2007 Fiesta Bowl
Boise State Broncos vs. Oklahoma Sooners, Fiesta Bowl, January 1, 2007
Unlike many of the football miracles on this list, the miracle of the 2007 Fiesta Bowl was not a single play. It was a series of unlikely and spectacular plays and an impressive show of hope and perseverance by a plucky underdog.
Prior to this Fiesta Bowl, the Boise State Broncos, who had only been playing in college football's highest classification (Division I-FCS) for ten years, had never played in a major bowl game. Heavily favored Oklahoma had won several titles and was a perennial BCS National Championship contender.
Boise State took an early lead but Oklahoma went on a run in the fourth quarter and scored two touchdowns in less than 30 seconds to take a seven-point lead with one minute remaining. On fourth down, with 18 seconds left on the clock, the Broncos ran a rare hook-and-lateral play and executed it perfectly to score a touchdown and send the game into overtime.
The Sooners easily scored a touchdown on their first overtime possession, taking a seven-point lead. But the Broncos answered by again scoring a touchdown on fourth down with an unconventional play, this time a pass thrown by a back-up wide receiver. Rather than kick the extra point to send the game into a second overtime, the Broncos attempted a two-point conversion and went for the win. They ran a trick play called the Statue of Liberty, and running back Ian Johnson easily ran into the end zone for the victory (then proposed to his girlfriend, a Boise State cheerleader, on the sideline).