(First Rose Bowl. Photo via tournamentofroses.com)

1/01/1902 - The first Rose Bowl

The first postseason football game occurs as the Michigan Wolverines obliterate the Stanford Cardinal in the "Tournament East-West Football Game." The Wolverines, en route to a 56-game winning streak, were leading 49-0 when the Cards forfeited in the 3rd quarter. Michigan outscored their opponents 550-0 that season, however they didn't play in another bowl game for 46 years, as it was against Big 10 regulations.

Over 8,000 unruly spectators packed into the 1,000-occupant stadium. The rowdy fans' misbehavior and the game's lopsided score culminated in the game's departure from the New Year's Day festivities. But in 1916, the game returned, and has been played annually ever since. Fondly known as the "Granddaddy of them all," the game now known as the "Rose Bowl" follows the Tournament of Roses parade each year; it was the Rose Bowl's success that led to the creation of other college football bowl games, which, like the Rose Bowl, traditionally falls on or around January 1st.

1/01/1929 - Roy Riegels runs the wrong way

In the second quarter of the 1929 Rose Bowl, Golden Bears center Roy Riegels commits one of the most notorious blunders in college football. After being knocked to the ground, Riegels recovered a fumble from Georgia Tech's Stumpy Thomason. With the ball at the Tech 35, Riegels did the unthinkable and started to run in the opposite direction towards his own end zone, much to the astonishment of the Georgia Tech sideline.

Radio broadcaster Graham McNamee, stunned at what he was seeing, captured the scene beautifully: "What am I seeing? What's wrong with me? Am I crazy? Am I crazy? Am I crazy?"

Teammates on the sideline yelled for Riegels to stop, but could not be heard over the 70,000 screaming fans. Finally California quarterback Benny Lom, who was also playing defensive back, out-raced Riegels at the three-yard line and tried to turn him around; but they were quickly tackled by a swarm of Tech defenders and were brought down at the one-yard line. Riegels had run 65 yards in the opposite direction. California's ensuing punt was blocked and Georgia Tech scored on a safety. Tech eventually won, 8-7, with Roy's mistake being the difference.

''Once I asked him why he didn't hand me the ball,'' Lom recalled years later, ''and Roy said, 'If I would have thought of that, then I wouldn't have run the wrong way in the first place.' "

Riegels was a star athlete and was eventually enshrined into the California Golden Bears' Hall of Fame. Yet from then on he was strictly known for his on-field mistake, earning him the nickname: "Wrong-Way Riegels." Frank Capra even directed a movie called Flight that featured his blunder as the center point of the plot. A decade after the error, Reigels' wife filed for divorce on the grounds of "moroseness."

Riegels was able to rebound from the infamous play and lived the second half of his life as a pilot and coach. In 1957, he addressed a letter to high school student Jan Bandringa, who had committed the same game-losing mistake he did. ''For many years I've had to go along and laugh whenever my wrong-way run was brought up, even though I've grown tired listening and reading about it," Riegels wrote. "But it certainly wasn't the most serious thing in the world. I regretted doing it, even as you do, but you'll get over it.''

(Flutie's notable dropkick. Photo by Joe Rimkus Jr., Miami Herald/KRT)

1/01/2006 - Flutie converts unique PAT

In the final game of the 2005 season, the New England Patriots had already clinched the AFC East and had relatively nothing to play for. Knowing that they could afford to potentially lose a point, coach Bill Belichick had 43 year-old Doug Flutie -- playing in his final NFL game -- take a snap for the extra point in lieu of their regular field goal kicker. To the confusion of the Miami Dolphins, who had no idea what the Pats were doing, Flutie then dropped the ball and kicked it through the uprights -- converting on the first dropkick extra point in modern history.

"We had a couple tryouts out there and Doug shanked a couple, but he hit a couple good ones, so I thought if we had an opportunity to do it here in of these last couple of games, we'd give him a shot," said Belichick, who then congratulated Flutie on the sideline. "I think Doug deserves it. He is a guy that adds a lot to this game of football -- running, passing, and now kicking. I'm happy for him."

Not since the 1941 championship game -- two weeks after the Pearl Harbor bombings -- had a player converted on a dropkick point-after try. It was a fitting bookend for Flutie, whose football career was defined by his miraculous game-winning touchdown in a 1984 college football game. It wasn't until the final day of his football career that he accomplished anything even remotely as memorable.

1/01/2007 - Boise State wins Fiesta Bowl

When the undefeated Boise State Broncos defeated the Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl, it was a surprise. But as shocking as it was for the underdog Broncos to win, it was the magnificent fashion in which they won -- which included a trifecta of trick plays during the most critical part of the contest -- that left people in disbelief.

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