Time seemed to freeze on Saturday afternoon as the officiating crew at Beaver Stadium, where No. 2 Indiana was fighting for its life against undefeated Penn State, reviewed a potential game-winning touchdown with :36 remaining.
Trailing 24-20 in the waning moments, the Hoosiers had only needed eight plays to cover 73 yards and claw within a few feet of the season-saving score. That’s when quarterback Fernando Mendoza, a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender, backpedaled away from two Nittany Lions defenders and winged a pass toward wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. in the back of the end zone.
At first blush, it seemed impossible that Cooper had touched his toe in bounds to complete the catch. He’d been tracking the ball at full speed, gone airborne in pursuit of Mendoza’s pass and landed approximately 3 yards out of bounds beneath the field goal upright. Though it was called a touchdown on the field, the likelihood of that decision surviving a replay review seemed farfetched.
But an incredible shot from handheld camera operator Doug Kirk showed quite clearly that Cooper had tapped not just one foot, but both feet, hanging in the air while he did so as if suspended by an invisible wire. Indiana went on to win, 27-24, and extend its perfect season for at least another week.
For Kirk, 43, it was the highlight of a television career that has spanned two and a half decades, following in the footsteps of his late father. Clips of Cooper’s astounding catch — and Kirk’s artistic camerawork — are still circulating wildly on social media, days after the game was complete.
I spoke with Kirk on Wednesday afternoon to walk viewers through his unforgettable shot:
Note: This retelling has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Last-Minute Call to the Big Game
“With FOX,” Kirk told me, “I’m more or less like a fill-in guy, so I don’t really travel with any particular crew. Wherever they have a hole, they kind of call me at the last minute and ask me to go. So I usually do NFL with FOX. This particular week, they had a position open for that game, and they asked me, like, maybe Tuesday, if I could go and do it. I said, ‘Yeah, sure, I’d love to.’
“When the young lady crewed me, she told me that it was going to be for a handheld. So I knew going up there that it was going to be handheld. I haven’t done a bunch of handhelds during football games. I’m more of a hard camera operator. That was my first time doing the handheld for football this season. But I’m a handheld guy for the UFC, so I’ve done a lot of handheld for them, which is a lot different than shooting football.”
Setting up for the shot
“In that role, because I’m on the same side as the cart camera, I think about being 10 yards to 15 yards ahead of the cart. I don’t want to be positioned right in front of him, but down a little ways, that way the angle is a little different. So as the team moves up and down the field, I’m always 10 yards to 15 yards ahead of the cart. Now on that particular play, when you get in the red zone, my responsibility is to be right on that back line, and the cart, his responsibility is to be right on the goal line. So that way we have both: He has a pylon covered, and I have the back line covered, which actually set up perfect for this particular shot.”
For a Second, I Thought I Missed It
“In that moment, things were happening so quick. I actually thought that I had missed the play. I remember telling myself to kind of widen out and pan down a little bit, because I knew that I was going to cut the wide receiver’s feet off. And I thought I completely missed it. I didn’t know that I actually had everything until I saw the replay later. So the play happens, the director will cut to a camera to finish off the play, and then, you know, they’ll roll some replays, so the audience at home can see it. When they rolled [my footage], I missed it at first as a result of I used to be nonetheless doing my job. However a couple of minutes after that, I used to be capable of catch the replay, and it was like, ‘Oh, wow, I did have it.’ And that feels superb.
“I’m a fan of soccer. I really like school soccer, I really like NFL soccer. So in per week that I’m off, or if I’m at dwelling watching a Monday evening recreation, I’m all the time completely different digital camera angles, I’m all the time completely different digital camera pictures, and I’m all the time considering to myself, if I had been there, how would I shoot this? How would I cowl this? And so for me, I by no means need to be too extensive to the place you may’t see it. And I by no means need to be too tight to the place you miss it. And so, yeah, I nailed that shot.”
Indiana extensive receiver Omar Cooper Jr. hauls in a game-winning landing catch in opposition to Penn State.
The Shot of a Lifetime
For me, that’s the very best shot I’ve ever had in my complete profession, unquestionably. The whole lot was spot-on. It was the play to win the sport, final second, the whole lot that went into that shot sort of simply all matched up completely. Within the second, I didn’t actually know that the shot can be this superb, proper? However as soon as I noticed it on social media, like, I can’t cease watching it. I’ve in all probability checked out that clip in all probability 1,000 occasions now.
Like Father, Like Son
“I received into TV due to my father. He labored at Turner Sports activities for years as a digital camera man, so I’m like a second-generation camera-op. My dad has handed away, however as I sit again and I take a look at that shot and I replicate on that shot, , I can’t assist however to consider him and the way proud he can be of me figuring out sort of the place I’m at in my profession now and for me to have an incredible shot like that.
“Once I was a bit boy, he would all the time take me to work with him. If I didn’t have faculty or if I didn’t have something happening the weekends, he would all the time take me to work with him. So the primary time I truly keep in mind going and, , wanting via the view finder and him displaying me a pedestal digital camera, I feel I used to be 8 years previous, and it was at Turner Studios. It was a Saturday morning, and so they had been on the brink of movie a WCW stay wrestling match within the studio. Again then he did soccer, he did baseball, he did a bit little bit of the whole lot. I’ve a couple of guys that sort of taught me alongside the best way, however he’s the one which had his fingerprint throughout me. He taught me the whole lot I learn about being a digital camera man and framing and focus and all of that.
Indiana extensive receiver Omar Cooper Jr. reaches over Penn State’s Zakee Wheatley to safe a game-winning landing catch.
Working Facet by Facet with My Hero
“We labored collectively a bunch. Earlier than he retired, I imply, there have been occasions the place he and I might actually work aspect by aspect. It was nice to have my pops there with me. I assume throughout that point I in all probability took it without any consideration as a result of I didn’t notice how particular it was. However I do know that he didn’t take it without any consideration. I imply, he would all the time inform me how proud he was of me, and the way he’s glad that he was capable of present me a talent and I used to be capable of take it and go even additional than him. As a result of he would all the time inform me that simply pure expertise, I had far more expertise than he did.”
Good Body, Good Focus
“What I feel he can be impressed with on that specific shot is the body. The framing of it’s excellent. When he taught me methods to function cameras, he was all about framing. So for him, he would have seen that the body was excellent, after which he would have mentioned, ‘And also you’re in focus.’
“So yeah, for guys like me, my résumé is stuff like that. I don’t even have a résumé. From the TV, you see my résumé.”
Michael Cohen covers school soccer and school basketball for FOX Sports activities. Observe him at @Michael_Cohen13.
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