Colorado State head coach Jay Norvell started coaching in 1986. In the past 38 years, he's been an assistant at the FBS and FCS level and in the NFL. He's been a head coach for the past seven years.
He's experienced every conceivable situation on the field, but he had never been a part of what happened Saturday night in Fort Collins. Colorado State trailed, 30-10, with 4:02 remaining – only 242 seconds – and somehow, someway won by a score of 31-30 on a final-play Hail Mary.
“I've never been part of a game like that,” Norvell told me. “Things started going our way at the end and kept going our way. There were 15-20 plays (in the final four minutes), and if one of those plays doesn't happe n exactly like it did, we wouldn't have won.
“I've never seen a game flip like that.”
In the past few weeks, college football fans have witnessed several instances of “I've never seen” that happen before.
On Sept. 30, Baylor trailed UCF, 35-7, with 3:21 remaining in the third quarter but won, 36-35.
On Friday, Stanford trailed Colorado, 29-0' with 9:02 remaining in the third quarter but won in double overtime, 46-43.
On Saturday, Colorado State trailed Boise State, 30-10, with 4:02 remaining in the fourth quarter but won, 31-30, on Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi's Hail Mary to Dallin Holker.
And don't forget on Thursday, Houston's final play Hail Mary to give the Cougars a 41-39 victory against West Virginia.
Hail Mary's aren't that uncommon, but three games in two weeks where teams with Walking Dead-like offenses suddenly come alive and finish the game with runs of 29-0, 46-14 and 21-0 to pull off historic comebacks?
Why?
Colorado's Deion Sanders: “What we just di d today was pathetic.”
UCF's Gus Malzahn: “Let me make it really simple – we did the things to lose the game. They did the things to win the game.”
During Colorado State's comeback, Norvell said his players were literally “drawing stuff up in the dirt. Our kids were telling us, 'We can beat them on this, we can beat them on that.'
“We had a tremendous amount of will. They believed they could win. As a coach, you understand the odds, down three TDs with four minutes left. You know the path to win: score, now it's down to two scores, get an onside kick, it's a one-score game. That's what happened to us, but they (Boise State) had to help us.”
After Saturday's incredible comeback, Norvell was deluged with text messages. One stood out. It was from Jerry Glanville, the 82-year-old former NFL coach.
Before the season, Norvell had never talked to Glanville. After Colorado State's loss to Colorado, Glanville, who coached Sand ers for three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, sought out Norvell.
“My wife told me Jerry Glanville is trying to get a hold of you.”
Glanville told Norvell, “Your kids played their hearts out. I saw how your kids were running and hitting. I was impressed by that.”
Since that first call after the Colorado loss, Norvell talks or texts with Glanville after every game. He gave Norvell advice on how to respond to a blowout loss to Utah State. Then after beating Boise State, Norvell glanced at his phone and chuckled at Glanville's text.
“Take your wife out to eat somewhere nice and get a nice bottle of wine and send me the bill.”
Blast From the Past ??
It's the Third Saturday in October, which means Alabama and Tennessee.
After last year's wild 52-49 Tennessee victory, the Vols are bidding for consecutive wins over the Crimson Tide for the first time since 2003-04.
Last year's UT victory was the Vols' first against Nick Saban in his 17 seasons at Alabama.
One of the most memorabl e games in the series – at least for Bama fans – came in 2009. Trailing 12-10, Tennessee attempted a game-winning 44-yard field goal, but it was blocked by Bama defensive tackle Terrence Cody to help the top-ranked Tide survive.