A career game for Frank Darby ends in heartbreak

SAN DIEGO - All Frank Darby wanted was a miracle.

A pass was coming his way -- if nothing else, he knew that.

“There’s only three of us over there,” he said, recalling his view as he burst toward the end zone. “And there’s about eight of them.”

Awaiting the Arizona State wide receiver was a sea of black San Diego State jerseys preparing for a last-second heave. With 6 seconds remaining in the contest Manny Wilkins was set to launch the proverbial Hail Mary from 35 yards out, and Darby knew he had the chance to come down with it; he had the chance to send Arizona State into overtime.

None of that crossed his mind.

“It was just in my head like, ‘Man, there’s a whole bunch of them back, I don’t know how we’re about to get this ball,’” Darby said. “It’s over. So, the whole time I’m running this route and I’m low-key crying. I’m crying."

Wilkins’ prayer came up short. The San Diego State bench flooded the field to celebrate its 28-21 victory.

Darby was oblivious to it all. His miracle had already happened. And as quickly as it had happened, it had evaporated before his teary eyes.

What felt like hours of real time before that desperation pass, but only amounted to a few seconds on the game clock, Darby was similarly lined up to the left of Wilkins. This time, the 6-foot, 192-pound receiver sprinted for the end zone with clear eyes. This time, he knew there was a chance.

The redshirt sophomore felt he had the secret code capable of unlocking ASU’s stagnant defense: Throw it deep. Before the snap, he talked to offensive coordinator Rob Likens through the headset and “called the play.”

“Alright, they’re playing Cover 2 high, I’m going to slip the inside corner,” Darby said, recalling his conversation with Likens. “Just throw it over the safety's head and I’m going to go get the ball.”

There was a precedent for Darby’s confidence. The Jersey City, New Jersey native had already reeled in five passes for, a game-high, 127 yards -- the bulk of which came via the long ball with big catches of 51 and 43 yards.

Darby streaked up the left sideline, believing it was where he needed to employ the mindset his strength and conditioning coaches drilled in his head for three years.

“Be a dog,” he said.

Down seven and faced with a 4th and 10 from the 50, Wilkins took the snap and surveyed. His eyes were glued to running back Eno Benjamin stationed in the flats, waiting for someone to near the end zone.

The closest to it was Darby. Therefore, just a mere second before being bulldozed, Wilkins fired to the vicinity of No. 84.

“Just try to get my guy an opportunity to make a play,” Wilkins said.” That’s all I did, try to give him an opportunity to make a play.”

Darby said he was well aware of the 40-yard dash times of the San Diego State secondary that after the game Wilkins called “garbage.” After a few seconds, both the corner and safety covering him were in the rear-view mirror.

Darby was the only one of the three with his eyes fixated on the ball. Thus, when the pass was coming down around the 5-yard line instead of the end zone, the receiver came back to it and jumped.

“I caught that pass,” Darby said.

“That was a grown-man catch and was a grown man -- I caught that pass and I came down. And I came down and fell; I put the ball on the ground and ran to the therapy because I told them my jaw was hurt.”

A penalty flag flew in right away. As Darby jogged to the training table, the referees grabbed headsets to determine if San Diego State safety Trenton Thompson’s massive hit was targeting.

Receiving therapy, Darby’s mind swayed from what may have been the biggest catch of his life to a Sun Devil victory.

“I was like, ‘Cool, there are six seconds left. Let’s run the ball, let’s get in the end zone,” Darby said. “That’s what it was. That was the whole plan, that’s what it was. We were tying that game up and going into overtime and beating them.”

After about two minutes, the referee confirmed the targeting call. But then his mic didn’t click off, he kept talking. During the review, the referees had also gone back and ruled the catch incomplete.

“Incomplete, like, ‘Huh,’” Darby said. “They talking about incomplete pass like, ‘Huh.’ I know everybody was like, ‘Huh.’ Ain't no way the refs did that to me, man. That hurt me a lot.”

ASU head coach Herm Edwards added: “They look at every facet of the play and just happened to be they said he didn’t catch it. We thought he had caught it, felt like we had a good play dialed up to maybe score, get in the game … but it didn’t work out that way.”

San Diego State head coach Rocky Long said his coaches in the box saw the pass was incomplete on TV and approached the officials to confirm that they were reviewing both the targeting and the completion.

So, Arizona State was forced to run the near impossible Mail Mary. The tears began to form in Darby’s eyes and they didn’t stop when the scoreboard hit zero and the ball was on the ground.

Darby, who didn’t even jump on the final heave, put his head down in disgust, throwing off his chinstrap as he tried to talk sense into his distraught self.

One of his best friends noticed.

“(junior wide receiver) N’Keal (Harry), he tried to keep me, he knows how I get when I’m really mad,” Darby said. “I start wildin’, getting out of control, just wanting to do certain stuff.”

Harry ran over to put his arms around an emotionally-drained Darby.

“Bro, keep your poise,” Darby said Harry told him. “Keep your poise, it’s OK. It’s OK; I’ve been in a situation like this before, too.”

He reached the sideline and collapsed.

The same person that is known for being the most upbeat in the Sun Devils’ locker room was empty. His eyes were still bloodshot at his post-game press conference. Tears still rolled down his face.

Nevertheless, true to form, as time passed and his recollection of the night spewed out, positivity shined through.

“I’m going to try and get over this but that play is going to haunt me. It’s going to haunt me,” Darby said. “We’ve just got to fix everything, we can’t be in a situation like this again and keep grinding and work hard for next week.

“Back to practice Tuesday and we’ve got to get ready for Washington.”