Fascinating and Obscure Football Trivia (Part 2) Quiz

Answer: University of Illinois

In 2011, the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois started out like a house on fire, going 6 wins and 0 losses. But then they lost the next six games to finish out with a 6-6 record. This ignominious ending to the season, cost coach Ron Zook his job, fired on November 27, after 7 seasons as the head coach there. They actually did win a Bowl game at the end of that season when a defensive coordinator was appointed interim head coach replacing Zook. They won the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl 20-14 against UCLA.

Answer: Detroit Lions

The Lions lost on Sunday, October 10th, to the Minnesota Vikings as kicker Greg Joseph booted a 54-yard field goal as time ran out, to give the Vikings a 19-17 victory over the Lions. It was the second time the Lions would lose in this manner that season, the first team ever to lose twice that way in one season.

The first loss in this manner happened two weeks earlier as the Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker kicked a record-breaking 66-yard field goal as time expired to give Baltimore the win. Ironically the Lions lost in 1970 on a then record-setting 63-yard field by New Orleans Saints kicker Tom Dempsey.

The score in that game? Also 19-17. The loss to the Vikings brought the hapless Lions record to 0-5.

Answer: Purdue University

The Purdue Boilermakers had seven quarterbacks graduate to the NFL who then played at least ten years as pros. They were: Len Dawson, who engineered a Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl III, Bob Griese who led the Miami Dolphins in their perfect, undefeated season, Mike Phipps, Gary Danielson, Mark Hermann, Jim Everett, and Super Bowl winning Drew Brees who QB'ed the New Orleans Saints for so long, winning a Super Bowl against Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts. All those quarterbacks had NFL careers lasting 10 or more years. One might even say Purdue had 8 quarterbacks to fit the bill if you count Jeff George, but he only played his freshman year at Purdue before transferring to Illinois.

Answer: New York Jets

Rookie quarterback Zach Wilson spearheaded those first three Jets' drives, and converted each of those first three times they had the ball into touchdowns. Why only 18 points then. Well, after the first TD (a pass to Elijah Moore) the Jets' kicker, the newly acquired Alex Kessman, after the Jets cut Matt Ammendola, missed the chip shot PAT. Okay, it happens. He was probably nervous. The good news was the Jets had a 6-0 lead.
The next time the Jets had the ball, Zach Wilson wound up scoring a TD on a quarterback sneak. In came Kessman again for the easy point after kick attempt. But he missed it. Again. The Jets now had 12 points when they should've had 14. I have a picture in my mind of the Jets' owners frantically calling up Ammendola on the phone.
Anyway, the next time the Jets got the ball they scored yet again, on a TD pass from Wilson to Ryan Griffin. With confidence now lost in their kicker, the Jets decide to go for the 2-point conversion instead of the 1 point kick. It's harder to successfully convert the 2-pointer, and the Jets didn't. They never scored again in that first half, going into the locker room with those 18 points. And in the second half they never scored a single point. They lost to the Eagles 33-18.

Answer: Tony Dungy

Tony Dungy was a defensive back and a back-up quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers from 1977 to 1979. He was an undrafted defensive back for the Steelers, and in a game on October 9, 1977 against the Houston Oilers, Tony Dungy intercepted a pass by Oiler QB Dan Pastorini. Later in the game when Steeler quarterback Terry Bradshaw and Mike Kruczak both had to leave the game because of injuries, Tony Dungy was brought forward to quarterback the Steelers.

He went 3 for 8 for 43 yards, but threw two interceptions. Later in his football career Dungy would become a Super Bowl winning coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

Answer: November 20, 1973: Seattle Seahawks (0-10) win and Baltimore Colts (10-0) lose

On December 13, 1953, it was the last game of that 12-game season when the Chicago Cardinals (0-10-1) beat the Chicago Bears 24-10 and the Cleveland Browns (11-0) lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 42-27. On November 18, 1984, the Buffalo Bills (0-11) defeated the Dallas Cowboys 14-13 and the Miami Dolphins (11-0) lost to the San Diego Chargers 34-28. In 2011, the Indianapolis Colts (0-13) won over the Tennessee Titans 27-13 and the 13-0 Packers lost to the Kansas City Chiefs 19-14.

The Seattle Seahawks were not even in the NFL until 1974. And the Baltimore Colts had a poor record that 1973 season, ending with a 4-10 record. Also, November 20, 1973 was a Tuesday and only three NFL games have ever been played on a Tuesday.

Answer: June Jones

June Jones took on the job of head coach of the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors in 1999; the team was on an 18 game losing streak, with an 0-12 record in 1998. In one of the most dramatic turnarounds in NCAA history he led that team to a 9-4 record and the Western Athletic Conference Championship.

The second time Jones achieved the biggest turnaround for a team was in 2008 when he became SMU's coach. Still reeling from the NCAA penalties for its recruiting violations, SMU finished 1-11 that season.

But the next season, Jones turned them around, leading them to an 8-5 record, the most improved record again that season in Division 1 football. The other coaches in the answer choices were actually the coaches of the biggest collapses for a team from one season to the next.

Answer: John Elway vs. Vinnie Testaverde

On January 17, 1999 John Elway of the Denver Broncos beat Vinnie Testaverde of the New York Jets in the AFC Championship game. Elway played college for the Stanford Cardinals and was the first overall pick in the draft in 1984, while Testaverde was the number one overall pick for The Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1987 draft.

After beating the Jets, the Broncos went on to beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl. The Eli Manning and Alex Smith game on January 22, 2012 was the second occurrence of two Number 1 draft picks that were quarterbacks faced each other in a Conference Championship. I had to specify "non-supplemental" draft in case someone objected to the answer because of the 1995 NFC championship game in which Troy Aikman of the Dallas Cowboys faced Steve Young of the San Francisco 49ers. Aikman was the overall first draft pick in the 1989 draft, and Steve Young was picked first in the 1984 supplemental draft after he spent two seasons in the USFL.

Answer: Bruce Smith

Although defensive end Bruce Smith is a member of Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in the class of 2009, he unfortunately ended his career without ever winning a Super Bowl. John Elway won Super Bowl XXXIII for the Denver Broncos and then retired.

He was inducted into the HOF in 2004. Michael Strahan won Super Bowl XII, and then retired and was inducted into the Hall in 2014. Russ Grimm retired after winning Super Bowl XXVI and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2010.

Answer: Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers

Buffalo made the playoffs each of those 11 seasons except for 1994-95 and 1997-98. San Francisco also made the playoffs in 9 of those 11 seasons, missing 1991-92 and 1999-2000. Both Minnesota and Dallas were the runners-up, each making the playoffs 8 times in those 1990s years. Close behind them were Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Miami who each made the playoffs 7 times, while Denver made it 6 times.

The NFL expanded the number of playoff teams from 10 to 12, starting with the 1990-91 season. I'll note also that every single NFL team that existed in the 90s years made at least one playoff appearance in that time span.