LSU and Clemson get together on Jan. 13 for the College Football Championship. How will this game stack up eventually against the others since the BCS Championship began?
21. 2012: Alabama 42, Notre Dame 14
The game felt like a mismatch and it delivered a rout. Eddie Lacy, the game’s offensive MVP, ran for one touchdown and caught a pass for another in the final minute of the opening half, spinning away from the Notre Dame defense twice, to cap a 28-0 blitz.
20. 2019: Clemson 44, Alabama 16
There were high hopes as Clemson and Alabama renewed their rivalry. The game did not deliver as the Tigers were led by Trevor Lawrence, who passed for 347 yards and three touchdowns and Clemson rolled. Lawrence finished 20-for-32, and went for 277 yards over the final three quarters. The Tigers became the first college football team to finish 15-0 since the 1800s, and the first team since the playoff started five seasons ago to get through a season unscathed. The Tide came in scoring 48 points per game, but was shut out over the final 44 minutes.
19. 2011: Alabama 21, LSU 0
Alabama’s Jeremy Shelley tied a bowl record with five field goals and the defense did the rest, posting the first shutout in the 14-year history of the BCS. LSU didn’t cross midfield until there were 8 minutes left in the game. The Tigers finished with 92 yards and five first downs. The Tigers had beaten Alabama, 9-6, in overtime on Nov. 5.
18. 2014: Ohio State 42, Oregon 20
Oregon had no answer for Ezekiel Elliott, who rushed for 246 yards and four touchdowns. The Buckeyes overcame two injured Heisman contenders — Braxton Miller and J.T. Barrett — and one awful 35-21 loss to Virginia Tech to win their first national title since the 2002 BCS championship. In the Buckeyes’ final three games — against Wisconsin, Alabama and Oregon — Elliott rushed for 696 yards.
17. 2000: Oklahoma 13, Florida State 2
Oklahoma’s defense stifled Florida State, which got its two points on a safety in the final minute when Stanford Samuels tackled Oklahoma punter Jeff Ferguson in the end zone. Otherwise, it was defense, defense, defense for the Sooners. It marked the third time in five years the Seminoles lost a bowl game that could have given them a championship.
16. 2003: LSU 21, Oklahoma 14
The Tigers held Oklahoma to 154 yards on 70 plays. The Sooners, averaging 461 yards per game and 45.2 points, needed help from their special teams and defense to score their two touchdowns. Without Brandon Shelby’s blocked punt and Brodney Poole’s interception, it wouldn’t have been close. Defensive end Marcus Spears rumbled to the end zone with an interception 20 seconds into the second half and LSU was on its way to its first national title celebration in 45 years.
15. 2008: Florida 24, Oklahoma 14
Beaten out for the Heisman this season by Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, Tebow outplayed him and was picked the game’s most outstanding player. Percy Harvin ran wild and Florida made two goal line stands against the highest-scoring team in modern history. Tebow shook off a career-high two interceptions and drove the Gators to the clinching score. He took two hard steps toward the line, jumped and zipped a 4-yard touchdown pass to David Nelson with 3:07 left to make it 24-14.
14. 1998: Tennessee 23, Florida State 16
Tennessee won its first national championship since 1951 with a victory over the second-ranked Seminoles. The Volunteers overcame the graduation of Peyton Manning, the loss of running back Jamal Lewis and several harrowing finishes to go 13-0. Tennessee quarterback Tee Martin set up one score with a 76-yard pass to Peerless Price in the first quarter, and sealed the victory with a 79-yard touchdown pass to Price midway through the fourth. Price caught four passes for 199 yards. The Seminoles beat themselves, committing 12 penalties for 110 yards, but with fourth-stringer Marcus Outzen at quarterback, they never had a chance.
13. 2001: Miami 37, Nebraska 14
The Hurricane defense shut down Heisman-winner Eric Crouch and the Huskers’ powerful offense, and Ken Dorsey and Andre Johnson teamed up for a pair of TDs to earn co-MVP
12. 1999: Florida State 46, Virginia Tech 29
FSU’s Peter Warrick caught six passes for 163 yards and set a Sugar Bowl record by scoring 20 points. Michael Vick, Virginia Tech’s redshirt freshman quarterback, guided his team to 503 yards, most in a losing Sugar Bowl effort. Warrick helped stake the Seminoles to a 28-7 lead in the first half; however Vick galvanized the Hokiesm who actually went ahead 29-28 at the end of the third quarter. Then Warrick and Florida State took over again.
11. 2007: LSU 38, Ohio State 24
LSU, whose two losses both came in triple overtime, became just fourth favorite to win in 10 BCS championship games, overcoming a 10-0 deficit to crush the Buckeyes. The loss left Ohio State at 0-9 overall in bowl games against teams from the SEC.
10. 2009: Alabama 37, Texas 21
The Alabama ‘D’ knocked Texas quarterback Colt McCoy out early, then made a big play late to stop a Longhorns comeback. The Alabama lead was only 24-21 with 6:15 left. Texas had the ball with three minutes left but Alabama linebacker Eryk Anders, got a blindside sack and stripped the ball. Teammate Courtney Upshaw recovered. Three plays later, Mark Ingram scored from the 1 to give ‘Bama some breathing room. A few minutes after that, Trent Richardson scored to make a close game look more lopsided than it really was. This was Alabama’s first title since 1992.
9. 2004: USC 55, Oklahoma 19
With the aid of four Oklahoma turnovers, the Trojans (13-0)
ambushed the Sooners with 38 points in the final 20 minutes
of the first half.
8. 2006: Florida 41, Ohio State 14
Chris Leak and Tim Tebow showed off Meyer’s twin quarterback system to perfection as the Gators became the first Division I school to hold national titles in football and basketball at the same time. Ohio State’s Troy Smith, joined a long list of Heisman Trophy quarterbacks — Jason White, Eric Crouch and Gino Torretta, among them — to fall apart in bowl games. He was just 4-of-14 for 35 yards with one interception, sacked him five times and held him to minus-29 yards on 10 runs.
7. 2015: Alabama 45, Clemson 40
Derrick Henry, O.J. Howard and Kenyan Drake hit No. 1 Clemson with long touchdowns, and No. 2 Alabama outlasted Deshaun Watson to win the College Football Playoff championship. With 10:34 left in the fourth quarter and Alabama having just tied the game at 24-24, Nick Saban took a gamble to try to keep the ball away from Watson. He called for an onside kick called “pop kick” from Adam Griffith, and Alabama defensive back Marlon Humphrey caught it over the shoulder at midfield.
6. 2016: Alabama 26, Georgia 23
Tua Tagovailoa, who had played mostly mop-up duty as a freshman, came off the bench to spark a comeback and threw a 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith that gave No. 4 Alabama an overtime victory. Tagovailoa entered the game at halftime, replacing a struggling Jalen Hurts, and threw three touchdown passes to give the Crimson Tide its fifth national championship since 2009 under coach Nick Saban.
5. 2010: Auburn 22, Oregon 19
Wes Byrum kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired to give the Tigers the Bowl Championship Series national championship game. The victory capped a perfect 14-0 season and gave the Tigers their first national title since 1957. Auburn tackle Nick Fairley led a defensive unit that forced three turnovers and waged a goal-line stand in the third quarter to turn back the Ducks.
4. 2014: Florida State 34, Auburn 31
Jameis Winston threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left and No. 1 Florida State beat No. 2 Auburn. Winston struggled much of the game but was near perfect when the Seminoles needed it most, going 6-of-7 passing for 77 yards on the game-winning 80-yard drive.
3. 2002: Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2 OT)
In a shocking, thrilling season-ender, Ohio State ripped the national title from the confident ‘Canes — who, at one point, rushed onto the field thinking they had won. In the end, Maurice Clarett ran 5 yards for the winning touchdown, and Ohio State’s defense turned back one final bid by No. 1 Miami to tie it. With that, the Buckeyes completed an unlikely, unbeaten run to their first national title in 34 years.
2. 2016: Clemson 35, Alabama 31
A frantic fourth quarter and a championship rematch between Clemson and Alabama was decided with 1 second left on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Deshaun Watson to Hunter Renfrow. For former walk-on Renfrow, it was his second TD catch of the game. He also had two last season against Alabama. A 35-year title drought for Clemson was over. The Tigers were national champions for the first time since 1981.
1. 2005: Texas 41, USC 38
