College Football Week 11: Indiana is playing for a Big Ten title. In football.

So much to like from that play:

1. Guy Morriss getting the Gatorade shower with two seconds left. A little, how you say, premature.

2. LSU radio broadcaster Jim Hawthorne mistakenly crediting the catch and touchdown to Jack Hunt, a white defensive back, rather than Devery Henderson, a black wide receiver. (Hunt was No. 8, Henderson was No. 9). When the play was included in the highlight video for LSU's post-season banquet, it was re-recorded word-for-word, except to credit the touchdown to Henderson.

3. The Kentucky fans running on the field, many of them as Henderson runs past them with the ball. One story from that game I read (I think it was by Pat Forde) quoted a Kentucky fan, while hanging from the goal post, saying "Wait. Did we just lose this f***ing game?!?!?!?"

 

Steak, after Kentucky took the lead for the last time, I almost went down the elevator to beat the rush. Because it was the Jefferson Pilot game, and there was plenty of time, I decided to stay in my seat and watch the finish.

 

Always a tough call to know when to head down to the field in a close game. I've missed more than one game-tying touchdown over the years while scrambling down the ramp or up the tunnel.

Florida was always the worst, because the tunnels don't line up and you have to zig-zag to get to the field once you get off the elevators. That's great to hold sound in, but terrible when you're trying not to miss a key play.

 

The one play that LSU fans fondly remember Marcus Randall for. The 500 other snaps he took that season, not so much.
Two other things that stood out from that.
One, the play itself was lucky -- as most hail marys are -- but it was a great sequence by LSU to set it up. They got as much as they could on the kickoff, then ran the one play and used the timeout to set it up. And Randall did throw a nice long ball that covered about 60 yards in the air. In fairness to Kentucky, they might not have thought he could throw it that far or that accurately.
Secondly, the postgame interview showed just how much of a joyless prick Nick Saban is. The 2002 LSU team was very up and down after Matt Mauck got hurt against Florida. That was a rare bright spot in a forgettable season. You'd think the coach would be able to appreciate a bit of good fortune even though they didn't play particularly well that day. Instead, you'd think his team was on the wrong end of the play. At least crack a smile, dude.
Here's a longer-form highlight package of the game. Saban's interview starts at 8:33:

 

Wasn't that the same year Iowa beat LSU on a last-second pass in the Cap One Bowl?

 

Oh, he hated when his team won a game even when it didn't play well for 60 minutes, because he said a team that wins games like that thinks it can get away with not having the attention to detail necessary to win. He said a team that wins a game that way is ripe for letting down its guard. I remember him trying to get Bradie James and other seniors to pound that into the team's head after the game.

And of course, LSU lost 31-0 the next week in Tiger Stadium (to Alabama, as it so happens), providing more fuel for Nick's fire.

And Armchair, no -- that came two years later, but LSU did lose to Arkansas on a pass with 9 seconds left just a few weeks after the win at Kentucky in 2002.

 

That play always reminds me of one of my favorite QBs in SEC history - Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen. Guy looked like a lineman and had the best nicknames:
- QBese
- The Pillsbury Throwboy
- He Ate Me
- The Abominable Throwman
- The Hefty Lefty

Just to name a few ...

 

J-Load was my favorite.

 

Hey, he made the NFL!

 

Even the broadcast crew got faked out. Throw the graphic up on the screen of the score with Kentucky winning--Final, just as Henderson is stepping into the end zone.

Was watching that game live that day. Remember multiple replays where the Kentucky fans are going crazy on the field and completely oblivious to the fact they had just lost on the other end. Could be wrong, but I seem to recall then even starting to head toward taking the goalposts down before reality set in....

 

Some were already climbing on the goal posts on the other end of the field as Henderson crossed the goal line 110 yards away.

Edited to add I found this audio: http://www.lsufootball.net/audio/misc/LSU-UK-2002.mp3

"Fans are up on the goal post. I don't know why."

 

As great as the Bluegrass Miracle was, that Arkansas loss was almost as bad. LSU's vaunted defense -- which had totally shut down Arkansas all day -- gave up not one, but two Hail Marys on back-to-back plays. It ended up costing them the SEC West title, too.
In fact, LSU was literally two or three plays away from winning five straight division titles from 2001-05. They won it in 2001, '03 and '05. In '02 they lost it on the Arkansas comeback, and in '04 it was a missed PAT of their own coupled with a bullshit leaping call on a missed PAT by Auburn. The penalty gave Auburn another shot, they made the PAT to go up 10-9 with about a minute left, and ended up going undefeated to earn the right to bitch about not playing in the BCS title game for the next decade.