Saturday, at roughly 7:15PM EDT (4:15 PDT), was college football’s most amazing point in time in 17 years to THE day.
Consider: Alabama had been foiled in their attempt to break a 49-49 tie when Will Reichard’s 50-yard field goal try sailed wide right. With only 15 seconds left, overtime seemed imminent at raucous Neyland Stadium. Except overtime never happened. The incredible Hendon Hooker threw a couple of quick darts down the field to set Chase McGrath up for a 40-yard knuckleball, game winner that barely cleared the upright. A sea of orange descended upon the field as the SEC fined Tennessee $100,000 that Volunteer nation was more than happy to pay.
Alas, you might not have seen the last few seconds of this SEC thriller if you were glued into the TCU- Oklahoma State double overtime thriller in another battle of unbeatens. In Fort Worth, the Horned Frogs had been swimming upstream all afternoon, fighting back from a 17-point deficit to force overtime. As in Knoxville, incredible QB play resulted in a 43-40 triumph for TCU.
Meanwhile, another double overtime thriller was going on in East Lansing between two wounded teams fighting to salvage some pride. Thanks to Jayden Reed, the Spartans narrowly averted their 5th straight setback for their $95 million dollar coach. The stellar wide receiver THREW a 25-yard TD pass to start off the first overtime. Wisconsin equalized. A terrific catch on a 27-yard throw from Payton Thorne to the stellar wide receiver in the 2nd OT was the walkoff decider.
If that was somehow not enough, ESPN+ was streaming another thriller. The 4th quarter of the James Madison game at Georgia Southern proved stellar. An undefeated and ranked James Madison squad had overcome both 4 turnovers and a 37-28 deficit, to grab a 38-37 lead with 2:28 to play Way too much time to leave Eagles’ QB, Kyle Van Trease, who had been on fire all game. Van Trease promptly lead Georgia Southern down the field for the deciding TD as he wound up with an incredible 578 yards passing against a proud Dukes’ defense. If you love passing, you were totally infatuated with this game as JMU quarterback, Todd Centeio, threw for 468 yards (albeit with 3 picks).
I flashed back to October 15, 2005. Gameday was at South Bend to see if Notre Dame could derail a USC juggernaut that had won 27 straight. The Irish almost did. The legendary Bush Push propelled Matt Leinart into the endzone with 3 seconds left to give USC a spinetingling 34-31 victory. Notre Dame faithful still lament that the Bush Push an illegal action in 2005. No flag, just massive heartbreak.
At virtually the same time, Michigan’s Chad Henne threw a 10-yard TD pass on the game’s final play at the Big House to give the Wolverines a 27-25 thriller over an undefeated Penn State team. (Penn State should give up playing in Ann Arbor on any October 15 after their 41-17 faceplant on Saturday).
A third 2005 thriller was simultaneously playing out. Like TCU last Saturday, West Virginia had overcome a 17-point deficit to force overcome. Riding behind Steve Slaton’s 6 TD’s, the Mountaineers survived, 46-44, in triple overtime. Rich Rodriguez had become a God in Morgantown. Regrettably, he now knows that he should have stayed put in John Denver country. Wisdom is sometimes attained only through great pain.
Saturday’s games resulted in no fewer than 5 field stormings: Tennessee, Syracuse, TCU, Colorado (the Buffs actually won a game in yet another overtime thriller) and Utah.
The Odyssey cannot wait for the next October 15 that falls on a Saturday!