“Neiman unlikely savior” was the BG News headline on September 24, 1985 following the 28-24 victory over the Miami Redskins just days prior.
“Rick, you were the second-best quarterback in the MAC,” said assistant coach Mark Miller.
“I had a lot of confidence in my ability just because of the exposure I had to some pretty good athletes on our defense,” said quarterback Rick Neiman.
The unpredictability of sports is what makes it so special each and every day.
When you head to the stadium, you never know what you’re going to see and for the 23,500 fans at Doyt L. Perry stadium on September 21st 1985.
They saw something they would never forget.
A miracle.
A week prior on September 14, the Falcons marched down to Lexington Kentucky and defeated the Wildcats 30-26 in one of the best wins in program history for BG.
The next week? One of the best conference games the Falcons will ever play in.
In 1985 the Falcon offense was led by quarterback Brian McClure who was making national headlines each week as he put on an impressive Heisman Trophy campaign.
Halfway through the Miami game, however, McClure exited the game with a knee injury.
Spirits were crushed when McClure went down.
Will he still be able to play? Is our season done? There goes the Heisman Trophy campaign.
“You’re not just looking at what’s going to happen today, but is he going to play? Is this an ACL? Is this a major knee injury,” said sports information director Steve Shutt. “ I remember going down to the training room while the game was still in progress and checking in with Bill Jones and saying, you know, what do we think? I think we said, you know, it’s a sprain. He won’t play today, and that relieved a lot of pressure.”
Luckily enough for Falcon faithful, in came what sports information director Steve Shutt and quarterbacks coach Mark Miller called the second best quarterback in the MAC.
Rick Neiman.
Rick had been McClure’s understudy for four years now at BG. Up until this moment, he had thrown exactly two career passes and taken about 10 snaps.
Now this was Neiman’s time to shine.
The script of the game for what’s to come is just waiting to be picked up by any national movie network.
The BG News wrote “This Rick Neiman has been a four-year understudy,” Gene Siskel would say. “Now, suddenly he’s cast in the lead role,give me a break. I loved Brian McClure’s last film, ‘Miracle at Kentucky.’ His performance lended credibility. In this flick they just write him out midway through.”
The score was 14-3 and late in the second quarter on a second and 14 play from the BG 18, McClure dropped back to pass and just as he released the ball, he was hit by a diving Miami defender. The result: a sprained knee knocking BG’s Heisman Trophy candidate out of the game.
Neiman entered the game only had completed two passes his entire college career.
But the lights weren’t too bright for Neiman. In fact, he was more than ready to enter the game because of the reps he took against the great defenses Bowling Green had.
“As the backup quarterback, I went against the number one defense. I had a lot of confidence in my ability just because of the exposure I had to some pretty good athletes on our defense. So I knew that if when called on, next man up, not to sound cliche, but that’s how it is, especially as two years in a row running the offense, the exact same offense, and going against a really, really solid defense.”
“My thoughts going in, you know, it’s my turn, it’s muscle memory. You do what you’ve been doing for the last two years and you look for the right opportunity and that’s what I did.”
Over the course of the game Miami scored 21 unanswered points which gave the Miami Redskins the 24-14 lead with 3:45 left in the fourth quarter.
Neiman drew his inner Brian McClure and drove the Falcons down the field and threw a yard touchdown pass to Bernard White which made it 24-21 with 1:24 to play.
The Falcons would need to recover an onside kick the Redskins knew was coming. They did.
Linebacker Paul Schweitzer remembered the moment clearly.
“On the onside kick, I was running down and there was a blocker in front of me. I knew I needed to get to the guy who received the ball. I had no choice — I ran into the blocker, took him out, and had my eyes on the runner. After I made the play, I tried to get off the ground but saw Rick Howard recovering it, and I went crazy,” he said. “It all happened so fast, like a blur.”
Howard has clear memory of that play as well.
“I remember it like yesterday,” Howard said. “I was in the huddle for the kickoff, and I told everyone, ‘I’m gonna get the onside kick.’ I just had this eerie feeling. When the ball came over, everything was moving in slow motion. Once I made that play, we knew we were going to win.”
But the Miracle was not yet complete.
Neiman hit Greg Meehan for a 40-yard gain to advance to the Redskins 7-yard line.
From there Neiman scrambled it in giving the Falcons the 28-24 lead with just :21 seconds left.
Even then, it still took a last second pass deflection by Schweitzer to seal the 28-24 victory over the Redskins.
Like the onside kick, Schweitzer recalled that moment clearly.
“So, typically what happens is, you criss cross receivers. One behind you goes against the ring, one goes with the quarterback. I stuck with a guy that was going with the quarterback, so we were both going towards the sideline, and they brought players behind that, at least that’s what I remember,” said Scweitzer. “Melvin [Marshall] was behind me, I think Kyle Kramer was the other safety at the time. So anyway, I knocked the ball down and I got up. I was really excited. I remember Melvin came up to me and said, Dude, why didn’t you intercept that? No, I wasn’t even trying it or something. All I thought was fourth down knocked the ball down.”
With that deflection, the Miami Miracle was born.
Neiman mentions how much it helped playing the best defense but also mentions the relationship he had with McClure was another reason why he was built for the moment.
“Brian and I had a great rapport. We still do to this day. There’s no better guy I’d rather have, you know, helping me along if I’m in the game than Brian. He’s seen it all. He’s done it all,” said Neiman “When I ran the game-winning touchdown on the scramble, he was the first one I met at the sideline when I came off. He was on crutches, and he came out to meet me so it was a special moment for me and one that I’ll always remember.”
Neiman earned co-offensive player of the week in the MAC that week as he went 11-20 for 156 yards with two touchdowns including the game winner.
Howard said the Miami game really showcased the team’s depth.
“That game typified nothing was complimentary football more than that game. We started out good, That guy’s [Brian McClure] hurt, boom, Okay, second guy, second Rick has to come in. Defensive gotta get some things. Then they started scoring up. These dudes are pretty good, too. Then everybody did your part, man, down today in like, the last second of that game,” said Howard. “That’s what was so cool about that whole experience. I mean, it opened your eyes up to some serious complimentary like these guys, and I love these guys, like we were brothers. We were bonding brothers for life.”
This was the game that Falcons players and faithful really looked around and knew they had something special brewing in Bowling Green.
