I'll go with everything '83, since I'm unconvinced everything else follows, minus that title. Does Jimmy Johnson make the jump? I have my doubts.
The Calhoun play dwarfs anything else in program history. It was hilarious to read other serious submissions.
But the setup is vital also. Throughout deep '83 I was sweating weekly because I sensed what was at stake. We could defeat anyone in our building in a bowl atmosphere. I witnessed the early '70s Dolphins overachieving in the same venue. Absolutely it could transfer a decade later to the Canes. But you had to get there. Meanwhile, if we blow in late season nobody cares nationwide. Nobody. We're not even a trivial blip. Nobody even remembers today that Texas nearly held on to defeat Georgia in the Cotton Bowl that year, eliminating the Canes title hopes before the Orange Bowl kicked off.
I'll nod the deep sideline bomb from Kosar to Eddie Brown vs. East Carolina. The offense was doing nothing in that game. The crowd was silent and nervous. We seldom had the ball. A very scrappy East Carolina team was controlling the game via rushing attempts. In my section we were all saying we needed a huge play because a sustained drive simply wasn't going to happen. Then finally it came. Such a relief.
Many older fans will remember that the Pirates very nearly stole the game back in the final seconds. They had a crossing pattern to the front right flag that was wide open. Wide open. The crowd gasped. Season over. Then their own tight end crossing right to left in the opposite direction somehow thought the ball was intended for him. He reached up and barely got a finger on it, ruining the touchdown. I can still picture the agony of the East Carolina players and bench. The intended receiver jumped up and down in disbelief. That team played tight with all three big Florida schools that season but lost every one by a touchdown or less.
I have not seen a tape of that East Carolina game. However, it is not true that the '91 Penn State game with the Williams punt return does not exist. I have the entirety on tape. I was getting around to uploading it to YouTube a few years ago when my channel was zapped. I had nearly 300 videos up there, mostly classic sports stuff. The college football didn't draw any scrutiny but eventually the NFL and International Olympic Committee took aim at my stuff. Copyright complaints without warning. I was told by other uploaders that NBC didn't care about older Olympic stuff so my '88 videos were fine. Wrong. It was true until the IOC started its own channel, and that meant trampling on any famous material from decades earlier. I had the Ben Johnson doping race and Florence Griffith-Joyner world records. Gone, and taking everything else with it. I haven't summoned the energy to start uploading the college football again under a different channel name.
For a third play I'll go to the '83 season finale and another Eddie Brown play, this time a long punt return against Florida State to help pull out that game. We were likewise being controlled on the ground and seldom had the ball. East Carolina and Florida State both had 50+ rushing attempts. Our pass defense led the nation in yards per attempt allowed but it wasn't doing us much good when opponents patiently ran the ball. After Brown's great return we maneuvered deep into Seminole territory. The winning field goal attempt was a mere chip shot. But I was a nervous wreck. Probably the second most nerve wracking play I've experienced as a Canes fan, other than the Nebraska 2-pointer. I was literally shaking. Everything is set up, as long as we don't blow this kick.
I knew we'd never convert the clinching field goal with roughly 4 minutes remaining against Nebraska, BTW. The field goal unit was shaky as heck.
The bonehead award goes to Bernie Kosar, who claimed he wanted Nebraska to convert the 2 pointer. Why sure. Let's avoid 98% win probability when we can dip to 8%, or thereabouts, via a 1 point deficit. Why bother with probability when we can be a Happy Adjuster and make anything and everything exactly what we want it to be?
There were problems with Kosar long before they became obvious.
