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

135. Michael Dyer Stays Upright (2011)

When Auburn and Oregon met in the 2011 BCS National Championship Game, two of the nation’s top offenses played out a defensive struggle in Arizona. With both teams held far below their season scoring averages, the game hinged on an alert play by Tigers running back Michael Dyer.

Bursting out of the backfield, Dyer appeared to be tackled by Eddie Pleasant before picking up a first down. But Dyer fell on top of Pleasant as he was pulled to the turf, with neither his knees nor the football hitting the ground. Dyer returned to his feet and kept running downfield. The Oregon defense, stunned, regrouped and finally tackled him 30 yards further downfield.

The run was upheld on review, and Auburn was able to run out the clock and kick a 19-yard Wes Byrum field goal to win the game as time expired.

134. Princeton Downs Yale 1-0 (1878)

Between 1876 and 1884, Yale only gave up 14 points total to their opponents as they amassed a 47-1-7 record and laid claim to eight of nine national championships. The first point they gave up was perhaps the costliest, as it prevented the Bulldogs from at least a share of that ninth national title in a row.

Entering the final game of the 1878 campaign, Yale had already recorded 12 shutouts in a row over the past three seasons. The Bulldogs headed to New Jersey to face a Princeton team that had also romped through its first five games of the season, defeating Penn twice and notching shutouts against Stevens Tech, Rutgers, and Harvard.

Thus the showdown in Hoboken effectively served as the national championship game for the 1878 season. Neither team could reach the endzone, but Princeton managed to kick a goal that gave the Tigers the national title and relegated Yale to their only loss in nine years.

133. The Great Rose Bowl Hoax (1961)

Part of what makes college football so much fun is that it provides the opportunity for displays of fanaticism. At the 1961 Rose Bowl, college football history received what remains the prime example of unbridled fanaticism divorced from the action on the field when the greatest prank yet seen in the stands was carried out by a fan base whose team wasn’t even playing.

West coast champions Washington squared off against top-ranked Midwestern powerhouse Minnesota in the 47th edition of college football’s oldest bowl game. Washington upset the No. 1 Golden Gophers 17-7, paving the way for controversy about who really is the national champion of 1960, but the big story had nothing to do with what transpired on the turf.
he California Institute of Technology, though they did host a football team until 1976, never had a shot at Rose Bowl glory.

Instead, Caltech students switched up flip cards for a halftime prank for the ages. When Washington’s cheerleaders guided their fans to hold up the cards, what displayed for an audience of 30 million television viewers was “CALTECH” in block letters. The Beavers will never play in the historic bowl game, but the school remains an indelible part of the game’s history nonetheless thanks to the “Fiendish 14” who set up the prank.