Full moons, black cats, pumpkins and coeds dressed in costumes their parents wouldn’t approve of. What am I talking about here? It has to be college football on Halloween.
Once or twice a decade, Halloween falls on a Saturday and everybody goes a little crazy. That not only includes the fans, but the players and coaches as well.
I don’t know if it’s the nip in the air with the arrival of fall or just the fact that Halloween now is just an excuse to cut loose and do more than bob for apples.
Let’s take a look at some scary good college football games that took place on Halloween:
2009 – Oklahoma 42, Kansas State 30
Norman, Okla., can be a scary place to play college football, especially for visiting Big XII teams. It was the Sooners who got a scare back in 2009 from a gritty Kansas State team. Oklahoma boasted a big offense, but Kansas State came in to the game with a talented defense. Something had to give, and the difference ended up being Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones. Jones threw for four touchdowns and no interceptions to pull away from the pesky Wildcats in the fourth quarter. A lot of great offense in this game played on Halloween night in Norman.
1959 – LSU 7, Ole Miss 3
We’ll go back a ways for this one, to 1959. This was a Halloween game between the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the land. No. 1 LSU was also the defending national champion and had a great defense. The game in Louisiana featured a rabid crowd that wanted to send Ole Miss home a loser. With Ole Miss leading 3-0, Billy Cannon ran a 89-yard punt back for a score for LSU. As time was winding down, the Rebels drove the length of the field and were stopped at the 1-yard line as time expired. The Tigers won and held on to their spot at the top of the rankings.
1992 – Florida 26, Georgia 24
The “World’s Largest Cocktail Party”–as the Georgia vs. Florida game is known–is one of the top rivalries in college football. This particular year, Georgia was favored and Florida was struggling a bit under Steve Spurrier. Georgia had ideas about playing for the national championship, but that ended with this Florida win. A disappointing loss for the Bulldogs as their team featured Eric Zeier at quarterback, Garrison Hearst and Terrell Davis at running back and receiver Andre Hastings. A treat for Florida on this Halloween, and a trick for Georgia.
2009 – North Texas 68, Western Kentucky 49
While neither of these teams are a college football dynasty, they played an entertaining game on Halloween in 2009. The North Texas Mean Green played a trick on Western Kentucky by scoring the last 26 points of the game to earn the win. There wasn’t much defense in this game, as North Texas quarterback Riley Dodge passed for four touchdowns and ran for three more. Western Kentucky ran for fives scores, as the two teams combined for over 1,000 yards of offense.
1970 – Cal 13, USC 10
This Halloween game featured a high-powered USC team that was coming off a 70-point effort against Washington State. Cal’s defense had been keeping its opponents in check, and the Bears put forth a good effort against USC as well, falling 13-10. One frightening stat in this game is that Cal actually had six more first downs than the Trojans and still lost. Must have been a full moon.
That’s Halloween college football. As you can see, some tricks and some treats. Now I want some candy.
Rick Limpert covers sports, technology and events in and around Atlanta. He will be looking for a football game to watch on Halloween.