My Most Memorable Sports Moment #4: Michael Crabtree’s Game Winning Catch to Stun #1 Texas

At the time of this game, I had no affiliation with the University of Texas yet.  So I will try recalling the game and the moment from that perspective.

During the 2008 season, I watched a good portion of college football. What am I talking about? It is still my main sporting dish (even if I do hate the system). I was working the night of the game, and it really wasn’t a must see game for me, though I did want to watch. So the only part I really saw was the last few minutes of the game. 

Now, I am a big supporter of BCS chaos. The more the system is cluttered with confusion, the happier I am. So, I was very much rooting for the Red Raiders to take down the Longhorns and make the BCS a madhouse. So I entered a friend's room where she had the game on in the background while several of us chatted.

Then Texas came down the field and scored with a 1:29 left in the game, taking the lead by a mere 1 point, Texas 33-Tech 32. Now, if you know anything about Tech football at the time, you were aware they were a pass heavy spread who scored often, so the minute and half left was plenty of time for them. Nevertheless, the build-up was intense, and the pressure was extreme: all things that make college football so great. 

I’ll let ESPN Blogger Tim Griffin’s post tell the story of that drive.

“The Red Raiders dodged a bullet on the play immediately before Crabtree's touchdown. Texas freshman safety Blake Gideon dropped a potential game-clinching interception on a ball that was tipped by Tech's Edward Britton.
On the next play, Crabtree snagged the long pass from Harrell deep along the right sideline before breaking the tackle of Curtis Brown. Crabtree then kept his balance, stayed in bounds and streaked into the end zone for the dramatic score.”

The room was stocked. I, along with my pals, couldn’t believe that catch had just happened, let alone that he stayed in bounds, stripping the defender off of himself. That’s the beauty of college sports: it’s unpredictable, producing drama that writers wish they wrote.