If you’re like most of the Sconnie Sports Talk writers, you’ll be heading back to college in the next week or so to begin the academic year. What better to enjoy than the best plays by college athletes last year to get you hyped up for the upcoming one? Below are the plays we’ve decided are the top 10 from the last time you were in school – including two by former Badgers.
10. Kansas State’s Brandon Bolden absolutely denying a Southern Utah guard.
It’s pretty clear that this game was going to be an easy win for K-State. This emphatic block put that feeling into a nice little six-second clip:
Kansas State later won that game by a margin of 30.
9. Nebraska’s Jordan Westerkamp making a ridiculous out of bounds catch.
Even on Week 1 of the College Football season, Westerkamp renewed his tendencies to make ridiculous, potentially game-saving catches. Check out this one he made in a game against Florida A&M:
8. Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon setting the NCAA rushing record in just three quarters of work.
Wisconsin should have had their hands full with a solid Nebraska team. Instead, the Melvin Gordon-Ameer Abdullah battle was all one-sided, as Gordon went on to rush for 408 yards in the first 75% of the game, breaking LT’s old record of 406.
Unfortuantely, Gordon’s record only stood for a week, as Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine rushed for 427 the week after.
7. Nebraska’s Ameer Abdullah’s game-saving run against McNeese State.
Despite not being able to outrun Melvin Gordon, Abdullah proved he could still overpower defenses after a huge catch-and-run late in the game as Nebraska was tied with an abysmal McNeese State team.
Abdullah was drafted in the 2nd round of the NFL Draft to the Detroit Lions.
6. Wisconsin stopping Kentucky’s historic season.
There’s nothing UW-Madison students love hearing more than the phrase “Thirty-eight and one”. It’s synonymous with their epic takedown of a Kentucky team that was 38-0 prior.
Wisconsin ended up losing to Duke in the NCAA Championship game.
5. UCF’s Brashad Perriman catching a game-winning Hail Mary to beat ECU.
With the chance to get a share of the AAC title, they were down 30-26 with just a few seconds left to ECU. Justin Holman heaved up this pass, and the rest is history:
4. NC State’s Jacoby Brissett pulling an Eli Manning against Florida State.
Recreating the integral Eli Manning-David Tyree Super Bowl pass, Brissett used his best moves to take a big lead against top-ranked rival Florida State early:
Florida State went on to win the game, however, 56-41.
3. Arizona using a Hail Mary to improve to 4-0 by beating Cal.
Quarterback Anu Solomon passed for 520 yards and 5 touchdowns in the game, but the only pass he threw that will be remembered is this one to WR Austin Hill:
2. George Mason beating Manhattan on the buzzer beater of the decade.
It was GMU’s Jalen Jenkins who hit the ridiculous 75-footer to seal the deal for his team, moving them to 2-4 on the season:
Neither team ended up making the NCAA Tournament.
1. Georgia State’s RJ Hunter sending both his dad and Baylor tumbling.
Ron Hunter, father of RJ, had torn his achilles tendon when GSU won the Sun Belt. In their first game of the NCAA Tournament since 2001, Hunter went for 16 points on 5 of 12 shooting – including a three that can only be defined as earth-shattering:
Georgia State lost to Xavier in Round 2, but not before leaving an impression on the whole country and cementing RJ Hunter as a name to look out for going forwards.
Sources:
youtube.com
espn.com
si.com
bleacherreport.com