Casey Dick, deus ex machina
Swinging for the Fences
Matt Watson
Issue date: 12/1/08 Section: Sports
To save you a trip to Wikipedia, a deus ex machina is "an improbable contrivance in a story characterized by a sudden unexpected solution to a seemingly intractable problem."
In plain English, it's an improbable character resolving an impossible situation.
The term is derived from Greek theater, when playwrights called for a deity to be lowered from the sky via a crane or other mechanical device and promptly save the day.
The physical act of deus ex machina represents divine intervention in literature: supernatural assistance that renders a quick and unexpected ending.
I'm not saying there were angels at War Memorial Stadium on Friday or God just doesn't like LSU (you can decide that for yourself), but Arkansas' come-from-behind win was definitely heavenly for Hog fans.
Thank you, Casey Dick.
There could not have been a more fitting ending.
The senior quarterback ended his Razorback career with the perfect pass, a game-winning 24-yard lob to the front corner of the end zone that found its way over a Tiger defender into the outstretched arms of junior receiver London Crawford.
Dick's touchdown pass on fourth-and-one with the game on the line was the 47th of his career, good for third all-time on the school's passing charts behind Clint Stoerner (57, 1996-99) and Matt Jones (53, 2001-04). Dick's 5,856 career passing yards are also the third-most in UA history, one yard fewer than Jones' career total and well behind Stoerner's 7,422 yards.
Dick also became the first Razorback quarterback to throw for 300 yards three times in one season. Arkansas had nine 300-yard games in school history before this season.
But no one was thinking about his place in Hog history two weeks ago when he lost the starting quarterback job to his little brother.
No one talked about Dick's contributions to the team back in August, when there was more hype surrounding the transfer of Ryan Mallet, who wasn't even eligible to play this season.
In plain English, it's an improbable character resolving an impossible situation.
The term is derived from Greek theater, when playwrights called for a deity to be lowered from the sky via a crane or other mechanical device and promptly save the day.
The physical act of deus ex machina represents divine intervention in literature: supernatural assistance that renders a quick and unexpected ending.
I'm not saying there were angels at War Memorial Stadium on Friday or God just doesn't like LSU (you can decide that for yourself), but Arkansas' come-from-behind win was definitely heavenly for Hog fans.
Thank you, Casey Dick.
There could not have been a more fitting ending.
The senior quarterback ended his Razorback career with the perfect pass, a game-winning 24-yard lob to the front corner of the end zone that found its way over a Tiger defender into the outstretched arms of junior receiver London Crawford.
Dick's touchdown pass on fourth-and-one with the game on the line was the 47th of his career, good for third all-time on the school's passing charts behind Clint Stoerner (57, 1996-99) and Matt Jones (53, 2001-04). Dick's 5,856 career passing yards are also the third-most in UA history, one yard fewer than Jones' career total and well behind Stoerner's 7,422 yards.
Dick also became the first Razorback quarterback to throw for 300 yards three times in one season. Arkansas had nine 300-yard games in school history before this season.
But no one was thinking about his place in Hog history two weeks ago when he lost the starting quarterback job to his little brother.
No one talked about Dick's contributions to the team back in August, when there was more hype surrounding the transfer of Ryan Mallet, who wasn't even eligible to play this season.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 2
Bruce Powers
posted 12/01/08 @ 10:45 AM CST
Good article and right on the money. Casey has been extremely mature in all the happenings surrounding this roller coaster football the last few years. (Continued…)
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