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It's Saturday night inside Doak Campbell Stadium, September 18th, 2011. Second-year coach Jimbo Fisher is looking for his inaugural marquee victory facing Bob Stoops' top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners. This nationally televised game shows two top-5 teams in a 1 vs. 5 matchup, squaring off in Tallahassee for the first time in close to a decade; this one in front of Doak Campbell Stadium's second highest attendance to date.
The Seminole offense has struggled for most of the night but find themselves down just 13-6 thanks to a valiant effort from their defense. A defense led by names like Brandon Jenkins, Nigel Bradham and Greg Reid. Quarterback EJ Manuel was helped off the field in the third quarter holding his shoulder leaving the fate of the 'Noles up to the offensive line coach's son, red-shirt freshman Clint Trickett.
Trickett was called upon to face one of the nation's toughest defenses. As if the task wasn't tall enough, an emerging Kenny Shaw was knocked unconscious and carted off the field in the second quarter. In his first two drives Trickett commanded the offense to a field goal and a three-and-out. After a series of tackles for loss and a holding penalty on his third drive, the Florida State offense faced a 3rd and 28 from their own 44 yard line with just under 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
With Thomas Jones and Lonnie Pryor at his side, Trickett takes the snap from shotgun, drops back and looks to his left. He sees true freshman receiver Rashad Greene bursting out of his break. Trickett zips it 25 yards to a triple-covered Greene with Hail Mary expectations. Out of the pack comes Greene, football tucked in his arm, running for his life towards the student section.
The 84,392 fans in attendance - well, the Seminole fans in attendance - and one horse erupt into vocal explosion jumping up and down like it's 1999. Trickett jumps into the arms of a lineman before taking his helmet off to yell as loud as he can; he knows that he was just part of one of the most electric plays in Florida State history. Greene stares down the students who are losing their minds and beats his chest in the end zone. Players and coaches rejoice at what seemed to be the play that would catapult them to an avenging win over Oklahoma who had embarrassed them the year before.
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| (via Zimbio.com) |
I was in section 8 in the middle of row 36 where my parents have had season tickets since graduating in the '80s. Convincing them to give me that $80 ticket was hardly an easy task, but to say that it was worth it in the end would be an understatement. I was sharing my seat and the four seats next to me with about seven people. Ignoring the fact that I only knew about three of the 20 people around me, I rejoiced with them like old friends. This was one of the greatest moments I've personally ever been a part of. It was also probably the craziest because just 10 seconds before Greene was being congratulated by teammates in the end zone, we were expecting a punt. Somewhere Bobby Bowden would tell us, "Well dadgummit, that's college football for ya."
Despite the loss in the end (and OU's Kenny Stills making an even more impressive catch to put the Sooners up late), this game was a major turning point for Jimbo Fisher's regime as a coach. It showed that we could play with the elite talent that the country offered. It also was the coming out party for Rashad Greene, the first of many clutch plays by arguably Florida State's most clutch receiver of all time.
If you'd like to relive the moment, here is the game in it's entirety (the play starts at about 1:54:30):
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