During halftime of the Pac-12 Conference Championship Game between Washington and Oregon, Dr. Pepper hosted a throwing competition with the winner receiving $100,000 in tuition money. And while that’s a life-changing moment for the victor, former Mississippi State head coach and current ABC analyst, Dan Mullen, took exception to the lax rules.
The concept is simple: Two students stand behind a predetermined line, throw footballs at large Dr. Pepper cans, and whoever gets the most inside the can wins the contest. That’s the extent of the rules.
https://twitter.com/TSV__1/status/1730785013233483810
But for Mullen, the issue is form.
The “chest pass” has become an all-too-common approach to these contests and it’s really no longer football at that point. Chest passes are more of a basketball thing, yet fans continuously resort to that style when competing — and that rubs Mullen the wrong way.
Can @drpepper teach people to throw.
— Dan Mullen (@CoachDanMullen) December 2, 2023
Mullen wasn’t alone in his criticism. Even before the competition started, fellow analyst Kirk Herbstreit complained about the chest-pass on live television.
“Anything but the chest pass,” Herbstreit said. “I’m not a big fan of that.”
Sports anchor Kevin Negandhi also griped about the chest pass, as did many others on social media.
But that didn’t stop Mohamed Adam, a Stony Brook student, from utilizing a modified version of the chest pass to defeat his counterpart, who used a more traditional form. And whether people like it or not, that’s probably the safe play when you’re only five yards away from the target.
