Why College Football Is Great

Every so often you see a college football game that reminds you of why you love the sport. Every so often, you see something that makes your sense of wonder jump up and bask in the glow of seeing something happen, that, up to that moment, had never been done before. A miracle of sorts.

Today, I saw that incredible college football game. What makes it incredible is not the fact that either of the teams will become the national champion this year. They won’t. What made it incredible was the fact that a team faced the most daunting of odds and came back to actually win a game that it had no business of winning.

The game was between two middle of the pack teams in the Southeastern Conference, Arkansas and Mississippi. Even though Mississippi, or Ole Miss as people are apt to call them, was playing for a mathematical chance of winning the SEC West Division of the SEC, they were both playing their hearts out for that most noble of reasons, the simple fact that they both just wanted to win this football game.

Before the most improbable of plays happened to make this game truly memorable, it was already a smashingly entertaining game. Arkansas and Ole Miss kept going back and forth in a VERY offensively contested game where it seemed like neither could stop the other at any time.

Think about a game where both teams seemed to be able to run AND pass on the other team at will and you can get a good idea of the offensive nature of this game. Think about the term “a shootout” where both teams gained somewhere close to 600 yards of total offense. Think about a game where both teams scored a touchdown in the last couple of minutes to get the score to 45 to 45 and send it into overtime.

During the game, the announcers utilized one of the most overly used cliches in football, (that being the line, “whoever has the ball last is going to win”), and yet, they were INCREDIBLY accurate. Of course this game was going to be settled in overtime. The only question was HOW.

For those who don’t know college’s overtime rules, each team gets the ball on offense at the opponent’s 25 yard line (kind of like the top half of an inning and the bottom half of the inning), with each getting a chance to tie (or beat) what the other team did. Some games have gone as many as 7 “innings” worth of back and forth scoring in overtime to settle matters. This game seemed like it could go even farther than that.

Mississippi got the ball first in overtime. They had no trouble scoring a touchdown and adding the extra point to take a seven point lead. Something about the way they did it made it seem like they had taken control of the game.

Arkansas got their hands on the ball at the 25, with THEIR chance to tie Mississippi. Mississippi really HAD seized control of the game, though as the first three Arkansas plays sent them backwards to the 40 yard line.

So Arkansas had a 4th and 25 at the 40 yard line and they were playing the game in front of the 60,000 or so screaming fans at Mississippi’s Vaught – Hemingway Stadium. They either had to gain at least 25 yards on a miracle play, or they had to score a touchdown. What happened next will go down in the annals of great, competitive plays in college football history. (And it wasn’t a Hail Mary touchdown pass)

Arkansas quarterback Brandon Allen scrambled around, couldn’t really find ANYBODY open until he hit tight end Hunter Henry a good ten yards short of the first down and he was about to be tackled to end the game. At that exact moment, there was ONE chance in a million that Arkansas could win the game. If that! Harvey was in the grasp of a Mississippi defender and all set to be tackled to end the game. Again, there was ONE chance in a million to win this game, and Henry thought of it on the spot.

Harvey, blindly and instinctually, flung the ball backwards with two hands, back towards his own teammates, towards the area near the line of scrimmage where the 4th down play originated from, a desperation backwards lateral, which did the ONLY thing that could keep the play alive. Running back Alex Collins, Arkansas’ best running back, picked up the “fumble” and found there was room on the left side. He miraculously got just past the first down marker, and Arkansas’ hopes were still alive.

The play by Harvey was the cleverest, most creative, thought of on the spot play most people had ever seen. He knew in a split second moment that he HAD to keep the play alive and he did just that. Arkansas scored the “tying” touchdown a few plays later.

Only, Arkansas’ coach made the decision that he was going to gamble and go for a two point conversion (instead of the safer, nearly automatic extra point kick) and try to win the game right there. They were either going to win the game right there or lose it right there.

Mississippi appeared to have won the game when they tackled Arkansas quarterback Allen behind the line of scrimmage, but their defender had grabbed Allen’s face mask, and Arkansas had still another chance. This time, Allen ran in the two point conversion play in on a quarterback keeper and Arkansas had won the most improbable game of their lives 53 to 52.

ANY game that ends 53 to 52 has to be a great game, but THIS 53 to 52 game was one for the memory books. It was as sublime an ending as the 2013 Auburn-Alabama game of a few years ago. It was the 1982 Cal-Stanford game all over again. Or it was this season’s Michigan State miracle win over Michigan on the last play. Or last week’s Duke vs University of Miami last second, eight lateral play for a miracle touchdown.

In other words, today’s game was an AMAZING example of why college football is a GREAT sport. When you watch a sporting event, and are fortunate enough to see a miracle happen, live and right before your eyes, it does not get much better than that.