It’s officially NCAA football season, which means a few things are certain. Bets will be lost and won, unlikely heroes will emerge and controversy will swirl around a player, a team, a ref, a call, a coach or a game. With a high-emotion, high-impact sport such as college football, controversy is simply inevitable. Here’s a look at some of the moments that have defined the concept over the course of the history of college football, which is celebrating its 150th year in 2019.
Pictured: Stanford band goes wild prematurely before losing to Cal in 1982
Some rules in football are open to interpretation by the officials. The number of downs is not one of them, though. On Oct. 6, 1990, the Colorado Buffaloes beat the Missouri Tigers. The officials botched an important clock-related call but outdid themselves seconds later by awarding Colorado an extra down during the final series of the game. The Buffaloes used the moment to score the winning touchdown in the final series of one of the most infamous games in college history.
Pictured: Ken Windham and University of Colorado Buffaloes in 1990
Jan. 3, 2003, marked the Fiesta Bowl for the BCS championship between Ohio State and Miami. It went into double overtime, shocking those who expected the defending champion Hurricanes to knock off the Buckeyes. When an Ohio State fourth-down pass was incomplete in the first overtime period, Miami began celebrating — fireworks and all. The celebration proved premature, however, when the official called pass interference long after the play, giving Ohio State a fresh set of downs — and the BCS championship.
Pictured: Ohio State coach Jim Tressel holds 2003 Fiesta Bowl championship trophy
Marshall Faulk went on to superstardom as one of the greatest running backs in NFL and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, but that’s not why he should have won the Heisman Trophy in 1992. Faulk deserved college football’s highest honor because he scored 15 touchdowns and turned in an NCAA-leading 1,630 yards, despite his San Diego State squad being mediocre at best. The Heisman instead went to Gino Torretta, a good quarterback who had the luxury of playing for a great Miami Hurricanes team.
Pictured: Miami Hurricanes quarterback Gino Torretta wins the Heisman trophy
By 1978, Ohio State coach Woody Hayes was a living Buckeyes legend with 205 wins and five national titles on his resume. That year’s Gator Bowl, however, was his last game on the sidelines. In the final moments of the fourth quarter, Ohio State was poised to come back from a two-point deficit when backup Clemson nose guard Charlie Bauman dashed Ohio State’s hopes with an interception. When Bauman was tackled near Hayes, the notoriously hot-tempered coach violently punched Bauman under his helmet near his throat. He was fired before the team returned to Columbus, Ohio.
Pictured: Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes punches team player after a fight during Gator Bowl in 1978
Nevin Shapiro is a convicted corporate criminal and renegade financier who’s serving a 20-year stretch in federal prison for orchestrating a $930 million Ponzi scheme — but he was once a prominent booster for the Miami Hurricanes. When his scam came crashing down starting in 2009, it was revealed that Shapiro used his sports management company to conspire with university brass to provide dozens of players with illegal gifts, cash, pleasure cruises, prostitutes and free trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs.
Pictured: Miami athletic director Kirby Hocutt discusses Nevin Shapiro Ponzi scheme in 2010
The Fifth Down Game is not Missouri’s only moment in college football infamy. On Nov. 8, 1997, Tigers fans stormed the field when it appeared that a pass from Nebraska quarterback Scott Frost — now the team’s head coach — was incomplete in the end zone as time expired, giving Missouri a win in the nationally televised game over the nation’s No. 1-ranked team.
What instant replay proved, however, is that the intended Nebraska receiver kicked the ball — intentionally, he later admitted — into the hands of his teammate, who made a spectacular diving catch. The kick should have incurred a 15-yard penalty. Instead, the referees ruled the kick was unintentional, giving the Huskers the tying touchdown and sending the game to overtime. Nebraska won.
Pictured: Missouri Tigers fans storm the field after defeating University of Illinois in 1991
The game-winning, expired-clock lateral play that Miami pulled off against Duke on Oct. 31, 2015, might be the greatest play in college football history. The problem is that it never should have counted. Down by three points with just a few seconds left on the clock, the Hurricanes evaded the swarming Blue Devils defense by completing eight backward lateral passes all the way to the end zone. During one of them, however, the passer’s knee was clearly down, which should have ended the play and the game. The Miami win stood, even though the Atlantic Coast Conference suspended four game officials.
Pictured: Miami Hurricanes assistant head coach Mark D’Onofrio with team in 2015 against Washington State Cougars
Right around the time the world was learning about Nevin Shapiro’s nefarious connections to Miami football, five Ohio State players — including the star quarterback, Terrelle Pryor — had to answer some tough questions of their own. The players allegedly broke NCAA regulations by selling rings, jerseys and other team-related memorabilia, and they also were accused of using their status to get free tattoos at a team-friendly ink shop in Columbus, Ohio.
Pictured: Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor in 2009
Frustrated after an ugly loss to Boise State in September 2009, Oregon Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount punched a Broncos linebacker in the face, knocking him to the ground after the linebacker taunted him. Blount, already facing serious trouble, then made his situation even worse when he engaged in a confrontation with fans who jeered him on his way off the field.
Pictured: Oregon Ducks running back LeGarrette Blount in 2009.
It should be next to impossible for a team of referees to misjudge whether a football traveled through the uprights during a point after touchdown. Yet on Sept. 24, 2011, that’s exactly what happened when the Syracuse placekicker hooked an extra point attempt wide in the final minutes of the fourth quarter, but the team was awarded the point anyway by officials who thought it looked good. They checked the video replay and then confirmed their call. The kick was clearly a miss, but the refs gave it to the Orangemen anyway, robbing Toledo of a win.
Pictured: Syracuse place kicker Cole Murphy misses a field goal in 2014 against Pittsburgh
Jerry Sandusky is a convicted child molester who almost certainly will die in prison, but he was once a top assistant coach to Penn State’s Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history. When Paterno died in 2012, however, his legendary career had been dwarfed by the size of the controversy that had disgraced his reputation. It came out in the preceding months that Paterno knew for more than a decade that Sandusky was using his position to prey on young boys but did nothing to intervene. Paterno was fired in 2011, just a few months before his death.
Pictured: Joe Paterno and Joe Sandusky in 1999
In October 2011, Miami defensive tackle Micanor Regis was suspended for punching a North Carolina wide receiver in the groin. The receiver, Dwight Jones, was tangled in a pile of players after a tackle when Regis slugged him between the legs. Earlier in the game, Regis intentionally stepped on another player’s hand.
Pictured: Miami defensive tackle Micanor Regis in 2012
In 2001, Notre Dame scored a red-hot hire in the form of a promising head coach named George O’Leary, but he would be among the shortest tenures in college sports history. Five days after he was hired, O’Leary was out after it was revealed that he had lied about his academic and athletic credentials on his resume for more than two decades, back to when he was hired as an assistant coach at Syracuse.
Pictured: George O’Leary speaks to media about his resignation as Notre Dame football coach
By March 2009, legendary Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden was just one game behind Joe Paterno for the record of most wins of any football coach in NCAA history. That all came crashing down in 2009 when FSU was hit with major penalties after an investigation revealed sweeping academic fraud involving 61 student-athletes across 10 sports during the 2006-07 academic year, but the school’s football team was hit the hardest. The Noles — and Bowden’s resume — forfeited 12 wins that were earned with ineligible players, and the NCAA assessed scholarship reductions and four years of probation.
Pictured: Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden during game against Miami Hurricanes in 2009
In 2007, Ohio State’s Ted Ginn Jr. became a BCS title game legend when he sprinted the opening kickoff back 93 yards to open the game with a touchdown return against Florida. His feet didn’t fail him during the return, but he broke his left foot during a celebration dance in the end zone. Florida won, 41-14.
Pictured: Ohio State’s Ted Ginn Jr. runs 93-yard touchdown return in 2007
Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray revealed a decade after the fact that he nearly quit football because of the crushing late hit he endured at the hands — helmet, actually — of Nick Fairley. In 2010, the Auburn pass rusher leveled Murray with a hit, well after the play, directly into the lower middle section of his back. Murray had a fractured sternum and whiplash as a result of the hit.
Pictured: Auburn’s pass rusher Nick Fairley tackling Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray in 2010
Marcus Vick, brother of former NFL quarterback Michael Vick, already was troubled by multiple legal transgressions and encounters with law enforcement heading into the 2006 Gator Bowl as a member of Virginia Tech. That game, however, proved too much for the school. The Hokies let their supremely talented quarterback go when Vick was seen on instant replay intentionally stomping on the leg of Louisville All-American defensive end Elvis Dumervil.
Pictured: Miami Dolphins rookie quarterback Marcus Vick in 2006
The video of Reggie Brown, face down and motionless on the turf for what seemed like an eternity, remains one of the most disturbing images in NCAA history. On Nov. 13, 2004, Auburn met Georgia for the latest installation of what’s called the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry. Bad blood was bristling from the start and came to a boil when Auburn defensive back Junior Rosegreen launched a helmet-to-helmet, full-speed spear at Brown, the Southeastern Conference’s leading receiver. The horrific hit led to SEC rule changes to protect vulnerable ball carriers.
Pictured: Georgia Bulldogs’ wide receiver Reggie Brown lies on turf after being hit by Auburn’s Junior Rosegreen
Football is an emotional sport and physical shots are part of the game, but the attack on a Vanderbilt punt returner by Arkansas’ Marquel Wade in October 2011 was as close to an assault as you’ll get during a college football game. Wade was ejected after he barreled through the punt returner, who was vulnerable, exposed and unable to brace himself for impact. He shouldn’t have had to brace for impact — he had clearly signaled for a fair catch.
Pictured: Arkansas’ wide receiver Marquel Wade in 2011
In 1987, NCAA officials determined Southern Methodist had been paying several of its key players, which is illegal, for several years. The resulting consequences would forever be known as the “death penalty.” The tiny, 6,000-student university was forced to cancel its 1987 and ’88 seasons and also lost 55 scholarships over four years.
Pictured: Southern Methodist interim president William Stallcup during press conference about NCAA banning SMU
In October 2011, one of the biggest and most embarrassing brawls in college football history broke out, leading to the suspension of 10 players. The fight occurred near the end of the UCLA-Arizona game after a streaker dressed like a referee ran onto the field, stripped off his clothes and ran across the field. Simultaneously, the two teams exchanged words, sparking a vicious mass fight that cleared both benches and consumed the field.
Pictured: Arizona Wildcats’ Dan Buckner catches the ball over UCLA’s Sheldon Rice on October 20, 2011
The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) debuted in 1998, and by 2013, the NCAA and its worldwide fan base had had enough of the controversial ranking system, which had been plagued with problems from the beginning. The BCS used computers and polls to rank teams and select the matchup for the national championship and other top bowl games. In 2014, the NCAA introduced the College Football Playoff system, relegating to history the arbitrary and fan-enraging BCS.
Pictured: Bowl Championship Series in New Orleans in 2008
Bobby Bowden is the greatest coach in Florida State history and an icon of the sport. Although he wasn’t fired, he didn’t exactly leave the program he took over as head coach in 1976 voluntarily. After one of the most storied careers in football history, Bowden was pushed out in 2009 after the Seminoles turned in three 7-6 seasons in five years. He asked for one more year at the age of 80, but school leaders decided that the Bowden era was over. The Seminoles won two national championships in his 34 seasons.
Pictured: Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden in locker room after winning Gator Bowl in 2010
Baylor is a private university with Baptist roots, and between 2011 and 2014, it emerged as a major player in the hyper-competitive Big 12 Conference after a long stretch as a third-tier team. Also during that time, it was alleged that more than 30 of its football players had committed more than 50 sexual assaults. In 2014, a Baylor player named Tevin Elliott was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman at a party and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. It was believed to be an isolated incident, but then a flood of women came forward, calling out alleged predators by name and exposing a culture of indifference among the university’s leaders. Head coach Art Briles and several campus officials lost their jobs.
Pictured: Baylor coach Art Briles in 2016
Few moments in all of sports history were more remarkable, exciting and, well, weird, than the antics that took place in the end zone at the end of the Nov. 20, 1982, meeting between archrivals Stanford and Cal. With four seconds left in the game and one point separating the two teams, Cal completed a seemingly impossible juggling act to return a kick in a five-lateral play that stands out as one of the greatest plays in history. Stanford’s entire band, anticipating a win, took the field and clogged the end zone before the game ended, leading to a bizarre scene that couldn’t happen anywhere but a college football game.
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Pictured: Stanford band goes wild prematurely before losing to Cal in 1982
This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: 25 Most Controversial College Football Moments
