Halloween is on Monday but, more importantly, Halloween weekend is upon us. It's that time of year when we embrace the darker side of life. Any other time of year, people are ready to have you committed for taking your child to a haunted house or if you show up to work dressed as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Right now, though, anything goes.
Here in this little corner of American culture, we're celebrating by marking the XX most haunting games in college football history. These are the losses that linger like ghosts long after the final horn sounds, whose skeletons rise from the grave even today.
Methodology: We've limited our scope to college football's Championship Era (since the formation of the BCS in 1998). Our wildly unscientific scoring system looks for high-leverage situations with long-lasting impact. Did the loss come in an especially gruesome way? Did it enact a longstanding curse or activate any demons? Did fumbling away an opportunity invite the wrath of any higher (or lower) powers?
Here are our favorite 10, in no particular order.
Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32 (Sept. 1, 2007)
The long-term ramifications for this game are low. Lloyd Carr did indeed retire after this season, but that had more to do with the Wolverines getting out-classed by Oregon, Wisconsin and Ohio State. Still, Michigan will never quite put this game behind them. It has its own Wikipedia page, for goodness sake.
No. 5 Ohio State 59, No. 13 Wisconsin 0 (Dec. 6, 2014)
Wisconsin came into the game limping, Ohio State knew it needed an impressive performance to leap frog Baylor and fend off TCU for the fourth of four spots in the inaugural College Football Playoff. But no one expected that. Wisconsin turned the ball over four times, one of them for a touchdown and third-string QB Cardale Jones led the Buckeyes to scores on their first five six drives. The Buckeyes out-gained the Badgers 558-258, and 301-71 on the ground.
The victory was emphatic enough to lift Ohio State to the Playoff (where they'd win the title), while Wisconsin -- who won or shared six Big Ten titles in a 20-season span from 1993-2012 -- hasn't claimed a Big Ten championship since. Perhaps that's a coincidence, or perhaps the Gods were so offended by the Badgers (lack of) effort that they placed a hex on the program that lasts through today.
Miami 49, No. 2 UCLA 45 (Dec. 5, 1998)
Call it Posideon's Curse. Hurricane Georges pushed this game back from its originally scheduled date of Sept. 26, and on the season's final Saturday the Greek god of the seas sent another Hurricane to keep the Bruins out of the first BCS championship game.
UCLA led 38-21 entering the fourth quarter and 45-42, when Cade McNown hit Brad Melsby on a 3rd-and-8 for a first down to the Hurricane 26, but officials ruled the ball came out before he hit the ground. Today, UCLA keeps the ball and likely wins the game. Without replay in place, Miami got the ball and then went 74 yards to win the game. In what will become a theme in this piece, UCLA has not sniffed a national title opportunity since.
Arizona 34, No. 2 Oregon 24 (Nov. 15, 2007)
Oregon has played for two national titles to date and even went down to the final play in one of them, but I'd argue the Ducks were never closer to a title than they were in 2007. Mike Bellotti's team, under first year-year OC Chip Kelly, was in line to play for the BCS title behind Heisman-front runner QB Dennis Dixon, until Dixon tore his ACL trying to evade an Arizona linebacker in the first quarter. Tell me Pinhead himself does not strike poor Dixon down here.
Oregon lost the game and the next two, and the two best teams in the nation did not meet for the national title (more below). As stated above, Oregon this game did not inflict long term damage on the program, but there's no telling how high the Ducks may still be flying even today with a crystal ball to take on the recruiting trail.
No. 14 Colorado 62, No. 2 Nebraska 36 (Nov. 23, 2001)
Again, the short-term impact on this game was low; even with the loss, Nebraska would still play for the national title that January. But the long-term impact was apparent at the time and reverberates stronger as time goes on.
Nebraska of 2001 seemed as invincible as Alabama of 2022. The Huskers didn't win the national title every year, but they were always in contention, in large part because they physically and mentally whipped their opponents like none other. Until they didn't. Colorado ran the ball straight down the Blackshirts' throats, building a 35-3 lead by the 12:30 mark of the second quarter. The Big Red Wall of Invincibility crumbled in real time and is still scattered about the ground today.
No. 1 Alabama 37, No. 2 Texas 21 (Jan. 7, 2010)
Hand to God, I told a friend during the 2009 season that Greg Davis needed to stop running the speed option because Colt McCoy wasn't committed to it and that lack of commitment was going to get him hurt. So, perhaps the blame lies with me for speaking it into existence.
Either way, Marcell Dareus's shoulder collided with McCoy's nerve, and neither program has ever been the same.
Alabama would've become Alabama win or lose in Pasadena (make no mistake, they would've lost), but Texas hasn't been Texas since McCoy left the field. In fact, Alabama defensive linemen are still knocking Texas quarterbacks out in the first quarter even 13 seasons later.
Iowa State 37, No. 2 Oklahoma State 31 2OT (Nov. 18, 2011)
Considering the mess that LSU eventually became, Oklahoma State left its first national title on the Jack Trice Stadium field. The Cowboys led 24-7 in the third quarter but did not score again in regulation -- two turnovers and a missed field goal with 1:17 remaining didn't help. Brandon Weeden threw a pick in the top of the second overtime, and that was pretty much that.
No. 8 Texas A&M 36, No. 3 Kansas State 33 2OT (Dec. 5, 1998)
Thanks to Miami's upset of UCLA, K-State needed to simply win the Big 12 Championship to play in the first BCS title game. Not only that, they needed to simply be outscored by 13 or less after taking a 17-3 lead. They couldn't do it. A "voodoo doctor" healed A&M running back Sirr Parker's injured hamstring, and he sparked an Aggie comeback, even scoring the winning touchdown. K-State has not come this close to playing for the title since.
No. 1 Tennessee 28, No. 10 Arkansas 24 (Nov. 14, 1998)
Oh my goodness, Clint Stoerner, you sweet, beautiful soul. Just fall to a knee, crumple to the ground, do anything other than what you did.
On a 2nd-and-12 with the ball near midfield and Arkansas leading 24-22 with 1:47 to play, Stoerner presented the ball on a play-action, ready to boot and run or throw. He stumbled and, in an attempt to steady himself, put the ball on the ground, and lost it. Tennessee took over, drove half the field, won the game and, later, the national title.
Arkansas had many chances to put the game away (they led 24-10 at one point) so this was a team loss, but the image of Stoerner's stumble fumble remains.
Voters were so impressed with the Hogs that they moved up to No. 9 the following week, so there's no telling how high they would've climbed with a victory. But the residual effect of the loss was too much to overcome: Arkansas lost to Mississippi State the following week and, with it, the SEC West crown and an opportunity for revenge over Tennessee. Arkansas would finish 9-3 and ranked 16th. They haven't come this close to a national title since.
1. Pittsburgh 13, No. 2 West Virginia 9 (Dec. 1, 2007)
We purposefully presented this list in no particular order, but this one's a clear No. 1. No game for any program has a clear Before and After like this one does for WVU.
Rich Rodriguez's zone read offense was still new at the time, and the backfield duo of Pat White and Steve Slaton ran it to near perfection. It was the perfect match of scheme and personnel for three straight years, until it wasn't.
All WVU had to do was defeat a 4-7 Pitt team, at home, and they'd advance to the BCS National Championship, where they would've played an overmatched Ohio State squad. The Mountaineers opened the scoring with a 14-play, 74-yard touchdown drive (capped by a Pat McAfee PAT) and then the offense just... vanished. Pitt threw for 72 yards and two INTs on 19 attempts and mustered 158 yards on 52 rushing attempts, but that was still enough to hold off WVU. White hit 5-of-10 passes for 50 yards and carried 14 times for 41 yards. Slaton ran nine times for 11 yards, with a long of five. Noel Devine totaled 11 yards on seven carries. WVU had the ball with a chance to take the lead three times in the fourth quarter. Those drives totaled 41 yards.
WVU had a 1st-and-10 at Pitt's 21 with 1:51 to play, and lost seven yards over their final four decisive snaps. It was as if Pitt head coach Dave Wanndstedt accessed a dark power to control the Mountaineers from the great beyond.
"There was a lot of hype, and then it just seemed like every week, shit was just falling into place. You know what I mean?" WVU fullback Owen Schmitt told SB Nation in 2017. "And teams were losing that needed to lose for us to move up, and it was happening."
"And then you get to the last fucking game and blow it against the shittiest team in the world."
West Virginia football quite literally was never the same after White's final pass hit the ground on 4th-and-17. Not only does WVU likely win its first and only national title if they win this game, it possibly signs Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2008, to take over at quarterback for White. Instead, Rodriguez never coached another game, Pryor signed with Ohio State, the Big East fell apart, and WVU now finds itself in a conference with Kansas, Houston and BYU.
Haunting, indeed.