America’s Bad Bet on Sports Gambling

Central Michigan’s Chippewas faced the mighty Cowboys of Oklahoma State to open the college football season on Thursday night. Their last meeting, in 2016, produced one of the most heart-stopping endings in recent college football history. Down 27-24, with no time left on the clock, quarterback Cooper Rush completed a pass to Jesse Kroll at the 9-yard-line, where he was immediately smothered by a tackler. But not before he had flung a quick lateral to junior wide receiver Corey Willis, who began a footrace to the endzone alongside an Oklahoma State defender, wrestling his way along the goal line, falling sideways for a touchdown and a 30-27 victory, as the crowd in Stillwater looked on in shock. It was an upset—the Chippewas’ first win against a ranked opponent since the George H.W. Bush administration. It probably put Rush (now a Dallas Cowboy) in the National Football League.