November 26, 1994: The Choke at Doak

November 26, 1994: The football team at the University of Florida leads their arch-rivals, Florida State University, 31-3 going into the 4th quarter of their game at Doak Campbell Stadium, on FSU's campus in Tallahassee.

Doak Sheridan Campbell (1888-1973) was, from 1941 to 1957, President of Florida State College for Women and its successor coeducational school, Florida State University. He oversaw the creation of the combined new University. His opposition to the admission of African-American students has caused controversy about the naming of the University's stadium in his honor.

The Florida Gators, coached by Steve Spurrier, who had won the Heisman Trophy as their quarterback in 1966, won the Southeastern Conference Championship, going 9-1, losing only to Auburn. They were ranked Number 4 in the country.

The Florida State Seminoles, coached by Bobby Bowden, won the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, also going 9-1, their only loss being to their other major rivals, the University of Miami. They came into this game ranked Number 7. So this game should have been close.

It didn't start out that way. The Seminoles scored first, on a field goal by Dan Mowrey. But Danny Wuerffel, who would win the Heisman Trophy 2 years later, threw 3 touchdown passes, and led drives for a 4th touchdown and a field goal. With 13 minutes left to play, it was 31-3 Gators. The Seminoles were getting humiliated, not just at home, but on live national TV, on ABC.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Gators' big win: The win disappeared. With 12:59 to go, Zack Crockett ran 5 yards for a touchdown. 31-10. The Seminoles forced the Gators to punt, and, with 10:04 left, Danny Kanell threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Andrew Cooper. 31-17.

The Seminoles forced the Gators to punt again, and, with 5:25 left, Kanell took the ball in himself for a 3-yard touchdown run. 31-24.

The Seminoles forced the Gators to punt, and, with 1:45 left, Rock Preston ran the ball in from 4 yards out. Gators 31, Seminoles 30. Bowden overruled his entire coaching staff, who all wanted to go for the 2-point conversion for the possible win, and decided to kick the extra point for the tie. Mowrey's kick was successful: Seminoles 31, Gators 31.

The Gators still had time, and they only needed a field goal. But, once more, they had to punt. The Seminoles didn't have enough time to get within field goal range, and the game ended, 31-31. It became known as "The Choke at Doak."

In 1946, Navy trailed Army 21-18 with time for one more play, and had the ball on Army's 1-yard line, but Navy coach Tom Hamilton went for the winning touchdown instead of the tying field goal. When asked why, he coined a phrase that has lived on in American sports: "A tie is like kissing your sister."

For Seminole fans, this tie was more like kissing your sister's really hot best friend. For Gator fans, it was like kissing your sister's other friend. You know the one: The one with the "great personality."

Florida beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game. So a rematch was ordered for the Sugar Bowl, as the SEC Champion always received a bid, while the ACC Champion was not locked into a bowl. Florida State won it, 23-17.

The Choke at Doak was a major reason why the NCAA instituted overtime for bowl games in 1995; and, with success there, for regular-season games in 1996. But that 1996 season would see another chapter in the UF-FSU rivalry: The Number 2 Seminoles beat the Number 1 Gators, but the Gators won the SEC Championship Game, and fans at that game held up signs reading, "GOD WANTS A REMATCH." Regardless of that God really wanted, a rematch was granted in the Sugar Bowl, and the Gators blew the Seminoles out, to win their 1st National Championship.

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November 26, 1994 was a Saturday. Among the other college football games played that day:

* Number 1 Nebraska beat arch-rival Oklahoma, 13-3 at Owen Field in Norman, Oklahoma. Nebraska won the Big Eight Conference title.

* Number 2 Penn State beat Michigan State, 59-31 at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania. Penn State won the Big Ten Conference title, in only their 2nd season in the league.

* Number 3 Auburn, coached by Terry Bowden, Bobby Bowden's son, were not scheduled for that weekend, and were ineligible for a bowl game, due to violations committed by Terry's predecessor, Pat Dye.

* Number 5 Miami beat Number 25 Boston College, 23-7 at the Orange Bowl in Miami. Miami won the Big East Conference title, but Nebraska beat them in the Orange Bowl, avenging their 1984 Orange Bowl defeat, and finally winning Coach Tom Osborne his 1st National Championship.

* Among rivalry games, Number 17 Southern California and Notre Dame played to a 17-17 tie at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; Number 19 Mississippi State beat Mississippi, 21-17 at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium in Oxford; Tennessee beat Vanderbilt, 65-0 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville; Louisiana State beat Arkansas, 30-12 at Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas; and Rice beat the University of Houston, 31-13 at the Astrodome.

* The day before, Number 16 Arizona beat Arizona State, 28-27 at Arizona Stadium in Tucson; and Georgia beat Georgia Tech, 48-10 at Sanford Stadium in Athens.

* And the day before that, Thanksgiving Day, Number 22 Syracuse were upset by West Virginia, 13-0 at Mountaineer Field (now Milan Puskar Stadium) in Morgantown, West Virginia; and Texas beat Baylor, 63-35 at Floyd Casey Stadium in Waco, Texas.

The baseball players were on strike, and the season would have been over by this point, anyway. The NHL players were locked out, meaning that 2 of the "Big Four" sports in North America were stopped cold due to management's unfairness to the players.

But there were 8 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 105-95 at Madison Square Garden. Alonzo Mourning had 27 points and 18 rebounds.

* The Boston Celtics beat their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, 108-99 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Washington Bullets, 112-96 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Seattle SuperSonics beat the Houston Rockets, 98-94 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Golden State Warriors, 101-87 at the Gund Arena (now the Rocket Arena) in Cleveland.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Milwaukee Bucks, 113-105 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Denver Nuggets, 124-123 in overtime at the McNichols Arena in Denver. Jim Jackson scored 50 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs, 111-108 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.

And in English soccer, Arsenal and Manchester United played to a 0-0 draw at Highbury in North London.

October 20, 1962: The Birth of Florida State's "Sod Cemetery"

October 20, 1962: Florida State University beats the University of Georgia, 18-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, which has a hedge ring surrounding the field, and it is said that, there, football is played "Between the Hedges."

Dean Coyle Moore, a professor at Florida State and a member of the school's athletic board, had told the Seminoles, "Bring back some sod from Between the Hedges at Georgia." The victory complete, team captain Gene McDowell pulled a small piece of grass out, and showed it to Moore at the next football practice. Coach Bill Peterson took the grass to the practice facility, Harkins Field, and planted it. A plaque was made, and the Sod Cemetery was born.

Ever since, every time the Seminoles win an away game in which they are the underdog, or at the University of Florida, or at bowl games, or, since the Atlantic Coast Conference established a championship game, said game, the team captains cut out a small piece of the playing surface, and have it planted inside the gates of Harkins Field.

By 1970, it had been done 23 times in 9 seasons. But in the 5 seasons before Bobby Bowden arrived, 1971 to 1975, it hadn't been done at all. Although the 'Noles lost their 1st 3 games under Bowden, and 6 of their 1st 8, on October 9, 1976, they went up to The Hub and beat Boston College, and took a piece of Alumni Stadium turf home with them -- the 1st artificial turf to be planted there.

Doak Campbell Stadium

The most recent such win was this past September 4, beating Louisiana State (LSU), 24-23 at the Superdome. The Cemetery now includes 106 pieces of sod, from 42 different stadiums (the University of Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium the most frequent victim, with 12), against 39 different opponents (UF the most often, 13), in 20 States (Florida easily the most with 44, Louisiana next with 9), in 10 different bowl games.

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October 20, 1962 was a Saturday. This was also the day that "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett hit Number 1. I have a separate entry for that event.

The other college football games played that day included:

Baseball season had ended 4 days earlier, with the New York Yankees beating the San Francisco Giants in Game 7 of the World Series. There were 4 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks lost to the Boston Celtics, 149-116 at the Boston Garden. No Celtic scored more than Sam Jones' 25, but 7 Celtics scored in double figures.

* The Syracuse Nationals beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 108-102 at the Onondaga County War Memorial (now the Upstate University Medical Arena) in Syracuse, New York. Elgin Baylor led all scorerers on the night, with 42 points. This would be the Nationals' last season in Syracuse: For 1963-64, they moved to become the Philadelphia 76ers.

* The Chicago Zephyrs beat the Cincinnati Royals, 113-109 at the Chicago Coliseum. The Zephyrs became the Baltimore Bullets in 1963, the Capital Bullets in 1973, the Washington Bullets in 1974, and the Washington Wizards in 1997. The Royals became the Kansas City-Omaha Kings in 1972, the Kansas City Kings in 1975, and the Sacramento Kings in 1985. Don't worry, there's no test for all of this to be on.

* And the St. Louis Hawks beat the Detroit Pistons, 120-111 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Boston Bruins, 7-3 at the Montreal Forum. And the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. The New York Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings were not scheduled.