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Question from the roundtable on blogpoll. What do you guys think:

5. You're Scott Bakula, and you have the opportunity to "Quantum Leap" back in time and change any single moment in your team's history. It can be a play on the field, a hiring decision, or your school's founders deciding to build the campus in Northern Indiana, of all godforsaken places. What do you do?

My answer was for Denny Stolz to tell San Diego State that he couldn't talk until after the Bowl Game. You may have your own choice.

As a member of the BlogPoll, I've been thinking about this one for awhile, too. Denny Stolz was one of my initial thoughts, although more of a staying altogether than waiting to talk to SDSU.

Others I had considered...

-Fat punter

-One or two plays that would have changed the tide of the OSU '03 game. (Craig Jarrett or getting that fumble we appeared to recover at midfield late in the game.)

-Beating OU in 1960 for back-to-back NC's.

-Apparently having an administration "more committed to winning" in the late '70s. Who knows how long it might have kept Don Nehlen around, but the turnaround he pulled at WVU shows that BG might have done some things if the administration kept him happy. Then again, maybe he wouldn't have taken a shot on a lanky QB in 1982....

I thought about the OSU game, but I didn't really think that game was as important as some others.

TG1996 wrote:One or two plays that would have changed the tide of the OSU '03 game.

Our tight end - God bless him -- catches that and the game goes to overtime.

That's my pick.

My belief: If Bowling Green wins that game, USA Today wouldn't be writing stories about how we can't average 15,000.

orangeandbrown wrote:I thought about the OSU game, but I didn't really think that game was as important as some others.

I don't know what kind of effect it would have on the rest of the program, which is why I tried not to think of anything too recent, anyway, but wins over Purdue AND OSU would have done ridiculous things to the national exposure that already was pretty astronomical.

Fat punter came to mind immediately. But after thinking about it more, Jarrett catching that pass could have lead to the upset of the century. I can't even imagine what could have happened to this program if we win that game.

Schadenfreude wrote:

TG1996 wrote:One or two plays that would have changed the tide of the OSU '03 game.

Our tight end - God bless him -- catches that and the game goes to overtime.

If I remember correctly, the next play, Josh threw and Int. On the ensuing drive, OSU scored a TD... I think. So that was potentially (I know, if, if if...) a 14 point "drop" that Craig Jarret (I think) had. Ugh. I still remember that...

Fat Punter is right up there. As for the OSU game in 2003...in all fairness to Jarrett, the pass from Magner could have been better. Jarrett had to turn back to the play on the run, bend over and try and catch the ball about a foot off the ground. Yes, he probably should have caught it but if Cole puts that pass on the money, it's 17-14 OSU at that point. All the Big Mo swings our way. Harris had his next pass batted up in the air and Hawk was right there to pick it off. THAT SUCKED.

And we DID recover that fumble at midfield with 2 min left. Will Teague had that ball and everyone in the Shoe knew it. Even an old guy sitting next to me admitted that. He was dressed head to toe in Scarlet and Grey and thought BG was a heck of a team. As soon as that play ended, he turned to me and said "Son, BG recovered that ball but you ain't gonna get that call here". We had our chances in that game.

There would be no overtime in that game. Coach Brandon admitted to me a couple times had BG scored there at the end of the game, the Falcons would have lined up and gone for 2. He would have tried to end it right then and there. I would have agreed with the call no matter how the conversion turned out. But, it never came about.

GO FALCONS! Less than 2 weeks to go.

To this day, I have a terrible time talking about that OSU game...

I'm young, and have only been following BG for about 8 years, but IMO that OSU game was the biggest game in the history of the program. You win that game after beating Purdue and the sky is the limit.

To toally change the subject..hammb, you've talked about Omar's physical tools being NFL quality but his "leadership" qualities being (at best) a work in progress.

Let's compare and contrast what Freak said about Brandon's intention to go for two against the Buckeyes in 2003 with Josh under center with Brandon's decision to kick the extra point against Toledo last year in OT instead of sending Omar and the offense out to go for two.

In my estimation, going for broke is the right call in both situations. I think there may be some indication of how the Coach regarded the leadership abilities of each player when you look at those two situations.

Getting back on topic...fat punter ruined the season of what may be the finest BGSU football team I've ever seen. That loss buzzkilled the program as it was beginning to gain momentum that had not been seen before nor since (check the attendance averages)

Re the OSU game, you could fix the Jarret play, you could have Sharon or Sanders (i forget which one) drill the DB that made the INT on the tipped ball on the next play (he just stood there like he was watching "Finding Nemo") OR you could have the officials call holding on the OSU OL (it think it was Olivera or something like that) who grabbed Matt Leininger by the pads and and wrestled him down like Ric Flair to open a hole for what turned out to be a long TD run late in the first half...any one of those plays changes the direction of the game substantially.

Flipper wrote:To toally change the subject..hammb, you've talked about Omar's physical tools being NFL quality but his "leadership" qualities being (at best) a work in progress.

Let's compare and contrast what Freak said about Brandon's intention to go for two against the Buckeyes in 2003 with Josh under center with Brandon's decision to kick the extra point against Toledo last year in OT instead of sending Omar and the offense out to go for two.

I think you may be onto something there Flipper. With Omar, I'd like our chances of getting that 2 points, but with Josh I would've bet my life savings on even odds that he'd get that 2 points. I have infinitely more confidence that Harris would get the ball in the endzone against the Buckeyes than I do Omar could get it in against UT. Josh had that special something that he could just will his way into the endzone in big situations. The 2002 WMU game comes to mind, and he was hurt in that game. I think Omar woulda got us in against UT last year, but I know Josh would've gotten us in against OSU

As for going for 2, this is what Urban/Brandon called in 2001 @ Northwestern. IIRC, this was with Harris at the helm, and a freshman named Cole Magner added a little "trickeration."

Going for 2 was the way to go at both OSU, and UT last year. Putting the game/season in the hands (feet?) of Timchenko for the extra point was possibly the most nerve-racking point in that game. Ugh. Stupid hindsight.

Warthog wrote:Fat punter came to mind immediately. But after thinking about it more, Jarrett catching that pass could have lead to the upset of the century. I can't even imagine what could have happened to this program if we win that game.

Beating a team that rioted after they won would have lead to a series of events like this:
OSU fans sit shocked and dismayed for 30 seconds. Thousands of scarlet-and-grey clad fans begin rioting, threatening the lives of all people wearing orange. The band buses are tipped over. Governor Taft has to call in the National Guard to escort the Falcon Football Team. OSU loses its bowl bid, and BGSU skyrockets in popularity, especially in Michigan.

In all seriousness though, that was an incredible game that had just one or two things gone correctly would have been great for BG. I was a freshman at that game and the whole experience was incredible. I remember marching up the tunnel with the FMB and just being in awe of the whole event. Then having the game that close was AMAZING. It was beyond anything I had ever dreamed. Had we won....wow. Great job though Falcons...it was a heck of a way to represent BG.[/i]

Coach has said he regrets not going for 2 against UT last season.