Ben Roethlisberger: Memorable Moments

With Ben Roethlisberger recently announcing his retirement from the National Football League after 18 years with the Steelers, MiamiRedHawks.com looks back (in chronological order) at 18 memorable moments from Big Ben's career, first at Miami University and later with Pittsburgh.

The Hail Mary: Oct. 13, 2001
Roethlisberger set the tone for a legendary career with an all-time highlight in just the sixth start of his freshman year. With Miami trailing Akron 27-24 at its own 30-yard line and only three seconds showing on the Yager Stadium clock, Roethlisberger heaved a pass downfield that Eddie Tillitz pulled in after a deflection for an improbable victory as time expired. The 70-yard Hail Mary gave the RedHawks a 30-27 triumph and allowed Roethlisberger to finish the game with a school-record 399 passing yards (spoiler: that record wouldn't last long). As Miami fans will always remember, "it ain't over Tillitz over!"

The Rewritten Record Book: Oct. 12, 2002
Roethlisberger put up ridiculous numbers through the air over his three-year college career, but many of his highest single-game totals came as a sophomore against Northern Illinois. Big Ben completed 41 of 61 passes for 525 yards, topping his then-record total of 452 (set at Hawaii the previous November). He threw four touchdowns and completed passes to 10 different RedHawks in a 48-41 loss to the Huskies.
Ben Roethlisberger

The Award-Winning Punter: 2002 Season
While Roethlisberger is known for his right arm, his left foot (yes, you read that correctly) has also been an effective weapon on occasion throughout his career. As a sophomore at Miami, Roethlisberger punted twice in a season-opening 27-21 win at North Carolina, averaging a whopping 51 yards per kick, including a career-long 59-yard boot. The Miami quarterback, who punted a total of 24 times during his RedHawk career, was actually named MAC East Special Teams Player of the Week after pinning Toledo inside the 10-yard line with three different kicks in a 27-13 road victory that snapped the Rockets' 17-game home winning streak.

Miami's 1,000th Game: Sept. 20, 2003
Roethlisberger out-dueled future NFL draft pick Bradlee Van Pelt in a 41-21 win at Colorado State early in Ben's junior season. The road win over the Rams was notable because it moved Roethlisberger into the MAC's all-time top 10 in pass completions and made him the first RedHawk to pass for 7,000 career yards. The Red and White earned their first win west of the Missouri River in more than 30 years, became the first non-conference team to win in Fort Collins since 1996 and enjoyed a comfortable victory in the 1,000th all-time Miami Football game. It was also the RedHawks' second straight win that season, officially giving Ben and company a winning streak that would only grow from there as the rest of that unforgettable year unfolded.

The Victory Bell Victories: 2001, 2002, and 2003
Roethlisberger's RedHawks went 3-0 against rival Cincinnati, posting a 21-14 win in Oxford in Sept. 2001, following that up with a 31-26 road triumph in Oct. 2002, and earning the Victory Bell yet again in Sept. 2003. Big Ben's third victory over the Bearcats, a 42-37 triumph, came in front of a sellout crowd of 27,512 at Yager Stadium, as the Red and White jumped out to leads of 28-0 and 42-17 en route to winning the 108^th all-time game in the series. Roethlisberger also became the first quarterback in school history to pass for 300 yards in three straight games.

Television Tuesday/Windy Wednesday: Nov. 4 & 12, 2003
Miami played its first-ever nationally televised game at Yager Stadium on Nov. 4, 2003 (and the second night game in the building's history), stunning the No. 15 Bowling Green Falcons 33-10 in front of a sellout crowd of 28,023. Big Ben finished 19 of 28 for 230 yards. The victory propelled the RedHawks to their first national top-25 ranking since the mid-1970s. Just days later, the No. 23 RedHawks were back in action at home for another memorable midweek game, pounding Marshall 45-6 to sew up the MAC East championship. That game was also a sellout despite gusting winds of more than 40 miles per hour. Roethlisberger threw for 282 yards and two scores as the RedHawks officially dethroned the Thundering Herd, who were six-for-six in division crowns since the MAC had split into East and West in 1997.

Conference Championship: Dec. 4, 2003
No. 14 Miami earned its second victory of the year over No. 20 Bowling Green, going on the road for a 49-27 win in the 2003 MAC Championship Game. Roethlisberger, the conference player of the year, was impressive, completing touchdown passes to four different RedHawks and throwing for a title-game record 440 yards. Roethlisberger joined Byron Leftwich as the only MAC quarterbacks to throw for 4,000 yards in a season, and Miami captured the program's first conference title since 1986. The RedHawk junior would finish ninth in voting for the Heisman Trophy the following weekend.

Ben Roethlisberger _ Hall of Fame 2012-1

Ben Roethlisberger _ Hall of Fame 2012-1

The Bowl Blowout: Dec. 18, 2003
In Ben's final game wearing a Miami uniform, the No. 14 RedHawks posted a dominating 49-28 victory over Louisville in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala. to cap off a 13-game season-ending win streak. Roethlisberger threw four touchdown passes before intermission, staking Miami to a 35-7 second-quarter lead en route to the RedHawks' first bowl victory since 1975. He finished his career with four or more scoring tosses in each of his last four games, posting a 17-1 TD ratio over that span. Roethlisberger also set MAC single-season records for total offense, pass completions and passing yards in the win over the Cardinals. The Red and White would end the season with a school-record 603 points (a scoring average of 43 per game) and a No. 10 ranking in the final AP poll.

Leap to the League: April 24, 2004
Immediately after the bowl victory, Roethlisberger announced that he would forego his senior season and enter the 2004 NFL Draft. He finished his time as a RedHawk with a program-record 84 touchdown passes and more than 10,000 yards through the air, completing a school-record 65.5% of his passes. Roethlisberger became the highest-ever NFL draft pick out of Miami University when the Pittsburgh Steelers selected him in the first round at No. 11 overall in April 2004. Roethlisberger would go on to play his entire 18-year career with the organization; no other quarterback in league history has played that long and spent his entire career with one team.

Rookie Win Streak: 2004 Season
After his time at Miami, winning 13 games in a row was nothing new to Ben Roethlisberger, so it should have come as no surprise when the rookie quarterback went a perfect 13-0 as a starter during the 2004 NFL regular season. Pressed into duty after an early-season injury to incumbent Tommy Maddox, Roethlisberger threw for 2,621 yards and completed 66.4% of his passes as a rookie, lifting Pittsburgh to the AFC's top seed with a 15-1 mark. The Steelers came up one game short of the Super Bowl, falling to New England in the conference championship game.

The Tackle: Jan. 15, 2006
One of the most memorable moments of Roethlisberger's career was not a touchdown pass, but a tackle. With Pittsburgh on the verge of a playoff win at AFC top seed Indianapolis, the Steelers had the ball, a three-point lead and a first-and-goal at the Colts' two-yard line with 80 seconds to play. Pittsburgh running back Jerome Bettis, who hadn't fumbled once all season, dropped the ball and Colts cornerback Nick Harper grabbed it to try and take it the length of the field for a go-ahead score. Only Big Ben stood between Harper and the far end zone, but Roethlisberger got just enough of Harper to trip him up at the Indianapolis 42-yard line. Peyton Manning and the Colts had to settle for driving the ball down the field to set up a potential tying kick, which went wide right in the final seconds. The Steelers escaped with a 21-18 win and would go on to earn the first of Roethlisberger's two Super Bowl championships.

Super Bowl XL: Feb. 5, 2006
The Steelers became the first team to be seeded sixth in their conference and win the Super Bowl with a 21-10 victory over the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL. Roethlisberger completed a key 37-yard pass to Hines Ward on 3rd-and-28 late in the first half, finishing off the drive himself with a one-yard touchdown run that put Pittsburgh up 7-3 at halftime. Big Ben became the youngest starting quarterback to win a Super Bowl, earning the Steelers 'one for the thumb', their fifth championship in franchise history.

Miami Milestones: 2007-present
The RedHawks retired Roethlisberger's No. 7 jersey in 2007, as Ben became just the third player in program history to have his number retired at Miami. Roethlisberger has continued to return to Oxford in the years since, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education at Millett Hall in May 2012. He was inducted into the Miami Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013, and Ben and his wife Ashley made a $1 million donation in 2014 to name Ben Roethlisberger Field in the new Dauch Indoor Sports Center.

Raven Rivalry: 2004-2022
As AFC North rivals that meet at least twice a season, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens have had plenty of battles over Roethlisberger's 18-year career. Trying to pick just one Big Ben memorable moment against Baltimore seems nearly impossible. Is it the five first-half touchdown passes in a 2007 Monday Night Football blowout? The scoring pass to Holmes in the final minute of a 2008 game that gave Pittsburgh a 13-9 win and the division title? The 58-yard pass that Antonio Brown pinned off his helmet on 3rd-and-19 to set up the game-winning touchdown in a January 2011 playoff game? Or the 'Christmas miracle' on 2016 when Brown managed to reach the ball across the plane of the goal line with nine seconds left to give Pittsburgh a come-from-behind victory? You decide; we can't.

Title-Winning Throw: Feb. 1, 2009
The undisputable top play of Roethlisberger's professional career came in Super Bowl XLIII. Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes in the back right corner of the end zone for the 'Tampa toe-tap', one of the greatest highlights in Super Bowl history. Trailing 23-20 at the six-yard line with 43 seconds to play, Roethlisberger was able to move around in the pocket, pump fake and buy enough time to throw a strike to Holmes, who somehow got both feet down in bounds for the go-ahead score. The Steelers won the game 27-23, giving Ben his second Super Bowl ring.

Walk-Off Win: Dec. 20, 2009
Less than 11 months later, Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace did his best Santonio Holmes impression in the left side of a different end zone. With the Steelers trailing the Packers 36-30 and only three seconds remaining on the Heinz Field clock, there was time for one final play. Roethlisberger dropped back, dropped back some more and eventually connected with Wallace for a 19-yard touchdown. Wallace dragged both feet to make the catch, and Jeff Reed's extra point with no time remaining gave Pittsburgh a wild 37-36 win. Roethlisberger and Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers both put on a show in the game, but it was Big Ben who got the last laugh, and in the process set the Steelers' single-game record with 503 passing yards.

12 Touchdowns in 120 Minutes: Oct. 26 & Nov. 2, 2014
Roethlisberger put up two of the best back-to-back performances the NFL has ever seen in 2014, becoming the first player in league history to throw six touchdowns in two straight games. He was 40-49 for 522 yards and a half dozen scores in a 51-34 win over Indianapolis, and followed that up the next weekend with a 25-37 performance against Baltimore, passing for 340 yards and six TDs in a 43-23 win. Perhaps the most impressive stat from the ridiculous two-game span? Ben didn't have an interception in either game.

One Last Improbable Comeback: Jan. 9, 2022
Call it recency bias if you want. But for a quarterback known for last-minute comeback wins, Roethlisberger's final season was remarkable even by his standards. He engineered seven game-winning drives this year, best in the NFL. In his final regular-season game, Roethlisberger helped Pittsburgh to a 16-13 overtime road win over –who else?– Baltimore to keep the Steelers' faint playoff hopes alive. According to NFL Research, Roethlisberger led the 57th game-winning drive of his career, second-best of any player in the Super Bowl era. Even after the dramatic victory, Pittsburgh needed help to get into the postseason, hoping for the Colts to lose to the 2-14 Jaguars as well as for the Raiders and Chargers to not end in a tie that evening. Unbelievably, Indianapolis lost, giving Pittsburgh fans reason to celebrate. And even more unbelievably, Las Vegas and Los Angeles made it to the final few seconds of overtime deadlocked at 32-all, which made it seem like Ben would come up agonizingly short of his 11th playoff appearance. However, Raiders kicker Daniel Carlson buried a 47-yard field goal as time expired in Vegas to knock the Chargers out of the postseason and put the Steelers in. Bottom line: If the final day of the NFL's first-ever 17-game regular season was a movie script, it would never sell.

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