If you weren't watching Saturday's game between the Stanford Cardinal and the USC Trojans, there's a chance you may have missed the game of the year. And that statement may not even be limited to college football.
After quarterback Andrew Luck led the Cardinal on a late drive in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 34-34, the game headed to overtime, despite the demonstrative objection by Trojans head coach Lane Kiffin, who insisted that USC still had possession of the ball with one second left in regulation.
USC won the coin toss and elected to defend first. Jeremy Stewart scored on a short goal-line run, and the Trojans answered back with a Matt Barkley 10 yard touchdown pass to Robert Woods. The game headed to second overtime with the score still tied, 41-41.
The second OT went much the same as the first. USC opened the scoring this time with another Barkley pass to Randall Telfer. Not to be outdone, Luck answered right back with an 11 yard pass to Levine Toilolo to head into the third overtime period and the start of the two-point conversion scores.
Stepfan Taylor had an easy 5-yard touchdown run up the middle against a weary Trojans defense, and in Stanford's first two-point conversion attempt of the season, Luck completed to Coby Fleener in the end zone to put the Cardinal on top, 56-48. This conversion and Stanford's second OT touchdown were created specifically to take advantage of USC's freshmen, and both plays were executed to perfection.
At this point, it looked like the two teams were prepared to be there all night. USC took possession of the ball and Barkley heaved another pass to Marqise Lee to take the Trojans to the Stanford 4. On the next play, Curtis McNeal -- who had earlier scored two touchdowns for USC -- carried the ball to the line of scrimmage, where he was stopped by Stanford defenders. He struggled against them for a few moments before the ball was stripped and rolled into the endzone, where redshirt freshman Stanford linebacker A.J. Tarpley fell on the loose ball to give the Cardinal the win and keep the team undefeated. It was the most exciting end to what was easily the most exciting game this season.
Luck finished the game 29-for-40 with 325 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Barkley was 28-for-45 with 284 passing yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Great performance from both quarterbacks.
Hang out with your fellow Cardinal fans and talk about how amazing this game was at Rule Of Tree.