‘THE PLAY’ BERSERKELEY, 1982
YESTERDAY MARKED THE QUARTER-CENTURY OBSERVANCE OF ONE OF THE ZANIEST ENDINGS TO ANY FOOTBALL GAME, EVER. THE GAME WAS THE BIG GAME BETWEEN STANFORD AND CAL, AND STANFORD APPEARED TO HAVE WON THE GAME WITH A FIELD GOAL WITH ONLY FOUR SECONDS LEFT. BUT THEN PANDEMONIUM BROKE LOSE…..AND WIKPEDIA EXPLAINS WHY….GO BEARS! GO TO WIKPEDIA ON LINE FOR THE LINKS.
(SEVERAL OBSERVERS NOTE THAT THE EDITOR OF THIS ENTRY HAS TOO MUCH TIME ON HIS HANDS)
The Play
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The Play refers to a last-second kickoff return during a college football game between the University of California, Berkeley (”California” or “Cal”) Golden Bears and the Stanford University Cardinal on November 20, 1982. Given the circumstances and rivalry, the wild game that preceded it, the bizarre and heavily disputed way in which The Play unfolded, and its lingering aftermath on players and fans, it is often recognized as the most memorable play in college football history and among the most memorable in all of American sports.
After Stanford took a 20-19 lead on a field goal with four seconds left, the Golden Bears used five lateral passes on the ensuing kickoff return to score the winning touchdown and turn defeat into a 25-20 victory. Members of the Stanford Band had come onto the field midway through The Play, believing that the game was already over, and this was the basis for some protests as to the legitimacy of The Play, but the touchdown stood. However, there remains some controversy as to the legality of all the laterals.
Contents
[hide]
1 Background
2 The Situation
3 The Play
4 Controversy
5 Aftermath
6 Where It Ranks
7 Joe Starkey’s call of The Play
8 Similar plays
9 References
10 External links
10.1 Videos of the Play
10.2 Articles
[edit]Background
This was the teams’ 85th “Big Game”, and it was played on Cal’s home field, California Memorial Stadium.[1] While Cal was out of contention for a postseason bowl game, the implications of this game were far more important to Stanford, led by quarterback John Elway, playing in his last regular season game before heading off to become a future National Football League star enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame. The Cardinal football squad was in the midst of an exciting season—they were 5-5 but had victories over highly ranked Ohio State and Washington—and needed a win to be invited to a bowl game. In fact, representatives of the Hall of Fame Classic committee were in attendance, ostensibly to extend an invitation to Stanford, should The Cardinal win.
Also at stake was possession of The Stanford Axe, an axe-head trophy that is awarded to the winner of their annual matchup. Its origins date back to 1899, but in 1933, after years of increasingly more elaborate thefts of The Axe by students from one or the other school, the two schools agreed that the winner of the Big Game would take possession of the axe. The plaque upon which the axe is mounted carries the scores of previous Big Games.
THE SITUATION
With Cal leading 19-17 late in the fourth quarter, quarterback John Elway and the Cardinal overcame a 4th-and-17 on their own 13-yard line with a 29-yard completion, then managed to get the ball within field goal range for placekicker Mark Harmon. Elway called a timeout with 8 seconds left on the clock. Had Elway realized there was plenty of time to call a timeout and let the clock run down to about 3 seconds, a kickoff following a successful field goal may have never been necessary (the field-goal play would have used up the remaining time). However, many coaches like to leave more than 5 seconds on the clock for a potential game-winning field goal, just in case there is a penalty on their team so they have time to re-kick. Regardless, Harmon’s 35-yard kick was good, putting Stanford ahead 20-19, but the team’s celebrations drew a 15-yard penalty, enforced on the ensuing kickoff. This was crucial, as Stanford was now kicking off from their 25 instead of the 40. At that point, Cal announcer Joe Starkey praised Stanford and Elway for their efforts, and added, “Only a miracle can save the Bears now!”
With 4 seconds left, Stanford special teams coach Fred von Appen called for a squib kick on the kickoff. Due to confusion, Cal took the field with only ten men, one short of the regulation eleven.[2] (This is not illegal in American football.) What happened next became arguably the most debated and most dissected single play in college football history.
THE PLAY
Harmon squibbed the kick[3] and Cal’s Kevin Moen received the ball inside the Cal 45 near the left hash mark. After some ineffective scrambling, Moen lateraled the ball leftward to Richard Rodgers.
Rodgers was very quickly surrounded, gaining only one yard before looking behind him for Dwight Garner, who caught the ball around the Cal 45.
Garner ran straight ahead for five yards, but was swallowed up by five Stanford players. While Garner was being tackled, however, he managed to pitch the ball back to Rodgers. It was at this moment, believing that Garner had been tackled and the game was over, that several Stanford players on the sideline and the entire Stanford band (which had been waiting behind the south end zone) ran onto the field in celebration. TV replays were inconclusive whether Garner was down before he pitched the ball; due to the swarm of tacklers, one cannot see the exact moment his knee touches. [1]
Rodgers dodged another Stanford player and took the ball to his right, toward the middle of the field, where at least four other Cal players were ready for the next pitch. Around the Stanford 45, Rodgers pitched the ball to Mariet Ford, who caught it in stride. Meanwhile, the Stanford band, all 144 members, had run out past the south end zone—the one the Cal players were trying to get to—and had advanced as far as twenty yards downfield. The scrum of players was moving towards them.
Ford avoided a Stanford player and sprinted up the field while moving to the right of the right hash mark. Around the Stanford 25, three Stanford players smothered Ford, but he threw a blind lateral over his right shoulder.
Moen caught it and charged toward the end zone. One Stanford player missed him, and another could not catch him from behind. Moen ran through the scattering Stanford Band members for the touchdown, which he famously completed by running into unaware trombone player Gary Tyrrell.
The Cal players celebrated wildly—but the officials had not signaled the touchdown. Stanford coach Paul Wiggin and his players argued to the officials that Dwight Garner’s knee had been down, rendering what had happened during the rest of the play moot. But the officials huddled and agreed that none of them had ruled Garner down or blown his whistle, and after a few moments, the touchdown was signaled by referee Charles Moffett and a penalty was called on Stanford for illegal participation (for too many Stanford players and the band being on the field), which the officials declined for Cal automatically.
THE CONTROVERSY
Many Stanford officials, players, and fans objected to the ruling on two grounds. First, it was claimed that Dwight Garner’s knee was down moments before he lateraled to Richard Rodgers. Second, the last lateral from Mariet Ford to Kevin Moen was said to be in reality an illegal forward pass.
Regarding the first claim, both Garner and Rodgers asserted afterwards that Garner’s knee was not down. Kevin Lamar, a Stanford player who tackled Garner, however, maintains that the ball-carrier’s knee hit the turf before the lateral left his hands. Loyal Stanford fans insist that the TV replay proves Garner was down, while loyal Cal fans assert that replays prove the opposite; an unbiased assessment of the grainy footage suggests that the evidence is inconclusive. (Note that under current NCAA instant replay rules established in 2005, an inconclusive finding would result in the official’s call to remain as it stands. [4])
The video evidence is not quite as vague on the second claim of whether the final lateral from Ford to Moen actually traveled forward. A cursory review of the replay might suggest that Ford’s over-the-back heave left his hands at Stanford’s 27-yard-line and was caught by Moen just outside the 25. Because both players were in full stride, and because the lateral traveled some distance, the ball appears to have traveled backwards relative to the two players’ forward motion, but forward relative to the stationary field. Under the rules of football, the direction of a pass is judged relative to the field, so this appears to have been an illegal forward pass. Such a frame-of-reference distinction can be difficult for a football referee to judge even in optimal circumstances, and it may have been compounded in this case by the many band members in the vicinity. Some fans argue that Moen appeared to have overstrided the ball, making it appear even more of a forward pass. On the other hand, several close video reviews, including most recently by ABC as part of the show prepared for the award of “Pontiac’s Ultimate High-Performance Play of the NCAA,”[5] show that the ball almost certainly traveled straight laterally along the 25 yard line, thus making it a legal action. Regardless, it should be noted that the Stanford Band was already on the field, creating illegal interference prior to the last lateral, meaning that even if Berkeley had not scored, they most likely would have been awarded the touchdown (as is the usual case when no legal defenders are downfield of the interference), or at least there would still be another play from some indeterminate point.[6]
Regardless, the chaos made officiating very challenging, and the officials huddled and ruled that all five laterals were legal. Numerous penalty flags had been thrown, but all were for Stanford having too many men on the field. According to referee Charles Moffett (and the NCAA football rules[7]), the officials had the option of awarding a touchdown to Berkeley due to interference from the band, or an additional final play.
Moffett later recalled the huddle:
“ I called all the officials together and there were some pale faces. The penalty flags were against Stanford for coming onto the field. I say, ‘did anybody blow a whistle?’ They say ‘no’. I say, ‘were all the laterals legal’? ‘Yes’. Then the line judge, Gordon Riese, says to me, ‘Charlie, the guy scored on that.’ And I said, ‘What?’ I had no idea the guy had scored. Actually when I heard that I was kind of relieved. I thought we really would have had a problem if they hadn’t scored, because, by the rules, we could have awarded a touchdown (to Cal) for (Stanford) players coming onto the field. I didn’t want to have to make that call.”
“I wasn’t nervous at all when I stepped out to make the call; maybe I was too dumb. Gee, it seems like it was yesterday. Anyway, when I stepped out of the crowd, there was dead silence in the place. Then when I raised my arms, I thought I had started World War III. It was like an atomic bomb had gone off.”[8]
”
As Moffett pointed out, the flags were against Stanford for illegal participation, so even if an illegal forward lateral had been called, offsetting penalties might have allowed the touchdown to stand.
The Play’s legacy remains controversial among Stanford fans and some in the broader college football community. Little consensus has emerged on the points of contention. Examples:
The national magazine Sports Illustrated, as part of a 12-page article that appeared the following fall (”The Anatomy of a Miracle,” September 5, 1983), found no mistakes in officiating. “The best Stanford could do was to persuade conference Executive Director Wiles Hallock to issue a public statement acknowledging that Cal had only four men in the restraining area on the fatal kickoff. Hallock added, however, that it was a violation that required no penalty. […this violation calls for only a correction by the officials before the kick, not a penal ty that would nullify the return.] And, he said later, “I’m pleased that in all the confusion the officials never stopped officiating.” As for the play? “Well, it was just one of those marvelous things that happen in football.”[1]
In commemoration of the 20th anniversary of The Play, San Jose Mercury News sportswriter Jon Wilner (who covers college football, and in particular, Stanford, which is the Pac-10 school in the Mercury-News’ subscriber area) published an opinion column about “six things you might not know about The Play.” Three of the six had to do with officiating mistakes. Wilner noted that Cal had only 4 players within the restraining area at kickoff (as the Pac-10 acknowledged). Also, on the basis of his own frame-by-frame review, Wilner decided that Garner’s knee hit the turf before he released the ball. Wilner also decided that the fifth lateral was indeed an illegal forward pass. [9]
Several web sites and videos on the Web are dedicated to dissecting The Play, including a seemingly sophisticated computer simulation (see External Links) that purports to show all five laterals were legal.
Given the pitched disagreements and high emotions that The Play still generates two decades later, it is perhaps safe to say only that its humor, legality, and legacy are highly subjective matters.
Given their objections, some Stanford fans refer to The Play as the “Screw of ‘82″. Whenever Stanford holds the Stanford Axe, the plaque is altered in protest so that the outcome reads as a 20-19 Stanford victory. When the Axe is returned to Cal’s possession, the plaque is changed back to the official score: California 25, Stanford 20.
[edit]Aftermath
Several days after the game, Stanford students published a parody version of Cal’s student newspaper, The Daily Californian, with the lead story claiming that the NCAA had declared Cal’s last play to be dead in a ruling three days after the game. According to that bogus paper, the official score would be recorded in the NCAA record books as Stanford 20, California 19. The Stanford students then distributed the parody on the Cal campus. A few days later, blue and gold t-shirts depicting the play with Xs and Os (much like a coach’s diagram) complete with sqiggly lines for the laterals, appeared in the Cal bookstore and throughout the Bay Area. [10]
For many years, John Elway was bitter, on both a personal level and on behalf of his team, about the touchdown being allowed: “This was an insult to college football… They [the officials] ruined my last game as a college football player.”(full quote) The Play cost Stanford an invitation to the Hall of Fame Bowl, and Elway completed his college career having never played in a bowl game. Elway would nevertheless enjoy a tremendously successful NFL career, winning two Super Bowls with the Denver Broncos, being enshrined in both the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame, where he came to terms with The Play, stating that “each year it gets a little funnier.”[11]
The participants in The Play, with the exceptions of Elway and announcer Joe Starkey, faded into relative obscurity in the years since.
The most infamous participant in The Play is Mariet Ford. Ford, who briefly played wide receiver for the Oakland Invaders of the United States Football League, was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife and 3-year-old son in 1997. He is serving a 45 years-to-life sentence.[12]
Kevin Moen had a short-lived professional career and is now a real estate broker in the Los Angeles area. Gary Tyrrell, the Stanford trombonist who was run over by Moen, is a venture capital CFO and amateur brewer; he appeared on The Tonight Show along with the key Cal players shortly after The Play; his smashed trombone is now displayed in the College Football Hall of Fame. Dwight Garner, who later spent two years with the Washington Redskins and retired, is now a risk manager with The Sports Authority chain of sporting goods stores. Richard Rodgers played in the CFL and is now the defensive coordinator at Holy Cross. Kenny Williams, a member of the Stanford team, is now the General Manager of the Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball team.
[edit]Where It Ranks
The Play is ranked number 16 on the list of 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments as compiled by TV Guide and TV Land December 1, 2005. It ranked number 3 on The 50 Most Outrageous Moments in Sports and additionally was ranked number 1 on The 50 Greatest Football plays of All Time that both aired on The Best Damn Sports Show Period. Based on online voting, Pontiac announced the California v. Stanford game of Nov. 20, 1982, as its “Ultimate High-Performance Play of the NCAA,” crowning the play as NCAA Football’s most memorable moment of all-time in December 2003. [13]
[edit]Joe Starkey’s call of The Play
Cal announcer Joe Starkey of KGO-AM 810 radio called the game. The following is a transcript of his famous call:
“ All right, here we go with the kickoff. Harmon will probably try to squib it and he does. The ball comes loose and the Bears have to get out of bounds. Rodgers is along the sideline, another one (lateral)… they’re still in deep trouble at midfield, they tried to do a couple of (laterals)… the ball is still loose as they get it to Rodgers! They get it back now to the 30, they’re down to the 20… OH, THE BAND IS OUT ON THE FIELD!! He’s gonna go into the end zone! He’s gone into the end zone!!
Will it count? The Bears have scored, but the bands are out on the field! There were flags all over the place. Wait and see what happens—we don’t know who won the game. There are flags on the field. We have to see whether or not the flags are against Stanford or Cal. The Bears may have made some illegal laterals. It could be that it won’t count. The Bears, believe it or not, took it all the way into the end zone. If the penalty is against Stanford, California would win the game. If it is not, the game is over and Stanford has won.
We’ve heard no decision yet. Everybody is milling around on the FIELD—AND THE BEARS!! THE BEARS HAVE WON! The Bears have won! Oh, my God! The most amazing, sensational, dramatic, heart-rending… exciting, thrilling finish in the history of college football! California has won the Big Game over Stanford! Oh, excuse me for my voice, but I have never, never seen anything like it in the history of I have ever seen any game in my life! The Bears have won it! There will be no extra point!
”
SIMILAR PLAYS
The Play also provided the apparent inspiration behind the proliferation of game-ending multiple-lateral plays in the last decade:
The Michigan Wolverines attempted to score in the last seconds of its loss to Nebraska in the 2005 Alamo Bowl, this time off a play from scrimmage.[14] This ill-fated play had much the same result as the original: massive confusion and both teams were on the field at the end of the play. Unlike the Golden Bears, however, Michigan was stopped (after seven lateral passes) by one of the last Nebraska defenders 15 yards from the end zone and thus was unable to score a game winning touchdown. However, it was determined that the officials had made an error on the play by not penalizing Nebraska for on-field interference. [15]
On September 30, 2006, a similar play occurred at the end of a CFL game between the Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders. With 42 seconds left, and his team trailing 25-23, Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray ran in a touchdown for a 30-25 lead. However, on the ensuing drive the Roughriders managed to get to the center line before the clock ran out. On the last play, with his team needing a miracle touchdown to win the game, Saskatchewan quarterback Rocky Butler was sacked, and a number of the Eskimos players started celebrating their apparent win. However, the sack had inadvertently jarred the ball loose, and Charles Thomas recovered for the Roughriders, who then completed four laterals before Andy Fantuz threw the ball away to avoid a tackle. Corey Grant recovered the ball and lateralled to running back Kenton Keith, who fumbled the ball at the 7-yard line. The Eskimos recovered and won the game, but the play is still remembered as one of the greatest near-misses in Roughriders history.
A similar play also occurred at the conclusion of a December 21, 2003 NFL game between the New Orleans Saints and the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Saints completed a pass and several subsequent laterals as time expired to travel 75 yards to the end zone. However, Saints kicker John Carney missed the extra point which would have sent the game into overtime, and the Saints lost the game, 20-19. The play won an ESPY award for the best play of that season and it has since been dubbed the “River City Relay”.
Another finale inspired by The Play occurred on October 1, 2006, in an NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New York Jets. This play came off a pass from Jets quarterback Chad Pennington and featured four laterals and two fumbles recovered by the Jets before a final fumble surrendered the ball to the Colts after time had expired; the Colts won, 31-28.
In the 2007 Trinity vs. Millsaps football game on October 27, 2007, the Division III Trinity University Tigers threw 15 lateral passes and scored a 61-yard touchdown to win against the Millsaps Majors as time expired in the game. It is being referred to as “Lateralpalooza”[16][17][18]and the “Mississippi Miracle”[19][20][21] and it may be the longest play in football history in terms of elapsed time.[22][23][24]
[edit]References
^ a b c Fimrite, Ron. “The Anatomy Of A Miracle”, Sports Illustrated, 1983-09-01, pp. 212-228.
^ Migdol, Gary, Stanford: Home of Champions, p. 184
^ Transcript of Joe Starkey’s call of The Play.
^ “A standard of indisputable video evidence for any on-field call to be changed,” NCAA Football Rules Committee – Video Replay Procedure, http://www1.ncaa.org/eprise/main/playingrules/football/2005/Reviewableplays-2005.doc
^ American Broadcasting Co., “Big 12 Championship Game Halftime Show”, broadcast December 6, 2003.”
^ See Rule 9-1, Article 4(a), p. FR-111, “Illegal Interference”, http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2005/2005_football_rules.pdf
^ See Rule 9-1, Article 4(a), p. FR-111, “Illegal Interference”, http://www.ncaa.org/library/rules/2005/2005_football_rules.pdf
^ sfgate.com – The Play: The Defining Moment of the Big Game, by Jake Curtis, San Francisco Chronicle November 20, 1997
^ Wilner, Jon. “20 Years Later, ‘The Play’ a Tough Act to Forget”, San Jose Mercury News, 2002-11-19.
^ http://alumni.berkeley.edu/imgs/Alumni/Clubs/Big_Game/the_play.jpg
^ “And The Band Played On” by Jackie Krentzman, Stanford Almuni Magazine Nov/Dec 2002
^ “From The Play to hard time”, San Francisco Chronicle.
^ http://www.theautochannel.com/news/2003/12/09/174078.html
^ Two YouTube Videos, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLEXBPwF9_g, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kKbyJy4ySg
^ “CUSA head of officials admits Outback Bowl mistake”, Gannett Newspapers.
^ “Trinity’s ‘Mississippi Miracle’ didn’t involve usual suspects } work=DallasNews.com”, Dallas Morning News, November 3, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ “Lateralapalooza”, SI.com, Time Warner. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
^ Forde, Pat. “Trinity’s Lateralpalooza rocks Division III and beyond”, ESPN.com, The Disney Company, October 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-30.
^ Chancellor, David. “The “Mississippi Miracle” — Trinity Pulls Off One of the Greatest Plays in Sports History”, WOAI.com, NBC, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ “15 laterals later, ‘Mississippi Miracle’ complete - ‘We couldn’t do that against air if we tried,’ winning Div. III coach says”, MSNBC.com, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ “Trinity uses 15 laterals to pull out ‘Mississippi Miracle’”, CBSSports.com, CBS, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ Miller, Kurt. “Kurt Miller: No gimmicks needed - Unlike the NFL, college football is special”, FrederickNewsPost.com, Frederick News Post, November 1, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ Walters, John. “Upon Further Review — 10/29/08″, NBCSports.com, NBC, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
^ “At last, the end finally pays off”, SoutherCollegeSports.com, October 31, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
[edit]External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
The Play
[edit]Videos of the Play
Video of The Play on the UC Berkeley website
Video of The Play on YouTube
Close up video of The Play on YouTube
Video of the series of plays at the end of the game
3 different videos of the play - 1)Normal TV, 2)CPU 3D Animation, 3)Sony Lo-Def
CPU Reenactment on YouTube
[edit]Articles
The Play Lives On
Transcript of Joe Starkey’s call of The Play
Partial “where are they now” article
Ten Best Damn unforgettable sports moments from FOX Sports
“Nothing Compares to The Play”, Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com
“Up Was Down”, Michael Silver, SI.com
“And the Band Played On” Stanford Magazine November/December 2002
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Categories: Cal Bears football | Stanford Cardinal football | College football games | 1982 in American football | American football plays
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