01-01-2021, 12:45 AM
Officially, the OP asked for the greatest athletic feat you have witnessed... a few people have answered with their favorite sporting memory, which is an entertaining tangent. This is a message board, so these tangents are to be expected, but like Lex, I am interested in freakish athletic feats.
Some recent ones (all Stanford related):
Katherine Plummer putting everything away despite being out of system half the time in the NCAA finals. Here's a nice highlight reel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQF3sw-v...e=emb_logo
You can also throw in some unbelievable Morgan Hentz highlights as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQfLLUBOf0
Best libero I've ever seen.
Catarina Macario:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AokgEkCSlWA
I was trying to get highlights of some of her set pieces, they are pretty unbelievable. Perhaps the best collegiate women's soccer player ever.
Jordan Morris in the 2015 College Cup (sorry, couldn't find good highlights), including scoring the first goal in the final against Clemson 87 seconds into the match.
I already posted the unbelievable feats that Ledecky accomplished. In terms of how much better she is than anyone else in the pool, I don't think I have ever observed a bigger gap between the best and second best athlete in an event.
Tony Azevedo who was dominant for four years at Stanford. Here are his four goals against Cal in the 2002 National Championship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQd_nvSGono. He won the Cutino award (the water polo award that can be named) every year he was at Stanford.
In basketball, Casey Jacobsen dropping 40 points in a game... twice in 2002 ( 49 against ASU and 41 against Oregon). When he was on, it was an amazing thing to watch. He would take a deep three pointer, and make it. And then he would take a deeper three pointer, and make it. And then he would take a three pointer that was almost at the midcourt line, and you'd be like "what is he doing?" and it would go in. I loved this clip from this ESPN special about him at Stanford: https://youtu.be/k5fXV2x_dso?t=22
On the women's side, Kate Starbird dropping 44 against USC.
Chiney with 24 rebounds against Oregon three years after Nekka got 23 rebounds against the Ducks.
In football:
Folks have already described McCaffrey's performance against Iowa in the Rose Bowl (and I mentioned the ones against USC and UCLA earlier). Some other football performances:
Solomon Thomas in the Sun Bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_kfbI-2oHk
Bryce Love with 263 yards against UCLA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUXojn3iHLE) and 301 yards against ASU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9l0C7nq6KY) on back to back game. I remember watching him that any time he touched the football, he could be in the end zone.
Toby Gerhart against Notre Dame in 2009 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzCzj3fdET0) 205 yards and three touchdowns (plus a touchdown pass), most of them pushing through a Notre Dame defenseman.
While we are there, the 2009 tunnel workers against USC (the "What's your Deal" game). Toby had 178 yards and three touchdowns, but mostly it was David DeCastro pulling and Owen Mericec kicking out and making the SC linebackers hate life. That was the time when an SC linebacker said "If you run Power again, I'm taking myself out".
BC
Some recent ones (all Stanford related):
Katherine Plummer putting everything away despite being out of system half the time in the NCAA finals. Here's a nice highlight reel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQF3sw-v...e=emb_logo
You can also throw in some unbelievable Morgan Hentz highlights as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJQfLLUBOf0
Best libero I've ever seen.
Catarina Macario:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AokgEkCSlWA
I was trying to get highlights of some of her set pieces, they are pretty unbelievable. Perhaps the best collegiate women's soccer player ever.
Jordan Morris in the 2015 College Cup (sorry, couldn't find good highlights), including scoring the first goal in the final against Clemson 87 seconds into the match.
I already posted the unbelievable feats that Ledecky accomplished. In terms of how much better she is than anyone else in the pool, I don't think I have ever observed a bigger gap between the best and second best athlete in an event.
Tony Azevedo who was dominant for four years at Stanford. Here are his four goals against Cal in the 2002 National Championship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQd_nvSGono. He won the Cutino award (the water polo award that can be named) every year he was at Stanford.
In basketball, Casey Jacobsen dropping 40 points in a game... twice in 2002 ( 49 against ASU and 41 against Oregon). When he was on, it was an amazing thing to watch. He would take a deep three pointer, and make it. And then he would take a deeper three pointer, and make it. And then he would take a three pointer that was almost at the midcourt line, and you'd be like "what is he doing?" and it would go in. I loved this clip from this ESPN special about him at Stanford: https://youtu.be/k5fXV2x_dso?t=22
On the women's side, Kate Starbird dropping 44 against USC.
Chiney with 24 rebounds against Oregon three years after Nekka got 23 rebounds against the Ducks.
In football:
Folks have already described McCaffrey's performance against Iowa in the Rose Bowl (and I mentioned the ones against USC and UCLA earlier). Some other football performances:
Solomon Thomas in the Sun Bowl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_kfbI-2oHk
Bryce Love with 263 yards against UCLA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUXojn3iHLE) and 301 yards against ASU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9l0C7nq6KY) on back to back game. I remember watching him that any time he touched the football, he could be in the end zone.
Toby Gerhart against Notre Dame in 2009 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzCzj3fdET0) 205 yards and three touchdowns (plus a touchdown pass), most of them pushing through a Notre Dame defenseman.
While we are there, the 2009 tunnel workers against USC (the "What's your Deal" game). Toby had 178 yards and three touchdowns, but mostly it was David DeCastro pulling and Owen Mericec kicking out and making the SC linebackers hate life. That was the time when an SC linebacker said "If you run Power again, I'm taking myself out".
BC