# The greatest play in college football history **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 19, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597 "2009-04-19T05:20:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/1 "2009-04-19T05:20:21Z")
[Flutie to Phelan?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-qkpsygNYo) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/2 "2009-04-19T06:01:38Z")
[“The Play”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSsIuL5ku0) (Stanford Band). ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/3 "2009-04-19T14:27:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > [“The Play”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYSsIuL5ku0) (Stanford Band). This beats the hell outta that…plus there are no disputed laterals in this one. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/pJGEEM6Mig4/hqdefault.jpg "Amazing Trinity Play") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGEEM6Mig4) Thera are two very suspect happenings in The Play. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/4 "2009-04-19T18:30:23Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > This beats the hell outta that…plus there are no disputed laterals in this one. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGEEM6Mig4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGEEM6Mig4) I never get tired of watching that. The play takes _one full minute_ from snap to touchdown. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/5 "2009-04-19T18:34:13Z")
They seem to have invented a new form of the sport. Perhaps they could name it after a small town in Warwickshire. “Rugby” seems to slip off the tongue nicely. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/6 "2009-04-19T19:10:15Z")
I don’t see why people still make such a big deal about Flutie’s hail Mary. It’s not like there haven’t been similar game-winning plays before or since. The Stanford Band play was much more unique. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/7 "2009-04-19T21:29:23Z")
2 of these [3 plays](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWFbGw-jZvc&feature=related) deserve mention. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2009, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/8 "2009-04-19T22:25:11Z")
> [@Wallenstein](#): > > They seem to have invented a new form of the sport. Yeah,but that would make for a pretty boring sport,if thats all they did. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/9 "2009-04-20T00:03:42Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > This beats the hell outta that…plus there are no disputed laterals in this one. > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGEEM6Mig4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJGEEM6Mig4) > > Thera are two very suspect happenings in The Play. Well, except who gives a shit about this game? ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/10 "2009-04-20T00:20:08Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Well, except who gives a shit about this game? I don’t..don’t give a shit about Cal-Stanford either. ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/11 "2009-04-20T00:29:20Z")
> [@MadTheSwine](#): > > I don’t..don’t give a shit about Cal-Stanford either. Well, you’ve got a couple million people that do. Neither the fans nor the players that the other game seemed to care. The quality of people playing makes a huge difference IMO, otherwise why not claim that an intramural game was the best ever? You’re likely to get more outrageous plays in them. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/12 "2009-04-20T00:45:53Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Well, you’ve got a couple million people that do. Neither the fans nor the players that the other game seemed to care. The quality of people playing makes a huge difference IMO, otherwise why not claim that an intramural game was the best ever? You’re likely to get more outrageous plays in them. It sounded and looked like a lot of them cared in the clip. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/13 "2009-04-20T01:02:23Z")
While the Trinity-Millsaps one is good, it’s not as good as The Play. Half the players in the Trinity one gave up and just stood around on defense. (There are also some disputable laterals in that one, it’s just that no one cares as much to make a hullaboo about it like Stanford fans) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/14 "2009-04-20T01:06:12Z")
Still…it was a D-III game. The lower the level of competition, the less extraordinary this kind of play is. The Trinity play was cool, but only the way that Minor League Baseball oddity plays are cool. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/15 "2009-04-20T01:40:44Z")
2007 Fiesta Bowl. [Boise State vs. Oklahoma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDyE6sA5s7c). That’s just the final play. I prefer the final 1:30 or so in regulation. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/16 "2009-04-20T02:00:30Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > 2007 Fiesta Bowl. [Boise State vs. Oklahoma](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDyE6sA5s7c). > > That’s just the final play. I prefer the final 1:30 or so in regulation. …which can be seen with commentary from Boise’s offensive coordinator in the link that I posted earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/17 "2009-04-20T08:00:29Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > Well, you’ve got a couple million people that do. Neither the fans nor the players that the other game seemed to care. The quality of people playing makes a huge difference IMO, otherwise why not claim that an intramural game was the best ever? You’re likely to get more outrageous plays in them. I’ll agree with you. “The Play” involved two major and rival D1 football programs. Sorry, but it takes the cake over Trinity. If we’re opening up the doors completely then I think BOTH plays were more likely than [Central Washington WR Chris Moore’s catch](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO_nAdfs-ck). Still I think Boise State Hook-and-Ladder in regulation should take the cake for the billion things have to go right on that play and that it was on the hugest of stages in one of the best games in history. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/18 "2009-04-20T13:23:47Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I don’t see why people still make such a big deal about Flutie’s hail Mary. It’s not like there haven’t been similar game-winning plays before or since. As one of many examples, I thought Kordell Stewart’s heave for Colorado against Michigan was both longer and more dramatic. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/19 "2009-04-20T14:11:42Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Still…it was a D-III game. The lower the level of competition, the less extraordinary this kind of play is. The Trinity play was cool, but only the way that Minor League Baseball oddity plays are cool. :rolleyes: You live in Minneapolis, right? Please head 80 miles NW up I-94 and ask John Gagliardi what he thinks about the level of D-III competition. I love that play - it involves one school I applied to, and one school I used to live 5 blocks away from. Pretty odd confluence for me when it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597/20 "2009-04-21T23:21:23Z")
[nitpicky hijack] Is it “hook-and-ladder” or “hook-and-lateral”?[/hijack] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-greatest-play-in-college-football-history/493597.md?page=2)