The Upset of the Century

Written By: Jordan Martin


It was a Friday nightsometime late in August on Cleveland State University'sfootball practice field. "Now guys tommorow will be our first game as a Division I football team, so it doesn't matter if we're winning by 3 with two minutes left in the game, or if we're losing by forty half way through the second quarter, I want you to give it all you got and leave everything out on the field" announced CSU coach jerry davis as the team gathered together in a circular shaped huddle to get a break concluding the hour and a half walk through. Most of the Vikings (CSU's nickname) players couldn't go to sleep that night knowing they were gowing up against the smashmouth Nebraska Cornhuskers. A team that won a BCS Bowl game the previous year and went 11-2.


Especially CSU's quarterback Chad Mayburry, backup quarterback Jamario Stevenson, and third string quarterback Eugene Pesta because they were afraid they might die of getting sacked so many times by the ferocious Cornhusker defensive line. This line consisted of Dwight Sue, Michael Freeney, and Nakadami Straham. 1pm was the starting time for the game and the Vikings were very nervous in the locker room. CSU had spent the last three years building a football team that could compete in NCAA Division I football. This was there big moment and the players were pumped up and excited but extremely nervous at the same time.


There was five minutes until kickoff so the Vikings had to go out onto the field. QB Chad Mayburry, Center Tom Hagen, MLB Brent Baylor, and special teams returner Tyreek Chester. They ran on to Browns Stadium (their home field) and got a small applause. Chad looked up into the stands and saw a lot of empty seats. The Indians were playing today and the small amount of fans that came to the game appeared even smaller in the huge stadium. "Captains please" the head reffery said to Coach Davis as the pre game clock hit zero. Coach Davis got Chad , Tom, Brent, and Tyreek together and said "You guys go out for the toss if we win I want you to differ to the second half". Chad, Tom, Brent, and Tyreek saw the enourmous Nebraska Captains and started to get butterflies in their stomachs  


Chad shook the 6-9 395 pound Nebraska defensive linemen's hand and froze up like a statue. The Lineman was ripped and looked like an angry bull fighting ninja that was half Arnold Swartchinager. Chad was scared to death and stumbled back to the sideline. before he even knew it, Nebraska had scored on a 7 play 82 yard drive, kicked the extra point, and had kicked off. Tyreek had made 2 people miss on the return but got leveled at the 38 yard line. Coach Davis told Chad to run "34 post banana split comebacks wheel chair on two". He got up to line and barked out the cadence. Chad called hike and Tom snapped the ball. Chad faked to the running back looked toward the banana split but it wasn't open so he came back to the comebacks and let it rip. Unfortunately the corner from Nebraska jumped the route and picked the ball off to the house to make the score 14-0. 


The next drive started off with 2 sacks and a fumble that the cornhuskers took advantage of by kicking a field goal to make it 17-0. By the end of the half Nebraska had a 38-0 lead and had their second strings in. This embarrassed the already defeated Vikings even more since it was opening night and everything. Tyreek ended up taking 2 kickoffs to the house late in the fourth quarter to put Cleveland State on the board and giving the Vikings some hope for the next game against the Kent State Golden Flashes. The final score was 52-14 and the team was very dissapointed. Coach Davis didn't have much to say after the game and the Vikings let the locker room with their heads hung.  


The next four games all went the same way.... loss, loss, loss, loss. The Plain Dealer Articles read ' Golden Flashes Storm Vikings in 36-7 Route", 'Cleveland State Rallies Late but Not Enough as Vikings Lose Again", "4 in a Row CSU continues its losing streak with another loss at Iowa State", "Shutout CSU loses another to Marshal 24-0. Nothing was going rights for the Football team. Many Freshman and Sophmores were thinking about quitting. Since everything was becoming so chaotic Chad got a meeting together with the upper class men of Cleveland State and gave a fabulous inspirational speach that got the Vikings jacked up. There was only one problem their next game was verse USC....


It was Saturday Afternoon and the Trojans strolled into Cleveland Browns Stadium with grins on their faces , joking around in warmups and thought they were going to roll over the Vikings..... They thought wrong. On the opening Kick USC wandered down the field laxidazectly. Tyreek caught the kick made quickly made two guys miss, turned on the jets, and took it all the way down the sideline all the way to the Dawg Pound giving CSU a 7-0 lead. The Trojans marched down the field but turned the ball over when MLB Brent Baylor leighed a huge hit on QB Peyton Favre knocking the ball out and recovered by the Vikings. Cleveland State drove all the way down the field burning a lot of time and settled for a 35 yard field goal to make it 10-0. Peyton Favre drove down the field two more times but had to settle for two field goals to make the score 10- at the half.


"This could be one of the greatest upsets of all time" said Coach Davis in the locker room. And it was as the Vikings came out of the half forcing the Trojans to 3 straight 3 and outs capped off by a punt return for a touchdown by Tyreek to make the score 17-6. People were dialing into the came from all over the country. By the start of third Quarter it was on National broadcast. RB Adrian Bush for USC had enough of it so he took matters into his own hands by breaking 7 tackles on a 93 yard touchdown run to make it 17-13. Then the Vikings got stopped and punted to USC. Peyton Favre led the Trojans down the field for a touchdown pass to Andre Fitzgerald and taking the lead 20-17 with 1:43 left in the game.


Cleveland State needed a score bad. Chad threw two out passes for a pair of first downs moving the ball up to the 43 yard line of USC. Then they ran a double reverse throwback QB screen for a 22 yard gain down to the 21 yard line. after 3 run plays it brought up 4h and 7 at the 18 yard line. With 7 seconds to go Coach Davis called a timeout. The field goal unit went out to tie the game. USC was almost 100 % positive CSU would kick it. The Vikings snapped the ball the holder caught it flipped over his head to the kicker who threw it across the field to the tight end who walked into the end zone for the game winning touchdown. The Vikings went crazy, jumping up and down on the sidelines . Coach Davis got drenched with a bucket of Gatoraid shortly before fainting. The highlights were all over ESPN and it was noticed as the greatest upset of all time.


.......... Cleveland State didn't win any more games but they played hard. Tyreek ended up playing in the Arena league and had a solid career. Brent ended up having 3 kids who were all linebackers who played at Cleveland State. And Coach davis ended up being the athletic director for Cleveland State and was inducted into the college football hall of fame.........