The 2007 Fiesta Bowl is considered one of the best and most important college football games of all-time. The Boise State Broncos took down the Oklahoma Sooners in overtime, 43-42. It was an insane game that was most memorable because it showed that a smaller school could hang with and beat a school from a major conference.
It was also iconic because the end of the game was completely insane. The two schools combined for 21 points in the game’s final minute and 26 seconds, with the Broncos scoring right before the clock hit zero.
Boise State also ran a whole bunch of trick plays down the stretch — a hook-and-lateral on 4th-and-18 for the game-tying touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter, a wide receiver pass for a touchdown in overtime, and most famously, a Statue of Liberty on a two-point conversion to win the game.
Fast forward a decade and the Broncos are squaring off against Oregon in the Las Vegas Bowl. Boise State was up, 24-0, with less than a minute left in the the second quarter, and they decided to go to the well and run a Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately for them, this happened.
Boise State tried a Statue of Liberty play to go up 31-0.
Instead the Broncos fumbled and Oregon returned it for a TD. pic.twitter.com/KgqxsloeXn
— Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 16, 2017
If there is ever a time to run this exact play — other than if you’re trying to stun Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl — it’s when you’re up by a ton and have dominated all game. We can’t blame the Broncos for going for it. As for the execution, well, maybe they need to watch the 2007 Fiesta Bowl a few more times.
