Claire was in the living room of her house, comfortably settled on the couch with the television on. Her eyes remained fixed on the screen, where the iconic SportsCenter graphics flashed across the display.
One of the network's most famous Sunday segments was airing, hosted by John Saunders, a highly respected and well-known presenter.
Joining him was Lou Holtz, a legendary college football coach.
Holtz held the NCAA record for having coached six different programs, leading every one of them to Bowl game appearances, while also being the only coach in history to finish with four different schools ranked inside the nation's final Top 20.
A multiple-time Coach of the Year award winner, he had joined ESPN in 2005 as a college football analyst.
On the other side of the desk sat Mark May, an imposing former NFL player who had won two Super Bowl rings and now worked as an analyst.
The trio was discussing the college football slate that had concluded less than twenty-four hours earlier.
Technically, what Claire was watching was a Sunday morning replay of the show that had originally aired live the previous night, immediately after Saturday's final games had ended.
Since she had been flying back from Texas after supporting Andrew in person at the stadium, she hadn't had the chance to watch the program or catch up on everything that had happened.
Now, coffee in hand, Claire watched the complete recap with rapt attention.
The television continued showing highlight after highlight of spectacular plays as John Saunders introduced the weekend's overall recap.
Week 4 had delivered several blockbuster matchups that would undoubtedly shake up the national rankings on Monday.
One of the most intriguing games had been the showdown between the #15 Kansas State Wildcats and the powerhouse #6 Oklahoma Sooners.
Although the Wildcats entered the game riding a solid winning streak and many expected a physical battle, virtually no one considered them the favorites.
Against all expectations, they pulled off the biggest upset of the weekend, traveling to Norman and escaping with a massive 24-19 road victory.
The performance was led by quarterback Collin Klein, who was putting together a phenomenal start to the season and beginning to attract nationwide attention.
Meanwhile, the #4 Florida State Seminoles faced the #10 Clemson Tigers in a thrilling primetime showdown broadcast nationally on ABC. It turned into an offensive shootout that featured more than eighty combined points and ended in a commanding 49-37 victory for Florida State.
With the impressive win, the Seminoles firmly established themselves as legitimate national championship contenders. They had now won four straight games and had just dismantled a fellow Top 10 opponent.
The Oregon Ducks, meanwhile, showed absolutely no mercy. Ranked third in the nation, they completely annihilated the #22 Arizona Wildcats. Both the media and fans had expected a tightly contested, strategic battle, but the reality couldn't have been more different.
The Ducks crushed their opponents 49-0 on their own field, proving that their blistering fast-paced offense was nearly impossible to stop.
Just as impressive was their dominant defense, which refused to allow a single point against the nation's No. 22 team.
As for Alabama, Nick Saban's relentless machine remained firmly entrenched as the No. 1 team in the country, collecting another comfortable victory without any scares or room for surprises.
The team that left behind the biggest cloud of doubt was LSU. Entering the weekend as the nation's No. 2 team, they survived by the skin of their teeth against an Auburn Tigers squad that wasn't even ranked inside the Top 25.
LSU scraped together an ugly 12-10 victory in what was arguably one of the worst offensive performances the program had produced.
Winning in such an uninspiring and laborious fashion made it almost certain they would lose the respect of the voters and, in all likelihood, surrender their No. 2 ranking to Oregon after the Ducks' overwhelming demolition of a ranked opponent.
Elsewhere, #11 Notre Dame managed to defeat the #18 Michigan Wolverines in an extremely physical, defense-first battle that ended with a narrow 13-6 scoreline.
West Virginia, fueled by Geno Smith's outstanding numbers, took care of business with a 31-21 victory over Maryland, remaining firmly inside the Top 10, though they might slip a spot or two since most people had expected a far more convincing win against a weaker opponent given the numbers Geno had posted through the opening weeks of the season.
The USC Trojans earned a 27-9 victory over the California Golden Bears, but their offensive performance left a decidedly bitter taste.
Matt Barkley looked hesitant throughout the game, throwing just two touchdown passes while also making the costly mistake of giving the ball away with an interception. The only real positive was the emotional boost: they had managed to bounce back from the painful loss to Stanford the previous week, even if the shine of their crown was beginning to fade at an alarming rate.
It had been an exciting weekend, defined by remarkable individual performances that earned widespread praise from both the media and the fans.
One of the most talked-about performances came from EJ Manuel, the quarterback of the undefeated Florida State Seminoles (4-0).
EJ MANUEL (QB, Florida State) — Week 4 Statistics:
Completed / Attempted Passes: 27 / 35 (77.1% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 380 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 3 TD (2 passing, 1 rushing)
Interceptions: 0 INT
Season Statistics (Through Week 4 — 4 games played):
Completed / Attempted Passes: 73 / 102 (71.5% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 943 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 8 TD (6 passing, 2 rushing)
Interceptions: 1 INT
Rushing Yards: 204 yds
Another outstanding individual performance came from Kansas State's quarterback. Not only were his numbers impressive, but he had also delivered them against the nation's No. 6 team.
COLLIN KLEIN (QB, Kansas State) — Week 4 Statistics:
Completed / Attempted Passes: 13 / 21 (61.9% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 149 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 1 rushing TD
Interceptions: 0 INT
Rushing Attempts / Rushing Yards: 17 carries for 79 rushing yards
Season Statistics (Through Week 4 — 4 games played):
Completed / Attempted Passes: 54 / 79 (68.3% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 521 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 10 TD (5 passing, 5 rushing)
Interceptions: 2 INT
Rushing Yards: 311 yds
Next came Geno Smith's performance. Although his numbers would have been considered outstanding by virtually any normal standard, compared to the absurd expectations he himself had established over the opening weeks of the season, his outing against Maryland was received rather coldly by the panel.
GENO SMITH (QB, West Virginia) — Week 4 Statistics:
Completed / Attempted Passes: 30 / 43 (69.8% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 338 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 3 TD (all passing)
Interceptions: 0 INT
Rushing Attempts / Rushing Yards: 6 carries for 7 rushing yards
Despite the stat line still looking solid on paper, the fact that West Virginia had needed all four quarters to put away a considerably weaker opponent sparked the first wave of criticism.
Even so, his cumulative season numbers remained borderline insane and comfortably ahead of every name previously mentioned.
Season Statistics (Through Week 4 — 3 games played):
Completed / Attempted Passes: 96 / 118 (81.3% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 1,072 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 13 TD (12 passing, 1 rushing)
Interceptions: 0 INT
Rushing Yards: 72 yds
They also made sure not to overlook Matt Barkley and USC.
The veteran senior quarterback still boasted respectable cumulative statistics overall, but the way his last two games had unfolded, combined with the alarming fact that he had already thrown five interceptions on the season, more than any other passer among this elite group, had caused analysts to judge him harshly, pushing him out of the forefront of the conversation.
But despite all of those outstanding individual performances against ranked opponents, despite Geno Smith posting what would merely be considered an acceptable game by his own outrageous standards, and despite Matt Barkley doing little more than trying to patch up USC's wounds, there was something that had captured everyone's attention even more.
The weekend's most talked-about game, the debate dominating television broadcasts across the United States, internet forums, and Twitter alike, was the spectacular show the UCLA Bruins and their star quarterback had just put on for the entire country.
The SportsCenter screens flashed once again, revealing a new digital graphic in golden lettering.
ANDREW PRITCHETT-TUCKER (QB, UCLA) — Week 4 Statistics:
Completed / Attempted Passes: 14 / 17 (82.3% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 285 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 5 TD (4 passing, 1 rushing)
Interceptions: 0 INT
Rushing Attempts / Rushing Yards: 2 carries for 42 rushing yards
Season Statistics (Through Week 4 — 4 games played):
Completed / Attempted Passes: 93 / 129 (72.1% completion rate)
Passing Yards: 1,251 yds
Passing/Rushing Touchdowns: 17 TD (14 passing, 3 rushing)
Interceptions: 2 INT
Rushing Yards: 241 yds
...
[Yet remember one fundamental detail: Pritchett's stats from this last game came in just two quarters,] John pointed out, a tone of disbelief slipping into his voice as he looked at the graphic.
[If he'd played the second half at the same pace, I honestly believe he could have finished with six or seven touchdowns and shattered several historic records in a single afternoon.]
Lou immediately nodded, visibly impressed by what he was seeing, [He has more total passing yards and total touchdowns than Geno Smith and every other quarterback in the nation, John. And we're talking about an eighteen-year-old kid in his very first NCAA season! Without a doubt, he's the player who's had the most devastating individual impact on his team so far this year.]
"That's what I'm talking about," Claire murmured under her breath, unable to help herself as she nodded and leaned a little farther forward.
Mark looked at both of them and tried to apply the brakes with a much more cautious approach. [I'm not going to deny that his numbers are absolutely insane, Lou. Pritchett-Tucker was undoubtedly the greatest high school prospect in history, and he's the most talented young player I've seen reach the college level in decades. But Geno Smith hasn't thrown a single interception all year, and West Virginia remains undefeated. I'm sorry, but you can't put a freshman ahead of Geno just yet.]
From Mark's perspective, the collective picture also carried weight.
EJ Manuel's and Collin Klein's teams remained undefeated, playing complete football and looking far better built to contend for a national championship than UCLA's overall roster, whose defense still failed to inspire complete confidence.
While the Bruins' offense was undeniably talented, many of its key contributors were freshmen, and Mark questioned whether they could sustain their upward trajectory through the end of the season.
However, when it came to evaluating pure individual performance, Mark had no statistical argument for ranking either EJ Manuel or Collin Klein ahead of UCLA's freshman.
Andrew had played the same number of games as both of them, yet comfortably surpassed them in total touchdowns, total yards, and completed passes.
The only quarterback who could truly go toe-to-toe with Andrew at this point and edge him out slightly was Geno Smith, whose averages were marginally better.
Lou let out an exasperated snort at his colleague's stubbornness, adjusting his glasses with visible annoyance. [Mark, listen to me. Geno needed all four regulation quarters to produce three touchdowns against a defense just as depleted as the one UCLA faced. Meanwhile, Pritchett-Tucker put up five touchdowns in just two quarters before spending the rest of the afternoon sitting on the bench without even breaking a sweat!]
"That's right, open that fool's mind," Claire muttered in agreement with the veteran coach.
Mark started to respond, but Lou immediately raised a hand to cut him off. [Alright, fine. Geno's average numbers are marginally better on paper. He's completing nine percent more of his passes and averaging slightly more touchdowns per game, 4.33 compared to Pritchett's 4.25. The same goes for passing yards per game. If you want to split hairs that much, I'll give you that.]
He paused briefly before continuing with even greater conviction. [Even so, my main point still stands! Pritchett-Tucker is putting together a historic start to the season, better than Geno's and better than anyone else's. And if you ask me, I think the kid is being underrated.]
John couldn't help bursting into laughter at his colleague's passionate delivery.
[Underrated? Are you seriously using that word for Andrew Pritchett-Tucker, Lou?] John asked, shaking his head with an amused grin.
Every corner of the sports media was talking about Andrew. Newspapers were calling it the most dominant start ever by a true freshman in college football history.
In the Las Vegas odds, he had vaulted into a tie with Geno as the favorite to win the Heisman, and he had already exceeded every expectation placed upon him, expectations that had already been sky-high to begin with.
John simply didn't believe he was underrated.
[Yes, underrated!] Lou replied firmly, without the slightest trace of humor. [Listen to me carefully. Geno Smith, Matt Barkley, and Collin Klein are seniors in their fourth year, twenty-two-year-old men. EJ Manuel is in his fifth year and he's twenty-three!]
Lou lightly pounded the table. [Everyone in the media keeps repeating over and over that Pritchett-Tucker is a freshman, but it seems like nobody truly grasps what it actually means to be eighteen years old in this sport!]
[That's a fair point,] Mark admitted, settling back into his chair. [You watch his games, you hear him speak, and sometimes you kind of forget that.]
It was an odd phenomenon.
On one hand, both the media and the fans were fully aware that Andrew was a true freshman, constantly debating on every show whether he could become the first freshman in NCAA history to win the Heisman Trophy.
Yet, after witnessing the relentless consistency of his performances through four games, people had unconsciously begun holding him to the exact same standards as junior and senior quarterbacks, evaluating his numbers without giving any allowance for the fact that he was still a freshman.
That eighteen-year-old kid was competing against men who were 21, 22, or even 23 years old.
Lou nodded and continued, [All of these seniors are supposed to be having the best seasons of their careers, right at the peak of their development, and they're being outplayed by a kid fresh out of high school. The only one who's truly going toe-to-toe with him is Smith.]
Without giving anyone the chance to interrupt him, he continued, [The main reason I say Andrew is underrated is because of the context surrounding their rosters.]
He explained that EJ Manuel played for a Florida State team that had opened the season ranked No. 7, an elite and well-respected program.
Geno played for West Virginia, which had begun the season ranked No. 11.
Barkley was at USC with a dream offense after opening the preseason as the nation's No. 1 team.
And Collin Klein led a very experienced Kansas State squad that had started the year ranked No. 22.
[All of them have outstanding rosters and coaching staffs behind them,] John pointed out.
[Exactly! And Pritchett? He went to UCLA, for God's sake! They were coming off four disastrous years under Neuheisel. The entire coaching staff got fired. A new staff came in with plenty of hype, sure, but everyone viewed the roster as pretty average, if not outright bad.]
Mark chimed in. [They landed the second-best recruiting class in the country. Five-star and four-star recruits. Their roster improved by several levels this year.]
Lou conceded the point. [Yes, something they achieved thanks to Pritchett's magnetism. But even so, Mark, they're still mostly eighteen-year-old freshmen out there, almost all of them concentrated on the offensive side of the ball. His path has been filled with obstacles since day one!]
Both John and Mark fell silent for a couple of seconds.
Viewed from that perspective, considering the weight the kid was carrying on his shoulders, Lou's argument made far more sense.
[But what I liked most about him,] Lou added, lowering his voice slightly while keeping the same intensity, [was what he did after his first loss. On the road, against a tough opponent like Nebraska. The kid didn't hide. He faced the media head-on and told the fans to trust the team.]
[And in the very next game, against a ranked and extremely dangerous opponent like Oregon State, he went out there, won, and his stats simply said, 'Relax, I've got this,'] the veteran coach said proudly. [He got back up like a true leader. And yesterday, he absolutely demolished Houston in a blowout.]
Lou spread his arms wide, palms open. [I'm saying it right now, gentlemen: UCLA's next opponents on the schedule, the ones that aren't in the nation's Top 25, are going to get completely steamrolled by this offense. The real season for the Bruins won't begin until November,] he concluded.
Claire, who had been listening attentively from the couch, felt a genuine chill run down her spine.
Hearing such praise for Andrew coming from the mouth of such a legendary coach, a College Football Hall of Famer, filled her with emotion.
He was her nephew. He was family.
The truth was that she and the rest of the family had lived alongside Andrew for so long that, in a way, they no longer fully grasped the true magnitude of his athletic achievements.
Of course they were incredibly proud of him. They celebrated every victory alongside him, supported him, and never missed one of his games, but seeing his brilliance on such a regular basis had made them somewhat numb to the impact he had on the rest of the country.
To them, he was simply Andrew.
To the nation, he was a player who was beginning to look like a historical anomaly if he kept this up.
Thinking about that, Claire remembered that Andrew and Gloria would be coming over to visit her shortly.
She glanced at the wall clock. There were a little over forty minutes left until the agreed time.
Immediately, her mind kicked into overdrive.
Why would those two be coming to see her alone?
It was a rather unusual combination, and the fact that they had specifically called to schedule a meeting immediately set off every one of her neurotic alarm bells.
'Another prank?' Claire wondered, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms as she remembered the time Andrew had convinced her that Haley was pregnant.
At first glance, Gloria's involvement didn't suggest it was a prank, but perhaps that was exactly what Andrew wanted her to think.
She would definitely stay on guard.
Even so, she shook her head to clear those thoughts away, picked up the remote control, and turned off the television, leaving the living room in sudden silence.
She busied herself straightening a couple of cushions and absentmindedly rearranging the shelves while waiting for the appointed time.
Both of them proved to be punctual. The doorbell echoed clearly throughout the house.
Claire hurried over and opened the front door.
Standing there was her father's radiant and beautiful wife, who technically happened to be fourteen months younger than she was, right beside her tall nephew, the very same young man every sports show in the country had spent the last several hours talking about.
"Hey, Aunt Claire! What's up?" Andrew greeted her with a faint smile, raising a hand in greeting.
"Did we interrupt your sacred Sunday obsessive-compulsive cleaning ritual?" Andrew added teasingly.
"Very funny," Claire replied, refusing to take the bait.
She was more than used to Andrew's comments; after all, she had been the one who taught him that kind of sharp sense of humor. Lily was far worse, and she was only a little girl.
"Come in," she added, making a slight motion with her head.
Gloria and Andrew stepped inside without much ceremony. They walked straight into the living room and settled onto the couches as if they owned the place.
Claire followed right behind them and took a seat as well.
"Haley didn't go out last night, did she?" Claire asked, locking her gaze directly onto Andrew.
Her daughter was serving a strict punishment.
Claire was almost certain Haley wouldn't risk breaking it just to attend a college party, since doing so would mean losing her allowance.
Haley was "independent" in the sense that she lived alone and took care of her own cooking, laundry, and all that, but she certainly wasn't independent when it came to paying her own expenses.
Even so, Claire's control-freak instincts needed to be one hundred percent certain, and she knew perfectly well that Andrew wasn't the type to lie or make up alibis to cover for someone else.
"No, she didn't go to any party," Andrew replied. "Well, technically she only crossed the hallway into my apartment. We got together with Steve, Leonard, and the others. I guess you could consider that a violation of her punishment."
Andrew leaned back even farther into the couch, looking at Claire with a faint smile. "You can punish her for that. I don't know, docking a hundred dollars from her allowance wouldn't be a bad idea."
It was a technicality, but Haley had, after all, attended a social gathering, even if it wasn't a party.
Gloria looked at Andrew in alarm, her eyes widening. "Ay, Andresito! But why are you such a snitch, my love?" she protested in her distinctive Colombian accent, scolding him for selling out his own cousin instead of covering for her.
Andrew simply shrugged. "I just want to make sure my cousin learns to be a responsible person. That's all."
Claire nodded slowly, though at the same time she thought her nephew was being far too strict. After all, a small get-together with friends right across the hallway in his own apartment was hardly a problem.
The real reason behind Andrew's pettiness was that Haley had beaten him at Pictionary the previous night. Thanks to Andrew's competitive nature, and the fact that Haley became absolutely unbearable whenever she won, taking every opportunity to rub it in his face, he was simply looking for revenge.
"So, what did you want to see me about?" Claire asked, getting straight to the point.
Andrew and Gloria exchanged a silent glance for a brief moment, sharing one last look before the revelation.
"We have some news to tell you," Andrew said, adopting an unusually serious tone that immediately set off every one of his aunt's alarm bells.
Claire crossed her legs, narrowing her eyes with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. "What is it?" she asked, staring at both of them.
Andrew subtly shifted his gaze toward Gloria, giving her a slight nod of encouragement.
Gloria took a deep breath, gently rested one of her hands on her stomach, and said with a nervous smile, "I'm pregnant."
"Ta-da!" Andrew exclaimed, extending both arms forward with his palms open, mimicking the gesture Phil always used when revealing a magic trick.
Claire froze completely.
"You... you...?" she stammered, her eyes growing wider and wider. "My dad... you... A baby?!"
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