Punter`s Gaffe At 1975 Rose Bowl Game In Pasadena, California Editorial Photo

A referee looks back, likely in disbelief, as a punter from the University of Southern California makes an enormous, embarrassing, mind-boggling, goofy miscue, somehow barely ticking the football on his own punt. It is a sight rarely, if ever seen, particularly on a stage so large as the Rose Bowl classic. But even more amazingly, the ball rolled only a few yards away, and the player, Jim Lucas, retrieved the ball on his own 8-yeard-line and raced 35 yards for a first down. NBC-TV play-by-play announcer, Curt Gowdy, called this ''one of the great punt plays in Rose Bowl history." The action took place at the 61st Annual Rose Bowl Game in Pasadena, California, on January 1, 1975. The USC Trojans, then ranked # 5 in the nation, managed to squeak by 3rd-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes for a thrilling, heart-stopping 18-17 victory.