ESPN.

[shakes head/walks away]

 
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What's kind of funny about that chain gang incident was that it involved someone from Nebraska. The guy in charge or who made the mistake in that CU/MU game was a principal at a high school in Nebraska.

 
If he wanted a real "villain" from Nebraska against Missouri, he should have picked Kellen Huston. Otherwise a good kid, his decking of a Mizzou fan amounts to real villainy to me.

 
I missed that part, but then it makes the numbering pretty pointless, doesn't it? Also I was distracted by the choppiness of his writing. It was like reading a fifth-grader's hastily-assembled paper after realizing he hadn't done his homework the night before.

EDIT - and to expand on that a bit... Whether it's in numerical order or alphabetical order, having two instances where Missouri was "victimized" in this list is laughable. There are five better instances where Nebraska was "victimized" by a villain that I could name off the top of my head. The dude is comically focused on Missouri and things that relate to Missouri, and there's no place for that in journalism.

 
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Wow

#13. Hurricane Katrina -- Act of God, 2005

Don't take this wrong because I know it's not at all funny with all the lose and suffering that occurred and continues to take place.

But somewhat kind of funny to me that its on the list as a villain.

 
NoKoolAidForME said:
Wow

#13. Hurricane Katrina -- Act of God, 2005

Don't take this wrong because I know it's not at all funny with all the lose and suffering that occurred and continues to take place.

But somewhat kind of funny to me that its on the list as a villain.
Click to expand...
so god is a villian?

 
The Chain Gang thing is pretty legit. Also, it's as much a credit to Davison that he has this much notoriety as it is an insult. More credit, really. But it's unfair to call it illegal. Because it wasn't, nyah nyah.

 
:espnsucks: Pat Forde is an unapologetic Mizzou homer, who is wrong all the time. No self respecting Husker fan should take him seriously! :espnsucks:
 
Two of the worst villians to the Huskers I can remember are the guy who dove at Jarvis Redwine's knee when Redwine was on the wing of an extra point attempt, deliberately injuring him, and the guy who slammed Turner Gill down on the ground about 10 yards behind the guy Gill had handed off to, taking Gill out with a concussion.

Both were from Missouri. Missouri played us tough in many of those years. They also played us dirty.

http://www.huskerpedia.com/huskerdan/20081008dan.html confirms my memory.

 
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