It was worth staying up until 1 am to see. The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, a supposed snoozefest between powerhouse Oklahoma and former junior college Boise State (of the blue field) turned into the best college football game I have ever seen. David beats Goliath in a contest that rekindled the pure fun that has been ironed out of major college sports. Like George Mason’s basketball team last year in the Final Four, Boise State came to win and show us all that sometimes, guts beats clout and underdoggedness barks louder than cash.
Call the Bronco’s from Idaho a Cinderella team if you want but they’re undefeated. The Sooners stared at their blue butts the entire game until the end when the big red machine came rushing back and tied it up with 1:26 on a two-point conversion. If you’re one of the dozens of colleges looking for a coach, check the blue field up in Boise; you could do a lot worse.
Then it got wild.
With 1:07 to play in regulation, Boise State’s Brett Favre-ish QB Jared Zabransky thows a stab-in-the-heart interception and Oklahoma runs it in for the go-ahead TD. Oklahoma goes nuts. Everyone knows it’s over. Many people turn off their TV’s. Oklahoma has finally subdued the upstart runts from nowhere.
Not quite.
Nine pitiful seconds are left dying on the clock as the desperate, last potato is pulled from the Idaho bag on 4th and a mile. Zabransky makes up for the pick with a wide-open, flat-out ‘drawn on the palm of your hand,’ perfectly executed hook and ladder that left the Sooners more stunned than
when the boys from Boise jumped on them for a 14-0 lead right off the bat.
It’s tied up. People struggle to close their mouths; nobody can. We’re in overtime in a game where absolutely every human watching turned to the person beside them and says, “Unbelievable. Best game I’ve ever seen.”
Oklahoma gets the first shot and former Heisman candidate Adrian Peterson blows into the endzone in one play and made it look easy. Then the Broncos do what they are so good at: Turning water to Red Bull.
Boise State lines up; suddenly the QB goes into motion and keeps going. They snap to another guy and he runs to the right and tosses the TD. People are chewing blood pressure pills. The president of Tostitos is ready to move to Boise.
The Bronco’s reach down in their pants and go for two. Zabransky drops back, looks like he’s throwing to the right, slips the ball into his other hand and eases it behind his back in the old Statue of Liberty play as Ian Johnson runs it untouched in for the game-winning two. The Sooners never saw it coming. Boise State has done the impossible. The 95 year-old guy who brought Boise State from JV-ville to the big time must be on a defibrillator up in his box.
It gets better. During the post-game interview, Johnson, the Broncos running back who scored the winning run, proposes to his unsuspecting cheerleader girlfriend, Chrissy Popadics. Disney couldn’t have scripted it more smaltzy. Women who hate football are Boise State fans now. This thing had it all – drama, suspense, comedy, jealousy, violence and the guy gets the girl in the
end. Jerry Bruckheimer, you watching this?
My phone was ringing at 1 am; people from all over the country calling me asking did I just see that game.
I have watched a lot of football in my time on this planet but I have seen few games with the drama and just plain old fun that this Boise State team unloaded on America in the Fiesta Bowl. The advertisers got their media buy’s worth and then some. The crowd got more than the ticket price could cover. The viewers like me at home sitting glued to the screen in the wee hours of the morning got the best game in college football in years. Every kid who has been told you’re not good enough got a big injection of hope.
Some called it a miracle that such a small-time program could face off against the establishment of big time sports and grin and win it. No sports movie has ever come up with a script this good. Hoosiers? A close second.
Oklahoma was embarrassed to be playing Boise State. How must it have felt to lose to them on the strength of sheer enthusiasm and guts and fun – and know that the entire country was pulling for the Broncos?
Simply put, on New Year’s night, on the high tech, ultra cool, sliding Fiesta Bowl turf of the indoor stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the little team that could from Boise State established themselves as the most exciting team in football at any level. In a single game, they restored the faith of so
many faithless who have seen the sport raped by cheaters and money-mongers, embarrassed by thugs and organized into monotony by the NCAA. Thank you Boise State for doing what Ohio State and Florida can’t do no matter who wins; you rebuilt college football and reminded us that it is a game that can bring out the best in human beings. You are the real national champions.
