No. 193 Brett Favre's 23-second answer to No. 6 Florida State

On September 2, 1989, an unranked Southern Miss team spent most of an afternoon trying to keep No. 6 Florida State from behaving like No. 6 Florida State. With 23 seconds left, Brett Favre threw the touchdown that turned the attempt into a 30–26 upset. 1

The official Southern Miss schedule records the game as a win in Jacksonville, Florida. The location carried its own small oddity: the matchup had originally been scheduled for Hattiesburg before moving to Jacksonville. 23

Florida State entered the season opener with Bobby Bowden on the sideline and a recent record that made the upset look unreasonable. The Seminoles had gone 22–2 across 1987 and 1988, and both losses had come against Miami. Southern Miss arrived as the unranked side in the matchup. 1

The teams had met in each of the previous three seasons, and Florida State had dominated those games. The 1989 meeting therefore carried the usual early-season shape: a highly ranked favorite, a familiar smaller opponent, and a result that seemed easy to predict before kickoff. 3

Southern Miss made the afternoon harder for itself by committing five turnovers. The Golden Eagles still stayed close enough for Favre to have one last chance. Favre finished with 282 passing yards and two touchdown passes. 3

The final answer came on a play-action rollout. Favre found tight end Anthony Harris in the end zone with 23 seconds remaining, giving Southern Miss the lead it needed to finish the 30–26 win. The touchdown supplied the oddity's cleanest shape: the underdog survived its own turnover problem, then beat a top-six team with the final offensive punch of the game. 3

The result briefly changed how the country saw Southern Miss. The Golden Eagles entered the Associated Press poll the following week. The season that followed remained ordinary, though: Southern Miss lost its next four games and finished 5–6. 3

Florida State's season made the September 2 result look even stranger in retrospect. The Seminoles lost their next game to Clemson, then won 10 straight to end the year. Southern Miss supplied the interruption; Florida State supplied the recovery. 3

The game also introduced Brett Favre to a much larger national audience. The lasting surprise belongs to the setting: a team that would finish below .500 found 23 seconds of perfect timing against one of college football's established powers. 3