Most Memorable Sports Moment
I had just posted this as a post in the Whore Thread... but then I got to thinking about it... and figured I'd share with everyone... and see what their favorite/most memorable Football moment was. Then I thought, why restrict it to Football? So here we go.
Post up your most memorable sports memories... and don't be afraid to write a nice story to go with it!
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I was getting all emotional over here reading an article online... that's when I felt like telling a story. With the Final Big XII championship game being played tomorrow... I'm kind of upset that they aren't gonna show the FIRST Big XII Championship game on ESPN Classic. That game, the end specifically, is my first HUGE Victory memory that I have of Texas Football. Its one of my FAVORITE memories of Texas Football, as well. Very emotional, awesome memory for me.
Its 1996. Since the Big XII's formation that year, the South Division had been viewed as weksos compared to the powerful North Division. There was open resentment among fans and officials in the old Big Eight toward the n00bies from the four Texas schools in the South. So it was with a degree of irony that Texas and Nebraska, two of the winningest programs in college football, would be the first representatives of the divisions to decide the first-ever championship.
Nebraska, which, along with Florida State, was one of the most dominant teams in college football in the 1990s, they were 10-1 going into the game and within striking distance of playing for their 4th national championship game in a row (Lost in 93 to FSU, won the title in 94 & 95). All the No. 3 ranked Cornhuskers had to do was eliminate the Longhorns, who were twenty-one point underdogs after winning the South Division with a 7-4 overall record.
This was an exciting time for me... because I was just getting into the age where I REALLY started paying attention to Texas Football. I remember about a week before the game, James Brown (our amazing QB at the time) was at a press conference in Austin and was being harassed by a reporter about the fact that Texas was a 21-point underdog and, "How do you feel about that?" James Brown snapped back with, "I don't know... we might win by twenty-one points." In a matter of minutes, it was national sports news: "Brown predicts Texas victory."
My Dad and I had gone out to the middle of nowhere Texas, Deer Hunting. I called it "Deer Camp"... it was more of a "Let's go camping & shoot some cans, because we never see any deer out here" trip. ANYWAY... once it was game time... I remember we were lying in the back of my dad's early 90's Ford Explorer. Had the back seats down and we laid there and listened to the game on the Radio. I remember being very nervous/scared in a way... because I hadn't ever known Texas as a big, tough college football team. They had been rather mediocre in the early - mid 90's. And I knew that Nebraska was this big time group of roughnecks that had been winning like crazy and dominating for the last couple of years.
So to me, it was sort of a David and Goliath moment.
The TWA Dome was packed, with a decided Nebraska flavor for that game which would decide the first Big 12 Championship. James Brown led the team on the field in warm-ups, and was out-cheering the cheerleaders in the pre-game drills. Mackovic, who was known for creatively scripting his offense at the beginning of games, put the Cornhuskers on their heels immediately with an eleven play, 80-yard drive for a touchdown to open the game. Texas was leading 20-17 at half, which felt amazing. But when Nebraska took its first lead of the game at 24-23 in the third quarter and then made it 27-23 with ten minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, things looked bleak for my Longhorns.
But four plays later, Brown hit receiver Wane McGarity for a 66-yard touchdown pass, and Texas was back in front, 30-27. Nebraska's ensuing drive stalled at the Longhorn 43-yard line, and with 4:41 remaining in the game, Texas got the ball at its own six. This is where my memory starts to kick in big time. The rest of this game was EPIC to me. A penalty on the first play pushed the ball back to the three yard line. Five plays later, Texas had moved the ball to their own 28-yard line.
It was fourth down, with inches to go. Mackovic called a timeout and called Brown to the sidelines.
"Steelers roll left," he said. "Look to run." This play has historically been remembered as "Roll Left". Google "Roll Left"... and you'll get all sorts of results for this game.
Mackovic had used his weapons well in the game. He had taken Ricky Williams and used him primarily as a decoy. Priest Holmes had been the workhorse. Everybody had seen the pictures of Holmes as he perfected a leap over the middle of the line for short yardage. He had scored four touchdowns that way against North Carolina in the Sun Bowl in 1995.
Nebraska geared to stop Holmes.
Brown took the snap, headed to his left, and saw a Nebraska linebacker coming to fill the gap. He also saw something else. There all alone, seven yards behind the closest defender, stood Derek Lewis.
Seventy-thousand fans and a national television audience collectively gasped as Brown suddenly stopped, squared and flipped the ball to Lewis, who caught it at the Texas 35, turned and headed toward the goal. Sixty-one yards later, he was caught from behind at the Cornhusker 11-yard line. I can replay the radio announcer screaming that play in my head, over and over and over. The sheer joy that I remember feeling was simply amazing. One of my favorite all-time Texas memories.
On the next play, Holmes scored his third touchdown of the game to make it 37-27 with 1:53 left. A Nebraska fumble with ~0:47 to go then sealed the deal. The 7-4 Texas Longhorns had troll'd the National Title Contender Nebraska. The feelings I had at the end of that game were indescribably awesome. Even watching the videos now, a lot of that emotion is brought back... get a bit teary eye'd with joy at times, thinking about it.
"Roll Left"
Texas Highlights from the whole game
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Originally Posted by Shadowbane42
I've got the DVD from that game.
