Cal Offensive Coordinator Bryan Harsin Recalls 2007 Fiesta Bowl Magic

Eighteen years ago, Bryan Harsin called three trick plays in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl that produced perhaps the most exciting finish in bowl-game history.

Today he is Cal’s first-year offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, being tasked with breathing life to a Golden Bears offense that has been dormant for most of Justin Wilcox’s eight years as Golden Bears head coach.

Harsin has been a head coach at Boise State and Auburn as a well as an offensive coordinator at Texas. But in 2006 Harsin was in his first season as an offensive coordinator at any level, directing the attack and calling the offensive plays at Boise State for head coach Chris Petersen.

The Broncos went 12-0 during the regular season, but winning the Western Athletic Conference over teams such as Idaho, Hawaii and San Jose State didn’t mean much to AP voters who ranked the Broncos ninth, two spots behind powerful Oklahoma. The Sooners, led by head coach Bob Stoops and running back Adrian Peterson, were coming off a convincing win in the Big 12 championship game and were expected to crush Boise State in the Fiesta bowl game played on January 1, 2007.

Three trick plays, executed to perfection, changed what looked like a Boise State loss into a stunning Boise State victory in this David vs. Goliath scenario.

Harsin called all three of those plays, saying Chris Petersen seldom interfered with his calls.

Harsin recalled those plays this week in the video atop the story. His account of those same plays a few years after the game appears in a twitter video at the end of this report:

Trick Play No. 1: Circus (Hook and Ladder, or Hook and Lateral according to some)

Boise State had the ball at midfield facing a fourth-and 18, trailing by seven points with 18 seconds left. Harsin called a play known as Circus

“Circus, the fourth-and-18, I mean, that was an easy one to call because it was such a crappy situation. That’s all we had. And they played as perfect a defense for that situation, from out standpoint. We called that, and obviously executed that.”

Quarterback Jared Zabransky threw a 15-yard completion to Drisan James, who lateraled to Jerard Rabb, who ran the remaining 35 yards for a touchdown with seven seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime.

Trick Play No. 2: Toss Halfback Pass

After Peterson blew through the Boise State defense for a touchdown on the first play of the initial overtime possession to give Oklahoma a 42-35 lead, Boise State faced a fourth-and-two play from the 5-yard line on its possession. Harsin called a play known as Toss Halfback Pass.

“The little halfback toss, right before I had called a different play, and right before they ran out I changed it. And in that play we motioned the quarterback out; he’s pissed, and I don’t blame him because it’s fourth-and-two.

“That was the one where it got really, really quiet, and it was like, ‘Are you sure? Not really, but I think this is good.’ Two best players throwing and catching it.”

Zabransky was sent in motion wide to the left side, completely out of the play, and the shotgun snap went to halfback Vinny Perretta, who sprinted toward the right side. He had not attempted a pass the entire season, but he flipped one to the end zone on this play, and it was perfect, landing in the arms of tightly covered Derek Schouman for a touchdown to get the Broncos within a point.

Trick Play No. 3: Statue

Harsin was trying to get to Statue, the statue of liberty play, earlier in the game, but the ball was never quite in the right spot. But with the Broncos down a point with the point-after coming, Statue was unveiled.

“We had talked about it so much when it came to that situation – when Adrian Peterson gutted us on the first play, it was very clear, if we score, we’re done, either way the game’s going to be over, we’re not going into another overtime.”

“So that was already a selection – it was one on the two-point sheet, and when we got there, ‘We’re running Statue.’”

The play was changed slightly on the spot based on how Oklahoma’s defense had played a similar Broncos formation earlier in the game.

So Zabransky took the shotgun snap, pivoted to throw to the right side, where three wide receivers were waiting. But instead he held the ball in his left hand and put it behind his back where it was grabbed by Ian Johnson, who had nonchalantly waited until the ball was handed to him. He ran untouched around the left side for the game-winning two-point conversion.

The upset win was topped off by the fact that Johnson, during a live postgame TV interview, got down on one knee and proposed to his girlfriend, Chrissy Popadics, who was Boise State’s head cheerleader.

By the way, Johnson and Popadics are still married and have a daughter.

Below is Harsin discussing the three trick plays 15 years ago, three years after the game