playJake TrotterSep 22, 2026, 07:00 AM ETCloseJake Trotter is a senior writer at ESPN. Trotter covers college football. He also writes about other college sports, including men’s and women’s basketball. Trotter resides in the Cleveland area with his wife and three kids and is a fan of his hometown Oklahoma City Thunder.
He covered the Cleveland Browns and NFL for ESPN for five years, moving back to college football in 2024. Previously, Trotter worked for the Middletown (Ohio) Journal, Austin American-Statesman and Oklahoman newspapers before joining ESPN in 2011. He’s a 2004 graduate of Washington and Lee University. You can reach out to Trotter at jake.trotter@espn.com and follow him on X at @Jake_Trotter.Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsIan Johnson was flying home from Disney World with his wife and three daughters last month when the gate agent stopped him.As he scanned Johnson’s boarding pass, the agent immediately recognized the name.”Hey, I know you,” he told Johnson, a former Boise State running back.
“I know exactly where I was.”Johnson knew exactly what he meant.”We’re just sitting there holding up the line,” Johnson said. “Talking about this old play.”Twenty years later, the upset, the trick plays, the proposal — all remain unforgettable.On Jan. 1, 2007, unbeaten Boise State arrived at the Fiesta Bowl as a heavy underdog against Oklahoma, the Big 12 champion.The Broncos jumped on the Sooners early, building an 18-point lead in the third quarter. But Oklahoma rallied and, with just over a minute remaining, returned a Jared Zabransky interception for a touchdown to take its first lead of the game.What followed became one of the most improbable finishes in college football history.Boise State used three trick plays in the final minute and overtime to win 43-42: a hook-and-ladder on fourth-and-18 to force overtime; a fourth-down halfback pass for a touchdown on fourth down; and the Statue of Liberty for the game-winning 2-point conversion.”It’s the ultimate underdog story,” said former Boise State coach Chris Petersen, who will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in December.The ultimate love story, too.With the celebration still unfolding on the field, Johnson got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, Boise State cheerleader Chrissy Popadics.”My most iconic football moment has nothing to do with football,” Johnson said. “The biggest thing I ever did in a football jersey was propose to my wife.”This Saturday, Boise State travels to Western Michigan (3:30 p.m.
ET, ESPN2) in a matchup that could have major implications for the Group of 6 College Football Playoff bid.No Group of 6 team, including Boise State, has won a playoff game yet. But that Fiesta Bowl remains a reminder to smaller programs of what’s possible.”I remember where I was, hanging on the edge of my seat, hoping that they could pull it off,” Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor said.Next weekend at home against Utah State, Boise will honor the 2006 team on the field, commemorating the 20th anniversary of its undefeated season and Fiesta Bowl victory.”I truly believed then that that was going to go down as one of the best college games of all time,” Zabransky said. “Twenty years, I think that’s still ringing true, which is pretty special.”The Broncos referred to their trick plays at the time as “specials.” And the three that helped deliver one of college football’s most memorable upsets each has a backstory of its own.CIRCUS: ‘That’s the best we got?’In 2004, the Broncos were on the verge of their first undefeated season and top-10 finish in program history.But in the final seconds of the Liberty Bowl, Louisville intercepted Zabransky’s pass in the end zone.Zabransky threw four picks and lost a fumble in the opener against Georgia the following season. And Boise State’s next bowl appearance ended the same way as the previous one: with a Zabransky interception in a 27-21 loss to Boston College.”It was a struggle to recover from that for him,” Petersen said.
“That took so much confidence away from him.”The summer going into his final year, Zabransky met repeatedly with a neurolinguistics programming specialist to help him rebuild his confidence and overcome mistakes.”That was a big step for me,” he said, “overcoming a junior year that was not up to my standards.”As a senior, Zabransky rebounded to earn second-team All-WAC honors and led Boise State to an undefeated regular season.In the first half of the Fiesta Bowl, Zabransky torched Oklahoma with two long touchdown throws to receiver Drisan James.Midway through the third quarter, Boise State led the Sooners, 28-10.”It might have been David and Goliath to the rest of the world,” Zabransky said. “But we were beating them up at the line of scrimmage, our defense was turning them over and we were driving the length of the field and scoring. It wasn’t like some mid-major team that got lucky.”But Oklahoma began to rally. And star running back Adrian Peterson, who had missed much of the year with a broken collarbone, started to find a groove.The Sooners eventually tied the game, leaving Boise State with a little more than a minute for a potential game-winning drive.Instead, Zabransky misread the coverage and threw an interception to Marcus Walker, who waltzed in untouched to put the Sooners ahead for the first time.”You’re just like, ‘You got to be s—ting me,'” said former Boise offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin, watching the pick in disbelief from the box.
“This guy has had a wonderful year. It can’t end like this.”Zabransky’s mother, Tana, couldn’t bear to watch her son suffer another heartbreaking ending. She raced up the stadium stairs to the bathroom and began sobbing and praying.Unlike previous bowl interceptions, Zabransky didn’t hang his head. When the Broncos got the ball back, he scrambled and delivered a strike to tight end Derek Schouman to get the Broncos into OU territory.But a sack and two incompletions left Boise State facing fourth-and-18 at midfield with 18 seconds to go.The Broncos had a call left in their playbook for just the occasion.
But they’d never used it in a game. And it never worked in practice.They called it “Circus.””I thought the name was fitting,” Zabransky said.Boise State ended every Friday practice with Circus.The play called for the Broncos to keep pitching the ball after a completion in hopes someone would find a lane to the end zone.Instead, the ball inevitably ended up on the ground.”It was just a goof-off play,” Johnson said.But earlier that season, the Broncos added a wrinkle.Instead of throwing the hook to the three-receiver side on the right, they flipped it.”There was just a lot of traffic over there,” Zabransky said. “Coach Pete was like, ‘Why don’t we run the hook to the single receiver?'”Down to their last chance, Petersen called for Circus.”The defensive guys, they’re like, ‘That’s the best we got?'” Petersen recalled. “We were outside the Hail Mary line.
So I’m thinking, ‘Yeah, this is the best we got.'”Zabransky found James, the single receiver on the left, who pitched the ball to Jerard Rabb sprinting across from the other side.All five Sooners in the vicinity had to change direction. And none could catch Rabb, who wasn’t known for his speed.”I’m yelling ‘pitch it’ like an idiot,” said Zabransky, who along with Johnson was trailing him. “But J-Rabb turned on the jets. That was the fastest any of us had ever seen him run.”Rabb’s touchdown sent the game to overtime.One of Zabransky’s cousins rushed up the steps to find Tana and tell her the game wasn’t over.HALFBACK PASS: ‘Are you sure?’Vinny Perretta could always throw but rarely got to.
His high school quarterback at La Costa Canyon in Carlsbad, California, was future Minnesota Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell. Perretta once threw a touchdown pass on a trick play against De La Salle, the No. 1 team in the country.He hoped to follow O’Connell to San Diego State, but the offer never came.”I remember watching
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