State’s football team was being trounced in the annual Homecoming game, when things went from bad to worse — the starting quarterback got hurt, then his back-up went down, and finally the third-stringer got carted off.

The coach looked down the bench. There was Jones, a walk-on who hadn’t played a down all season.

“Jones!” bellowed the coach. Jones came trotting up. The coach said “get in there and run a handoff right, a handoff left, and a handoff up the middle. Then drop back and punt.”

On the first play, Jones handed off to the right — it gained 15 yards! The crowd began to stir.

On the second play, he handed off to the left — it went for 30 yards! The crowd let out a cheer!

On the third play, he handed off up the middle for a 20-yard gain! State was on the three-yard line and the crowd was roaring.

Jones stepped in behind the center. He took the snap, dropped back and calmly punted the ball out of the stadium.

He trotted back off the field amidst stunned silence. When he got to the sideline, the coach, barely able to contain himself, said “Jones, what were you thinking?”

Jones said, “I was thinking I had the stupidest coach in the whole world.”