In a prank that fooled a nationally recognized newspaper, the New York Times captured the story of the undefeated football team from Plainfield Teacher's College. It sounds like a good story to tell.
The only problem was that Plainfield Teacher's College didn't exist. The calculated ruse held up for six weeks as Morris Newburger, the author of the piece under the alias of Jerry Croyden, created a fictional legendary QB without any weaknesses and paid close attention to each meticulous detail about the team, including detailing the "W" formation that helped the team preserve a perfect record.
The beauty to this prank was not only did it fool the New York Times, which published the stories every week, but it also fooled college football fans across the country as the prank went so far as to report that the Plainfield Comets would be challenging to compete in a bowl game as their winning streak continued.