Best Coast Sports

By Donny Turnbaugh

There is no denying the Manti Te’o situation is one of the most absurd stories in sports history, and one that is far from being over. There are still so many unanswered questions that will either leave Te’o looking like the most narcissistic athlete around, the absolute dumbest person to ever be catfished, or some bizarre combination. Neither of those is good for him. While it may go down as the largest and most perplexing sports hoaxes of all time, it will never be the saddest.

No, the most pathetic hoax in sports history still belongs to one kid who just couldn’t face reality: Kevin Hart, the offensive lineman from Nevada who spurned Oregon to accept a scholarship from the Cal Golden Bears, despite never actually receiving a scholarship offer from any D-I school due to his 1.8 GPA and lack of athletic skill.

On signing day in 2008, Hart called a news conference in his school’s gymnasium with the entire student body, coaches, administrators, family, and the media to announce his college decision. It was the classic setup with an Oregon and Cal hat on the table and he awkwardly grabbed the Cal hat, claiming he would play for the Golden Bears and coach Jeff Tedford. It was heartwarming. He had a dream of playing Division I football and got his chance, becoming the first D-I player from Fernley High along the way.

“Coach [Jeff] Tedford and I talked a lot, and the fact that the head coach did most of the recruiting of me kind of gave me the real personal experience.”

Little did the public know, Hart was duping us all.

Well, he duped his community for a few hours, at least. A few hours is all it took for Cal to hear about its newest “recruit” and immediately call Fernley administrators to inform them that Tedford barely knew who the kid was and that the school certainly had not offered him a scholarship. Hart was making the whole thing up. The general public didn’t know about it until the whole embarrassing lie came crumbling down.

At one point he was being looked at by a few schools during his junior year, but his poor grades and actual on-field play made everyone back off and he slipped into obscurity. Hart wanted none of it so he just kept the ruse going, informing friends, family, and coaches that he was still being recruited. In the months leading up to his press conference he told the school newspaper that he had received offers from Oregon and Washington and was recruited by Nevada, Boise State, Oregon State, Illinois, and Oklahoma state

As with the Te’o story, building lies on top of lies usually ends in humiliation. After being completely painted into a corner about his lack of scholarship offers, Hart said he was duped by a recruiting agent and filed a false police report, but that was put to rest with a quick police probe and finally he came clean.

“I wanted to play D-I ball more than anything. When I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I made up what I wanted to be reality.”

And that quote is what makes this so much sadder than the Te’o story. We are still a ways a way from knowing what actually happened with Manti, but no matter what it seems that others were involved somehow. It’s doubtful Manti made the whole thing up by himself, especially with more reports on Ronaiah Tuiasosopo coming to light. There is no arguing that it will be one of the most complex, disturbing, and elaborate sports hoaxes of our time, but it certainly won’t be the most pathetic. That still belongs to Hart.

Kevin Hart was the mastermind behind his entire hoax. There wasn’t a distant cousin or a shady family friend who duped him; he was just a bummed out kid who wanted so badly to play college football that he made up one of the most ridiculous schemes to fulfill his dream, only to have it crash down on him in a matter of hours. He told everyone he was recruited by a slew of FBS schools. He held a press conference. He got caught in the lie and then tried to lie his way out by claiming he was played by a recruiting agent. He falsified a police report. It was all a lie based on a false sense of reality.

Hart ended up attending/playing/coaching at Feather River College (a junior college) for four years before heading to D-II Missouri Western this season. How he can put on a college football jersey and show up every day is mindboggling after what he put himself through, because he will always be the kid who fronted the saddest hoax in sports.

Last week on Twitter I made my mid-major predictions, going 3-0 with an upset and had the exact margin of victory for all matchups.  This week?  I’ll most likely do the opposite to balance out but lets hope for a repeat.  Saturday presents us with a good slate of games – at least my college football loving self thinks it looks good – so take a gander at the preview for the week.

UNLV at TCU – 11:30 a.m. PT
UNLV is the team that lost 21-14 to New Mexico, which is the team that lost to TCU 69-0.  So it’s probably safe to say that the Runnin’ Rebels aren’t going to pull the upset in Fort Worth.  TCU has been very efficient on offense, scoring 40 points per game behind the most ridiculous quarterback in the nation.  Casey Pachall may only be throwing for 230 a game but he is completing 67% of his throws and has 24 touchdowns to six interceptions, making him the seventh most efficient QB in the nation.  The defense may not be as good as in the past but they still play fast and physical.  UNLV is the polar opposite of TCU.  They can’t seem to do anything right and rank in the bottom ten in the nation in every offensive category except for rushing, where they are averaging 168.6 yards per game.  They reach the endzone less than three times a game but allow opposing teams to find it at will, allowing 39 a contest.  The Horned Frogs will jump all over this team and it could get ugly.

Prediction: TCU 51, UNLV 14

Idaho at Nevada – 1:00 p.m. PT
The Idaho offense is anemic, averaging just 301 yard per game – this is 216 yards less than what Nevada puts up each week – and is only scoring three touchdowns.  The highlight of the offense is the… passing game?  Brian Reader and the Vandals’ only chance is to throw the ball with consistency and try to attack the Nevada secondary, which is giving up 231 passing yards per game.  The Wolf Pack let up points but they have been limiting opposing offenses as of late.  After rattling off five straight victories they have dropped the past two so look for a bounce back game to get them to seven wins and a better position in the bowl pecking order.

Prediction: Nevada 37, Idaho 17

New Mexico at Boise State – 3:00 p.m. PT
Boise State is a 48.5 point favorite.  That’s all that needs to be written

Prediction: Boise State 56, New Mexico 7

BYU at Hawaii – 4:30 p.m. PT
Hawaii needs to win to become bowl eligible and will look to the high-flying passing attack to lead the way.  As usual, the offense is one of the best in the nation at throwing the ball – 311 yards per game ranks 10th in the country – and runs sparingly.  The difference for them this year is they are averaging almost 100 yards less per game and the scoring has dropped by a touchdown.  Former walk-on and record setting quarterback Bryant Moniz is out for the year after sustaining an injury a few weeks ago so David Graves has taken over and has managed the offense.  The Warriors always seem to win games they shouldn’t – see Nevada last season – and lose games they should dominate – see UNLV this season – so they can be hard to read.  They take on a BYU team who has played excellent defense, especially against the pass where they rank 11th in the country in pass efficiency defense.  Their defense is top-25 in points allowed (20.36), total yards (318.45), and pass defense (190.45) so they look to stop the five-receiver sets.  On offense, they have struggled with QB play but have still managed to score touchdowns.  BYU will shutdown the Hawaii offense and eliminate them from bow contention.

Prediction: BYU 35, Hawaii 24

Fresno State at San Diego State – 5:00 p.m. PT
For the first time in school history, San Diego State is eligible to go bowling in consecutive years and is riding high behind running back Ronnie Hillman, the fourth leading rusher in the country who has racked up 15 touchdowns on the ground.  The offense has been able to balance the run with solid quarterback play from Ryan Lindley who is 41 yards shy of breaking the 2,500 yard barrier.  The defensive secondary is playing very well, allowing just 186.73 yards per game which is 16th in the nation.  The Achilles’ heel for the Aztecs has been the run defense which is giving up 189 yards per game.  Fresno State, which usually runs the ball well, has been relying on the passing game more than a rushing attack.  The Bulldogs will get some yards and score a few points, but it won’t be enough to win and they end their season with a losing record for the first time since 2006.

Prediction: San Diego State 34, Fresno State 27