Welcome to Sports Illustrated’s College Football Quarter-Century Week. We will look back at the past 25 seasons in college football, ranking the top 25 teams, quarterbacks, non-QB players, coaches, scandals and games. Up next: The best games from 2000 to present.
1. Texas 41, USC 39 (2006 Rose Bowl, BCS national championship game)
The game had everything—two undefeated blueblood programs, two Heisman Trophy winners, a Heisman runner-up who felt spurned, a team trying for an unprecedented national championship three-peat, a coach searching for a validating first title, Keith Jackson on the call, a Rose Bowl setting. And then the competition itself transcended the storylines. It was a riveting drama that ebbed and flowed: USC appeared on its way to a 14–0 lead before 2005 Heisman winner Reggie Bush’s unwise lateral turned into a fumble; Texas then roared ahead 16–7; ’04 Heisman winner Matt Leinart led the Trojans back in a shootout second half for a 38–26 lead; then Vince Young became an all-time legend. The Texas QB passed and ran for 120 yards on the Longhorns’ final two possessions, touchdown drives that delivered a national championship for Mack Brown and derailed a USC dynasty. The two teams combined for 1,130 yards of offense.
2. Auburn 34, Alabama 28 (2013 Iron Bowl)
What is the single most dramatic way to win a football game? How about the longest touchdown possible (109 yards) with no time left on the clock? And how about if that play stopped a bid for a national title three-peat while sending the winners on their way to the BCS championship game? And how about if it came in the most bitter of rivalries? Chris Davis’s Kick Six delivered maximum payload. The Auburn defensive back’s 109-yard return of a 56-yard Alabama field goal try that came up short as time expired was a stunning plot twist that spontaneously unleashed a field-storming eruption in Jordan-Hare Stadium. The Tigers went on to win the SEC at a time when it looked like the Crimson Tide might never lose again. The game was full of jaw-dropping plays, with the fourth quarter alone featuring a 99-yard Alabama touchdown pass and a 39-yard TD toss by Auburn with just 32 seconds left. But what happened last overshadowed all that came before it. “They’re not gonna keep ’em off the field tonight!” shrieked Auburn radio play-by-play man Rod Bramblett. “Holy cow! Oh, my God! Auburn wins!”
3. Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (2007 Fiesta Bowl)
In the backyard or with a video-game controller in your hands, the most fun you can have is to run trick plays that score touchdowns. The Broncos did it in real life, in a real game, that happened to be on the biggest stage in school history. Coach Chris Petersen dialed up the Holy Trinity of gimmicks, each one do-or-die, to upset the Sooners in overtime and secure an undefeated season. The succession of YOLO play calls, in order: a hook-and-lateral touchdown pass covering 50 yards with seven seconds left to force overtime; a fourth-down halfback touchdown pass to pull within one in OT; and the fabled Statue of Liberty handoff from Jared Zabransky to Ian Johnson for the winning two-point conversion. Then Johnson took it straight Hollywood by dropping to a knee in the end zone where he scored and proposing to his cheerleader girlfriend. Scene.
4. Appalachian State 34, Michigan 32 (2007)
One of the primary charms of this sport is that, on any given Saturday, you never know when and where something utterly captivating is going to happen. And so it was that on Sept. 1, 2007, a presumed walkover for the Wolverines against the FCS Mountaineers wound up drawing millions of eyeballs to the first-ever football broadcast on the fledgling Big Ten Network. When App State took a 28–14 lead late on the No. 5 team in the country in the first half, viewers started finding the game. The massive upset nearly slipped away on two late Michigan touchdowns, but the Wolverines twice went for two and missed, leaving it a one-point game in the final minutes. Julian Rauch and Corey Lynch each got a chance to earn historical footnotes—Rauch for kicking the go-ahead field goal and Lynch for blocking a Michigan FG attempt on the final play.
5. Alabama 26, Georgia 23 (2018 College Football Playoff championship game)
A walk-off national championship bomb from a freshman backup quarterback to a freshman backup receiver is a pretty good way to end a season and launch a couple of great careers. On a second-and-26 in overtime, trailing 23–20, Tua Tagovailoa looked off the safety in the middle of the field and fired down the left sideline. DeVonta Smith streaked under it, shockingly open, planting his right foot at the 1-yard line as he cradled the ball, then his left foot in the end zone, ending the season on the spot with yet another Alabama title. Georgia radio play-by-play man Scott Howard’s voice rose in terrible recognition (“Tagovailoa going downfield, he’s got a man open!”) and then abruptly sank (“Oh, my God, Alabama has won it”). What preceded that play was a gritty Crimson Tide comeback spurred by Nick Saban’s desperate halftime decision to bench starter Jalen Hurts and insert Tagovailoa, who hadn’t played with a game on the line since high school in Hawai’i—much less a national title on the line. Of all the daggers Saban has inserted in Kirby Smart, this remains the most painful.
6. Ohio State 42, Michigan 39 (2006)
The annual massive rivalry game took on more significance when the Buckeyes and Wolverines showed up undefeated and ranked 1–2, with a spot in the BCS championship game assured for the winner. The matchup assumed a layer of poignance when legendary former Michigan coach Bo Schembechler, whose battles with Woody Hayes defined the rivalry, died the day before the game. An offensive shootout erupted in the Horseshoe, with the combined 81 points the most ever scored to that point in the rivalry. The top-ranked Buckeyes held the advantage most of the day, but three turnovers kept the Wolverines in the game. Ultimately, four touchdown passes by Troy Smith (on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy) and a recovered onside kick in the final minutes allowed Ohio State to prevail.
7. USC 34, Notre Dame 31 (2005)
Long before the Tush Push, there was the Bush Push that shaped the 2005 season. The Fighting Irish faced long odds and employed long grass to slow a Trojans team on a 27-game winning streak, led by the electric speed of running back Reggie Bush. Allegedly letting the grass field grow for the game at the behest of first-year coach Charlie Weis, the 4–1 Irish took a 21–14 lead at halftime. The teams traded scores until Notre Dame led 31–28 with USC in possession for a desperate drive. On a fourth-and-9 deep in his own territory, Matt Leinart threw a short pass to Dwayne Jarrett that he took 61 yards into the red zone. Three plays later, Leinart scrambled for the corner pylon but was blasted short of the goal line, with the ball flying backward and out of bounds. Chaos reigned: The ball was incorrectly spotted at the 1, the clock kept running, USC assistant Brennan Carroll tried to call timeout when the Trojans had none. With seven seconds put back on the clock, USC went for the win—Leinart tried a quarterback sneak and was immediately stacked up, then spun backward to his left. Bush then seized the moment, shoving Leinart into the end zone—an illegal play at the time, but one that went uncalled and kept the Trojans’ three-peat bid alive. Meanwhile, Notre Dame was so smitten by the close loss that it gave Weis a massively enhanced contract that became a millstone when his tenure cratered a couple years later.
8. Clemson 35, Alabama 31 (2017 CFP championship game)
The Tigers had risen as a national power in previous years, including making the title game the previous season and losing a shootout to the Crimson Tide. This time, with Bama on a 26-game winning streak, Clemson quarterback Deshaun Watson led three touchdown drives in the fourth quarter to deliver the Tigers’ first national title since 1981. The winning march was a two-minute, nine-play masterpiece—Watson completed 6-of-8 passes, using the clock perfectly. The winning play was a 2-yard out pass to the goal line to former walk-on wide receiver Hunter Renfrow with one second left. Game over.
9. Georgia 54, Oklahoma 48 (2018 Rose Bowl CFP semifinal)
The first overtime playoff game was full of momentum swings and massive plays. There were five touchdowns of 38 yards or longer, with the underdog Sooners racing to a 31–14 lead behind Heisman Trophy QB Baker Mayfield and the Bulldogs answering with their dynamic running back combination of Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. Yet the two biggest plays might have been on special teams within six seconds of each other. With a potential 17-point halftime lead, Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley ordered up a squib kickoff that was alertly snared by frontline blocker Tae Crowder, who then even more alertly fell down near midfield to give Georgia one more shot to score. After a short completion, freshman Rodrigo Blankenship hit a 55-yard field goal on the final play of the half. Then the Bulldogs scored to start the third quarter, and the Sooners’ momentum was gone. The outcome was something of a passing of the torch among two gifted young coaches, from Riley (whose career was plateauing) to Kirby Smart (whose career was taking off).
10. Georgia 42, Ohio State 41 (2022 Peach Bowl CFP semifinal)
The clock struck midnight and the calendar flipped to Jan. 1, 2023, as the ball was in the air on the final play of this New Year’s Eve classic. A long Buckeyes field goal veered wide, no good, and the reigning champion Bulldogs escaped with a comeback victory built on an inch here and a second there. Kirby Smart was just quick enough in calling a crucial timeout in the fourth quarter before an Ohio State fake punt on fourth-and-1 that was successful—if the ball had been snapped in time. Tight end Brock Bowers was just athletic enough to keep his body off the ground on fourth down, stretching for a first down to keep a late drive alive. Defensive back Javon Bullard was just legal enough with a devastating hit on Marvin Harrison Jr., that was originally called targeting before being overturned, preventing a touchdown and knocking Harrison out for the rest of the game. If just one of those plays goes the other way, Georgia probably does not repeat.
11. TCU 51, Michigan 45 (2022 Fiesta Bowl CFP semifinal)
After a series of close wins and a loss in the Big 12 championship game, the underdog Horned Frogs had their playoff credentials impugned by the establishment. Then they immediately jumped on the Big Ten champions for what was the program’s biggest win since the 1930s. TCU returned two J.J. McCarthy interceptions for touchdowns in racing to a 34–16 lead, then withstood a McCarthy-led comeback. A 78-yard Frogs touchdown from Max Duggan to Quentin Johnston served as the clincher. The stunning defeat would be Jim Harbaugh’s last as coach of the Wolverines; they ran the table the following year to win the national title, and Harbaugh left for the NFL.
12. Alabama 45, Clemson 40 (2016 CFP championship game)
Nick Saban very rarely encountered a situation where his defense simply couldn’t stop an opponent, but this was one of them as the underdog Tigers kept scoring behind quarterback Deshaun Watson. So with the score tied at 24 early in the fourth quarter, Saban dialed up one of his boldest big-game calls: an onside kick that Adam Griffith blooped to the sideline and Marlon Humphrey caught to steal a possession. Two plays later, Jake Coker hit tight end O.J. Howard for a 51-yard touchdown, and Alabama never trailed again. The Crimson Tide produced one more huge special teams play a few minutes later, when Kenyan Drake returned a kickoff 95 yards for a score. Saban reminded everyone that his teams could not only outhit but also outwit a quality opponent.
13. Florida 31, Alabama 20 (2008 SEC championship game)
This was the first of three Urban Meyer vs. Nick Saban clashes that decided a national championship. The showdown of savage intensity pitted Meyer’s best Florida team against Saban’s first great Alabama team, and the underdog Crimson Tide surprisingly took a 20–17 lead into the fourth quarter at the Georgia Dome. Then the Gators and Tim Tebow exerted their will, taking more than 10 minutes off the clock with two grinding touchdown drives. Florida went on to win the national title over Oklahoma, then Alabama exacted revenge in a dominant performance a year later on the way to a natty. Meyer, then at Ohio State, won the rubber game with Saban in a 2014 CFP semifinal upset.
14. USC 52, Penn State 49 (2017 Rose Bowl)
At a time when a lot of people wondered whether non-playoff bowl games still had a place in the sport, the Trojans and Nittany Lions staged this epic shootout in Pasadena. Two players still making headlines in the NFL had heroic performances: Penn State running back Saquon Barkley had 306 all-purpose yards and scored three touchdowns; USC quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 453 yards and five TDs. After giving up 49 points in three quarters, the USC defense finally got some late stops while the Trojans offense scored the final 17 points of the game. USC kicker Matt Boermeester ended it with a field goal on the last play.
15. Auburn 28, Alabama 27 (2010 Iron Bowl)
The Tigers’ national championship hopes in their one and only year with Cam Newton at quarterback were quickly on the ropes in Bryant-Denny Stadium as the Crimson Tide rolled to a 24–0 lead early in the second quarter. And it could have been worse than that—up 21–0, Alabama back Mark Ingram took a reception toward the end zone before Auburn’s Antoine Carter caught him from behind and punched the ball loose. Then the oblong object did the strangest thing—it bounced in a straight line, as if round, into the end zone for a touchback and a change of possession. What followed was “The Camback,” as Auburn scored 28 of the final 31 points in the game to pull out the victory. After routing South Carolina for the SEC title, the Tigers beat Oregon for the BCS championship.
16. Pittsburgh 13, West Virginia 9 (2007 Backyard Brawl)
This was the final major plot twist of the chaotic 2007 national championship chase. The No. 2-ranked Mountaineers just needed to navigate 60 minutes at home as a four-touchdown favorite against a 4–7 opponent to play in the BCS championship game. What unfolded on a freezing Saturday was the biggest upset and most bitter defeat in Backyard Brawl history. After taking a 7–0 lead, the high-powered WVU offense disintegrated. The Mountaineers lost five turnovers, missed two field goals and had to play most of the game without star quarterback Pat White after he dislocated a thumb. The crowd filed out in stricken silence while Pitt celebrated. West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez then flirted with Alabama and left for Michigan, altering the course of several programs at once.
17. Ohio State 31, Miami 24 (2003 Fiesta Bowl BCS championship game)
A dynasty died in the desert in a massive upset. It turned on a controversial penalty that lives on in infamy in Coral Gables, Fla., but the rest of the game was both surprising and riveting. The reigning champion Hurricanes, riding a 34-game winning streak and loaded with NFL talent, came in as 11 1/2-point favorites over a Buckeyes team that was also undefeated, but had survived six one-score games under second-year coach Jim Tressel. Yet after Miami jumped to a 7–0 lead, it was Ohio State carrying the fight to the favorites. Riding an opportunistic defense and the legs of quarterback Craig Krenzel, the Buckeyes took a 17–7 lead midway through the third quarter. Miami rallied, tying the game on a 40-yard field goal to end regulation, then appeared to have the game won in the first overtime. Until a late flag flew in. With the Hurricanes up seven, a fourth-down pass from Krenzel to Chris Gamble was broken up by defender Glenn Sharpe. As the Hurricanes celebrated, field judge Terry Porter threw a flag on Sharpe for pass interference. Ohio State won in the second OT, the Miami dynasty was never the same and the Buckeyes have sustained national prominence ever since.
18. Marshall 64, East Carolina 61 (2001 GMAC Bowl)
A Dec. 19 bowl in Mobile, Ala., was not top of mind for most college football fans when it kicked off. That would change as the night progressed. East Carolina (6–5) roared to a 21–0 lead in the first nine minutes, then extended it to 38–8 at halftime. The rout was seemingly on. But the Thundering Herd rode two pick-sixes in the third quarter and the arm of quarterback Byron Leftwich (41 for 70 for 576 yards) to a staggering comeback. A Leftwich touchdown pass with seven seconds left tied the game at 51, but Marshall botched the extra point to send the game into overtime. The Herd won it in the second OT in what is still the highest-scoring bowl game in history. The comeback was the largest in bowl history until Texas Tech eclipsed it by a point five years later.
19. Florida State 34, Auburn 31 (2014 BCS championship game)
The 2013 Seminoles were a juggernaut, winning every game easily and averaging 50 points behind redshirt freshman quarterback Jameis Winston. But they trailed the underdog Tigers 21–3 late in the first half, as Auburn’s fate-kissed, Kick Six–blessed season looked like it might end in the school’s second national title in four seasons. Faced with a fourth-and-4 at its own 40, Florida State sent the punting team out yet again. But Jimbo Fisher called for a fake that netted a first down, and the Noles scored six plays later to commence the comeback. A Winston touchdown pass to Kelvin Benjamin with 13 seconds left gave Florida State its first national title of the post–Bobby Bowden era.
20. Clemson 42, Louisville 36 (2016)
This might have been the best quarterback duel of the quarter century, matching a pair of future NFL talents. Clemson’s Deshaun Watson and Louisville’s Lamar Jackson combined for 854 yards of total offense and eight touchdowns in a raucous, sweaty showdown in Death Valley. After a scoreless first quarter, the two QBs lit up the night. Watson led Clemson to a 28–10 lead at halftime. Jackson then led Louisville to 26 unanswered points for a 36–28 lead midway through the fourth quarter. A long kickoff return set up a Clemson score, then the Tigers got the ball back and scored again for a six-point lead. It looked like Jackson would get the final say, driving Louisville into the red zone in the final minute, but on fourth-and-12, receiver James Quick caught a pass and misjudged the down marker, going out of bounds at the Clemson 3, a yard short of a first down. Watson and the Tigers went on to win the national championship. Jackson went on to win the Heisman.
21. LSU 28, Florida 24 (2007)
This savagely physical Top 10 showdown between the reigning national champion Gators and No. 1 Tigers turned on Les Miles’s fourth-down daring. Five times LSU went for it on fourth in the game, and five times it converted. That included a fake field goal in the third quarter while trailing 17–7, keeping alive a touchdown drive, and two conversions on the game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter. Jacob Hester was the Tigers’ primary blunt-force weapon, running for 106 yards and the winning touchdown on 23 carries. LSU went on to win the national title. Gators quarterback Tim Tebow, who ran or passed on 42 of Florida's 58 offensive plays, went on to win the Heisman Trophy.
22. USC 23, California 17 (2004)
The Trojans were in the middle of a dynastic run when the upstart Golden Bears (3–0) came to the L.A. Coliseum. Cal’s second-year starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, was starting to make a name for himself. By the end of this game, he revealed himself as a future all-time great. Playing against a loaded defense, Rodgers began the game by completing his first 23 passes, tying the NCAA record. He kept leading drives into USC territory, but the Trojans kept getting stops. Trailing 23–17, Rodgers led a final drive inside the USC 10. But a day of dazzling accuracy ended with three incompletions and a sack, and USC hung on. The Trojans rolled to the national title from there with little opposition.
23. Central Florida 49, South Florida 42 (2017)
A deep cut from outside the power conferences. This particular War on I-4, played on Black Friday, marked the high point of the Bulls-Knights football rivalry. South Florida was 9–1, Central Florida was 10–0 and on the way to a 13–0 record and a claimed national championship. (That was completely specious, but the team was legitimately good.) The game was a quarterbacking feast. UCF’s more celebrated McKenzie Milton produced 429 yards total offense and five touchdowns, while USF’s Quinton Flowers compiled a preposterous 605 yards and five TDs. Trailing 34–28 entering the fourth quarter, Milton led two long scoring drives for a 42–34 lead. But Flowers countered with a 83-yard TD pass and a two-point conversion to tie it. The winning points came immediately thereafter, when UCF’s Mike Hughes returned the ensuing kickoff 95 yards.
24. Texas A&M 74, LSU 72 (2018)
This circus of a game changed the overtime rules in college football. An A&M touchdown on the final play of regulation unleashed an endless seven OTs, with the game spanning 197 offensive snaps across four hours and 53 minutes. The total points remains an FBS record. With an emphasis on limiting snaps to protect player safety, new rules were put in place in 2019 that turned overtime into a two-point conversion face-off in the fifth OT. (That has subsequently been shortened further, with teams required to go for two in the second OT and no plays from scrimmage starting in the third.) As if the game itself were not enough entertainment, LSU staffer Kevin Faulk got into a postgame scuffle with Jimbo Fisher’s nephew, Cole. This was also the last college game Joe Burrow lost; he led LSU to a 15–0 national championship the next season.
25. Western Kentucky 49, Central Michigan 48 (2014 Bahamas Bowl)
This list would not be complete without a Hail Mary finish. But not just a standard Hail Mary—a Hail Mary with three laterals. And then the team that pulled it off ended up losing. WKU had a five-touchdown lead going into the fourth quarter—yes, five touchdowns—and steadily gave almost all of it back. But the Chippewas still trailed by seven and were 75 yards away on the final play, which was an all-timer. Cooper Rush threw deep to Jesse Kroll, who caught it at the WKU 29; Kroll then lateraled to Deon Butler, who lateraled to Courtney Williams, who lateraled it to Titus Davis for the shocking touchdown. That made it 49–48 with no time left, so CMU coach Dan Enos did the right thing and went for the win right there. A Rush pass for two was broken up by defensive back Wonderful Terry, and the most wonderful Bahamas Bowl of them all was won by the Hilltoppers.
More College Football on Sports Illustrated
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Top 25 College Football Games of the Past 25 Years.
