Before Saturday night, I had never cheered after a Stanford turnover. Never before had I seen a team benefit from a lost fumble. Never before had I witnessed a sell-out crowd drop its collective jaw in a synchronized WTF-just-happened reaction.

That’s because before Saturday night, Andrew Luck had never gone Thomas the Tank Engine on a USC Trojan.

USC’s Shareece Wright is probably still feeling the effects of the hit by the train that is our starting quarterback. As Wright attempted to return a Stepfan Taylor fumble just before halftime, Luck thwacked him Ray Lewis-style, forcing the ball loose with such authority that it sparked accusations of juicing by YouTube commenters.

The play was literally breathtaking, causing fans of both teams to drool at the big screens while Luck jogged off the field with a grin. ABC replayed the hit umpteen billion times while play-by-play guy Mike Patrick tried his hardest not to have an aneurysm as he described the heroics.

Yet some of my friends weren’t impressed. In fact, many of them were ticked off. They weren’t mad at Luck, who none of us doubt has a spine made out of titanium, but rather at Stanford fans—the same Stanford fans that I berated last week and that my friend Dan Bohm lambasted yesterday.

See, despite Luck’s attempted murder of Wright, Stanford still lost the ball. We gave up possession with 50 seconds left in the first half, in a tie game in which every touch of the ball was of the utmost importance. The Trojans started their drive at midfield, were receiving to start the second half and were picking on the Stanford cornerbacks without resistance. Objectively speaking, they were a near lock to get on the scoreboard before the break.

Nonetheless, Stanford fans cheered. I cheered. I punched my friend in the chest. I acted like an animal. The question is whether this behavior is indicative of a “true” football fan.

No. The play was really terrible—like worst-case scenario terrible. Did all of the fans recognize this? Of course not.

Let’s be honest. At Stanford Stadium only 20 percent of those who were cheering understood the true consequences of the play, 40 percent of those cheering did so just because they saw the hit and the remaining 40 percent were cheering because they heard everyone else cheering.

However, I’m going to give everyone the benefit of the doubt this one time and take the side of the fans because, this time, I truly believe that this play made a difference in the outcome of the game.

For the first time since I’ve been a student here, people looked at us like we were mean. We could care less if you took the ball from us. Turnover or not, we were going to hit you square in the mouth. These nerds can get pissed off too. And not just any nerd, but our prized quarterback, the projected first pick in the NFL Draft. A potential 50 million-dollar man is willing to lower his shoulder—scratch that, his throwing shoulder—and lay down the law. If that doesn’t put an ounce of fear into an opposing squad and a jolt of electricity into Cardinal fans, then nothing will.

From then on, the offense played flawlessly. The famous O-Line, the same one that was humiliated last week at Oregon in easily its worst performance of the season, was fired up with a passion that we had never seen. And although our defensive players were exposed more than Brett Favre’s manhood on Deadspin, they played with an extra step. The stadium was absolutely electric, and the win was gigantic.

So hate or love the crowd’s reaction, but it was well-deserved. A hustle play that sparked a brilliant offensive performance against our most hated rivals—I said it, USC has surpassed Cal—deserves to be rewarded with praise. Even the biggest football elitists, myself included, have to step away from big words like “implications” and “statistics” every once in a while and savor the moment for what it is.

And what a moment it was. Stanford’s dominance over USC in recent years now has a poster image. And Shareece Wright has a new daddy.

Zach Zimmerman is hiding from Andrew Luck and his titanium spine. Remind him that Luck is a nice guy at [email protected].