The Kick refers to

Uwe von Schamann Uwe Detlef Walter von Schamann (born April 23, 1956) is a former professional American football placekicker. He played for the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League, from 1979 to 1984. Early life Von Schamann was born in Berlin, West ...

's last second field goal in a September 24, 1977 college football game between the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

and

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

Ohio Stadium Ohio Stadium is an American football stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on the campus of Ohio State University. It primarily serves as the home venue of the Ohio State Buckeyes football team and is also the site for the university's Spring Commencement c ...

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. The kick eventually went down in Sooners' lore as one of the most memorable plays in Oklahoma history.

The Game

This was the first ever meeting between Ohio State and Oklahoma. Within the first four minutes of the game, Oklahoma jumped out to a 14–0 lead. Oklahoma led 17–0 after the first quarter. Uwe von Schamann made a field goal early in the second quarter to put the Sooners ahead 20–0. However, at that point, Oklahoma star running back

Billy Sims Billy Ray Sims (born September 18, 1955) is a former American college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons during the 1980s. Sims played college football for the Universi ...

had a nagging ankle injury and the team's starting quarterback Thomas Lott hurt his hamstring. All of a sudden, Oklahoma couldn't move the ball, and Ohio State began to capitalize. They scored a pair of touchdowns to make it 20–14 by halftime, then scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 28–20 lead. Oklahoma would score a touchdown late in the game, but the game-tying two-point conversion attempt failed.

The Play

It appeared at that point that Oklahoma was going to lose. However, Oklahoma recovered Schamann's onside kick with just enough time to set up a potential game-winning field goal. After a pass got the Sooners in von Schamann's range, Switzer called back-to-back running plays to set up the ball in the middle of the field. As the clock ticked down, he called time with six seconds left. Woody Hayes called timeout to ice the kicker, but that only seemed to invigorate him. After hearing fans scream "block that kick" during the timeout, von Schamann turned to the crowd and started cheering with them. He raised his arms up and down, imploring them to be louder, then hit the 41-yd field goal with three seconds left to win it for Oklahoma 29–28.The Kick
SoonersVideo.com: The Kick

References

1977 Big Ten Conference football season 1977 Big Eight Conference football season Oklahoma Sooners football games Ohio State Buckeyes football games American football incidents September 1977 sports events in the United States 1977 in sports in Ohio {{UOklahoma-stub