03-24-2006, 12:56 PM
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#1
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Rookie
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Greatest Game you ever played.
I know their have been other threads about this specific to a single title, but I thought I would start a more generalized thread about this. I found the "news story" I wrote when I was regularly posting at dabirk's old NCAA Strategies site, and I thought I'd share it with the rest of you. Of course, this was NCAA Football 2000, so there were no ratings for greatness, but I still remember it 6 years later, so I guess that says something about it.
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Nailbiter in Death Valley
Clemson, SC. (AP) It was a warm wet night in South Carolina, conditions that Coach Champ never enjoys bringing a team to play in. It didn=t help that his Demon Deacons were facing the no. 1 ranked and undefeated Clemson.
AWe always worry about fumbles when its wet, and Clemson has a defense that makes fumbles more than mere chance," coach ISU Champ remarked to reporters before the game.
Clemson drew first blood, though they had to earn it, taking 15 plays to reach the endzone. Wake Forest achieved the same results in 8, scoring on a 12-yard pass to Bud Dionot. The two teams seemed evenly matched, though Clemson was clearly the quicker team. On Clemson=s ensuing drive, Wake Forest managed to stall the Tigers near the 50 yard line in at 3rd and 11. Champ then signaled for the antichrist play, and Mitchell Hall intercepted, setting up a crucial 4th and 14 situation just before the end of the 1Q. Unfortunately, QB Crooks believed he was supposed to continue with the hurry-up offense, and the team returned to the line of scrimmage. Luckily Champ was able to signal Crooks and he stalled until time ran out in the quarter. The first play of the second quarter was a rare field goal for a Champ-run team, bringing the score to 10-7 Wake Forest.
Clemson=s WR avoided catching the kick, and received a touchback, which they used to make multiple medium length strikes before hitting the TE for 45 yards with 1:43 left in the half. Dionot and Crooks put together a potent offensive display, quickly tallying a combined 73 yards in less than a minute and a half. On the final play of the half, Crooks connected to the TE Keith Simmons for the TD, giving Wake Forest a 17-14 lead.
Wake Forest extended their lead to 10 on the first drive of the second half, but it was quickly chopped to 3 again on the first of two kickoff return touchdowns by the Tigers.
The next Deacon drive saw the injury of QB Crooks, almost a repeat of the injury he experienced in the early part of the North Carolina game, though of a much more serious nature. Halfback Carl Hicks took over for Crooks for the second time in as many games, but the short WF drive was ended by a fumble by the FB Whiteford leading to another Clemson touchdown to bring the score to 28-24. AI admit, I thought the game was lost right there, when Hicks took over as our quarterback.@
Hicks seemed to take a little bit of time to get accustomed to throwing, hitting only 25% in his first 4 throws. But he soon warmed up to the position, and his speed made his rushing out of the QB boot play especially successful. AHe did not get sacked once behind the line of scrimmage. A most impressive performance.@ Hicks tossed the ball to Dionot from the 15 and was rewarded with a touchdown.
Off the kickoff, Clemson again ran long and beat all the tackles. AIt was very discouraging to have that happen twice in a game, just when we thought we were ahead.@
Hicks then got possession of the ball again, and he made good use of it, moving the ball was slow deliberateness on boot runs and short passes to Dionot and Whiteford. With just over a minute left, Hicks called for Split PA Go from the line of scrimmage, and drove a 38-yard pass to Vince Oney on the 9 yard line.
But Wake Forest was unable to get out of the huddle in the time allotted, and was pushed back 5 yards. On the following play, in which Dionot ended up injured in the endzone with the ball, the referee called a holding penalty, setting up a 1st and 24 situation. Hicks then passed for 4 and 5 yards respectively before running the ball into the endzone with 38 seconds left in the game, to bring the score to 38-35. AWe worried that we would allow another touchdown off the kickoff, so we kicked it right down the middle, and we halted them at the 30. I was very happy with that.@ With 33 seconds left, Clemson tried persistent passing, being stopped on each of the first two attempts before hitting the third for first down distance. They repeated this process 3 times, and ended up 4 and 10 on the Wake Forest 33. Wake Forest then called for their FG blocking team, and Kevin Johnson was just 1 foot shy of stopping the game-tying kick.
But Wake Forest nearly won the game in regulation time, with a kickoff catch with 2 seconds remaining. Larry Boston was stopped on the Clemson 22 yard line by the kicker, who was alone in the backfield. So, the game went into overtime, and with the coming of overtime, also came the return of Quentin Crooks who limped onto the field. Wake Forest won the toss, and elected to take defense first. Clemson made short work of the Deacons defense, scoring a touchdown on three plays. But Wake Forest wasn=t going to go down so easily, as Crooks completed the same task. AI knew that if we kept doing these series, our team had a good chance of faltering, so I decided to take the risk of throwing for a 2 point conversion.@ But the target would not be Dionot=s replacement, Whiteford. Instead, Carl Hicks was put in his place as the offense called TE streak from the Power I, and Crooks dropped back and released a short spiral right into the waiting halfback=s hands, to win the game 46-45. AHicks was our best player today. We couldn=t have even gotten close to winning it without him. Even though CBS says Crooks was our MVP, the fans here in South Carolina know that Hicks saved us today. I see a bright future for him with our program.@ Hicks threw 11/16 and for 109 yards, as well as running 93. AIt was almost like a B-movie.@
Wake Forest faces 17th ranked Georgia Tech next week, and if they finish the season with two more wins, are predicted to face Miami in the Gator Bowl. Miami was the only non-conference opponent to defeat Wake Forest this year.
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So, does anyone else have a game like this they would like to share?
Last edited by writinguy; 03-24-2006 at 12:58 PM.
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