THIS WEEK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL HISTORY: NOV. 21 - NOV. 27

The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Press Release

MORRISTOWN, N.J., November 20, 2005 – As part of an ongoing series throughout the fall, This Week in College Football History takes a look back at some of college football’s landmark moments over the last 137 years.
Throughout the season, many of these items are depicted in a changing exhibit at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind.

*If you choose to use this content in whole or in part, as a courtesy, please credit The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame.


Featured Moment:

Flutie Magic Propels BC Over Defending Champs

Nov. 23, 1984: Doug Flutie’s magical, Heisman Trophy-winning season in 1984 included over 3,400 yards passing, a 60.4% completion percentage and 27 touchdowns with 233 completions. But none of those completions meant more to Boston College, or to the annals of college football history, than his fateful heave against Miami the day after Thanksgiving in 1984.

Flutie and rival quarterback Bernie Kosar put on a show all game, combining for more than 900 yards passing and five touchdowns. But it was Kosar’s Hurricanes, the defending national champions, who took a four-point lead at home with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter after running back Melvin Bratton scored his fourth touchdown of the game. Flutie and the Eagles took over at their own 20 following the kickoff, and after a 32-yard completion and an incompletion, held the ball at the Miami 48 with one final play to run.

Out of a shotgun formation, Flutie took the snap, backpedaled to his own 37 yardline to avoid a sack, and let a soaring, majestic pass fly through the Miami sky. BC receiver Gerald Phelan stood at the Miami goalline, behind the Miami defense, as the pass floated untouched into his arms as time expired to stun the Hurricanes, 47-45. The Hail Mary propelled Boston College to a 10-2 season and Flutie to New York City, where he captured the 49th Heisman Trophy.

Other notable moments to occur This Week in College Football History:

Nov. 21, 1987: Syracuse keeps its hopes alive for an undefeated season as
they convert a two-point conversion with no time left on the clock to beat West Virginia, 32-31.

Nov. 22, 1952: 8-0 USC, on the strength of two 70-plus yard plays, defeats
8-0 UCLA, 14-12, in perhaps the greatest game played between the two Los Angeles schools.

Nov. 24, 1973: #1 Ohio State and #4 Michigan, both undefeated, play to a
10-10 tie that knocks both teams out of the national championship chase.

Nov. 25, 1920: Texas beats Texas A&M, 7-3, as WTAW radio in College Station
carries the first college football game broadcast on the radio.

Nov. 25, 1971: Nebraska, top-ranked and unbeaten, scores with just over 90
seconds left to down unbeaten and #2 Oklahoma, 35-31, in a game widely regarded as the “Game of the Century.”


With 119 chapters and over 12,000 members nationwide, The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, a non-profit educational organization, runs programs designed to use the power of amateur football in developing scholarship, citizenship and athletic achievement in America’s young people.
NFF programs include the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind., Play It Smart, The NFF Center for Youth Development Through Sport at Springfield College (Mass.), the NFL-NFF Coaching Academy, and annual scholarships of nearly $1 million for college and high school scholar-athletes.


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NFF Contact
Chris Caputo.......Communications Assistant
22 Maple Ave.
Morristown, NJ 07960
973.829.1933
973.829.1737 (fax)
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