Throwback Thursday -- "The Run" by Adrian Peterson
10/3/2013 5:50:00 PM | Football
Epic 58-yard rush in 1999 NCAA Championship game is one of college football's all-time great highlights
The computer-generated play-by-play from the Georgia Southern-Youngstown championship game is 1999 is about as basic as it can get. Adrian Peterson rush for _____ yards to the ______ . That same exact line repeats 25 times through four quarters and just the numbers and yard lines change.
Adrian Peterson rush for 58 yards to the YSU14.
That's it.
That is how what Eagle fans know as "The Run" is described in the official NCAA stat book.
Truly, no description could do it justice, and anyone who tries usually winds up on YouTube for "show and tell."
At the beginning of the game, ESPN sideline announcer Don McPherson warned the TV audience that Peterson was only at 75 percent, nursing a turf toe that had kept him out of practice and on crutches all week. While Peterson would be effective in the middle, McPherson, continued, no one thought he was going to be able to break a long one.
In the first quarter, Peterson had only 19 yards on five attempts and seven of those yards came on a single carry. What a difference a quarter made as number three picked up 135 yards and scored twice. He would add nearly another 100 yards in the second half and another touchdown, finishing with 247 yards, averaging 9.9 yards per carry.
And Peterson did break a long one in a display of power and determination mixed with grace and grit.
The play, the first in second quarter series, caught the ESPN announcers off guard as there was an awkward end to a promo for an upcoming bowl game to declare, "Adrian Peterson is taking care of things right now!" And he was.
Peterson, even years later, credits his offensive line for making great blocks.
While the broadcaster is verbally marking off Peterson's progress in an excited tone, he's in awe of Peteron's balance and strength as he appears from a seemingly impossible-to-escape pack of Penguins.
"He's still on his feet! Peterson! Still on his feet!"
Peterson would, eventually, be brought down at the YSU 14, just as it appears on the play-by-play sheet, but only after clearing out no less than half a dozen Youngstown State players.
"With defenders in sight, and with the end zone on my mind, I was feeling my way down the field and ready to handle any defender who dared to stop me," Peterson said. "Knowing that my blockers were coming allowed me to stay calm in what looked like a storm. Never allowing my legs to stop moving gives me an advantage as continue to elude defenders, using every muscle in my body to stay on my feet, I run as hard as I can."
After watching "The Run," there's definitely no doubt about that.
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