Once again, it’s time for defecting employees to go to our annual company meetings to have some solitude and fun. This year we’re gathering in Atlantic City, America’s abandoned playground. We decided to hold a mini theme week during the meetings to keep the site strong and full of blogs. This year’s theme: Risk!
The total number of “great games” you watch as a sports fan can only increase. But in the growing mental pile of walk-offs, Hail Marys, buzzer beaters and triple overtimes, I believe there is a solid, immutable foundation of formative instant-classics—games that literally shaped your concept of what sports is. What should be the drama? Similarly, by Sam SiftonA person’s first source of pizza becomes the standard by which they evaluate all pizza for the rest of their lives, the first time you find yourself surprised by a seemingly impossible result it is a lasting The reference point remains. When I trouble myself with a list of “great games,” the memories that immediately come to mind are not fresh experiences, but impressions from a decade or more ago. I think about David Freese’s Game 6 in 2011Or Landon Donovan’s goal against AlgeriaOr Trey Burke’s shot against KansasOr Boise State beating Oklahoma with a ton of moves in the Fiesta Bowl.
The match-up story of this particular bowl on New Year’s Day 2007 is easy to understand, even if you know little about college football. Oklahoma was Oklahoma, one of the game’s defining programs. Boise State was…what was this team even? While this night’s result turned the school into a household name, Boise State once upon a time seemed like a schedule filler somewhere, notable only for the gimmicky blue field about which an anchor ran 15-second highlights. Could joke during the package. Sunday morning. Yes, they’ve recently become a force in the WAC, but that was before the landscape-changing explosion of accessibility that allowed fans to watch basically any game, whenever they wanted. For much of the country, the WAC was invisible, mostly relegated to local TV or appearing on ESPN. Strange Non-Saturday Dates-When “serious” college football didn’t happen. Prior to this Fiesta Bowl, Boise State had never played in a January bowl game before. Their most recent postseason contest, the 2005 MPC Computers Bowl, saw them lose to Boston College on their own blue field.
But Boise State didn’t achieve greatness overnight. After joining Division I-A in 1996 and making some small waves with a drought-breaking win at Idaho under Houston Nutt and a almost upset wisconsinThe school built a strong coaching infrastructure starting with future NFLer Dirk Koetter. As the program came to dominate the WAC, coaches changed, each time replacing an offensive coordinator ready to bring the program to a new level. Chris Peterson took over the reins from Dan Hawkins in 2006 and led the Broncos to an undefeated season, earning them a date with Oklahoma. Even though he didn’t have a primetime reputation, Boise quickly became the biggest fish in his little pond.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma became a monster forever. National champs in 2000 under Bob Stoops, then runners-up in 2003 and 2004, the Sooners hit a slight decline in the 2005 season, but regained momentum in the 2006 season despite an injury to superstar running back Adrian Peterson and the dismissal of QB Rhett Bomar. For the sin of receiving money from boosters. While Boise entered New Year’s Day without a single win over a ranked team on its resume, Oklahoma’s eight-game win streak included wins over Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska in the Big 12 title game. He proved himself in opportunities the Broncos were never able to reach.
Everything about the game was overshadowed by a few plays, but it was pretty wild the whole way through. Oklahoma’s fumble near its own end zone helped give Boise a 14–0 lead. A long, slippery run by Drayson James with just 33 seconds left added a touchdown after catching Jared Zabranski’s cross-the-field pass to make the score 21–10 at the half. A Boise punt was cashed in the third after OU’s Paul Thompson threw a pick-six on the next drive, increasing the Bronco lead to 18. But the Broncos’ fortunes turned due to a bad punt return, setting up an easy Oklahoma score. The Sooner defense held Boise in check until the favorites finally scored a tying touchdown and two-point conversion with 1:26 left on the clock. Zabranski immediately threw an interception, a complete miscommunication with his wideout resulting in an early touchdown. With less than a minute to play, Oklahoma led 35–28.
It didn’t take long to find salvation. A long Zabranski pass put the Broncos at midfield with time on the clock, but a sack and two incompletions ultimately set up a do-or-die game. Zabranski dropped back and found James in front of the Oklahoma defense. As five Sooners finished, he tossed the ball to Gerard Rabb, who was running down the field in the opposite direction. Rabb took a step on each Sooner and made it into the end zone.
It was an incredible piece of backyard football that would lead to one of the game’s most enduring debates: Is it called a “hook-and-ladder” or a “hook-and-lateral”? Looking at it again, I think in the spirit of drama you have to pick a funny name rather than one that technically makes sense.
In overtime, Adrian Peterson – returning from injury – tried to dissipate the underdog’s energy with a quick touchdown. Down by seven, Boise State took tentative steps toward the goal line until they faced another urgent turnover-Two on fourth-and-sixThis time, he did not turn to Zabransky. In another moment of misdirection, he pointed his QB outside and sent the snap to wide receiver Vinny Perretta, who sprinted out and over a cloud of dust to pass to Derek Schuman for six runs.
One kick could have tied the game and the other could have led to overtime, where perhaps the Broncos could have hoped for another early fumble. But Chris Pietersen was feeling excited and ready to celebrate. Boise State scored two runs and won, and again they pulled off a rare feat. In a trip formation with running back Ian Johnson at his six, Zabranski played a quick screen to the right and then threw the ball behind Johnson’s back. Three blockers in orange and white blocked three Oklahoma players from any shots at making tackles and Johnson galloped into the end zone. Shortly afterwards he cemented his football immortality when he got down on one knee and proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend Chrissy Popadix on live TV.
The funny thing about how much respect I have for this game is that I was not In fact watch it. All this happened long after I went to sleep. I was 11 years old, and while I might have watched the USC-Michigan Rose Bowl earlier in the day, these events were lost on me until the next morning, when I was to meet them. sports centerI found out Boise won state, which didn’t mean much. I found out that they did this with some ridiculous play calls that were beyond my imagination. I learned what a hook-and-ladder is and how you move the Statue of Liberty play. I learned the names of quarterbacks and running backs and never forgot them. I watched replays several times while people were talking about the game on TV and I think I was mostly stunned by the unexpected, in a way that doesn’t happen to me anymore.
Boise State beating Oklahoma was a surprise that changed a whole bunch of notions in my kid mind – that big teams beat small teams, that weird gimmick games were just for after practice, that two- The risk was not worth taking. Because of this Fiesta Bowl, I will always be a little more prepared for any upheavals that may occur in the future.