Last week, The Hollywood Reporter posted a list of its top 50 films of the 21st century so far. It was terrible.
I, a person who loves movies but also has a life, had never heard of 22 of the films.The undisputed top film of the century (Superbad) didn't even crack an honorable mention.
Ultimately, their list fell into the same trap that most lists of that kind do. Instead of informing, educating and challenging their audience, it became about proving how much more they know than their audience.
In sports, we don't do this. Context matters. And so with all due respect to San Jose State's 27-24 upset of No. 9 TCU on Nov. 4, 2000, thrilling as I'm sure it was, this list skewed toward the big games with big stakes. The games that mattered. There will be no equivalent of a Japenese-language film that screened for a weekend at a single theater on this list. We make no apologies for that.
50. No. 8 Louisville 44, No. 10 Boise State 40 (Dec. 31, 2004)
In what was effectively the Group of 5 national championship game, undefeated Boise State met 10-1 Louisville (its only loss by three points to No. 3 Miami) and staged a Liberty Bowl worthy of the game's biggest spotlight. Louisville's Stefan LeFors passed and rushed for 269 yards and three touchdowns, and the Cardinals as a team ran for 329 yards, overcoming a 24-0 Boise State run by ending the game on a 17-6 run of their own, though they had to knock down a Broncos pass to the end zone as time expired to preserve the win.
49. North Carolina 63, Appalachian State 61 (Sept. 3, 2022)
North Carolina led 41-21 after three quarters, added 22 more points in the fourth, and still barely escaped overtime. App State poured in 40 fourth quarter points, racking up 363 yards of total offense in the frame. But the Mountaineers couldn't get the two yards they needed, as Chase Brice came up juust short on the game-tying 2-point play.
48. No. 3 Clemson 27, Syracuse 23 (Sept. 29, 2018)
The 2018 campaign was the first year the NCAA allowed players to play four games in a season and still take a redshirt. That, kids, is called foreshadowing.
Clemson coach Dabo Swinney named fab frosh Trevor Lawrence his starting quarterback after the 4-game mark, thereby allowing incumbent Kelly Bryant the freedom to sit the rest of the season, then transfer -- an opportunity Bryant took.
Naturally, Lawrence went down during the middle of Clemson's fifth game, and so it was third-stringer Chase Brice who had to lead Clemson back from a 23-13 fourth quarter deficit. That included a 20-yard completion on 4th-and-6 with 2:38 to play. Lawrence returned to health afterward, and Clemson would not be challenged again en route to its second title in three seasons.
47. No. 18 Oregon 34, No. 15 Oklahoma 33 (Sept. 16, 2006)
Was this the day the Pac-12 refs meme was born, or just the day it leapt into the mainstream?
Oklahoma's Allen Patrick quite clearly recovered Oregon's onside kick with 1:06 to play and the Sooners leading 33-27, but officials awarded the Ducks the ball. Oregon scored three plays later, its third touchdown of the fourth quarter, to take the lead. You likely remember all that.
What you may not remember is that Oklahoma had a chance to win the game anyway, but Garrett Hartley's 44-yard field goal as time expired was blocked.
46. No. 14 Stanford 17, No. 1 Oregon 14 (Nov. 17, 2012)
Like how LeBron and Kobe never met in the Finals, we never got a Chip Kelly vs. Nick Saban title game, despite the Ducks and Tide playing for crowns five times from 2009-14. Kelly's last Oregon team was likely his best, but was intellectually-brutalized by a Stanford squad that would win the Pac-12 and the Rose Bowl. The Ducks led 14-7 for most of the second half but missed a field goal in regulation and overtime.
No. 1 Oregon and No. 2 K-State lost on the same day, allowing Alabama to return to the top two just one week after losing to Texas A&M.
45. Mississippi State 21, Ole Miss 20 (Nov. 28, 2019)
Perhaps the ultimate "We can do what they do, but they can't do what we do" moment in college football history. Name me another sport where the course of history turns on a player mimicking urinating like a dog.
Trailing 21-14, Matt Corral led Ole Miss 82 yards in 12 plays, keyed by a 57-yard completion on 4th-and-24 with 50 seconds to play. That conversion, plus a State offsides on 4th-and-4, put the Rebels in position to force overtime when Corral hit Elijah Moore for a 2-yard score with four seconds to play.
Moore then debuted his canine urination celebration, which drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Luke Logan missed the ensuing PAT. Matt Luke never coached another game for the Rebels.
44. No. 15 Rutgers 28, No. 3 Louisville 25 (Nov. 10, 2006)
Like Daniel Powter and duck lips, there was a moment in 2006 when Rutgers football was hot. In a Thursday night game with the entire college football-watching nation on the New York market, Rutgers hosted a Louisville team with eyes on a BCS title. The Scarlet Knights fell behind 25-7 in the second quarter, then pitched a shutout over the final 36 minutes. A 2-point conversion brought Rutgers to within 25-22, and two Jeremy (Don't Call Me Lance) Ito field goals gave the Knights the lead, the last one coming with 13 seconds to play.
43. Western Kentucky 49, Central Michigan 48 (Dec. 24, 2014)
It's Christmas Eve, you're watching a football game sponsored by an American fried chicken chain played in the Bahamas, and it's 49-14 to start the fourth quarter. You're wondering what you're doing with your life -- it's your baby's first Christmas, after all, and perhaps Grandpa Earl's last. When Central Michigan reels off 34 consecutive points, including a wild ass 75-yard hook-and-ladder play that touched five different Chippewas' hands on the final play of regulation but then misses the 2-point conversion for the win, all your life choices are completely validated. Unless you had money on WKU -2.5.
42. No. 11 TCU 47, No. 15 Oregon 41 (Jan. 2, 2016)
41. No. 3 TCU 51, No. 2 Michigan 45 (Dec. 31, 2022)
And to think, I'm leaving three worthy TCU bowl games off this list. In one game, TCU overcame a 31-0 halftime deficit to stage the biggest comeback in bowl history with its backup quarterback, and in the other the Frogs (somehow) never trailed. TCU gave up 45 points and 528 yards on 7.04 a play, but its defense forced three turnovers, scored two touchdowns, and went 12-of-15 on money downs.
40. Indiana 36, No. 8 Penn State 35 (Oct. 24, 2020)
The covid season is best forgotten, but this game deserves an exception. Indiana led for most of the game until Jahan Datson broke free for a 60-yard score to put Penn State up 21-20 with 2:30 to go. Sensing he was down to his last chance, IU's Tom Allen went for a 4th-and-21 at his own 14 with 1:53 to play, which fell incomplete. Turns out, he was just three steps ahead of James Franklin. Rather than attempting to run the clock out, Penn State scored on the very next play, which gave IU the ball back at its own 25 with 1:38 and a timeout still available. Michael Penix, Jr., ran in a touchdown and the game-tying 2-pointer, and IU survived a 57-yard field goal Penn State field goal try to reach overtime.
After Penn State scored in the top of the first extra frame, Penix tossed a touchdown and then streeeetched his way in for the game-winning 2-point conversion.
39. No. 2 Alabama 45, No. 1 Clemson 40 (Jan. 11, 2016)
When it's all said and done, Nick Saban's best in-game decision may be an onside kick.
Tied at 24 with 10:34 to play, Saban decided not to kick the ball to Deshaun Watson and instead hit Clemson with an onside boot, deftly executed by Adam Griffith and recovered by Marlon Humphrey. Saban's ensuing smirk was instantly inducted into the CFB Gif Hall of Fame. Jake Coker hit OJ Howard for a 51-yard touchdown two plays later, and Alabama led the rest of the way.
38. No. 22 Texas A&M 74, No. 7 LSU 72 (Nov. 24, 2018)
LSU could've won the game twice on the final drive: by limiting A&M to 17 yards or fewer on a 4th-and-18 with 20 seconds to play (the Aggies gained 20), or by forcing an incompletion as A&M quarterback Kellen Moore threw into the end zone from 19 yards out as time expired. But they didn't, and the final seven overtime game of the old format was born. The good news for the Tigers: Joe Burrow wouldn't lose again in an LSU uniform.
37. Michigan 27, No. 8 Penn State 25 (Oct. 15, 2005)
While Notre Dame and USC were busying playing the best regular season game of the decade three hours away, Michigan and Penn State staged their own classic. The Nittany Lions went 81 yards in 1:55 to take a 25-21 lead with 53 seconds to play, but a 40-yard kickoff return gave the Wolverines the ball near midfield. Michigan ripped off eight plays in 42 seconds, the last coming with a final tick remaining: a 10-yard bullet from Chad Henne to Mario Manningham.
36. No. 16 Oklahoma 66, Texas Tech 59 (Oct. 23, 2016)
35. Oklahoma State 49, Texas Tech 45 (Sept. 22, 2007)
34. No. 13 Oklahoma 50, West Virginia 49 (Nov. 17, 2012)
33. No. 6 Oklahoma 55, No. 21 Texas 48 (Oct. 9, 2021)
32. No. 5 Baylor 61, No. 9 TCU 58 (Oct. 11, 2014)
We'll call this section Peak Big 12. These scores were not widely celebrated at the time, but they've aged well as the Big 12 has bent the rest of football to its will. Some individual stat lines:
-- OU QB Baker Mayfield vs. Tech: 27-of-36 for 545 yards and 7 TDs
-- OU RB Joe Mixon vs. Tech: 31 carries for 263 yards and 2 TDs; 4 catches for 114 yards and 3 TDs
-- TTU QB Patrick Mahomes vs. OU: 52-of-88 for 734 yards with 5 TDs and 1 INT; 12 carries for 85 yards and 2 TDs
-- TTU WR Michael Crabtree vs. OSU: 14 catches for 237 yards and 3 TDs
-- WVU RB/WR Tavon Austin vs. OU: 21 carries for 344 yards and 2 TDs; 4 catches for 82 yards
-- Texas WR Xavier Worthy vs. OU: 9 catches for 261 yards and 2 TDs
-- OU QB Caleb Williams vs. Texas: 16-of-25 for 212 yards and 2 TDs; 4 carries for 88 yards and 1 TD; did not play until second quarter
31. No. 9 Florida State 38, No. 11 Florida 34 (Nov. 29, 2003)
30. No. 1 Miami 28, No. 9 Florida State 27 (Oct. 12, 2002)
Florida State's rivalries with Miami and Florida would've been all over this list in the 1990s, but each provided some spillover to the early 2000s.
In the first game, Florida State built a 27-14 fourth quarter lead over the defending national champions -- Miami had won 27 straight games and 19 straight at home -- only to watch it crumble in the final eight minutes. Xavier Beitia's game-winning 43-yard field goal was no good, punctuated by a great call from Brad Nessler, "Wide left!"
The following year, Florida State overcame second half deficits of 24-17, 27-24 and 34-31, winning the game on a 52-yard bomb from Chris Rix to PK Sam with 55 seconds to play.
29. No. 15 Texas A&M 29, No. 1 Alabama 24 (Nov. 10, 2012)
Texas A&M had already played six games in their inaugural SEC season by this point, but the Aggies truly announced their arrival by going into the unofficial capital of the conference and knocking off the defending national champions. Johnny Manziel took the vaunted Alabama defense -- and, in the process, the attention of the entire nation -- by storm by leading A&M to touchdowns on its first three possessions. The Tide fought back from a 20-0 first quarter deficit, twice holding the ball with a chance to take the lead, but both possessions ended in turnovers. The first set up A&M's final touchdown, a 24-yard dot from Manziel to Malcome Kennedy, which inspired Scott Van Pelt to refer to Manziel on that night's SportsCenter as (here's a 2012 reference for you) Heisenberg, as in Walter White's alias on Breaking Bad.
Trailing 29-17 after that score, AJ McCarron hit Amari Cooper for a 54-yard score to pull the Tide within five, and the Alabama defense forced a three-and-out, placing the Crimson Tide offense on the field at its own 40 with 4:27 to play. Deshazor Everett intercepted McCarron in the end zone on 4th-and-goal with 1:36 remaining, and the A&M punt team lured Alabama into an offisdes penalty on 4th-and-1 with 40 seconds left, denying the Tide a third chance to take its first lead.
28. No. 7 Oklahoma State 37, No. 10 Oklahoma 33 (Nov. 27, 2021)
Oklahoma State threw a pick in its own territory that turned into a short Sooner touchdown, fumbled in its own end zone for a safety, fumbled a punt at its own goal line for another OU touchdown, and threw another pick deep in OU territory. In other words, with OU on its way to the SEC and a Big 12 title on the line, it was the type of game Oklahoma State fans had spent their entire lives watching their Cowboys find a way to lose.
Only, they didn't.
The Cowboy defense pitched a second-half shutout, rallying from a self-induced 9-point deficit with the help of a punt that OU return man Eric Gray fumbled at his own 5. Clinging to a 37-33 lead, the Cowboys turned the Sooners away inside OSU territory twice in the game's final 76 seconds. It was the first time a Top 10 OSU beat a Top 10 OU, and Lincoln Riley's final Sooner game.
27. Stanford 24, No. 2 USC 23 (Oct. 6, 2007)
When USC scored to take a 23-14 lead with 11:04 to play, a neutral observer within the stands of Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum could've gotten odds on a Stanford victory that easily would've allowed him to purchase Twitter, Instagram and maybe even Apple. At that time, USC was 4-0 on the season, and 60-4 over its past five calendar years. Over that same period, Stanford was 16-43.
And yet the final 11 minutes of the contest went Stanford field goal, USC interception, Stanford touchdown, USC interception, ball game. Backup quarterback Tavita Pritchard found Mark Bradford for a 10-yard touchdown with 48 seconds to play, and Bo McNally swiped a John David Booty pass with 13 seconds left to seal it.
USC still won the Pac-12 that season and the next, but from 2010-15 Stanford went 66-15 with four AP Top 10 finishes, three Pac-12 championships and two Rose Bowl finishes, while Pete Carroll and Jim Harbaugh began a personal grudge match that continued at the NFL level.
26. No. 9 USC 52, No. 5 Penn State 49 (Jan. 2, 2017)
Saquon Barkley gained 110 yards from scrimmage... on his three touchdowns alone (he'd finish the game with 306 all-purpose yards). Penn State overcame a 27-14 deficit to bring a 49-35 lead to the fourth quarter, with six of its seven touchdown drives traveling at least 71 yards. Naturally, the Nittany Lions gained 12 yards in the fourth quarter, giving Sam Darnold the opportunity to trigger a 17-point fourth quarter rally, capped by a 27-yard touchdown pass with 1:10 to play and a 46-yard field goal as time expired. Darnold finished the game with 473 total yards and five touchdowns.
25. No. 4 Ohio State 42, No. 1 Alabama 35 (Jan. 1, 2015)
Looking back on it, it seems flawed that a team with Ezekiel Elliott, Joey Bosa, Michael Thomas and more were heavy underdogs to a team quarterbacked by Blake Sims, but those Buckeyes were a Cinderella led by a third-string quarterback, and the shoe never dropped. The former third-string quarterback threw for 243 yards and ran for 43 more, while Elliott carried 20 times for 230 yards and two touchdowns, most famously going 85 yards through the heart of the South to put Ohio State up 42-28 with 3:24 to play. Still, Alabama scored a minute and a half later and threw into the end zone on the game's final play.
This was the fifth and final time Urban Meyer and Nick Saban coached against each other; the winner claimed the national title four times.
24. Arkansas 53, No. 18 Ole Miss 52 (Nov. 7, 2015)
23. Arkansas 58, Ole Miss 56 (Nov. 3, 2001)
Like a couple who live in a constant break-up, make-up cycle, there's something about Arkansas and Ole Miss's crazy chemistry, where neither team is good enough to run away from the other.
The Razorbacks and Rebels played the first seven overtime game in FBS history -- true story: Mike Golic, Jr., then a 12-year-old, woke up the following morning to a replay on ESPN2 and incredulously said, "They're still playing?!?!!?" -- and followed that up with an even wilder game in 2015.
All Ole Miss needed to reach its first SEC title game was to defeat a 4-4 Arkansas team. And all Ole Miss needed to do to defeat that thoroughly average Hogs outfit was to limit them to 24 yards or fewer on a 4th-and-25. So, of course, Arkansas running back Alex Collins grabbed a lateral behind the original line of scrimmage and turned it into a 29-yard gain. The Hogs won the game three snaps later.
22. No. 2 Alabama 32, No. 3 Georgia 28 (Dec. 1, 2012)
If it looks, feels and plays like a national championship game, it's essentially a national championship game. Georgia led 21-10 midway through the third quarter and 28-25, with the ball, with under seven minutes to play, but Alabama's will to win was simply too much for Georgia at that time. AJ McCarron hit Amari Cooper for a 45-yard touchdown to put the Tide on top with 3:15 left, and Aaron Murray's would-be game-winning 8-yard touchdown pass was stopped five yards short.
Alabama walked through Notre Dame for the national championship a month later, and Georgia would have to wait another nine years to break its Crimson Curse.
21. No. 7 Michigan State 27, No. 12 Michigan 23 (Oct. 17, 2015)
Michigan held leads of 7-0, 17-7 and 23-14, and though offense went 3-and-out in its final three chances, the defense did enough to secure the win by halting the Spartans' final drive near midfield with 1:47 to play. All they had to do was simply get off a punt. Blake O'Neill simply had to catch it and boot the ball out of bounds, and Jim Harbaugh would win his first rivalry game as the Wolverines' head coach. There's no way anything go could wrong, right?
Shoutout to Sean McDonough for a pitch-perfect call, and shoutout to McDonough's spotter for identifying Michigan State's Jalen Watts-Jackson in the heat of the moment.
20. No. 5 LSU 30, No. 18 Auburn 24 (Oct. 20, 2007)
19. No. 15 LSU 32, No. 6 Alabama 31 (Nov. 5, 2022)
Good things happen when you throw to the end zone for the win, especially when you're LSU playing at night in Tiger Stadium.
In 2007, LSU risked the clock running out on them as Matt Flynn hoisted a fade to Demetrius Byrd, trailing 24-23.
In 2022, LSU risked an errant pass or a drop dooming them to a 31-30 overtime loss when they could've kicked an extra point to force double overtime. In both cases, fortune favored the bold.
18. No. 6 Texas 38, No. 13 Michigan 37 (Jan. 1, 2005)
Bowl games are actively being phased out of the sport, but if we'd gotten more of them like this one -- two blue-bloods playing for the first time, in the sport's most iconic venue, with a 4-touchdown performance by a legendary player in a game decided as time expired -- maybe the postseason would look different today.
17. No. 19 Nevada 34, No. 3 Boise State 31 (Nov. 26, 2010)
[ESPN 30 for 30 voice over guy voice] "What if I told you the best Boise State team of all time... didn't even win the WAC title?"
At around, oh, 3 p.m. local time on Nov. 26, 2010, it seemed like Boise State was on its way to playing for the national championship. By the end of the day, the Broncos settled for the lesser end of a WAC co-title.
A Broncos team with NFL players at quarterback, running back, wide receiver and safety built a 24-7 halftime lead, but was undone by a Pistol offense with Colin Kaepernick (304 total yards, two touchdowns) at the helm.
Trailing 31-24 with five minutes to play, Kellen Moore's final two passes in regulation went for a game-tying 79-yard touchdown and a would-be game-winning 54-yard gain with one second to play, but Kyle Brotzman missed from 26 yards out as time expired. In overtime, he missed from 29 yards, while Nevada's Anthony Martinez was good from 34.
16. No. 3 Clemson 29, No. 2 Ohio State 23 (Dec. 29, 2019)
Played days after my original list, this was one of two College Football Playoff semifinals pitting undefeated teams, and one of the few to live up to The Hype.
Ohio State raced to a 16-0 lead that should've been 28-0: the Buckeyes kicked field goals from the Clemson 4-, 5-, and 16-yard lines. Clemson inevitably roared back, with the help of a controversial ejection of Buckeye safety Shaun Wade. Still, Ohio State regained the lead at 23-21, then lost it when Clemson moved 94 yards in four plays to re-take the lead at 1:49 to play. Ohio State's game-winning drive ended when Justin Fields threw one of his three interceptions on the season in Clemson's end zone with 37 seconds to play.
15. No. 1 Florida State 34, No. 2 Auburn 31 (Jan. 6, 2014)
14. No. 3 Clemson 35, No. 1 Alabama 31 (Jan. 9, 2017)
You know you've got something special as a sport when two national title games decided with 13 and one second to play, respectively, barely crack the top 15.
13. No. 6 Texas Tech 39, No. 1 Texas 33 (Nov. 1, 2008)
You remember Michael Crabtree tap-dancing the sideline for the game-winning 28-yard touchdown with one second to play, and you likely remember Blake Gideon letting the game-winning interception slip through his grasp the play before that, but do you remember Texas Tech students rushing the field three times before the game ended? They rushed after Crabtree scored, again after the score was upheld upon replay, and again after the extra point.
Honestly, should the peak of Mike Leach's run at Texas Tech have ended any differently?
12. No. 2 Auburn 28, No. 11 Alabama 27 (Nov. 26, 2010)
A Nick Saban team gagging away a lead is not something we see often, and when it happens it tends to occur in the most memorable of fashions. This time, an Alabama team out of the national championship hunt in late November (this would not happen again until 2022) hosted an Auburn team on its way to the national title game, built a 24-0 lead, and then ran out of gas while still on the highway.
11. No. 4 Alabama 26, No. 3 Georgia 23 (Jan. 8, 2018)
To find the closest equivalent to 2nd-and-26, you'd probably have to go back to 1960. And a totally different sport. The do-or-die nature of a national championship game and the sudden death of football overtime was most closely paralleled by Bill Maseroski's leadoff home run in the bottom of the ninth to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates past the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the '60 World Series. Now imagine Maseroski played for the Yankees and you'd get something close to Tua Tagovailoa shaking off a sack to fire a 41-yard touchdown pass to win the national title.
10. Appalachian State 34, No. 5 Michigan 32 (Sept. 1, 2007)
There are answers to the biggest upset in college football history question, but this is the correct one. This outcome has aged relatively well considering App State won the third of three straight FCS titles that winter and has acquitted itself quite well at the FBS level, but no one knew that at the time. In 2007, you had the winningest program in college football history losing to a team that many observers did not know played football until they won this game. What's more, the deciding play came wrapped in clip that packaged well into a Good Morning America clip.
9. No. 1 Georgia 42, No. 4 Ohio State 41 (Dec. 31, 2022)
8. No. 3 Georgia 54, No. 2 Oklahoma 48 (Jan. 1, 2018)
Unstoppable force defeats immovable object, for a while.
Oklahoma built leads of 31-14 and 45-38, but its last 18 plays totaled 51 yards and three points. Ohio State led 21-7 and 38-24, but neither held.
Two questions worth pondering: How might college football be different today had Lincoln Riley simply kicked it deep at the end of the first half? And should Ryan Day have just gone for that 4th-and-1 at his own 34 with a 38-27 lead and half the fourth quarter still to play?
7. No. 2 Ohio State 30, No. 3 Michigan 27 (Nov. 26, 2016)
The other games in this portion of the list involve the ending of long streaks, after which the fan bases act as if their nation has just been liberated from generations of fascism. This game saw the continuation of one. And so it's my contention that no one defeat was as singularly painful to its fans than when Michigan found a way to lose a game it led 3-0, 17-7, and 27-24. Ann Arbor would remain under the scarlet and gray flag for years to come.
6. No. 6 Tennessee 52, No. 3 Alabama 49 (Oct. 15, 2022)
The when the Vols built a 28-10 lead early in the second quarter, it seemed Alabama's streak of 15 straight wins on the Third Saturday in October might really, truly, actually end. When Dallas Turner scooped up an unoccupied football for the easiest touchdown a defender will ever score to give Alabama a 49-42 lead with eight minutes to play, it seemed 15 would become 16. But then a program that's won more than any this past decade and a half did what it rarely ever does: it found a way to lose. After Tennessee tied it with 3:26 to play, Alabama had a 1st-and-10 from the Tennessee 32 with 38 seconds to play... and lost in regulation. The scene after Chase McGrath's 40-yard field goal fluttered through the uprights was perfect television.
5. No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24 (Jan. 3, 2003)
Miami brought a 34-game winning streak, Ohio State brought a generational ability to make its opponent absolutely miserable. The Buckeyes forced five Hurricane turnovers, the most impactful coming when Maurice Clarett stripped Sean Taylor of his own interception, which set up an Ohio State field goal. Miami rallied from a 17-7 deficit to force overtime, where -- we can admit this now, right Ohio State fans? -- a bad pass interference call allowed the Buckeyes to pull out a double OT win.
4. No. 1 USC 34, No. 9 Notre Dame 31 (Oct. 15, 2005)
It certainly seemed like Notre Dame woke up the echoes. With the Irish in their green jerseys and some real star power, it appeared a sleeping giant was awakening before our eyes. Brady Quinn put USC's 27-game winning streak in real peril when his outstretched arm found the end zone with 2:04 to play, and Troy appeared on the brink of falling as USC faced a 4th-and-9 at its own 26. But Matt Leinart hit Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard catch-and-run to the Notre Dame 13. Reggie Bush took care of the rest, picking up five on 3rd-and-4 to set up a 1st-and-goal inside the final half minute, then pushed Leinart into the end zone for the score with three seconds to play. Notre Dame lost this game twice, first on the field, then by handing Charlie Weis the worst extension in the history of the sport.
3. No. 9 Boise State 43, No. 7 Oklahoma 42 (Jan. 1, 2007)
Boise State constructed a 28-10 lead over the game's first 38 minutes, but that was just the first act. Oklahoma asserted its assumed dominance with a 25-0 run over the final next 21 minutes, but that just set up the stunning third act: a hook-and-ladder for the game-tying touchdown and, in overtime, a halfback pass for a touchdown, and a Statue of Liberty for the game-winning 2-point conversion. And all that set up Boise running back Ian Johnson proposing to his girlfriend, cheerleader Chrissy Popadics, after the win. Put simply: this game reached heights that no other sport can even approach.
2. No. 4 Auburn 34, No. 1 Alabama 28 (Nov. 30, 2013)
Don't get the ranking wrong: This was essentially a perfect football game. Two-time defending national champion Alabama missed three field goals and turned it over on downs at the Auburn 13, opportunities they would rue as Auburn overcame a 28-21 deficit with two iconic touchdowns in the game's final 32 seconds. The first score was the nation's introduction to the run-pass option, as Nick Marshall tucked the ball and then casually pulled up to throw to a wide-ass-open Sammie Coates for a walk-in 39-yard touchdown. You remember the second: an instantly iconic play on par with the Flutie Miracle and the Stanford Band play.
1. No. 2 Texas 41, No. 1 USC 38 (Jan. 4, 2006)
The perfect college football game. The late, great Keith Jackson dubbed the 2005 national championship game "as big as a college football game can be" before kickoff, and the game exceeded the hype. The top three Heisman vote getters on the same field. A 34-game winning streak up against a 19-gamer. USC's bid for a 3-Pete was overwhelmed by a Jordan-esque performance by Texas quarterback Vince Young: 30-of-40 passing for 267 yards, 19 carries for 200 yards and three touchdowns, including an 8-yard scamper on a 4th-and-5 with the national championship on the line.