College football’s 150th anniversary: The 150 best moments that stood the test of time
By Zach Bigalke
120. Pollack Intercepts Batted Pass in Endzone (2002)
Up 3-0 in the fourth quarter of their SEC battle against South Carolina, Georgia had the Gamecocks backed up deep on their own side of the field. Lining up for a 2nd-and-7 play at their own 6-yard line, quarterback Corey Jenkins took the snap and dropped back into his own endzone. He surveyed the field, finding Andrea Gause wide open.
Jenkins went back to throw the ball but in swarmed sophomore defensive end David Pollack. The young standout was double-teamed, with the back veering right to help chip with the tackle, but Pollack swarmed around both blocks and homed in on Jenkins.
Getting his arms up, Pollack batted the pass just as it came out of Jenkins’ hand. The pigskin flew into the air, falling to the turf behind Jenkins. But Pollack wrapped around the quarterback, catching the ball as he tumbled to the ground. The play put the Bulldogs ahead 10-0 in a game they would ultimately win 13-7, and the early SEC victory served as a catalyst for Georgia’s run to the SEC championship.
119. Western Michigan and Buffalo Play 7OT Thriller (2017)
The overtime rules initiated in 1996 ensure that one team is going to walk away from the gridiron a winner, no matter how long it takes to come to a resolution. Determined to avoid ties, college football insists on a decisive result. It has led to some exciting finishes, as well as some particularly long contests.
Prior to Western Michigan and Buffalo meeting in 2017, only three FBS games had previously gone to seven overtimes. Even when Buffalo’s Adam Mitcheson connected on a 34-yard field goal with 34 seconds remaining to tie the contest at 31-31, and Western Michigan kicker Josh Grant had his 52-yard attempt blocked at the final gun, nobody expected the game to last another several hours as the two teams traded blows in overtime period after overtime period.
Grant missed a game-winning try from 29 yards out that would have ended the game in the third overtime. Both teams missed on their two-point conversion attempts in the sixth overtime frame. After Buffalo kicked a field goal in the seventh OT period, Western Michigan’s Jarvion Franklin mercifully responded with a 12-yard touchdown run that concluded the prolonged contest with a 71-68 Broncos victory.
118. Pennsylvania Schools Light Up the Night (1892)
Two obscure schools in Pennsylvania boast the distinction of playing the first college football night game ever held under artificial light. Taking place long before electric lighting became popular throughout American sports, the 1892 contest in Mansfield remains a source of local pride.
The game pitted Wyoming Seminary, a college prep school, against Mansfield State Normal. Squaring off on September 28, 1892, at Smythe Park in Mansfield, the lighting system brought in for the game failed to adequately illuminate the gridiron. Over the course of 20 minutes, the two teams managed to run just 10 plays, leading to the cancellation of the contest at halftime.
An annual reenactment of the night is held every year in Mansfield, a play-by-play recreation of the event that is a local highlight more than 125 years after the historic first.