The ball sat on the Virginia 39-yard-line, its side held by the right hand of then sixth-year offensive lineman Drake Metcalf and its end resting on the hashmark closer to the Virginia sideline. Then-graduate quarterback Chandler Morris clapped — a crack of thunder beckoning the storm of Stanford defenders to come. The Cardinal defense brought pressure from the second level, sending a linebacker and three defensive linemen towards the Virginia helmsman. Well into his dropback, Morris drew contact from a Cardinal linebacker, barely escaping the possible six-yard loss.
But the signal-caller still found himself well behind the line of scrimmage. A cavalry of white jerseys and crimson pants chasing after him, he rolled right. Now merely trying to triage a down gone sour, Morris was forced out of bounds.
The play registered as a four-yard loss for the Cavaliers and a sack for Stanford. It forced a second-and-14 in the waning minutes of the third quarter. Virginia, however, still led by three scores. In the course of this Sept. 20 Cavalier victory, the play was almost entirely insignificant. Aside from one, largely unnoticed, detail…