As we go through the summer months, I am taking a look back at some of the greatest comebacks of the last 23 years. This week we go back to November 14, 1992. The Towson football team took on the Huskies of Northeastern. It was a mostly cloudy day with the temperature getting up to 45 degrees at Minnegan Stadium.
The Scene
Towson came into that game with a record of 4-4. The Tigers needed one victory in their final two games to guarantee a non-losing season. This would be a great turnaround from the 1991 team that went 1-10. The game started well, with the Tigers jumping out to a 14-3 lead.
Brian McCarty
Sophomore running back Brian McCarty had a big game that day. Brian is a guy who is often forgotten when you mention the greatest running backs in Tiger history. Brian is the third-leading rusher in school history with 2,594 yards. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry and scored 32 touchdowns in his career. The amazing part is that in two of his four years, he played alongside the Tigers' all-time leading rusher Tony Vinson.
On this day, Brian rushed for 245 yards, which is the seventh-best single-game total in school history. Included in those 245 yards was a 73-yard run for a touchdown to give the Tigers a 27-22 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Tiger take the early lead
This is where the game got interesting. Northeastern's field goal kicker Henry Rogan had a career high with four field goals on this late autumn day. He kicked a 26-yarder with just under 10 minutes left in the game to cut the Towson lead to 27-25.
Northeastern makes a run
The Tigers had a 21-10 lead at the half. Northeastern's defense was picking up steam as the game wore on. The Tigers' quarterback that afternoon, hall of famer Dan Crowley, remembers, “Northeastern had a really good defense. We were able to run the ball in the first half. In the second half the Huskies made some adjustments and started to blitz more. We didn't have the same success as we did early in the game.”
Trailing by two, Northeastern got the ball with 59 seconds left inside their 20-yard line. Crowley remembers sitting on the bench with former Tiger quarterback Chris Goetz who was then an assistant coach for Towson.
“I kept telling Chris they have a long way to go, and not a lot of time to score,” said Crowley.
The Huskies knew their field goal kicker was hot, and all they needed was three points. Northeastern's quarterback Ralph Barrone thought differently. He completed four of six passes to get the Huskies down to the Tiger 32.
The Huskies take the lead
With 11 seconds left, Barrone ran a quarterback draw into the end zone to put the Huskies on top, 32-27, with four seconds left. That same play came back to haunt the Tigers the following year against Howard. In front of a packed Minnegan Stadium homecoming crowd, Jay “Sky” Walker ran 30 yards for a game-ending touchdown to beat Towson, 44-41. That loss probably kept the Tigers out of the Division 1-AA playoffs.
Anyway, after Barrone scored, Crowley remembers the scene on the Tiger sideline.
“Coach [Gordy] Combs had the guys huddled up and just kept screaming to them to keep pitching the ball. Keep pitching the ball.”
It was a play that Crowley says the team had never practiced with the special teams. Meanwhile, Dan along with offensive coordinator Jay Robinson and quarterback coach Rob Ambrose were discussing the Hail Mary they knew they would have to throw after the kick-off return. It's a play they never had to run.
Up in the broadcast booth, I and then-color analyst Vaughn Harmon, one of the Tigers' greatest offensive linemen, were shocked by how Northeastern had come back to take the lead. You knew the Tigers were going to try lateraling the ball all over the field, but realistically how often is that successful?
The comeback begins
The Huskies kicked off, and Mark Orlando, the Tigers' hall of fame wide receiver (and my favorite player of all time), grabbed the squib. He tossed the ball back to center Jeff Law, who as he was falling down pitched it back to defensive back Julian Blair.
Crowley remembers, “The ball was on our side of the field. As Jeff started to pitch the ball back, there was a huge pileup developing. He was able to get the ball off to Julian who started heading toward the Northeastern bench. I guess from their side of the field, they couldn't see that Law wasn't down when he got the ball off to Julian. That's when they all started running onto the field thinking the game was over.”
A penalty is called
At this point, Blair is at midfield and running through Northeastern players who had stormed the field thinking the game was over. When they realized it wasn't over, they tackled Blair at the Huskies 20-yard line.
Crowley says he immediately knew something was amiss.
“I knew they had committed a penalty. I never saw a flag, but I knew they had committed a penalty. I also knew the game couldn't end on a defensive penalty. It was just a matter of what yard line would we get the ball on.”
An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for too many men on the field was assessed against Northeastern, and the Tigers had one untimed play at the NU 10-yard line.
Again Crowley remembers, ”Jay Robinson, Rob Ambrose and I decided we were going to throw a slant to Mark Orlando. But when we lined up, their defensive back pressed right up to Mark. He changed the pattern at the line of scrimmage to a fade. We didn't shotgun back then, so I took the ball from under center. I just dropped back and threw the pass into the left corner of the endzone, and Mark had gotten separation and made the easy catch.”
Crowley feels like that game, along with a comeback win against Indiana of Pennsylvania the week before, helped to propel this core group of players to an 8-2 record the following year.
ESPN comes calling
Word started to spread nationally about the way Towson defeated Northeastern that November Saturday afternoon. It ended up being ESPN's play of the week. That Sunday, I got a phone call from ESPN asking if I could Fedex the audio up to Bristol.
When the four-letter network did its countdown of the greatest plays of the college football season that December, this kick-off and ensuing untimed touchdown pass was voted as the wildest finish of the 1992 season. Those of us in Minnegan Stadium that chilly November afternoon will never forget it.
Don't tell anyone, but I think Mark Orlando pushed off for offensive pass interference on the winning touchdown pass. If you see Mark, ask him.
