10. Missouri vs. Baylor - 1987: It was my first college football game. It was at Faurot Field in Columbia. Nothing about the game was particularly interesting, aside from the fact that it was a game between the school I grew up rooting for and the school I wound up attending. Interestingly, the game was won by a mediocre Mizzou team (they went 5-6 that year) over a slightly less mediocre Baylor team (they went 6-5 that year.) At the time, I had no idea what Baylor was. 5 years later, I was a freshman there.
9. Baylor vs. Georgia Tech - 1992: It was Homecoming my freshman year in college. This game was memorable for several reasons:
a.) Baylor came from behind to win the game 31-27 on a reverse flea flicker 80 yard touchdown pass from J.J. Joe to Melvin Bonner
b.) We rushed the field after the game to celebrate the win
c.) The Baylor Line (with some assistance from the Baylor University Golden Wave Band - BUGWB) stole the helmet of a reserve Georgia Tech player. It got passed around the stands from the band to the Line and the player had to run down the tunnel at halftime and come back from halftime without his helmet. It was pretty funny.
The win had Baylor at 5-4 and on the cusp of a bowl bid with 2 games to play. In typical Baylor fashion, they choked and lost at Rice the following week. Which leads us to....
8. Baylor vs. Texas - 1992: A week after choking against Rice, Baylor beat archrival Texas in thrilling fashion. The final score was 21-20 and Baylor clinched the win by stopping Texas on 4th and 4 in the closing seconds. We rushed the field and tore down the goalposts. A great college experience and a win over a hated rival. A season that started off in ignominious fashion with a 10-9 loss at home to Louisiana Tech wound up with a bowl bid and an eventual win over Arizona in the Sun Bowl.
7. Missouri vs. Colorado - 1990: The infamous "Fifth Down" game. I distinctly remember listening to the game on the radio in our family room. When Mizzou stopped CU on 4th and goal, I jumped up and cheered as the beleaguered Tigers had finally pulled off a signature win over a ranked team. Then the officiating crew inexplicably gave Colorado a second fourth down. Mizzou stopped them on THAT down as well, though the officials ruled that they scored. Final score: Colorado 33, Mizzou 31. Colorado went on to win a share of the national championship that year. Mizzou, on the other hand, went 4-7 - their 7th consecutive losing season in a string of 13 consecutive losing seasons, a string that would run from 1984 to 1996.
6. Missouri vs. Nebraska - 1997: The infamous "Flea Kicker" game. Mizzou loses a berserk game to Nebraska 45-38 in OT. The craziest part of the game was the touchdown Nebraska scored as time expired to force OT. The pass was intended for one Nebraska receiver - it hit him in the chest, then hit a Mizzou defender on the foot, and then was kicked back into the air by another Nebraska receiver where it was then caught just above the turf by a 3rd Nebraska receiver. Mizzou fans, thinking that they had beaten Nebraska for the first time since 1978, rushed the field. However, officials ruled the play a touchdown. They cleared the field and then Nebraska won the game in OT. Mizzou finished the season 7-5 (their first winning season in 13 years), while Nebraska went on to go 13-0 and win a share of the national championship. It was another in a long line of heartbreaking losses for Mizzou football fans.
5. Baylor vs. Texas - 1997: It was homecoming and Baylor was in the midst of a miserable season that saw them go 2-9. But for one day, at least, all was well in Bear Country. Baylor held on for a 23-21 victory when a last second field goal attempt by Texas was pushed just wide of the uprights by the Central Texas winds. The students stormed the field, tore down the goalposts and carried them the three miles from Floyd Casey Stadium to the SUB, where it was left outside for fans to sign. I was at the game and my name is somewhere on those uprights. It was a fun day in the midst of what became an abysmal decade of Baylor football.
4. Baylor vs. Oklahoma - 2011: This may well be the game that put Baylor football on the map and got its new football palace, McLane Stadium, built. Baylor was ranked #25, while OU was ranked #5. It was a back and forth affair, but Baylor pulled out the win when Robert Griffin III hit Terrance Williams in the corner of the end zone for a 34 yard TD pass with 8 seconds remaining. Griffin finished with 479 yards passing and 4 TDs. It was Baylor's first ever win over an Oklahoma team that was the preseason favorite to win the national championship. The Bears went on to finish the season 10-3 with a bowl victory in the Alamo Bowl and RGIII went on to win the Heisman Trophy, the first Bear to win college football's most prestigious award. I was watching the end of the game at my parents' house and I remember running all over their basement screaming after the winning touchdown.
3. Missouri vs. Kansas - 2007: Two hated rivals playing on a neutral field (Arrowhead Stadium in KC) with a crowd split evenly between those wearing black and gold and those wearing blue and red. Two top 5 teams, as Mizzou game in ranked #3 and KU was ranked #2. The hype leading up to the game was enormous. Often, those games don't live up to the hype, but this one did. Mizzou hung on for a 36-28 win, the outcome of which was in doubt until Mizzou sacked KU QB Todd Reesing in the end zone for a safety with 12 seconds remaining. Following the game, Mizzou found itself ranked #1 in the country, something that - while short lived - I never thought I'd ever see. We watched the game with family (who happened to be Mizzou alums), which made it a lot of fun, too.
2. Baylor vs. TCU - 2014: One of the craziest football games you'll ever see and a game that spawned a heated rivalry between the two schools. Both teams were ranked in the top 10. TCU had a 21 point lead early in the 4th quarter and it appeared that Baylor's hope for another Big 12 title were dim. However, Bryce Petty and the Bears got off the mat and scored the game's last 24 points to pull out a 61-58 win that was sealed by a Chris Callahan field goal as time expired. Both teams went on to finish the regular season 11-1 and share the Big 12 title, though I will always consider BU the one true champion. When you finish the season tied, the tiebreaker is the head-to-head result, right?
1. Baylor vs. Texas - 2013: This was, for me, an easy choice. A win over a hated rival that gave Baylor its first outright conference championship since 1980, back when Mike Singletary was still wearing green and gold. The fact that the game was the final game in the 64 year history of Floyd Casey Stadium and that it was played in unseasonably frigid conditions (it was 24 degrees at kickoff and Waco had been dealing with sleet and ice) just increases the overall impact of the game. I watched the game from my family room in Wildwood, but my heart was there with the Baylor faithful at The Case.
There you have it - my top 10 college football memories. Here's hoping that the 2017 college football season brings some more great memories. SIC 'EM BEARS and M-I-Z!
No comments:
Post a Comment