Hey, this is Steve White, the host of this day in sports history.

I live in western North Carolina where Hurricane Helene left a trail of destruction.

While my family and I are fine, others in this area are not.

In fact, the situation is dire.

So many across this portion of the state and the region lost everything.

Those who still have a home may still be without power or access to clean or running water.

Some are trapped by washed out roads.

Communication has been severed.

Consider a donation to the western North Carolina Red Cross or another local charity that's doing work to help those affected by the storm.

Let's bring some normalcy back to life for so many who have been disrupted.

I've put links in the show notes if you would like a few suggestions.

Thanks.

Now here is today's episode.

It's this day in sports history, a member of the Sports History Network.

If you check out sportshistorynetwork.com comma, you can find more podcasts and more info.

It's October 6 and let's check out a couple of stellar college football games that happened on this day in 2007.

I recently picked up Tony Barnhart's book Southern Fried Football, and he makes the argument, and a pretty good one, that 2007 was the best year ever for college football, especially in the south, since that was his focus for the book.

But it's hard to argue with him when you consider Appalachian State's stunning win at Michigan to kick off the season, Nick Saban's first year at Alabama through the roller coaster ride that was any team, assuming number one or number two in the top 25 poll to the final weeks of the season, that saw a two loss LSU team defy logic and win the national title.

Well, this was one of those wild days back in zero seven and let's start on the west coast and then circle back to the south.

If you took a look at the Stanford football schedule prior to the start of the season, it looked favorable with four straight home games to start off with.

But if you looked a little closer and noticed that three of those four games were against ranked opponents, well, things probably lost a little luster.

And sure enough, with an opening week loss to number 14 UCLA, a loss in week three to number 13 Oregon, followed by another to number 23 Arizona State.

The Cardinal were one three and have been outscored in those three losses to those ranked teams by an average of 30 points.

So there was no reason to expect Stanford to put up much of a fight against second ranked southern Cal now that they had to go on the road.

A couple of other things to consider before diving into this one.

The Trojans had not lost a game at LA's Memorial Coliseum in six years.

Cardinal starting quarterback TC Ostrander had a seizure and was admitted to the hospital after the Arizona State game, and he was out for this one, forcing sophomore Tevita Prichard into the starting role.

So you can understand why the Vegas odds makers made USC 41 point favorites.

However, the Trojans were without their top two running backs and then John David Boody broke a bone in his throwing hand in the first half that led to USC only being up nine to nothing at the break.

Trojans head coach Pete Carroll made the decision to stick with Booty at QB in the second half, a move he later regretted.

Whether Booty's broken finger had anything to do with the pick six that he threw just three minutes into the third quarter is up for debate, but it made it a nine seven ball game.

USC came back to add another td to the scoreboard and it was 16 seven Trojans to start the fourth.

The Cardinals scored in the opening seconds of the fourth to make it a two point game again, but the Trojans put together a nine play, 85 yard drive to make it a two possession game again.

At that point, if you had money on USC to cover, you realized that bet was lost, but still probably figured the Trojans would pull this one out.

But those would be the final points that the Trojans would score and that missed extra point from the second quarter was getting ready to come back to bite them.

Stanford probably wanted more than three points out of their twelve play drive that ate more than five minutes of the clock, but that's what they had to settle for and it was 23.17.

There were still more than five minutes to play, so a lot of clock to burn.

But the Trojan running game just wasn't working very well in this game and so they had to go to the air with just over two minutes to play.

Boody overthrew his intended receiver and the Cardinal had their fourth interception of the second half and their fifth overall.

The biggest play of the game came a few minutes later.

Facing a fourth and 20, Pritchard hit future Seattle Seahawk defensive back Richard Sherman with a pass over the middle for a gain of exactly 20 yards and a new set of downs at the ten yard line.

The second biggest play of the game came on fourth and goal from the five when Pritchard lofted one to the far edge of the end zone and Mark Bradford climbed the ladder to reel in the touchdown catch.

Now, did Bradford get away with a push off to create a little bit of space to make the catch?

Yeah, probably.

But after the extra point went through Stanford, the 41 point underdog led 24 to 23 and thats how it ended.

It was one of many times in the 2007 season that the number two team in the country took the l.

So now moving back to the south for another spectacular end to a college football game, it was billed as the biggest regular season game in LSU history.

The undefeated and top ranked Tigers welcomed the number nine Florida Gators to Death Valley.

There was a capacity crowd of 92,910 inside the stadium and an additional 50,000 estimated to be just outside in the parking lots watching on big screens plugged up to generators.

Florida was coming off of a heartbreaking last second loss to unranked Auburn the previous week and they were looking to right the ship in this one.

The first half looked pretty good for the Gators and they took a 17 seven lead into the locker room at the half.

Both teams added a touchdown in the third and it went to the fourth with Florida up 20 414.

Now word had already made its way east of Southern Cal's demise, and the Tigers were trying to avoid the same fate.

LSU coach Les Miles was ready to gamble in this game, mostly out of necessity.

Five times throughout the day, the Tigers went for it on fourth down and they made it.

They also took advantage of some Gator mistakes.

They picked off a Tim Tebow pass in the fourth and turned that into seven a few minutes later when quarterback Matt Flynn connected with Demetrius Byrd for the strike to make it a three point game.

LSU got the ball back with about eight minutes to play, and they went on a long, clock eating drive.

Two of their five successful fourth down conversions came on this drive, their last one coming on a fourth and inches at the five that running back Jacob Hester got by the nose of the football.

He scored three plays later to give the Tigers the lead at 28.24 with 109 left.

Florida put themselves in a position for a miracle, but Tebow's Hail Mary was batted down and the Tigers had rallied from their ten point deficit to win an instant classic.

On this day in 1993, Michael Jordan shocked the world by announcing he was retiring from the NBA.

Reason being I've heard a lot of different speculations about my reasons for not playing, but I've always stressed to people that have known me and the media that has followed me that when I lose the sense of motivation and the sense of to prove something as a basketball player, it's time for me to move away from the game of basketball.

Now, one of the speculations that many people pointed to as a reason for MJ's departure after winning three straight NBA titles was due to the loss of his father, who was murdered after an apparent roadside robbery in July.

Jordan also faced a lot of scrutiny and charges about his gambling activity.

The night before a playoff game against the New York Knicks earlier in the year, Michael was seen gambling large amounts at a blackjack table in Atlantic City, and there were rumors of substantial losses racking up at the time of his announcement.

The NBA was investigating Michael's involvement with gamblers, including two huge checks totaling $165,000 that were discovered in the possession of some nefarious characters, factors that were said to cover his gambling debts.

That investigation was dropped two days after Jordan announced his retirement, leading some conspiracy theories to pop up that commissioner David Stern asked MJ to step away from the game for a year with the league fearing an actual suspension of the goat would be problematic.

Stern vehemently denied that theory.

But Jordan was only 30 years old, on top of the basketball world with three championship rings.

He added to the conspiracy theory when he later hinted in his press conference on this day that he may be willing to come back and play.

If David Stern lets me back in the league, he said.

Of course, 30 years down the road, we know now how this all played out eventually.

But on this day in 1993, we were all left in shock at the news of Jordan's retirement and a couple of quick hitters for you.

On this day in 1926, Babe Ruth became the first major leaguer to hit three home runs in a World Series game.

The Yankee slugger did it in a ten to five win over the St.

Louis Cardinals in game four.

St.

Louis would go on to win the series, though, in seven games.

On this day in 1966, Jim Palmer became the youngest player to ever throw a shutout in the World Series.

He was 20 years, eleven months old when he blanked the LA Dodgers in game two of what would turn out to be a four game sweep of the defending champs by the Baltimore Orioles.

On the other end of the spectrum, Phil Nekro became the oldest to pitch a shutout in the majors when he prevented the Toronto Blue Jays from scoring a single run.

It was also the 300th career win for the 46 year, 188 day old knuckleballer.

Jamie Moyer would come along 25 years later to top it as a 47 year old in time.

Now for today's nothing to do with sports.

Fun fact, if you so happen to be traveling through Le La Vendue France anytime soon.

You probably should know that it is illegal to die there unless you own a cemetery plot within the town limits.

Thats all ive got for you today.

And again, if you would like to assist in the recovery efforts in western North Carolina, theres a list of organizations in the show notes.

Enjoy your day, and ill talk to you again tomorrow for another edition of this day in sports history.

This has been an original thrive suite production.