The Play (American football)

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 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. Although members of the Stanford Band came onto the field midway through the play believing that the game was already over, the touchdown stood. However, there remains some controversy as to the legality of all the laterals.

(Notice that no American Football quarter can end until the ball is dead, therefore, even with the game clock running out of time while the play was in progress, the play continued to its conclusion.)

Background

This was the teams' 85th "Big Game", and it was played on Cal's home field, California Memorial Stadium. 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, a future National Football League star who is now 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 Stanford an invitation 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 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 eight 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); some sources do point out that Elway saw the time left on the clock and immediately realized his mistake (leaving too much time on the clock). Regardless, Harmon's 35-yard kick was good, putting Stanford ahead 20-19, but the team's celebrating drew a 15-yard penalty, enforced on the ensuing kickoff. 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 four seconds left, Stanford special teams coach Fred von Appen called for a squib kick on the kickoff. In the meantime, Cal coach Joe Kapp may have told his players to try and get out of bounds to set up a last second hail mary, but the players on the field decided to go for the win. What happened next became arguably the most debated and most dissected single play in college football history.

The Play

• Harmon squibbed the kick 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.

• 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.

• 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 (who were pouring onto the field because they had thought that the game was over) 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 after a few minutes, the touchdown was signaled by referee Charles Moffett and a penalty was called on Stanford for having too many players on the field, which was presumably declined by Cal.

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; however, an unbiased assessment of the grainy footage suggests that the evidence is inconclusive.

The video evidence is somewhat more definitive on the second claim, that the final lateral from Ford to Moen actually traveled forward. Replays 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. Also, Moen appeared to have overstrided the ball. The position where the ball was when he caught it appears to show that it may have gone straight sideways.

On the field, the referees 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 — many players on the Cardinal sideline, as well as the marching band, entered the field. According to referee Charles Moffett, the officials had the option of awarding a touchdown to Cal due to interference from the band, and Moffett later recalled that he was shocked and "kind of relieved" (full quote) to have learned that Moen had reached the end zone, sparing Moffett the decision.

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.

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 went so far as to distribute the parody on the Cal campus.

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. Furthermore, The Play arguably cost Elway the 1982 Heisman Trophy Award, which was eventually awarded to University of Georgia running back Herschel Walker, who had a regular season record of 32-1. (Elway finished second.) Elway would nevertheless enjoy a very 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."

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 1, 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 penal­ty 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."

• The article further claims the fifth lateral was legal. "Moen, racing under Ford's blind toss, actually overran it. He reached back for it at the 25, at approximately where it had been released. Embittered Stanfordites later protested that this pass, though thrown back over the shoulder, was still somehow forward. The film clearly shows that the ball was thrown backward and if Moen hadn't reached back for it, it would have hit the turf at around the 27."

• Contradicting this, and in commemoration of the 20th anniversary of The Play, the Bay Area newspaper San Jose Mercury News published an article about "six things you might not know about The Play." Three of the six had to do with officiating mistakes. The Mercury-News noted that Cal had only 4 players within the restraining area at kickoff (as the Pac-10 acknowledged). Also, after frame-by-frame videotape review of The Play, the Mercury News concluded that Garner's knee hit the turf before he released the ball. Finally, again after frame-by-frame review, the Mercury News concluded that the fifth lateral was indeed an illegal forward pass.

• 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 is a highly subjective matter.

The participants in The Play, with the exceptions of Elway and announcer Joe Starkey, faded into relative obscurity in the years since.

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; 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 is an assistant coach at New Mexico State. Kenny Williams, a member of the Stanford team, is now the GM for the White Sox.

The Play is ranked number 16 on the list of The 100 Most Unexpected TV Moments as compiled by TV Guide and TV Land in December 2005.

It ranked number 3 on The 50 Most Outrageous Moments in Sports that aired on The Best Damn Sports Show Period.

It ranked number 1 on The 50 Greatest Football plays of All Time that 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.

Similar plays

• The Play also provided the inspiration behind an attempt by the Michigan Wolverines to score in the last seconds of its loss to Nebraska in the 2005 Alamo Bowl. 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 endzone and thus was unable to score a game winning touchdown. It also evoked memories of the Bluegrass Miracle of 2002, when Kentucky players dunked the coach with Gatorade shortly before LSU pulled off a last-second win; the Huskers also dunked their coach before the game ended, but won this time.

• 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 endzone. 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.

• On January 8, 2000, an NFL playoff game between the Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans, later dubbed the Music City Miracle, was decided on a mildly similar play (similar only in that it decided the game, involved at least one lateral, and also came on a kickoff return) with only three seconds remaining. After the Titans winning score, ABC commentator Joe Theismann remarked "All that's missing is the band!"

The play-by-play call

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!

Hold it right here, don't anybody go away. After just about everybody on the kickoff team handled the ball, Kevin Moen finally did it. And he ran through 15 members of the Stanford band, nobody tackled him. The fool! Len Shapiro, our statistician, has just held up a card and it says the truth! The Stanford band just cost their team that ball game! The Stanford band ran out on the field, it left all the defenders in an impossible situation to get to the Bears carrying the ball. They couldn't tackle 'em. The band, in effect, served as extra blockers, the official had no choice but to let the play go as was. The Bears have scored on the kickoff, brought it all the way back. At least five men handled the ball on one lateral after another. I thought Rodgers was dead at one point. He got rid of the ball [cannon fire]. I believe it was Kevin Moen that Jan said that scored the winning touchdown as the kickoff came from the 25-yard line. This place is like it has never been, ever. The Stanford team can't believe it.

The actual national television call was made by USA Network play by play commentator Barry Tompkins and color analyst Tom Beasley. It is a much lesser-known call as it was overshadowed by Starkey's delirious exclamation of The Play on radio. Aside from that, Tompkins may have taken the excitement out of The Play himself by focusing more on the apparent tackle of Garner at midfield and the penalty markers on the field than on the last few laterals and subsequent Cal touchdown. The following is a transcript of Tompkins and Beasley's national television call.

Tompkins: "Mark Harmon will boot it away after the penalty was assessed back to the twenty-five yard line. California right now has ten men on the field, John, and again you gotta say there's something wrong. They only have ten men on the field. And Harmon does the wise thing, he bounces it back here, here--this will be a rugby play. There's Rodgers at the outside, pitch it back to Garner. And Garner's got no place to go, and no one to pitch it to, and he's still on his feet."

Beasley: "This game's not over yet!"

Tompkins: "Now here's another man. FLAG IS DOWN! A FLAG IS DOWN!"

Beasley: (in disgust) "Ohhhhh"

Tompkins: "As Kevin Moen takes it into the endzone. Now THE FLAG IS DOWN! We have chaos! There's a flag down on the field. The Cardinal is pointing to the flag. I believe the officials are saying the play was stopped and the game is over. Now we'll have to see. I believe they're saying the play was stopped and the game is over."

Beasley: "I don't know what you can do in a situation like there. [sic] Well here's an interesting situation, Barry, where you have a lot of the Cal football players playing on the National Championship rugby team."

Tompkins: "Now here's another look."

Beasley: "And you're having a passing rush, you're having a passing rush in rugby right here. Watch him."

Tompkins: "Now there is where I think they're saying--"

Beasley: "That looked like a loose ruck in rugby here."

Tompkins: "But there's no signal from the officials."

Beasley: "Now you have a clear cut shot for a, for a touch--"

Tompkins: "IT IS A TOUCHDOWN FOR CALIFORNIA!"

Beasley: "It is a touchdown!"

Tompkins: "How do you like it!"

Beasley: "This is the Big Game, Barry! I mean I didn't know the situation that was, Stanford Band was right in the way."

Tompkins: "AN ABSOLUTELY BIZARRE ENDING TO A TREMENDOUS FOOTBALL GAME! It took a rugby play to win it. I don't know what you can say, there are simply no words to describe it! The Cal Bears have won the eighty-fifth Big Game. For John Beasley..."

Beasley: "Barry, go Bears."

Tompkins: "...I'm Barry Tompkins, and we'll see you next time." (commercial break)

Tompkins: "Words simply will not describe the California victory here in the eighty-fifth Big Game, but let's take a look and do what we can. You will find six (actually five) laterals on this play. These, remember, in the final four seconds, that's the one that could be in question, and I'm sure coach Paul Wiggins and Andy Gardner, the Athletic Director at Stanford are complaining long and loud about right now. Mariet Ford gets it back to Kevin Moen, and Moen outruns the tuba player into the endzone for a twenty-five to twenty victory. I just don't know what you can say about it, John, other than bizarre, strange, exciting, and a wonderful football game."

Beasley: "This was a beautiful Big Game. Bizarre, you used the term early in the broadcast, and I'm gonna tell you, this is the epitome of bizarre. I have been around football twenty years and have never seen anything at any level like this."

Tompkins: "Well you had to say that even if the score ended at twenty to nineteen, it was a great football game. The final score once again, California twenty-five and Stanford twenty. What an eighty-fifth Big Game in Berkeley!"

Referee Charles Moffett on the officials' ruling

It is difficult to conclusively determine anything from the footage. The game officials, however, ruled that all five of the laterals were legal; the flags, according to referee Charles Moffett, were, in fact, on Stanford for having too many men on the field. Moreover, even if Moen had not scored, the officials, per NCAA rules, could have awarded Cal with the touchdown on the basis of the band's interference.

Moffett recalls "The Play": "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."

External links

• Video of The Play on the UC Berkeley website
• 3 different videos of the play - 1)Normal TV, 2)CPU 3D Animation, 3)Sony Lo-Def
• The Play Lives On
• Transcript of Joe Starkey's call of The Play
• Partial "where are they now" article
• Cal Athletics website
• Stanford Athletics website
• Ten Best Damn unforgettable sports moments from FOX Sports
• Sports Illustrated's long, illustrated story on The Play