1:20 left.  The Towson University football team was facing fourth down, down four points and needing a daunting 29 yards after a pair of sacks.  Staring down an Old Dominion team with a near-20,000 Homecoming crowd.  Towson's quarterback had a bloody nose.  The Turnaround Tigers needed this conversion, or first place in the CAA would be gone.

The Tiger Throwback series is presented by Hollenshades.  
 
Before the Game
The Tigers entered 2011 with very little fanfare from those outside Baltimore.  After going 1-10 the previous year, Towson was picked to finish last in the preseason coaches poll among the 11 teams in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA), but did have a Preseason All-CAA linebacker, Frank Beltre plus several other key pieces, all of who would later earn All-CAA recognition at least once in their Towson careers: Jordan Dangerfield (S), Henry Glackin (OL), Randall Harris (OL), Derrick Joseph (KR), Matt Morgan (DT), Eric Pike (OL), Tom Ryan (WR), Doug Shaw (OL), Romale Tucker (DE), Tyler Wharton (FB) and Spencer Wilkins (WR).
 
Towson, entering the third year under head coach Rob Ambrose, was selected for Homecoming by two opponents in 2011, at Old Dominion and William & Mary.
 
Help was on the way.  Adding to the offense in 2011 was freshman Terrance West, an eventual three-time First Team All-CAA running back, Grant Enders, 2012 All-CAA quarterback, former starting quarterback Peter Athens and a pair of transfer wide receivers from UConn in Leon Kinnard and Gerrard Sheppard.  On defense, Tye Smith came to Towson plus linebacker Danzel White returned.
 
"I was around a group of guys that were motivated, and I knew we had the talent to be a very good team," said Enders.
 
"The mentality that we had the previous year [then to 2011], it was completely different," said Beltre. "We embraced being the underdog.  Everywhere we went, nobody expected us to win."
 
Dubbed the "Turnaround Tigers," Towson quickly put the FCS college football world on notice.  Following a dominant 42-3 victory over Baltimore-rival Morgan State, Towson crushed No. 20 Villanova 31-10 in the CAA home opener off a game-opening 21-0 run and three forced turnovers.
 
"We were thinking that we could really be a good football team, but we were really hazardous to even talk about it," said Ambrose. "All we just basically talked about the next six seconds, that whoever was going to be in this program was going to lay their body, heart and soul out for everybody else for the next six seconds."  
 
Following next week's 42-17 victory over Colgate, Towson earned a national ranking for the first time since 2007.  Two weeks later, after a loss to FBS Maryland where the Tigers were down just 7-3 at the half, Towson took down another top-20 program as a D.J. Soven field goal as time expired gave the Tigers a 31-28 win vs. No. 14 Richmond.
 
Entering Norfolk
It would be the first time that Towson and Old Dominion would line up.  Each team, ranked No. 17 and No. 18 respectively, had very different paths to the game: Towson having its best start at 4-1 since 2006, while Old Dominion was in its third season after the revitalization of the program.
 
The Monarchs were 5-1 and were 21-6 since restarting football in 2009.  Nearly 20,000 fans would arrive at Ballard Stadium for Homecoming.  
 
"Besides the LSU game, they had the best [opposing] fans," said Ryan. "They were right on top of us, the whole stadium was sold out."
 
Towson ranked sixth in FCS with 17.2 points allowed per game and brought a rushing game of 227.6 yards a contest.
 
But, Towson would be without Dangerfield and White for the game due to injuries, putting more pressure on the Tiger defense to contain one of the top scoring offenses in FCS.  An ODU offense that had put up 37 points per game and had scored over 40 points in four of its first six games.
 
"They're a really good football team, very well coached with very good players, one of the greatest quarterbacks that's played in FCS Football in Tyler Heinicke," said Ambrose. "We knew we were going to have our hands full going down there."
 
The Game Begins
Early on, Towson primarily went to the ground game with West and Dominique Booker.  On the first Towson drive, West broke for 47 yards and a touchdown for a Tigers lead.  ODU equalized with Heinicke passing and Tyree Lee rushing, then after another exchange of drives, West again broke away with a 54-yard run, earning his second touchdown as Towson led 14-7 after the first quarter.  
 
"We knew it was going to be a high-scoring affair, we had to do our best to control the game with the run game," said Ambrose. "It ended up being the run game was massively explosive and we scored a lot of points."
 
"We knew if we could get the blocks on the second level, Terrance [West] is the best athlete I've ever played with," said Ryan. "If he can get out in the open, he had a good chance to score every time he touches the ball."
 
"We were doing a good job of controlling the clock, and we're putting together these long drives and wearing them down a little on defense," said Enders.
 
On the defensive end, Towson held ODU without points in three of the first four Monarch offensive possessions.  But ODU scored touchdowns on the next two drives, with a Soven field goal pulling Towson within four.  ODU led 21-17 at halftime.
 
"We what said to each other was, 'If you keep believing, and you keep doing your job, we're gonna be all right," said Beltre.  "Even when we were down, when ODU thought they really had locked in, at that point, I looked around in the whole sideline, everybody believed we were going to win this game."
 
In the third, Towson retook the lead on a 26-yard touchdown pass to Wharton, but ODU's air attack put the home team back in front, including a 93-yard catch by Nick Mayers, at 35-24 heading into the final quarter. 
 
Starting at its own two-yard line, Towson grinded down the field with a 20-play drive, converting a pair of fourth downs along the way.  The third chance, however, West was stopped on a fourth and three from the ODU 8, keeping Towson behind 11 points with 7:40 to play.
 
"From my angle, I was the person that missed the block for Terrance to get into the end zone on that drive," said Ryan, who was on the outside at wide receiver.  "At that moment, we didn't know if we were going to get the ball back, we didn't know if we were going to get a stop."
 
"That's when the whole defense got together, and we pretty much said, 'Don't try to be special, do your job,'" said Beltre. "We played very safe, we played to our style, we didn't try to do anything extraordinary, we just did our job."
 
The defense came up with a big three-and-out and kept ODU contained inside its own 15.  Towson got back the ball at its own 25 following the punt.  Enders led the surge, finding Sheppard four times on passes then completing the drive with an eight-yard rushing score.  Kinnard pulled a trick play on the two-point conversion, taking the toss and throwing to the corner of the end zone to Mike Evans to pull the Tigers within a field goal.
 
Towson went for the onside kick: Soven's kick was grabbed by Sheppard near the sideline, putting the Tigers back on offense on its own 45.  West rushed 11 yards into ODU territory, but after another rush, Enders went back to pass on second down and was sacked, having his helmet pulled off.  He had to come off.
 
"I was coming around the outside, trying to scramble, a guy came for me; as I was going down, he took my helmet off when he made the tackle," said Enders. "My nose got all busted up and I was bleeding a little bit."
 
Athens came in and was sacked on a situational play. Towson was backed up on its own 37 and faced 4^th and 29.  Ambrose called timeout with 1:17 to play.  
 
4^th and 29
Towson had to go for it with no timeouts remaining and 1:17 left to play.  The sold out crowd was roaring, knowing that the Monarchs needed just one more stop and the game was over.
 
The Towson offensive players huddled up, and a familiar face rejoined the squad.
 
"They were all ready to take the field, and I looked at [Ambrose] and said 'I'm good to go' with my helmet," said Enders.
 
"Everybody knew, looking around in the huddle from the offensive line, to the running backs, the receivers, everyone, it seemed like we had laser focus at that moment," said Ryan.
 
Ambrose drew up a play.  He planned a trips formation on the right side with one receiver, Ryan, being behind, and a running back being to the right of the quarterback.  Kinnard and Alex Blake would run ahead of Ryan to clear the way.  The plan was to have Ryan go a couple of yards past the first down marker and get out of bounds.
 
"I told the two vertical routes that after the ball was thrown, you were supposed to run through the guy that was covering you to get them out of the way like blockers," said Ambrose.  "It's a play that we had talked about in a two-minute scenario in a general sense, but not to the degree and depth of which that had to be.  We were doing that in a two-minute drill, but we usually do that at 15 yards to try to get some yards and get out of bounds."
 
The crowd was deafening.  Several Towson players locked arms and looked on.  The offense returned to the field, and the ball was snapped with Enders in shotgun.  It was now or never.
 
Enders was aided by a big block by Booker on an outside rushing defensive end, allowing the quarterback to rollout to the right side and buying time for the receivers to race down field.
 
With the ODU line still coming after Enders, Ryan, who for a brief moment thought his quarterback may had been sacked, made eye contact with Enders.  Enders heaved the ball and a leaping Ryan made the catch, a few yards ahead of the first down marker.
 
"That was the best thing about Tom Ryan, you just throw it into his area, and he's going to come down with it," said Enders.
 
"I just remember catching the ball, looking and knowing, after I had the ball, that we were at the first down," said Ryan. "At the very least, all I had to do was hold on to the ball, we had another play coming."
 
But the play wasn't over: Ryan landed with possession at the ODU 33 and was still up.  He stepped over a fallen cornerback and raced down the field.  The two receivers up-top played on as well: Blake made a critical block on cornerback Aaron Evans feet from the racing Ryan while Kinnard provided cover to Ryan's left as the Philadelphia native sprinted past the 25-yard line. 
 
With the home crowd in an audible panic, ODU safety Paul Morant got his hands on Ryan from behind.  Ryan dragged the would-be-tackler all the way to the goal line, completing the 63-yard reception and the miraculous touchdown.
 
"I remember a guy grabbing me about the seven-yard line, and I pulled the ball up really close," said Ryan. "They dogpiled on me in the end zone, and I remember hitting my head on the ground and thinking, 'Man, I think I'm supposed to be celebrating right now, but I think I just knocked myself out.  It's crazy how a season can come down to one play like that, that was awesome."
 
The Towson sideline went into jubilation, with several Tigers jumping up and down in the incredible feat that was just accomplished.  Towson had taken the lead with 1:07 remaining.
 
"After I threw it, then I didn't really see it, then I heard the crowd noise, it was like immediate deflation, even heard some screams," said Enders.  "I see Tom running down the sideline, it was something out of a movie."
 
"I had no doubt Tom was going to make the catch," said Ambrose. "I had no idea he was going to run the rest of the way for a touchdown, sometimes good turns into great."
 
"When Tom Ryan caught that ball, he had all of our hopes and dreams, all of our trust in his hands, and when he shed that second tackler, everybody started jumping," said Beltre. "I just started getting a bunch of goosebumps, we really did this, what a few minutes ago sounded impossible."
 
But Beltre himself was not jumping.  He knew he and the defense would need to finish this game.  At the start of ODU's final drive, back-to-back sacks by Morgan and Beltre, then a nine-yard completion by Heinicke, set up fourth and 11 on the ODU 40.  Heinicke sent down a final heave, with Kenton Powell making the interception.  Towson had won 39-35.
 
"Everyone was still kind of in shock that it happened," said Ryan. "To everyone that was in on the play, to everyone on the sidelines, to the coaches, to the cheerleaders and fans in the stands, everybody was shocked and it awe.  As that settled down, everyone realizes that we just beat them."
 
"There's been some great, great finishes in Towson history, but to do that in that season after having a one-win year, a two-win year, and then to go down and play in a place like that, one of the hardest places to play, a place they barely ever lose, in a season that meant so much, it's probably one of the greater finishes in Towson history," said Ambrose.
 
Postgame, the small locker room was going crazy.
 
"Coach Ambrose couldn't talk for the first 10 minutes," said Beltre. "He could not speak, everybody was just screaming and celebrating."
 
News came home to Baltimore, with the radio call of Spiro Morekas spreading the word of the great victory.  The game had not been televised in the Charm City area, but people glued to the radio or the live stats knew first back in Maryland of the big win.  Players' phones were blowing up with texts on the easy bus ride home.
 
After the Game
The Tigers improved to 5-1 overall for the first time since 1993 and held a share of first place in the CAA with Maine. 
 
Towson's victory over Old Dominion proved to be essential en route to the program's first-ever CAA title, a complete turnaround after being last in the preseason coaches poll, finishing 9-3 overall and 7-1 in league play.  The Black & Gold added three victories over top-15 teams: William & Mary, Maine and New Hampshire.
 
The Tigers reached the playoffs in FCS for the first time and set the table for more strong seasons, including a CAA title in 2012 and an appearance in the FCS national championship game in the 2013 season.
 
That year, the team was celebrated throughout the Baltimore area, gaining widespread attention from fans and media alike.  The team was honored during the 2011 Towson men's basketball game vs. Oregon State in November.  That game was attended by President Barack Obama and his family.  Ryan even got to meet the President, shaking his hand while Obama sat courtside at the Towson Center.  
 
From 2011-13, Towson was a combined 29-10, including 19-5 in CAA play.
 
"Watching a bunch of guys who had no reason to believe, but did, they bought in, they trained, they worked, they sweated, they held each other accountable to a degree that had not happened previously," said Ambrose. "They bought in completely and sold themselves six seconds at a time for as long as they possibly could for the success of themselves and the thing that they love."
 
"Everybody took that year truly seriously," said Beltre. "We had Coach Ambrose come in, and he was trying to make sure that everybody was there for the right reasons, not just to enjoy the ride.  Everybody took academics and football very seriously because those were the things that when Coach Ambrose came in, he was harping on, you can't be on the field if you can't keep your grades up."
 
"The alumni support was awesome during the whole run of everything, you really saw what it meant to be a Towson Tiger, it was something special to see," said Ryan.
 
"That whole year, it was awesome," said Enders.  "Looking back on it, some of the best memories I've ever had and some of the strongest friendships I've built was with that group of guys. When I talk about that year to buddies or anyone else, it all goes back to the Old Dominion game for sure and that play, that's something we'll always remember."

(Photo credits to Tom Ryan, Old Dominion Athletics and the Virginian-Pilot)