Jerad Romo said fans and friends still remind him about the improbable win at UAB, and admits he still thinks about it "all the time" (photo by Travis Johnston).

When the SMU Mustangs take the field at 3 p.m. (central time) Saturday afternoon against UAB at Birmingham’s Legion Field, they will be revisiting the site of perhaps the most dramatic victory in school history. When the teams met Oct. 8, 2005, SMU squandered a fourth-quarter lead on a UAB touchdown with 3:38 to go.

But what took place in the game’s final minute will be remembered forever by PonyFans everywhere — those who were in attendance that day, and those who were glued to the radio as announcers Rich Phillips and Craig Swann came unglued calling Jerad Romo’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Bobby Chase as the clock expired.

Romo sat down Friday with PonyFans.com to share his memories of the game, the game-winning drive, the touchdown pass to Chase and the emotions he felt after the game.

(From a personal standpoint, this was one of the most enjoyable interviews I have done in more than 20 years covering the Mustangs. I wasn’t at the game, and wasn’t able to listen to it … until I got back in the car as Rich and Craig got ready for the final play. Like most of those listening, I had trouble believing what I heard as Rich and Craig went completely berserk, and when reality set in, narrowly avoided driving into a tree. Visiting Friday with Jerad was particularly enjoyable, too. Now working at Sewell Lexus in Dallas, Jerad got excited again, four years later, telling the story. He remembered details that made it seem like the game was played yesterday, and had he not had an appointment waiting for him, I likely would still be sitting in his office. What follows is Jerad’s account of the dramatic end to one of the most memorable games in SMU history.)

"It wasn’t very fun (talking on the sideline with the coaches after getting the ball back with 23 seconds left), because we were winning most of the game, if you remember. We hadn’t won a game on the road in something like 14 games, it was their Homecoming, and we saw later that they were on the sideline pointing at their jerseys (for the TV cameras), saying, “yeah, we won” and all that stuff. We saw that later — we didn’t know that then.

But the wind was kind of out of our sail. We were away, and it was like, “here we go again,” and we had no timeouts left. So (offensive coordinator) Coach (Rusty) Burns called three or four plays, but it was kind of just chaos, and who knew how we would execute it?

That first play, I underthrew it to Bobby (Chase), and he came back to the ball because there were three guys on top of (behind) him. He caught it like an inch off the ground, so they reviewed it, and that gave us like a three- or four-minute timeout. So during that “timeout” we were able to put everything together, which was huge.

(The coaches) were going to try to signal stuff in, too. The plan was to get a first down, and the clock would stop when the chains moved, and then probably spike it, and then look for (Burns) for another play, but he had already told us what he was going to do, because he knew everyone was going to be running around.

That “timeout” really won the game — by far. I don’t know that we would have made it without that. In hindsight, if they had just let it go … we were scrambling. We were just running around. Then they said they were reviewing the play, and we were able to come off, but if they had just let it go, and called it a catch, and the clock had kept running, I don’t know that it would have happened.

(In the huddle) I just said “here we go — let’s see what we can do.” I know Bobby was saying, “hey, give me the ball. I’ll be open.”

A replay timeout allowed then-offensive coordinator Rusty Burns and his players regroup during the game-winning drive (photo by Travis Johnston).

So after that first pass to Bobby, the second one was a little quick swing route to DeMyron (Martin) — he ran a a little out route, like three yards, and I hit him, and he stepped just across the 50-yard line and out of bounds, and on that play, they called a sideline warning on them, so they stopped (the clock) again for a little bit. They threw the flag and warned them, so we got another little break, and I remember during that break, Coach Burns said “let’s just get it in position so we have one more throw.”

So they were playing like 15 yards off, and I threw it to Rey (Pellerin) on the sideline. I put it on his numbers and he ran about five more yards and stepped out of bounds (at the 31).

I think we had two-by-two (two receivers on each side), if I remember, and Bobby was on the far left side, and we were on the far (right) hash, so Bobby had the wide side of the field. So I just wanted to get it in the end zone, and I knew Bobby would go get it. I knew that if anyone was going to get it, he’s 6-foot-4 or 6-5, and he wanted the ball. Their DB — I don’t know why, but he was so far off. If you watch the film again, their DB was in the back of the end zone, coming forward to Bobby, and they were meeting the ball at the same time, so it really ended up being one-on-one. Bobby went up and got it, and had it in his hands, and the guy had his hand on the ball, trying to rip it out, but you know how strong Bobby is, and he had a grip on that thing, and wasn’t going to let it go. (Chris) Foster was the guy running the seam route, and I didn’t think he could jump that high, but if you watch the film, you see Foster like five feet off the ground as Bobby rips his helmet off. It was beautiful.

I was about 30 yards back, and I couldn’t even get to Bobby because the whole team was on the field — everybody. Not only that, but we saw Coach (Phil) Bennett going nuts — not happy, though — and we were wondering “what’s going on here?” (The officials) were telling him, “the game’s not over. Get your guys off the field — you’ve got to at least attempt the extra point.” At that point, we were up by one, so theoretically they could intercept (a pass on a two-point conversion attempt) or block (a kick) and run it back and win the game still. So we had to go up there and kneel on the ball for the extra point. I just had to take the snap, because even with zeroes on the clock, they could run it all the way back.

I was still in shock, because I don’t know that I really saw Bobby catch it. The way that it all happened … I remember seeing him go up for it, and I thought “oh my God, I think he caught it!” And then you see everyone running on the field, so it’s like, “I guess he did catch it.” But the way he got thrown around, and all of a sudden everyone was there … you’re just waiting and hoping. When I threw it, I thought “he has a shot.” The thing I was thinking in my head was “don’t throw the ball out of bounds … don’t throw it three yards short.” I’ve got a five (yards)-by-five area. Just throw it in there, and make it time out to where he’s there at that time, and it worked. It happened.

Wide receiver Bobby Chase caught Romo's pass to give the Mustangs the dramatic win in the first game between SMU and UAB (photo by Travis Johnston).

We had to do it (the two-point conversion) twice. I don’t remember why — they called 12 men on the field or something on us — and the first one, I did bobble it. I caught it out of the air, but then we had to do it again.

(The locker room after the game was) unbelievable. That feeling, and the feeling after the (2005) win over TCU are the two most memorable times I’ve ever experienced. The TCU game was awesome, but we got to down it a few times, and it wasn’t as much of a shock, because we had several minutes to digest what was happening. This one here just happened all of a sudden, and the neat part was that it was just us — just our guys. We had a few hundred fans travel, and some guys visited with some of them, but for the most part, we got time to spend time with just us, and get on the bus and get on the plane, and it was just unbelievable.

The fans were all waiting at the bus, and Bobby’s dad bear-hugged me so hard I felt like I broke my ribcage. I was like, “you’re a little stronger than you think!” He just wouldn’t let me go.

(On the flight home), everyone was just going nuts — the players, the coaches — it was just unbelievable. Everyone’s phones were ringing off the hook.

The funny part was I had two of my buddies in (Tehachapi) California who came over to my parents’ house to watch the game. Long story short, and I have all these pictures of this at my parents’ house, they were holding an SMU flag and going nuts — and this was before it happened. They were doing an SMU prayer in a little circle, and saying “we believe!” and doing all this stuff. When I actually threw it, my two buddies and my dad actually ran out the front door, and they grabbed the SMU flag that was hanging at my house and ran it around the street.

So they watched every second of it, and they were blowing up my phone. After I got out of the shower, I had several messages and text messages, because that was one of the games people could get on their computers, so (my parents) got it on their computer and wired it into their big-screen TV.

When someone meets me, if they know who I am, they know that pass and they know that we beat TCU that year. If they’re going to say they remember any games I played in, those are the ones.

I think about (the UAB game) all the time. I mean, it was fun. When I think about my career at SMU, those are the games that stick out, because those are the games we really came together and won. Those are the things I remember — that we didn’t give up. That group was pretty special."

• To see and hear the final play of the Mustangs' 2005 win over UAB, as only Rich Phillips and Craig Swann could have called it, click the following link:

Audio/video link