Arkansas State runs ‘hide the midget’ play in Go Daddy Bowl

Chances are you were watching the NFL Playoffs, or spending time with family, or really doing anything but watching the GoDaddy Bowl between Arkansas State and Ball State Sunday night.

Well, Arkansas State won the game 23-20, and used some pretty creative play-calling in the process.

Down 10-3 in the second quarter, the Red Wolves used a play called “hide the midget” — where the offensive line basically stands up to obscure a small receiver crouched down in a tight end position.

In this instance, “the midget” was 5-foot-9 receiver R.J. Fleming, who took a hidden handoff from the quarterback and ran around the left end for a 27-yard gain. Arkansas State would go on to score the game-tying touchdown on the drive right before halftime.

As ESPN play-by-play man Carter Blackburn pointed out, the play comes straight from the book of Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, who coached at Arkansas State in 2012.

Now we’ll just have to see if Malzahn pulls it out during the BCS Championship Game Monday night against Florida State.

If he does, hopefully he changes the name to more politically-correct “hide the little person.”

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