Biggest win in school history

[Falconbadger]

I almost voted for the '03 win over NIU, but in the end had to go with the '72 win over Purdue. While it's true that Purdue had a disappointing season, they had some great athletes. Dave Butz was on their defensive line. Otis Armstrong, who starred in the NFL before his career was ended early by a knee injury, was their leading rusher. Daryle Stingley -- whose NFL career ended in tragedy when his neck was broken by a Jack Tatum hit -- was another one of their running backs.
I was at the game. I'm almost sure Eddie McCoy was the punter who fielded the short kick and advanced it for a first down. (He was also the thrid-string QB and was probably the only player on the field who was aware that he could advance the ball in that situation). I can't remember the first name, but I think the kicker' last name was Taylor. He was a freshman and hadn't even attended a class yet (the game was played before the quarter started).
Paul Miles was our big threat -- coming off the first of his three 1,000-yard seasons. Purdue kept him bottled up almost the whole game -- until they needed to stop us to get the ball back with time running out -- then Miles broke free for a 20-yard run and a first down.
One of the odd things was the Purdue had a new coach who had decided to install the Wishbone, which was big at the time. A couple of weeks before the game, he benched Gary Danielson, who was the Big 10's leading passer a year earier, because he didn't feel he was a good enough runner. They put Danielson in late in the game and he completed a couple of passes before another one was picked off, ending Purdue's final threat. A week later, Danielson was back in the starting lineup against a good Washington team (led by QB Sonny Sixkiller), and rushed for over 200 yards in a close loss.
The win was huge by the media standards of the day. There used to be a Sunday morning college football highlight show, and the first game they mentioned the next day was BG's upset win over Purdue. That was the first year freshmen had been able to play right out of high school (since sometime in the '50s) and Sports Illustrated ran a story on the early impact of freshmen players and included a picture of Taylor and mentioned his game-winning kick on opening day.
It is true that Purdue didn't go to a bowl game, but that was one of the last years that the Big 10 didn't allow teams to go anywhere but the Rose Bowl. Michigan had just one loss (to Ohio State) and they didn't go to bowl either.
Oddly, 1972 turned out to be a disappointing year at BG. After the win over Purdue, we knocked off Miami at Miami and tied Western Michigan at Western Michigan. That seemed to put us in the driver's seat, as those two teams, along with BG, were considered the teams to beat. We beat the (finally) Chuck Ealy-less Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl. But we got upset by Kent State at the Doyt (a Kent State team with Jack Lampert and Olympic Gold Medal sprinter Gerald Tinker, who returned a kick for a touchdown that won the game) and wound up hoping the Golden Flushes would lose a game the rest of the year. We never did catch them and Kent State got the trip to the Tangerine Bowl.

[bgsufalcon24]

I almost voted for the '03 win over NIU, but in the end had to go with the '72 win over Purdue. While it's true that Purdue had a disappointing season, they had some great athletes. Dave Butz was on their defensive line. Otis Armstrong, who starred in the NFL before his career was ended early by a knee injury, was their leading rusher.
I was at the game. I'm almost sure Eddie McCoy was the punter who fielded the short kick and advanced it for a first down. (He was also the thrid-string QB and was probably the only player on the field who was aware that he could advance the ball in that situation). I can't remember the first name, but I think the kicker' last name was Taylor. He was a freshman and hadn't even attended a class yet (the game was played before the quarter started).
Paul Miles was our big threat -- coming off the first of his three 1,000-yard seasons. Purdue kept him bottled up almost the whole game -- until they needed to stop us to get the ball back with time running out -- then Miles broke free for a 20-yard run and a first down.
One of the odd things was the Purdue had a new coach who had decided to install the Wishbone, which was big at the time. A couple of weeks before the game, he benched Gary Danielson, who was the Big 10's leading passer a year earier, because he didn't feel he was a good enough runner. They put Danielson in late in the game and he completed a couple of passes before another one was picked off, ending Purdue's final threat. A week later, Danielson was back in the starting lineup against a good Washington team (led by QB Sonny Sixkiller), and rushed for over 200 yards in a close loss.
The win was huge by the media standards of the day. There used to be a Sunday morning college football highlight show, and the first game they mentioned the next day was BG's upset win over Purdue. That was the first year freshmen had been able to play right out of high school (since sometime in the '50s) and Sports Illustrated ran a story on the early impact of freshmen players and included a picture of Taylor and mentioned his game-winning kick on opening day.
It is true that Purdue didn't go to a bowl game, but that was one of the last years that the Big 10 didn't allow teams to go anywhere but the Rose Bowl. Michigan went undefeated that year (they tied Ohio State) and they didn't go to bowl either.
Oddly, 1972 turned out to be a disappointing year at BG. After the win over Purdue, we knocked off Miami at Miami and tied Western Michigan at Western Michigan. That seemed to put us in the driver's seat, as those two teams, along with BG, were considered the teams to beat. We beat the (finally) Chuck Ealy-less Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl. But we got upset by Kent State at the Doyt (a Kent State team with Jack Lampert and Olympic Gold Medal sprinter Gerald Tinker, who returned a kick for a touchdown that won the game) and wound up hoping the Golden Flushes would lose a game the rest of the year. We never did catch them and Kent State got the trip to the Tangerine Bowl.

Hopefully Kent won't run the table again this year like they did in 72.

[Schadenfreude]

Unmentioned was an unbelievable break that allowed us to retain possession of the ball...we were punting (can't recall who), and the ball went straight up into a stiff wind, came back down into the punter's possession, and he ran it for a first down...not sure if that's even legal anymore.

Wow.

Just: Wow.

That's amazing.

Did anyone ever give that play a name?

It's like The Fake Punt of God.

I think the kicker is the only player allowed to advance the ball if it is blocked or comes into the possession of the kicking team behind the line of scrimmage after the punt. So if you can pull it off at will you might have something. Given the comments here on special team play, however...

That's not really my point.

There is a rather important Toledo-Bowling Green game -- I think it was 1969 -- when a stiff wind had been blowing all day at Perry Stadium. Legend has it that just as Toledo lined up for what would be a game-winning field goal, the wind died. Old Toledo media guides made it sounds like a higher power had intervened.

That failed punt at Purdue sounds even freaker -- like a higher power had overruled Coach Nehlen's call.

[h2oville rocket]

Unmentioned was an unbelievable break that allowed us to retain possession of the ball...we were punting (can't recall who), and the ball went straight up into a stiff wind, came back down into the punter's possession, and he ran it for a first down...not sure if that's even legal anymore.

Wow.

Just: Wow.

That's amazing.

Did anyone ever give that play a name?

It's like The Fake Punt of God.

I think the kicker is the only player allowed to advance the ball if it is blocked or comes into the possession of the kicking team behind the line of scrimmage after the punt. So if you can pull it off at will you might have something. Given the comments here on special team play, however...

That's not really my point.

There is a rather important Toledo-Bowling Green game -- I think it was 1969 -- when a stiff wind had been blowing all day at Perry Stadium. Legend has it that just as Toledo lined up for what would be a game-winning field goal, the wind died. Old Toledo media guides made it sounds like a higher power had intervened.

That failed punt at Purdue sounds even freaker -- like a higher power had overruled Coach Nehlen's call.

Yep. Ken Crots, former NCAA record holder for consecutive extra point attempts made, booted the FG that gave the Rockets a 22-20 win. Nothing important about the game at that time it seemed. It kept UT undefeated after, I think, 5 games-the long term import was that it was the 5th or 6th game of The Streak. And I heard that God was actually one of our blockers on the play.

But my previous post was actually in response to the question of the present day legality of returning such a punt.

[Class of 61]

How many of these games did you guys attend? I only count two for myself. NIU and Northwestern. Pretty weak

Fulch,
By my screen name you should figure out that I've been "around" for a few years.... the first Purdue game, as I've mentioned, was the first BIG game I attended; prior to that, we'd go to BG for at least one game a year (with my friends), and usually one MAC game away.... only MAC stadiums I've never been in are NIU(and they were out of the MAC for awhile) and BSU (Oh, forgot about Buffalo).

But we've been to Purdue,KY,Mich.St., Mich., Penn St., Pitt, Navy, WVU, Syracuse,Missouri,The GMAC and Motor City Bowls, and, of course, all the OSU games.(Think that covers most of them)..... and even though BG didn't always come out on top, in fact may have lost the majority of those games overall, I've never stopped having fun enjoying Falcon Football. This is why I get so upset with the "younger" generation of Falcon alums, including my former son-in-law, a former walkon on the football team, who doesn't WANT to go back for a game, even when I gave him a ticket as part of a birthday present, with me doing the driving, meals etc.

[Falconbadger]

I'm almost sure the punting rules were changed sometime in the 80s or 90s to prevent something like the '72 McCoy punt against Purdue happening again. I tried to find something about punting rules on various Web sites, but didn't have any luck. I remember seeing an article during that time period that covered rule changes for the upcoming season and reading that a punter could no longer advance the ball in a situation like that and thinking, "that probably would have cost us the Purdue game."

Don't know if people still do this or not, but back in the '70s, I knew of a lot of guys who kind of made a MAC tour (or Mid-Am as we usually said back then) during football and basketball season, at least of the Ohio schools. If you went to an Ohio high school, odds were you knew someone who was attending Miami, Kent, Toledo and OU (Akron wasn't in the league yet). We'd make road trips to where the games were being played, crash at the friends dorm or apartment, and reciprocate when we hosted them. It was a great way to get to some away games and party at some other schools (I remember a bunch of us being totally shocked by the number of bars Athens had compared to Bowling Green). BG was really competitive in football and hoops during that period, and I can remember seeing some great away games. It always seemed like there were at least a few hundred BG fans at those games. Not sure how we drew at the games with the Michigan schools.

[gentlesatirist]

I hereby second the motion to label the 1972 punt-for-a-first-down play by Eddie McCoy (or whoever it was) vs. Purdue as The Fake Punt of God.

That's good stuff.



- FE
Wickliffe OH

[Schadenfreude]

I hereby second the motion to label the 1972 punt-for-a-first-down play by Eddie McCoy (or whoever it was) vs. Purdue as The Fake Punt of God.

Are there any objections?

Hearing none, the motion is approved.

TG1996: Feel free to lift it for your Web site.

[TG1996]

I hereby second the motion to label the 1972 punt-for-a-first-down play by Eddie McCoy (or whoever it was) vs. Purdue as The Fake Punt of God.

Are there any objections?

Hearing none, the motion is approved.

TG1996: Feel free to lift it for your Web site.

Will do.

Great recollections, guys! I love threads like this one, and hope it keeps going!

[BGSUFootballFan]

I'm almost sure the punting rules were changed sometime in the 80s or 90s to prevent something like the '72 McCoy punt against Purdue happening again. I tried to find something about punting rules on various Web sites, but didn't have any luck. I remember seeing an article during that time period that covered rule changes for the upcoming season and reading that a punter could no longer advance the ball in a situation like that and thinking, "that probably would have cost us the Purdue game."

Don't know if people still do this or not, but back in the '70s, I knew of a lot of guys who kind of made a MAC tour (or Mid-Am as we usually said back then) during football and basketball season, at least of the Ohio schools. If you went to an Ohio high school, odds were you knew someone who was attending Miami, Kent, Toledo and OU (Akron wasn't in the league yet). We'd make road trips to where the games were being played, crash at the friends dorm or apartment, and reciprocate when we hosted them. It was a great way to get to some away games and party at some other schools (I remember a bunch of us being totally shocked by the number of bars Athens had compared to Bowling Green). BG was really competitive in football and hoops during that period, and I can remember seeing some great away games. It always seemed like there were at least a few hundred BG fans at those games. Not sure how we drew at the games with the Michigan schools.

I remember about 5 or 6 years ago I was watching a Purdue football game, and Purdue punted for a 1st down. I still don't know what happend or how it was the most bizarre play I have ever seen. But the bottom line is Purdue was in punt formation, the punter kicked the football (not worth a crap) and it some how it was ruled 1st down Purdue. I'll search for it in the morning when I have energy..

[TG1996]

The 1921 Findlay game continues to make me mad. Carl Bachman missed three PAT's in that game!!! Special teams were terrible even 85 years ago!!!

Do you seriously have a box score from that game? I'd love to read an account.

Not to dig up a six-year-old thread, or that Schadenfreude has been seen around these parts for 5 1/2 of those years, but yes.... http://www.bgsusports.com/football/bgnews_findlay.gif

[footballguy51]

That was actually quite an interesting read. I like how the PAT was called a goal from touchdown, and how there was concern with the game being the same day as the teacher's conference (we were a normal college back then, remember).

[TG1996]

I have tons of old game stories I've scanned throughout the years. The writing style amuses me.

[Flipper]

Wow...five pages of discussion and I didn't comment? WTF? We lose Schad and some other posters over they years but we keep H2O? Wow....

BTW...I would have voted for the 2003 NIU game...I think...

[Schadenfreude]

I still peek in here once in a while.

That box score is a nice find. Anyone else notice that the Falcons were throwing the ball during the the second half? Today, that would be pretty unsportsmanlike. But, back then, perhaps passing was considered so risky that it was a more gentlemanly way to finish a blow out.

A few years back, didn't the Falcons once broke into the 60s or 70s against Temple by running the ball on on fourth and goal from the 16? That's what I'd compare it to.

Also, anyone else notice that they only played 12 minute quarters during the second half. Interesting, that.

Hope everyone is well.