USD Football 1991

THEY SAID IT COULDN'T BE DONE Great Comebacks and Other "Against All Odds" College Football Stories - presented by Rogaine. Miraculous Finishes 1 he Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band has

always marched to another drum- mer-another trombone player, anoth- er tuba player, another bug ler

and others too numerous to mention. And when t hey marched they marched in any direction they chose, often in the wrong direction. And there was at least one time when they marched at the wrong time. That time came in the 86th annual game between Stanford and its archrival, the University of California at Berkeley, back in 1982. Called t he "Big

terback, the redoubtable John Elway, engineered one of his patented last-second drives and positioned his team for the go-ahead - and appar- ently game winning - field goal. As the ball shot through the uprights, the Stanford fans shot out of their seats and the Stanford Band got ready to tottle their way onto the field to celebrate the hard- earned, come-from-behind vic- tory. But six ticks remained on the clock, and that was enough for the Cal Bears to pull out one of those ''They- said-it-couldn't-be-done" fin- ishes, with the help of the Stanford Urriversity Marching Band and an old rugby play concocted by their coach, Joe Kapp. The ensuing short-hop kickoff was fielded byCal back Kevin Moen, who picked it up and tossed it backwards, in a rugby-like lateral, to a team- mate, who, in turn, did like- wise, all the while advancing the ball downfield. At least five Cal players handled the ball like a hot potato. Then the first man to touch the ball, Moen, caught the last lateral

Doug Flutie celebrates his game-winning throw.

touchdown in what will for- ever be known as ''The Play." And as one of football's strangest moments. I twas unbelievable. It was impossible. The "it" was Boston College's Doug Flutie throwing a "Hail Mary" pass over the heads ofthe assem- bled University of Miami defenders on that magic 1984 afternoon to beat the top- ranked Hurricanes.

sawed back and forth all after- noon. But there was one more see to be seen (sawed?), and that belonged to Flutie, who, with scant seconds left on the Orange Bowl clock, unhinged his arm and threw one last- gasp pass somewhere in the direction ofhis favorite receiv- er, Gerard Phelan, standing in the end zone-but blanket- ed by a suffocating horde of Miami defenders. As the final seconds ticked off, the ball took flight and, in a one of those "they-said-it-couldn't- be-done" moments that con- tinually abound in college football, threaded its way through, over and around the grasping hands ofthe Miami defenders into Phelan's out- stretched arms for a mirac- ulous 47-45 Boston College victory.

Cal's Kevin Moen, who scored the winning TD Game," the Stanford-Cal game was played not only for the symbolic trophy given the winner, "The Axe," but also for bragging rights to the entire Bay Area. On this day those bragging rights belonged to Cal as the underdogGolden Bears took a 19-17 lead into the closing minutes for an a pparent upset. But Stanford's quar-

and crashed into the end zone Miami hadjust taken the lead - and into an onrushing - and seemingly won the trombone player still adjust- game - in the closingseconds ing his music and hurrying to as quarterback Bernie Kosar make sure he didn't miss out engineered his team into onStanfordband'svictorycel- B.C.'s end zone for a 45-41 ebration - lead in a to score the • game that w innin g had see- minoxidil