Page "Lateral pass" Paragraph 7

One famous college play involving the backward passes is simply known as The Play.

In the 1982 Big Game between Stanford and California, with four seconds left and trailing by one point, Cal ran the ball back on a kickoff all the way for the game-winning touchdown using five backward passes, eventually running through the Stanford Band, who had already taken the field ( believing the game was over after Stanford players appeared to have tackled a Cal ball-carrier ).

The game remains controversial to this day because of Stanford's contention that the Cal player's knee was down before he passed the ball during the second lateral and that the fifth lateral was an illegal forward pass.