1/10 of 1%

Each year, Stanford University chooses a football game for "teacher appreciation" and offers free tickets to teachers.  I received two, and the guy who teaches next door to me picked me up at 2pm for the almost-three-hour drive to Palo Alto.

Maybe Stanford didn't expect to win this game and that's why they chose this game to give away free tickets.  The stadium was closer to empty than full, even the student section was very small.  Oregon State came in 3-2 against Stanford's 1-3 record.

Oregon State received the opening kickoff and moved swiftly down the field.  The Stanford defense held them to a field goal attempt, which was missed.  That seemed to be the way it would go for Oregon State.

It was an ugly game, with many Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalties against both teams.  Stanford led 17-7 at the half.  At the end of the third, Stanford led 24-10, and the already light crowd started to thin even more as the outcome couldn't possibly be in doubt.

Then something happened in the 4th quarter.

Oregon State scored twice, missing two-point conversions both times.  They had narrowed the Stanford lead to 24-22 with under 6 minutes remaining in the game.  After that last touchdown, Stanford awakened and started looking like they did in the first three quarters, moving the ball down the field with ease.

Sometime around the 50 yard line I turned to my friend and said, "You know what my 1/10 of 1%, alternate reality ending is for this game?  Oregon State holds Stanford to a field goal, then drives down the field for a touchdown to win."  We both laughed, neither team played like that could be the outcome.

With less than a minute left in the game, Oregon State held Stanford to a field goal and a 27-22 lead.  Then they started moving down the field.

On their last offensive play they snapped the ball for a pass play.  There's no way the receiver should have caught the ball, there's no way he should have stayed in-bounds, and there's no way the two defenders should have let him avoid their tackles.  But all of that happened, leading to a 56-yard touchdown with 13 seconds left in the game.  The 2-point conversion failed.

Oregon State beat Stanford 28-27.

It was an ugly win, but a W is a W.

The friend I went with was rooting for Stanford.  He likes to root for the Northern California teams, and besides, his father-in-law went to Stanford.  I have a lot of respect for Sammie Stroughter, who played at Oregon State and for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and later became our high school's football coach (I was texting him throughout the game), so I leaned towards Oregon State.  I wasn't rude about it--heck, Stanford gave me the tickets and I was obviously not seated in the OSU fan area, why be an obnoxious guest?  And since I don't really have strong feelings for either team, I was just hoping for a good game.  We didn't really get a good game, but that 4th Quarter, though....

Kickoff was 8pm and the game didn't end until after 11.  I got home a little after 2am.  Great way to spend a day.