Oct. 6, 2006

By Lou Somogyi

St. Louis University is not renowned as a football hotbed, and the names Bradbury Robinson and Jack Schneider don’t evoke images of Joe Montana to Jerry Rice.

Yet on Sept. 5, 1906, history was made during SLU’s 22-0 victory over Carroll College when Robinson and Schneider connected on the first successful pass, a touchdown no less, in NCAA history.

The NCAA was formed that same year in response to President Theodore Roosevelt’s decree to help make football less violent after numerous deaths and serious injuries tainted the sport during the 1905 season.

To help spread out the game, the forward pass was instituted, but it was in its rough draft stages. A completion within five yards of the line of scrimmage was ruled a turnover, and a catch in the end zone became a touchback instead of a touchdown.

By 1913, Notre Dame’s Gus Dorais and Knute Rockne helped elevate the forward pass to another level during a 35-13 upset of Army. No video footage of their play is available, but there have been hundreds of other famous aerial plays since then in Irish annals. Which ones rank among the most famous in terms of impact, clutch play and fame? Here’s one man’s top 10 list.

10) Michigan State (2002): Pat Dillingham to Arnaz Battle – Trailing 17-14, walk-on Dillingham was playing in place of the injured Carlyle Holiday. The sophomore checked into an audible and Battle adjusted his pattern accordingly. The short toss turned into the game-winning 60-yard TD with 1:15 left. This play temporarily rekindled the magic at Notre Dame during an 8-0 start under first-year head coach Tyrone Willingham.

9) Iowa (1953): Ralph Guglielmi to Dan Shannon – With six seconds remaining in the game, Guglielmi found Shannon for a nine-yard tally, and Don Schaefer’s PAT left the final score 14-14 for Frank Leahy’s last Notre Dame squad (9-0-1). Adding to the drama, Notre Dame was out of timeouts and stopped the clock prior to the score by feigning an injury. The ensuing backlash about the bending of the rules helped elicit Leahy’s resignation.

8) Michigan State (1966): Coley O’Brien to Bob Gladieux – One of the most replayed moments in school history. With starting quarterback Terry Hanratty injured and the Irish trailing 10-0 in the No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown, O’Brien lofted a 34-yard TD strike on 2nd-and-1 to Gladieux near the goal line during the second quarter. The ABC camera then turned to Notre Dame head coach Ara Parseghian pumping his fist in elation. Because the diabetic O’Brien was worn down in the second half, the TD pass took on immense significance in the 10-10 verdict that helped Notre Dame to the national title.

7) North Carolina (1975): Joe Montana to Ted Burgmeier – A carbon copy of Dillingham to Battle, only it came 27 years earlier. Like Dillingham, the sophomore Montana was a second team player inserted with the Irish trailing 14-6. Like Battle, Burgmeier was recruited as a quarterback before moving to receiver (and later cornerback). And again like Dillingham, Montana’s short toss that Burgmeier caught at the Irish 28 turned into the winning score (21-14) when he scampered 80 yards with 1:08 left. It was the first of Montana’s seven fourth-quarter rallies at Notre Dame.

6) Michigan State (1990): Rick Mirer to Adrian Jarrell – It is remembered as “The Immaculate Deflection.” Trailing 19-14 late in the fourth quarter and with the ball at the Spartan 25, Mirer fired a pass toward the goal line that hit defensive back Todd Murray’s chest – then swooped straight up before Jarrell caught the ricochet at the one. Rodney Culver scored the winning TD for the No. 1-ranked Irish with 34 seconds remaining.

5) Penn State (1992): Mirer to Reggie Brooks – One of the greatest catches in school annals is not even officially listed as a reception because it was a two-point conversion. After Mirer found Jerome Bettis for a four-yard score on fourth down to reduce the deficit to 16-15 with 20 seconds left, he eluded the pass rush on the two-point play and rifled the ball toward Brooks – who had caught only two passes during his career. In the end zone, the outstretched, diving Brooks somehow held on to the pass with his fingertips for a 17-16 triumph in the “Snow Bowl” at Notre Dame Stadium.

196b. Joe Montana used the passing game to lead the Irish to seven fourth-quarter rallies in his Notre Dame career. Here he is engineering a drive in the 1979 Cotton Bowl. He found Kris Haines in the end zone as time ran out on the final pass of his career to lead the Irish to a 35-34 come-from-behind win against Houston.

4) Houston (1979 Cotton Bowl): Montana to Kris Haines – Montana’s final play at Notre Dame. Just like Mirer in the 1992 “Snow Bowl,” Montana rolled to his right in the “Ice Bowl” and found a diving Haines barely inside the right end zone sideline as time elapsed. After Joe Unis’ PAT, Montana’s final Notre Dame miracle was complete as the Irish rallied from a 34-12 deficit with 7:37 left in the game to a 35-34 victory.

3) Ohio State (1935): Bill Shakespeare to Wayne Millner – Only the passer’s namesake could have inked better drama. Off a reverse, Shakespeare’s 19-yard toss to Millner in the end zone with 32 seconds remaining lifted Notre Dame to a stunning 18-13 victory after trailing 13-0 in the fourth quarter. The triumph snapped the Buckeyes’ 10-game winning streak and was voted in 1969 as the greatest college football game in the sport’s first 100 years.

2) Army (1928): John Niemiec to Johnny “One Play” O’Brien – With the score tied 6-6 against the Cadets, winners of 11 straight, Notre Dame faced 4th-and-26 at the Army 33. Niemiec dropped back to punt at the Cadet 45, but Knute Rockne inserted 6-foot-2 track man O’Brien, a third team player, for a pass off a punt formation. Niemiec connected with O’Brien near the 10 and O’Brien dived past the goal line with about two-and-a-half minutes left to play in what would be a 12-6 victory Notre Dame finished only 5-4 this year – but without this play, the “One for the Gipper” speech would have been squandered and not preserved for posterity.

Tom Clements executes “The Pass,” as he throws from his own end zone on third-and-eight with two minutes left to Robin Weber for a 35-yard gain against Alabama in the 1973 Sugar Bowl. The completion helped seal a 24-23 win and a national title for the Irish.

1) Alabama (1973 Sugar Bowl): Tom Clements to Robin Weber – To any Notre Dame follower, it is distinctly identified as “The Pass.” Clinging to a 24-23 lead with two minutes left, and the national title on the line, the Irish faced 3rd-and-8 from their three. To disguise a pass play, Parseghian inserted a second tight end, Weber, in place of leading receiver Pete Demmerle. Weber had caught just one pass in his career. When Clements dropped back into the end zone – a slip on the wet turf would have been a safety and the ball game – the Crimson Tide converged on All-American tight end Dave Casper. Meanwhile, Weber streaked down the left sideline and Clements, under a heavy rush, hit him in stride for a 35-yard gain (after a bobble). Niemiec to O’Brien is more famous because 100 years from now “One for the Gipper” will still be remembered. But Clements to Weber was more crucial because it clinched a national title.