College football’s 150th anniversary: The 150 best moments that stood the test of time

78. The Pick (1994)

Washington came to Autzen Stadium on a tear. Three years removed from a share of the national title, the Huskies had already taken down Miami earlier in the season and sat in the top 10 of the polls. In the waning moments of the game against the Ducks, down 24-20, Washington drove down into a goal-to-go situation.

Damon Huard, the Huskies quarterback, dropped back to throw. Telegraphing his pass the whole way, Huard stared down wide receiver Dave Janoski. As he let the ball fly, freshman cornerback Kenny Wheaton jumped the route and snatched the ball out of the air at his own 3-yard line.

Streaking down the sideline, Wheaton ran his way into Oregon legend as the Ducks broke a five-game losing streak to their rivals and started a winning streak that culminated in the school’s first Rose Bowl berth since 1958.

77. Penn Fights NCAA and Loses (1951)

More than three decades before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the NCAA in a landmark antitrust lawsuit spearheaded by the University of Oklahoma and University of Georgia, Penn took on the NCAA’s TV policies. The Quakers, unlike their future counterpart institutions, lost the battle against the governing body of intercollegiate athletics.

In the early 1950s, Penn was one of just two schools with a national television contract to show their football games. The Quakers signed with ABC Sports for the 1950 season. The network picked up every one of the home games live from Franklin Field, showcasing the opportunity that television could provide in promoting the sport.

Instead, the NCAA opted to go in the opposite direction. In 1951, the organization called for an end to live television broadcasts. The backlash from the public led the NCAA to soften that policy to a restriction on the number of games each team could play for a televised audience each season. Penn fought to honor its contract with ABC, but the threat of expulsion led the Quakers to relent in the end. It was the first big battle over who controlled televised college football, and that time institutional power prevailed in favor of the NCAA.

76. The Consolation Bowl (2010)

For non-AQ teams during the BCS era, busting into one of the BCS bowl games was the ultimate goal. The bowl game itself was not the prize so much as an opportunity to face a powerhouse opponent in a major bowl and bolster the mid-major case for inclusion among the top teams in the country.

When Boise State romped through its WAC schedule and TCU barreled through the Mountain West in 2010, one major question was whether the BCS would carve out space for both teams to earn at-large bids. Instead of giving the Broncos and the Horned Frogs a shot at one of the bluebloods of college football, though, they were matched against one another in the Fiesta Bowl.

For two of the only five teams to make it through the regular season undefeated, it was a consolation prize. Boise State won 17-10, but it felt in some ways like an empty victory missing the Cinderella element that was a staple for BCS Busters.