We really need the video. Interesting how we remember it from different vantage points. I was in the east stands on about the 10 yard line. The way my faulty memory remembers it is that he came down backwards and with his free hand breaking his fall he scooted back into the end zone and they *****ed that his knee or ass hit the ground.
Here's an article:
https://www.si.com/vault/1982/09/13/624715/see-ya-later-gators
With less than two minutes left, Offensive Coordinator Mike Shanahan called for a 32 naked pass right, a pass-run option for the quarterback. It was the same play Peace had scored on, but the Hurricanes had since shut it off several times. "I was kind of nervous about it," said Peace. "The tackle shot out and cut off my running lane. I looked to the tight end first and he was covered." Jones ran to where he was supposed to be—seven yards downfield toward the right sideline. But when he saw Peace looking elsewhere, he drifted back. In truth, he said, he had no idea where he was. Besides, he was playing without his contact lenses and everything was a little blurry. And, oh yes, he was suffering from the heat. And the pass was wobbly and high.
Jones was backpedaling and stumbling toward the right foam pylon that marks the goal line when he saw the shape of the ball coming. He jumped, and as he fell he threw his arms upward. He felt the flat part of the ball strike the palm of his right hand, so he reflexively pulled the arm in
after he went down on his back, dragging both feet along the sideline. His teammates piled on top of him in a delirium of joy. "I looked up through the bodies and saw the referee put his hands up, and I thought, 'Oh, I must have scored a touchdown.' " Pell called the catch a "Willie Mays deluxe."
No one, except the officials, could figure how Jones scored, because he appeared to be down before his momentum carried him across the goal line. That's something the Hurricanes will mull over while they try to figure out how to win the national championship with no better than a 10-1 record—"Our goal hasn't changed," said Schnellenberger—and how to win the Florida game next year, if there is a Florida game next year.
