When McNeese Folks saw the Super Bowl XLIXH hero in College

[JohnStOnge]

As soon as I heard the guys calling the game say Malcolm Butler, the guy who made the big interception to clinch New England's victory, is a rookie from West Alabama I knew I had seen him play when West Alabama visited McNeese in 2013. It was a great game. McNeese scored on a 20 yard pass with 46 seconds left to pull out a 44-42 nail biter. Top receiver Dionte Spencer got the game winning catch. And since he was the opposition's top reciever and Malcolm Butler was to go on to be an All American Division II cornerback, it made perfect sense to learn that Butler was the guy covering Spencer during the game winning play.

dlthibo81, who frequents the McNeese message board, got a great shot of the play:



What's interesting about that situation is that, to that point in his career, that was a big play in a big game for Butler. West Alabama finished 8-3 and did not get selected for the D-II playoffs. Had they won that game against McNeese they'd have been a virtual lock at 9-2 and a win over what was, at selection time, a top 10 ranked FCS opponent. He was given one on one coverage on McNeese's top receiver and gave up the winning touchdown.

I'll bet at the time he was really disappointed. How insignificant it must seem now! Biggest play of the biggest football game on a world stage. Wow. Who among us McNeese fans had any inkling that we were watching a guy who was going to make a Super Bowl play that'll go down in history as clinching one of the most competitive Super Bowls ever if not THE most competitive one.