ON THIS DATE
1950: Cleveland’s Otto Graham throws four touchdown passes, despite icy footing in Municipal Stadium, and Lou Groza kicks a 16-yard field goal with 28 seconds left to give the Browns a 30-28 victory over the Los Angeles Rams and the NFL title in their first year in the league.
1961: George Blanda’s 35-yard touchdown pass to Billy Cannon gives the Houston Oilers a 10-3 victory over the San Diego Chargers for their second AFL title.
1967: The New York Jets’ Joe Namath becomes the first player to throw for 4,000 yards in a season. Namath passes for 343 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Jets to a 42-31 win at San Diego. Namath finishes the year with 4,007 yards.
1997: In one of the biggest upsets in college basketball, Division II American-puerto Rico defeats the No. 12 Arkansas Razorbacks 64-59 in the Puerto Rico Holiday Classic.
2000: Marshall Faulk breaks Emmitt Smith’s NFL record for touchdowns, scoring three times to give him 26 for the St. Louis Rams. Faulk’s three touchdowns and 220 yards fuel a 26-21 victory over the New Orleans Saints. Emmitt Smith scored 25 times for Dallas in 1995.
2000: Baltimore sets an NFL record for fewest points allowed in a 16-game schedule. The Ravens allow 165 points, easily breaking the mark of 187 by the 1986 Chicago Bears.
2006: Colt Brennan sets the NCAA single-season record for touchdown passes at 58, throwing five in the second half to lead Hawaii to a 41-24 victory over Arizona State in the Hawaii Bowl. Brennan, 33-of-42 for 559 yards, breaks the previous mark of 54 set by Houston’s David Klingler in 1990.
2006: Atlanta’s Michael Vick becomes the first NFL quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. Needing only 10 yards to reach the mark, he gains 17 on his first carry on the Falcons’ opening possession. Morten Andersen’s 539th career field goal, a 40yarder, gives the 46-year-old Falcons kicker the NFL record, passing Gary Anderson for the career mark.
2011: Denver’s Willis Mcgahee becomes the second NFL player to reach 1,000 yards rushing with three teams. Mcgahee has 64 yards rushing in a 40-14 loss to the Buffalo Bills, to give him 1,054 this season. He previously did it with Buffalo and Baltimore. Ricky Watters rushed for 1,000 yards with San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle.
2014: Western Kentucky holds on to defeat Central Michigan 49-48 in a wild inaugural Bahamas Bowl. Central Michigan trails 49-14 entering the fourth quarter before Cooper Rush engineers a comeback. He throws four touchdown passes in the final minutes, and the Chippewas get the ball back at their own 25 with one second remaining. Rush completes a pass to Jesse Kroll, and the ball is lateraled three times before Titus Davis dives into the pylon for a touchdown with no time remaining. CMU elects to go for two, only to have the pass drop incomplete.
2016: Miami’s Jay Ajayi rushes for 206 yards and breaks loose for a 57-yarder in overtime to set up RPI grad Andrew Franks’ 27-yard field goal with 47 seconds left to lead the Dolphins past Buffalo 34-31. Ajayi is the fourth player in NFL history to have at least three games with at least 200 rushing yards in a season. Earl Campbell, O.J. Simpson, Tiki Barber are the others.
2016: With a 41-3 rout of the New York Jets, Bill Belichick earns his 200th regular-season victory in New England, making him the fifth coach in NFL history to reach the milestone with one team. 2016: Cleveland survives a last-second field-goal attempt and gets its first victory after 14 losses by beating the San Diego Chargers 20-17. When San Diego’s Josh Lambo misses a 45-yard field-goal attempt as time expires, the Browns (1-14) get their first win in 377 days.