Sure, this weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the “Hail Flutie,” the legendary play where Flutie hit Gerard Phelan with the impossible pass that helped No. 12 Boston College upset No. 10 Miami 47-45 at the Orange Bowl on Nov. 23, 1984.

Try and ask Flutie a question he hasn’t heard at least once. We know the play was called “55 Flood Tip.” We know Flutie jumped into Steve Trapilo’s arms. We know Flutie didn’t know Phelan caught the football until he got halfway to the locker room, and we know Flutie won the Heisman Trophy afterward. We’ve seen and heard it a million times, and it’s still amazing every single time. How can you recreate that?

“The way I’ve phrased it is that at least once a day somebody brings it up,” Flutie told Sporting News. “You try not to be robotic in your answers. You try to show some emotion.”

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So ask a question that hasn’t been asked enough, one that even gets some juice from the guy who spent three decades deflecting questions about being a 5-foot-9 quarterback. Do people really appreciate how good Flutie was? How good would Flutie be today? 

Flutie isn’t afraid to offer an answer. 

“I would have loved to have the opportunity to play in the NFL in these systems today,” Flutie said before trailing off. “I would have loved to have that chance.”

It’s easy to see why. Flutie is forever linked to that one play, but that overshadows how he should be remembered. That is as a playmaker in the same class as undersized quarterbacks such as Drew Brees, Russell Wilson and Johnny Manziel.

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At the college level, it’s indisputable. As a senior, Flutie racked up 3,634 passing yards, 379 rushing yards and 33 TDs. That’s on par with Wilson’s line in 2011 at Wisconsin (3,175 passing yards, 338 rushing yards, 36 TDs).

Wilson won the Super Bowl in his second season. Flutie’s professional track is far-more complicated. He played a year in the USFL before starting 14 games between stops in Chicago and New England from 1986-89, teams that were never willing to buy in on Flutie. 

That’s where the most underappreciated chapter begins. From 1990-97, Flutie enjoyed arguably the greatest career in CFL history. Look at the numbers: 41,355 passing yards, 4,660 rushing yards and 336 total touchdowns. For comparison, Warren Moon had 21,228 passing yards, 1,700 rushing yards and 160 total TDs in one less CFL season from 1978-83.  

Flutie totaled at least 50 TDs in a single season for three different CFL teams. He finished with 55 total touchdowns in 1993 and 56 total touchdowns in 1994 for the Calgary Stampeders.

“When I went to Canada, I was wheeling and dealing,” he said. “We ran some stuff similar to what they’re doing now. They were zone-read principles; we just didn’t call it that. We kept adding to the package each week, and it was a lot of fun to go out and make plays.”

So much fun a young assistant coach at New Hampshire named Chip Kelly visited the Toronto Argonauts to see how this offense generated so much success.

Flutie tried to bring that to the NFL in 1998 at age 36 with Buffalo, and he played until he was 43 years old. He played for eight different professional teams in three different leagues.

In today’s NFL, who knows what Flutie would be? Brees and Wilson have won Super Bowls. Manziel is waiting his turn in Cleveland, much like Flutie did with Chicago and New England. Kelly’s offense helped revolutionize the college game, and he’s making an imprint in the NFL.  

Flutie, meanwhile, is still remembered for that one timeless moment. He will celebrate that with teammates at Boston College next weekend in the season finale against Syracuse as part of his work with the Capital One Cup, which gives $400,000 in scholarship money to the best men’s and women’s college athletics programs at the end of the academic year. 

Along the way, he’ll take more questions, and he’ll see another handful of replays. Flutie, now a college analyst for NBC Sports, won’t complain. At 52 years old, he’s still trying to stay ahead of everybody else, even when looking at the “Hail Flutie.”  

“It still brings a smile to my face,” Flutie said. “Now, I look at it a little differently. I look at the trajecotry of ball, my arm strength and how far I could throw the football. That makes me feel old. Overall, it still amazes me it gets much as play as it does and as much reaction as it does.”

Maybe it’s time to give Flutie’s career the same well-deserved reaction.