Green Gang Blog

No. 79 - "Blow George, Blow!" ... Jason Ball's Clutch Punt Catalyst For Dominance

If it's offense that grabs all the headlines and defense wins championships, then special teams have the potential begin and define an era. That's exactly what happened on Oct. 13, 2001 when the 0-5 Mean Green took on a red-hot Middle Tennessee squad at Fouts Field.

The league favorites came into Denton with a Sun Belt-best offense that averaged 557 yards per game, and all the momentum that came with its 5-0 start. But that was before Jason Ball had his way with the Blue Raiders.

The senior punter/kicker combo hit the would-be game winning 42-yard field goal, three PATs, kicked and recovered an onside kick, and nailed one of the greatest punts in school history.

That punt - a 79 yarder that pinned the Blue Raiders on their own two-yard line with 4:17 to play - still stands as the fifth-longest in school history. MTSU needed just a field goal to tie the game, and that punt gave the Sun Belt's top defense all the cushion it needed to ice the game.

NT held on to win, 24-21, and would go on to win 26 consecutive Sun Belt contests over a span of nearly four calendar years. To say the least, special teams would become a hallmark for those four-time SBC champion Mean Green. In those four seasons, NT brought home 11 Sun Belt Special Teams Player of the Week Awards, and eight All-Sun Belt special teams selections.

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Ball probably didn't know it at the time, but his famous punt received a little help from the Fouts Field home radio booth.

When the senior unleashed the record punt from inside his own 10 yard line, a mighty North Texas wind gust took hold. The ball took several favorable NT bounces and began rolling on the Fouts Field carpet toward the MTSU endzone.

Inspired by the wind and a potential North Texas win, Mean Green Radio Network color analyst Hank Dickenson began using his lungs to help blow the ball down field. Trying to urge his on-air teammate, George Dunham, to do the same, Dickenson yelled, "Blow, George, blow!"

That moment, gasping and gusting to help Ball's punt, is still regarded by Dickenson and Dunham as one of their favorite in the booth together.

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