This isn’t a hard-hitting analytical piece or a pointed commentary on some kind of crisis for a college football program.
This isn’t a dissection of questionable endgame strategy or an examination of a coach whose career is spiraling downward.
There is a time, amid the tumult and the shouting — immersed in the ever-present need to say which team is in trouble or which play decided a razor-close game — to step back for a bit. Those of us who chronicle college football face the need to take a deep breath almost as much as the players and coaches do. For us as well, the journey should be just as much the point as the destination. We’re mindful of the College Football Playoff and Heisman chases which will soon become daily talking points in November, but after week six, it’s certainly worth stopping and smelling the roses — not even the ones at the Rose Bowl, but just the ones in the garden of October 10.
What a magnificent night of college football we were treated to, near the halfway point of what has been a highly entertaining season.
Saturday night, the fantastic finishes came one by one, the big plays existing in very close proximity to each other:
Wazzu stays alive.
TCU gets a play it desperately needed.
Bama gets lightning in a bottle, within seconds of each other.
WE'RE POPPING!
— The Comeback NCAA (@TheComebackNCAA) October 11, 2015
First, Washington State and Oregon went into double overtime… and the Ducks, so accustomed to fending off all non-Stanford challengers in the Pac-12 North, couldn’t close down the Cougars. A riveting finish stirred the senses deep into the evening hours, but little did everyone know how much fun was just around the corner.
TCU — trailing by 18 in the third quarter at Kansas State and then by 11 in the fourth — scrambled back to not only create a one-possession game, but take the lead near the six-minute mark of regulation. While that comeback was unfolding, West Virginia tied Oklahoma State and took the Cowboys into overtime. TCU wound up salting away a thriller in Manhattan, Kansas, and just seconds after the Horned Frogs remained unbeaten, Oklahoma State stopped West Virginia in the first overtime to secure a 33-26 victory.
That was more than enough for most college football nights, but on this night, three hugely dramatic endgame sequences represented but a fraction of the show. More clamorous crescendos awaited viewers, who really had to work their remote controls from 9:45 to 11:30 Eastern time.
In the night’s most unexpected pulse-pounder, Michigan State — ravaged by injuries, but independently mediocre even if adjusted for those injuries — found itself in a 24-all tie with Rutgers inside the four-minute mark of regulation. Quarterback Connor Cook had to complete a third-and-long pass to keep the Spartans’ final drive alive, and once that particular test had been passed, Michigan State relaxed. The Spartans encountered no more pronounced difficulties on their drive, easily slamming the ball into the end zone with 43 seconds left. Rutgers — working against a thin and highly vulnerable Michigan State secondary — moved to the MSU 39 with under half a minute left, but the Spartans were able to get a sack in the final 20 seconds to halt the Scarlet Knights’ last desperate attempt at a tying touchdown. The latest nail-biter of a special night had run its course.
Then came the final flourish in a dazzling stretch of just over 90 minutes.
Florida State and Miami had lived on the college football mountaintop — usually together, sometimes separately — for a period of nearly 20 years, from 1987 through January of 2004. Their rivalry hasn’t recently mattered the way it once did, but when these two schools get the primetime treatment from the networks, a close game generates a familiar surge of excitement. A cliffhanger between the Seminoles and The U always brightens a college football night, largely because of the brand-name identities of the programs, but also because of the significance of the result in the ACC.
All the Coastal Division contenders desperately wanted to see Miami lose, so when the Hurricanes — once down 17-3 — rallied to take a 24-23 lead midway through the fourth quarter, a lot of nervous souls in the Mid-Atlantic portion of the country had to face the possibility that Al Golden would deliver one of the great coaching Houdinis in recent memory.
Dalvin Cook had other ideas, and so did Florida State’s front four.
Cook unsheathed (again) his blinding speed to give the Seminoles a go-ahead touchdown, which certainly changed the tenor of the contest. However, entering the final three minutes, Miami quarterback Brad Kaaya had the ball in his hands, with a chance to write the happy ending which barely eluded him a year ago against FSU. Kaaya and the Hurricanes had come very close to knocking the Seminoles from the ranks of the unbeaten in 2014. When they failed, they couldn’t recover. Would this time be different?
After a mesmerizing 75 minutes of top-level entertainment, college football fans settled in for one more thrill ride at the end of a signature rivalry game.
This game did not provide as memorable a denouement as the previous four contests managed to do, but FSU-Miami stood next to WSU-Oregon, TCU-Kansas State, Oklahoma State-West Virginia, and Michigan State-Rutgers as part of a magical evening which reminded us just how special this sport can be.
The Florida State touchdowns’ red glare. The TCU long bombs bursting in air. They gave proof, through this night, college football is without compare.
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Usually, the kinds of nights that stick with us in the public memory are late-November nights when seasons are made or broken. In week six of the 2015 season, we received a treat even earlier than usual.
For all the ways the sport can be better, and for all the issues collegiate athletics must confront, Saturday served as a reminder of how special college football can be when it reaches its zenith.
