The Hit, the Hug, the Catch: Top Plays From College Football in 2008

Athletic, game-changing, and unusual are some of the words used to describe the most memorable plays of the 2008 season.  The following five have been chosen on the basis of the way they made us feel—they touched all emotions.

No.5   The Wrong Place at the Wrong Time

Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis was in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when one of his own players was blocked into him and tore his ACL and MCL.

Michigan was at Notre Dame early in the year when during a punt return, while Weis was focusing on the runner, a 264-pound defensive end was blocked into him—and he didn't even see it coming.

The Irish went on to defeat Michigan 35-17 and Weis decided to wait until the end of the season to address the surgery to repair his left knee.  He didn't miss any games and walked with the help of crutches for remainder of the year.

Weis said after the game, "I feel like an athlete. First time in my life."   The injury reminded us of another coach who went through something just like Weis.  In 2006 Joe Paterno got hit, while on the sideline, by a Wisconsin player.  Paterno had surgery the next day.

No.4   The Tackle

When LSU traveled to South Carolina for an October SEC game, nobody expected to see South Carolina's quarterback get tackled by the umpire.

Late in the second quarter, Stephen Garcia was scrambling left, cut back, and ran into umpire Wilbur Hackett Jr. 

Replays showed Hackett appeared to lower his shoulder and use a forearm to put down Garcia. 

After examining the film, the SEC said Hackett, a former Kentucky linebacker, was protecting himself.  Three plays after the "tackle," South Carolina went on to score, but LSU won the game 24-17.

No.3   The Late Hit

On Oct. 25, Miami and Wake Forest were locked up in a close ACC game when the Hurricanes' Sam Shields returned a kickoff at the beginning of the second half—with the help of some trickery. Travis Benjamin originally caught the ball and pitched it back to Shields.

After Shields had returned the kick 36 yards and was forced out of bounds, a Wake Forest player hit him late.   It's impossible to tell what prompted Joe Birdsong to actually come off the bench to deliver a forearm to Shields.

Wake Forest was given a 15-yard penalty, the drive led to a Miami field goal, and the Hurricanes went on to win 16-10.

No.2   The Hug

Cincinnati's wideout Mardy Gilyard was chasing down a pass in an important Big East game against South Florida when his momentum took him all they into the stands.  At full speed, Gilyard crashed into seven-year-old Garret Monroe.

Little Garret, with his face painted for Halloween, started to cry.

At that moment, Gilyard picked up Garret, gave him a big hug and held the game up while a Thursday night ESPN audience saw tears rolling onto the child's painted face.

Gilyard said, "I wasn't going to leave until he told me he was ok."

Garret recovered pretty fast, and when Erin Andrews went over and interviewed him, he had to stop the interview periodically to sign autographs.

No. 1   The  Catch

The Catch!  One of the greatest plays we've ever seen in the history of the game!

Top-ranked Texas went to Texas Tech for a nationally televised game between the two undefeated teams. 

Tech was down by one point, while the clock was running out, when the quarterback, Graham Harrell, saw Michael Crabtree deep in Texas territory and threw him a bullet.

Crabtree makes the catc