Game of the Year of the Day, 1974: Miami (Ohio) 19, Kent State 17

The date: November 9, 1974

The matchup: Kent State (6-3) at Miami (Ohio) (7-0-1)

My second book, The 50 Best* College Football Teams of All Time, came out in March. The title is a misdirection — it’s not about the best teams; it’s about college football at its best and most interesting.

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to take a look at some of the biggest games from these 50 best* teams.

Rose Bowl breakthroughs

1924 Notre Dame, 1925 Alabama, 1931 USC, 1993 Wisconsin, 2004 Texas

Offensive innovation

1906 Chicago, 1943 Iowa Pre-Flight, 1968 Texas, 1991 Florida, 2007 Oregon

Dramatic seasons

1960 Iowa, 1965 UCLA, 1978 Missouri, 1982 Pitt, 2013 Auburn

Star power

1923 Illinois, 1938 TCU, 1980 Georgia, 1984 Boston College, 1999 Virginia Tech

On the rise

1951 Michigan State, 1962 Nebraska, 1970 Alabama, 1981 Florida State, 2002 USC

Mid-majors

1930 Utah, 1970 Dartmouth, 1972 Tampa, 1974 Miami (Ohio), 2010 Boise State

Greatness denied

1941 Northwestern, 1968 Purdue, 1973 Michigan, 1988 Miami, 1990 Virginia, 1998 Ohio State

Incredible defense

1938 Tennessee, 1957 Auburn, 1959 Ole Miss, 1985 Oklahoma, 1993 Texas A&M, 2011 LSU

Perfection

1917 Georgia Tech, 1940 Minnesota, 1945 Army, 1947 Notre Dame, 1955 Oklahoma, 1959 Syracuse, 1991 Washington

The stakes: The MAC title. Miami had already clinched a tie, but a win over rival Kent State would give the school its second straight outright title.

The back story: From 50 Best*:

It’s almost like Oxford holds its fall colors all year long. It is a nurturing environment, especially if you want to become a successful football coach one day. [...]

For decades, it seemed the best way to make it as a coach was to be touched by the school in Oxford. Play there and/or serve as an assistant there, and you’ll win ring after ring later in life. That’s how you get away with calling yourself the Cradle of Coaches with a straight face.

The best team in Miami history, however, may not have been one coached by Brown or Hayes or Parseghian or Schembechler. The most influential coach involved with the team was a starting running back at the time.

After four years in the Cradle of Coaches, Dick Crum would go on to engineer four consecutive top-20 finishes at North Carolina in the early-1980s. He wasn’t as successful as a Bo Schembechler, a Woody Hayes, or a Weeb Eubank, but he made a name for himself.

His 1974 Miami team, however, could have taken some of those UNC squads. With a backfield led by future Miami and Northwestern head coach Randy Walker and dual-threat quarterback Sherman Smith (who would go on to rush for 3,500 yards with the Seahawks and Chargers), the school was in the middle of an unprecedented run. The future Redhawks would go 32-1-1 from 1973-75, and after going 11-0 under Bill Mallory and winning the Tangerine Bowl in 1973, the team arguably got even better after Mallory left for Colorado.

Kent State wasn’t bad either, though. The Golden Flashes were in their final year under Don James — he would take the Washington job shortly after the 1974 season ended — and while they were dealing with an up-and-down season, with a win over Syracuse and losses to teams like Ohio and Utah State, the “up” version showed up in Oxford on a beautiful early-November day.

The game: Via Newspapers.com:

OXFORD (UPI) -- David Draudt kicked a 39-yard field goal with just six seconds remaining to rally 12th ranked and Tangerine Bowl-bound Miami to a heart-pounding 19-17 victory over stubborn Kent State Saturday.

The win gave the Redskins their second straight Mid-American Conference title with a perfect 5-0 league record and increased their unbeaten string to 21 games.

Kent State had grabbed a 17-16 lead with only one minute remaining on Larry Poole's two-yard touchdown run and Don Brown's extra point kick.

But in the final minute, Miami stormed from its 20-yard line to Kent's 22. Then with six seconds to go, Draudt smashed his soccer style 39-yard field goal through the uprights.

Until his game-winning kick, Draudt had figured to be the goat of the game because one of his extra point attempts in the second quarter had been blocked.

Kent State, trailing 16-10 with 7:20 remaining, had marched 80 yards to grab the 17-16 edge with one minute to go and the Flashes' bench erupted in excitement at the anticipated victory.

But Redskins quarterback Steve Sanna calmly led his team 58 yards in the final 60 seconds to set up Draudt's game-winning field goal.

That game recap omitted a key detail: Miami’s game-winning, last-minute drive began with a halfback pass from Walker to Smith for 26 yards. Sanna — a better passer than Smith — then came in and directed it from there. Meanwhile, not only had Draudt missed a PAT earlier in the game; he’d missed 10 of 14 field goals on the season. And then he nailed the kick to preserve Miami’s unbeaten streak.

The box score:

Newspapers.com

Miami was awesome in 1974 and would finish the season by mauling Cincinnati (27-7), then heading back to the Tangerine Bowl and handling Georgia with ease (21-10). The only blemish on the record all year was a tie against a Purdue team that would whomp No. 2 Notre Dame the next week. But James’ Golden Flashes very nearly pulled the upset here. Only a Kent State turnover and 10-for-13 passing for Miami gave the favorites a statistical edge.

Crum would go on to engineer two more one-loss seasons over the next three years; this was a golden age for the MAC, which at times between the late-1960s and mid-1970s boasted incredible Toledo and Miami teams and featured future stud coaches like James and Bowling Green’s Don Nehlen (who would go on to lead WVU to two top-10 finishes).

By the way, there was another future head coach on this awesome Miami team: a junior defensive back by the name of Ron Zook.