Thirteen seconds into the fourth quarter, Layne Hatcher trotted out of the Arkansas State huddle, taking his place on the left hashmark, five yards behind the center.
It was an innocuous moment. The Red Wolves trailed Georgia Southern 52-19, and despite some of their second-half heroics already this season, there was no reason to think ASU's offense could haul the visitors out of the great depths in which their defense had buried them.
Hatcher did what he could, taking ASU 75 yards in seven plays for its first touchdown since late in the second quarter. Then he backed it up with another score, needing only 63 seconds to go 69 yards.
But it was not Hatcher who flashed in the Red Wolves' 59-33 loss at Statesboro, Ga., on Saturday evening. In a matter of 15 minutes, reserve center Jacob Still made a pretty good case to return to the spot where he's started 46 times in his ASU career.
"One thing we know about Jacob Still is that he's going to compete," Coach Butch Jones said in his postgame radio interview. "He has great pride, he brought a spark to us and we're going to need more of that."
There was no single play where the redshirt senior particularly stood out, and Jones didn't give a particular reason as to why he inserted Still in the game at that point. As second-teamers, Still and Hatcher work together in practice, but starter Ethan Miner stayed in the game earlier this season when the Red Wolves twice changed quarterbacks.
Prior to Saturday, Still was without a snap this season, according to Pro Football Focus.
His presence, however, had a major impact on the position along the ASU offensive front. While left and right tackles Andre Harris Jr. and Wyatt Luebke remained in their respective spots, Miner kicked over to left guard, which meant Ivory Scott could return to right guard, where he'd started all but three games prior to this season -- Scott finished 2020 at left guard and remained there to start this season.
PFF doled out pass-blocking grades of better than 80 to Harris, Scott and Still for their performances against the Eagles, something the Red Wolves have accomplished only three times this season (Robert Holmes against Central Arkansas, Harris and Miner against Memphis).
Sticking with the five offensive linemen who finished Saturday's game could be Jones' best move going forward. Ernesto Ramirez, who started at right guard against Georgia Southern, was the second-worst pass-blocker per PFF. And while the only player worse than Ramirez was Luebke, ASU probably doesn't have a choice but to send him out again if Holmes remains sidelined by an injury that's kept him out the past two weeks.
"This is a physical game," Jones said. "The game of football is not for everybody. It's a line of scrimmage game, and again, the mark of our programs everywhere [is] we've been physical and we want to lead the country in effort."
At the same time, the Red Wolves' offensive line was completely outplayed for the first three quarters Saturday. ASU allowed the Eagles to sack starting quarterback James Blackman six times for a loss of 35 yards, and the second of Blackman's three interceptions was the result of Georgia Southern's pressure up front.
That's not to mention a run game that, excluding the six sacks and Hatcher's 40-yard scramble in the final minute, managed only 86 yards on 18 carries.
Through Saturday's game, the Red Wolves rank 119th in the nation in rushing at 92.2 yards per game.
"We've got to start playing winning football up front," Jones said. "I did think we ran the ball a little more effectively at the end of the game, but it's the same deal as last week. ... You have to be able to stop the run and you have to be able to run the ball."