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It will not rank as one of the greatest sports upsets if Indiana is able to defeat the Miami Hurricanes in Monday’s College Football Playoff Championship game. The Hoosiers are favored to win by 8½ points. They enter the game having won all 15 of their games – compared to the Canes twice falling to mid-level ACC opponents – and the past two by 30-point margins.
This one event comprises the denouement of the story of IU football’s unprecedented rise from the weakest power conference program in NCAA history to the precipice of a championship once reserved exclusively for the sport’s established elites.
It’s the whole of the experience that places this among the most amazing stories we’ve seen in sports – and possibly at the very top of that list. A school that never won a Heisman Trophy now has Fernando Mendoza. A school that had not won an outright Big Ten championship since 1945 defeated national power Ohio State on a neutral field.
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- Why Miami gets to keep all CFP revenue
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- Miami's run has a March Madness feel
IU can’t get all the way to that pinnacle, though, without getting all the way to the pinnacle of its sport. As “Rocky” showed 50 years ago, not every compelling sports story needs to be validated by ultimate victory. This one does. That the Hoosiers are here and expected to become champions just two years after Curt Cignetti was hired away from mid-major James Madison into a program that had not won a bowl game since 1991 – that is astonishing. Their story, though, cannot afford to now be stained by an upset loss when fulfillment is just 60 minutes away, albeit guarded by one of the best defenses in college football.
If Indiana gets there, this two-year miracle in the making might warrant its own motion picture. I’m thinking Ben Affleck could play Cig. That might not make for as compelling a film as “Miracle”, in part because its plot would be even more outlandish.
Indiana becoming a football power or the U.S. beating the Soviets in hockey?
Which belongs at the top of the most astonishing sports stories?
Most astonishing sports stories
Here’s a current order, ahead of kickoff:
1. Miracle on Ice
Sport: Hockey
Year: 1980
Event: Winter Olympics
Site: Lake Placid, N.Y.
Final score: United States 4, Soviet Union 3
Why it endures: In a time before “professionals” were allowed to play in the Olympics, the Soviets brought a team of full-time club hockey players to the Games ultimately to face a collection of American collegians in the tournament semifinals. The Soviets had five players over age 30 and seven more who were 25 or over. All but two U.S. players were under 25, and their average age of 21 made them the youngest in the nation’s history.
The Soviet team was acknowledged as the world’s best and had won five of the six previous Olympic golds. In a final exhibition prior to the start of the competition, the U.S. and USSR met at Madison Square Garden. The Soviets won, 10-3.
All the work coach Herb Brooks and his staff had put into building a cohesive team, though, helped produce a 4-0-1 record in group play that included a dramatic draw in the opener against Sweden – the U.S. pulled its goalie and scored with 27 seconds remaining – and a 7-3 destruction of heavily favored Czechoslovakia. In the other group, the Soviets won their five games by a combined score of 51-11.
If you’ve seen “Miracle”, you’ve heard one of the most inspirational pregame speeches ever presented by a coach. What Kurt Russell stated in the picture – one of his finest moments in a lifetime as an actor – was not word-for-word identical, according to players, but its purpose of igniting the Americans and humanizing the Soviets was met.
The U.S. fell behind midway through the first period, but when the great goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak allowed two relatively soft goals that left the score tied at 2-2 at the end of the first period, the Soviets panicked a bit and benched him. At a time when Bernie Parent and Ken Dryden had just retired from the game, Tretiak was considered the best in the world. Removing him suggested Brooks had been right; the Soviets were human.
Given what came next, coach Viktor Tikhonov would later call that change the biggest mistake of his career.
USSR still took a lead with a 12-2 onslaught in shots on goal and a power play goal less than two minutes into the period. But the Americans tied it a few minutes into the third on the power play, Mark Johnson putting it under Vladimir Myshkin and into the net. It was a 4-3 lead just moments later, when captain Mike Eruzione fired from the slot and got some help from a Soviet defender who blocked his goalie’s vision. There were 10 minutes remaining.
The U.S. did not retreat to protect the lead, continuing to follow Brooks’ advice to stick with the style that had worked to that point. The Soviets did the same – they remained playing five skaters against five defenders and refused to pull Myshkin from his net. They’d never even practiced for that eventuality.
You’ve no doubt heard the final seconds repeated from Al Michaels’ ABC call: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”
Whatever Indiana accomplishes will never resonate like this for American sports fans.
Which is not to say IU’s success wouldn’t be more astounding.
2. Buster Douglas over Mike Tyson
Sport: Boxing
Year: 1990
Event: Undisputed heavyweight championship
Site: Tokyo
Final score: Douglas, 10th-round KO
Why it endures: Not quite two years earlier, Tyson had entered the ring in Atlantic City against established heavyweight champion Michael Spinks. Indeed, Spinks had stepped up in weight class to win the more lucrative title, but he still was the first to conquer longtime champion Larry Holmes. Tyson knocked out Spinks in 91 seconds.
That burnished Tyson’s reputation as an unbeatable champ. He’d fought 10 title fights in all, knocking out eight of his challengers, by the time he arrived in Japan for the challenge from Douglas. That Buster even got into the ring was evidence promoter Don King was running out of opponents for Tyson; Douglas had lost four and drawn one of his 34 previous fights. Douglas entered the ring as the No. 7 contender in the weight class and a 42-1 underdog.
It was immediately obvious neither fighter was the same.
Douglas’ mother had passed away less than a month earlier and he was motivated to win the title in her honor. Tyson seemed to have taken the fight less seriously than previous bouts, which wasn’t entirely outrageous given his opponent’s record.
Although Douglas controlled most of the fight, Tyson’s power lurked, and he managed an eight-round uppercut that sent Douglas to the canvas. Douglas did not get to his feet until the count of nine, but the bell rang, anyway. Two rounds later came the Buster straight right that froze Tyson, then several more blows that knocked him down. The lingering picture was of Tyson futilely grabbing for his mouthpiece, then sticking it in the side of his jaw as referee Octavio Meyran waved the fight to a close.
“I was mediocre, and I would leave a lot of doubt. I don’t blame you guys. You guys go on what you see,” Douglas said. “But I know, and my people know, what the real James Douglas is all about.”
Eight months later, Douglas lost his first title defense, to Evander Holyfield.
3. Rulon Gardner over Aleksandr Karelin
Sport: Greco-Roman wrestling
Event: Olympic Games, Greco-Roman 286 pound class
Year: 2000
Site: Sydney
Final score: 1-0
Why it endures: Karelin was like Tom Brady, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods molded into a single mountain of muscle and dominance.
He went 13 years without losing a match and six years without surrendering a single point in international competition, winning three Olympic gold medals and nine World Championships in that period. That string of dominance was even longer than U.S. track star Edwin Moses’ splurge of 10 years without a defeat in the 400-meter hurdles.
Gardner was a U.S. champion twice in advance of the Sydney Olympics, but he’d not placed at Worlds and was overwhelmed, 5-0, the only previous time he’d faced Karelin. But at 3:30 of the second period in their gold medal bout, the period beginning with the two wrestlers locked in a clinch position and Karelin needing to throw Gardner to avoid losing a point, the Russian allowed his grip to slip and his hands to separate. That meant a penalty point for Gardner. It was a chore to hold on from there, literally, because the low score mandated an additional 3-minute overtime. But he managed.
Gardner celebrated with a cartwheel on the mat.
4. Leicester City
Sport: Soccer
Year: 2016
Event: Premier League
Site: Stamford Bridge, London
Final score: Chelsea 2, Tottenham Hotspur 2
Why it endures: As it occasionally does, the securing of the Premier League title lacked the big-moment theatrics that one might see in the Super Bowl or Wimbledon. Most of the Leicester players were at the home of their star striker, Jamie Vardy, when the draw between the two London clubs assured Leicester City would be 2015-16 champions.
Tottenham had to win that game at Chelsea in order to remain alive in the title race just a few games before the end but allowed a late goal to Blues star winger Eden Hazard. At the final whistle, the Leicester players celebrated as if it was their own goal that sealed it.
Right back Danny Simpson told ESPN.com he went alone into Vardy’s garden and wept. "You go through so much in football, and so much rejection, whether it's being told you're too small, clubs not wanting you," he said. "You're constantly thinking you're not good enough. It was just a relief, a weight off my shoulder.”
Leicester City had earned promotion from England’s second division just two years earlier, after 10 years outside the Premier League. They were considered a 5000-to-1 shot at the start of the season. Since 2000, only big-money clubs Manchester United (eight titles), Chelsea (four), Arsenal (two) and Manchester City (two) had won the Premier League.
But everything went wrong for them and impossibly right for Leicester. Vardy scored in 11 consecutive games near the start of the season and finished with 24 goals. Riyad Mahrez scored 17. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel was responsible for 15 shutouts. Leicester did not luck into its title; it finished second in the league in goal differential, plus-32.
4. Saint Peter’s
Sport: Basketball
Year: 2022
Event: NCAA Tournament
Site: East Region
Final score: Victories over No. 2 seed Kentucky, No. 7 seed Murray State, No. 3 seed Purdue
Why it endures: The expanded NCAA Tournament began in 1985, and not until 2013 did a No. 15 seed win the two games necessary to reach the Sweet 16. It was considered a monumental upset when Richmond took down No. 2 seed Syracuse in 1991, and Lehigh behind C.J. McCollum in 2012 knocked out Duke.
It wasn’t until 2013 – 28 years into the format-- that Florida Gulf Coast managed two wins to arrive in the Sweet 16; Oral Roberts (2021) and Princeton (2023) have done it since. But only Saint Peter’s ever made it all the way to the Elite Eight, just a single game removed from the sport’s Promised Land.
Former Seton Hall star Shaheen Holloway was in his fourth season coaching the Peacocks. They finished the regular season at 16-11 but 14-6 in the Metro Atlantic conference, three games behind Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels. But Saint Peter’s didn’t have to face them in the MAAC Tournament; Iona was upset by No. 9 seed Rider in the quarterfinals. The Peacocks won the league’s automatic bid with a 6-point victory over Monmouth.
That got them a No. 15 seed and a game against Kentucky and Sporting News Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe. He rang up 30 points and 16 rebounds against the Peacocks, who had no starter taller than 6-7. But UK wings Kellan Grady and TyTy Washington were held to 3-of-19 shooting, and Saint Peter’s prevailed in overtime.
In the Sweet 16, the Peacocks held Purdue to 5-of-21 3-point shooting and won by 3, squeezing five turnovers from 7-4 Zach Edey in his last game before going on to become a two-time Sporting News Player of the Year.
North Carolina recognized how allowing the Peacocks to gain confidence was a principal agent of their success, so the Tar Heels assured they would have none. Carolina had a 10-point lead by the 10-minute mark of the first half, had doubled up the opposition by halftime and went on the win, 69-49.
Even though multiple mid-majors have reached the Final Four, this stands as the most surprising run in March Madness history.
5. Jack Fleck
Sport: Golf
Year: 1955
Event: U.S. Open
Site: Olympic Club, San Francisco
Final score: Jack Fleck 69, Ben Hogan 72 in 18-hole playoff
Why it endures: Hogan had won nine career majors and been PGA Tour Player of the Year on four occasions by the time he arrived at the 72nd hole of the U.S. Open and recorded a par to finish at 7-over-par 287. Although Fleck still had five holes to play, the NBC television broadcast signed off and proclaimed Hogan the winner, declaring him a five-time champion in the event.
Fleck, though, rallied from two shots down over the final four holes to tie and force a playoff the next day.
This was one of the top three players in the sport’s history – at that time, certainly – against a former club pro who had only become a full-time touring player six months earlier, at age 34, and had opened the tournament with a 76, placing him nine strokes behind the first-round leader, Tommy Bolt. His recovery from that deficit broke a record. As well, Fleck had to go through the qualifying process simply to make the field.
In the playoff, Fleck was two shots ahead at the turn, extended that to three with a birdie at No. 10 but the immediately bogeyed the next hole to take the lead back to two. By the 18th tee, it was down to a single shot. Hogan, however, hooked his tee-shot into nasty rough to the left of the fairway. It took him three swings to escape. Fleck's simple par ended his round at 1-under 69, three ahead of Hogan. It was his first Tour victory, though he would go on to win twice more.
Hogan was Fleck’s golf hero, so much that Fleck played the tournament with a custom-made set of Ben Hogan irons. Hogan took the stunning defeat well.
“I remember his reaction very much,” Fleck told Newark’s Star Ledger in 2013, a year before he died at 92. “I thought he would be disappointed with the fact he didn’t play to his highest level. But he was very nice and very appreciative, even though he lost the playoff.”
6. Steven Bradbury
Sport: Speed skating, 1000-meter short track
Year: 2002
Event: Winter Olympics
Site: Salt Lake City
Final score: Finished in 1:29.109
Why it endures: Bradbury was 28 years old and in his third Olympics for Australia. He was well aware he no longer could match the speed of such young stars as Apolo Anton Ohno of the United States. So when he got to the semifinals, Bradbury decided he’d pace himself and hope the skaters jostling in front of him might wipe each other out. And they did, which allowed him to advance to the final.
And it happened again on the final lap of the gold medal race, allowing Bradbury to cross the finish line alone.
“I was the oldest bloke in the field, and I knew that skating four races back to back I wasn’t going to have any petrol left in the tank,” Bradbury said afterward. “So there was no point in getting there and mixing it up, because I knew I was going to be in last place, anyway. So I might as well stay out of the way and be in last place and hope that some people get tangled up.”
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