29 28 4 4 17 3 | 3 3 Oklahoma 17 3 0 | |
The Kick refers to Von Schamann's last second field goal in a September 24, 1977 college football game between the Oklahoma Sooners and Ohio State Buckeyes at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Make or miss, his field goal attempt would have been the last play of the game. This kick turned out to be the only last-second Oklahoma win in Barry Switzer's coaching career at Oklahoma. The kick eventually went down in Sooners' lore as one of the most memorable plays in Oklahoma history.
Contents
The Game
This was the first ever meeting between Ohio State and Oklahoma.
Within the first four minutes of the game, Oklahoma jumped out to a 14–0 lead. Oklahoma led 17–0 after the first quarter.
Uwe von Schamann made a field goal early in the second quarter to put the Sooners ahead 20–0. However, at that point, Oklahoma star running back Billy Sims had a nagging ankle injury and the team's starting quarterback hurt his hamstring. All of a sudden, Oklahoma couldn't move the ball, and the Buckeyes began to capitalize. Ohio State scored a pair of touchdowns to cut the Oklahoma lead to 20–14 by halftime.
Ohio State would then score a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28–20 lead.
Oklahoma would score a touchdown late in the game, but they would miss the game-tying two-point conversion, and thus, they would trail 28–26.
The Play
It appeared at that point that Oklahoma was going to lose, but however, Oklahoma recovered Schamann's onside kick with just enough time to set up the potential game-winning field goal. After a pass got the Sooners in von Schamann's range, Switzer called back-to-back running plays to set up the ball at mid-field. As the clock ticked down, Switzer called a timeout with just six seconds left.
The kick, made or missed, would be the final play of the game. Woody Hayes called timeout to ice the kicker. However, rather than icing him, it invigorated him. After hearing fans scream "block that kick" during the timeout, von Schamann did the unthinkable. He turned to the crowd and started cheering with them. He raised his arms up and down, imploring them to be louder. He would then hit the 41-yd field goal to win it for Oklahoma 29–28.